"Pansy! Milli! Get up, Longbottom's hanging from the ceiling!"
Nina's eyes snapped open, and in a moment of blind confusion she looked to the ceiling of her dormitory, searching wildly for any trace of Neville's body as Daphne Greengrass burst into the room, her uniform slightly disheveled.
"What're you on about, Daphne?" Pansy growled, poking her head through the curtains surrounding her canopied bed, a sleeping mask strapped clumsily to her forehead. "What ceiling?"
"I'm telling you, it's Longbottom and that Ravenclaw Boot in the Great Hall," Daphne repeated, her blonde hair frizzled and eyes staring wide. In her panic, Nina gasped, but managed to pass it off as a cough when Daphne looked her way. "I just heard it from Nott! You know how Filch always says he'll hang us by our wrists if we mess around too much?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, it's happening,"
"What?" Millicent sat up, wiping a strip of drool from her chin. "Why? What've they done?"
"Like I care," Daphne replied, shrugging as she unlatched her trunk, scrambling through it. "But I'm going to snap a photo before the moment is gone, if you don't mind."
In the bed across from her's, Pansy trained her olive eyes on Nina, narrowing them suspiciously. Nina didn't dare make her wild sense of panic obvious, instead slowly slipping out from underneath the covers and reaching for her comb.
Neville, she thought, her heart beating furiously as she slowly clothed herself, careful not to appear in any rush to get to the Great Hall. Last night, guilt washing over her, she used the Galleon to contact the rest of the D.A., notifying them that she had returned to her common room, but had to leave Terry behind. Exhausted by the time she snuck into her dormitory, she didn't remember putting on her pyjamas, nor falling asleep. But the news of Neville apparently being caught as well woke her up like a slap to the face.
After dressing herself and brushing her teeth, she came to the common room where she ran into Blaise and a rather sleepy-looking Ibrahim, who yawned widely as he rubbed his eyes.
"Have you heard yet?" she asked them quietly.
Blaise nodded. "How could I not? Nott came bursting into our room, yelling about it."
"Same thing with Daphne," Nina said as the three of them made for the Great Hall, a restless spring in their steps.
"Corporal punishment, huh?" Ibrahim said sleepily, his interest obvious piqued. "Well, maybe this dump of a school isn't as boring as I thought."
The trio whisked away along with the majority of the other curious Slytherins, many of whom spoke in fearful whispers to each other. As they came to the Great Hall—Nina filing in behind a gaggle of gasping students—she stopped in her tracks, gazing in horror at the sight before her.
Two bodies were suspended in the air; not from the ceiling as Daphne had said, but levitating at the end of their according house tables. At the head of the Ravenclaw table, his arms stretched high above him and his head bowed, hung Terry Boot. At the head of Gryffindor, mirroring Terry's position, was the frumpy form of Neville. They both appeared to be unconscious, or at least extremely exhausted.
"Whoa," came Ibrahim's voice as he stopped beside Nina, gaping at their figures.
"Keep it moving," Blaise muttered, passing them both by and taking a seat at their table. Hesitantly, Nina and Ibrahim followed.
There was no breakfast awaiting the students at their tables as they took their seats on the benches. They Great Hall buzzed in fear and panic as the entire student body continued to troop in and sit at their house tables, and Nina noticed looks of pure and utter contempt on the majority of the professors' faces at the staff table. She saw that many younger students were crying, their upperclassmen franticly trying to hush them as Severus Snape stepped up to the podium, his large cloak billowing behind him. Nina felt a flush of resentment for him; for the position he had taken and the predicament he had put her comrades into. In her fury, she set her eyes upon him, refusing to break away; refusing to acknowledge that she wasn't strong enough to look directly at him.
