May 2, 2015

There was a sudden burst of light, and then another, and another. They struck a point in the air, crackling across the surface of an invisible dome like lightning. A high, keening wail filled the air, like all of Hogwarts was screaming from the barrage of spells.

"How long do you think that will hold?" Anthony asked.

"Not long enough," Kingsley muttered. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes passed. Fifteen minutes. Twenty. The cracks in the dome were growing bigger, the lightning flashing across it lingering. And then suddenly a new beam of light, bigger than all the others struck. A single beam of pure energy driving into their defenses like Jupiter himself had decided to side against them. She could only pray that wasn't the case. The wailing went from a keen to a screech, high enough to shatter glass.

"Get ready!" she yelled.

With a sound like nails scraping along a chalkboard, the dome above them cracked, the lightning fracturing through and setting the cracks ablaze. Something began to fall, drifting like burned paper from the sky. There was a roar from beyond the gate and the black cloaks surged forward, beams of light flying from their ranks.

Kingsley yelled, wand raised, and together they charged. Alexa pushed forward, fire whipping from her wand to snap across the ranks of Death Eaters. She hit at least one, maybe two, but the rest was blocked. She spun, nimbly dodging a beam of red, ducking to dodge a streak of green. They were intermingled now, squaring off one against two and five against ten and ten against twenty. They were hopelessly outnumbered. They would retreat. But they could thin the bastards out.

Alexa dove through the crowd, stabbing her sword through the chest of a silver masked man, shooting a cutting hex in the face of another. She spun again, swinging her sword deep into the neck of another. She pushed, plowing her way through body after body. She saw three masked figures press Theo, pushing him back farther and farther. She heard one yell, a piercing cry of crucio even through all the screaming. Theo fell, a croaking howl escaping his lips. Without a sound she appeared behind his first attacker, a fist full of his hair held viciously in her hand as she jerked his head up. Her blade slid like silk across his throat. She tossed his body to the ground, crimson bubbling from his lips, and ran, driving the point of her crooked blade deep into the gut of the second. She dragged it forward, a kind of sick pleasure rising in her as his organs began to slip through the great gash in his belly. She could feel his blood splatter on her like fire against her skin. The third had stopped his attack, and was watching her in dumbfounded horror as she advanced. She grinned, and drove Devorantem through the center of his chest with as much force as she could. The sword cut through him like he was nothing, and his body hung limp from the bend. She pressed her foot against his chest and pried her sword out. She turned to Theo, who was staring up at her from the ground, eyes wide and full of fear. Their gazes locked and she understood in that single second that it was not the Death Eaters or even Voldemort he was afraid of in that moment. It was her. She raised her wand as another Death Eater fired a spell at her, and it bounced off the shield she raised. She ran, leaping over Theo and kicking the man square in the chest. He gasped, staggering, and in a flash of green light he was gone.

She didn't know how much time had passed. It felt like an eternity, but it had likely been only an hour. She couldn't feel her limbs, there was only the roar in her ears and the sword in her hand. She was a child of Rome and by the gods these people were not going to get her home without a fight. Anthony was gone, she could feel that. So was Dye. And more she couldn't even name.

"Giants!" a terrified cry came.

"Retreat!" Kingsley's voice permeated the air.

"Get to the Castle!" Alexa yelled, delivering one more final vicious swipe to the Death Eater fighting her. He fell to the ground and she looked over her shoulder, watching her beaten and bedraggled companions make a break for the great oak doors that had once welcomed them.

"Hold back!" someone from the other side cried.

Alexa stayed right where she was, watching every face as it streaked by. They were so few now. She saw Lupin's team coming in, his run almost animalistic as he bounded through, she saw Arthur streak by as well. The doors slammed shut behind him, and she could hear the shuddering locking mechanisms close from where she stood, vibrating through the Earth. There was nobody else coming, and a quick check showed there was nobody alive left outside either. She vanished into the shadows, emerging in the entry hall with the other first line.

"Get to the Great Hall," Kingsley said, voice hoarse. Alexa looked around. By some miracle, it seemed like all but Anthony had survived her original Bones squad. He would be honored when this was over, she would make sure of it.

The castle shuddered, moaning as a barrage of dark magic tried to poison the ancient stones. They ran, the only sound from them the pounding of feet on stone. There were people everywhere, swarming from one end of the castle to the other. Every now and then, the stones would quake, dust falling from somewhere above. The castle was holding for now, she thought, as a parade of stone knights marched by, but for how long?

