You Don't Know What You've Got 'Till It's Gone

There was a Death Eater around the corner. There was a student with him; Colin Creevey, Harry could hear his screams. He turned into the corridor, staying low, and fired a spell at the offender, it struck him squarely in the chest and he keeled over backwards. It was quick, it was efficient, and it was immensely satisfying.

Harry and his friends were on the fifth floor, only a few twists and turns away from the Weasley family, who, by the look of the Marauders Map, were engaged in heavy fighting. They had met no opposition until now, they had been skirting the fighting, finding the quickest routes through the castle, rather than look for a scuffle.

Colin lay clutching his chest and coughing, trying to draw in a breath that he did not have. Each wheeze seemed to cause him immense pain. Harry knelt by his side and leaned down to his face.

"H-Harry… Harry… I…" Colin drew in another painful, rasping breath. "They took… I t-tried, Harry… I tried… But… I couldn't… I." His voice was panicked, his eyes wild, tears streamed down his face.

"It's ok Colin, you'll be ok, just…" Colin's shaking was beginning to subside and his eyes were loosing focus. "Colin? Colin, please, please… Don't..."

"Sorry… Harry… So-Sorry… Ginny…"

Harry's friends were stood in a half circle around Colin's feet looking down, but Harry could not manage to draw any strength from them. Colin had confirmed that, as much as Harry had hoped she had got away, Ginny had been captured, taken by Voldemort, everything Harry had done, as hard as he had tried, to keep Ginny safe, had failed, and it was his fault. Knowing that it was the only thing he could do, Harry said, "don't worry Colin, you did great, Ginny's s-safe, you saved her." It was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do.

Colin focused a little better on Harry's face and a small smile started to form on him lips when his body went slack and the light left his eyes. Harry sat back on his heels and stared down at Colin. With tears leaking down his cheeks he closed Colin's eyes so that he looked peaceful, with a small smile. Colin had always had a good heart, he had been annoying at times, but he had always been energetic and enthusiastic, and Harry had liked him.

Harry dashed the tears off of his face and stood. His sadness at loosing another friend was rapidly being overruled and beaten down by the rage well up in his chest. He drew his wand again and bound the Death Eater who was stunned not far away.

"Come on." He said harshly. "We've got to save as many people as we can." He strode off towards the Weasley's with the bound Death Eater being dragged by the cords around him. Ron reached down, lifted Colin and carried him. "Can't just leave him here." He muttered darkly.

Harry did not notice the corridors he was walking through or the sound of footsteps from his friends, but he burst through a door into the middle of fierce fighting, ready and willing to join in. The corridor was alive with flashing lights, bursts of darkness, screams, shouts, and cries. Mr Weasley was fighting a Death Eater to Harry's right and Bill was being hard pressed by two, farther down the corridor. Charlie had discarded his wand and was rolling around on the floor with a man, punching and kicking him at any and every opportunity. But it was Fred and George who were in the most trouble. They were to Harry's left and were blocking the corridor to seven people. They were ducked down behind a couple of suits of armour, one on either side of the hall way, and they were dodging out to shoot spells or throw small vials that exploded with peculiar colours where they struck, one man had a purple vial break at his feet and he collapsed in seconds. Harry charged past Charlie and ran straight in between Fred and George towards the Death Eaters, eager for a fight, and not caring that he was out numbered.

A pulsing purple spell shot towards him and he stopped and yelled, "Protego." The spell bounced off and struck the corner where the wall met the ceiling. Part of the corridor came crashing down, crushing an enemy beneath the rubble. Four more spells quickly followed the first, but with another shield charm Harry deflected them all. Harry then realised what a stupid thing he had done by running head first into this many Death Eaters, but luckily for him, he had become enough of a distraction for the twins to stun a Death Eater each. They leapt out from their hiding places as an explosion in the bowels of the castle rocked them all. Harry lost his footing and fell to the ground. He rolled over and whipped his wand around to point it back to the two remaining Death Eaters but all he saw was red before a spell hit him.

The next Harry remembered was one of the twins' faces in front of his. He shook his head and used the hand that was extended towards him to help him to his feet.

Fred shook his head in admiration. "You are one crazy wizard Harry." He said.

"Yeah, come on." Smiled George. "Let's go find someone else to let Harry loose on."

They incarcerated the fallen Death Eaters and dragged them back up the corridor a little way, controlling them with their wands, to join every one else. It looked like Ron was trying to convince the rest of his family to go along with the plan they had come up with but they did not like it.

"- can't lose Hogwarts." Harry heard Bill say.

"Hogwarts is lost." Said Harry harshly, drawing attention away from Ron. He drew the Map from Ron's back pocket and opened it to show everyone.

"The Marauder's Map!" Exclaimed the twins together. "Excellent."

"Perfect piece of equipment in a pickle like this." Followed one of them jovially.

