Chapter 10:
"So now you've seen the place, any questions?" I smiled to the astonished brunette.
"I have a lot of questions." She grinned.
"Go ahead!"
"This is amazing, how does magic work?"
"To be honest, we don't know where the gene comes from you either have it or you don't. It's hereditary but some wizards kids can be born without magical powers, they're called squibs. And then you have muggle-borns, kids whose parents are muggles, like yourself, and end up getting the magic gene."
"What are you?"
"My mum was a pureblood, both parents are wizards. My dad on the other hand is a half-blood, his dad is a muggle and it was only on their wedding night that my gran told him she was a witch."
"That must have been a shock." noted Sydney.
"I can imagine it was." I agreed.
"There you two are!" Louis came up to us in a hurry.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Your dad is here and well James is here too." He explained.
"Damn it." I swore as I ran for the living room at top speed.
That's when I saw something I wished I never would. Dad was holding James up against the wall by the collar of his shirt looking angrier than I have ever seen him.
"DAD!" I yelled as I ran down to meet him.
He stopped saying whatever he was saying to James and turned to me.
"Casey!" Dad greeted. "I was just having a talk with James."
"I looked more like you were trying to kill him!" I snapped.
"I was going to but then I was told that you had made up, that's when I slammed him to the wall." My Dad's Irish accent was stronger than usual.
"Dad I can explain." I pleaded.
"There is nothing to explain, except that in my opinion you're extremely dumb to give him a second chance." He was being honest; I could see it in his eyes.
For the first time in my life I was lost for words. Dad had always backed me up no matter what and to hear this coming from him was the worst thing that could ever happen. I took a deep breath and looked down, something I never do because it means you're showing defeat. There was silence in the room after my Dad's bitter words. It was Harry who decided to break it.
"Seamus, why don't we have a chat?" He suggested.
My dad looked at me then shot a disgusted look at James before following Harry out of the living room.
Everyone looked at me like they expected me to start ranting. In normal circumstances I would but I knew that it wouldn't change what my father thought. I looked to James:
"I want to make it clear that I don't give a damn what my dad thinks." I stated before turning and leaving the room.
As I walked out the room the front door opened and in walked a group of people. I recognised some of them and others … not so much. I smiled as I saw George and Angelina walk in.
"Hey there!" George smiled.
"Hi!" I smiled back.
"I wasn't expecting to see you at the Burrow." Angelina added.
"James and I have sorted things out."
"That's good but I hope you know what you're doing." George advised.
"Don't worry, I do."
We all headed into the living room and waited for the others to arrive. McGonagall had come, so had Neville and even Lily was present. I only half-listened to what Harry was going on about as he was saying what I knew already. I only tuned in when he started giving people jobs to do.
"I want the next generation at Hogwarts." He said. "That means the castle had extra-protection and we can keep them out of harm's way."
Most of us began to protest. We didn't want to be brushed aside that easily.
"My word is final." Harry said. "Professor McGonagall I hope you don't mind having them back for a while?"
"I certainly don't Mr Potter." She smiled. "Now come on, we should get back before the students that have stayed over the Christmas holidays realise that so many teachers are gone."
She headed for the door and gestured us to follow. I sighed and found my dad and went up to give him a hug. He didn't say anything just hugged back. I pulled away and nodded to Harry and Ginny before walking out the room. I was going back to Hogwarts, with James, Fred, Roxy, Louis, Josh and Lucy. Lily, Albus, Jake and Rose were heading back as well. Louis had given Sydney a long kiss goodbye as she would be accompanied back home.
"We apparate to Hogsmeade." McGonagall told us.
I took my brother and James hands and turned on the spot. We walked in silence up to the castle behind McGonagall and Neville and a couple of other teachers.
"We will have you patrol the corridors in pairs." McGonagall instructed once we had reached the castle. "We have some prefects and the Head Boy and Girl watching the area as well. We need four to cover the grounds."
"We'll do it." James and I volunteered.
"We'll be the other two." Fred and Roxy offered.
"Excellent. Now James and Casey, you do the Greenhouses to the Quidditch pitch. And I don't want you getting distracted are we clear?"
