Hermione's head was bleeding, but it seemed Ron had it worse. Fred shook his head when she stared back at him pleadingly. He can't tell if he's still alive. He's not saying he's...

They were immobilized, most of them, though some of them were only bound by leg-lockers as they were dragged across the mostly smooth floor, the dementors just behind. She could not remember what happened to her, not precisely, but she was thankful that the Auror was keeping the Hufflepuffs in line. It was easy for them to hate the people they had just fought, and when Ron was knocked out she thought they were all going to be executed immediately. Somewhere in the back of her mind the trigger happy older student was being reprimanded for endangering everyone in the school.

That kind of thing shouldn't really be possible... my head must be clearing... the castle's warding should protect it from even advanced explosion charms.

There were possibilities to consider, of course; she doubted Hogwarts had suffered any attacks in a thousand years, and in that time the protections had likely gone out of style, to say the least. There were ancient magicks that had been forgotten, deliberately or otherwise, but in a contest between a century old shield that had never been broken and someone who could make a new sword, she would pick the swordsmith every time. At the same time, she had a suspicion that something in the warding had been weakened, and unless her ears were deceiving her, the hushed tone in which the Auror was speaking to the students told her he thought the same thing.

He's still thinking about the dark mark above the school. We didn't use dark magic against him, so we might not have cast it.

She racked her brains, but it seemed almost impossible for there to be any of the Slytherins or Durmstrang students to have waited in the castle, and highly unlikely they would put a mark in the sky for no apparent reason. It seemed like all of Evan's supporters in the Tournament had been excited to attend the final task, where they expected him to win, demonstrating the superiority of dark magic, blood purism, or whatever their angle was. Hermione had already tried to assess their current situation, but it seemed genuinely hopeless. It seemed Fred was the only one of them who could move at all, and he was without his wand. Terry was unconscious, but that was only because of a stunner, his body was not rigid like Cho's or her own, though the Chinese witch seemed to have it the worst of them all, being stunned and stiff as a board.

"We're stopping here," the Auror announced. "We might be walking into a trap."

"A trap?" one of the Hufflepuffs asked. "How can this be?"

"I think there might be Death Eaters around. Look, I've allowed you to help this far since we couldn't search the castle on our own, but I'm not going to be responsible for it if one of you gets killed."

"We should not let the prisoners die," the same boy said. "They might have valuable information."

"Right. Take them to a classroom and watch them. Don't let anyone in until I get back," the Auror said as he walked off. He spoke like he was easily convinced, but it seemed more likely he was just being decisive in a time-sensitive situation.

The conspirators obeyed orders, but it appeared one of them had an ulterior motive for magically dragging them out of view.

"We should kill them," he started. "There are three of us left, and eight of them. If Death Eaters attack, it'll probably be two of them, they'll kill us, and free the prisoners and they'll go back for their wands. Our only realistic way of surviving a pair of Death Eaters is not being here, and we can't lose the prisoners."

"We'll be prisoners if we did that, Boris!" a girl objected. "He'll be back or them, he'll remember he left them with us, and if we're still alive, and they're dead, they'll know it wasn't a Death Eater."

"Why not go alone? We are willing to take the risk," the boy from earlier argued calmly. "If they have ties to the Death Eaters, they have valuable information."

"Fine, then. I'll see if I can get everyone else moving."

His voice sounded like the one casting all of the explosion charms, though his name, Boris, was hard to place. Hermione knew better than to regret not learning all the names of the Hufflepuffs; it would not even be useful under her current circumstances. He might be a year or so older than we are.

"Petrificus Totalus," the boy incanted, hitting the girl in the back as she turned. "I am sorry for the delay. Rennervate." Terry's groans could be heard. Their rescuer used a 'finite' on Hermione.

"Umm..." Terry started. "What happened?" he attempted a wandless healing charm, but it seemed more complicated than that.

