We're coming up on all the good stuff, so make sure to stay tuned in until the final chapter! I have the third (and final) installment all outlined and will begin working on it as soon as this part of the series is over! Hope you have all been enjoying it so far as I have loved every minute of writing it!

Anyways, you know the drill. I love reviews!
Read and enjoy!

Seamus and I rushed down the hall, followed closely by Padma and Dean, who were more so tolerating our plan to blow up the stone bridge. And tolerating is still slightly exaggerating.

"I think this is a really bad idea," Padma said for the fifth time in five minutes as Seamus picked the lock to Filch's office. I started to load my pockets with ingredients that were confiscated that would surely explode if mixed together. At least…we hoped so. "We're going to be outside…exposed...with hundreds of Death Eaters in spell range. We could be killed-"

"Yes," I interrupted her, "It's all very exciting isn't it?" I paused, turning to put my hand on my best friend's shoulder. "Padma, if you don't want to be a part of this. You don't have to be. Seamus and I will be fine on our own if you want to join the groups in the towers. I promise I won't call you a chicken…too often."

She hesitated for a moment, rocking back and forth on her heels. "Oh, give me the damn ingredients." She stuck her tongue out at me as she started to stuff her own pockets full with fireworks that had been confiscated by Filch long ago.

It was actually Dean's brilliant idea to search Filch's office for things to make the bridge explode. "I mean, think about it," he said as he led the way down the hall, "I'm sure there were more people before Fred and George Weasley, but with those two alone…Filch probably has an arsenal down in the dungeons."

Seamus and I looked at each other in silent agreement. Dean was a genius. We would have never thought of that. Seamus clapped him on the shoulder as we entered the office. Dean decided to keep watch from the outside, though we all seriously doubted anyone would give us a detention for breaking into Filch's office and stealing explosives to blow up the stone bridge.

On second thought, we would probably be expelled. No matter the fact that there was a major battle about to take place.

That was how we had gotten into Filch's office at least.

I looked at Padma, a pleased smirk on my face as she continued to stuff her pockets full of explosives. I couldn't have been more proud of her at that moment in time. The ceiling above us shook for a moment before settling back into place.

"On second thought," Padma said after we had paused to stare at the ceiling for a second, "Maybe it's a good thing we'll be outside. A thousand year old castle cannot possibly withstand a whole battle."

With that last thought, we shimmied as quickly as we could out of the office and back into the hallway, pounding up the nearest staircase to navigate our way toward the large front doors.

"This is going to be awesome," Seamus said as he pumped his fist into the air, "I've always wanted to intentionally blow up a part of the castle." I laughed as we skidded around a corner, though it wasn't as unoccupied as we thought it was going to be.

I ran headlong into a large something with a soft belly. I bounced off the thing and onto the floor, landing with a loud 'humph' onto my backside. A few explosives fell from my pocket and scattered across the stone floor. I glanced upward, glaring at the thing that had stopped my flow of movement.

Only to find myself staring straight into the eyes of Vincent Crabbe.

"Oh great," I said as I lifted myself up from the ground, dusting off my backside. "Couldn't you find another hallway to haunt?" I started to pick up the explosives, stuffing them back into my already overflowing pockets.

"Draco's been looking for you."

I dropped the last explosive onto the ground, looking up at him with confusion. "You know how to talk? And who's been looking for me?"

Crabbe turned around, evidently stupid enough to not know how to answer the question. But standing behind him, looking uncharacteristically frantic, was Draco Malfoy.

My heart began to beat fast, my palms were sweaty. I immediately began to wonder what state my hair was in, but then internally chastised myself for wondering such a silly thing when we were on the brink of a war. Padma, Dean, and Seamus casually continued to walk down the hall, pretending to be caught up in their own conversation, but were really listening to see what was going on.

"Natalie," he said shortly, taking a step toward me. He stopped, hiking up a sneer onto his face. I sent him a look that clearly said 'really' before he dropped the sneer and took another step toward me. "Where the hell were you? Not that I was worried sick or anything…but I was curious."

