"FIND THE DAMN SNITCH POTTER!" Angelina screamed at Harry after ten minutes into practice. It wasn't even past Halloween yet, the Quidditch season hadn't even started yet – and she was still treating them like they were the loosing team.
"I can't!" Harry yelled back, he honestly couldn't, he was looking everywhere, but the snitch was absolutely no where to be seen.
"Angelina! I can't see it either!" Benjamin yelled to their captain as his eyes scanned the pitch, Angelina glared at him for taking his attention away from the quaffle before scanning the pitch herself and found she too could not see the snitch.
"Did you let it out Potter?" Angelina asked.
"Of course, I opened it like you asked, let it run around for a minute then went to catch it, just like you told me," Harry replied, half annoyed.
Alicia and Katie flew down to the ground and gathered together, Angelina caught this and growled.
"You two are meant to be passing the quaffle!" Angelina yelled at them, but they did not look up or show they'd heard her in anyway, but kept their heads looking down at the floor, curiously Benjamin, Harry and Angelina went down to them to see what they were looking at as Fred and George paused with curiosity before following them.
"What you got Alicia?" Fred asked the raven haired girl, but she remained silent, staring endlessly at the floor.
"The snitch is dead," Katie said slowly looking at the snitch with something between terror and amazement.
"Snitches can't die," George said hastily but looked down and saw that she was right; the snitch was indeed lying on the floor, wings open but unmoving. "Maybe they can…"
"No, the snitch is a magical object, it can't die," Benjamin said, they could hear footsteps against the soft grass and turned to see a fearful looking Sophie, Hermione, and a few other people form the Gryffindor house.
"What's happened?" Hermione asked.
"The snitch died," Angelina replied still staring at the tiny Golden Snitch that was lying on the grass completely still, not a single flutter of it's golden wing.
"Snitches can't die, they can't even run out of battery, they're magical objects, they don't just run out of power," Hermione said staring in bewilderment at the tiny golden object.
"What could kill it then?" Fred asked Hermione.
"I-I… I don't know, I could think of a few possibilities, but-"
"DUCK!" Sophie screamed, throwing herself to the floor and knocking Hermione down in the process, everyone dropped to the floor and Harry turned around in time to see dark cloaks flooding towards the school boundaries.
"RUN!"
Somehow the Deatheaters had managed to get through the forbidden forest, and now they had come into closer contact with the students sooner than they had thought. It seemed this put them off for a few seconds, long enough for those with brooms to manage – just- to get those who hadn't onto their brooms and take off.
"GO! GO! GO!" Ron bellowed as they took off into the air, they had been too far away from the school to risk running; this was their only chance of getting away.
A beam of red light shot through the air and hit Hermione who was on Harry's broom, she screamed loudly, and he felt something wet and warm splatter across his face, but he daren't look back.
Quickly as he could he clung to one of her arms as her hold on him loosened, and he felt panic rise up in him.
"HERMIONE!" Ginny's voice screamed, terror evident in her voice. There was lots of crying and screaming as they neared the school.
They landed roughly in the courtyard outside the entrance hall, most of them actually crashing into the cobbled floor, and instantly Fred and George capture Hermione in their arms and dragged her inside. Blood splattered over the stone courtyard and Harry looked down at himself and realised he was covered in blood; Katie ran up to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the doors.
"EVERYONE INSIDE!" She screamed at the kids hanging around, looking at them, frozen in shock, but her words seemed to send a bolt of understanding through them and quickly they ran into the school.
"Mr Weasley!" McGonagall voice screeched. "What's happened to her?"
"Attack!" Fred gasped out as he continued dragging Hermione inside with his twins help. "We were attacked by the quidditch pitch."
"Attacked?" McGonagall repeated in horror, until she shook herself slightly and waved her wand in the air, suddenly loud and threateningly alarm bells started ringing all over the school, ringing around the grounds and probably as far as Hogsmeade station. "EVERYONE INTO YOUR COMMON ROOMS!"
"I'm staying!" Harry ground out as he stood very still in front of McGonagall.
"No Potter, you're going to your common room like everyone else, and without a fuss!" McGonagall said tightly, as students already started running past them towards different areas of the school.
"Harry!" Katie whispered furiously, still holding onto his hand. "Please, for your family don't do this, for me, for your friends, come back to the common room, we need you," She was begging him, her voice tainted with desperation; he looked into her eyes and saw them filled with fear.
"Go Potter."
