Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and am making no money from this.
Harry
I turn and run. I run for my life. I don't know where I'm going, I don't care, I just need to get out of there, get away from the Entry Hall. Away from Voldermort.
He's back. Actually he's not back, he was here all along. He just disguised himself, faked his own death and played the part of his own killer. Wizarding Britain's great hero, the new Minister of Magic, it's all him. Now he's here and he's killed Professor Dumbledore. I know he won't stop there. Professor Dumbledore didn't fight him even. A fight between those two wouldn't have been a neat or tidy thing; it'd have spilled over to the Great Hall and who knows where else. A lot of people would have died, students and teachers alike; Voldermort would have made sure of that. Professor Dumbledore died so who knows how many people wouldn't have to face that.
But even if other students are spared I know I won't be. After Professor Dumbledore I'm the next big target, so I have to run, I have to get out of here. I don't know where to, I just know I need to get far from Voldermort; once I have some distance I can come up with a plan.
It's running like this, blindly and half out of my head with terror that I run into Cho and Fleur. Actually I almost run over Cho.
"Merlin Harry, what's going on?" Cho demands, managing to stay on her feet despite my running into her.
"Voldermort. He's here," I try and explain, out of breath.
"What? Where? What are you talking about?"
"Here, in the castle. The new Minister showed up, but it wasn't really him. I mean it was, but that whole thing, the old explorer, it's all a lie; it's Voldermort in disguise. It must have been all along."
"We have to tell Dumbledore," Fleur replies.
"We can't. Professor Dumbledore met the Minister at the Entry Hall. He's dead, Voldermort killed him."
"What? How?" Cho demands. "I know Voldermort's powerful, but so is Professor Dumbledore. And a battle between them would be of enormous magnitude. We would have heard, the entire castle would have."
"Voldermort was going to attack the students, threatened it. So Dumbledore didn't put up a fight."
"He's dead? Just like that?" Fleur asks, sounding like she's starting to believe me, and really not like it.
"Yeah," I answer.
"Then it's over; he's won," Cho concludes.
"It isn't over. Voldermort was here with a bunch of other people, Ministry types and Death Eaters. He sent them into the castle, probably looking for us."
Fleur mutters something in French, I don't know what it is, but from the look on her face I'm guessing it's some sort of swearing. "Dumbledore was right, trouble did come. We have to get out of here then."
"So he's after Harry too then, not just Dumbledore, likely more than just Harry at that," Cho says, I'm not sure if to herself or what.
"He's here for all of us," I answer, whether Cho was asking me or not. "You were right next to me at the Ministry. We all were there."
"I wasn't," Fleur corrects me.
"The point is we're in danger."
"Then we need to get out of here," Cho announces. "If they really are looking for us they'll be securing the various entrances to the castle. If we don't escape before then it'll be only a matter of time before we're found and captured. There simply aren't enough places to hide in the castle, not if they're sufficiently determined to capture us."
"What's the closest exit?" Fleur asks.
"It's not so simple. We need an exit they aren't likely to have secured yet. Harry said they came in the Entry Hall I believe." Cho thinks a moment. "I recommend the back entrance to the covered bridge."
"What, from by the Clock Tower Courtyard?" I ask to make sure I'm thinking of the right place.
"Correct. It's somewhat isolated so could still be open, assuming it hasn't been too long since Voldermort reappeared."
"All right, you and Fleur get there, try and keep it open as long as you can."
"Where are you going?"
"I have to get Hermione and Ron."
"I hope you have some idea where they are; there is not the time to conduct a search of the castle, not while others are doing the exact same thing."
"They should be in Gryffindor Tower."
"The first place Voldermort's minions will look." Cho's right, it is the obvious first place to look.
"Hopefully they're busy trying to cover the exits first. That or that I can run fast enough to beat them there."
"Harry," Fleur starts, but I don't let her get farther.
"Look, I know Dumbledore has you here to look after me, but having a way out for us matters more right now. Without it we're all out of luck. Besides, I've got to run, and I doubt you can keep up in those shoes." Fleur looks down at her high heels and doesn't say anything to disagree with me.
"Look, just keep that entrance open for ten minutes. If I'm not there by then I won't be and you two should make a run for it."
I don't wait for Cho or Fleur to say anything else, I just make a run for Gryffindor Tower. Hopefully I'll see the girls again soon.
