Thanks to my reviewers! ;) This next chapter is dedicated to Lovely SOS! She's always super supportive in my writing, so this is for you, buddy! :)
Enjoy chapter 2!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Several Death Eaters broke into the Great Hall. There were many screams, and different colored sparks. The war had started.
Ron quickly helped Harry to his feet. He nodded to Harry. "Let's go."
Ron and Harry ran to their designated position, dodging curses right and left along their way. They escaped through the door of the Great Hall into the hallway. A few hooded figures turned their heads and pulled out their wands.
"Crucio!"
Ron missed the curse by centimeters. Harry pushed him along to the Gryffindor common room. He quickly turned around and pointed his wand at the Death Eaters.
"Stupefy! Expelliarmus!"
Ron also turned around and yelled "Petrificus Totalus!"
They both turned around and continued to the Gryffindor Common room. After giving the password, they quickly climbed through the portrait hole and ran to their dorm. Harry quickly opened his trunk and pulled out his invisibility cloak, and he and Ron got under it. They made their way back to the halls where they saw Bellatrix and Wormtail in the corridor. They froze so they wouldn't be detected.
"Where is he?" Bellatrix hissed.
"I don't know," Wormtail trembled.
"You'd better find him before the Dark Lord finds you," Bellatrix threatened. "He's not afraid to get rid of anyone who gets in the way."
Wormtail ran into the next hallway, and Bellatrix smirked. Wormtail trampled Harry's foot as he ran by, causing Harry to grunt. Bellatrix's smirk immediately disappeared and she looked right through him. She pulled out her wand and continued to look right at Harry. He and Ron didn't dare to breathe. Another Death Eater ran into the corridor.
"Bella, the Dark Lord wishes to see you," the masked man said. Bellatrix smiled and left the hallway along with the Death Eater. Harry let out a breath.
"That was close," Ron said.
"A little too close," Harry agreed. "Come on."
They took off down the halls again, back toward the Great Hall. They stupefied a couple of Death Eaters trying to curse Colin Creevy, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnigan, who were locked in combat with three other Death Eaters. They finally made it down to the Great Hall, and found Hermione. Ron reached his hand out of the cloak and pulled her in. Hermione let out a squeal, but it went unnoticed that a girl just disappeared into thin air.
"Ron!" Hermione slapped his arm. "Don't do that!"
"Oi!" Ron rubbed his arm. "We're just doing our part."
"So you couldn't have warned me?" Hermione glared.
"That's not important now," Harry butted in. "We need to find Voldemort."
Ron winced, and Harry just gave him a look. They started down the hall again to see that Dean and Seamus were now battling Bellatrix, and Colin was out cold on the floor. Hermione pointed her wand to his body.
"Rennervate!" she whispered. He regained consciousness and picked up his wand.
Ron gaped at her and she looked back. "He was only stunned," she stated simply.
Bellatrix wasn't smiling or laughing. She was having a hard time battling off the three.
"Crucio!" She pointed her wand at Dean, who jumped out of the way just in time. The spell hit something near a suit of armor. A loud, pained scream echoed the corridor.
Ron gasped, "Ginny!"
Harry and Hermione turned around too and saw Ginny on the floor, clutching her stomach. Dean turned around to see what was going on, and Bellatrix smiled. She raised her wand and pointed it at Dean.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"DEAN!" Seamus yelled, and pushed him out of the way, causing the curse to hit himself instead. He fell to the floor, completely still.
"Oh, no!" Hermione gasped.
Ginny got up, breathing heavily, and ran to the scene. She pulled out her wand and yelled, "Engorgio!" Bellatrix's face started to swell up rapidly. Ginny pointed her wand again. "Furnunculus!" Huge, horrible boils started popping onto Bellatrix's skin. She let out a squeal.
"Nice one, Ginny!" Ginny turned around and saw Fred laughing from the end of the hallway with George right behind him. Bellatrix pointed her wand at Ginny's back, but Harry yelled "Expelliarmus!" just in time. Bellatrix's wand flew from her hand, and Dean caught it. Dean put Bellatrix's wand on the floor and pointed his own at it. "Reducto!" The defenseless wand shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces. Before Bellatrix could do anything else, Ron yelled "Petrificus Totalus!" Bellatrix's distorted features faced upward as she lay petrified on the ground.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione came out from under the Invisibility Cloak. Ron stormed up to Ginny and spun her around to face him.
"WHAT do you think you're doing?" Ron bellowed. "You're supposed to be on the train!"
"Actually she was supposed to be in the Room of Requirement," Fred and George walked up to her also.
"You two promised you'd keep me updated!" Ginny yelled. "I was left in there wondering what was going on. I couldn't take it anymore!"
Ron's face turned red. "Just wait until Mum hears about this…"
Ginny yanked her shoulder from Ron's grasp. "She's not gonna hear about this." She glared at him. "Right?"
Ron returned the glare. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't stupefy you and leave you locked in a closet! You were just hit with the Cruciatus curse for Merlin's sake! Do you realize what we were protecting you from, or does all of this mean nothing to you?"
"I can take care of myself! Can't you see I'm fine out here? This is where I need to be! I can't just let everyone else do the fighting, while I'm isolated from it all wondering if everyone's ok," Ginny cried.
Ron took a deep breath. "Fine, Ginny. But if anything happens to you, it's not my fault!"
Ginny nodded. "I know what I'm doing." She turned around and looked at Dean whose face was covered in tears. She crouched down and patted his shoulder. Fred and George cast the "Mobilicorpus" spell on Seamus's body and laid it in the corner of the hallway. Ron put Harry's Invisibility Cloak over him, so the Death Eaters wouldn't do any more damage to his body.
