35

James had finished his shift and allowed Remus to take over. In what seemed like only seconds, he had drifted off into an exhausted sleep, his muscles finally caving in and allowing themselves to feel as taxed as they were. He sprawled out on the floor, letting the cool stone act as a soothing balm against his body and he drifted off to sleep.

It didn't feel like much later that he was being shaken awake. Not by Remus, however, but by Sirius. 'James, come here,' he whispered in an urgent tone.

James glanced around—Caradoc, Peter and Remus were all sleeping. James had missed a changing of the guard or two. 'What's wrong? Someone coming?' he asked urgently.

'Not here,' Sirius said, pointing at the map. 'The Slytherins have been on the move for a while. They forced the Ravenclaws out of Gryffindor tower just a few minutes ago.'

James' jaw dropped. 'But there were about a hundred Ravenclaws there,' he said.

Sirius nodded grimly. 'Not anymore. The ones that didn't get eliminated have been forced to scatter. The Slytherins did it the right way, too…it doesn't look like they lost many people.'

'Great,' James muttered, staring at the map. 'At least they're not here.'

Sirius glanced back at Caradoc. 'Well, see, I was thinking about that. Clearly they targeted the Ravenclaws as a group to eliminate, right? Targeted the only other big group that could stand against them?'

'Yeah…' James said slowly.

'You see any other big groups that have claimed a section of the castle for their own on there?' Sirius pressed, pointing at the ink blots that marked Lily, Mary, Marlene, Alice, Frank and Emmeline.

James raised his eyebrows. 'Damn,' he muttered.

'From a purely strategic point of view,' Sirius went on, 'Caradoc might be less inclined to be our ally if Alice has already been eliminated. And from the slightly more humane point of view…well, I'd rather a bunch of Slytherin scum didn't eliminate my girlfriend.'

James nodded. 'So we should move now,' he said, glancing at his watch. It was half past six in the morning. He looked at the Slytherins on the map near Gryffindor tower—they hadn't begun to move yet, but they weren't exactly staying still. 'What's our best path?'

Sirius grimaced as he gestured at the map vaguely. 'Pick your poison,' he muttered.

James scrutinized the map and quickly realized he was right. The entrance hall was cluttered with a mass of relocated Ravenclaws and a few Slytherins. The movement of the ink blots told James that the battle was still going. A few Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were scattered around the corridors up above, and there were still several Slytherins camped out in the hallway that lead back to the staircase they had taken to the basement in the first place.

'We could try getting back to that hallway and taking the Slytherins on…with Caradoc, we might stand a chance,' Sirius said.

James chewed on that for a moment. 'I think a more direct approach is in order,' he said with a sly grin.

Sirius smiled somewhat nervously. 'What are you thinking?'

James tapped the center of the entrance hall. 'I think we should march up the main staircase in the entrance hall.'

'Great strategy,' Sirius deadpanned. 'The proverbial equivalent of a daylight charge over a minefield. Are you missing class with McGonagall or something?'

James laughed quietly. 'No, think about it—everyone in the entrance hall is busy fighting right now. We might even make it most of the way without being noticed, and it is by far the most direct route to the Astronomy tower. Once we get to the top of the staircase, we just have to go through these two corridors here,' he said, pointing at the map.

Sirius squinted. 'Those two corridors have at least fifteen people in them.'

James pointed at the corridor next to them. 'There's four Slytherins waiting in the corridor we came from, plus two more up the staircase. Then there's five corridors between there and the Astronomy tower, and they're packed.'

He wasn't wrong—two of them were held by a contingent of students from Hufflepuff, and then there were more from Gryffindor.

'So to recap,' Sirius whispered, 'we're going to charge out into the entrance hall, march up the main staircase and hope we got unnoticed by the several dozen duelling students presently in there, then take on fifteen students in quick succession as we go through the corridors to make our way to the fair maidens who may or may not try to eliminate us on sight.'

James nodded. 'That's what I'm proposing.'

Sirius sighed. 'Well, I love this plan. Let's do it.'

They quickly stirred the others awake and did their best to sum up in the vaguest fashion possible, given that Caradoc didn't and couldn't know about the existence of the map. He was naturally surprised by most of the information. 'I'm sorry, how do you know this?' he asked in amazement on several occasions.

'Intuition,' Sirius said.

'You're going to need to give me something more than that,' Caradoc said.

James spread his hands out palms up in a peaceful gesture. 'You said Alice talks about me,' he said. 'Has she ever said that it seems like I know things? Things that maybe I oughtn't to?' he asked.

'Yes…' Caradoc said slowly.

'This is one of those things,' James said. 'And right now, we need you not to argue—we need you to trust us and we need to move because we're losing time. Time in which the Slytherins might move against the group that your sister is currently in.'