Hermione
I'm in Gryffindor Tower, in the common room along with Pansy and Ron. Well, to be more specific Ron is doing his homework, and giving me these pleading looks, clearly hoping I'll offer to help him. And of course that help will take the form of doing it all for him. It's rather standard fare, and Pansy knows the script well, so is making sure to give Ron dirty looks and thwart his every lazy effort. I'm actually taking a rather perverse pleasure in watching the show.
This could go on until dinner probably, but things don't get nearly that far. Instead Harry bursts into the common room, panting like he just ran a marathon. "Hermione. Ron. Parkinson. Great, you're here. Where's Ginny?"
"No clue, mate. And what's the deal, you run all the tower stairs or something?" Ron replies.
"We have to get out of here, right now. We have to go."
"What? Where? And why?"
"Voldermort, he's back. He's here, in the castle. He's coming for us all. We need to go right now; the covered bridge. Cho and Fleur are making sure it stays open, but if we don't get moving right now we won't make it in time."
"Harry, slow down. Tell us what happened," Hermione tries to calm me down. There's no time for this, but nobody's getting up, so I guess I have to.
"The Minister of Magic showed up, with a bunch of his guys, Ministry types and some Death Eaters. Professor Dumbledore was there to meet them in the Entry Hall. All the guys went inside, just Dumbledore and the Minister and me, but they hadn't seen me. The new Minister of Magic, that African explorer, it's all a disguise; it's really Voldermort. He killed Dumbledore, Dumbledore agreed to not make it a battle so Voldermort wouldn't start killing students in the fight. But they're still here, after us. So we've got to go. Right now."
"Bloody hell," Ron gasps.
"Fuck," Parkinson says, getting up and heading for the stairs to the girls' dorm, pausing to look back at Hermione for a moment. "I've got to get something, I'll be quick."
"Damn it, we can't wait, we need to go," I insist.
"Pansy," Hermione starts.
"I'll be less than a minute; it's important Hermione," Parkinson insists, rushing up the stairs.
"God damn it," I mutter. I know there's no chance of Hermione going without Parkinson. "Fine, so where's Ginny? We need to take her with us."
"I have no idea, I haven't seen her since lunch," Ron answers. "Hermione, you know?"
"I'm sorry I don't," is her answer. Damn, she could be anywhere then. I want to look for her, but I don't know how. Time's going to be tight getting to the covered bridge as it is, and that's if Cho and Fleur really can hold it as long as they promised.
Parkinson comes down the stairs, carrying some box, looking all pretty and decorative. I don't really care what it is, I just care she was gone less than a minute.
"Come on, let's go," Parkinson orders.
"What about Gin?" Ron wants to know.
"It sounds like she could be anywhere, Ron, and we just don't have the time to look. Cho and Fleur are only going to be able to guard that exit for a few more minutes, after that they're going to be gone and we're all stuck. If we come across Ginny, great, if not, we've got no choice; we've got to go," I reply.
I really hate that answer, but there's no other one. I just can't think of any way to find Ginny, not when we're going to have to run as it is. Damn.
Fleur
Dumbledore was right all along. He said danger would find Harry and his friends, and when it did, it would appear suddenly. I thought he was being paranoid; the entire year nothing happened. I suppose we had some vague sense of dread with Voldermort being declared dead and the new Minister and all that, but I had no idea it would end like this. Somehow Dumbledore did, though. Oh, I don't think he expected to die, but he had me here just in case. It's hard to believe.
Now Cho and I are guarding a back exit from the castle and hoping that Harry gets back with his friends before things get bad. If too much time passes it means Harry's probably been captured. Or Aurors and Death Eaters could come to try and secure this exit and then Cho and I have to either fight or run. If we fight, well, this isn't my country so I can just go back to France and that might be that. Cho though… I don't know if she realizes what that choice could mean. Wait, it's Cho; of course she realizes.
Neither of us has talked much, both lost in our thoughts. I'm sure by now Cho has thought through what every outcome could be and what they mean for her and such. If Ministry people come I've decided I'll leave it to Cho to decide what to do. If she wants to fight, I'll fight with her. If she wants to try and talk her way out of it, I'll say whatever I can to help her. And if she decides to run, I'll go with her.
I hope it won't come to that, that Cho won't have to decide her entire life like that, but somehow I know things won't go our way. Like usually happens, it turns out I'm right. A group of people come around a corner towards us. Death Eaters or Aurors, I don't know which. It doesn't really matter; they're all our enemies now. There's only three of them, but they've already seen us.
"You there, you two need to vacate this area," one of them calls out to us.
"Wait, she's one of them," another says. "Chang."
"I'm afraid you'll have to come with us, Miss Chang," the first orders Cho.
