Author's Notes: Okay, I lied. One more chapter and then an epilogue. I didn't realize the fighting would take up so much room.
The Battle By the Stair +
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A scant fifteen minutes had passed since Harry's abrupt departure and already it was difficult for Ron to muster the same sense of readiness he had felt when Harry had shoved the ball of socks into his hand and told him to prepare for the worst. The news of Dumbledore's mission had been unsettling at first, but now Ron wasn't sure what the fuss was. Dumbledore went on missions all the time, and if he was taking Harry then what he was doing couldn't possibly be dangerous. Yet Ron had told Hermione he would get Ginny and that was exactly what he was going to do. Just in case Malfoy really was planning to do something bad. After all, Harry had been right before. And also tragically wrong… Ron reminded himself.
Outside the common room nothing was different than it had been an hour before. The corridors of Hogwarts held their usual amount of traffic for the evenings, with frenzied Fifth and Seventh Years bustling to and fro on the way to the library to study for their exams. A few seemed to be returning, their books hoisted high over their shoulders and others were obviously in search of the kitchens where they might find an evening snack. These suspicious characters were the ones tapping the walls with their wands, only to hide them away every time Ron rounded the corner. The glint of his Prefect's badge inevitably caused any mischievous Fifth Year to quickly pocket his wand under the guise of having an itch under his sleeve. Little did these students know, but Ron not only knew where to find the kitchens, but he had visited them himself. And if he were not in such a rush, he might have been willing to direct his hungry schoolmates to their desired destination.
Unfortunately for them, Ron was in a rush. He passed by everyone without giving them more than a second's glance, even when he saw a Ravenclaw sticking what appeared to be a dungbomb behind the bust of Phineas Nigellus. He swept into the library and began scouring the tables for his sister. The entire library was dark except for the lamps set at each desk, which made it difficult to see peoples' faces. Ron had never understood why people preferred to study in the library over their own, better-lit common rooms, but many did and Ginny was one of the many. He initiated his hunt with some haste.
The urgent way in which he conducted his search produced a few startled outcries and numerous glares expressing the greatest annoyance. Apparently, people did not like it when Ron pulled their faces out of their books so he might have a good look at them. In this manner, he found Ginny, who was buried in her Herbology textbook.
"Ouch!" she hissed, for Ron had pulled her collar too tightly against her neck while trying to discern her identity.
When she faced him, her irritation faded first into surprise to find her brother standing in front of her and then back into irritation.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered. Despite her hushed volume, a few nearby students glared at her. Ron was suddenly aware that all eyes were on them and that they could probably hear what he would say. He couldn't tell Ginny about Horcruxes and diabolical plans in front of every student studying in the Section for Magical Uses of Yams.
"Could you come with me?" he requested, hoping Ginny wouldn't set her hands on her hips as he fully expected her to do and refuse to comply until he explained himself fully.
"Why?" she asked. Her hands weren't on her hips, but Ron suspected they would have been had Ginny been standing.
"It's about Harry," he said.
Ginny rolled her eyes, no doubt expecting another one of his treatises on proper snogging etiquette. She said, "You're not going to lecture me about how I'm spending too much time with him are you, because Hermione already…"
"No, it's —" Ron stopped her quickly. He looked back and forth to find ten pairs of eyes centered in on the conversation. Each pair was quietly furious. One person got up from her bench, possibly to alert Madam Pince of the disturbance. Ron felt himself turning red from embarrassment. Briefly, Ron wondered whether Ginny might not have been better off staying with Dean Thomas. If she were still going out with Dean, Ron would not be fetching her now when she ought to be studying, nor would he be about to tell her that her boyfriend was off on some dangerous mission with Dumbledore. Since Dean Thomas was not obsessed with avenging the murder of his parents, he would probably never have left Ginny's side. Anyway, they would have been too busy snogging behind corners…
Ron shook the unpleasant memory from his mind, deciding ultimately that Ginny was better off with Harry, even if that had led to Ron currently being shot to pieces with angry glares from his classmates.
"Look, could you just come with me please?" he begged her. "I'll explain everything on the way back to the common room."
"But I have to study —" Ginny protested, and then trailed off when she at last noticed the seriousness of his tone. "Is this very important?"
"Yes," said Ron.
Ginny closed her book without further protest and followed Ron out of the library, easily matching his brisk pace. When they had almost reached the exit, Ginny began to outstrip him until it was she who was dragging him outside rather than the other way around.
