A/N: Thank you for your patience in waiting for this chapter. Being ill is
not a lot of fun! Some lines in this chapter are taken directly from
"Prisoner of Azkaban" for Harry's Dementor memories of his parents. These
can be found on page 134, UK edition. A few lines have been adapted
slightly from similar memories on page 178, UK edition. Both are
italicised.
Circle of Time
"The wheel is come full circle."
~Shakespeare: 'King Lear'
The silence in the room was tangible as the darkly cloaked figures advanced step by step. Harry gripped his wand tightly, questions cannoning through his mind. This couldn't be happening, not now of all times. What on earth was he doing down here, leaving Ginny and Hope vulnerable and unprotected in the hospital wing several floors above? He knew what was at stake: he shouldn't have left them, not for a second.
He glanced frantically around the room trying to work out how to escape, but there were no doorways other than the one to the storeroom and the usual door into the corridor that was blocked by the hooded figures. Death Eaters. How had the Hogwarts defences been breached? That was supposed to be impossible. What wouldn't he give to hear Hermione saying, "You can't Apparate into Hogwarts. I read it in 'Hogwarts: A History'." Yet he could feel her tensed against his arm. This was surreal. It was incredible.
Screams and the stampede of feet rumbled along the corridors above them, bringing with it the shock of reality. This was it; the thing they had all been dreading. If Hogwarts fell, then… then… this was the end for all of them.
"Yield," a low rasping voice emanated from the tall figure in the centre of the group of darkly hooded figures. "The castle is under siege. Throw down your wands and all will be well."
"We most certainly will not," Professor McGonagall retorted brusquely. A brief nervous glance was cast across the students in her care before she lifted her head high and regarded the group of Death Eaters with the expression of loathing that would have had the entirety of Gryffindor House fleeing voluntarily down to the dungeons and begging for a lifetime of detentions with Snape rather than upset her further. "I'm afraid if you think that, you seriously underestimate us."
"Don't be a fool, woman," the voice hissed, a long, bony hand stealthily emerging from the dark robes. Harry stared in fascination at the pallor of the ghostly flesh, watching the fingers lightly manipulating the wand that could kill them all. "You cannot win. The Dark Lord will conquer you all… by fair means or foul."
A chill shivered through Harry's veins as these last words shattered through the stillness. The foul means he knew all too well; most of them did by now. He cast his eyes around the others he had spent the past seven years with: pale, resolute, shaking. They all knew what this meant and what they had to do. He saw Parvati reach cautiously behind Seamus to collect her wand from the work surface, concealing it swiftly beneath her robes. After what they'd done to her brother, Harry wasn't surprised to see the expression of sheer loathing on her face.
Professor McGonagall stepped forward, blocking the path of the Death Eaters.
"Kindly leave," she said, her lips pinched together in disapproving anger. "Before I am obliged to remove you."
A mocking laugh rang out from the foremost Death Eater, his hooded head jerking scathingly towards Professor McGonagall. She was far smaller than the three figures that seemed to tower over her, yet she stood ramrod- straight, fixing the one who had spoken with her penetrating gaze.
"And don't think I can't do it, Angus Fraser," she said crisply. There was a sharp intake of breath as the concealed figure heard his identity spoken aloud. Professor McGonagall continued, her voice never once wavering, "You were never very good at duelling even when you were here. I doubt your association with Voldemort has improved your talents in the slightest, although I must admit that I was expecting you to aim a little higher in life than performing acts of mindless cruelty on children."
"Yield and there will be no action taken," the low voice muttered mutinously. "The Dark Lord will rule."
"Never," Professor McGonagall hissed, and before any of them had realised what was happening, her wand flicked upwards quickly, the point jabbing painfully into his throat. "One false move and…"
"And your students will pay the price," a rumbling growl reverberated round the stillness of the room. A sharp squeal pierced the air, as Lavender Brown was roughly seized by the hooded figure on the left. She struggled violently against him, kicking and twisting in a desperate attempt to free herself, but to no avail. The class stood frozen in a sort of tableau, frantically trying to work out what on earth they could do next.