Reluctantly Harry ran with Katie up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room, they were the last to enter, and instantly Samantha clung to her brother, shaking she was so terrified, she knew what an attack meant, she wasn't dumb. Harry picked his sister up and wrapped his arms tightly around her, Benjamin stood up allowing Harry to sit down with Samantha and rocked the younger girl back and fourth, rubbing her back as his mum used to do after Samantha had a nightmare.
"We'll be fine, Sammy, you hear me, we'll be fine, y'know what our family is like, we survive everything," Harry whispered into her ear.
"We can't always just survive," Samantha whispered fearfully, Harry did not reply – what did you reply to that? She was thirteen, and she knew exactly what had to happen, she knew one day they'd have to fight, and fighting was the most frightening thing to her, because she knew that they had less chance of surviving… She was thirteen; she shouldn't have known any of this…
There was a loud crash and whimpers and cries rung through the common room where everyone had gathered. Harry looked down and Samantha had tears rolling down her face, it would not be long before their father and their mother were called into action.
A knock made Harry jump, it was at the portrait hole, a first year girl looked at it fearfully; Harry quickly handed Samantha to Benjamin and jumped to his feet.
"Don't open it!" he yelled at the girl, who quickly backed away from the entrance. He neared the entrance and listened carefully.
"LET ME IN!" A shrill voice screeched a voice he did not know or trust.
"DOBBY!" Harry yelled thinking suddenly, a sudden pop and a fearful looking Dobby burst before him and looked around, his wide green eyes finally landing on Harry. "Who is it outside Dobby?" Harry asked urgently.
"Masters Harry, it is Bellatrix Lestrange!" Dobby squeaked fearfully. "She is wanting you master Harry!"
"Thank you Dobby, you must go and protect yourself," Harry inbstructed the small elf urgently.
"No, Dobby will stay and help Master Harry; it is the least Dobby can do," Harry nodded; he had no time to argue. There was shouting just outside the entrance and everyone backed away from it, the older ones pulling out there wands, there was an awful smashing and screaming noise and then a loud ripping.
"They're destroying the fat lady!" Lavender shrieked.
"She'll be fine," Angelina whispered terrified.
"Harry!" Seamus hissed suddenly. "What spell do you use?"
Harry wracked his brain for a moment, clueless as to why Seamus would ask him this before answering. "Expelliarmus."
"Good," Seamus muttered. "I know that one."
The common room was tense as they heard the fighting not twenty feet from them.
"GET AWAY!" A familiar voice screamed, it was Alice Longbottom, she was the only person Harry had met with such a fairy like voice, Neville whimpered.
"AV"
"EXPELL-"
"CONFRINGO!" A thick male voice bellowed, and large cracking noise sounded, following by painful screaming. Everyone jumped at the noise, and a couple of people started to scream and cry more then before. Then a sudden silence as the entire tower began to shake.
"Oh, God we need Hermione!" Mackenzie yelled as she clutched onto Samantha and Benjamin.
"What was that spell?" Harry asked as the walls started to crack around them.
Patricia Simpson, a seventh year, looked at him with horror.
"It's Confringo, causes anything the spell meets t-to explode!" Patricia informed him shakily.
"The tower literally hangs onto the school," Kenneth said fearfully. "It could cause the tower to dislodge."
"GET OUT!" Patricia screamed as the seventh year prefect. "Use the floo! Hufflepuff common room!"
"Dobby! Grab as many as you can, get them to Hu-" but Dobby had already grabbed hold of several first years and disappeared. There was a rush as students pushed towards the Fireplace, but the floor was cracking, and everyone was terrified, there were anguished screamed outside the entrance as the adults realised in total horror what was happening.
"WE NEED TO GET THEM OUT!" Someone screamed just outside the entrance.
Suddenly the portrait burst from the entrance, totally ruining the art work and there stood Frank and Alice Longbottom, instantly they were grabbing the children nearest and practically flinging them out onto the stair case.
Another loud crack and Harry jumped through the entrance hole as other disappeared down the floo, he looked back, the common room was almost empty now, apart from a second year girl who stood against the back wall, shaking with fear.
"COME ON!" Harry bellowed, trying to convince her to move towards him, but she was frozen in terror, he reached forwards, but the bricks were starting to fall, one catching his hand, he pulled away with a painful hiss and looked up, just in time to see the common room move away, like it was leaning, the girl ran forward, she reached her hand out, then disappeared. She was gone.