"I need to find Neville," she said, as they reached the Hall, "Theo," she turned to her friend, "take care of anyone who is injured, get them to the infirmary if you can.. I'll be back." The castle shuddered once more, and a low droning sound filled the air. At once the sound stopped and somebody screamed.

"They're in," Parvarti whispered, gripping Daphne's arm.

"This fight has only just started," Lupin said grimly, looking at the students he used to teach. She wondered what he was thinking, if, as he looked at their faces, he was seeing the thirteen year olds he had taught how to fight boggarts. She wondered if he realized how much their greatest fears had all changed.

Alexa closed her eyes for a moment, "They're breaching the North battlements." She looked at them grimly, "Get to higher ground, get to the windows, try and get as many of them out as you can before they get in. They brought their own giants. Theo, you're in charge, I need to check in with Neville." And she took off out of the Great Hall. Flashes of light had filled the corridor, and a heavy dust sat in the air, stinging her eyes and lungs. There were Death Eaters clambering in through a giant fist shaped hole in the wall, and she shot a blast of fire at them. The fire wasn't what got them away, however. Tarantulas the size of horses began pouring through the hole. Not tarantulas, she corrected herself, leaping over fallen bricks as a small horde began to chase her, acromantula. It seemed whatever battle she fought in she was destined to fight monsters. Neville was in the North tower, as was Sprout and Seamus and others she didn't recognize.

She spun, crying "Confringo!" and three of the beasts were blasted back, surely dead. She certainly didn't have enough time to check before another leapt over it's fallen brothers, quite nearly landing on her. She had her sword ready, and slashed out, dislodging several legs. The thick, viscous fluid that oozed from the writhing stumps smelled like rotting fruit, and almost made her gag, but she finished the job quickly, cracking through its exoskeleton to the thick meat below. It did not get back up. She was almost to the North tower when the passageway in front of her exploded, smoke and rubble flying everywhere. Alexa was knocked flat, and thankfully so was the spider. She could feel a cut on her arm dripping from where a stone had skidded along her skin. She was gasping, desperately trying to suck air back into her lungs and hear through the ringing in her ears.

Another of the acromantula was crawling towards her, clearly disoriented but not enough to deter it from it's victim. It was shot away with a blast from the side, and she turned to see Blaise, disheveled but as handsome as ever, even bruised and bleeding. He rushed to her, pulling her to her feet, catching her weight when she staggered.

"I'm fine," she said, forcing herself to stand on her own.

"Run!" was Blaise's only response as one final acromantula appeared from the haze of smoke and ash. He pulled her along, and the two bolted down the corridor, the spider hot on their heels. They scrambled up the stairs, they were almost there, they were so close, she could see the door.

Alexa threw the wooden door open and they scrambled through-but so did the arachnid. She twisted, spinning around to slam her hilt on the acromantula's face. It hissed as one of its fangs cracked and fell, thick yellow venom oozing from the wound. She kicked hard, knocking it backwards and out the door. Ignoring the stunned faces of her allies, she lunged after it, slamming her sword into its head. The tip of the blade hit the stone floor with enough force that sparks flew. The beast let out an unearthly scream and flailed. Alexa had to dive out of the way as its powerful legs twisted like gnarled roots. She wasn't fast enough, and one foot struck her across the face with enough force that she tasted metal.

And then it was still.

She rose, and pulled her dripping, bloodied blade out of the creature and strode into the room. She spat crimson and wiped the blood from her lips on the back of her hand. With weary golden eyes she surveyed the gathering. Neville, Seamus, McGonagall, and Flitwick stared at her.

She smiled, "How's everyone's day going?"

Seamus laughed. It sounded strange after so much screaming, "I've had better."

Tight smiles passed over the faces of the others, mostly members of Sprouts own house.

"They're in the castle-" Neville began.

"Minerva…" Flitwick called from the window, cutting him off. . They all turned, watching in silence as the broken glass became frosted, ice snaking its way up the jagged pane.

"Dementors," Neville breathed, going white.

Alexa saw them-her eyes could see their black cloaks against the dark of the night. There were hundreds of them.

"Shite," Seamus said.

"Indeed," Flitwick agreed.

"I've got it," Alexa said, gripping her wand more tightly.

All heads turned to her, "What?" Neville demanded.

"You're crazy!" Seamus's accent was thicker than ever.

