Chapter 19

It wasn't long before the soft glow of a fire and a musty smell greeted Ginny as they Apparated into the main room of the Hog's Head. A gruff voice acknowledged their arrival. "Great, there's more of you lot." She looked over to see Aberforth, the barman, reclined in a wooden chair by the grimy window, a disgruntled look on his face as he stood from his seat.

"More people've been coming?" Fred questioned, his eyes glancing curiously around the new environment. Ginny did the same, though her attention was almost immediately drawn to the portrait of a young girl hanging above the mantelpiece.

"Yeah, there were two others that just went in," he informed them, gesturing to the portrait. A resounding crack prevented him from elaborating as Lee Jordan appeared in the middle of the room — his lips quickly forming a wide grin as he saw the twins.

"Hey, long time no see!" he exclaimed before the three broke into an animated conversation. Just as Ginny was about to remind them about their rather important reason for coming there, Cho Chang Apparated into the room. Seeing the expression of surprise on the youngest red-head's face, she frowned slightly.

"…This is the right place, isn't it?"

"I would suppose so, since everyone seems to be coming here and all," Sarisa replied. Judging from her terse tone, it seemed she hadn't forgotten that it was Cho's friend who had betrayed the DA a few years before hand (and Ginny couldn't blame her, for she wasn't particularly fond of the girl either). Cho must've gotten the message as well, if her nervously biting her lip was any indication.

"Oh… yes."

"Are you goin' or not?" Aberforth finally barked, a bit annoyed by the series of interruptions. In response, Ginny turned to face him.

"How do we get there?

Aberforth pointed above the fireplace at his sister's portrait, from which she waved genially at the group. George, having stopped the conversation when Aberforth had spoken up, walked over and studied the portrait curiously. "I don't remember there being a passage here…"

"Me neither," Fred said with a frown. "And we knew all of them."

Opening the passageway, Aberforth explained, "There wasn't one until those kids went into hiding about a month ago." Feeling a tad guilty, Ginny shifted awkwardly and glanced away — something that didn't go unnoticed by the girl standing beside her.

"Well, there's no point in wasting time," Sarisa remarked as she walked over to Fred. "Can you give me a lift?"

"No problem." He gave her a boost into the old tunnel before George helped Ginny up onto the mantelpiece. Once they were all in the passage, they bid a quick farewell to Aberforth and continued on their way.

A few minutes elapsed, the twins entertaining themselves by reminiscing with their friend as Sarisa smiled occasionally at their antics from previous years. Meanwhile, Ginny watched the light from the brass lamps flicker across the walls while Cho remained silent, not sure what to say among the group of Gryffindors.

"I hope everyone's alright…" Ginny murmured to herself once they began ascending a small hill in the path. Sarisa turned to her, the ghost of a grin on her face from something that one of the twins had just said.

"They must be. After all, the barman did say that they went into hiding," she reminded her. "I wonder why they had to…"

"Neville probably tried something when I didn't come back," Ginny figured, her lips turned down slightly. "The two of us were kinda leading everything, with Luna of course, before she was kidnapped. We sorta stopped after that…"

"Aren't the professors doing anything about the Death Eaters? I never would've thought McGonagall would stand for something like this to happen."

"They don't really have a choice — not with Snape as headmaster," the red-head pointed out grimly. "They do the best they can without putting themselves in danger.

Sarisa nodded in understanding. "Because if something were to happen to them, they'd just be replaced with more Death Eaters."

"Yeah. I'm not sure how they put up with it. The students always do stuff to annoy the Carrows, but the professors limit it to just insulting comments and stuff like that." As she said this, the small group turned a corner and found themselves at the passage's exit. With an air of anticipation, Ginny reached out and opened the door. Those in the room before her fell silent and her eyes quickly met deep emerald ones obscured by a pair of round glasses. Flashing Harry a brilliant smile, she stepped into the room, unaware of the absence of the usual fluttery feeling she was accustomed to in his presences. Her eyes continued their scan of the room, noting many other familiar faces — including, to her relief, the smiling ones of Dean and Luna. She returned their happy expression before seeing Sarisa ambushed by Liete and Terry, the latter of whom looked a little worse for the ware, but picked up his girlfriend in a crushing hug nonetheless. As Cho greeted Harry, Ginny moved over to the edge of the room and sat down on the arm of Luna's chair, listening attentively as the bespectacled boy in front of her continued to speak.

