Chapter Forty-Six: Amen and Attack

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

Marcus forced himself to the ground beside Patil. The Death Eaters charged the towers, sending curses through the holes and windows. He gulped, praying that the curses did not find a way to reach them. Beside him, the Patil girl had her eyes forced shut, muttering something under her breath. He look around at the rest of the group, who were in similar positions as he was.

This was not going to work. They could not fight laying down, but if they were to get up, they would more than likely die. How had the Dark Army gotten the advantage on them so quickly? Unless, more time had pasted than he realized, but that couldn't have happened. There was just no way.

He could hear the blasts of the other towers as his fear rose. He could only hope that those in the collapsing towers died quickly so they didn't have to suffer anymore than necessary.

He put his hand to his forehead and slowly removed it. There was something warm and sticky on it. Holding it close to his face, he stared at it. Blood, his head was bleeding. The funny thing about it was, he didn't even remember being hit in the head.

He got to his knees and peered through a small hole in the stone wall. The Death Eaters were now hovering over the battles on the grounds. He blinked. Most of those on the grounds were racing back into the castle, while the Death Eaters sent jets of light down on them. Judging by the amounts of people falling, the magic seemed to be finding some kind of a mark.

Cho tapped him on the shoulder. "We have to get out of here!"
Marcus nodded, jerking aside as a jinx neared him. "Where?"

"I don't know! Anywhere is better than here!"
Marcus looked at the rest of the group, who was looking up at him. He didn't know what to do, but she did have a point. A blasting spell to any weakened point of the tower would bring them all crashing down.

The tower shook as another spell can raining into the room, sending even more rumble down on them. Marcus put his arms over his head as he was forced back down onto the floor. They couldn't stay here.

"Let's move!" he yelled, pushing himself to his feet.

The pushed their way toward the stairs, wands lit up. Marcus kept his pointed down, more concerned about missing steps, than what was going on above him. Most spells were not able to break through the stone walls away, but there had been some blasting going on in the lower levels and he was not sure what all was hit.

Cho kept pace with him, but kept her wand up. He figured that between the two of them that they would be able to keep most the group covered, if not all. "So..."

Marcus stepped over a gap in the stairs. "Watch yourselves!" he yelled back at the other before turning his attention to Cho. "Yes?"

"How long have you been afraid of heights?" Cho asked, innocently as she studied a large crack in the ceiling.

"What are you talking?" The stairs at this level seemed to be surprisingly solid. He picked up his pace a little bit.

"I know that you are. The others might not have picked up on it, but I did. You didn't get too close to the edge and you didn't look down for very long."

They rounded another corner.
"What's wrong with that?"

Cho shook her head. "Nothing, I just never thought that someone like you would be afraid of heights."

The sounds of the battle were getting louder as they reached the final staircase.

"I mean, you play Quidditch for a living. Heights kind of come with the job title."

The stairs were starting to shake, the group paused and exchange worried looks. Wouldn't it be something to make it this far, only to die when there are twenty or so steps left?

Marcus snorted, jets of various lights appeared under the door, but none of them reached the group. "I just ignore it."

Cho paused on his step. "There's nothing wrong with being afraid of something, it makes you human and gives you something to overcome. Without fear, we would be reckless and would have nothing holding us back from doing stupid things."

"That was a very Ravenclaw answer."

"I try." She paused. "Now, are we going to do this thing or not?"

Marcus pointed his wand at the door. "Reducto!"

The door cracked open and revealed the scene in front of them. People were running through the halls, many of them screaming, some pausing to send spells back into the masses. Death Eaters marched closer, sending Killing Curses at whoever they could reach. Bodies littered the floor, both dead and wounded.

Goldstein gulped. "Are you guys sure that you want to go out there?"

"No, but we have to," Marcus said. He pointed his wand at the nearest Death Eater. "Locomotor Mortis!" The Death Eater fell the ground, his wand flying out of his hand. "Come on!" As he charged forward, he did not bother to look back to see if the others were coming, mostly because he didn't want to know who was still standing and who wasn't.

Blasts went over his head, many of them causing him to duck down. He sent a few back whenever he could pick out the Death Eaters, but it was always next to impossible.

"Incendio!"

Marcus jumped as he felt heat on his arm. Cursing, he pointed his wand at his arm. "Aguamenti." The small flame on his arm quickly disappeared, leaving him with a small burning feeling. He ducked behind the remains of a large statue and pulled up his sleeve. The skin around the burn was a dull red, but the burn itself wasn't blistered or even really white for that matter. No real damage. He breathed a sigh of relief as he peered back around the statue. Most of the people remaining were engaged in duels, some of them battling two or three Death Eaters at once.