"They don't affect me like they should." She furrowed her brow and looked at the impending storm cloud of monsters approaching, "I can handle it." Blaise gave her a stern look but said nothing.

"If you can, we're certainly not going to argue," McGonagall said, although she seemed unsure.

"You sure about this, Lex?" Neville asked, brows pushed together.

"Oh yeah," she nodded, rolling her neck, "No problem." She flashed a smile.

Neville shook his head, and clapped her on the back, "Good luck," he said.

She nodded, took a deep breath, and jumped out the tower window. She dropped into the shadows right before she hit the ground. Without missing a beat she stepped out in front of the dementors. The grounds had been cleared of Death Eaters the moment they appeared. The castle was behind her, smoke curling from cracked windows and the booms of explosions shook the stone. This was her home. And as she looked up at the hundreds of dementors swirling towards the castle the rage that had been burning in her chest exploded. She walked forward, breaking into a run to meet them.

"Stop!" She shouted, sword drawn and pointed. She concentrated, focusing on the shadows swirling around her, focusing on the souls still sitting, screaming from whatever stomach the dementors had. She could feel them pulsing, shuddering, trying to escape before they were extinguished. She raised her other hand, palm forwards. She could feel the shadows, and she pulled them up around her, making a wall of impenetrable space. They surged forward, pushing against it. Her feet slid backwards through the dirt, and she grit her teeth, fighting to hold her ground. They took what belonged to her father. They should be afraid of his blood in her.

She screamed, taking a step forward and shoving the dementor army back. She exhaled, sweat dripping down her temples, stinging the open cuts on her face and looked up, to stare directly into the hooded face of the dementor. It was so close she could see through the thick darkness under the cowl, she could see the black hole it had instead of a face, she could smell the rot of its breath. And she could see the tiniest twinkling light in the darkness, past its gaping maw: a soul that had not yet been fully consumed.

She closed her eyes, and the souls within the dementors lit up like candles in the night in her mind's eye. She focused, her body shaking, the earth rumbling under her feet, and inhaled, pulling the souls to her. She gasped as they were ripped from the dementors, flying out like so many shooting stars, and slammed into her chest. One after another, hundreds and hundreds of souls crashed into her. The dementors began dropping like enormous flies, falling to the ground with muffled thumps, dissolving into glittering black pools of dust. The last dementor fell to the ground, and Alexa dropped to her knees.

She felt her temperature climbing, like she might catch fire. Everything was moving too fast, the earth was still shaking. With a yell she slammed her sword into the ground. A crack appeared in the cobblestone, black and unholy.

"Venite ad me!" she screamed. A horde of skeletons crawled out by the dozen, wearing tattered uniforms from who knew which wars. Their teeth chattered as the final soldier crawled out, and they stood in neat rows. She exhaled, her temperature returning to normal. With some of her excess energy burned off she rose, and her soldiers stood at attention.

"Defend Hogwarts!" she yelled, voice ragged, "Kill the spiders! Kill the Death Eaters!" Even after that her body felt renewed, filled with energy. She felt unstoppable. She ran with the skeletons, and she watched them as they dispersed, utterly unkillable and utterly without fear.

She brought her coin to her lips, "The Skeletons are on our side," she murmured. Alexa surged after them, breaking back through the entrance hall, the doors now wide open she threw curses left and right, blasts passing so close by them they singed her hair and nearly knocked her back. She spun, firing back at the Death Eater targeting her, stepping in and out of the shadows as she advanced close enough to separate his head from his shoulders. She pointed her wand at a nearby tapestry and it flew to life like an evil Disney character, soaring to coil around another's face, smothering him. With another flick of her wand the tapestry was ripped away, transforming into a snake which she hurled at the third Death Eater behind her.

But he was ready for her, and the snake disappeared into smoke with a flick of his wand, a nasty hex dispersing it just as quickly. Alexa leapt to the side, dodging nimbly, and firing back an equally nasty jinx that exploded against the stone wall behind him. With a yell, Alexa ran towards the man, dropping into a somersault to avoid a beam of green. She slashed her wand through the air and the stones at his feet began to melt, his feet sinking rapidly. He spat a counter curse and conjured a flock of vicious looking birds, who swarmed towards Alexa with gleaming beaks. She cast them away with a wave of her wand, and they went up in flames that she sent careening towards him. Slipping into the shadows, she appeared behind him, but he was ready for her, spinning around and blasting her backwards. Alexa went flying, hitting her head against the stone wall with an audible crack. Her eyes watering and the world spinning, she raised her wand, shooting blindly at the man with a cutting jinx. The exhaustion from earlier, from all the shadow traveling, was creeping in, and she could feel the heaviness in her bones. With shaking legs, she pushed herself to her feet, ducking behind a pillar as another glimmering green streak came flying towards her.