We all stare at each other in silence for a moment, all waiting to see what the rest of us will do I suppose. Then all at once it happens. One of our enemies goes for their wand, and so does Cho. As soon as those two go for their wands everyone else is too, me included, but we're already behind the curve in this fight.
Our attacker opens his mouth to cast his spell, but Cho's faster. "Bombarda," Cho calls out, firing the exploding charm off. It his dead center in his chest, knocking him back at least a dozen feet.
Rather than cast a spell of my own, I dive for cover; it's much better than standing out in the open. A moment later Cho joins me. "We're buggered now," she announces. Vulgar, especially for Cho, but she's not wrong.
"We only need to hold a few minutes, no?" I reply.
"You know that is not what I mean."
"There's no point thinking about that now."
"Fair enough. Yes, only a few minutes, though I suspect that will not be so easy as we may hope. One is down, but this battle will get the attention of others, maybe even Voldermort himself."
"If he comes we have no chance."
"Agreed. The rest is a matter of numbers and time."
"We stay as long as we can then?" I ask Cho.
"For lack of a better strategy."
I glance out from behind the cover Cho and I are using to see just what Cho's strategy will take. "There's more of them now, it looks like six."
"I'd hoped it would take them longer to check on the commotion," Cho comments.
"They can overrun us with that many."
"Agreed. retreat seems the most sound option. Though I would rather like to try something a bit rash before resorting to that."
Rash. The way Cho loves to fight now rash could be quite dramatic. And hopefully not something where I have to try and carry her out of here.
Cho glances around for a minute, quickly finding a burning torch. She points her wand at it and the flame flies out to collect near Cho.
"Cho," I gasp, recognizing the magic she used against Ginny all that time ago. Powerful, but it left Cho barely able to walk, and that was after a single use of it.
"I know, but I've gotten better since then; I can endure the strain longer. Also I've learned control, so if I keep the intensity more minimal my endurance can carry me longer."
"Can you really last for however many minutes it will take Harry and the others to arrive?"
"Interesting question," Cho comments, standing up, using the fire to form a ring around her, like some sort of planetary ring. "Let's find out, shall we?"
Cho begins attacking, using her ring to absorb and somehow nullify spells sent at her while sending her own bits of flame at our attackers.
Hermione
We've barely left the common room and started down the tower stairs before we run into Sirius.
"Oh good, they haven't found you." he says to us by way of greeting. "We have to hurry, Ministry people and Death Eaters are in the castle."
"I know," Harry replies. "And the Minister, it's Voldermort."
"What? What are you talking about?"
"I saw him, he killed Dumbledore. I felt it in my scar and then he undid whatever spell he had disguising him and he killed Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore's dead? Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. Voldermort was going to start blasting the castle, killing students, so Dumbledore went down without a fight to prevent that. It was the killing curse. I saw it."
"Damn, it's worse than we imagined." Sirius is right, right now Voldermort controls all of wizarding Britain, the light and dark sides, both report to Voldermort or his alter ego. The entire nation one way or another takes it orders from him. "All right, we need to get out of here. But we have to hurry, they're bound to be on their way here, probably covering the exits too."
"Cho and Fleur are at the back entrance, the one to the covered bridge, but I told them to not stay for too long, only a few more minutes."
"All right, we have to hurry then. If we're going to avoid the main corridors we'll have to run."
Running is hardly my favorite pastime, I'm not in the sort of shape Cho is for instance, but there's no choice. So it's a mad dash through the castle, back hallways and cutting through forgotten rooms.
There's also an obvious complication we're going to face: even assuming Cho and Fleur are still there and holding the exit, there's going to be Ministry Aurors and Death Eaters there, specifically between Cho and Fleur and us. I'm a bit worried how Harry and Ron will react if it's Aurors rather than Death Eaters we face. Despite all that's happened they still have great respect for Aurors and I don't know that they'll actually fire off a spell at them. It falls to Pansy and I. Though now that I think of it, Pansy may go for lethal spells right away, which is a problem. We're innocent, at least we are now; if we start killing people any hope of getting out of this somehow goes out the window.
"Pansy," I get my girlfriend's attention. "Try not to kill them if possible. I know this is serious, but for now we're not guilty of any real crimes. If we leave bodies though, that's not true anymore."
"Hermione, there's no happy ending here," she replies. "The dark lord won; we're fucked."
"Maybe, but just the same, please? For me?"
"Yeah, fine," she groans. "If I can avoid it, I will."
"Thank you."
Of course Pansy's efforts won't be infinite, if things get truly dire I know she won't hesitate, and I certainly won't blame her if it comes to that; on the contrary I think I might match her measures, though I very much prefer it not come down to that.