"My apologies. I am Cho," the bo- Is he a boy? How deep do the changes go? Hermione had a vague recollection that the other Ravenclaw witch had knelt down during the fight, and it was only then she realized she must have picked up the hair that Terry severed off one of the frozen Hufflepuffs, and must have used it with one of the polyjuice sweets the twins had meant for them. She realized we were losing when she saw the dementors. She must have cast an opaque shield to keep them from seeing what she was doing. Most likely, she would have pretended to be knocked out until the fighting was over. It seemed like a plan that was too convenient to really work, but there was a chance that Cho had no idea it was going to result in being able to revive them, and only intended to see where they were being taken. Well, there's that and the fact that it hasn't worked yet. We still don't have our wands.

They were all up in minutes and the Chinese witch was doing her best with healing charms, but it was slow going since no one could perform them wandlessly. Mafalda seemed to be mostly unhurt, though in her mind Hermione knew that the Slytherin witch's presence was probably going to make the Hufflepuffs think they were connected with the Death Eaters, if they did not already. She heard Parvati insist on going back for their wands.

"We can't just wander around the castle without them," Terry objected. "We should send Cho alone, since she's already disguised." Fred and George were talking quietly in the corner. I shouldn't have expected them to fall in line with whatever we were planning. They're here to help Ron, not swear undying loyalty to Terry.

"I could go with her. We could meet up at the train-" the Gryffindor witch argued, looking around for support. "Unless we ran into the one Hufflepuff-"

"Yes, the one who said he was going back for his friends! That's where the wands are. We can't be arguing about this, we have to send her before he revives them!"

"He's right," Ron said, a hand on his head. He was reclining on a schoolbag, though Hermione could not have said how it got there. "The rest of you don't know this, but we elected him leader." Cho was out the door. "We decided that we'd be dead if we were arguing when time counted."

Everyone was silent for a moment, as if expecting their friend to return with a bundle of wands- not for the first time, she wished Hannah were present so that she could work her magic. She always seemed to understand people, even when her first three guesses were wrong. I suppose I could make an approximation, though I should be ready to be wrong about it. She heard the sound of Mafalda shutting the door. Parvati could be kind of like Ron- she doesn't want to cower and wait for someone else to sort it out. She wants the chance to face her fears. It seemed unlikely, though, that anyone else had nearly as masochistic of a sense of responsibility as Ron. I need to talk to the twins.

"Hi," she started, close enough that they would not be heard by anyone else. "Do you have a moment?" They looked at her. "Are you interested in joining us?" It's better than asking if they're just doing it out of guilt.

"Haven't thought about it," Fred answered honestly. "I'll let you know if I do, though that might be when we répondez s'il vous plaît to your wedding invitation."

"Who knows, though, perhaps that's only just around the corner?" George speculated. "Have a dress in mind? I wager Ron could look it over." She scowled, remembering that their brother had told his mother he was totally unwilling to go to the ball over Christmas holiday when the parents were owled about it, as there were none of his friends going. Neither she nor Ron were good judges of sartorial matters, but wizarding dress robes looked terrible and there was no way around it.

"I can't believe I'm even saying this, but we need to know if we can rely on you," she continued. "You've been seen with us, whether that Auror survives tonight or otherwise."

She could not blame them for not having thought of how the following day would go. Only moments ago they were safe, they were unknown except for being harmless pranksters; they had taken a risk by following Mafalda. I haven't even thought about what I'm going to do tomorrow. Can I even keep going to school if Crouch means to nationalize Hogwarts? Well, no, I'll be under arrest, but even if we escape and change our identities, what will happen? Will it be more of a risk to keep going than not go at all? We'll still have the room...

"What do you do, anyway?" George asked. "Is it a kissing club? I'm afraid I can't join if it's that. I promised at least ten witches my lips were for them alone."

"Too true, brother. Perhaps we would be better off founding our own."

Well, at least the first one asked a legitimate question, if he had a silly way of doing it.

"We fight for justice," she said, before realizing it sounded trite and childish. Surprisingly neither so much as chuckled. "I mean, there's justice, rights, generally doing the right thing, the best thing in the long run versus..."

