A/N: Okay, so it's a little later than planned, but at least it's not as bad as last time, right? He he... PLEASE DON'T THROW PIES AT ME!*sobs*

So! Hiiii :)

To be honest, though, I've been procrastinating... *looks down* maybe I do deserve a pie to the face...

I can't help it! There's the obvious excuse of "Life!", but I've also been having SO MUCH FUN on Accio Nox! It's this great Harry Potter role-playing website (for full description, see my latest chapters of Living in a Daydream/ Harry Potter and the Watching), and my charrie on it is Rose "Breeze" Summers. So, whenever I've had free time (which hasn't been too often lately), I've been on there. Sorry for keeping you waiting, but it's just so awesome!

There was a deep silence, almost suffocating. Then, chaos erupted.

Harry fond himself being pushed and shoved in all directions as the guests fled around him. All he was aware of was screaming, footsteps, falling over only to be pushed back up again by someone. Screaming, crying, panicking people running anywhere, everywhere.

He only truly realized the magnitude of the situation when they came into view. Black clouds that he knew were really Death Eaters, flying above the crowd, crashing onto the ground. People all around him dropped like flies as spells flew everywhere. Now the sound of shattering glasses and tearing fabric was added to the jumble of sounds that met his ears as spells hit wine glasses and the Death Eaters came crashing through the roof of the tent.

Panic of a new level flooded into him and he was rooted to the spot. The chaos raged around him, but he didn't hear a sound. They knew where he was. He was going back.

He was going to die.

He was snapped out of it when a voice called his name. It seemed like it was in a distant universe at first, but then his head seemed to come out of murky water as the sounds around him clarified. "HARRY! HARRY!"

His head whipped around and he spotted Hermione pushing towards him, with a tight grip on Ron's arm. It crossed his mind that they had gotten separated without him noticing. He began to move towards him until a flash of red caught his attention.

"Ginny," he whispered, and he turned, running, towards her. She was deflecting spells from every angle, and some whizzed past her, missing her by inches...

'Not Ginny, not Ginny, not Ginny not Ginny notginnynotginnynotginny-'

He didn't care who he knocked into or pushed over as he ran. The fiery ginger was the only one he saw at that moment, and fear flooded through him. He couldn't lose her.

But then a cloud of black blocked his view, nearly knocking him over. He stumbled back and was caught by the arm.

He whipped around, expecting to be staring into the face of some Death Eater, but instead he was greeted by the sight of Lupin.

"Harry, go!" he shouted over the din, his harried gaze locked on Harry's fearful one.

"Ginny!" he shouted, and tried to struggle his way out of Lupin's tight grip.

"No, Harry! I'll protect her! You have to go!"

He shoved Harry away. He stumbled back, everything blurred around him, and he fell back into someone.

Before he could comprehend it, he was gone.

They appeared with a pop in the middle of Hogsmeade.

Harry stepped back and saw who had taken his here: Hermione, smoothing her hair as she already walked swiftly away, and Ron, looking just as bewildered and ruffled as he felt. The quiet of the town came as a huge shock after what had just happened.

"Well, come on, then!" he heard Hermione call over her shoulder, and he followed Ron after her.

Jogging to catch up, he approached the brunette and panted, "Where are we going?"

"Hogwarts," she told him in a matter-of-fact tone. "To get Dumbledore."

"Why didn't we just apparate there?" Ron asked.

If looks could kill, Harry was sure that he would be attending a funeral in the near future. The thought, however, of a Weasley funeral made his stomach churn painfully.

"Hogwarts: A History, Ron! How many times?!"

This shut both of the boys up very quickly. Hermione could be scary when she was mad.

They approached the gates, and Harry glanced up at the winged boars as he passed. One of them was scratching behind its ear.

"Um... Licorice wands!" Harry tried, but it was no use. They were stuck.

"Argh! What are we going to do?!" Hermione growled, her hands clutching her hair in frustration.

"Harry! Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger!"

They whipped around to see Dumbledore striding towards them, McGonagall at his side, both holding cups of steaming hot tea.

"Wasn't the wedding today?" the bearded man asked urgently. "Did something happen?"

"Death Eaters!" Hermione burst out. "We got a message from Kingsley, saying they were coming, and then they began attacking!"

McGonagall dropped her tea-cup and Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off as a ball of blue light came crashing through a window.

"The wedding is going to be under attack. I have warned them, but they will need assistance," Kingsley's deep voice rumbled from the lynx before it vanished, dissolving into thin air, just like the last one.

Without a word, but with a single glance to McGonagall, Dumbledore turned around and strode off.

"It was a bit late for that," Ron muttered as the woman recovered from her shock somewhat.

She flicked her wand, and the tea vanished. "Follow me. Candy corn!"

The door opened, and all of their heads whipped around to see a tired looking Dumbledore walk through.

McGonagall jumped up from where she had been sitting for the past two hours, in the Headmaster's chair. "Albus! What happened?"

"They're gone. Only one dead," he said gravely.

Harry froze. Not Ginny...

"Who?" the Transfiguration professor asked, her voice hushed.

"Elphias." The man looked twenty times older, and he collapsed into the chair. His wand rolled onto the table. "All of the others have escaped, though. Not all uninjured."

To Harry's horror, he turned to Ron now. "You may want to go down to the hospital wing, Mr. Weasley. There is something you should see."

A/N: It's a bit shorter than usual, sorry about that. Hope you liked it, though!