I snorted, stepping forward to poke him in the chest. His smell filled my nostrils, making me realize how much I had really missed him the past few weeks. My heart began to flutter once again. "You missed me," I said with a soft smile on my face. He shook his head quickly, trying to back away, but I grabbed onto the front of his jacket. "You missed me and you were worried. Admit it."

He shook his head quickly, glancing out of the corner of his eye to see if Crabbe and Goyle were watching…they weren't.

I furrowed my brow, letting go of his jacket. "How did you get back in anyways? I thought all the Slytherins were evacuated."

He smirked, running his hands over my waist, hooking his fingers through my belt loops. It was as if the past couple weeks never happened…that we had always seen each other. "I'm Draco Malfoy."

I shoved his chest, my nose wrinkled in disgust. "You're so ridiculous. But really, how did you get back in."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I never left. When they started to shove us through the Room of Requirement door, I peeled off with Crabbe and Goyle claiming Head Boy business. No one questioned me after that."

"Always using your power for good and not evil," I said sarcastically as I crossed my arms over my chest. Which was actually a challenge considering his arms were still wrapped around my waist. There was a sharp noise from down the hall, as Padma cleared her throat. "Oh, I forgot, we're about to blow up the bridge. I have to get going, sorry!" I wriggled out of his grasp and started to make my way down the hall, until he grabbed my upper arm and swung me back around. I stumbled, another set of explosives falling out of my pocket.

"You said you're going to do what?" he said with a voice filled with disbelief.

"Oh, just going to blow up the bridge. Trying to keep the Death Eaters out and all."

He shook his head slowly, still staring at me with incredulity. "Nothing that comes out of your mouth should surprise me anymore."

"I don't know why you let it," I said with a large grin. "But really, I have to get going. You should find some cover to, by the way. I don't think the Order members would be too happy knowing you're still in the castle."

He made a noise that told me an argument was on its way, so I disentangled myself once again and made my way down the hallway.

"Wait!" I heard him call after me. I stopped, sighed, and turned around.

"You know, we're really on a time crunch here. Why don't you go find Harry Potter to bother? I'm sure he has much more time to spare than we do."

He took a step toward me, nervousness took over his face. "I really…wanted to…what I'm trying to say is that I-"

I waved my hands in the air for a moment before jamming two fingers into my ears. He sent me an odd look before I started to explain. "Don't say anything to me that you wouldn't say under normal circumstances. You'll just ruin everything!"

Despite the fact that my curiosity was raging through my body, I spun on my heels and joined the other three who were waiting for me down the hallway.

"That wasn't awkward at all," Seamus commented as we continued our trek toward the front doors, quickening our pace when the ceiling began to shake again. We reached the doors in record time, flinging them open to reveal a hillside full of Death Eaters. My jaw dropped as we stopped at the threshold of the door, unsure if our idea was still a good one.

Padma turned and whacked me on the shoulder.

"OW!" I complained, rubbing the now sore spot. "What was that for?"

She gestured toward the crowd, who were all jeering at us from the distance. "See what your bright ideas get us into? I swear to Merlin if we live through tonight, I'm going to kill you in the morning!"

I scoffed at her. "You would kill your best friend after a successful night of battling a horde of Death Eaters and their crazed leader, Voldywart?" After reading the expression on her face, I concluded, "Okay, maybe you would."

I was the first to take a step over the threshold and, when the Death Eaters didn't move any closer, I took a few steps onto the front lawn. "See, guys. They can't get any closer. Let's just go take care of business-"

As if on cue, there was a shout seven stories up. "OI! Are you going to sit there and stare at it or are you going to man up and make your way over there?"

I glanced up in time to see a redheaded figure bolt over the side of the castle. I glared up at the empty spot, gesturing rudely upward. A few of the female Death Eaters looked highly affronted, making noises that clearly said they disapproved.