"Last night," he began in a drawling tone, and the entire Great Hall rushed into silence. "Two of what we assume to be many individuals were caught red-handed, engaging in vicious acts of vandalism on the walls of this historic school." Snape said, gesturing to the hanging bodies of Neville and Terry. "Their punishment will consist of another two hours as they are now, and they will go the rest of the day without food and water. No students are permitted to interact with them while they are being corrected, and anyone caught trying to sneak them sustenance will be punished as equally guilty. Let this serve as a warning," he continued, his eyes shifting from one house table to the next. "To any who think it wise to follow in their footsteps and rebel against my—as well as the Dark Lord's—authority."
Nina swallowed hard. What had become of Neville that caused him to be caught? He was with Ginny... surely she, brazen and powerful, wouldn't have abandoned him like Nina did Terry?
Breakfast appeared on the tables, but as she looked around she noticed that many students were not touching any of it, too shocked or disgusted to do so. Nina glanced at Terry Boot, his head lolling to one side and streaks of blood running down his face, and immediately felt sick. She had done this to him. She, who could not remember that the simple charm that would have freed him was diffindo, was solely responsible for the next two hours of torture that he would have to endure. Even the vindictive Ibrahim, who moments ago seemed almost excited to see the spectacle, was now silent as he slowly chewed his pancakes.
"Are you not going to eat?" Blaise asked her, piling pieces of bacon onto his plate. She looked up at him. He, unlike her, was completely at ease. He shot her an inquiring, shrewd gaze, and she clenched her fists, ignoring her urges to vomit.
No, she thought. She couldn't let herself waste away while the Carrows ate plentifully, stuffing their doughy faces with every morsel of food that they didn't deserve. She had to keep her strength up, no matter how sick she felt.
"Of course I am," she replied coolly, ladling several spoonfuls of scrambled eggs onto her dish. "I'm starved."
With enormous effort, Nina managed to scarf down her entire meal, doing everything in her power not to look Terry and Neville's way the entire time. She instead focused on the story George had told her, about how Harry and Ron had crashed the Ford Anglia into the Whomping Willow; how it was currently running wild in the Forbidden Forest. She recalled those sunshine-lit summer days she had been spending with Nora since the end of second year, and how they would sneak off together in the middle of the night and play in the ocean. And then she remembered this last summer with George, and how he would play with her fingers whenever she cuddled up next to him, or snatch a kiss from her when she was brushing her teeth, resulting in him walking around with foam on his upper lip for the rest of the afternoon.
Those were her reasons to force herself to eat; to live another day through Snape's regime. She wanted—no, needed—to see those days again.
She finished her meal in silence and stood to leave, turning her back on Terry and Neville, and made for the exit along with several dozen others, eager to leave the scene. She walked briskly towards the dungeons to pick up her book bag, fists still clenched and herself submerged in deep thought. What will become of the D.A. now, she pondered as she wandered through the dungeons. There was no way either Terry nor Neville would be able to tell Snape or the Carrows anything about the D.A. under the Fidelius Charm, even under torture or the influence of the Imperius Curse, so she did not doubt that she and anyone else who was not caught were safe.
But will they still be up to it? she thought, bringing her thumb to her lips. Suddenly, without any kind of warning, a hand grasped her shoulder and pulled her into a stone alcove. She let out a small shriek, only to have a hand slap itself painfully over her mouth. She reached for her wand, but a painful jolt of blue light caused her to pull away, cradling her hand to her chest.
"I wouldn't run this time if I were you, Brimstone."
Nina looked upward as a bright flash of wandlight illuminated the alcove, revealing the shadowed faces of Anthony Goldstein and Michael Corner.
"I—what—?" she stammered as Michael removed his hand from her mouth, looking at each of their faces, both of which were contorted in unmitigated rage.
"You know exactly what you did," Michael sneered, jabbing his wand into her throat. "You left Terry for dead."
She gritted her teeth, her chest heaving. "I'm sorry. He was trapped,"
"And there was no counter-curse available, was there?" Anthony snapped, his blue eyes cold and calculating.