The tiny house elf, who had been teaching their lesson, was sobbing uncontrollably, twisting her tea towel in her hands and shaking with sheer terror.
"Shut up," one of the men growled at her, but her sobbing simply intensified. "I said, 'Shut up!'" he yelled again, muttering something incomprehensible beneath his breath. Suddenly a bright beam of violet light blasted from the end of his wand and hit the elf square in her stomach, lifting her high into the air and spinning her round. Her sobs grew into shrieks of terror as she was twisted faster and faster, a smile of satisfaction playing across the Death Eater's lips. He twitched his wand and she shot towards the wall, stopping just short of smashing into it with a sickening thump. She began to spin again, mercilessly controlled by the magic.
"Stop it!" Hermione burst out at the top of her lungs, unable to bear it any longer. "Let her go!"
"Stop it, you say?" the voice filled with maliciousness. "Very well." The magic beam carried the elf higher and higher into the vaulted ceiling of the kitchen, and suddenly ceased. With a shrill scream the elf plummeted towards the cold flagstones beneath and certain death, her hands frantically flailing in front of her.
"Why isn't she using her magic?" Hermione gasped. There seemed to be no answer to this, and they watched in horror as the tiny figure descended in slow motion to her inevitable doom. At that particular moment, Lavender collapsed limply in her captor's arms, causing him to stagger and lurch forwards, momentarily losing his balance. It was enough. Lavender bit down as hard as she could on her assailant's hand, making him yell out in pain, and drop his wand.
A nod from Professor McGonagall was all that was needed, and the entirety of the Gryffindor seventh years sprang into action. Their practical sessions with Dumbledore in Defence Against the Dark Arts had certainly paid off as hex after hex flew across the kitchen at the small group of Death Eaters, making them writhe in anguish across the floor. The leader collapsed after failing to block a well-aimed jelly-legs jinx from Neville, and was swiftly set upon by Seamus and Dean.
At length, the figures were neatly trussed, and frozen in time until they could be dealt with by the proper authorities. Professor McGonagall spirited their bodies away to the store cupboard at the rear of the kitchen and sealed the door with a spell. It was only then that Harry noticed the tiny elf clinging for safety to Hermione's legs, still sobbing her heart out.
"How on earth…?" Harry began.
"Cushioning charm," she grinned, rolling her eyes at him before gently prising the house elf away from her. "Flitwick's classes do come in useful sometimes, you know."
Celebrations of victory were short lived as they heard the frightened stampede of feet continuing on the floor above them. Evidently there were more Death Eaters elsewhere in the castle... or worse… Harry's scar throbbed and his heart plummeted.
"I've got to get up to the Hospital Wing," he shouted over his shoulder, already halfway to the door.
"Us too," Ron echoed, with Hermione following right behind him. "Harry's not going anywhere on his own in this."
"Quite right," Professor McGonagall exclaimed. "Just go! Don't hang around waiting for permission. Go on! And as for the rest of us, let's get out there and do what needs to be done."
The stone corridor was plunged into total darkness. Not a single candle flickered in the sconces that lined the walls. Hermione began muttering, "Lumos," when Harry caught her hand.
"We don't want to be seen," he hissed, beginning to feel his way along the length of the corridor, already plotting out the fastest route back to Hope and Ginny in his head. His heart was hammering nervously in his chest, breathing unsteady as he picked up his pace, stumbling up the a few steps in the darkness.
"Marble staircase?" Ron asked in an undertone as they neared the end of the passageway.
"Has to be," Harry admitted, feeling sick to the pit of his stomach. "It'll take too long going round the other way. The Death Eaters will he heading right for them…"
"Come on," Hermione urged, stepping quickly forward into the unknown.