"We know what's at stake professor; we're not going to prance off like we usually do." I promised.
"I hope you don't." McGonagall said. "And I would like to inform you that I had no idea you and Mr Potter like to sneak off into the grounds at night."
"Can we avoid putting that in our records?" James asked.
"I'll let it slip." McGonagall said. "Now hurry up the grounds won't patrol themselves."
We didn't need to be told again we walked out of the entry hall and into the night.
"Lumos." James muttered and his wand ignited immediately. I did the same with mine.
"Where do you think Fred and Roxy will get posted?" I asked.
"I don't know probably Hagrid's hut and the outskirts of the forest."
"They get the riskier terrain." I joked.
"Casey, can I ask something of you?" James turned to face me.
"Yeah, of course you can."
"And you promise to do it?"
"James what's wrong?" I put my hand on his arm.
"If anything happens I want you to run and get out of here." James looked right into my eyes. "Get Lily and get out of here. Albus can find his way out on his own but Lily won't."
"James if you think I'll leave you, you're wrong."
"I need you to promise me this. I can't stand the thought of you not making it out of here alive."
"James, we're going to make it." I said unconvincingly. "There is no way I'm leaving you. I promised." I showed him the ring.
"Are you ever going to let me win an argument?" My boyfriend joked.
"I don't think so." I shook my head in amusement.
"I love you." James whispered as he took my hand in his.
"I love you too."
XxxxxX
It had been a couple of weeks now since we had been posted at Hogwarts. I was on guard from 8:00 pm to 8:00 AM with James. The school term had begun again and the castle was now full. Not just with the students but other people. A couple of Aurors were constantly on duty and the patrolling teams were repeatedly wandering the castle and its grounds. We had spent Christmas and New Year at Hogwarts. There had been nothing festive, it was mostly gloomy. Many people had disappeared or gone into hiding. I hadn't heard from Aidan in a week and I was starting to get worried. Dad would drop by occasionally as he dropped a message in for Neville or another teacher. I had an hour before my shift began and decided to have a look at the names of the missing in the Daily Prophet.
As of today these people have been reported missing by their families and friends.
If you have any ideas of their whereabouts please contact the families.
Horace Slughorn
Blaise Zabini
Jodyne Davies
Laura Corner
Penny Jones
Michael Smith
Terry and Tony Boot
Harriet and Francis Hope
Aidan Finnigan
I stopped reading as I began to stare blankly at my brother's name. I felt tears on my cheeks. So he was missing. There must be a good reason right? He must be off doing something for the Order? He can't be gone. He just can't.
"Casey?" I heard someone ask.
"Yes?"
"Are you all right?" It was Lucy.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied.
"I know you're not. I saw your brother's name on the list earlier."
I had nothing to say. There was a short silence.
"For what it's worth, I don't think he's missing." She told me. "Molly is on a mission for the Order and Aidan was supposed to go with her. I believe it's just a ruse. If you look further down Molly's name is on there as well."
I looked down and there it was: Molly Weasley
"You really think so?" I asked her as she sat down just across from me.
"I hope so." She smiled weakly.
"I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"For everything I've ever done to you." I apologised.
"Don't threat. I deserved it, I was just jealous."
"Jealous?" I repeated.
"Yeah, you were the instant hit in school. All the boys loved you and you were one of the popular crowd. I was just little Lucy Weasley, the Ravenclaw grade rubber. "
"I'm not sure about the whole the boys loved me kinda thing. I never dated anyone before James."
"But that doesn't mean you didn't share a few kisses here and there. And anyway, no boy was brave enough to ask you out. They knew they would have to go through James, Fred, Louis and Aidan."
"I never really noticed." I grinned.
"Maybe we can start again, clean slate?" Lucy held her hand out to me.
"We sure can." I shook on it.
Suddenly there was a loud explosion that made both of us jump out of our skin.
"What the hell is that?" I yelled.
"Someone is in the castle." Lucy answered.
We both looked at each other and smiled weakly as we got up and ran towards the noise wands drawn.