"Little halfbreed," the man crooned, "Come out little halfbreed-" his last words were choked by a scream and she heard the thud of him hitting the ground. Hardly daring to believe it she looked around the pillar, only to lock eyes with a terrified and soot-stained Draco Malfoy, holding the wand of the man who had been fighting her. He was the only one in the isolated hallway they stood in. He looked at her for one split second, eyes wide and chest heaving...and then he turned and bolted back the way he came.

She forced herself to move, running down the corridor he had vanished through, sword and wand raised. She found herself in the midst of duels, Death Eaters, masked and unmasked, and students weaving around each other magic glittering malevolently in the air amongst the dust. She could see Dean had not only left the Room, but won himself a wand, and he was facing off against someone she recognized from the papers. Parvarti was there, so was the remaining Bones squad. For the most part they were staying in their contubernium, fighting back to back and far more organized than the Death Eaters. She pushed into the shadows, coming out to stun the one facing Zachariah, and spun, back into the shadows and back behind Daphne's foe, ending him with a quick jab of her wand. Boils puffed up on his skin and he fell to the ground, scratching with bloodied fingers as he screamed. The boils erupted in a shower of blood and pus, and he fell to the floor and did not move again.

A screech of delight from above stopped her in her tracks, and she looked up to find Peeves, arms full of writhing Snargaluff pods which he proceeded to drop onto the heads of Death Eaters. However, one of the tubers hit a point in the air, coiling around somebody who wasn't there.

"Someone's invisible there!" shouted a masked Death Eater, pointing.

Dean made the most of the Death Eater's momentary distraction, knocking him out with a stunning Spell; the Death Eater he had been fighting attempted to retaliate, and Parvati shot a Body Bind Curse at him.

Alexa turned to them, realizing what was happening, "Go for the kill!" she ordered, "Shoot to kill, not to stun!" Parvarti looked at her for a moment, her face grey from the dust of the explosion, but nodded. There was a flash of green and the man she had knocked down went limp.

Three skeletons ran into the Great Hall, unwavering against most of the spells of the Death Eaters, cutting them down with battered bayonets, the wood too rotted away to function as a gun.

She followed after the bobbing Snargaluff, sure it was Harry Potter and his invisibility cloak. She ran up the marble staircase, stopping short at the sight of a stunned Death Eater and a bewildered bloody Draco sitting next to him. He stared up at her, unsure how to proceed, eyes locked on her blood stained sword in her hand.

"Are you alright?" she asked, offering her hand. His eyes went wide, but he took it.

"I think I've made a mistake," he said, letting her haul him to his feet.

"This is your last chance for a change of heart," she replied, looking down the stairs onto the battle below.

"Glad I figured it out then," he said quietly. He looked as though he might vomit.

"Will you help us?" she asked, grabbing his shoulder. He was whiter than she had ever seen him, and he was shaking like a leaf, staring down without seeing at the violence below. "Draco," she gave him a little shake and he snapped out of it, looking at her with fear and something akin to determination.

"Yes." He nodded once, as if trying to convince himself.

She nodded, "Can you tell me about the attack?" she asked, pulling him forward.

"Traitor!" the Death Eater had woken up, and was struggling to his feet, "Bloody traitor-!"

Draco lunged forward, pointing his stolen wand at him, yelling "Stupefy!" so viciously the man flew backwards off of the landing and fell into the dark twists of staircases below. Chest heaving, he looked at her, and nodded.

She pulled out her coin once more, "Dragon defected, giving info, don't harm."

Together they took off running, down the rest of the stairs, and Alexa found herself once more in the entrance hall.

"There's going to be more dementors and giants," Draco said breathlessly.

There were more duelers all over the stairs and in the hall. Death Eaters everywhere Alexa looked: Yaxley, close to the front doors, in combat with Flitwick, a masked Death Eater dueling Kingsley right beside them. Students ran in every direction; some carrying or dragging injured friends. A stunning spell narrowly missed Neville, who had emerged from nowhere brandishing armfuls of Venomous Tentacula, which looped itself happily around the nearest Death Eater and began reeling him in.