She hauled him to a secluded alcove down the hall and asked, "All right, tell me. This had better be good."
"Harry's gone with Dumbledore."
Ginny just looked confused. "You mean he's at one of his lessons, right?"
Ron shook his head.
"But he's somewhere at Hogwarts…?"
Before he could answer, Ron heard the hurried patter of footsteps followed by the familiar voice of Luna Lovegood. "Oh, I'm so glad I found you!" she cried, hurrying up to them. She was lugging her books over her shoulder and had obviously come from the library. "I just felt my D.A. galleon go hot and I looked down to see that we're having a meeting, but I didn't know where to go."
Ron didn't know where to go either. He had just assumed that he would go back to the common room. "Do you know where Gryffindor Tower is?"
"No," said Luna with a frown. "Not exactly."
With a sigh Ron said, "All right, then put your things away and meet us back here as quick as possible. We'll take you there."
When she had gone, Ginny grabbed the sleeve of Ron's robes and jerked him around to face her. She was breathing hard, almost panicked. "Why are we having a D.A. meeting? Where's Harry?"
"He left Hogwarts on a mission with Dumbledore."
She let out a little gasp, but Ron kept going. "He asked us to spy on Malfoy and Snape while he's gone. Hermione is gathering the D.A. I'll explain the rest when Luna gets here so I'll only need to go over it once."
"Did he give you any messages for me?" she asked. Ginny's face was stricken with such fear that Ron realized for the first time how deeply his sister cared for his friend. He had never seen this vulnerability before and it made him pray that he would never need to find Ginny in order to tell her anything worse about Harry than what he was telling her now.
Ron pondered her question for a moment. Finally he answered, "He said to tell you good-bye."
Ginny accepted this with a slight nod. She lowered her eyes to the floor and did not speak even when Luna returned five minutes later. Ron watched her carefully on the walk back to Gryffindor Tower, but was unable to tell whether she was angry, hurt or afraid. He supposed that if he were in her position, he would be feeling all three.
Luna, however, did not seem to notice Ginny's expression. She was practically skipping down the hall, completely unable to contain her joy at being called to a D.A. meeting. She asked questions on the way, and Ron filled both the girls in as he had promised. The corridors were somewhat emptier, but a few students still passed them by and so Ron cast the Muffliato spell.
Luna did not appear as shocked by Harry's distrust of Professor Snape as Ginny did. "My father always said Professor Snape was a suspicious character. I suspect that he's come up with a dangerous cross-breed of Cornish Pixie and Blast-Ended Skrewt and that's what he uses to terrorize Ernie MacMillan during the detention everyone says he refuses to talk about."
Neither Ron nor Ginny commented on this, and as it was one of Luna's tamer suppositions, Ron barely felt his usual amount of amused indignation that accompanied her theories. Ginny didn't acknowledge the comment with so much as a blink. She was uncharacteristically quiet, off in her own world that consisted solely of Harry and herself. The only thing she said during the walk was muttered under her breath and sounded something like, "…He never told me…"
When they reached the vicinity of Gryffindor Tower, the two of them left Luna to wait in one of the abandoned classrooms by the Tower before going through the portrait to find Hermione.
She was sitting on the couch near Neville Longbottom when they greeted her.
"Hey," said Neville, looking from Ron to Ginny and finally at his shoes when no one answered. Ron was scouring the rest of the common room with his eyes, hoping to see someone else.
"No one else from Gryffindor has come down," said Hermione. "And I suppose the ones from other houses don't know where to meet us. Oh, I should have charmed those coins to reveal the meeting place too, but I had always thought we'd be in the Room of Requirement."
"Luna came with us," said Ron. "She's waiting in the abandoned classroom across the hall."
"Good," said Hermione. "Let's go there, only someone should wait here in case someone else comes."
"No one is going to come," said Ginny, blankly. "Most of the D.A. members stopped carrying their coins last year. They won't even realize you've called."
So they trekked across the hall and found Luna. Taking their seats on the tables, Ron studied the small crowd gathered. Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville. It was the old crowd that had gathered, the core group from last year. Each and every one of them had fought together at the Department of Mysteries when Sirius had died. Would another tragedy befall them tonight?
No, thought Ron, hastily. Because Malfoy probably isn't planning anything and all the really dangerous stuff is happening wherever Harry is. Maybe…
"So, do we all know why we're here?" began Hermione.