Fleur
Cho has managed to hold off quite a few of our enemies for several minutes now. She hit a few rather solidly, enough that they're still down. I don't know if they're alive or dead, and I can't bring myself to care much either. For now they aren't firing spells at Cho and I, and I'm quite satisfied with that. The ones still up are behind cover, firing off spells when they can, but the pace has slowed dramatically from the first few seconds of Cho's attack.
Cho managed to use that ring of fire she generated to block spells quite well, while still having fire to spree for sending at our attackers, and when they didn't provide her with convenient targets, to start destroying objects people might hide behind.
Still, as impressive as Cho's efforts have been, her endurance is being taxed. I can see her sweating more and more, and she's breathing harder than she was at the start. I've managed to stay hidden this entire time so am ready to go, and I think in another minute or two I'll have to. Of course I don't have a particular plan of what to do. I need to somehow get out of here with an exhausted girlfriend and several people pursuing us, people who will know the biggest threat to them is in no condition to fight back. I've been trying to think of how to do that, but I'm coming up blank. I think this could get very bleak for us soon.
Before things get to that point, however, there's a commotion from behind our attackers. I stand up to see what it is. I'd like to put an arm around Cho, let her rest some of her weight on me, but she still has that ring of fire hovering around her mid section so I can't get up next to her.
The attackers directly in front of us (unfortunately there's people in quite a few directions after us) seem to be taking spells from behind. It only take a few moments for them to go down to our spells and the spells of whoever has ambushed them. Right after they go down Harry, Hermione, Pansy, Ron and Sirius Black come running in our direction.
"You're still here," Harry proclaims.
"Brilliant observation," Cho deadpans, sounding very tired.
"We need to go," Sirius interrupts. "There more coming and we can't fight them all."
So we start down the covered bridge, a long, generally straight path. Cho dispels her magical fire and comes with us, but obviously is having trouble keeping up with the near run the rest are moving at. Without a word I take Cho's left arm across my shoulders and wrap my right arm around her waist, helping her move as quickly as the two of us can.
"Thank you," she says to me quietly.
"Not at all; you did wonderfully." It's true, Cho really is much better at that magic now. It obviously tired her badly, but she was able to maintain and control it much better than she did against Ginny.
We've gotten maybe a quarter of the way across the half falling down covered bridge when the first spells are fired at us from back at the castle. We immediately flatten ourselves against the sides of the bridge, trying to make for the smallest targets we can, and it's a far cast for our attackers, so we aren't hit, but we're stuck just the same.
"Damn," Sirius swears, while we awkwardly return spell fire, keeping our backs flat against the side walls.
"Cho, you have any of that fancy magic left?" Harry asks.
"Not a good idea," Sirius replies before Cho can. "The girl's spent as it is, and we're nowhere near a safe place yet. We can't afford to tax her further."
"You have a better idea then?"
"He better. It won't take that long for those idiots to figure out that if they send a team to the other end of the bridge we're screwed," Pansy cuts in.
"Great. You have anything that can actually help, or just bad news?"
"Of course I can help, but we need to get off the grounds first; outside the wards," Pansy answers.
"And thus we return to the problem at hand," Cho states. "Has our circular journey brought any enlightenment or are we still, as Pansy so eloquently put it, screwed?"
"You all go. I'll hold them here," Sirius orders.
"What? No, that's a horrible plan," Harry argues.
"It's the only plan. Parkinson's right, they will flank us before long and then no one can get away. I'll be fine, don't' worry; I know how to hide and survive on the run."
"And we need you to show us how."
"You'll have to just do your best. Get away, far away. Don't go anywhere you know, they'll be watching those places. Don't talk to anyone you know, don't do anything that they could expect. Remember, it's not just Death Eaters after you anymore, it's the Aurors too. Keep your heads down and I'll find you when I can. Be careful and don't take any stupid chances."
"Sirius…."
"I know Harry, I know. But this isn't goodbye, not really; we'll see each other again. But for you to get away, this is how it has to be for now. So please, go, hurry, get off the grounds, use whatever scheme Parkinson has and find a safe place to lay low."
Sirius doesn't give Harry a chance to argue further; he starts firing off spells in rapid succession at our attackers and puts up a magical barrier behind himself, leaving the attackers on his side and the rest of us protected from danger on ours.
"All right, you heard the man, we need to go," Ron starts moving, dragging Harry along. The rest of us follow, myself helping Cho along again. Whatever barrier Sirius put up holds; not so much as a single spell comes our way the entire rest of our trip across the bridge.