"What did Ginny do for Neville?" Nina hissed, angry that they were placing every bit of blame on her when Ginny was just as guilty in her mind.
"She told us that she and Neville got cornered. He dueled Amycus to give her a chance to run away," Anthony growled. "But it's different with Terry, isn't it? Your assigned name wasn't even finished, and I know for a fact you were supposed to be the carver while Terry was lookout. If Alecto trapped him while you were in the middle of writing it, then why didn't you help him? Why did you run away like a coward?"
Michael dug his burning wand point into her throat, and she gasped as it continued to heat up, searing her skin.
"I'm sorry!" she breathed.
"Oh, you will be," Michael whispered dangerously. "Because you can be damn sure that next time you need saving, neither of us will be there."
Michael drew away from her, and in seconds the furious Ravenclaws were gone, leaving Nina to stew in her thoughts alone. She slid down the stone wall to the floor, knees quaking and drawing in deep, shuddering breaths. Michael's wand had burned her skin, and Nina clenched her teeth to manage the pain. In the midst of her fear, George's voice came to mind, warning her of her current predicament, of something she feared would eventually happen...
"What if other people have to die because you slip up?"
She brought her hand to her forehead, shaking still. Terry was alive. However, there was no telling what would happen to the rest of the D.A. over the course of the next year, or how much more she would slip up. Perhaps she never should have gone back to Hogwarts in the first place, instead hiding out in the country with the twins and Lee, avoiding Snatchers and Death Eaters...
As she regained her breath, sighing, she felt the warm, unmistakable radiation of the Galleon from within her pocket. Eager to read whatever was being communicated to her by the D.A., she pulled out the coin. Along the edge of it, etched in tiny gold letters, was a message.
G. common room pass: Inferi. 7:30 PM.
There were many things Nina knew she would be doing as a result of going back to Hogwarts and joining the D.A. again. She predicted heists and defiance; cutting their nine o'clock curfew and running off to the Room of Requirement to participate in secret meetings. Of the many wild predictions she had been making, however, sneaking into the Gryffindor common room was not one of them.
Granted, she was invited, but she still felt an immense sense of guilt as she strode up to the Fat Lady, donned in her green jumper, and relayed the password to her.
"More of you!" she wailed, aghast, and Nina stared around nervously as she did. "A Slytherin in my tower, it's absurd! It's heinous!"
"Can you please just let me in?" she whispered. "I gave you the password—here, I'll say it again: 'inferi'."
"This is blasphemous, you know," she spat contemptuously, swinging open and revealing a large, open hole, which Nina scrambled through hurriedly. Immediately, she felt extremely self-conscious of what she was wearing. As she strode silently down the long corridor, passing by shocked-looking Gryffindors every so often, she hugged herself, chiding herself for not thinking of wearing a more neutral colour. As she came to what she took to be the center of the common room—an open, circular area dawned with red curtains, couches, and tapestries—a series of voices made themselves clear.
"Still no feeling in them, then?" Seamus said, his arms crossed as he leaned against the blazing hearth.
"None... been that way all day, Pomfrey says it should clear up by morning, though... OUCH!"
"Oh, you're such a baby, Longbottom," Ginny snapped, and as Nina crept closer she saw that she was rubbing some kind of ointment onto Neville's face, which was sporting a fair few nasty bruises and gashes.
"Oh my gosh," Nina muttered, and they turned round. Some, including Ginny and Neville, beamed at her presence. Others, Nina noted, glanced at her rather coldly. To her dismay, Terry Boot was settled next to Neville, his eye blackened and bottom lip split. He did not acknowledge her presence, instead gazing into the fire.
"All right, Nina?" Ginny chirped, and she grimaced in reply.
"Thanks for inviting me," she said quietly, feeling incredibly uncomfortable as the other D.A. members stared at her. Off in the corner, she noticed, were Michael and Anthony, their gazes equally as sharp and menacing.