Ginny, Luna and Neville all nodded.
"Then we should divide up into two groups so we can watch both the Room of Requirement and Snape."
"Won't it seem kind of odd for us to be waiting in clusters by Snape's office?" asked Ron. "A lot of people are still up and about, mostly Fifth and Seventh Years from the looks of it."
"Yeah," said Neville. "Maybe we ought to wait until it's clearer before we go."
Ginny's head shot up. "If Harry wants us to spy on Malfoy and Snape, then we had better start as soon as possible."
"Well, maybe we should check to see where Malfoy is again," offered Ron. "We don't want to go guard some place where he isn't."
Hermione handed the map to him. "Take it. I'll go with Luna to watch Snape. He's not likely to leave his office any time soon."
Ron regarded the map with a frown. He didn't like the thought of separating from Hermione. The idea made him uneasy, and suddenly he felt less sure that Malfoy wasn't up to something. He shuddered as he pulled out his wand.
"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," said Ron, tapping the map. The corridors of Hogwarts slowly appeared over the parchment, but Malfoy's dot did not appear along with them. His eyes darted left and right over the page, but they could come to no other conclusion.
"He's not on here, so we'll have to split up after all," he declared.
"Take Ginny and Neville," directed Hermione. "We'll all leave directly."
They hurried down the corridor together for as long as they could, and then when they reached the point where their paths must separate, they came to a halt. Everything around them was silent. No students passed by on their way to the library. Mrs. Norris didn't make an unwelcome appearance. Peeves was unaccounted for. The candlelight in the hall had dimmed to an eerie nighttime glow. In the corner by one of the torches, Ron sighted a fly as it flew into a spider's web and became entangled. It struggled for barely a second before lapsing into an unnatural stillness, yet the spider did not emerge to see its prey. Ron's ill ease grew. From here on in whatever happened was anybody's guess. Ron was nearly certain that nothing terrible would happen, and yet he couldn't entirely convince himself of this. Nor could he shake the thought that if they were indeed going to their deaths, they weren't all going together.
Ron looked at the stairway that would take him to the Room of Requirement. Neville and Ginny had already ascended half way. Hermione sent Luna on down the corridor, leaving Ron alone with her for the time being.
"This isn't good-bye, you know. Don't look so sad" said Hermione, trying her best to appear carefree. Ron was not fooled, however, especially not when Hermione took his hand and pressed something soft into it, which he realized instantly was the sock with the Felix Felicis.
"Did you take any?" he asked her. But when he looked up, she was already bounding down the hall after Luna and did not answer him. With nowhere else to go, Ron turned around and climbed the steps as quickly as he could in order to catch up with the others. He found them a little ways on, huddled in a doorway across the hall from the Room of Requirement. Their wands were out and trained on what they knew to be the Room's exit, as if they expected someone to come out at any moment. Of course, no one did come out.
They waited perhaps thirty minutes, staring endlessly at the unseen door to the Room of Requirement. Every minute or so Ron checked his watch. Seconds ticked away like minutes, and all their arms were getting sore from holding them up. Neville sighed and put his arm down. Ron followed soon after. Only Ginny remained alert.
When Ron looked down to see that almost forty minutes had passed since their arrival, he said, "Maybe there's no one in there." He was beginning to worry about Hermione and Luna camped out in front of Snape's office. Even if nothing sinister was happening here, who wasn't to say that Snape hadn't given the girls detentions for spying on him or for attempting to rob his supplies.
"I'm not leaving, if that's what you mean," hissed Ginny. Ron and Neville shared a glance, but returned to watching the door. Within ten minutes, however, Ginny too had ceased to keep careful watch. She sagged to the floor and rested her back against the stone arch with a tremulous sigh. Ron wondered whether he oughtn't go down to find Hermione.
Just then, when no one was looking or particularly interested in looking for Malfoy, the sound of a latch lifting brought them to alert. Ron seized his wand tighter and held it at the ready. But just as the door was beginning to swing open, Ron realized he had no idea what he was going to do. Should he stupefy Malfoy? How would he explain that to McGonagall? Or Snape? They might take away his Prefect's Badge or give him twenty million detentions for fighting in the hallways. This situation required more thought, more planning than he had given it. He couldn't just hex Malfoy right here in the middle of the school. And Malfoy was a fellow Prefect, so he couldn't assign him detention. He held his breath, waiting.