"The trail might not be safe, we should go for the mountains," Ron suggests.
"Yeah, because we're really dressed for that," Pansy shoots down Ron's idea.
"Hmm? What?" Ron finally has the brilliant insight to look at the high heels Pansy, Cho and I are wearing. "Oh right, those aren't good for mountain climbing, are they?"
"Not ideal, no. And besides, I told you, we just have to get outside the wards and we're fine. So let's cut the talk and go already."
"And if we run into Aurors before we get outside the wards?"
"Then shoot them, unless you want to be caught with nothing more than your dick in your hand. Actually, I'm fine with it either way. The non idiots among us will do what it takes to survive." Ron obviously doesn't like Pansy's answer, but thankfully lets it go and we keep moving.
We've made it maybe a quarter mile from the bridge when there's a loud explosion behind us. We all turn and see a brilliant fireball destroying the middle of the bridge, with fire spreading that will no doubt finish the job soon enough.
"Sirius!" Harry yells, turning to run back, but Ron grabs him before Harry can get more than two steps.
"Mate, we can't," Ron explains. "He did that so we could get away, we can't just go back and get caught now. Besides, he's gotten away from stuff before. He'll be fine. He said he'd be, right? We just have to trust him and get away, then we can figure things out."
Harry doesn't say anything, but he stops struggling, so I guess he agrees. After another moment we all start moving again, heading for the edge of the grounds. We move as fast as we can, as fast as a group with three girls in high heels, one of whom is almost too tired to walk on her own can.
We don't see any sign of our enemies, not pursuing us or trying to circle around and cut us off. I don't know if they didn't think of it or the grounds are simply too big for them to have made it in time. Maybe they didn't bring enough people, who knows. I'm just focusing on keeping Cho moving and how far we are from the edge of the grounds.
Finally, Hermione speaks up. "All right, we're off the grounds now."
"How do you know?" I ask.
"I read all about the grounds and boundaries in Hogwarts: A History. I'm quite certain we passed beyond the borders of Hogwarts several dozen yards ago."
I don't know that Hermione is right, but I've know better than to press her on it; she's stubborn when questioned.
"All right, fine, that's good enough for me," Pansy announces and starts opening up the package she's been carrying with her.
"There's actually a point to that thing then? What is it anyway?" Ron asks.
"It's Cho's graduation present," Pansy announces.
"What? Cho's graduation present? What the blood hell did you tote that along for?"
"Hmm? What did I get I wonder?" Cho suddenly seems more animated.
"Take a look," Pansy offers, opening the package up to reveal a coiled whip inside.
"What the hell is that?" Ron demands.
"It's a whip. Hermione told me once Cho joked about black leather, so I figured if she's gonna go that route she needs the right accessories. This thing is made for fun, not as a real weapon, so no real damage or blood. Some very kinky enchantments on it I think."
"While it does present some admittedly intriguing possibly, I wonder at its usefulness in our current predicament," Cho comments.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's a gag gift. I mean if you want to use it for S&M, be my guest. But the real gift is a vacation. Sprung for a nice trip for you. Well, rather I was going to, I haven't made the reservations yet. But this thing works fine. It's your transportation."
"A port key?" Cho guesses.
"That's right. The work's a little rough, I had figured on having a bit of time to really polish up the spell work, but it should more or less work as is."
"More or less?" Harry asks, clearly doubting Pansy's work.
"If you don't like it, we can use your port key. Oh wait you don't have one. So shut the hell up and take hold."
That ends all argument. Pansy uncoils the whip and we all take hold. With a word Pansy activates the port key and we vanish.
Author's Notes:
So there's the end of this story. And yes, in case anyone asks, the cliff hanger ending was always the plan, from the time I first planned this story out.
As always, thank you to everyone who reads and especially those who review. I really appreciate them all.
Now obviously while this story if over, the larger story of Hermione, Pansy, Harry, Ron, Cho and Fleur doesn't neatly wrap up here. I am looking at writing a sequel, but the development is still a work in progress. Among other things, it has no name as of yet. I've written parts to see how it goes, but planning out the story is still a bit rough. The beginning and the ending I know how I want them to go, the middle, less so. So I don't exactly have any sort of timetable for releasing anything. At the very least I'll have to think of a name, nail down the high points of the story and actually have several chapters written. I don't want to act like I'm starting a story and then post up two or three chapters only and lose steam.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for reading, and please do review or PM me with any comments, questions, suggestions for the sequel or anything like that. Thank you.