"We have to move," Terry said clearly, suddenly, from across the room. He was standing near the door, and he might have just looked out of it.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Death Eaters. They'll be here in moments. They're going the other way now, but-" He's right. Even if it were only two of them, we'd stand no chance if they just flooded the room with fire or something. Most of them rose to his orders immediately, silently following out the door and creeping after him. What are the Death Eaters still doing here? Why did they cast the dark mark if they wanted to blame the Ministry for the dementors? She wished they could have stayed in the room, but outside of using a sticking charm to stick the door every time they unlocked it, she was out of ideas. It isn't as if Terry or I can perform a wandless sticking charm...

"Terry!" she whispered, catching up to him. The twins seemed to have decided to look out in all directions. "You have to summon your wand."

"-and when someone sees it flying out of Cho's hands-" he started back.

"We don't have a choice!" she whispered back. "Please!"

She watched the others follow them to the stairs quietly as he raised his hand with his eyes closed. The Death Eaters were heading in their directions. They'll see us in seconds. Will they think Mafalda is one of them?

"Mafalda!" she whispered. "We're with you, okay?" They'll never believe we're her prisoners. "Please, if there's anything you can tell them-"

"You there!" Hermione recognized the voice. It was one of the wizards who had taken her prisoner years ago. "What are the... seven of you doing in the castle? Have you seen any Aurors?"

"They're... well, they're undercover agents working for the blood purists," the Slytherin witch started. "They even came to rescue me when the... Hufflepuff conspirators took me prisoner."

"Why would they do that?" Gibbon asked, a bit of a chuckle on his lips. "I don't recognize you, so you can't be some lord's daughter. Selwyn?" The other wizard shook his head as Terry's wand finally snapped to his hand.

"What seems more likely is that she is a traitor. She might have known about our operation and decided to tell someone to save herself from the consequences." The dark-haired wizard worked his way to the front as they spoke.

"You don't have any reason to kill us," Ron argued. "You don't even know who we are."

"On the contrary," Selwyn said, his voice entirely neutral. "You and your friends essentially killed Dolores Umbridge, delaying our plans slightly, then you drew attention to yourselves by defending Flora Carrow. A blood purist would have allowed her to go to Durmstrang and left it at that."

"Well, how do you know?!"

"There was a Prophet article," Gibbon answered, not having moved from the landing below. "Headline was 'Hogwarts students defend blood purist accused of murder'. You'd have to be the worst dark wizards in the world if you didn't predict what that would do to the narrative."

"Avada Kedavra!" Terry shouted, trying and failing to cast the killing curse.

"Carpe Retractum!"

An orange thunderbolt erupted from Gibbon's wand immediately after an ice shield appeared in front of Selwyn. The spell seized the Ravenclaw wizard around the chest and dragged him toward the Death Eaters in the space of a second. Gibbon's wand was to the back of his neck.

"Can't fault you for trying, I suppose," the younger of the dark wizards muttered. "Need to get that fear out of your eyes before you can manage anything like that, though." He looked up at the rest of them. He's wondering why the rest of us did not get out our wands as well. "You had it half right; we really don't want to kill you. It's the kind of thing that would cost us the school."

Hermione bit her tongue.

"Where are you going?!" Ron demanded. Not so loud... someone else is going to hear us... It seemed, though, that the others were failing to believe what they were seeing. Mafalda was crying into her back. Stay behind me... don't watch...

"Get my bag," Terry managed.

"Shut up!" Gibbon whispered, cursing him at point blank as the other Death Eater looked out for Aurors and loose Hufflepuffs. There have to be more of them somewhere... what happened to them? "We don't want to kill him in the castle. Leave us alone, and we'll have no reason."

"Don't worry about me. Don't follow me," the Ravenclaw wizard choked. Hearing something from behind them, she glanced back to see the dementors from the seventh floor coming down the stairs. We're cut off. The Death Eaters will kill us if we take a step forward.