What would Hermione do?
All of the sudden it was too late to think of what Hermione would have done, because Malfoy was standing in the hallway. He had closed the door to the Room of Requirement behind him and was looking in the opposite direction. But whenever he brought his head around, he would see Ron and the others peering at him with their wands drawn.
Now, Ron. You must act now.
But it was too late. Malfoy had seen him. With a gasp, Malfoy jumped back. He was clutching his arm, but after seeing Ron he released it and reached into the folds of his robes.
"Get out of here, if you know what's good for you, Weasley," hissed Malfoy.
At last, Ron pointed his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!"
But Malfoy ducked out of the way and pulled something from his pocket. He threw it at the stones and yelled, "TARTARUS!"
Everything went black in an instant.
From somewhere, Neville shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!"
Ron heard Ginny's Bat Bogey Hex and felt a stream of heat slash his ear.
"Stop! You're going to hit one of us!" he said, holding up his hands, even though no one could see him.
"Lumos!" cried Ron, but nothing happened. "Lumos! Incendio!" Again, nothing happened. For a moment, Ron wondered if Malfoy had not blinded him. Then he realized that Malfoy must have used Fred and George's Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, which meant they were stuck in this blackness for at least an hour.
"Blimey," he began, turning to where he thought the others were. "Fred and George…"
"Sssh," hissed Ginny. "Someone's coming."
Suddenly two pairs of arms (Ginny's and Neville's) grabbed him and dragged him down the hallway toward another door. They huddled together in the darkness, listening to the harsh clink of boots upon the stone. There were several pairs of feet that sounded as they left the Room of Requirement one by one.
"Well done, Draco," cooed a woman's voice. Not a girl's voice or a boy's voice Polyjuiced into a girl's. A woman's voice. Beside him in the alcove, Neville's hands clutched Ron's arm so tightly that it hurt.
But why did Neville care so much if…?
Ron felt the blood drain from his face as he understood what Malfoy had done. Harry had been right to suspect him because this was not just any prank that the Slytherins had pulled off. Malfoy had managed to lead the Death Eaters straight into Hogwarts.
The woman whose voice they had heard was Bellatrix Lestrange. And Malfoy knows we're here. He'll tell!
Ron looked around for Ginny and Neville, but he could see absolutely nothing. He only knew they were there because he could feel their hands on his sleeve and hear their breathing. The Death Eaters would find them, and they wouldn't be able to see them coming. Ron just couldn't believe how right Harry had been! My God, we're going to die, thought Ron. But miraculously the sound of the footsteps receded.
Just then Ron remembered the sock in his pocket. He pulled it out and unrolled it, grabbing the potion and uncorking the top. He took a swig and fumbled for Ginny's hand. "Take a sip of this and give the rest to Neville," he whispered.
"What is it?" asked Ginny. Her hands were trembling as he handed it to her. Ron hoped that she wouldn't drop it.
"Harry's lucky potion," said Ron, who was beginning to have the sudden hunch that he should go towards the Death Eaters instead of away from them.
When Neville had taken his sip, Ron urged them forward. "We'll go this way," he said, pulling their arms to point in the direction he wanted them to go.
"I don't feel very lucky," said Neville.
"Nonsense," replied Ginny. "You remembered not to trip over the stair. Now be quiet in case someone hears."
Ron kept one hand on the wall and followed its curve, wincing when he felt his hand run over a spider's web. When he thwacked his head on the base of one of the torches, Ron had no choice but to put his wand away so he could hold one hand in front of him in order to feel for obstacles. A bit of hot wax had landed on his forehead, meaning the torches were still burning despite the darkness. Even fire was of no help to them.
For some distance they continued in the dark until at last they sighted a wan glow emanating from an intersection up ahead. Ron began to race to it, pulling his wand from his pocket so he could…
Just then he stopped. What was he planning to do? Fight off a dozen Death Eaters on his own? He wasn't feeling that lucky.
Ron swept into another doorway, and the others joined him soon after. Suddenly they heard voices up ahead. He clutched his wand tighter.
"They're coming back," gasped Neville.
Ron eyed the hallway straight ahead of them, one possible escape route. They could go back the way they came, but they wouldn't be able to see in order to defend themselves. The three of them huddled together in the alcove, eyeing the corridor directly across from them even as they heard the cold clack of their enemies' boots echoing from up the hall that crossed their means of escape.