Everyone looked at Caradoc expectantly. 'And you really think that charging blindly through the great hall is the best route?' he asked.

'Like I always say, I prefer a straight fight,' Sirius said in as encouraging a voice as he could manage.

Caradoc snorted. 'You can lead the way then,' he said sarcastically.

'This is going to suck,' Peter muttered miserably.

Remus clasped his shoulder. 'Just keep running and stay next to me. You'll be fine,' he said reassuringly. 'Shall we, then?'

James nodded, gripping his wand. They slowly exited the classroom and moved at a brisk pace down the hall. Sirius took the lead, James right behind. Peter and Remus were next, and Caradoc brought up the rear as they got to the edge of the hallway. Sirius hesitated. The sounds of combat could be heard echoing through the chamber—spells of all manners, skill levels and complexity, the yells of male and female alike, swearing, insults, curses, hexes and jinxes being hurled at breakneck speed. Sirius glanced back at the others.

'Ready?' he whispered.

Everyone nodded except for Peter, who merely looked ill.

'Now!' Sirius hissed, and they ran.

It was like being next to a crate of fireworks that had suddenly been ignited. The very air around them seemed to pop, bang and crackled with the force of the spells being hurled around them. James nearly collided with a student who was backing up quickly, defensively duelling against a much taller student who was aggressing upon him. A group of three that were all trying to eliminate each other rushed by in front of them, fiercely duelling from one side of the hall to the other.

Sirius hit the stairs first, taking them two at a time. James cast a glance upwards, ready to cast a shield charm, but no one had seemed to notice them yet. He saw what had to be two dozen combatants battling at various points on the balconies. He recognized a large number of Ravenclaws and Slytherins, fiercely trying to oust each other from the game.

'Heads up!' he heard Caradoc yell. He glanced back to see a spell hurtling towards them, but Caradoc expertly blasted it aside with a spell off his own, ending both spells harmlessly into the walls. James followed the spell back to its source and felt a surge of anger—Severus Snape was standing on the balcony and had sent the spell his way.

'Stupefy!' James yelled, hurling the spell back at Snape who dove for cover.

'Don't focus on him, just run!' Remus yelled from behind him. But a few more Slytherins appeared to have noticed them now and more spells began rocketing towards them. Shouts of 'Protego!' went up from the five of them, deflecting the spells back in all manner of directions as Sirius reached the top of the stairs.

'Black!' shouted a Slytherin, pointing at Sirius just in time to have James' curse strike him in the leg, coloring it orange and causing his wand to evaporate. 'Black and Potter!' the boy yelled.

'Damn that thirty second rule!' Sirius hissed. 'Run!'

A Ravenclaw lunged forward, slashing his wand at Peter. Remus stepped up and bodied him aside and the swiftness of his shield charm knocked the Ravenclaw off balance so Caradoc's disarming spell caught him in the midsection. One of the Ravenclaws' mates saw this occur and yelled to his friends, causing three of them to come running over.

Peter reached out from behind Remus, swiping his wand and sending a curse forward. The lead Ravenclaw, who James recognized as the girl named Patil from their Occlumency classes in second year, deflected it right back at him. Peter and Remus had to dive apart to avoid being hit. James lunged forward, sending two quick stunning spells at her, causing her to leap for cover. One of her male compatriots, who seemed to be in his first year, rushed forward impulsively, slashing his wand repeatedly. While his magical skill was impressive for a first year, his decision making was not—Caradoc easily picked him off with a quick stunner to the midsection.

That left three of the Ravenclaws fiercely duelling with them. Sirius was trying to force his way towards the nearest hallway entrance, and they seemed to notice and try and position themselves in between them and their getaway.

'I wouldn't do that,' James called, but they dug in and begun firing offensive spells in quick succession. Remus deflected two right back at them, forcing them to duck.

'This way!' Sirius called as he blocked a curse sent at him and fired back.

'JAMES, WATCH OUT!' Remus yelled suddenly, grabbing James by the scruff of his neck and hauling him aside just as a curse scorched by. James looked over his shoulder to see Snape still on the far side of the hall, jabbing his wand furiously at them. James pointed his wand at his Slytherin counterpart and rattled off five stunning spells in quick succession, moving his wand back and forth by several inches as he did so. This served the purpose of making it much more difficult for Snape to dodge, and he was forced back into the entrance of a hallway as he did so.

He turned his attention back to the three remaining Ravenclaws. Caradoc and Sirius had pressed them back into the mouth of the hallway entrance. Caradoc sent a stunning spell that caught one of them in the side. Patil turned to observe her fallen comrade, and Sirius' spell struck her, leaving a fifth year on his own. He swore and took off down the hallway, abandoning the fight.

