Chapter 51 – Not the Final Battle

BANG.

"Teams A, B and C report to Sector G. Teams D, E and F stay where you are it could be a diversion." Came Ron's voice in Harry's ear. Sector G was the Entrance Hall and Harry was leader of Team B. Harry motioned for his team of 6 to follow. He ran toward the Entrance Hall, he hoped Anna would stay where she was. He got to the Entrance Hall out of breath and almost collided with Ron. Ron, who was head of Team A, motioned for everyone to follow him. He walked toward the doors but before he could get there they heard loud voice and a word being said.

"Proceed carefully, the Dark Mark has just been fired," came the voice of Chris Vincent, Ron's superior in Harry's ear. Ron stopped suddenly and led them around to a small corridor. As Harry walked down it he was reminded of Snape's dungeon, the walls were damp and growing green algae on them, the candles that were burning were burning dimly and low giving a very eerie glow. Harry wondered how Ron knew this was here. As if reading his thoughts Ron said quietly to Harry.

"The useful thing about having Fred and George as brothers and the Marauders Map." Harry grinned.

As they came to a small doorway that Harry was sure he would have missed if it hadn't been for Ron leading them. Ron turned to them all spoke.

"You all know your positions?" There were nods all over. "Good. Now, go. And wait for my signal."

"This is ridiculous we can't just sit here when our friends are fighting out there," James exclaimed. He was pacing by the door waiting for it to unlock. Only Anna could unlock it but none of them, apart from Anna, knew that. They had been sitting in silence for the last few minutes after the bang they had heard. All of them had been staring at Anna, who sat terrified at the choice before her. She could go and fight like she desperately wanted to do but face her captors of 5 weeks, or she could obey her father and stay inside safe where no one could bring back the painful memories.

"I agree, I don't care what the Auror's said we have to go out there and help," Lupin said standing up next to James. He stood by the door folded his arms across his chest and stared directly at Anna.

"Me too," Sirius said getting up as well. All three of them turned their gaze to Remus who got up silently; he had no control of them outside of the Quidditch pitch. They all turned to look at Anna. Her eyes passed over all of them. Remus was gazing intently at her with his bright blue eyes; she seemed to read his mind. He had a look that clearly said 'I thought you were different than this'. James had the same look as his brother, but when Anna looked at him he dropped his head and ran a hand through his black hair. Sirius seemed to be trying to make himself seem smaller as though he suddenly didn't want to be standing there, this proved difficult however as he was a good 2 inches taller than everyone else in the room. His blue eyes darted back and forth between Anna and the other boys. Finally she looked at Lupin, he was wearing look of disbelief on his face. This was the worst look of all. Unlike the others he spoke softly to her barely above a whisper.

"I though we would be the ones having to hold you back, your dad's out there." They had no idea how much it was killing her to make this decision.

His words hit her like a ton of bricks, suddenly the guilt that she had been trying to push away came hurtling right back. He was right, she knew he was. All her dad had done for her and now she was letting him go and fight her battles for her. She took a deep breath and realized she would have to face her fears sooner or later.

"Alright," she said and slamming her book shut she walked toward the door took the large gold key out of her pocket and opened the door. She walked out the door and turned to them.

"Sorry I can't let you fight my fight," she said and before they had registered what she had said she was locking them in.

Ignoring the loud shouts and bangs now emitting from the other side of the door she ran toward the Great Hall. Seeing a flash of green light up the corridor she was now running down she turned to look out the window. She could see flashes of all different colors going back and forth outside. She looked up and her eyes widened at the Skull and Snake smoke in the sky. The Dark Mark. That must have been what the bang was she though. She pulled herself away from the window and ran at full speed to the doors to outside. She didn't pass any students on her way, which she was thankful for, but she did think she heard footsteps behind her. Anna opened the doors and went outside; it looked a lot different from down her, so much more real. She came out unnoticed and edged her way around to where she could get a better view. An Auror came stumbling past her followed by a Death Eater who was shooting spells at the Auror. Anna had gone unnoticed and took the opportunity to stun the Death Eater. She went over to the Auror who had fallen to the ground.