The shouts and cries were far clearer as they edged their way into the entrance hall and a sudden chill descended. The foyer was slightly lighter than the pitch darkness of the corridor, but the shadowy realm was far darker than it should have been in a summer afternoon. No sunlight streamed in through the windows and it was like they were entirely cut off from the world. The noises from above seemed to cease like the flicking of a switch. Hermione shivered.
They edged forwards momentarily. Harry's ears pricked up as he instantly recognised a distant noise; the sickening rattle of a long slow intake of breath. The chill of the air plummeted even further as a towering black shadow began to drift down the marble staircase towards them. A second shadow, a third, a fourth... Harry felt the intense cold sweep through his body, screams beginning to swim around in his head from the past, dragging him further and further down.
'Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry.'
He fought back the voices, thinking of holding his daughter in his arms for the first time. If that wasn't a happy memory, Harry didn't know what was. Hermione whimpered as the three of them backed away, standing against opposite walls, wands focused on the creatures.
"Harry, you aim for the back, you should be able to see that far from there. Hermione, do the front. I'll try the middle. Wait until they're closer and we can get a good aim," Ron muttered. "You ok?"
"Yes," Hermione's voice came out as a strangled squeak, and Harry suddenly remembered the trouble she had had conjuring a Patronus in class. She was shaking ferociously as the figures advanced, the coldness intensifying with every second that passed. Voices from past horrors rang with ever- increasing clarity in his head.
"You love him, you say? Enough to die for?"
High-pitched, merciless laughter taunted at him as Ginny's screams of torment filled every part of his being. He clung tightly to the idea of Hope and Ginny. They were a family. They had a future to live. Together.
A shadowy hand of rotting, scabbed flesh began to protrude from one cloak as the Dementors reached them. The hissing, rattling breath reeking of the grave filled the air.
"Now!" Ron gasped.
1 "Expecto Patronum," Harry yelled with all his might, and at once the silvery stag erupted from the tip of his wand, charging down the Dementor he had focused on with more severity than ever. Harry watched in awe as Ron's knight on horseback joined the fray, slicing at another Dementor with its sword until it buckled and began to retreat.
"Expecto Patro…Expecto p… Expec…" Hermione was whispering, trying desperately to fight off the despair consuming her. Her legs gave way and she sank downwards to the floor, the dark creature looming over her.
"Hermione!" Ron yelled from across the room, glancing anxiously at his own Patronus, willing it to return more quickly. "Come on, you can do this. I love you."
Hermione lifted her face to the Dementor, shaking badly and struggled to lift her wand.
"Expecto Patronum," she said distinctly, and a silvery sheen shot out of her wand, mist-like at first and making the Dementor stagger backwards. Slowly the fragments took shape, not of 'Hogwarts: A History,' as they had always teased her it would be, but of a lion. It pounded on silent silvery paws and leapt straight at the Dementor, mauling at it and mercilessly hunting it down. The Dementors vanished, leaving them breathless in relief as the silvery figures returned home.
"Hermione," Ron gasped, running across the entrance hall to the unconscious figure slumped across the floor. He knelt quickly beside her, checking her breathing and reassuring himself that she was really all right. "Come on, Hermione!" he urged. She stirred slightly in his arms. "Wake up. You were brilliant, you know that?"
"Is she ok?" Harry asked anxiously, glancing up the stairwell once more.
"Think so," Ron said and rummaged through his pockets, emerging victorious with a somewhat squashed chocolate frog.
"I've got to…" Harry began, rubbing fractiously at his scar and then gesturing towards the marble staircase.
Ron nodded quickly.
"Just get Ginny and Hope out of here," he said frantically, breaking off a piece of chocolate and throwing it at Harry. "We'll catch up as soon as we can."
Harry paused for just long enough to swallow the chocolate and see Hermione's eyelashes begin to flutter open. He ignored his trembling knees and charged up the stairs three at a time, reassuring himself that Hermione would be fine. Rounding the corner, he listened to the noises that surrounded him in the darkness and shyed away from the darkest corners where dangers could be lurking.
