"What gave you that idea?" Amanda snapped. "Let's go! Someone might be in trouble!" She raced to the door, with the others in tow.

Aly stayed behind.

"Aly? Are you coming?" Char asked quietly.

"Hah. No. I'm not going to screw up even more," Aly said bitterly, sitting on Char's bed.

"You're not a screw up," Char said, smiling and walking over to the bed. Aly snorted in disbelief.

"I mean it," he said, taking her hands. "You're the most beautiful, smartest, funniest girl I've ever meet. And I probably will ever meet," he grinned.

Aly sniffed. "I still feel like I messed up big time."

"And guess what? You probably will, sometime in life. But guess what? That's ok. Because no one's mad at you. You did what any friend would do. And friends will take the leap to help others." He hugged Aly. "Now stop worrying."

Aly said something muffled against Char's collarbone.

"What?" he said, looking down at her. Aly looked up, smiling.

"I love you," she grinned.

Char laughed and kissed her forehead. "I love you too. Now, let's go see what all the commotion's about."

He took her hand and led her outside of the dormitory. They walked down to the common room. Char frowned as he looked around.

They walked outside of the common room.

"Hot damn!" Damien's voice exclaimed.

Aly raced to the banister of the stairs and looked over the edge and gasped as she saw Damien and Amanda running from a death eater.

"You've got to be kidding!" she exclaimed. Char gaped at the sight. "How'd they get in here?"

"Infiltrated, obviously," Char grimaced. "What should we do? Where's Kylie and Hayden?"

"Over here!" Hayden's voice responded. Aly looked to her left and saw Kylie and Hayden running over to them.

"We don't know how he got over here," Kylie gasped. "But we need to get Amanda and Damien up here!"

Aly watched as Damien and Amanda jumped from stair to stair, attempting to avoid the death eater.

Aly could only watch as they struggled to make it to the top, where the others were.

Amanda managed to help Damien onto the next set of stairs, and they raced towards Aly, Char, Kylie and Hayden.

Hayden and Char hoisted Damien up to safety. They reached for Amanda as she neared the top, but the death eater grabbed her leg.

Aly boiled with anger and she pulled out her wand. "Sectumsempra!"

The others watched as the death eater fell to the ground, his face covered in cuts. They started to bleed slightly. Amanda was pulled to safety, but Aly looked at the death eater in horror.

"Oh no," she muttered. She reached for the death eater and attempted to pull him to the top.

"Aly, what're you doing?!" Hayden exclaimed, reaching for her. "Don't!"

Aly laid the death eater on the ground and gasped audibly.

"What?" Char asked, looking over her shoulder. "Oh."

It was John, and he was unconscious. He was barely recognizable because of the slight beard on his face.

Aly heard a rumble in the distance.

She looked out the window and her eyes widened when she saw a duel going at the Astronomy Tower. Then, in the darkened skies, the Dark Mark was cast.

Aly looked down at John pointed her wand at his face. "Episkey," she said. The others watched in fascination as the cuts on John's face was healed, and they were barely visible. "Tergeo." The blood was wiped off of John's face. She stood up, satisfied.

"Why'd you do that?" Amanda asked.

"I may hate him to death," Aly said, smiling slightly. "But if I had known that was him, I wouldn't have done that."

Hayden nodded in agreement. He looked up and then gasped. "Move!"

"What?" Aly asked, looking up at him. Hayden grabbed her by the collar and thrust the others to the side.

A few seconds later, they heard an explosion, and the air was suddenly pitch black.

"What happened?" Amanda cried out.

"Peruvian Instant Darkness powder," Hayden coughed.

Aly knew her eyes were open, but she could see nothing.

"Lumos," Aly muttered, hoping it would help. It did, slightly. "Can you see the light?" she called.

She heard shuffling feet in response, and a few seconds later, the others gathered around her wand. It was eerie. Their faces were illuminated by the light, and everything else surrounding them was pitch black.

"What do you suppose we do?" Kylie asked.

"Go back to the Tower," Char said firmly. "There's nothing we can do here."

"Argh!" Damien's voice yelled.

Aly looked around in horror. "Damien!"

"You good for nothing bum!" Damien yelled. "She healed you!"

Suddenly, by some miracle, the Darkness Powder disappeared and Aly blinked around in surprise. She looked over and saw Damien clutching his head, grinning.

"I'm fine."

"What did he do?" Amanda asked, rushing over to him.

"Thumped me on the head," Damien winced, rubbing his head.

"Idiot," Aly muttered. "Come on, let's go back to the dormitory. There's nothing we can do." Reluctantly, they trudged back.

Everyone stared at Harry, hoping that the news announced by McGonagall a few seconds ago wasn't true.

Please say Dumbledore isn't dead, thought Aly.

Harry walked through the crowd, meeting only Aly's eye. He shook his head sadly. He walked upstairs to his dormitory. Aly choked back a sob and closed her eyes.

Faintly, she heard a phoenix's singing.