"Draco! Where do you think you're going?" Blaise called after his friend as he practically ran down the deserted hall to catch up with him. After noticing Draco slip away from the crowd that was being directed out of the Great Hall for evacuation, he too snuck out and followed after him. When he finally caught sight of him at the end of the corridor, it didn't seem like the blonde had any intention of heading his calls.

"Blaise, get out of here," he ordered, his annoyance obvious by his tone.

"I'm not leaving." His jogging slowed down to a walk as Draco stopped in the hallway and turned around with an unreadable expression.

"So you're picking a side then?"

Blaise rolled his eyes, also coming to a halt as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Who says I have to pick a side? I don't see why I can't play both like I usually do." Draco narrowed his eyes scornfully, but Blaise simply ignored him and continued in a more arduous tone. "What about you? Are you picking your side?"

Draco's jaw visibly clenched, but his shoulders also slumped in a weary fashion. "Why do you have to say it like that?"

"Because you're making a mistake."
The simplicity of his friend's statement seemed to undermine the severity of the situation. A full scale battle was almost inevitable at this point, one that would sure to bear heavy consequences, and all Blaise could tell him was that he was making mistake. Needless to say, Draco wasn't happy with this admonition. "Blaise, don't you get it?" he growled, his hands balling up by his sides. "This is my last shot!"
"There's always the other option." Draco stared at him incredulously.

"You want me to put my faith in Potter?" he spat. "Not bloody likely."

"Hey, I can't stand him either," Blaise sympathized, "but I'd rather follow him than live in constant fear of Voldemort like you do."

As if it were a reflex, Draco retorted with, "I'm not afraid of him."

"Really?" the other Slytherin taunted. "Could've had me fooled…"

Practically seething, Draco bit back his scathing reply and shook his head. "What d'you know anyway?" he muttered, about to turn away when Blaise said the magic word.

"I know that if by some freak accident Voldemort actually wins this thing, Ginny's as good as dead." Draco stopped mid-turn, Blaise's words sinking in. He'd thought she was still in hiding, but… "You saw the rest of her family — she must be here."

"You don't know that," he argued, thinking quickly. "If I get the diadem that they're saying Potter is after, then maybe–"

"You could save her?" Blaise scoffed. "Don't try to play the hero — it doesn't work for people like us." Upon seeing Draco's scowl, he continued. "Besides, I'm pretty sure you're just trying to save yourself. You said so yourself: it would be better if we just forgot about her."

Draco glared at him lividly before whirling around, resuming his brisk walk down the hall. "Do whatever the hell you want, but stay out of my business."

Blaise was about to go after him again, but stopped. He figured it was a lost cause by this point, his shoulders falling in resolution. "Have fun making an arse of yourself then!" he shouted, unable to hide the resentment in his voice. He could have sworn he'd seen Draco falter slightly, but it didn't matter — they had both chosen their sides, and for once, it wasn't the same one.

The door to the Room of Requirement clicked shut behind the trio and not even a second later, Ginny was sprinting down the hall in the opposite direction. Everyone else was fighting — there was no reason she shouldn't be. And it wasn't like she was disobeying her parents; Harry had said she couldn't stay in the Room of Requirement anymore (even if he did say that she had to return once they were done). Regardless, she was going to fight, and nothing anyone said would make a differ–

"Gin! Behind you!" a voice cried, cutting off her thoughts. Stumbling slightly, she slid to a stop and spun around just in time to see a Death Eater's curse flying in her direction. Ducking immediately, the spell flew over her head before she raised her own wand and pointed it at the masked figure down the hall.

"Stupefy!" The stunner hit the man directly in the chest and he went toppling to the floor, allowing Ginny the opportunity to flop down into a sitting position, slightly shaken. Could she really have died that easily…?

