All I can think of right now is, I should be studying for my chemistry final…

And yet, here I am, writing another chapter.

I need to get my priorities straightened out.

Chapter 44

Terror Unleashed (yes, I know it's melodramatic. Better chapter title suggestions are very welcome for this one.)

The evening of April thirtieth found Harry and Ron lying on their stomachs, a chessboard between them. Ron's brow was furrowed, trying to calculate what Harry would do in response to each of his possible moves, but Harry's mind wasn't really on the game. It was far away, in 12 Grimauld Place, with Sirius. His distraction became evident when he moved his queen directly into the path of Ron's rook, leaving an opening for his friend to knock out his most powerful piece and put him in check at the same time. Ron, apparently, noticed this. "What's wrong, Harry?"

"Hmm? Oh… nothing."

"You're not focused."

"I'm thinking about Sirius."

Ron rolled over and stretched. "Oh."

"He's fine, Harry," Hermione, who was sitting on the couch next to them, a book in her hands, assured him. "You don't need to worry."

"I'm not worried, really, more like… wondering. He's seeing his brother for the first time in more than twenty years. That would be nerve-wracking even if you were normal brothers, but with their situation… Regulus thought Sirius was a Death Eater until November, at which point his view was corrected to understand that he was innocent but dead, and Sirius has always thought Regulus to be a Death Eater and dead, and suddenly, they're both alive and neither is a Death Eater. It'd be rather strange, don't you think?"

"Sirius is a big boy," said Ginny, who was sitting beside Harry. "He can take care of himself."

"Ginny," Harry said abruptly, "how would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?"

She looked at him suspiciously. "You've changed your mind?"

"Only sort of."

"Well… I suppose I could be prevailed upon to go, if you get down on your knees and apologize for taking so long to ask me."

"I'm lying down for you, Ginny. Prostrate on the ground. That's better than kneeling. And I'm sorry. Is that good enough?"

"That'll do, I suppose."

"Then will you go with me?"

"I'd be delighted."

Half an hour and two checkmates (made by Ron) later, the front door opened and men's voices carried into the room.

"I don't know why. If I did, I wouldn't be worried." This was Sirius, who sounded, to Harry's surprise, almost frantic.

"Calm down," said Lupin's voice. "I'm sure there's a good explanation for it. You're overreacting."

They rounded the corner into the room. Harry looked up. "What's wrong?" he asked concernedly.

Sirius glanced at briefly at Lupin and turned back to face them. "Regulus didn't show up," he said.

"He what?"

"He wasn't there. I waited for an hour and he didn't come. And I have no idea why."

"Where were you supposed to meet him?"

"Grimauld Place. Home, for the first part of our lives. He didn't come."

"I don't think anything happened," Lupin said firmly. "Maybe he's just been detained. You should go back and wait for him. I'll come with you, if you like."

Sirius shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "He would've sent an owl." He sat down at the counter and reached for a glass of water. "Assuming he hasn't changed all that much since I last saw him—"

"A rather farfetched assumption," Lupin remarked dryly.

"—he's always right on time for appointments."

"Sirius, you knew him twenty-two years ago, and he's been through a lot since then. He has changed, whether you like it or not. He's the headmaster of a school. Things come up. He'll probably show up tomorrow and apologize profusely for having missed you."

Sirius still wasn't convinced. "I'm worried," he said, finally, exhaling slowly. "I… I almost had him back, and he's slipped through my fingers again."

"I say we go into Zonkos," Ginny said, pointing to the shop that was a hundred meters down the road. "Fred and George bought it, you know."

"Yeah, I know. Their business really took off well."

"Mum's actually proud of them, even though they didn't go into the Ministry like she wanted them to. Then again, she's not very happy with the Ministry right now."

"Can't say I blame her."

Ginny smiled. After they went into Zonkos, Harry suggested they go to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. Holding hands, they sat down at a table far from the other customers. It was emptier than Harry had ever seen it; firstly, his only visits had been on Hogsmeade weekends for Hogwarts, and secondly, very few people went anywhere they didn't have to go anymore for fear of a Death Eater attack.

After they ordered, they sat in silence for a few moments. Ginny broke it first. "What do you want to do after this mess is all over? Think you'll go back to teaching at Hogwarts?"