`When I got there I saw a hole in the wall. McGonagall, James and Fred were already there. A couple of younger students had come to see as well.
"We need to evacuate like right now." I advised.
"Potter, Weasley's and Finnigan I want you to each round up a house and get them to the Great Hall now. Warn the teachers and get all the others there as well."
"Are we allowed to send a patronus message Professor?" I asked.
"If you can do one of course you can!" She said. "I'll meet you in the Great Hall I'm contacting the Order. Now go!"
She ran off as fast as she could. Faster than I thought would be possible for her.
"Lucy you get the Ravenclaws." I instructed. "James, get to Gryffindor Tower, Fred that leaves you with Hufflepuff."
"What about the Slytherins?" James asked.
"I'll get them, they hate me but less than the two of you and Lucy no offense but they won't listen to you and frankly none of us can be bothered trying to figure out a riddle right now!"
"Good luck." James wished me as he ran off in the other direction.
I took a deep breath and conjured my patronus.
"Roxy get your ass down to the Great Hall right now. Get Louis and everyone else you find on the way. It's urgent." I told it and my vixen ran off in search of my best friend.
I felt … I don't how I felt … so many emotions were there in that moment … fear, anger and excitement.
I exhaled and ran off in the direction of the dungeons. I had never wanted to get there quicker in my life.
XxxxxX
I couldn't remember much. One minute I was running to the dungeons then it all went black. I slowly started to open my eyes. My head was aching and so was my arm. Once I regained my sight I gasped. The hallway had been blasted. There was debris everywhere. I looked down at my arm and winced. Blood had never been my strong point. Well, my own blood anyway. I took my wand out my pocket and with a quick silent spell cleaned the wound. It didn't look too deep.
"Ferula." I muttered to myself. A bandage appeared on my arm.
Now I still had one problem: my head. I couldn't do anything about it now so I would have to leave it and find someone else. I got up slowly fighting the urge the throw up. The corridor was silent. My best bet was to head for the Great Hall. I started heading down the hall at a slow place, I was now desperately fighting the need to vomit. My head was spinning as I came out into the open. That's when I started to hear some noise in the distance. I was holding my wand as if it was the only thing keeping me alive. It probably was. As I reached the Entrance Hall, I saw people running about. People were being dragged in to the Great Hall by others. The door was locked and bolted. Everyone looked exhausted and bruised in countless places. I walked down the stairs and heard someone call my name. The person ran up and brought me into a great hug. And that was the moment everything went black … again.
XxxxxX
"Casey." Someone whispered as my eyes started to flutter.
I opened my eyes and it took a moment for me see my surroundings clearly. I slowly sat up and as I did so someone helped me by putting their hand on the small of my back. I blinked a couple of times as the light was blinding.
"What's happened?" My voice was very husky and uneven.
"You've taken a blow to your head." James told me.
"Thank you Captain Obvious." I said sarcastically.
"Sorry." He mumbled.
"What I meant was … what is going on here?"
"You've been unconscious for an hour. We're at war and well that's been it really." James summed up.
I could see tear stains down his face.
"Who's …" I couldn't come to say the words.
"None of our family members are." He swallowed hard.
"James, tell me." I pleaded.
"Josh." He said as tears began to fall on his already tear stained face.
My breath caught and I felt a lump in my throat as tried to process the news. I just wrapped my arms around James's neck and buried my neck in his shoulder. He pulled me closer by my waist and I could hear him start to cry freely. I started to sob soon after. Josh and I hadn't been as close over the past years as we had been but we had still grown up together. He was still one of my closest friends; he was my godfather's son. I can't imagine what Dean must be going through right now. I pulled away from James and he did to. I rested my forehead on his. We remained silent as we recomposed ourselves.
"He took a curse to the chest." James began. "I saw it and I could have stopped it. But instead I watched in horror as he was struck. I got the man in the end for what he did. But if I had acted sooner Josh would still be alive. It's my fault he's gone."
"Don't you dare say that, James? You couldn't have changed the course of the curse. This isn't your fault." I said as I took his head between my hands. "If you had taken the curse for him, Josh would beat himself up for the rest of his life. You couldn't have done anything."