"Can we make it?" whispered Ginny next to him.
Ron peered out of the alcove to see the ominous shadows of men stretching out in the eerie glow like crooked fingers on a skeleton raking the stone walls. He pulled back to the safety of the alcove just as the shape of a boot appeared around the bend in the hall, breathing hard as a thousand possibilities whirled through his mind. With each passing second the number of possibilities shrank until at last Ron saw only one course ahead of him. Well, I guess I wasn't put in Gryffindor for nothing, he thought sadly. Ron thought of Hermione, waiting by Snape's office, unknowing of his peril. Then he paid a silent farewell to his sister and to Neville. "Go!" he insisted. Then he hurled himself into the corridor with a war cry.
He charged forward, still screaming, with his wand held high and "Impedimenta" on his lips, when he found himself face to face with a very startled Lupin, Tonks and Bill.
"Oh," said Ron, stopping at once and lowering his wand. Even though they had ruined his dramatic moment, he was quite pleased about not having to go through with his heroic death.
"Ssshh!" hissed Bill. "Are you alone?"
"No, the others are down this way."
They hurtled into the corridor where Ginny and Neville had gone and ran after them.
They caught up soon enough, for the others had stopped to huddle in the doorway to a classroom when they heard footsteps behind them.
Ron felt several pairs of arms latch onto him and sweep him into a classroom.
"Oi, Neville!" he cried, holding his hands up in a pathetic sort of shield from the hexes his friends were about to reign in on him.
"It's Ron!" exclaimed Neville, offering him an arm up. "It's all right."
"Ron?" cried Ginny from the window, where she had been looking out to see what was happening outside. She saw him and ran to him instantly, throwing her arms around him in a rare display of affection.
Ron grinned, pointing to Lupin, Tonks and Bill, who were just then entering the room, as a way of explanation.
She released him. "Thank God," she said.
"Why aren't you in Gryffindor Tower?" Bill demanded.
Ron told him what had happened. Lupin looked to Tonks, who was monitoring the activity outside the hall.
"No one is out here," she said. "McGonagall and Snape probably went after the Death Eaters, which means they'll need support as soon as possible."
"And you should get back to the dormitories," said Bill, pointing his finger in front of Ron's face. What would our mother say if she knew what you were doing?"
Before Ron could say a word, however, Ginny had stepped forward. "We're old enough to do as we like," she declared.
Ron was about to say something along the same lines, but Lupin interrupted him.
"Bill, we haven't got time for this. If they're determined to come, we can't stop them. They're better off with us."
Bill nodded and swept out the door behind Tonks. Ron didn't care whether he had his brother's approval or not. He would have followed him anyway. Ron, Ginny and Neville raced behind the adults for some distance. Ron noted that they were taking the shortest path to the Astronomy Tower.
He took the first flight of stairs two at a time, with Ginny and Neville panting behind him. When they reached the narrow landing, Ron swept around the bend, preparing for the next flight of steps when he saw a streak of red light and heard a cry from up above. Ron heard Lupin shouting, "Impedimenta!"
Ron looked up to see Lupin and Tonks bounding up the second flight of steps that led to a broader landing and the final flight of stairs that led up to the Astronomy Tower itself. He and Ginny and Neville moved to follow them, but before they had gotten halfway, Bill halted suddenly and Ron smacked into his back.
Bill swung around and grabbed Ron by the collar. "Stay here and cover us in case anything happens."
Dutifully, Ron and the others positioned themselves on the top step. Neville watched the stairs below, while Ron and Ginny trained their eyes on the landing. Tonks and Lupin were inspecting the two corridors, one veering off to the left and the other sharply to the right of the steps on which Ron waited. Bill was peering up the stairs that led to the Astronomy Tower.
He turned around slowly, as if sensing some present danger. Suddenly, a man appeared out of nowhere and leapt at Bill before Ron had the time to do anything. An Invisibility Cloak lay on the landing where the man had dropped it.
"Stupefy!" Ron shouted.
"Protego!" the man snarled. He dragged Bill by the neck to a pedestal sitting by the stairs and hunched over him, like vulture going after a corpse. Bill was screaming.
"Stupe —!" Ron was unable to finish because Ginny had pulled him out of the line of fire. Several Death Eaters had appeared in one of the corridors and were aiming curses at them. Tonks and Lupin were huddled together, leaning out to fire a curse whenever they had the chance, but Ron saw they were practically cornered. A massive Death Eater was waiting in the corridor, no doubt obscuring several of his comrades from view. Just in front of him stood a stout looking woman, who peered out from her hiding spot and began to taunt Ron. "Look, Greyback, it's the whole Weasley family!"