James glanced back to see Snape once more, circling the hall towards them and marshalling Slytherins to follow. James carefully aimed his wand, hoping to catch Snape unawares, and was nearly struck by a spell sent by a Hufflepuff who had managed to enter the fray. James quickly retaliated, catching the Hufflepuff in the arm and eliminating her.

'James, come ON!' Sirius yelled. He had reached the hallway, Remus and Peter hot on his heels. Caradoc stood firm, deflecting several spells that came their way with impressive dexterity.

'Potter, drop!' he shouted and James obeyed instantly. Caradoc's stunning spell soared over his head, and James rolled over to see it catch an approaching Slytherin in the chest. James wasted no time, scrambling to his feet and running past Caradoc into the hallway, casting one look back at Snape and the charging Slytherins as he did so. 'Move, move, move!' Caradoc urged and they ran.

'We've got company!' Sirius shouted and James glanced up to see several students who had clearly taken refuge in the hallway scrambling to their feet, the last Ravenclaw among them. Sirius, Remus, Peter and James all sent stunning spells at them at once—two of them were instantly hit, and the rest began to retreat. The Ravenclaw was shrewdly using them as human shields to escape.

'We're about ten seconds away from having an army of Slytherins on our backs!' James called.

Caradoc swore. 'Get behind me,' he said. The others immediately obeyed and he charged—the wand work he performed in the next few moments was dazzling. It spun in his hands in a way that James had yet to see equalled, and curses flew out at blazing speed, quickly overcoming the two remaining students in their way. Caradoc did not slow down, chasing the Ravenclaw up ahead who was now running as quickly as he could away in terror.

'Reducto!' Caradoc yelled, and his spell soared forward, catching the Ravenclaw in the back.

'Nice!' Peter yelled appreciatively.

'Keep running! Keep running, here they come!' Remus called desperately from the back. James looked back in time to see what must have been twenty curses flying their way through the dark.

'Shields!' he bellowed and he stopped, Remus and Sirius flanking him. 'PROTEGO!' they all cried. James' arms vibrated as the barrage of spells crashed into their shield charms and repelled back down the hallway towards their casters.

'Go, go!' Sirius yelled and they ran once more, Sirius swinging his wand indiscriminately over his shoulder.

'Give me your wand,' Caradoc said firmly to Peter who instantly obeyed. 'Cover the front!' he then called to Sirius and Remus who charged ahead, their wands pointed forward to tackle any newcomers. 'You good at running backwards?' he asked James and twisted as he ran, pointing both wands forward and firing non-verbal spells quicker than James would have thought possible.

James spun on the spot and followed suit. He then remembered Cadwallader's trick from when they had been pincered. 'You keep up the offense, I've got the defense!' he shouted. Caradoc nodded his assent and James quickly began casting shield charms as Caradoc waved the two wands back and forth. James was gratified to see two Slytherins drop out of the running, but it seemed that almost immediately, two more took their place.

'Staircase up ahead!' Remus called. 'Leads to the next hallway!'

'Let's hit it fast!' Sirius called.

'Is there any way to block it?' Peter panted. 'Maybe we can cut them off!'

James glanced over his shoulder in time to see Sirius vaulting up the stairs. 'Go,' Caradoc instructed. 'I've got you covered.' James obeyed and hit the stairs as well, Remus and Peter just ahead of him as Caradoc stood at the bottom, firing spells at their pursuers. James was out of breath as he reached the top of the staircase.

'Suit of armour,' Sirius panted, pointing. 'It should slow them down.'

'No good—everything's been made imperturbable, it won't budge,' Remus gasped.

James looked down the staircase. 'Come on, Caradoc, we've got to run!' he yelled.

'Coming!' Caradoc shouted, bounding up the stairs. 'Which way?' he asked as he passed Peter back his wand.

Sirius pointed. 'It's this way to Alice and the others—' he began.

'We need to go this way,' James panted, pointing in the opposite direction. Everyone looked at him in confusion. 'Look, right now, we have their attention—they won't go attacking Alice and the others if they think they can get us instead. If we go that way, we'll be leading that rampaging kill party straight to them.'

They considered that for a moment, and everyone glanced at Caradoc. 'He's right,' he sighed. 'Well, start running!'

Peter groaned. 'Not more running?'

Sirius laughed. 'Any time you feel like going back to homework, Peter, you can stop running!' this seemed to motivate Peter, who suddenly surged ahead of them.

They took off at a blistering pace down the corridor, away from Alice and Frank, away from Marlene, Mary and Emmeline, and away from Lily. James cast one look back, and hoped that this would not be as close as he came to her during the course of the game.