Bellatrix, here? In the castle with everyone? She had heard many stories and only come face to face with the witch once. Her reputation preceded her. Yet he wanted her to hide? To do nothing? Quickly her feet raced to the one person she should have gone to long ago. The headmaster would know what to do if anyone would. She reached the opening of the library and was quickly pulled to the side.

"Wha.."

"Stop talking." Snape sneered at her closing the door behind him. She laid her hand at the base of her hip and felt comfort as her wand hit the palm of her hand. "Listen to me and listen well. I know all about you and Mr. Malfoy's antics this year. I am effectively ending it if he has not already. You will hide in the common room. You will get as many students as you can to the common rooms in the next hour and you will do so without raising any alarms. You will do this because I have told you to do it, and you will not speak of why. Make something up if you have to. You will not try to stop him. You will let this night play out and you will continue on with your ways, apart, from henceforth. Have I made myself clear?"

She shook her head as she tried to process all that was coming.

"You know about tonight." He glared at her and her hand gripped her wand tighter. "Dumbledore must know, someone has to tell him, that castle must be protected." She pushed at him then and he grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the room.

"The headmaster is gone. They know this, they expect this. Do what I say and the less people there will be available to get hurt."

"He has a choice; he can choose not to do this. You know the Order can protect him."

"You're a naïve girl if you think the Order will do anything but dangle him in front of the Dark Lord in exchange for a captive. There is no protecting him. This is protecting him; this is protecting you both. Do you think the Order will protect you? Allow you in on their meetings when they find out that you knew all there was to know about tonight? Do you truly think anyone would be able to look you in the eye as you explain anything?" She felt the air rush out of her lungs as her brain processed what the man in front of her was saying.

"You will leave this room. You will gather students. You will stay put." With that Snape turned and exited the corridor. Her heart slammed shut with the door.

He had been sitting in the closet for what felt like an eternity. His brain felt like shattered glass was being pushed into its folds. The laughter had played on a loop, it drained him mentally and physically as he put up wall after wall trying to fend her off. With each mental block he added to keep her from his memories another piece of glass was added to slowly shred him apart. He watched as the sun went beneath the tree line and it was only when he turned towards the window that the noise stopped.

He flung the large window out sticking his head into the opened air and retching. It was getting closer to time; she was done with her torture. He found himself climbing out of the window before he had even consciously become aware of his limbs.

His legs dangled off the seal of the opened window.

He could feel the wind brushing across his skin mixing with the small sheen of sweat resulting in a tingle that shivered up his spine. He looked for the pitch below, could faintly make out the flags as they blew in the wind, it was just him and the wind and the stone beneath his fingers, these were now the only thing left letting him know he was still alive.

He had contemplated the jump before now, she had always come to his mind during those times. The golden hue that her eyes held when they caught the light of a candle on the table. The small smile she would get when she believed she had bested him. He closed his eyes and tried to image that last time he had allowed himself to take her in. Each freckle that marred her otherwise perfect skin. Before she had looked at him with despair, before she knew what he was doing.

The desire to see those again had stopped him. Not now. They evaded him now as he held his weight on his hands, this would be the time, that when his arms gave out, he would fall to the earth below, and make the choice for himself.

It was the laughter coming from within him, the deep laughter that reverberated from deep in his chest and into the night sky that stopped him now.

The fool's way out, come all this way, deal with all the pain. To be a failure now. Narcissa's blood smeared smile from his dreams filled his mind. The stark white of her skin as she bled, it was this image that sent him crawling back into the room along the floor.

He could hear the bells and didn't know if they were in his mind or coming from the tower close to him. He quickly rose; each ring of the bell sent his heart pounding in his chest. He heard the laughter coming from the room, and turned quickly expecting to find someone standing behind him. His skin stood at attention as he made his way to the cursed cabinet.

She had set Peeves off into a tizzy that would rival Hogwarts history. The school was effectively on lock down while the professors tried to calm him. She could hear the banging of the castle walls reverberating through her as he threw the furniture into the stone.

The smell of the dungball she had flung onto him made her retch as she washed her hands in the sink. It had been a quickest distraction she could think of. The hardest part had been running to Hagrid's and back without questions.

She locked eyes with herself in the mirror, could see the veins in her eyes. The skin that normally held a slight glow was pale and her hair stood on end. She placed her cool hands on her neck. As wished that the person staring back at her had the courage, she so deeply hoped for etched on their face. They looked as hallow and lost as she felt. She was fighting the war with the mirror and was quickly losing.

She should be with him, stopping him, instead she was hiding out in the women's lavatory awaiting the end of the world. She had more answers that she had ever set out to get, yet the string of questions that came with it sent her heart beating in her chest. The tears that blurred her vision were swift to come and she shook them off just as fast. The first bell made her jump and a small scream escaped her lips. She quickly covered her mouth and looked around the empty room. As the bells continued to ring, she locked eyes with the mirror again before grabbing her wand and running.