Greyback, the man who had savaged Bill, stood up and laughed. He seemed unconcerned that he was standing in the open, vulnerable to curses from every direction. He had blood dripping down his mouth, and Ron could see it was slathered all over his teeth when he smiled. Bill's groans of agony could still be heard from behind the pedestal.
Ron wanted to vomit, but he leaned forward to attempt another curse. But before he could, a red light shot at his head and he was forced to duck behind the stairs.
"Stay back, Ron!" cried Lupin from the corridor.
Greyback eyed Lupin as if he were pig manure. "I always knew you were not to be trusted, Lupin. You're too attached to these filthy humans of yours. You would have been better off with us, but now you'll pay."
The woman Death Eater was still jumping up and down. "Let's pick them off one by one."
Neville seemed keenly interested in this woman and he crawled over Ginny in order to see her. Ron realized that Neville thought this woman was Bellatrix, but she was not. In fact, Ron had never seen her before in his life.
"Look, it's little Longbottom!" she cried. "I've heard about you! CRUC—"
"REDUCTO!"
Whoever the woman was, was forced to duck back into hiding. Ron whirled around to see who had cast the curse and discovered Professor McGonagall racing up the steps far faster than a woman of her age ought to be able to do.
With McGonagall's arrival, the fight broke out in earnest. Ron launched a curse at one of the Death Eaters who was sprinting into the fray. He almost hit him, but the man was too quick. He went up the stairs past Greyback and was gone.
Ginny aimed a Bat Bogey hex at Greyback, who jumped away with glee.
"Go Draco, Go!" cried the woman. Greyback launched himself into the fray, shielding Malfoy as he ran up the stairs. Then, as if to call attention to their weakness, he scurried across the landing, dodging Lupin and Tonks' curses, and took shelter in the corridor.
"Someone's got to go after Malfoy!" cried Neville, who threw himself up the stairs even as McGonagall tried to pull him back.
"Mr. Longbottom, come back!"
But Neville would not listen and he lunged up the stairs only to fall backwards. A jolt of green light nearly hit him, but he managed to swerve away in time. Neville crawled to Bill's side where he was struck by a purple light aimed from the woman's wand.
"Neville!" cried Lupin, racing out after him, but Neville had slumped over Bill's body. Lupin tried to run up the stairs, but he too fell backward.
"Impedimenta!" cried Ron, aiming for the huge Death Eater. He missed, but succeeded in buying time for Lupin, who surely would have been hit by whatever curse the Death Eater had been planning.
Just then, one of the men who had run up the stairs came down. He saw Lupin lying on the stonework and pointed his wand.
"Stupefy!" cried Ginny and Ron at the same time, but their curses bounced off whatever forcefield was blocking the entryway to the stairs. The man saw them and ran straight at them, stepping on Lupin's hand on the way. This, however, was his undoing, for the large, blonde Death Eater had just aimed a Killing Curse at Lupin, but Lupin had taken the opportunity to wrench the man's feet out from under him. He fell into the curse and landed on the stonework, dead.
"Gibbon!" the woman screamed.
Lupin crawled back toward Tonks, using Gibbon's body as a shield. The larger Death Eater had emerged along with several others, who were no longer so afraid of being hit. They seemed to have been maddened by the fall of their comrade. Ron saw hatred and death in their eyes.
Curses were flying everywhere. Ron couldn't see anymore whether his were hitting their targets or not. It was only five against an ever increasing number of Death Eaters, several of whom had managed to get past the landing and were now racing up the stairs. The woman was one of them.
Just as he was about to send a curse flying in their direction, Ron felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Snape, towering over him. McGonagall was on her feet, trying to sum up the situation. "There's some kind of forcefield, Severus. Remus and Mr. Longbottom have both tried to get past already…" said McGonagall.
"Leave this to me," he said, and Ron heard the fearful resolution in his voice.
"Where's Filius?" she asked, but Snape didn't answer her. He merely strode over the landing, ignoring the curses flying by him, and went up the stairs without running into anything resembling a barrier. Neville stirred as Snape passed by, emitting a groan.
