January 9th
They say that a hero could save us,
I'm not gonna stand here and wait.
Tucked neatly under the hood of the cloak was the long blonde hair of Harry Potter's guardian. The wand was clutched tightly between her slender and now white knuckled fingers. "Colloportus," she whispered, sealing the door to her room to prevent anyone from entering and finding her gone. With a swish of her midnight blue cloak, she disapperated.
Another blonde was awaiting her arrival near the ancient gate of Hogwarts. "Bill ez on 'is way to ze headquarters," the taller blonde whispered, her French accent having faded significantly due to her time at Gringotts.
The brunette appeared again, her hair its usual pink until she screwed up her face, changing the color of her hair back to brown for the time being. "The Order meets in twenty minutes. They expect me there, so I will not be able to stay with you," she whispered, looking at the two blondes.
"We can use these. I borrowed them from Luna. She still had hers and Neville's." The smaller blonde said, handing the DA coin to Tonks, who nodded in acknowledgement.
"A Proteus charm, correct?" she asked. They all nodded.
A few minutes later, the dark woman appeared, greeting the others with a grim smile. "Fred and George are already at the headquarters of the Order. I had an owl from Fred just before I left home. Harry has locked himself in Sirius's old room, preparing. They don't know what he's doing; he won't come out and he won't let anyone in except Ron and Hermione." The smaller blonde's hand twitched, but no one spoke. There was no need. Everyone knew that tonight would decide the fate of the wizarding world. They also knew that it could be Harry's last night on earth. Or theirs.
The clock at Hogwarts chimed nine times as Tonks disapperated. The hooded trio looked around at each other, waiting for the signal from Tonks that the battle had begun. She had left them with the slip of paper Snape had given to her, telling the location of the Death Eaters' meeting. Several others in the Order also had the location on slips of paper, so Tonks would be able to pretend that she had lost hers, which was entirely characteristic of her. Their plan was simple: Protect Harry at all costs. They would attempt to remain hidden, which would allow them to cast charms at the Death Eaters attacking Harry so that he would be able to concentrate on defeating the Dark Lord once Nagini had been destroyed.
Thirty agonizing minutes passed before the DA coin grew warm in the hand of the dark woman. The date and time changed to all zeros, indicating that the time was now. They all shared what could be the final seconds of their lives and then looked down at the slip of paper, instantly disapperating to the location of the meeting.
All was quite outside the abandoned house. "Where are you, Harry?" The dark woman whispered, her wand at the ready. They ducked behind a large bush as they heard the hurried footsteps of a Death Eater. The smaller blonde flicked her wand silently and the Death Eater froze in his tracks, falling over to the ground, petrified.
"Et is 'erminone!" The taller blonde whispered, pointing further down the gravel road that ran in front of the house.
Hermione, followed by Ron, sprinted up the road and stopped dead when they saw the petrified Death Eater. "But… everyone is back in the orchard…" Ron stammered, looking at Hermione for an answer.
She looked around, her eyes stopping on the bush that hid the trio, but she said nothing and turned back to Ron. "We'll need to get back to the group… let them know that the Voldemort is still unaware that we are here," she whispered, barely loud enough for the trio in the bush to hear.
"Fleur," the smaller blonde said to her blonde companion, "follow them and meet up with the Order. Stay hidden, but follow them back up here. Angelina and I will stay here and wait for any sign of action at the house." They all nodded and the taller blonde took off at a tip toed run.
As they watched Fleur's shadow slip away, rain began to fall on the dark woman and the blonde. Light drops fell, causing a rustling in the trees behind them. The sound of footsteps returned, disguised slightly by the rain. Angelina's breath caught in her throat as she saw George helping a bleeding Fred up the path. "Set him down here," Hermione whispered, pulling out her wand as the others stood guard around her. A disheveled Harry and Ron crept around the house to find the most silent entrance to the house so that they could make it into the house and hopefully upstairs to the meeting room without being noticed. Hermione healed Fred's wounds with a few flicks from her wand and a couple of drops of a pearly liquid from a vial. Apparently they had come prepared for snake bites. Nagini had bitten Mr. Weasley several years previous, and he nearly bled to death before anyone could figure out how to heal his wounds.
Fleur rejoined the trio, sneaking up so silently that the remaining two jumped in surprise. "I 'eard zem talking," she whispered, "They took Felix Felicis before they came."
Angelina smiled happily but the smaller blonde said, "Felix can only help so much. It won't stop you from dying if you get hit with the killing curse." The trio remained silent as the Order regrouped and staged themselves outside the house. Ron and Harry returned, motioning everyone to move to the back side of the house. The trio snuck out from behind the bush slowly, taking care to hide behind trees and other bushes as they too made their way to the back of the house.
And almost as soon as it started, it was almost over. The Order had stormed the house in such large numbers that the Death Eaters were overwhelmed, and most of them were restrained; however, several of the fiercest and most skilled Death Eaters were still fighting, protecting Voldemort, who remained in his throne, laughing at the spectacle in front of him as if it were a highly choreographed play. Harry had not entered the room at the insistence of the members of the Order. They could not afford to have him injured before the final showdown with Voldemort. The trio had not yet managed to enter the house and were hiding behind several trees behind the house.
Becoming bored with the show in front of him, Voldemort snapped his fingers, causing the entire group of Death Eaters, members of the Order, and Harry to appear with a pop in the side yard of the house. In another time, another circumstance, this could have been a game of American Muggle Football. However, when the disorientation passed, it was clear that the Order no longer had the situation under control. Most of the Death Eaters were now free from their restraints, and were ready to attack the first person who moved.
"Ah, dear Harry Potter. We meet again. My how you have grown in the past year! And you've brought your foolish friends from the Order. Who is your leader now that Dumbledore is gone? The Werewolf? He's the last of your dear parents' friends, isn't he? Such a pity to die young. I wouldn't know," Voldemort taunted, raising his wand, "Who will be first to fall?" He made a silent gesture to his followers, who instantly began firing red jets of light at the Order.
The Order converged in front of Harry, protecting him with their bodies while trying to allow him to move closer to Voldemort. The trio, hiding behind trees, shot curses at the Death Eaters when they thought the others weren't looking. They did what they could to protect the members of the Order, but they were there for the sole purpose of protecting Harry. Eventually, Voldemort and Harry broke free of the group to duel. The three knew it was important to let Harry be the one to kill Voldemort, as that was the prophecy. The smaller blonde found it hard to stick to the plan while they watched Voldemort torture Harry with curse after curse, some hitting their mark, including a nasty round of the Cruciatis curse.
Harry fell to the ground, now unable to move and most likely unconscious from the pain. The hidden trio watched in horror as Voldemort advanced on Harry, who was unprotected; all of the members of the Order were occupied, injured, or stunned. Voldemort raised his wand, laughing.
"I can't take this!" the small blonde yelled, bursting from her hiding place.
"Ginny, no!" Angelina screamed, causing heads to turn.
Time seemed to slow to a stop as the blonde ran to Harry, who lay limply on the wet earth. "I won't let you!" she screamed to Voldemort, grabbing Harry's right arm, which was still holding his wand. She pointed her own wand at Voldemort, who was shocked enough to have paused just long enough for her to scream the curse.
"Avarda Kedavra!" she bellowed, using all of the air in her lungs.
To be continued…