The landing appeared to be deserted, corridors stretching out darkly in both directions. He didn't know which was worse: the terrified screams from earlier, or this new and deadly silence. He stealthily made his way forwards, wand gripped tightly in his outstretched hand, checking behind him at every opportunity for suspected attacks. His heart pounded madly in his ears, drumming his fears in a regular rhythm.
"Constant vigilance!" Moody's voice from years before seemed to bellow in his mind. His foot encountered an obstacle lying darkly on the floor and as he bent to investigate, he felt warm breath brushing across the back of his neck. He turned quickly. Who? No one was there. His eyes scanned the shadowy corridor. Nothing. Once again he turned his attention to the thing on the floor, startled to discover it was a person. He couldn't make out the features in the darkness, but he knew the familiar feel of Hogwarts robes and the clammy feel of death under his touch. He bowed his head.
"Out of the way, Potter!" a harsh voice rent the air. Harry's Quidditch reflexes automatically dived sideways without a second thought, and a brightly coloured shaft of light pierced the air, hitting the point right where he had been.
"W-What?" he cried, scrambling quickly back to his feet.
"Lumos," the voice muttered grimly, and a small beam of light pierced the darkness. The original body was there, a Hufflepuff student felled in the act of flight, but there was something more. A hooded Death Eater had crumpled on the floor, where Harry had been standing merely seconds before, a silver knife glittering in the wand-light. The hooded cloak steamed from the magical spell, and Harry watched wordlessly as a tall shadowy shape, with a familiar hooked nose stepped forwards, and unceremoniously kicked the Death Eater onto his back with his foot. The sliver of light illuminating a face that looked like an older version of Goyle, one of Malfoy's gorillas.
There was a sudden noise, and Snape extinguished the light without a word, pushing Harry behind him and backing away from the direction in which he'd come.
"Get ready," he muttered. "Don't mess this up, Potter. Even you have to be capable of doing something right. When I say 'Go', you get up to that Hospital Wing without stopping and without looking back. None of your stupid heroics this time, understand me?"
"Yeah," Harry breathed, his scar burning more fiercely than ever. The pair of them moving ever further backwards, nearer to the stairwell that Harry needed. Snape was breathing heavily, every ounce of his being focused on something in front of them. Silhouettes came into focus, moving purposefully along the corridor towards them. Twenty feet away. Fifteen. Ten.
They stopped.
"Go!" Snape growled, and Harry sped off to the stairwell, disappearing into it just as the light flashed on brightly in the hallway he had left behind.
"Severus, my friend," a voice, that chilled him to the very core, said loftily. "It has been too long. Far too long."
Harry paused briefly, wondering about going back to help, but his promise echoed in his mind.
"Let me remind you, my old friend, of what we do to traitors," the cold voice went silkily on. "Crucio!"
Screams combined with merciless laughter rent the air, slowing Harry's steps, yet somehow he managed to force himself on, spiralling higher and higher. Glancing down towards the Hospital Wing, it was deserted. Harry ran, desperate to reach Ginny and Hope, and petrified of what he might find. He couldn't be too late. He couldn't.
Sounds of furious fighting reached his ears as he passed the top of the Transfiguration corridor, but he couldn't stop. There would be time enough to go back, once he made sure his wife and daughter were safe. Hogwarts wasn't going to fall, not if he could do anything about it. He sensed someone behind him and increased his speed.
At last the door was in sight and he sprinted towards it, flinging it open and diving through. It clashed shut behind him. Ginny swung round to face him, looking very perplexed, Hope clutched tightly in her arms.
"What's happening, Harry?" she gasped, her dark brown eyes looking anxiously up at him. "There were screams. Mum and Madam Pomfrey went to find out what was going on and they haven't come back. My scar's hurting…"
Harry fought for breath and jerked his head at the blue poetry book on the table. Ginny's Portkey back to the Burrow. Voldemort was here. She had to use it. Now.