We remained silent. None of us knew what to say. Stray tears were falling again. It was my name that broke our silence.
"Casey!" My dad yelled.
"Dad!" I got up and as he brought me into a hug.
"You nearly scared me to death." He whispered to me. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm still a little dizzy but all in all I'm fine." I told him as I pulled away.
"I'm sorry I wasn't beside you but Dean needed me." He said.
I understood completely. "I know Dad."
"I thought I had lost you." My dad looked so relieved but I could see worry etched on his face.
"You'll never loose me, Dad. I'm a fighter."
"That's my girl." He said as he gave me another hug.
"What's happening out there?" I asked.
"They've retreated but it's not over yet. They haven't pulled back permanently. The night is cold and wet. We have the advantage because of the castle so they'll be trying another plan for a direct attack."
"How long do you think we have?" I asked.
"I couldn't tell you." Dad sighed. "They could attack any time they want."
"Where's Jake?"
"Over there with Rose and Scorpius." He gestured to a bench not too far away.
They looked a bit bruised but they seemed alright. They were currently sipping on something hot.
"Listen, Casey. I need to go." Dad told me. "I want you to stay safe and don't go wandering alone."
"Where are you going?"
"I need to check a few things and things need tending to. We still have a lot of under-age kids here. We're thinking about using this break to get the younger ones out." Dad explained.
"Okay." I nodded. "Take care of yourself."
"Don't worry I will." He kissed the top of my head, nodded to James before walking off into the crowd of people.
"Come on." James said as he took my hand. "Let's find the others. They'll be relieved to know you've woken up."
"Where are they?" I asked him as he started to guide me through the Hall.
"If they haven't moved, they'll be next to the House Points glasses." He said.
I followed him as we made way through people. Saying quick hellos to those we knew. I caught a glimpse of Dean in the distance. He looked half dead and who could blame him? I kept hold of James's hand. Once we reached the back of the Hall, I finally saw who we were looking for. Roxy, Louis and Fred were standing there looking like hell. Emily was sitting on a bench with her head in her hands and to my surprise Maisy was there with her arm around her.
"Casey!" Roxanne yelled when she saw me.
I nearly jumped into her arms that she had opened when she saw me. I was so glad to see her. She was my best friend, I don't know what I would do if I lost her. Once we let go of each other Louis was quick to follow. When it comes down to friends of the opposite sex, Louis is definitely the best I have. Of course James is my boyfriend but I need that boy best friend to fall back on and Louis was definitely it. I don't even want to imagine how screwed up I would be without this boy. Finally Fred pulled me in to a quick embrace. James's right hand man, we liked to call him. Fred had always been there for him whether he was right or wrong. But he wasn't afraid to tell him when he was wrong. I don't think I've ever seen a bond between cousins as strong as the friendship James and Fred have.
We didn't know what to say to each other. We just stood there in silence. It wasn't uncomfortable or awkward but I wouldn't class it as comfortable either. We were somewhere in the middle. Emily didn't look up. She must be crying her heart out. Josh and Emily had started going out in September. I didn't try to communicate with her; she'll come round when she's ready. Maisy gave me a teary smile and a small nod. There was a bitter sweet feeling in the air.
It had been about ten minutes since we had joined them when we heard a loud bang. The whole Hall started up again, people were running out of the Hall quickly to find the source of the noise, leaving the healers, the injured and the dead behind. It was all a blur to me, I found myself heading out of the Hall with the others hunting for the source. Then I saw it. Hooded figures were coming straight at us. I had my wand out a quickly as I could and started sending countless jinxes and curses at the oncoming enemy. Adrenaline started pumping and I felt like I was on a roll. I didn't go unscratched but I didn't have much problem defeating my opponents. Another loud bang was heard and with it the castle shook. I looked out the castle window and saw flashes in the distance.
Another thing caught my eye: the full moon. That explains my hyperactive state. How long we had been fighting for I couldn't tell, all I knew is that we had to hold them off. Stop them from getting deeper into the castle. The flashes in the distance were getting nearer. I didn't know if that was a good or a bad sign.