"Well, you're a lieutenant, aren't you? Couldn't exactly have a meeting without you," Ginny replied, frowning. "We're still waiting on Hannah, Susan, and Ernie, so why don't you take a seat?"
Nina shook her head quickly, her heart beating rather quickly. "I'm all right,"
Ginny looked from one party to the other suspiciously, her brown eyes narrowed. "Hm."
Just then, from the dormitories came a rowdy group of four boys, the tallest of which perked up upon catching Nina's eye. "Oh, hey!"
"Hullo, Lau," she said quietly as Jason, Devesh, Ritchie, and Jimmy crowded into the common area, all curious about Nina's presence there.
"Glad you could make it here, Nina."
"Yeah, we've never had a Slytherin up here before. Not that I know of, anyway."
"Aren't you ever nervous about being caught?" Jimmy Peakes said, gazing at her admirably. "Y'know, whenever you come back from meetings after curfew?"
"The lady deals with beasts all day, of course she doesn't get nervous," Jason said hotly.
Nina shrugged, grinning bashfully. "I try to take secret passageways on my way up here, but you never know when Filch might show up." Despite looking like nothing more than a frail, mean old man, Filch had the potential to be shockingly quick in his step.
"We saw what you all did on the walls—everybody's been talking about it, the Carrow's have been busy trying to cover them with tapestries, but then we went around and started setting them on fire while they weren't looking," Ritchie said excitedly. "It's brilliant what you've done, really."
"Really? I'm glad you think it was worth it, mate."
The voice belonged to Michael Corner, who was glaring darkly at Nina and the fifth years, his arms tight across his chest.
"Got something to say, Mike?" Ginny said, clearly annoyed.
"Know what? I think I do. I feel that certain members should be... shall we say... discharged?"
"Seconded." said Anthony.
"Oi," Ginny said sharply, rising from the couch. "Lay off, why won't you two? The entire operation was a mess to begin with, Terry and Neville just happened to slip through the cracks."
"You guys," Terry began quietly. "It's fine, really—"
"It is not fine!" Anthony said angrily, his voice rising. "Terry, you never would have been tortured if she hadn't left you! Neville, you said yourself that you only wanted competent people doing this, that's why you made the fifth years stay behind. So why in the hell," He gestured at Nina, who flinched. "Would you invite this coward along? D'you really think you can trust someone who couldn't remember something as easy as diffindo?!"
"We're here!" came the booming, deep voice of Ernie as he, Susan, and Hannah strode into the room. "Sorry we're late, Filch almost—er, hello?"
"Everybody just calm down," Neville said slowly, ignoring the arriving Hufflepuffs and glancing from Michael and Anthony, to Ginny, to Nina. "What's done is done."
Nina glanced at Terry, who was still silently staring into the fire. She figured that he had told Michael and Anthony everything since he had been released from a night of torture with Snape and the Carrows; how he must have relayed every single detail to them.
Suddenly, Nina found her voice. "He's right. I panicked. I forgot the spell."
The entire D.A. looked round at her, their gazes burning into her skull. The fifth years gaped at her, as though they couldn't comprehend what she was saying.
"You know what this means, don't you?" said Lavender sympathetically, leaning against a couch with Padma and Parvati.
"Yeah," Neville replied hoarsely, a bitter smile creeping onto his lips. "We're going to have to really amp up the training."
"I concur," Terry said suddenly, finally breaking his gaze away from the fire and grinning at Neville. Michael and Anthony looked somewhat bewildered. "Don't really fancy doing that again with the Carrows,"
"That is not what I meant," Lavender growled.
"We're not getting rid of any of our lieutenants," Neville retorted, and Lavender bit her lip as she looked away from him. Nina felt her chest flood with relief. "And that's final."
"Er... Sorry if I'm derailing the conversation here, but... What did they do to you, exactly?" Ernie asked.
Terry and Neville looked at each other before shrugging. "Eh. A couple of crucio's here, a few ass-whoopings there..."