2
3 "Ginny, take Hope and run! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off…"
The door burst open and a cackle of high-pitched laughter filled the room.
Circle of Time
"The wheel is come full circle."
~Shakespeare: 'King Lear'
The silence in the room was tangible as the darkly cloaked figures advanced step by step. Harry gripped his wand tightly, questions cannoning through his mind. This couldn't be happening, not now of all times. What on earth was he doing down here, leaving Ginny and Hope vulnerable and unprotected in the hospital wing several floors above? He knew what was at stake: he shouldn't have left them, not for a second.
He glanced frantically around the room trying to work out how to escape, but there were no doorways other than the one to the storeroom and the usual door into the corridor that was blocked by the hooded figures. Death Eaters. How had the Hogwarts defences been breached? That was supposed to be impossible. What wouldn't he give to hear Hermione saying, "You can't Apparate into Hogwarts. I read it in 'Hogwarts: A History'." Yet he could feel her tensed against his arm. This was surreal. It was incredible.
Screams and the stampede of feet rumbled along the corridors above them, bringing with it the shock of reality. This was it; the thing they had all been dreading. If Hogwarts fell, then… then… this was the end for all of them.
"Yield," a low rasping voice emanated from the tall figure in the centre of the group of darkly hooded figures. "The castle is under siege. Throw down your wands and all will be well."
"We most certainly will not," Professor McGonagall retorted brusquely. A brief nervous glance was cast across the students in her care before she lifted her head high and regarded the group of Death Eaters with the expression of loathing that would have had the entirety of Gryffindor House fleeing voluntarily down to the dungeons and begging for a lifetime of detentions with Snape rather than upset her further. "I'm afraid if you think that, you seriously underestimate us."
"Don't be a fool, woman," the voice hissed, a long, bony hand stealthily emerging from the dark robes. Harry stared in fascination at the pallor of the ghostly flesh, watching the fingers lightly manipulating the wand that could kill them all. "You cannot win. The Dark Lord will conquer you all… by fair means or foul."
A chill shivered through Harry's veins as these last words shattered through the stillness. The foul means he knew all too well; most of them did by now. He cast his eyes around the others he had spent the past seven years with: pale, resolute, shaking. They all knew what this meant and what they had to do. He saw Parvati reach cautiously behind Seamus to collect her wand from the work surface, concealing it swiftly beneath her robes. After what they'd done to her brother, Harry wasn't surprised to see the expression of sheer loathing on her face.
Professor McGonagall stepped forward, blocking the path of the Death Eaters.
"Kindly leave," she said, her lips pinched together in disapproving anger. "Before I am obliged to remove you."
A mocking laugh rang out from the foremost Death Eater, his hooded head jerking scathingly towards Professor McGonagall. She was far smaller than the three figures that seemed to tower over her, yet she stood ramrod- straight, fixing the one who had spoken with her penetrating gaze.
"And don't think I can't do it, Angus Fraser," she said crisply. There was a sharp intake of breath as the concealed figure heard his identity spoken aloud. Professor McGonagall continued, her voice never once wavering, "You were never very good at duelling even when you were here. I doubt your association with Voldemort has improved your talents in the slightest, although I must admit that I was expecting you to aim a little higher in life than performing acts of mindless cruelty on children."
"Yield and there will be no action taken," the low voice muttered mutinously. "The Dark Lord will rule."
"Never," Professor McGonagall hissed, and before any of them had realised what was happening, her wand flicked upwards quickly, the point jabbing painfully into his throat. "One false move and…"
"And your students will pay the price," a rumbling growl reverberated round the stillness of the room. A sharp squeal pierced the air, as Lavender Brown was roughly seized by the hooded figure on the left. She struggled violently against him, kicking and twisting in a desperate attempt to free herself, but to no avail. The class stood frozen in a sort of tableau, frantically trying to work out what on earth they could do next.