I marched over to the bridge, followed closely by Dean, Seamus, and Padma. The Death Eaters could no longer see us at this point, so we figured we didn't need to make any special precautions to take cover. Shakily, I planted the first explosive in a small nook between the stone and wooden fence. Dean and Padma passed by us quickly, claiming they were going to start working on the other end of the bridge.

"Say, Natalie," Seamus said slowly as he took out his own explosive and put it on the floor of the bridge. "If we both live through this, I have a proposition for you."

"What's that?" I asked curiously, climbing onto the side of the bridge to place an explosive onto the bridge. I made sure not to look down into the valley below as I climbed back down.

Seamus cleared his throat, obviously nervous. "If we live through this…I propose that we both move away together. Start somewhere new. Away from all the drama and wars going on here."

I thought for a moment, quietly placing another explosive between the wall and the wooden handrail. Seamus was holding his breath, waiting for an answer. "Alright, you have a deal. If we live through this, we'll move away."

Just as I finished the sentence, I caught a glimpse of Dean and Padma running toward us, their feet clapping heavily against the stone. Padma was gesturing for us to run as Dean was haphazardly dropping explosives as he went.

"I think we have a problem," I said slowly as Seamus looked up toward the noise. I glanced behind them, seeing a mass of Death Eaters running over the bridge. "Oh Merlin," I shouted as I grabbed Seamus' wrist and pulled him toward the castle.

"They got in! They got in!" Padma shouted as she raced by me, determined to make it over the bridge before it blew up. She seemed to have forgotten that we had the control. As she hit the end of the bridge, she threw herself over the small wooden fence, hovering on the hill that sloped and eventually dropped off into the valley.

Dean took cover after her, followed by Seamus and then myself.

"Natalie," Seamus shouted over the noise, gesturing toward my wand, "Blow up the explosives!"

"ME?" I shouted back, gesturing toward his wand, "there wasn't anything in my plans about people actually being on the bridge! You do it!"

Dean took out his borrowed wand, pointing at the bridge. "I'll do it!" he shouted. "Take cover!"

I immediately ducked, knocking heads with Padma as Dean muttered the spell to detonate the explosives. When nothing happened, I glanced up to see Dean shaking the wand.

"Uh…what happened?" I asked as I watched the Death Eaters inching closer to the front lawn.

Dean shrugged. "I don't know! I said the spell, the jet of light came out, but nothing happened. I don't know if I said it wrong-"

One Death Eater rocketed out of the bridge, spinning around with his wand raised toward us. Seamus leapt up, wand pointed as he yelled "stupefy!"

But, instead of hitting the Death Eater, Seamus missed and accidently hit the closest explosive instead. As the first one went off, creating a domino effect of explosions, we were thrown backward onto the front lawn. The ends of Padma's pants were smoking and soot covered all of our faces.

There were screams of pain and fear as the bridge crumbled into the valley below. Cheers showered us from above as students, staff, and order members watched the explosion from the top of the castle. As the smoke and dust cleared, I saw that nothing was left of the stone bridge.

I stood from my kneeled position on the ground, grass stains littering my jeans as I clapped Seamus on the shoulder. "Evidently all we needed was an old-fashioned Seamus spell!"

Seamus threw me a sour look as we laughed and cheered, high-fiving and hugging each other for a job well done.

"STUPEFY!"
"CRUCIO!"
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The celebrating was short lived as a shower of spells and curses rained down on us from the Death Eaters that had made it across the bridge before its utter demise. I ducked my head, avoiding the streams of light at all costs as I grabbed Padma's hand and ran.

"ALL GENDERS FEND FOR THEMSELVES!" I threw over my shoulder as we slipped and slid up the wet, grassy hill to the front doors as fast as we could. We skidded into the Entrance Hall, stopping short at the chaos that sat in front of us.

Spells and curses jetted across the Hall haphazardly before hitting unsuspecting victims, sending them crumbling to the floor or flying a few feet from where they once stood. The stone walls were cracked, some large pieces were ominously wobbling as they walls and ceiling continued to shake with the presence of so much magic.