"Are you ok?" Anna asked.

"Yes, yes I'm fi--," she said but stopped as she saw who it was. "You're supposed to be inside."

"I know but I can't just wait in there," Anna said.

"I understand, come on help me up," said the Auror holding out her hand for Anna to pull her to her feet. As one they turned and ran toward to the mass of Death Eaters and Aurors. Anna soon found herself shouting spells she hadn't used since her Durmstrang days, she was suddenly very glad she had gone there, a lot of the Death Eaters fought like the Durmstrang students did. She also found herself using the tactics her father had taught her in their brief defense training, especially dodging spells and people.

"Anna! Look out," a familiar voice shouted, but it was too late she was hit but a bright blue light and she fell to the floor. Gasping for breath she tried to sit up, but found she couldn't breathe like that, she fell back to the ground but found she couldn't breathe like that either. She was being smothered, clutching her throat she started writhing on the ground. The Auror she had helped before was standing over her and suddenly she could breathe again.

"Were even now," the Auror said pulling Anna up to her feet.

A flash of red caught her attention. Anna ducked and the spell just missed her head, the Death Eater was raising its hand for another attack but before it could it fell to the floor frozen.

"And you thought keeping us locked in the room would stop us from helping you," came James's voice from behind her. Turning around she saw her four friends standing there wands raised ready for battle, she had no idea how they got out but she was going to let them have it later. Grinning at her Sirius, James and Remus ran past her into the fray.

"Were going to have words," Lupin said and walked past.

Harry couldn't believe Anna had actually come out. However, if he had had time to think about it properly, he would have been surprised if she hadn't shown up. After they had crept out the door Ron had had them go around to the Forbidden Forest. From where they were hiding, Harry's team had a good shot of the Death Eaters. At Ron's signal they had attacked. It was a surprise attack, but the Death Eaters had been ready. They quickly gathered themselves and drew Harry and the others out into the open so neither side could hide behind the trees. They had been fighting for about 15 minutes before Harry's heart sank and he had seen his daughter get hit with a blue light. He had no time to see if she was okay, as he was dueling three Death Eaters of his own. When he looked over again, though, she was standing up with her friends behind her. He knew she could handle her self.

It took a good twenty minutes before either side began to show weariness. The originally equal number of battlers had fallen to the Death Eaters' advantage. Originally one-on-one, now the fights were one-on-two. Harry was fighting with three of his own Death Eaters, whom he quickly got the better off by Stunning one, binding another and sending the last to sleep. Lupin, Remus, and Sirius were taking on two Death Eaters together. They had a good rhythm going. Lupin and Remus would send the Banishing spell at the two Death Eaters, and meanwhile, Sirius would Stun one of them. Then they would do the same again. James, however, fought with three of his own Death Eaters until Lupin, Remus and Sirius came to help him. James took a breather for a second and looked over at Anna. His breath caught as he saw what was about to happen, he called to his friends.

Ignoring the overwhelming sense of impending doom, Anna fought with two Death Eaters. One of the Death Eaters shoes caught her attention and she knew who he was Draco Malfoy. She remembered seeing them everyday in her captivity and would never forget them or their owner. Realizing her attacker brought back all of the terrible memories. She had been so caught up in the fighting before, but seeing Draco now made it impossible to put them to the back of her mind. She was abruptly terrified; what if they caught her again and put her through worse! She couldn't go through that again. Not again…

"Stupefy," the second Death Eater shouted.

"Avada Kedavra," Draco Malfoy shouted.

"ANNA!" Someone shouted.

"LUPIN! NO!" This was all Anna heard before she fell to the ground and everything went black. All she saw was a figure dive in front of one of the jets of light and fall to the ground with her.