Evidently feeling heartened, Ginny pressed forward, aiming a curse into the corridor before ducking for cover near Tonks. The large Death Eater had almost hit her. Meanwhile, Lupin had emerged again and tried the barrier a second time with the same result as the first. He bounced off the barrier and was sent reeling to the floor.
"Stupefy!" shouted Ron, thrice over as he tried to cover Lupin. However, he couldn't get a good shot, and he knew that the Death Eater was aiming a Killing Curse.
"Remus!" cried Tonks, charging out of her hiding place. A bolt of red light shot from her wand. Ron ran out to cover her and managed to hit one of the Death Eaters. The remaining Death Eaters ran out of the corridor to meet them one on one. McGonagall emerged, taking one down only to face another.
The large Death Eater headed straight for Ginny.
"Crucio!" he cried, but Ginny must still have been under the influence of the lucky potion, for she dodged the curse easily. "Crucio! Crucio!"
"Reducto!" shouted Ron, but a Death Eater seized him by the arm, causing his aim to go awry. He managed to turn in the man's arms and brought his fist up to strike him hard along the jaw. He stumbled backward, clutching his neck.
"Petrificus Tota…"
"Protego!"
"Impedimenta!" cried Ron.
The Death Eater ducked and lunged for Ron's legs in order to throw him to the floor. Ron jumped out of the way. But as he did so, the roof above him began to tremble. Dust fell everywhere, followed by bricks.
"The roof!" cried McGonagall.
Ron didn't have time to cover himself, for his attacker had taken the opportunity to leap on top of him, wrestling him to the floor.
"SNAPE!" Ron cried, seeing his teacher emerge from the rubble. "HELP…"
But Snape did not hear him and Ron had to struggle on his own. The Death Eater was on top of him, pinning him to the stone. Ron thought he saw Harry streak by, but maybe that was just his addled, oxygen-deprived brain playing tricks on him.
"It's over!" someone shouted, but for Ron it was not over. The man sitting on top of him was reaching for his wand with one hand and choking him with the other. Ron could only hope that someone would see and would rescue him. Suddenly, the Death Eater released him and took off down the stairs, running after Snape.
Ron sat up, gasping. Slowly, he realized that all was quiet. He looked around to find McGonagall, Lupin and Tonks rounding up the fallen Death Eaters. It was indeed over.
Ginny sat in the corner by Bill and Neville was standing behind her, kicking at the rubble as if he were trying very hard not to be ill. Ron got up and rushed over, crying out when he saw his brother.
There was blood everywhere. On Ginny, on Bill. Ron looked down to see that he was standing in his brother's blood. He didn't know what to do, so he remained where he was, letting the blood soak into the bottom cuffs of his trousers as they dragged on the floor. And he looked at Bill's ruined face. He couldn't tell whether the eyelids were open or closed, for it was possible that he no longer had eyelids.
"Is he…?" but Ron didn't finish the sentence. He didn't want to hear the answer, nor did he want to know whether he would feel more sad than relieved to hear that his brother was still alive. It was a horrible thing to think, but as Ron stared down at his brother's mangled, nose-less face, he wondered whether it would not be better for Bill to die.
"Look," said Neville, which caused Ron to wheel around. He found Neville pointing to the ceiling. Ron was almost too numb to look up, but when he did he discovered that a large section of the roof was gone, revealing a blanket of stars. Only the night sky was no longer blue, but a sickening green, and suspended overhead, like a beacon to Hell, was the specter of the Dark Mark.
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Leaviel:I looked back at Chapter One and got rid of the pillow thing.
Princessdza: I looked back at Chapter Five and tried to figure out a way to put Hermione and Ron back in character. Upon reading it again and again, I decided you were right. I made a couple edits, but I'm not pleased with them. I don't think they changed anything, and I'm afraid that I made it worse. Don't go back and read it just yet. I just wanted you to know that I'm thinking about how to change it.
PsychoHaired: I think I finally understand now what you were saying about Hermione. I looked back at Chapter 7 and made a little edit so now Hermione is slightly more reticent about sneaking off to snog.
Abvj: Well, I hope you enjoy the little bits of Harry and Ginny that I stuck in this story. I, personally, was shocked that H/G happened in Book 6. I re-read Book 5 last week and realized there were clues, but I'd completely ruled out Ginny as a possibility. The H/Hr people had me thinking there would be a love triangle.
Animeobsessed3191: Yes, do, do get your fanfic up!