The tiny house elf, who had been teaching their lesson, was sobbing uncontrollably, twisting her tea towel in her hands and shaking with sheer terror.
"Shut up," one of the men growled at her, but her sobbing simply intensified. "I said, 'Shut up!'" he yelled again, muttering something incomprehensible beneath his breath. Suddenly a bright beam of violet light blasted from the end of his wand and hit the elf square in her stomach, lifting her high into the air and spinning her round. Her sobs grew into shrieks of terror as she was twisted faster and faster, a smile of satisfaction playing across the Death Eater's lips. He twitched his wand and she shot towards the wall, stopping just short of smashing into it with a sickening thump. She began to spin again, mercilessly controlled by the magic.
"Stop it!" Hermione burst out at the top of her lungs, unable to bear it any longer. "Let her go!"
"Stop it, you say?" the voice filled with maliciousness. "Very well." The magic beam carried the elf higher and higher into the vaulted ceiling of the kitchen, and suddenly ceased. With a shrill scream the elf plummeted towards the cold flagstones beneath and certain death, her hands frantically flailing in front of her.
"Why isn't she using her magic?" Hermione gasped. There seemed to be no answer to this, and they watched in horror as the tiny figure descended in slow motion to her inevitable doom. At that particular moment, Lavender collapsed limply in her captor's arms, causing him to stagger and lurch forwards, momentarily losing his balance. It was enough. Lavender bit down as hard as she could on her assailant's hand, making him yell out in pain, and drop his wand.
A nod from Professor McGonagall was all that was needed, and the entirety of the Gryffindor seventh years sprang into action. Their practical sessions with Dumbledore in Defence Against the Dark Arts had certainly paid off as hex after hex flew across the kitchen at the small group of Death Eaters, making them writhe in anguish across the floor. The leader collapsed after failing to block a well-aimed jelly-legs jinx from Neville, and was swiftly set upon by Seamus and Dean.
At length, the figures were neatly trussed, and frozen in time until they could be dealt with by the proper authorities. Professor McGonagall spirited their bodies away to the store cupboard at the rear of the kitchen and sealed the door with a spell. It was only then that Harry noticed the tiny elf clinging for safety to Hermione's legs, still sobbing her heart out.
"How on earth…?" Harry began.
"Cushioning charm," she grinned, rolling her eyes at him before gently prising the house elf away from her. "Flitwick's classes do come in useful sometimes, you know."
Celebrations of victory were short lived as they heard the frightened stampede of feet continuing on the floor above them. Evidently there were more Death Eaters elsewhere in the castle... or worse… Harry's scar throbbed and his heart plummeted.
"I've got to get up to the Hospital Wing," he shouted over his shoulder, already halfway to the door.
"Us too," Ron echoed, with Hermione following right behind him. "Harry's not going anywhere on his own in this."
"Quite right," Professor McGonagall exclaimed. "Just go! Don't hang around waiting for permission. Go on! And as for the rest of us, let's get out there and do what needs to be done."
The stone corridor was plunged into total darkness. Not a single candle flickered in the sconces that lined the walls. Hermione began muttering, "Lumos," when Harry caught her hand.
"We don't want to be seen," he hissed, beginning to feel his way along the length of the corridor, already plotting out the fastest route back to Hope and Ginny in his head. His heart was hammering nervously in his chest, breathing unsteady as he picked up his pace, stumbling up the a few steps in the darkness.
"Marble staircase?" Ron asked in an undertone as they neared the end of the passageway.
"Has to be," Harry admitted, feeling sick to the pit of his stomach. "It'll take too long going round the other way. The Death Eaters will he heading right for them…"
"Come on," Hermione urged, stepping quickly forward into the unknown.
The shouts and cries were far clearer as they edged their way into the entrance hall and a sudden chill descended. The foyer was slightly lighter than the pitch darkness of the corridor, but the shadowy realm was far darker than it should have been in a summer afternoon. No sunlight streamed in through the windows and it was like they were entirely cut off from the world. The noises from above seemed to cease like the flicking of a switch. Hermione shivered.