"Geez, pay more attention, will you?" the same voice said. Ginny looked up to see Blaise standing above her with a grin playing on his lips.

She simply stared at him with disbelief before her eyes lit up. "Blaise!" she exclaimed with delight as she leapt off the ground to engulf him in a hug. "I thought you would've left by now!"

"And leave you behind? Are you kidding?" he chuckled, pushing her away gently.

"How'd you know I was here?"

"I saw the rest of your family in the Great Hall," he explained before frowning. "But now isn't the time for catching up. You're gonna get yourself killed if you don't pay more attention."

"I know that," she mumbled. A different train of thought struck her a moment later though and she met Blaise's eyes with concern. "Where's Draco?"

"He was heading this way. Didn't you pass him?"

Her eyebrows furrowed. "No… Wait, what was he doing?"

Unable to break the news that Draco chosen the other side to her, he lied. "He left before I could talk to him. I don't know." Ginny looked away, only to see a flash of black as a Death Eater turned the corner.

"Petrificus Totalus!" The Death Eater dodged the attack and another one appeared from the adjacent hallway, firing a Killing Curse at the girl. Blaise pulled Ginny out of the way and she shot back a Stunner in retaliation, this one making contact with the first Death Eater.

As his companion fell unconscious, the other Death Eater cursed. "What the hell'd you two kids do?"

Blaise's eyes widened a fraction in surprise. "That voice… It's that bastard I was telling you about. Mulciber."

The Death Eater, Mulciber, sneered. "Oh, it's you. You're fightin' for their side, are ya? I'll just have to deal with that." He raised his wand. "Avada Ke–"

"Stupefy!" The spell hit Mulciber before he could finish and he collapsed. With a sense of satisfaction, Blaise lowered his wand, but he was cut off from saying anything by Ginny grabbing his hand and pulling him down the hall.

"Come on. We should keep moving. It won't be long before–" A scream of terror rang through the corridor, causing Ginny to freeze in her tracks. "Where'd that come from…?" Suddenly, Blaise started running down the hall that the two Death Eaters had exited before.

"Over here!" he called over his shoulder. She raced after him, till they came to a stretch of hallway where the windows had been shattered, glass littering the floor as a swarm of cloaked figures glided across the shards. A dense, chilling air had fallen upon the corridor. In the distance, she could see Oliver Wood throwing every spell he knew at them, but to no avail, while Sarisa was gripping her wand so tightly her knuckles were turning white. Liete was leaning heavily against the wall beside her — pale and clutching her bleeding arm as she murmured words of encouragement to her friend.

"Ris, you need to cast a Patronus… I know you can…"

Ginny saw a faint white light flicker before disappearing. She quickly stopped running towards them, causing Blaise to glance over his shoulder.

"What are you–?"

Thinking of the happiest thought she could possibly muster at that moment, Ginny took a deep breath. "Expecto Patronum!" A white horse burst from the end of her wand and galloped towards the figures looming over the others, forcing them back and giving Blaise enough time to run over to Liete.

"Can you walk?" he inquired hastily, to which she feebly shook her head. "All right, I'll have to carry you then." As he helped her onto his back, another group of Death Eaters appeared at the end of the hallway. "Damn it!" he muttered, hooking his arms around Liete's legs as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Ginny! There's more of them!"

"I've got it," Oliver yelled in reply, aiming a few well-chosen curses and disabling a few of the Death Eaters, but it wasn't enough. The Dementors were also starting to break through the defenses put up by Ginny's Patronus, but a silver coyote joined the horse a moment later as Sarisa gathered her wits about her enough to cast the spell as well, allowing them the chance to escape. "Ginny! Let's go!"

She heeded Oliver's suggestion and darted after them, falling under a barrage of spells from the remaining Death Eaters. "There's a passage on the left — behind the tapestry! It'll take us to the Charms corridor!" she informed them just as she saw a curse fly by out of the corner of her eye. Casting a quick Shield, she pushed herself to go a little faster as one by one, they disappeared behind the tapestry.

