When Voldemort called off the fight for an hour, everyone slowly made their way into the castle, the Order trying to gather their forces and regroup. Hazel had been fighting on the front lawn when the command came down. She hesitated, wondering if the Death Eaters were going to use this as a chance for a surprise attack. Much to her relief, the Death Eaters obeyed and fell back. Everyone else began counting the dead.
Bodies were strewn across the school grounds, lying where they died, Death Eaters, Order members, Hogsmeade residents, and students alike. Lost wands and broken glass littered the cobblestones and mixed in with the grass. Shattered gargoyles and suits of armor that McGonagall and Flitwick had enchanted lay broken all over the castle. Hazel was on her way to the Great Hall, walking in a daze when she saw him. He stood out at the end of the line of bodies. She dropped to her knees at the sight of one of her oldest friends lying in the corridor as one of the Hogsmeade residents asked if she knew him.
No one knew exactly when Remus had died, but the look of shock was still etched onto his face, his eyes permanently wide open as he stared down the Killing Curse that had somehow found its way around his countercurses and hit him square in the chest. "No." The words were barely audible, but it didn't matter. She clutched at his cold hand, trying to keep herself from crying. "Remus, how…"
Harry Potter is dead. The words rang in her ears, Hazel still stooped over her friends' bodies. It hadn't just been Remus. Several of her students, several members of the Order, both old and new, were gently placed side-by-side. She had tried to help the injured, bringing them over to where Madam Pomfrey was patching them up or sending them away to St. Mungo's if their injuries were too extensive, but with every new body brought in, she felt more and more like her stomach was filled with lead. Harry Potter is dead. Half of them were talking, trying to figure out if it was true. The other half moved in a daze, helping their friends over to Madam Pomfrey and the local Healers or trying to rebuild the castle's defenses.
It felt like the world had fallen out from beneath them. Harry was their last hope. Sev had mentioned something long ago about how Harry would have to put himself in grave danger more than once if they were to win, but this... Where was he? Where was the boy who was supposedly dead? And where was Sev? She could only assume that he'd sought refuge with the Death Eaters, who were now likely celebrating int heir encampment.
Luna placed a hand on her shoulder, assuring her that everything would be fine. "I know Harry. This isn't it. He can't really be dead. Even if he is, we have to fight. We need your help, Professor."
"What are you… going to do?" Hazel managed, her entire face numb as the words tumbled out.
"There's a Death Eater camp right outside the castle boundaries. Professor McGonagall is organizing an attack. She says that even if it's true, even if Harry's dead, we should take as many of them down with us as we can." Luna was right, and she knew it. That had been their mantra in the height of the First Wizarding War too. If they knew they were going to die, they might as well take as many Death Eaters out as they could. Fight to the death and show the Death Eaters no mercy. The only one she had ever shown any mercy to was Sev, and now she had no idea where he was. She was glad. Hopefully he'd kept himself safe and hidden well.
When there was almost no hope of making it out, people seemed to come up with even more brazen plans. "How long do we have left?" Hazel asked, standing to look her in the eye. "And where's Mr. Finnegan? I have an idea. I'm going to need him, as many of those suits of armor as we can muster, and… my keys to the Potions Storeroom. And possibly Professor Slughorn, if anyone can find him."
"What are you planning, Professor?" Luna looked at her with wonder, still eternally positive despite all of the dirt and blood she was covered in, despite the carnage surrounding her.
Hazel smirked, her resolution set. "You said they have a hideout, right? We're going to tear it down, and we're going to be nowhere near it when we do. We're going to tear the whole thing down."
Tear the whole thing down they did. The suits of armor were pieced back together, all of them gratefully agreeing to the plan, glad to help and glad they would be protecting their school. With Seamus, Dean, and Luna's help, Hazel filled them with a couple of different ingredients she'd pilfered from the Potions storeroom. "Whatever are you doing?" Slughorn asked as he limped over on his way to find Madam Pomfrey.
"Professor Snape managed to condense the effects of a Blasting Curse into a potion," Luna mused as she stuffed dried herbs into one of the suits of armor.
"The Muggles would call it something like a Molotov cocktail," Seamus grinned. "But this is something bigger. The armor'll walk right up to their camp carrying the ingredients inside, and once they get close enough, they toss this into their helmets," he explained, holding up a vial of Exploding Fluid. "This is new, but I figure it'll be better than ground erumpent horn, right?"
Slughorn nodded, looking between Seamus and Hazel. "Very clever, Mr. Finnegan. Ten points to Gryffindor, if the hourglasses are still standing." Seamus got back to work, carefully measuring out Exploding Fluid into a couple of other glass vials. "Hazel, if this counts for anything... good luck."
If they hadn't been preparing for battle, she would've asked if he believed she was on their side now. But she let it go, instead pulling out her wand. "Let me see your leg."
"Oh, this?" he asked, looking at the trail of blood he'd left behind him. "Poppy can -"
"Vulnera Sanentur," Hazel said, tracing her wand over the injury. "Vulnera Sanentur. There. You should be good as new now. If you wouldn't mind giving us a hand, we could use it.
Soon after they were finished, the Death Eaters began their assault on the castle again. The suits of armor were set up to march on them, getting as close as they could to a large group before detonating. Hazel, Seamus, and Slughorn watched one explode, marveling at their handiwork before rushing back into the battle. They had a long way to go, but if they could keep coming up with things like that, they could take the Death Eaters down one by one, until all that was left was Voldemort himself.