Ginny helped Dean up and handed him his wand.
"Thanks, Ginny," Dean tried to smile. Ginny nodded and turned to Harry. "What am I supposed to do?"
Harry desperately wanted to tell her to come with them, but he knew that it was too dangerous. He had to do the last thing he wanted to. "You can replace Seamus, and follow Dean."
She nodded and gave him a small smile, which made him melt. He quickly turned around to Ron and Hermione and said, "We have to go now."
He took one last glance at Ginny and saw that she was doing the same. Their eyes said it all. She reluctantly looked away and followed Dean's instructions.
"Come on, mate," Ron patted Harry's back. Harry turned back around and followed Hermione and Ron. Once they were out of the corridor, Hermione turned to Harry.
"I really don't think we should let Ginny off like that," Hermione explained, obviously waiting to say it out here rather than in there where Ginny could hear them. "Really, if anything happens to her-"
"How are we supposed to get her out of the middle of it all?" Ron argued. "You heard her back there. She is not going to change her mind!"
Hermione shrugged. "I guess not."
"We're just going to have to trust that Dean will help keep her safe," Ron trailed off. Harry didn't want to hear any more of this.
"Come on, we've got to move fast," Harry broke off the conversation. Hermione and Ron both nodded. They took off toward the Great Hall once more, passing a few of the D.A. ready for battle if a Death Eater should show up.
They passed through the door of the Great Hall to see many of the Order fighting with Death Eaters. Fred and George were casting many curses at Draco, who was struggling to fight them off and fight someone 'more worthy'… or so they thought from what he was saying to himself. Arthur and Lupin were fighting Lucius Malfoy, which was a challenge, but they kept going all the same. There were many dead bodies lying on the ground too. Harry recognized the body of Kingsley and Tonks over all the others. He felt a sharp feeling of guilt shoot through him. Suddenly a shrill voice was heard from the middle of the room.
"Potter! It's Potter! Quick, somebody summon the Dark Lord!"
Hermione snapped her head in Harry's direction with a terrified look on her face. She knew it was coming, but she didn't look prepared at all. Ron on the other hand was pushing Harry out the door and saying, "It's time for the end."
Several thoughts were swimming through Harry's head. What is going to happen? Who will survive?
As Ron, Hermione, and Harry ran through the corridors, Luna Lovegood stopped them.
"What is it?" her eyes were far from normal. She usually looked so happy and bright… but now, the mysterious light in her eyes were dimmed and for the first time, she looked scared. "I heard them yelling. Is You-Know-Who here?"
Harry shook his head. "No… but he's coming."
Luna immediately turned around and took charge of herself, Neville, Cho Chang, and the Patil sisters.
Ron stopped pushing Harry along, and Harry realized that they were right in front of the big doors of Hogwarts. Ginny and Dean ran up to the gathering scene. Ginny glanced at Harry, fear sparkling her eyes. Harry felt his heart drop, but there was nothing he could do about it but nod. He knew she understood, because she stiffly nodded back. Dean just stood there, looking like he wanted to do something. Harry felt Hermione's hand leave his shoulder as she and Ron reluctantly walked away from him.
"Good luck Harry," Hermione trembled. Ron took her hand and gave Harry a look similar to the one Dean had given him.
Harry stood there as Death Eaters and members of both the Order and Dumbledore's army flooded into the hallway. Nobody was fighting anymore. Everyone was anxious for the long-awaited duel between the most powerful Dark Wizard in the world, and the famous Harry Potter. Harry couldn't take all the looks people were giving him. They made him feel helpless.
He turned around and fixed his gaze on the large doors leading to the outdoors. He heard excited and nervous chattering behind him, but he didn't want to listen any more. Harry blocked all the noise out and thought about his parents and how they died to save him from Voldemort. Now he was putting their great sacrifice at stake. He closed his eyes and felt the fury toward Voldemort spread through his body. He was ready.
He heard many gasps and looked through a window near the front door. A green light was traveling through the darkness of the early morning. It split into three different orbs, dancing in the cold air. Each one traveled in its own direction and as one flew right past the window, shrieks of happiness from the Death Eaters were heard.
Harry turned around to get one last glimpse of everyone who fought for him. Ron's and Hermione's eyes were flicking from the window to Harry. When they saw that he was looking at them, they both made eye contact. Hermione mouthed out, "We believe in you." Harry slightly smiled, and let his eyes wonder again. Molly Wesley was spilling tears down her face, and tightly hugging Arthur. Arthur looked very concerned, but hid it pretty well. Fred and George were also trying to hide their fear. Ginny's face was buried in Dean's shoulder. As soon as Harry looked their way, Dean tapped Ginny and her head shot up. He saw tears strewn all over her face and she gave Harry one last look before she broke down crying again. She threw her head back onto Dean's shoulder and Dean tried to calm her down. He took a deep breath and turned again toward the door.
Suddenly a hovering object was seen outside of the front door. As it got closer, screams were heard. It was Voldemort. He passed the window a couple of times before everything went dark and silent again. The doors abruptly swung open to reveal the Dark Lord standing in front of the crowd. A smirk spread across his grotesque features and he strode into the hall.
"Well, well, Mr. Potter," his cold, high voice rang through the silence. "Seems as if this is the moment we've all lived for. Hmm?"
Harry glared at the snake-like creature in front of him, but didn't answer. A horrid laugh escaped Voldemort's lips.
"The end is here, Harry Potter."
Ooh… cliffhanger! ;) The next chapter (also the last chapter) will be posted tomorrow, hopefully! If I don't have time, then I promise I will upload it sometime this weekend.
Please review!
~Megan
