They then joined the great hall, where they received their orders. And the battle began. At the beginning, the defence charms the professors had cast around the school seemed to be enough to hold the enemies back. Soon enough, though, they broke through the defence, and an army of Death Eaters, giants, giant spiders and other werewolf rushed to them. Lucy quickly slipped into the forest, and tried to awake the trees. A giant and a semi-giant seemed to be on their side and were fighting the other giants, so Peter and Caspian went to help them. From a turret, Susan was sending arrow after arrow, and was always hitting. Professor Flitwick had enchanted her quiver so that she would never run out of arrows, and she was skilfully dodging the curses. Soon enough, other arrows joined her. It was the centaurs of the forbidden forest. On the back of one of them was Lucy, and they were followed by trees. Both sides suffered losses, but the death eaters seemed to take the higher ground on the outside. Edmund, acting like the king he was, directed his troops, and ordered fold back. He saw Neville, Dean and Seamus having troubles, and ran to their rescue. He was immediately attacked by dementors he couldn't see. Suddenly, a goat made out of blue light chase the creatures away. Edmund turned to discover their saviour: it was Abelforth.

"What are you waiting for? Don't just stand there, get in!"

Edmund silently thanked him, and then joined the group that would now compose his close-knit guard. He cast spells as well as he could, while Lucy, Caspian, Peter and Suzanne all used their weapons of choice. The rest of the guard was composed with the Weasley boys, and Professor MacGonagall. They looked for a corridor they could easily defend, and suddenly found themselves face to face with Barty Crouch and Fenrir Grayback. A smile drew on Crouch's lips when he noticed Lucy, and he cast a spell at the same time as the werewolf. Fenrir sent a Bombarda on the ceiling. It would fall on Fred. Edmund noticed, and remembered the mission the monk had given him. While Hermione was stupefying the werewolf, He jumped to catch the young man and pulled him to safety. This action caused him to turn his back on Crouch, who took the opportunity to send a killing curse to him. Lucy noticed.

"Edmund, watch out!" She shouted.

And to protect her brother, she placed herself on the curse's trajectory. She instantly fell on the ground like a rag doll, dead.

"LUCY !" The young king yelled.

And he heard a whisper floating in the air.

"Death for life, blood for death..."

He let out a scream of rage, and looked up to Crouch. The Death Eater was now laughing. He lifted his wand. It was time for Crouch to pay for his crimes.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" He yelled.

He knew the spell. He knew the consequence. He knew it was supposed to be forbidden. He didn't care. He saw Barty collapse, and then fell on his knees and took Lucy in his arms. He cried. It was Peter who came to him. His brother's face was closed, distorted by the pain he was trying to contain. He put his hand on his younger brother's shoulder.

"Get up." he ordered. "Stop crying and get on your feet. Finish what you've started."

Edmund hence got on his feet, and saw Susan wipe her tears with determination. Fred then walked toward him, took Lucy's body, and hid it in the crack of a wall.

"Now, nothing can happen to her." he said in a hoarse voice.

Edmund nodded, and then took the first medallion the priest had given him. He passed it around the ginger man's neck.

"You'd better stay alive." He said. "Or else I'm gonna get real pissed."

"I'll do my best."

And they started fighting again, harder than ever. They finally found a more defensible place, and Hermione turned to Edmund.

"We have to go back!" She shouted to cover the noise of the explosions.