Harry smiled. "I haven't thought that far yet. I'm having enough trouble getting from day to day without thinking about the future."

"What did you want to do, then? Before Hogwarts closed and we all got tangled up in this war."

Harry sighed. "I wanted to be an auror," he said finally, "but the way these attacks are happening, they're quickly becoming an endangered species, and since I haven't taken the N.E.W.T.s, I can't really enter auror training." He paused. "What about you? What do you want to do?"

Ginny cocked her head and looked at him strangely, as though she had never pondered the question before. "I guess… I kind of want to play Quidditch, but I don't think I'm good enough for that, and besides, I don't think I would enjoy it for very long. I was thinking… maybe a healer."

Harry nodded. "I can see you doing that."

The door to the Three Broomsticks opened, and Harry looked up. His breath caught in his throat.

Ten figures had entered, shrouded in cloaks and wearing masks. People started screaming. Ginny whirled around to see what was happening, and she ducked as a spell rushed over her head Harry stood up, knocking over his chair and fumbling for his wand.

They were Death Eaters. Here, in Hogsmeade.

Spells hit all the other occupants of the bar within seconds. Harry didn't know whether they were stunned or dead or what, but they were slumped over in their seats, and the Death Eaters were advancing on him. Ginny was standing behind and slightly to the side of him.

"Hello, Potter," one of them rasped. Harry knew that voice; it was Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf who had bitten Lupin and scarred Bill's face. He didn't know why they weren't attacking, but he wasn't going to complain.

"Go, Ginny," he urged. "Take the back exit through the kitchen. I'll hold them off."

"No," she hissed vehemently. "I'm staying."

"How noble," another voice drawled. This one was Lucius Malfoy. "Precious Potter is trying to save his precious girlfriend."

"Go!" he said not taking his eyes off of the Death Eaters in front of him. "Ginny, please!"

She squeezed his hand. "You can't make me," she whispered.

Harry turned his attention from her to the men who were spreading out to surround them. "What do you want?" he demanded.

"What an insolent boy," said another man, this one completely unfamiliar. "I do believe we should punish him for his audacity."

"Oh, yes, let's," hissed another.

Without another word, they attacked.

Harry knew that he and Ginny didn't stand a chance, but he was not about to give up. He erected a shield around them, though he knew it would be shattered with the first five or six spells. Calling upon his Inner Sanctum, he sent it out in furious bursts of energy that were focused into spells. Several fell to his onslaught, but not enough.

The shield splintered, and Harry knew it was over. The next spell hit him in the chest, throwing him backwards onto the floor. Stars erupted in his vision, but he clung desperately to consciousness as thin gray cords wrapped themselves tightly around his body. He tried to Apparate out of it, but try as he might, it didn't work. Ginny had lost her wand, but she was still fighting—kicking, biting, punching, clawing like a cat. A Death Eater seized a handful of her hair and wrenched her head back, while two others twisted her arms behind her. Harry blinked to rid his head of the pain.

"We've got what we wanted," Greyback snarled. "Let's go."

"Wait," said another voice. It was cold and mocking, a woman's.

Harry shuddered. He knew who it was.

Bellatrix came to the fore of the group and pulled aside her mask. Her face was contorted in hatred and a thirst for vengeance. "I want him to suffer," she hissed, "as he made me suffer. Crucio!"

Harry would have thought that the pain would be easier to bear each time he was hit with the Cruciatus Curse, but that wasn't the case. He writhed and twisted in his bonds, screaming for a reprieve. It was as though white-hot irons were being pressed into his skin and allowed to burn through his body.

The pain let up, but only briefly—long enough for Bellatrix to laugh maniacally. "You thought you were so powerful, Harry Potter! Crucio!"

When the agony lifted this time, Harry was slipping out of consciousness, fast. He could do nothing but moan in anguish as the Death Eaters left him on the floor, dragging Ginny, his Ginny, along with them.

"Harry!" she shouted, still struggling against her captors' iron grips. She bit one hand that had a hold on her arm, but there were plenty more to take its place. "Harry!"

But he could do nothing. She was gone.

I showed I cared about her, and they took her…

And then he faded into blackness.

A/N: I told you it wasn't about to get better.