While Hermione was setting up the school's defences, Phoebe and Will went about assembling the students. Phoebe had run straight to Diamond, the furthest one, and just as she arrived, she heard a soft, but eerie noise. She ignored the sound and said the password. The portrait swung open and allowed her entry. Phoebe was Head Girl, and so knew all the passwords, Will was just scary and somehow knew all the passwords without being Head Boy. The students were panicking in the common room and it took a very long time before Phoebe managed to get their attention. To her dismay, the school no longer seemed to be connected to the floo network. The screeching noise made it difficult to calm everyone down and it was difficult to speak over the noise.
"Listen to me! I have been appointed to lead you from school, to safety. If you run off, you are very likely to – be – killed. If you are not silent, you will get all of us killed. I cannot lead you to where I want to take you, since I need to get the Emeralds out as well."
"Why should we listen to you?" Someone yelled.
"Mr. Phyllis, if you would prefer to stay behind, or even better, wander off, be my guest, perhaps you will do a better job at holding off one hundred Death Eaters than a handful of experienced teachers can." Phoebe said menacingly.
He fell silent.
"Robert! Yes, you. You know the way to Greagin Goblin and the Greedy Ghouls' tapestry is. Wait for either me, or William Fortescue. Everyone, follow Robert in single file, without fuss. You will get out of here safely, I promise you. Go!"
The students disappeared, silently, to Phoebe's surprise – she must have frightened them fairly badly. Phoebe ignored this and ran back to Emerald. It takes ten minutes to get from the entrance to Diamond Tower, and another five from Diamond to Emerald. The tapestry was a closer to the Diamonds, which was why Phoebe had been so sure that they would be safe. The screeching had stopped. When she entered the common room, it was chaos. Everyone was in a state of panic.
"WILL EVERYONE SHUT UP!" She yelled with a sonorus spell.
The students fell silent and froze.
"You are to be silent, and youwill follow me in single file. If you make any noise, panic and try to overtake the person in front of you, you will get all of us killed. There are Death Eaters at the door. People are trying very hard to buy us some time to escape, so if you do not remain silent, or disobey my orders, I assure you, the Death Eaters will sense our presence and eliminate us. Now, single file."
Phoebe led them from the common room, but what she heard nearly made her want to panic. There were sounds of explosions from the Entrance hall. She jogged and led the students past Diamond tower, down a few corridors and was glad when she saw Will directing his lot of students through a large, rectangular shaped hole in the wall. He was holding the tapestry to one side. It seemed that he decided to bring everyone at once, and everyone was fighting to be first. So Phoebe went and somehow managed to threaten them into submissiveness and the struggling stopped. After another five minutes, his group was finally done. Phoebe then stepped to the side.
"First years!"
The first year students stumbled forwards and stumbled through the little hole behind the tapestry. Then the second years, then the third, then the fourth, then the fifth, then the sixth, and finally the seventh years, but she caught the wrist of the last one and said to them:
"This is a portkey. You are to separate everyone into Will's group and my group. Will's group have their portkey, and they are to portkey away first. Wait another fifteen minutes before you tap this clip three times with your wand. If Death Eaters begin to appear, make sure everyone is holding hands and you are in contact with them before you activate the portkey. I'm counting on you."
The boy nodded before disappearing through the whole. Will let the tapestry fall.
"Why aren't we going in after them?" He asked.
Phoebe grabbed his wrist and yanked him after her as she sprinted through the corridor. She could hear spells being said now, and she began sweating. They arrived at Emerald Tower and barrelled into the common room. Phoebe dashed upstairs and grabbed the invisibility cloak before running down again.
"I forgot this." She said, panting.
"Forgot? Or do you mean you want to use it and help them out?" Will said.
Phoebe smiled.
"I never thought anything of the sort." She said in a playful tone.
Will snorted and they hid themselves under the cloak and made for the main entrance. They were approaching it when they froze in horror. Seven of the teachers were dead, but Hermione, Professor Faleys, Professor Shepherd, Professor Denvil, Madam Viarra and Professor Featherpea were still fighting, but losing. The Death Eaters were pushing them back. Will and Phoebe drew out their wands and went to Hermione's aid, stunning the Death Eaters. Hermione noticed this and looked in their direction.
