Chapter Forty-Three: Dangerous
Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The underlined portions are taken directly from the novel; I do not own those parts. They belong to J.K. Rowling.
Author's Note: This fanfiction is going to be different from my other stories. This picks up where "The Heart of Everything" and "The Heart of Everything: Shallow Bay" left off. The time in the books also changes. So, pay attention the time, so you don't get confused. Some of the chapters are other Marcus Flint/Katie Bell stories, just with more changes and deleted scenes added.
Time: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Genre: Romance, Drama, and Friendship
Rating: PG-13
Katie ran through the halls of Hogwarts. The professors were running to wake their students and ordering everyone to the Great Hall. This is something that she never thought she would have seen: Hogwarts under attack. She knew that it was threatened on a daily basis, but an outright attack was unheard of. She ducked into another hall and raced up the steps to the Room of Requirements. McGonagall had been rather easy to find; she had been in a corridor rushing toward the west end of the castle and didn't see all that surprised to learn what was going on.
Katie opened the Room of Requirement and stepped in. It was far more crowded than we she left. Angelina stepped in right behind her. Both of them stared at the masses that had gathered. How quickly had word gotten around?
Katie and Angelina pushed their ways through the crowd. Katie scanned the crowd. There was no sign of Marcus or Brad. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were back. Katie closed her eyes. They surely hadn't run into trouble.
A few minutes later, the door opened again and Harry stepped forward. Katie's heart sunk. Where were they?
Remus pushed the crowd aside to meet Harry at the foot of the stairs. "Harry, what's happening?"
"Voldemort's on his way, they're barricading the school-Snape's run for it-What are you doing here? How did you know?"
"We sent messages to the rest of Dumbledore's Army," Fred explained. "You couldn't expect everyone to miss the fun, Harry and the D.A. let the Order of the Phoenix, and it all kind of snowballed."
"What first, Harry?" called George. "What's going on?" (Rowling 604)
Katie felt someone's warm breath on the back of her neck. She looked up and saw that Marcus had wrapped his arms around her.
"They're evacuating the younger kids and everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organize," Harry said. "We're fighting." (Rowling 604)
Katie found herself being pushed forward. She gripped Marcus's hand as they were forced forward. She did have to admit that with his facial hair grown out a little bit that he did not really look like himself.
Oliver Wood smiled over at Katie. "Isn't this exciting?"
Katie nodded.
He put his hand arm Katie, not noticing Marcus who happened to have his head turned at the time talking to someone else. "I want you to be okay and not be alone."
"But I'm not," Katie said.
Oliver reached out and was about to touch her face when a hand jerked out and slapped him away. "I wouldn't do that if I was you," Marcus snapped.
Oliver stared wide eyed at Marcus. Katie reach up and slowly lowered both of their hands and gave them both pointed looks. Much to her surprise, they both backed down and moved away from each other. She wished that they would just put their differences and act like normal humans.
"I see you're not dead," Oliver said.
"Guess it's not your lucky day," Marcus shot back.
Katie walked between them as they made their way toward the Great Hall. She noticed that both of them had their jaws clenched, a habit that both of them had. If they would just take a step back and look at each other, they would see how similar they actually were to each other.
Students were pouring down the stairs some with looks of excitement on their faces, other looked like they were getting ready to cry. Katie noted that many of the other ones were trying to keep the younger ones calm. Those who were not with the younger ones had their wands out and kept jumping at every little sound. People were saying that Snape was gone and that the Death Eaters were knocking on the front gates. They were saying that Lord Voldemort himself was in Hogsmeade. She didn't know how much of that she actually believed.
Instead the Great Hall students were settling into their house tables the best they could in the given situation. Katie joined Angelina and Alicia at the head of the Gryffindor table. Much to her surprise, Marcus settled in next to her, something that she thought she would never see.
Up near the teachers' table, the senior Order of the Phoenix members and Hogwarts staff were gathered talking. Katie wished that they would turn and speak to the group. Small groups made her nervous. She supposed that she could go up there, but it didn't feel right. She wasn't much older than many of the students and knew that her age was against her, even Marcus's probably was.
She looked over at him. His eyes were shifting around the Great Hall, his jaw still clenched. He was probably seeing things that others weren't. She followed his eyes movements, which seemed to be mostly focused Malfoy and his lot. He would only look for a few seconds at them, before looking away. It was probably a wise move, because too long would dangerous.
Malfoy and his lot had their heads bent and were talking amongst themselves. They weren't paying attention to the other Slytherins or anyone else in the Hall for that matter, they were just like in their own little world and no one else existed. Every once in a while, one of them would look up at the head table, then quickly look away.