Alexa put her fingers in her mouth and whistled, and from the violence emerged three more skeleton soldiers. "Follow me," she ordered. They saluted and marched behind her and she kept moving and kicked the legs out from under another Death Eater, making quick work of him with her sword. Beside her Draco cast curse after curse, taking down his former comrades with a terrifying efficiency. They fought back to back, dueling Death Eaters simultaneously. Around them the skeletons were more than effective in their task.

Glass shattered on the left, and the Slytherin hourglass that had recorded House points spilled its emeralds everywhere, so that people slipped and staggered as they ran. Two bodies fell from the balcony overhead as they reached the ground, a grey blur that Alexa momentarily took for an animal sped four-legged across the hall to sink its teeth into one of the fallen.

"NO!" a voice shrieked, there was a deafening blast and Fenrir Greyback was thrown backward from the feebly struggling body of Lavender Brown, who had left the Room of Requirement for reasons Alexa couldn't fathom. He hit the marble banisters and struggled to return to his feet. Then, with a bright white flash and a crack, a crystal ball fell on top of his head, and he crumpled to the ground and did not move.

"I have more!" shrieked Professor Trelawney from over the banisters. "More for any who want them! Here—" And with a move like a tennis serve, she heaved another enormous crystal sphere from her bag, waved her wand through the air, and caused the ball to speed across the hall and smash through a window. At the same moment, the heavy wooden front doors burst open, and more of the gigantic spiders forced their way into the front hall. Screams of terror rent the air: the fighters scattered, Death Eaters and Hogwartians alike, and red and green jets of light flew into the midst of the oncoming monsters, which shuddered and reared, more terrifying than ever.

"Oh fuck," Alexa cursed, as no less than twelve of the monsters came directly towards her. "Get the spiders!" she yelled to the skeletons, quickly trying to think of another strategy.

"I think they like you!" Draco yelled, as they bolted up the steps. Alexa had a plan, and she stood at the top landing, watching them as they frantically scuttled up the steps.

"Wait!" she said, grabbing Draco's arm as he aimed his wand.

"Wait?!" he screamed, looking at her like she was quite mad. They were a mere three steps away when Alexa raised her wand and blasted the stairs away, sending the acromantula crashing down to be crushed in the rubble. "We didn't even bring those," Draco said, looking disgusted at the mass of oozy spider guts below.

"What the fuck?" Alexa asked, to nobody in particular.

Hagrid had come thundering down the stairs at the opposite end of the hall, brandishing his flowery pink umbrella. "Don't hurt 'em, don't hurt 'em!" he yelled.

"HAGRID NO!"

Harry appeared from nowhere, Ron and Hermione not far behind, and he sprinted, bending double to avoid the curses illuminating the whole hall.

"HAGRID, COME BACK!" But Hagrid vanished amongst the spiders, and with a great scurrying, a foul swarming movement, they retreated under the onslaught of spells, Hagrid buried in their midst.

"HAGRID!" Harry screamed, running out the front steps.

The ground shuddered suddenly, and Alexa looked up and fought back a scream. A Giant, surely forty feet high, its head hidden in shadow, nothing but its treelike, hairy shins illuminated by light from the castle doors. With one brutal, fluid movement, it smashed a massive fist through an upper window, and glass rained down upon Harry, forcing him back under the shelter of the doorway.

"Come on," Alexa groaned. She leapt off the landing, dripping into the shadows to avoid impact and stepping out next to Ron and Hermione.

"Oh my—!" shrieked Hermione, as she and Ron caught up with Harry and gazed upward at the giant now trying to seize people through the window above.

"DON'T!" Ron yelled, grabbing Hermione's hand as she raised her wand. "Stun him and he'll crush half the castle—"

Alexa paid them no mind, and ran towards the beast, stabbing it viciously in the toe.

"Are you insane?!" Ron screamed at her.

"Yeah!" Alexa yelled in response, dancing out of the way as the beast gave an ear popping roar, and turned to look at her. It's face was misshapen and lumpy, like he had taken a nap using the highway as his pillow. Foul breath spilled between teeth that were jagged and broken, yellow and stained, and as he saw her, he swept a truck sized hand down and swatted. The hand passed right through her, and she charged towards his ankle, managing to swipe through his achilles tendon in a heavy blow. The giant staggered, and Alexa was about to continue her attack when another giant body slammed him with a mighty cry of "HAGGER!"