As they ran down the stairs that were hidden behind it, she could here Blaise talking ahead of her, his sentence slightly fractured due to his heavy breathing. "You know… It wouldn't hurt to lose some weight, Katrae."

"Watch it, Zabini."

They continued down the flight of stairs until they reached the abandoned Charms corridor. Oliver, no doubt because of his Quidditch training, had gained a bit of a lead over the others and stopped outside one of the Charms classrooms. "Quick, get in here!" he beckoned. They did as he said and once they were all gathered in the room, he locked the door and pushed a few desks in front of it to form a barricade. Ginny doubled over, regaining her breath.

"We should be fine… for a few… minutes," she breathed as Sarisa flopped down into one of the seats tiredly. Blaise was setting Liete down on one of the desks when Oliver's comment drew his attention.

"Well I'll be damned…" he mumbled, gazing at Blaise. "There really is a Slytherin fighting with us."

Said Slytherin glanced over at him with a shrug. "It's in my best interests."

Ginny turned to Sarisa, who was rolling Liete's sleeve up so it was away from the deep gash that was causing blood to stream down her arm. "What happened to Terry?"

"I told him to go with Michael," she answered as she ripped a long strip of fabric from the bottom of her shirt. "Didn't want him doing anything stupid if I got in trouble."

Ginny smiled slightly. "Makes sense." Sarisa returned the gesture before tying the fabric around her friend's bleeding arm.

"That'll have to do for now."

"Thanks," Liete chimed, though her chipper tone seemed a bit forced. "But I think I dislocated my knee or something… I still can't walk."

"I could try a healing spell," Ginny offered, "but I've never really done one before."

"It'll be fine," Oliver said, coming over. "If we need to leave, I'll carry you." Turning to Ginny and Blaise, he added, "If you want, you two can go on. We'll be able to hold our own here for a while."

"All right." Ginny started to head for the door, where Blaise was waiting, but paused for a moment and looked over her shoulder. "Be careful."

"You too," Sarisa and Liete chorused as Oliver moved the tables far enough out of the way for them to get out.

"Don't worry about us," he stated with an encouraging smile. "We'll see you later."

"Yeah, once this is all over," Ginny agreed before they left the room, the door locking shut behind them once again. They made their way down the nearby staircase in silence, each of them keeping their guard up. The red-head broke the silence a few minutes later, asking, "Do you think Draco's all right?"

"Who knows," Blaise responded with a sigh, "but I'm assuming he is."

Ginny didn't press the matter. "What time is it?"

"11: 47," he answered after checking his watch. "Thirteen minutes left." Voldemort's ultimatum expired at midnight — after that, everything was sure to get much worse.

"Harry won't give himself up," Ginny told him, her eyes continuing to scan the halls for any sign of movement, though they took a short break to look at Blaise. "We need to be ready for a second wave of attacks."

"But this is absurd," Blaise said with a shake of his head. "If it comes to a full-out battle of force, there's no way we'll win at this rate."

As pessimistic as his statement was, Ginny couldn't help but smile at his use of 'we.' "Someone will think of something." Blaise thought it sounded as if she was trying to convince herself of that as well, but didn't comment. "Right now we just need to take out as many of them as we can."

They turned the corner cautiously, but the sight they were met with still caught them off guard. Motionless bodies were sprawled across the hall — many of them suits of armor, but there were still wizards dispersed amongst them. Blaise didn't say anything; the solemn expression on his face was enough to display of his reaction. Recognizing a few of the bodies as students, Ginny felt a wave of uneasiness come over her.

"Let's get out of here," she uttered, walking past the scene hurriedly as she kept her eyes focused directly ahead of her. Blaise followed, understanding why she'd want to get out of this place as quickly as possible. "They'll be coming in through the Entrance Hall. We should go there and–" Her sentence cut off as Blaise bumped into her, not noticing that she had stopped at the top of the stairs. Looking over her shoulder, he saw the unmistakable blonde head of his best friend half way down the stairs, unaware of their presence. After gazing at Draco for a moment, he continued past Ginny.