"Yes! Listen to him," the dark wizard agreed, dragging him off as Selwyn applied a Disillusionment on himself. "Say your goodbyes while you can." This can't be happening... it is happening, but can't it at least not happen so quickly?

"You proved me wrong, Ron..." Terry said. His voice strained under the effects of an unknown curse. "Someone came..."

"Stop talking like you're dying!" the Gryffindor ordered. "We'll get you back!"

"It wasn't much, but someone came," he continued, a bizarre sort of smile on his face. We have to run. It's like losing Hannah all over again. We can't help him- we have nowhere to go, but we have to run... Hermione stood stock-still as her overworked mind tried to come up with something.

"The other Hufflepuffs are moving in a group," Parvati whispered. "When they realized they were getting picked off, it was what made the most sense..." I'll have to give her a medal someday, being able to think in a time like this...

"I've never been so happy to be wrong," the Ravenclaw wizard concluded. The Death Eaters were reaching the end of the corridor. Selwyn must have decided to apply the same charm to his partner, because he disappeared.

"TERRY!" Ron's brothers were holding him back.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A silver hound pattered through the air as the dark wizards disappeared with him. How do they get out? Do they have portkeys? She struck her own head as the patronus reached them and she heard the sound of marching feet. I can't be thinking of this now.

"Up the stairs-" she managed, hoping Fred and George could drag Ron away. We still don't have their wands, but we can't get them unless we go upstairs. It made sense to rely on Cho, but she hasn't come back. "Please."

As Parvati essentially led the way, she realized there was a tear on her face. Why now? Why not before?

"Through the dementors, please," she whispered to the patronus. It's the only chance we have- they'll be on us in seconds.

"There they are!" a voice shouted from the corridor. Ducking spellfire and pressing onward, forcing their feet to flee the peril into which Terry was being dragged, they stayed as close as seven could to a single silver dog as it divided the wraiths with its baying.

Hermione attempted to summon her wand, but either she was insufficiently skilled or someone was holding it. If it's Cho, we're in the clear... but she could also be dead. That conspirator's more likely to explode the whole castle than talk things over with her if he finds out who she is.

The dementors behind them were blocking most of the spells coming at them, but they changed targets quickly.

"Let's hope none of them can produce a patronus," Ron muttered darkly as he ran. It appeared the Auror had only taken them down as far as the fifth floor before deciding to store them in a classroom. One of the twins slung some kind of toy explosive at the crowd as a distraction. That wouldn't have worked against the Death Eaters.

As she understood it, they hardly involved themselves with combat, but not for lack of skill. They ranged from relatively skilled duelists to masters, and their jealously guarded secrets of ancient magic made them an unpredictable force. The average Auror would probably be a match for the average Death Eater, but no one else would. Even the teachers at Hogwarts understood magic from a more academic, theoretical perspective, and did not necessarily have extensive dueling experience. How do we get out? There have to be at least a hundred brooms in the air-

An explosion could be heard coming from far below them, much further down than their pursuers.

"What?" Ron asked, his breath flagging. "I thought that fucker was... above us?" I don't know, Ron, I don't know. It could be someone else.

They reached the seventh floor and the unconscious Hufflepuffs were gone, along with their wands. Expletives came out; she ignored them as she tried to summon her wand again.

We sent Cho to her death.

"Terry said something about needing his bag," Ron muttered, opening the door to the mysterious room. He picked up a broom on his way in. "It has to be how we're getting him out of wherever they're taking him. Tell the others to get more brooms."

"Ron, the patronus is gone," Fred said. "We have to at least remotely consider the possibility."

"He was a brave young basset hound," George added. "There's something important in that bag, and you're going to need it."

Ron scowled, mounting the broomstick and throwing the bag over his shoulder.

"We're not leaving Cho behind," he decided as his expression faded. "If she's still alive, she's going to the train. I can't tell you how we're getting there, but that's where we're going."