Alexa ran to the relative safety of the castle, only to see Ron, Harry, and Hermione tearing down the steps and towards the grounds, giving the wrestling giants a wide berth.

"Wait!" she yelled, feeling a sudden chill in the air. Not more Dementors, she thought, she couldn't pull the same trick again, it would kill her. She ran after them, shoving her sword in its sheath for the first time that night, and saw them then. There were less than before, but they were flocking towards Harry like a magnet. Ron cast a silver terrier, Hermione cast an otter. More figures were rushing out, and a hare joined the fray, as did a boar and a fox.

"That's right," said Luna encouragingly, her hand wrapped in Harry's, her tone soothing, as if they were back in the Room of Requirement and this was simply spell practice for the D.A., "That's right, Harry. . . come on, think of something happy. . . ."

"Something happy?' he said, his voice cracked.

"We're all still here," she whispered, "we're still fighting. Come on, now. . . ."

Alexa threw out her wand, the scant memories of her mother and her siblings flooded her mind, the bustling streets of Venice, riding the gondolas, Maria's smile- "Expecto Patronum!" she yelled. A gust of silver rolled from her wand, condensing and forming into a massive three headed dog, which took a dementor in its maw and proceeded to shake it like a rag doll.

"Expecto Patronum!" behind her, she heard Harry, and a silver stag joined the mix. The dementors scattered, and Harry turned gratefully to the rest of them.

"You just saved us," he said.

"Run!" Ron yelled, and not a second too soon did they scatter for the next moment there was a giant's food plopped right where they had been standing. Luna, Seamus, and Ernie flung curses at it, but the Golden Trio had vanished into the night. Presumably they had a good reason. They had better. The Giant however, inhaled deeply into the night air, and swung around, its eyes like yellow headlights in the night, to look at her.

"Godling…" it rasped, misshapen teeth revealed as it grinned.

Alexa flung herself to the side as it's club pounded into the ground next to her. It had caught her scent, and it was out for her now.

"Oh," Luna said serenely, firing stunner after stunner, "I see what you mean about them liking you." Alexa normally would have laughed but at that moment she was running, rolling between its legs to slash at its ankle. She barely grazed it, and dropped into the shadows as it stomped on her.

"Oi! Stupid!" Draco had found her, how he had gotten onto the grounds she did not know, but she didn't particularly care as he had just flung a particularly large piece of the crumbled castle at the giant, hitting it square in the chest and knocking it backwards.

"Malfoy?" Seamus spat, lurching backwards, and looking at Alexa.

"Oh yes, you're on our side now," Luna said, serene, "The wrackspurts are gone from your head." She observed.

Draco turned to them, his stolen wand clutched in hand, "I...I…" he shook his head to clear it, "yes."

"We need all the help we can get," Seamus said, smiling grimly, "I still don't like you though." The Giant roared and charged.

Draco gave a short, barking laugh, but was forced to drop to his stomach as the club swung over his head.

Ernie shot another curse, but was kicked and sent flying through the air in a grand arch. Luna bolted after him, wand raised to slow his fall.

"Hey shit head!" Alexa yelled, tucking her wand in her jeans and drawing her sword. She leapt backwards as the club crashed to the ground in front of her, and ran, jumping onto the club and scrambling up it's arm. The Giant wailed, his hand slapping across his broad chest in search of Alexa. She had barely made it to it's shoulder when it's enormous hand slapped against its upper arm. She threw herself forward stabbing her sword into the side of its tree-trunk like neck.

She swung one handed on the sword, grabbing a fist full of wrinkly skin on the opposite side of its neck, and dragged the sword across with as much force as she could muster. The Giant stopped short, gagging. She had definitely slit it's airway, even if she had been aiming for it's jugular. It swayed, and she ripped out her sword and slammed it to the hilt once more into the side of its neck. The beast gave a gasping sort of scream, and began to fall backwards. Alexa jumped forwards, arms windmilling as she plummeted towards the ground. She was expecting to pass into the shadows, but Seamus stood below her, wand drawn to catch her. She was gently lowered onto the grass, and Seamus crossed his arms.

"You're bloody crazy, you know that, Captain America?" he said, and then he grinned, "Crazy, but brilliant."

She laughed, rolling her shoulder. Pain spiked through the muscle, but the adrenaline made it easy to ignore. "I try."

Draco had opened his mouth to say something, but a high cold voice filled the air for the second time that night.