Katie frowned. They were up to something.
She stared as Filch came running down the hall. "Students out of bed! Students out of bed!"
Professor McGonagall turned and stared at him. "They're supposed to be, you blithering idiot! Now go and do something constructive! Find Peeves!"
"P-Peeves?" stammered Filch as though he had never heard of the name before.
"Yes, Peeves, you fool, Peeves! Haven't you been complaining about him for a quarter of a century? Go and fetch him, at once!"
Filch evidently thought Professor McGonagall had taken a leave of her senses, but hobbled away, hunch-shouldered, muttering under his breath. (Rowling 602)
Now every eye in the hall was fixed on Professor McGonagall. Katie had never seen her former Head of House act like that. She was stern, but never stepped out of character. Maybe the threat of battle was making her act this way.
Harry slipped in and sat down next to Katie. His eyes were also turned on Professor McGonagall who was starting to speak.
"Evacuation will be overseen by Mr. Filch and Madam Pomfrey. Prefects, when I give the word, you will organize your House and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point."
Many of the students looked petrified. (Rowling 608) Katie really didn't blame them. This was You-Know-Who and he was coming to kill them all.
"And what if we want to fight?" a Hufflepuff yelled. His comment was followed by a huge round of applause.
"Those who are seventeen may stay and fight," Professor McGonagall answered.
Some more students asked questions that really had no value to Katie. She tuned them out and went back to studying Malfoy's crew. They were scanning the teachers again.
"Where's Professor Snape?" shouted a girl from the Slytherin table.
"He has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk," replied Professor McGonagall, and a great cheer erupted from the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws. (Rowling 609)
Katie noted how really isolated the Slytherins were from the rest of the Houses. Not off of them were bad. She knew of a lot of good Slytherins who were good. Of course, they weren't going to cheer for Snape's departure, almost all of them had done well under Snape. She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw that Marcus wasn't cheering.
Oliver patted Katie on the back. "Well, at least he won't try to slow us done."
Katie nodded. "Yeah."
"What's up with him?" Oliver whispered nodding toward Marcus. "We all thought he was dead."
"Um...It was the easiest solution we could think of. If the Death Eaters find out he's alive, they'll still kill him," Katie muttered back.
"You know I can hear you," Marcus said. "So, you really don't have to whisper." He was playing with his wand, a nervous habit that Katie never knew he had.
Professor McGonagall held her hands up and the hall slowly went quiet. Katie noticed that it took a little longer than normal.
"We have already placed protection around the castle," Professor McGonagall was saying, "but it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. It must ask, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your prefects-" (Rowling 609)
Katie winced as a different voice filled the hall. It wasn't even coming from within the walls or so she thought. It was difficult to place. Maybe it was even calling from the walls themselves. Once thing was for certain, she would never forget the sounds of the voice: high, cold, and clear. She gulped as she realized who the voice belonged to. She slide her hand under the table and gripped Marcus's thigh.
"I know that you are preparing to fight." (Rowling 609) Katie was quiet surprised to find that she wasn't one of the screaming people. Her eyes darted around in terror. Where was that sound coming from? Marcus had his eyes closed. "Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood.(Rowling 609)
A great silence filled the Hall. It was pressing on Katie's eardrums. Someone speak, cry, do anything! She would have been grateful for anything.
"Give me Happy Potter," said Voldemort's voice, "and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight." (Rowling 610)
Katie felt her head turning to where Harry was sitting. She wasn't sure why, but she just felt the urge to look at him. From what she could tell, the rest of the Hall was doing the same thing. Harry lowered his head. She couldn't blame him, having all eyes on him must really suck.
Some Slytherin girl got to her feet and started demanding that they turn Harry over. The girl was quickly put down by Professor McGonagall. The next thing Katie knew, the Slytherins were getting to their feet and making their way out of the Hall. They were soon followed by the other Houses, until only a hand full of students remained, most of them being Gryffindor, that was until Professor McGonagall started going through them and ordering those who were underage out of the Hall.
"Good to see you, Flint," Professor McGonagall muttered as she passed Marcus.
Marcus's head jerked up as he nodded to his former professor.
Kingsley stepped forward and surveyed the hall. "We've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast! A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers-Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor-where they'll have a good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus and Arthur and I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organize defence of the entrances of the passageways into the school."
"Sounds like a job for us," called Fred, indicating himself and George, and Kingsley nodded his approval.
"All right, leaders up here and we'll divide the troops!" (Rowling 611)
Katie watched as Harry raced out of the Hall. Not too many others saw it as they were too busy being divided up. She frowned as she wondered what dangerous game he was up to.