He looked quickly at the burn again before pulling his sleeve back down. He could still fight, even if his right arm was a little slower. It wasn't like it was his dominant hand anyway.

Keeping his wand high, he charged out from behind the statue, only to come face to face with a masked Death Eater putting his wand directly at Marcus's chest. Marcus took a step back, not moving his wand, not really sure why he did that, but it seemed like the proper move. They stood there, locked in a standoff, neither of them moving.

Then, the Death Eater did something unexpected. He slowly started to lower his wand. "So, what Adrian said is true."

Marcus didn't lower his wand. "What do you mean?"
"That you're alive and well." The Death Eater paused. "It's a sad day when you don't recognise your own friend."
"I know who are you are."
The Death Eater took a step forward. "Then, say it. Say it out loud."

Marcus took a step back, but didn't say the words. He couldn't bring himself, he just wanted to go pretending that he didn't know any of these people, that once upon a time they were friends and still were.

"You don't trust me." The Death Eater shook his head. "Honestly, Marcus, I'm not going to hurt you, just like you're not going to hurt me." His voice wavered a little bit.

"Are you sure about that, Graham?" Marcus snapped. "Are you really sure about that anymore?"

"Look, Draco's a git, but that doesn't change anything, you know that."
Marcus tried not to roll his eyes. He had heard it all before. This all came down to one thing; Graham knew that Marcus was not only a better dueller, but faster. Graham's bulkiness held him back.

Graham took another step toward Marcus. "You're not firing at me, which tells me that you don't want to fight. I know you Marcus. I know you and I know that you would never hurt your friends. Lower you wand and we can work this out."
"I don't think so." Marcus hesitated, before crying, "Petrificus Totalus!"

Graham fell over backwards, his eyes filled with betrayal, but Marcus didn't have time to feel guilty. He stepped over Graham and darted back into the battle, putting as much distance between him and Graham as possible.

Ducking under curses, hexes, and who knows what else, Marcus soon found himself beside Kingsley locked in a duel with Jugson and Selwyn. Marcus didn't have much contact with these two, but knew right away that they were deadly.

Kingsley danced around, dodging a Killing Curse, sending a jet of orange light back at the Death Eater.

Selwyn pointed his wand at Marcus. "Crucio!"

Marcus had no time to move and quickly found himself on his side with pain racing up through his limbs, unable to control his body. The pain felt like those awful knifes were back in him, unbearable, his body untouchable.

Selwyn stood over him with a big smile on his face. "You know, they were way too soft on you. They should have finished you when they had the chance and, now, well, I get the pleasure of seeing the light leave your eyes." He pointed his wand at Marcus's chest. "Say goodbye."
Marcus gulped. Then, he realized something, the pain was leaving. He tightened his grip on his wand.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Protego!" Marcus yelled. The Killing Curse hit the shield, sending it back on Selwyn, who didn't even have to time for a shocked face to form. He tumbled over backwards, dead.

Kingsley, now free of Jugson, offered Marcus a hand. "I thought you were a goner."
Marcus, breathless, allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. "Yeah, so did I." He looked down at Selwyn's unmoving form. "I wasn't even sure if that was going to work."

"Lucky for you, it did."

"I guess."
Kingsley looked around the hall. "Some battle. I never would have thought that we would have pushed back this far."

"I know." Marcus watched a jinx balanced off the wall their heads. He wasn't even really concerned about it all anymore. It was just kind of amen and attack, you prayed that everything went right and just attacked because you had too.

Kingsley nodded.

"Are we really losing that bad?"
"The truth?"

Marcus nodded. "Yeah."

"Yes, they are far more powerful than we anticipated. They also have far more numbers than we are prepared to fight. We don't know where our people are or how many of them are left."

Marcus sent a jinx toward a quickly approaching Death Eater. "We can just hold our breathes."

"Yeah. If it makes you feel any better, I saw your parents fighting down toward the Great Hall."

Marcus nodded. "And Katie?"

"She's with Alicia and Oliver. I saw them down toward the steps."
Good, good..At least something was going right today.

Marcus and Kingsley ducked as a Blasting Curse soared over their heads, crumbling the wall behind them into a million pieces.

"Try to stay alive," Kinsley said as he darted into the battle.

"Yeah, you too," Marcus echoed.