"I was wondering when I'd be seeing you again," Blaise remarked casually. The other Slytherin spun around, his breath catching in his throat when he saw Ginny standing just a little farther up the steps, looking just as surprised as he was. He hurriedly shifted his gaze to his friend, who was now standing directly in front of him. With a blank expression, Blaise said, "I'm assuming you screwed up your little plan?" There was no hint of mocking in his voice, just mild curiosity. Draco didn't answer, but his scowl told it all. Shrugging, the other boy simply added, "I told you."

The sound of Ginny descending the steps stopped either of the two boys from saying anything else as Draco turned his head to look at her once more. Then, in a tone of indifference, he said her name. "Ginny."

Her heart fell slightly — for some reason, she had expected him to be at least as happy as she was to see him. "Draco… What are you doing here?"

A spark of confusion flashed across his eyes — he had assumed Blaise would've told her — but when he realized his friend hadn't, he replied, "I'd rather not go out there and get myself killed by the Dark Lord."

"…Oh." She wasn't sure how she felt about that, but she forced a small smile anyway. The expression made his stomach churn as a wave of guilt swept over him. "I guess that's the smart thing to do."
Feeling a bit sympathetic for the obviously confused girl, Blaise also turned around to face her. "Come on, Gin. We should get down to the Great Hall." She glanced at Draco questioningly, but he refused to meet her eyes. Her brow furrowed slightly before she continued past him, albeit a little reluctantly.

"Yeah, you're right."

Draco watched as she stepped past him, unsure if he should stop her or just let her go, but once she reached the base of the stairs, he continued walking up them, having made his decision.

"I think he just has a lot on his mind," Blaise reasoned, hoping into would at least cheer her up a bit. She smiled at his kind attempt.

"Yeah." Suddenly, she paused. "…Do you hear footsteps?" she whispered.

Blaise also halted, listening closely for any sign of someone else's presence. Then he heard it: the sound of boots on the stone floor. "Quick, hide somewhe–" A flash of green light shot over his shoulder, causing them both to scramble for shelter. Ginny ducked behind the base of a large statue, while Blaise hid in a windowed alcove.

Another spell from the Death Eater collided with the statue, causing an arm to break off and fall a few feet away from Ginny. "Damn… This person really can't aim."

"That's not a bad thing!" she called back to Blaise, raising her arms over her head as more bits of rubble continued to rain down on her. Pointing her wand around the edge of the base, she cast, "Stupefy."

Blaise also aimed a hex at the Death Eater, but it seemed to bounce off of him. "He's got a shield! Use something stronger!"

"Impedimenta!" The force of the curse sent him flying backwards into the wall. "Did that work?"

"I can't tell, he's–" The rest of Blaise's sentence was drowned out by the icy voice of Voldemort as it echoed through the halls. Ginny unconsciously shivered at the sound.

"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery." She fearfully looked over at Blaise, who met her eyes with a worried expression. Neither of them liked where this was going. "Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste.

"Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity." A feeling of distress overcame Ginny as she heard this — just how many people had died? "Treat your injured. I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself.

"I shall wait one hour in the Forbidden Forest." The Slytherin boy glanced around the corner to see that the Death Eater had indeed disappeared before walking over to the girl on the opposite side of the hall. "If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then the battle recommences." Ginny tilted her head up as Blaise came up beside her.

"This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me." He offer her his hand with a downcast expression, which she took before he helped her to her feet — an air of dread surrounding them both.

"One hour."

A/N - Whew, this is a long chapter! I think it's one of the longest I've ever written, but it was kinda hard to find a good stopping point. I'm sorry to say there's only going to be two more chapters of this story: another chapter finishing the events in the book and then an epilogue. As much as I love writing this, there isn't much more of a story for me to tell...

Now for side-stuff. This is most likely the last time you'll see Sarisa and Liete in this story, whether you take that as a good or a bad thing. Also, Voldemort's speech at the end is taken directly from the book, so I really can't take credit for it : )

As always, I love reading your reviews : ) Each one gives me even more motivation to keep on writing. So, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter (I know I enjoyed writing it) and I'll see you next chapter!

-Twilight-Songstress