"It would have been worse if McGonagall hadn't stepped in. Amycus wasn't too happy about that, was he?"
"But she still allowed them to hang you like that?" Ginny said angrily.
"She didn't have much of a choice, they all outnumbered her," Neville said defensively. "Her jaw was clenched so tight I thought her teeth would crack; Snape told her it was either we receive our punishment that was due or we get flogged every day for the rest of the week."
"Flogged?!" Parvati gasped. "You mean... with actual whips?"
"Don't you remember?" Ginny said grimly. "Umbridge got permission from Fudge to do it to Fred and George just before they left the school; Filch has got an entire set-up down in his office, but Dumbledore banned it when he became headmaster."
"She's right," Padma interjected. "Strictly speaking, corporal punishment hasn't been green-lighted at Hogwarts since before the second world war."
"Yeah, it could've been worse," Terry said casually. "But then they did a lot of underhanded things to us, too. We couldn't move our arms or hands for the rest of the day, so in Amycus' class he crucioed me for not being able to pick up my quill... slick bastard."
"I think we've made a difference, at any rate," Neville smiled, wincing slightly. "We've given everybody hope that the Carrows aren't in as much control as they think they are."
"We still haven't helped Harry's cause much, though, have we?" Anthony interjected. "We don't even know what he's doing."
"He's off to defeat the Dark Git himself, you prat." Ginny snapped, to which a few D.A. members giggled as Anthony flushed a bright red.
"He's got a bit of a point, though." Neville said quietly. "There isn't much we can do for Harry here."
"Actually," Ginny replied. "I think there is."
Neville turned to her, blinking. "Really?"
She nodded, crossing her arms. "The Sword of Gryffindor. Scrimgeour came to our house on Harry's birthday. I... well, I was in the kitchen, listening to them. I think I heard something about Dumbledore leaving it to them."
"So they have it, then? They have the Sword?"
Ginny shook her head. "No, that's what they were angry about. Scrimgeour wouldn't give it to them, I reckon, and if Dumbledore had left it to them, then they must need it to help defeat You-Know-Who."
"So, what? Harry's just going to try and battle it out with You-Know-Who with a... a bloody sword? That's preposterous!" Michael stammered.
"The Sword of Gryffindor can have many uses," Luna said thoughtfully, speaking for the first time that evening. "Harry might not intend to use it directly."
"But where is it now?" Jason Lau said.
"Same place where it's always been." Terry said, and a wave of dread passed over the entire group. Beside him, Neville nodded gravely.
"This is mad." Seamus said. "Are you saying that we... we have to..."
Neville chewed his cheek, looking to be lost deep in thought. "We have to break into Dumbledore's office."
"Guard Squad One, reporting in. We're in position." Hannah whispered into a small, flesh-coloured object, glancing upward. "Doing all right, Nina?"
Nina nodded, hugging the castle wall and her heart pumping in her chest. They had been planning the operation for several weeks now, yet she felt no more prepared than she did when Neville first suggested it in the Gryffindor common room, so long ago. There were a lot of things wrong with the plan, initially: how would they get past the enchantments surrounding the Sword? How would they even get the Sword to Harry? How were they to communicate with each other during the operation? Most importantly, how in the hell were they going to break into the headmaster's office?
The answers came to them eventually. It was decided that Neville, Ginny, and Luna—who were most experienced in defensive spells and charms—were to attempt the actual extraction of the Sword from the office: in other words, they were dubbed the Retrieval Squad. As for getting the Sword to Harry, it was decided that it was better in their hands than in Snape's. Over the course of the next few weeks, they planned with each other meticulously, either communicating through the Galleons or during D.A. meetings. Nina had suggested they create something similar to the Extendable Ear George had given to her to communicate with each other during the heist, and Seamus immediately jumped into an explanation about how Muggles used devices called "walkie-talkies" to speak to each other while they weren't in the same room. Terry, Michael, and Anthony immediately set work on making cheap duplicates of the Ear, keeping both Nina and Seamus' ideas in mind. The charm they cast on the duplicates wouldn't last more than a few days and, if the heist was successful, then they could easily destroy the evidence that they ever existed in the first place.