Rubble scattered the stone floor, creating a danger to anyone who wanted to run at full speed. In the thirty seconds I had been standing there, two people had already hit a loose stone, skidding down and smashing into the floor with nasty cracks.

One Death Eater that had done it had slammed is head into the floor and now wasn't moving.

"We need to go up a few floors!" I yelled to Padma over the noise. As Dean and Seamus ran toward us, I gestured to the Grand Staircase, wanting to save my voice for the rest of the night. "How the hell are we going to get all the way over there?"

Dean and Seamus shoved past us, joining the fight as they stuck close to the stone wall that wrapped around the Hall. "Every gender fend for themselves!" he yelled over his shoulder, smirking to himself. I huffed out of indignation.

Grabbing Padma's wrist, I pulled her farther into the Great Hall, where a few Death Eaters had turned their attention towards us- the newcomers.

"Tarantellegra!" I shouted, pointing my wand at the nearest Death Eater. He broke out into a pretty impressive jig. His face reddened with anger as he kept trying to cast other curses, but missed wildly because of the erratic leg movement.

Padma chastised me for a moment before pulling me toward the stairs, taking full advantage of the Death Eaters turning toward their fellow member and trying to get his feet to stop doing polka moves. "You do realize that we're in the middle of a war, right?" she yelled over the noise as she pulled me up the stairs. We ducked low under the banister, using it to shield us from any curses or jinxes that got shot up our way. "Can't you think of anything better than the Dancing Leg Jinx?"

"OI!" we heard a shout that sounded eerily like Seamus. We whipped our heads toward the noise, running off the Grand Staircase at the third floor when we saw Dean and Seamus gesturing toward us with wild hands.

"We thought you were goners for good!" Seamus yelled over a near explosion, coating the hall where we had been a moment ago in large stones from the wall and dust.

I shoved him as we ran. "Good thing to know chivalry isn't dead!" I snapped back as I followed Dean down another large hallway, as the one we were in was blocked off by a cave in from the ceiling above.

There were loud noises of dueling as we continued down the hallway. We took out our wands in time to see two red headed men fighting the Minister of Magic. Down the other end of the hall, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley had just arrived- looking ragged, tired, and overheated.

"Oh Merlin, no," I said suddenly, trying to back out of the hallway, but was met with Seamus blocking the way. "We can't be in the same place as Harry Potter! He's bad luck to be around you know!" I paused, pointing out one of the redheaded men. "Hey, that's Fred."

Seamus snorted as he pushed past me, lunging forward to help the two men take down the Minister of Magic and fellow Death Eater when they both fell at the redhead's feet.

"Man," Seamus said in disappointment, "I wanted to be able to tell Fergus that I took down the Minister of Magic. See if he tried to one-up me on that one!" He kicked a loose rock, which hit the stone wall with quite a high velocity. Instantaneously, the air exploded sending all of us backward. I cracked my head against the floor.

Rubbing my head and seeing stars in front of my eyes, I called out to the rest of our group to make sure they were okay. Seamus and Dean were haphazardly tossed a few feet from us, whereas Padma was, incidentally, lying across my legs.

"I told you!" I shouted to Seamus as he made his way through the sea of loose rubble to help us off the ground. "We should stay away from Potter. Actually, I think I'm going to stay away from you too. Everything explodes when you're around-"

There was a scream of agony that ripped through my insides, a scream that couldn't have possibly been caused by a spell or curse. As I turned my attention toward the middle of the corridor, where Hermione was struggling to get to her feet and Harry was swaying with unbalance, blood dripping from his temple; Ron Weasley and the other redheaded man (who I assumed was his brother) were kneeled over a body…a dead body.

I shoved past Seamus to get a closer look, keeping my distance from the family that was obviously mourning.

"No, no, no!" someone shouted. "No, Fred, no!" The other redheaded man was shaking Fred, while Ron kneeled at his head, silent tears stream down his disbelieving face.

Fred's eyes were open, but unseeing- staring blankly at the ceiling. The ghost of his last laugh was etched across his face.