"This shows everyone in the castle." Harry told the Weasley's who did not know what they were looking at. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that we've lost. The only thing we can do now is get as many people safe as possible. We need to go up a floor and help Neville and Luna and then get this first year out of the toilet, then we'll take these Death Eaters to McGonagall's office and help her out, she's pinned down, we'll figure out what's next once we get there. Let's go." He put the Map in Mr Weasley's hand and before waiting for agreement he pushed through between Bill and Charlie and strode up the corridor. There was no choice but to follow him. He head Mr Weasley ask Ron quietly behind whether he, Harry, was ok.

"Dad." He heard quietly. "Dad… You Know Who's got Ginny."

"NO!" Mr Weasley had stopped and stared in disbelief at Ron. "No!" He repeated.

Ron nodded sadly, unable to quite meet his father's eyes. "Colin," he said indicating the body he was still carrying, "was trying to get her out of the castle… He failed."

Harry stopped and turned to half face everyone else, every one of the Weasley men looked shocked, dismayed, and grief stricken and Harry felt completely responsible. He was utterly guilt ridden.

"But Charlie…" Said George looking accusingly at his brother.

"I…I didn't recognise him." Said Charlie taking a closer, horrified look at Colin. "I only saw him for a second. I swear… I swear I got them safely into the secret passage like I said. I-I thought they'd be safe from there. There were meant to be Aurors on the other side."

"But we found Colin not a floor away from here." Piped in Ernie unhelpfully.

Harry, though ridden with guilt and anguish, knew that they had to keep going. "He probably came back to find someone after Ginny was taken, and Voldemort will know where all the secret passageways are. We need to go; there are other people we can help." Again without waiting for a reply, Harry turned and leapt up the nearby stairwell three at a time.

Harry could feel the blood pumping in his veins as he neared Neville and Luna, he could hear the fight and could not wait to get there to release some of his anger, but it was so strong he did not think it would ever truly leave him. Charlie caught up with him just before he turned the corner and joined the fray. He caught Harry's arm and waved his wand in his face. "For the burn." He said simply hardly noticing that he had been in pain, or that he still had shards of glass in his back. Harry nodded once, he was quite sure that Charlie felt just as guilty as Harry himself and perhaps just as angry. What ever Charlie was feeling it caused him to fight like an enraged Manticore. The two of them took down the three offending Death Eaters in a heart beat. They were tied up an instant later.

Harry helped Luna to her feet. She looked a little bedraggled, her face was smudged with dirt and her hair was poking up in odd places. "Thank you very much Harry," she said calmly.

As soon as Harry saw the others approaching, he and Charlie set off towards the girls' bathroom, actually hoping they would find more Death Eaters along the way. But he had no such luck. As he entered the toilet he heard muffled sobs from the end cubicle and headed down to that end. As he opened the door he heard. "F-Furnunculus." He dodged to the side and the spell zipped through the space next to his head. "It's ok." He shouted. "We're here to help you."

"Harry." Said Parvati sharply from behind him as she walked into the bathroom with everyone else. "Don't say it like that. You'll scare her." She passed him and sat on the toilet seat next to the girl and pulled her into a hug. "Don't you worry bout him. You're safe now. What's your name?" Harry realised that with the glare he had on his face he probably did look a little intimidating, the others were flicking their wands and moving the unconscious Death Eaters up against a wall underneath a row of sinks, out of the way.

"Natalie… Did you call him Harry?" Whispered the girl to Parvati. She nodded in return. "Harry Potter?" Another nod. The girl left Parvati's arms and leapt to Harry where she threw her arms around his stomach and sobbed into his chest. He awkwardly patted her on the shoulder, looking around for inspiration. Parvati looked disgruntled, and most of the others thought that this would be an excellent moment to move away and scan the Marauders Map leaving him to fend for himself. "I-I'm s-sorry," she sobbed. "I-I ran aw-w-way, there were m-men all ar-round… and they were sh-shooting sp-spells all over, and P-P-Proffessor Fli-itwick told us to keep going while h-he fought but I-I ran away."

"Er, it's ok." He patted her shoulder again. He managed to extract himself from her embrace but she caught hold of his hand and wouldn't let go, so he walked over to the counsel around the map with a new friend. The map was spread out on the floor and the men were kneeling next to it watching the black dots move around and, every so often, wink out.

"The Auror's have arrived back with Tonks and Filch." Informed Ron. "They're coming in through the fourth floor mirror and the Whomping Willow. Death Eaters seem to be heading towards McGongall."

"We should help McGonagall and Hagrid and then join the Aurors." Said Mr Weasley.

"What about Ginny?" Fred asked his dad.

"How are we going to get her back?" Asked the other twin.

Harry had only seen Mr Weasley look older and sadder than he did at this moment: when he had thought that Ginny had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets and killed by the heir of Slytherin.

"Boys." He said slowly sitting back against a sink. "For now we have to think about saving everyone that we can save and that includes everyone standing here. We will get Ginny back, we will, but right now we need to make sure that no one else loses a daughter, or a sister."