Seamus and Michael had been assigned the role of diverting attention to the Great Hall, where they would set off a large explosion to hopefully draw the Carrows, Filch, and Snape out of their offices, allowing the Retrieval Squad enough time to sneak into Dumbledore's office, make a duplicate of the Sword of Gryffindor, and sneak back out with the real one. The Lookout Squad, consisting of Ernie and Terry, would standby near the Great Hall—hidden—and watch for the Carrows' and Snape's arrival.
Three separate guard squads were made, then. Guard Squad One—Hannah and Nina—were stationed nearby the headmaster's office. Their primary job was to confirm with the rest of the squads that Snape has, indeed, left his office. This took some convincing on Nina's part, as many D.A. members were hesitant to assign her such an important role after what had happened with Terry. Neville, however, allowed it, under the condition that she do everything in her power to perform her role correctly. The other two Guard Squads were to keep watch outside of Amycus' and Alecto's offices.
"Lookout Squad, here," came the voice of Ernie through the Ear. "We're disillusioned and hidden. Diversion Squad setting off an explosion in thirty seconds."
Nina gripped her wand, not taking her eyes away from the end of the hallway. Neville, Ginny, and Luna were hidden away behind a tapestry nearby; as soon as Snape was out of his office, they were going to use a window and a sticking charm to ascend across the castle wall and through another window that led into the office.
"Seamus is setting it off now, brace yourselves... the diversion's going off in five seconds."
Nina shuddered, and beside her Hannah reached out and held her hand, squeezing it reassuringly. Just then, in the floors far, far below, they heard a resounding clap of sound.
"Explosion's gone off." said Ernie immediately.
Nina trained her eyes on the headmaster's office doors, which was guarded by two gargoyles. She squinted through the darkness, waiting ten... twenty... thirty seconds for some kind of movement. Then, after what seemed like forever, a tall, shadowy figure burst from the doors, retreating down the hallway, around a bend, and out of sight.
"Guard Squad One, reporting movement," Hannah muttered into the Ear. "Snape's out of his office and on his way down."
"Retrieval Squad: we're going in," came Ginny's reply. "See you all on the other side, and good luck."
Nina breathed a sigh of relief. The Retrieval Squad would have to work quickly to get into Snape's office in time, and she wondered to herself if they had bought enough time for them to do so.
"Guard Squad Three, reporting," came Padma's voice after several minutes in silence. "Alecto still hasn't left her room, I'm assuming she's probably patrolling."
"Guard Squad Two: we're here outside of Amycus' office, same situation."
Nina and Hannah exchanged worried glances. Neither of the Carrows were in their offices? It was currently almost three in the morning... so why were they both patrolling? Was it possible that they had somehow found out about their plan?
"Lookout Squad: Alecto's here now, but no sign of Amycus or Snape," said Ernie, his voice extremely tense.
Nina gritted her teeth, staring worriedly at the Ear. What was going on? Snape should have arrived in the Great Hall by now... where were he and Amycus? She saw him leave his office, saw his shadowy, black figure leave...
She stopped. That figure seemed to familiar to her, and she felt a horrible, sinking suspicion inside of herself.
"Hannah?" Nina breathed. "Did you see Snape leave, too? Did you see him?"
Hannah nodded silently, and Nina bit her lip. They had both seen him leave, and yet there was something off about how he looked; it were as if he were made of smoke. She glanced at the Ear once more, her mind whirring. They had made copies of the Ears, one for each squad so as to communicate with each other... six copies...
Copies, she thought, her heart skipping a beat. Snape must have known that the D.A. was feigning an explosion and that Dumbledore had left the Sword of Gryffindor to Harry in his will; if Voldemort had control over the Ministry, then it only made sense that he would know. He must have predicted that they would try to steal it from his office, predicted that they would try to lure him out with a distraction far away from him eventually...