"Run! You idiots! I need you to keep the others safe! Get out of here! Aurors are coming, just get away from here!"
"What about—" Will started.
"Stop worrying about me, for Merlin's sake! Go!"
With huge regret, Will and Phoebe ducked stray curses and ran back to the tapestry. They were aware of footsteps behind them, and they sprinted harder. Unfortunately, Phoebe dropped the cloak, and she turned around to get it. Just then, Death Eaters appeared, but from behind Phoebe, Will began to send out spells and hexes, and the Death Eaters were caught by surprise. Phoebe put the cloak on once more and began stunning and hexing them as well, although hers were not as effective as Will's. Finally, Phoebe made it to Will's side and covered him with the cloak and they disappeared. They made it to the tapestry without being seen and they hurried, one behind the other, to the other end. It was a five minute walk, but they made it just before Phoebe's group portkeyed away.
"Wait!" Will said as he grabbed the hand of the nearest student.
Phoebe did the same, and then nodded at the boy with the hair clip as he tapped it three times. There was a jerk and they were flung far away. They all collapsed in a heap, and there were sounds of crying and whimpering. They found themselves next to a large forest and there was a lake behind them. They all saw the castle and a large hut and everyone ran forwards.
"Stay calm! We don't need to run! We're safe! We're at Hogwarts!" Phoebe yelled.
The ruckus died down slightly and people began to smile. They walked slowly, by the hut, and up the hill, until they made it to the front door of the castle. People were cheering by now, besides the fact it was freezing cold, dark, and they were in a place they had never even seen before.
"Where are the others?" Somebody asked.
Will and Phoebe were thinking the same thing, but Will had not time to answer. It swung open, and a stern looking woman, stepped out. Her face broke into a smile of relief.
"Oh good, you made it. Now who can explain what is going on? The other group of children mentioned someone called William Fortescue. Can you step out?"
"And Phoebe! Phoebe was the one who got us out of that place!" Someone yelled.
Phoebe and Will stepped forwards, and the older woman smiled and nodded at them.
"Everyone, follow me, we will get you to the infirmary."
And then, they were led in a series of passages, up flights of moving stairs and past moving suits of armour and wandering ghosts. There were a few gasps of delight and 'ooh's and 'ah's. After a long walk, they made it into a large, room, filled with beds, but the room was almost filled to the brim with people. Different people rushed forwards to meet their friends from other houses, and there was a lot of hugging and tears. Finally, Phoebe and Will were motioned towards the door by the Professor and they followed her through another series of twisting passages and moving staircases, until they reached a stone gargoyle.
"Bertie Bott's" The woman said.
The gargoyle sprang to life and a staircase appeared. They stepped in and the stairs twisted round and round until they reached the top, and stepped into a magnificent office. Phoebe and Will were still overwhelmed by how fantastic the building was that even Dumbledore's office was not able to take their breaths away. When they caught sight of the famous Albus Dumbledore, they gaped. He smiled at them and offered them a seat. They accepted, and sat down.
"Welcome, children, now your names are…?" He asked, eyes twinkling.
They felt a trustworthiness air diffusing from the tall, commanding figure, but given what he had done to Hermione, they proceeded with caution.
"I'm William Fortescue, and this is Phoebe Longscoombe."
"Now, can you explain exactly what happened?" he said.
"Well, Hermione – that's Hermione Granger... by the way, just so you knowshe isn't a Death Eater" Will said smugly. "Hermione, Phoebe and I were taking a walk… after curfew… when Hermione suddenly froze and told us to get back to the castle. When we looked back, we could see Death Eaters at the gates. When we got in, we locked the doors and she immediately took charge of the situation, and gave us instructions on how to evacuate the students. She stayed behind."
Between the two of them, they quickly explained the situation to Dumbledore.
Suddenly, there was tapping on the window, and a severely injured owl flew into the room, dropping a piece of parchment on the desk before falling dead to the ground. Dumbledore read the message and grabbed hold of Fawkes' leg.