His response was meant with silence. All of the Weasley men knew that he had spoken the truth but did not want to believe it and each one was fighting his own personal battle. Everyone else felt like an outsider into a family's sorrow.

"We should split up." Said Harry eventually. He had done a scan of everyone here and decided who he thought should be in each group. "I'll go, with Ron, Fred, and George, to get McGonagall –"

Harry's idea was not popular, Bill, Mr Weasley and Charlie all protested. "We should stay together." "It's not safe." "Only four of you." "What about us?" Cried Neville indignantly.

Harry held up his free hand, irritated. "The four of us have had this map for years." He said to Mr Weasley. "We know more of the secret corridors than anyone, even Filch. We can find our way quicker to any part of the castle than anyone else."

"I've got a couple of things we can use to take out big groups of Death Eaters." Encouraged Ron.

"And once we've done that McGonagall and Hagrid will make us six, that's better than four, right? Afterwards we'll head down and exit through the dungeon, and get anyone from the Order we find to safety. The rest of you take the map and the captured Death Eaters and Natalie and… and Colin. Get them out and then help everyone else."

"We should stay together." Said Mr Weasley.

"If we split up we can help more people."

"If you all get killed because there weren't enough of you, you won't help anyone." Harry noticed Justin turning slightly paler.

He knew that that made sense, but he did not want to listen to sense. He wanted to save his friends. After a long pause where he watched a couple more black dots on the map, names that he did not recognise but who he knew were fighting Death Eaters, wink out, he looked up. "You can do what you want… But I'm going to help Hagrid." He stood up and remembered that Natalie was still holding onto his hand. He looked up to Parvati and asked slowly. "Would you mind getting Natalie to safety?" Parvati glanced at Natalie and then to the map, drawing her lip through her teeth. She nodded. "There is a secret passage way out of the school just back around the corner; there is a portrait of lady in bright pink robes hiding behind a rose bush. Tap it and say Expositus and she'll pull back the bush to reveal a hole you two can slide down. Once you're away from the school you can Apparate to the Ministry." He looked around. If anyone else wants to leave, now is the time to do it. There's no shame in it, there's no need to risk your necks." The Weasley's all looked aghast at the suggestion but Ernie and Justin both gave each other a worried look. Harry looked at them both pointedly. "You don't need to stay." He said. "You could take Colin back with Parvati and Natalie. And the captured Death Eaters, you'd still be doing a massive part to help." They again gave each other a questioning look. And then nodded.

Harry did not wait to see what anyone else would do. He strode out of the bathroom, his wand clenched tightly in his hand and before he knew it he was two corridors away from the stone gargoyle with all of the Weasley's, Neville and Luna. They ran stealthily from one hiding place to the next, trying to get as close as they could with out being seen.

There was no noise, no sound of battle or shouts from the injured, the Map showed that everyone was perfectly still; it all boded badly in Harry's opinion. When they reached the end of the corridor Harry was unsurprisingly confused. The combatants stood stock still, some with incantations half pronounced, giving their faces looks that would have been incredibly amusing in other circumstances, others had spells already cast but they were frozen as they were flying through the air. McGonagall and Hagrid were there, by the gargoyle, Hagrid's pink umbrella was pointed at the closest Death Eater but McGonagall's was pointed into the air.

"Do you think she cast a spell to freeze everyone?" Asked Ron.

"I don't know." Replied Harry, confused. "Why would she trap herself too?"

"I don't know."

They all stood, looking confused and unsure of what to do.

"Do you think the spell would trap anyone else that went to close?" Asked George.

"Let's find out." Replied Fred. He drew his wand and sent a stunner at one of the Death Eaters, before it reached him in quite suddenly stopped, suspended by an invisible force in the air. "I would say… Yes." Said Fred.

"What do we do?" Charlie asked his father.

"I'm not too sure," he said, "I've never seen anything like this. I think we may have to leave them. They're safe while the spell lasts, as far as I can tell, but I don't know what we can do for them."

Luna was inspecting the spell that Fred had cast towards the Death Eaters. She pointed her own wand at one of them and sent a stunner his way. She then moved onto the next. She smiled dolefully fifteen stunners later. "It's a shame I won't be able to see what happens when the spell's taken off." She sighed.

Bill raised his scared face from the Map and swore. "There are Death Eaters heading this way." He said.

"How many?" Asked Ron.

"Too many." Was all Bill could say in return.

"Then let's go." Said Mr Weasley. "We'll head to the dungeon exit." They began to walk.

"We can take the twirling staircase its not far." Said Ron.

"Isn't it a Sunday?" Asked George.

"Yeah, so?"

"Well it only goes upwards on a Sunday."

"It doesn't matter." Said Harry. "Let's just go help some friends and capture some Death Eaters."

A/N : It's been a long time since my last update and I feel ashamed of myself lol. But please review, let me know what you all think, I'd like pointers on how to improve, not so much spelling corrections (although they are quite handy) but techniques ect. Thanks a lot, hope you enojoy reading.