"It's a red herring," she whispered, trembling slightly. The smoky figure that she and Hannah took to be Snape wasn't him at all, but a mere copy to try and fool anyone who was watching his office, namely them. "He's still there, he's still in his office..."
"What?" Hannah muttered. "Nina, what—?"
"They know... Hannah, they know!" She snatched the Ear from her, causing her to jump in surprise. "Everyone, this is Guard Squad One, you need to move out of your positions now! Get Alecto off of the Diversion Squad and get out."
"Squad Two here, what's happened?" said Ernie. "We've already stunned Alecto, she's down."
"They know, Snape never left his office in the first place, it's trap! All squads abort, I repeat—"
"Aren't you a clever little bird, Brimstone?"
Nina and Hannah whirled around, their wands drawn, but before either of them could so much as conjure a spell in their heads Amycus Carrow had aimed his wand at Nina and screamed, "Petrificus Totalus!"
The spell hit Nina square in the chest and she tumbled backwards into the hallway, her entire body seizing up and freezing in place. She collapsed into the corridor as Hannah dove behind a column, dodging several stunning spells Amycus sent her way. As they engaged in battle, Nina noted that she had fallen at an angle that allowed her the perfect view of the headmaster's office door. Within seconds, three figures stumbled out of the office, their wands flourishing and the tallest of whom was gripping the long, silver blade of the Sword of Gryffindor. Behind them came the real Severus Snape, and with a lazy flick of his wand he stunned Neville, the Sword tumbling out of his grasp he slumped to the floor, motionless. Ginny sent furious jinxes and hexes flying towards Snape as she reached for it, but Snape struck her down easily, and she stumbled to the floor, unconscious next to Neville. Behind them, Luna retreated into a nearby classroom, and Snape made after her.
It's over, she thought. Hannah and Luna would both surely be caught soon... the five of them were to surely suffer the same fate that Terry and Neville did a few weeks ago, beaten senseless and hung by their wrists for hours on end. Amycus had recognized her voice—even said her name. Her cover was blown, there was no way, no possible way that she had any way out of this now...
"STUPEFY!"
The voice that had come from behind her belonged to neither Carrow nor Hannah, but she thought she recognized Amycus' brusque grunt as she heard a large mass of flesh thump against the floor.
"Thank you!" came the squeaking voice of Hannah, who had apparently avoided Carrow's wrath against her. "Help her, she's just there—"
"Hang on, Nina. Fenite Incantatem!"
Immediately, Nina fell out of her fixed shape, her chest heaving as a pair of hands on either side of her dragged her to her feet.
"Can you walk?"
"I'm okay, I—" she said quickly, gasping. "Terry!"
Terry Boot grinned, gripping her shoulder reassuringly. He, along with Ernie, had come back for her and Hannah.
"Forgive our tardiness," Ernie panted, sweat rolling down his face. "But we figured you two use a bit of a hand after you cut off,"
"Ern, he knows it was us," Hannah said, pointing to Amycus, who lay slumped against the floor, stirring slightly.
"It's fine. Obliviate," Terry said, aiming at him.
"What about the Retrieval Squad? Are they—?" Ernie began.
Nina shook her head. "Snape has them."
"Then we can't do anything," Terry insisted, starting down the hallway. "Let's go."
Without hesitating or glancing back, the four of them raced down the opposite end of the hall, leaving the Sword and their comrades far behind.
Thank you so, so much to sarahmichellegellarfan1, FanaticomaticSuperTokienLoverH, LeopardFeather, and bellatrixD for your kind and supportive reviews! All of my love to everyone who followed or faved recently, as well. Most of my hiatuses in the past have been spent working on this chapter and the next one to come. Stick around, and leave some feedback if you can (: Thank you for reading.