They edged forwards momentarily. Harry's ears pricked up as he instantly recognised a distant noise; the sickening rattle of a long slow intake of breath. The chill of the air plummeted even further as a towering black shadow began to drift down the marble staircase towards them. A second shadow, a third, a fourth... Harry felt the intense cold sweep through his body, screams beginning to swim around in his head from the past, dragging him further and further down.
'Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry.'
He fought back the voices, thinking of holding his daughter in his arms for the first time. If that wasn't a happy memory, Harry didn't know what was. Hermione whimpered as the three of them backed away, standing against opposite walls, wands focused on the creatures.
"Harry, you aim for the back, you should be able to see that far from there. Hermione, do the front. I'll try the middle. Wait until they're closer and we can get a good aim," Ron muttered. "You ok?"
"Yes," Hermione's voice came out as a strangled squeak, and Harry suddenly remembered the trouble she had had conjuring a Patronus in class. She was shaking ferociously as the figures advanced, the coldness intensifying with every second that passed. Voices from past horrors rang with ever- increasing clarity in his head.
"You love him, you say? Enough to die for?"
High-pitched, merciless laughter taunted at him as Ginny's screams of torment filled every part of his being. He clung tightly to the idea of Hope and Ginny. They were a family. They had a future to live. Together.
A shadowy hand of rotting, scabbed flesh began to protrude from one cloak as the Dementors reached them. The hissing, rattling breath reeking of the grave filled the air.
"Now!" Ron gasped.
1 "Expecto Patronum," Harry yelled with all his might, and at once the silvery stag erupted from the tip of his wand, charging down the Dementor he had focused on with more severity than ever. Harry watched in awe as Ron's knight on horseback joined the fray, slicing at another Dementor with its sword until it buckled and began to retreat.
"Expecto Patro…Expecto p… Expec…" Hermione was whispering, trying desperately to fight off the despair consuming her. Her legs gave way and she sank downwards to the floor, the dark creature looming over her.
"Hermione!" Ron yelled from across the room, glancing anxiously at his own Patronus, willing it to return more quickly. "Come on, you can do this. I love you."
Hermione lifted her face to the Dementor, shaking badly and struggled to lift her wand.
"Expecto Patronum," she said distinctly, and a silvery sheen shot out of her wand, mist-like at first and making the Dementor stagger backwards. Slowly the fragments took shape, not of 'Hogwarts: A History,' as they had always teased her it would be, but of a lion. It pounded on silent silvery paws and leapt straight at the Dementor, mauling at it and mercilessly hunting it down. The Dementors vanished, leaving them breathless in relief as the silvery figures returned home.
"Hermione," Ron gasped, running across the entrance hall to the unconscious figure slumped across the floor. He knelt quickly beside her, checking her breathing and reassuring himself that she was really all right. "Come on, Hermione!" he urged. She stirred slightly in his arms. "Wake up. You were brilliant, you know that?"
"Is she ok?" Harry asked anxiously, glancing up the stairwell once more.
"Think so," Ron said and rummaged through his pockets, emerging victorious with a somewhat squashed chocolate frog.
"I've got to…" Harry began, rubbing fractiously at his scar and then gesturing towards the marble staircase.
Ron nodded quickly.
"Just get Ginny and Hope out of here," he said frantically, breaking off a piece of chocolate and throwing it at Harry. "We'll catch up as soon as we can."
Harry paused for just long enough to swallow the chocolate and see Hermione's eyelashes begin to flutter open. He ignored his trembling knees and charged up the stairs three at a time, reassuring himself that Hermione would be fine. Rounding the corner, he listened to the noises that surrounded him in the darkness and shyed away from the darkest corners where dangers could be lurking.