"Minerva, notify the Ministry, I fear that the other owl may not have made it. I will go and do what I can to help. We may be too late." Dumbledore said, before he vanished.
Will and Phoebe were so busy gaping at his disappearance that they did not notice that the woman had taken a pinch of floo powder and was talking to the Minister of Magic. When they finally realised, she had finished the conversation and was now facing them, her face drawn and tears in her eyes.
"I am very afraid that we have made a terrible mistake." She said in a tight voice.
Phoebe and Will leaned forwards subconsciously to listen.
"You see, we received reports last year, around this time, that Miss Granger was no longer a loyal follower of the Light. We did not believe it, but report came in after report, and finally, we could no longer deny it. Miss Granger had betrayed us. So, just after the Christmas holidays, we summoned Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley and Miss Weasley, and we wanted to see her reaction. It was completely different to what we had expected, I must confess, but we had been very harsh. Her friends turned against her, and the most horrific things were done to her by other students. I am ashamed to say that I had not intervened, for… I thought—I thought that she deserved it. Severus had returned, the night he was betrayed, bloody, beaten, and near-death. I thought that… she should suffer what she made him suffer. I am very ashamed of my actions."
The woman wiped away the first of her tears.
"It was dreadful, every day, Miss Granger would be sent to the Hospital Wing, needing very serious treatment. Everyone in the school was attacking her, and those who were not, were too afraid to help her. But Miss Granger refused to give us names, saying that it was not their fault that they were doing these things, but hers. She never trusted us ever again. Now… now that we know that she has been fighting for her life, standing by her teachers and defending the school, rather than running to safety, we know that…" The woman trailed off and swallowed. "Hermione is a true Gryffindor and had never betrayed us."
"You're wrong." Will said.
The woman looked down at him in surprise.
"She is not a Gryffindor anymore." He continued.
"She's been a Slytherin for almost a whole year now." Phoebe finished.
"Slytherin?" the woman said, clasping her chest. "Miss Granger? She's a Muggle-born."
"I mean no disrespect, Professor, but our housing system is slightly different; they judge you by your qualities rather than your heritage. The hat basically told her that her Gryffindor spirit had died."
Just then, there was a flash and Dumbledore appeared, carrying three bodies with him. Will and Phoebe stood up, but his expression told them what he could not say.
"She can't be—" Will said, voice cracking.
"I arrived and managed to hold of most of the Death Eaters, but she was taken, Mr. Fortescue. These are the only survivors of the attack. The Aurors arrived just after I did, and they managed to round up a large number Death Eaters."
Dumbledore lay Professor Faleys, Madam Viarra, and Professor Featherpea down on the floor.
"None of the other teachers…?" Phoebe asked.
"They have departed from our world." Dumbledore said.
Phoebe burst into tears. Will too, felt tears running down his face. They had thought… they believed that Dumbledore, the almighty Dumbledore, would have been able to do something.
"Her owls were seen by some of the Death Eaters. The owl carrying the message to the Ministry was found, dead, a few yards past the gates. These three of your professors would not have survived if you had not come and told me your tale."
"It didn't make any difference though!" Will said angrily. "The person responsible for saving everyone is now dead."
"No, Will, it's even worse than that..." Phoebe said hoarsely. "She's been captured by the Death Eaters. They'll torture her and—"
"We need to get you to the Hospital Wing. You are their leaders, Mr. Fortescue and Miss Longscoombe. They will not survive mentally and emotionally if you are not strong for them. Tell them whatever you deem is right." The woman said.
Then they were led from Professor Dumbledore's office, with three of their professor's bodies floating behind them. They were met in the corridors by two very frightened Gryffindors.
"Professor Dumbledore! Hermione—" Ron exclaimed.
"Phoebe? Will? What are you doing here?" Harry asked.
Will was gawking at him again, so Phoebe shoved him aside, while he continued his imitation of a goldfish, not acknowledging his change in position. She gave Harry his cloak after telling the story and turned away, just missing the expression of dismay and anguish upon Hermione's friends' faces. Harry and Ron left the group and the others continued to the Hospital Wing.