The landing appeared to be deserted, corridors stretching out darkly in both directions. He didn't know which was worse: the terrified screams from earlier, or this new and deadly silence. He stealthily made his way forwards, wand gripped tightly in his outstretched hand, checking behind him at every opportunity for suspected attacks. His heart pounded madly in his ears, drumming his fears in a regular rhythm.
"Constant vigilance!" Moody's voice from years before seemed to bellow in his mind. His foot encountered an obstacle lying darkly on the floor and as he bent to investigate, he felt warm breath brushing across the back of his neck. He turned quickly. Who? No one was there. His eyes scanned the shadowy corridor. Nothing. Once again he turned his attention to the thing on the floor, startled to discover it was a person. He couldn't make out the features in the darkness, but he knew the familiar feel of Hogwarts robes and the clammy feel of death under his touch. He bowed his head.
"Out of the way, Potter!" a harsh voice rent the air. Harry's Quidditch reflexes automatically dived sideways without a second thought, and a brightly coloured shaft of light pierced the air, hitting the point right where he had been.
"W-What?" he cried, scrambling quickly back to his feet.
"Lumos," the voice muttered grimly, and a small beam of light pierced the darkness. The original body was there, a Hufflepuff student felled in the act of flight, but there was something more. A hooded Death Eater had crumpled on the floor, where Harry had been standing merely seconds before, a silver knife glittering in the wand-light. The hooded cloak steamed from the magical spell, and Harry watched wordlessly as a tall shadowy shape, with a familiar hooked nose stepped forwards, and unceremoniously kicked the Death Eater onto his back with his foot. The sliver of light illuminating a face that looked like an older version of Goyle, one of Malfoy's gorillas.
There was a sudden noise, and Snape extinguished the light without a word, pushing Harry behind him and backing away from the direction in which he'd come.
"Get ready," he muttered. "Don't mess this up, Potter. Even you have to be capable of doing something right. When I say 'Go', you get up to that Hospital Wing without stopping and without looking back. None of your stupid heroics this time, understand me?"
"Yeah," Harry breathed, his scar burning more fiercely than ever. The pair of them moving ever further backwards, nearer to the stairwell that Harry needed. Snape was breathing heavily, every ounce of his being focused on something in front of them. Silhouettes came into focus, moving purposefully along the corridor towards them. Twenty feet away. Fifteen. Ten.
They stopped.
"Go!" Snape growled, and Harry sped off to the stairwell, disappearing into it just as the light flashed on brightly in the hallway he had left behind.
"Severus, my friend," a voice, that chilled him to the very core, said loftily. "It has been too long. Far too long."
Harry paused briefly, wondering about going back to help, but his promise echoed in his mind.
"Let me remind you, my old friend, of what we do to traitors," the cold voice went silkily on. "Crucio!"
Screams combined with merciless laughter rent the air, slowing Harry's steps, yet somehow he managed to force himself on, spiralling higher and higher. Glancing down towards the Hospital Wing, it was deserted. Harry ran, desperate to reach Ginny and Hope, and petrified of what he might find. He couldn't be too late. He couldn't.
Sounds of furious fighting reached his ears as he passed the top of the Transfiguration corridor, but he couldn't stop. There would be time enough to go back, once he made sure his wife and daughter were safe. Hogwarts wasn't going to fall, not if he could do anything about it. He sensed someone behind him and increased his speed.
At last the door was in sight and he sprinted towards it, flinging it open and diving through. It clashed shut behind him. Ginny swung round to face him, looking very perplexed, Hope clutched tightly in her arms.
"What's happening, Harry?" she gasped, her dark brown eyes looking anxiously up at him. "There were screams. Mum and Madam Pomfrey went to find out what was going on and they haven't come back. My scar's hurting…"
Harry fought for breath and jerked his head at the blue poetry book on the table. Ginny's Portkey back to the Burrow. Voldemort was here. She had to use it. Now.
2
3 "Ginny, take Hope and run! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off…"
The door burst open and a cackle of high-pitched laughter filled the room.