Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.

A/N: Thanks Artemis' hunters, Jacs94, and givetherabbitthefreakintrix for the reviews!

I'm proud of myself – I wrote this whole thing this afternoon/tonight. And I actually feel like this wasn't too bad of a chapter! Oh, and Happy New Year!

Chapter 3

For a brief moment, I was so wrapped up in things that I almost forgot that we couldn't Disapparate out of the Ministry. I was about to try when I saw Severus heading out the door to go back down to the Atrium. I quickly followed him, ignoring Regulus shouting my name after me, trying to get my attention.

"We aren't going to get there in time," I said to Severus as the elevator doors opened yet again. Several wizards pushed their way on – including Mr. Weasley.

"Nicole," he said, sounding startled. But then he noticed Severus and exclaimed, "Severus! What are you doing here?"

"The Death Eaters attacked Gideon and Fabian," I answered. Upon his horrified expression, I quickly clarified, "We're going to help them now."

"Any news of anybody else being attacked?" Mr. Weasley said, his voice hollow, as though he had a feeling that his brother-in-laws wouldn't make it out.

"Mad-Eye. He's alright. But Edgar and his family – they – they weren't so lucky," I said quietly. I didn't want to have to be the one to break it to him, but better he found out from me than from some hag like Umbridge. Mr. Weasley bowed his head in grief – he and Edgar worked in the same department in the Ministry and had recently started to become closer.

The doors opened to the Atrium and Severus pushed his way out into the still crazy crowd. I guess it was a little better than before, but not much. Magical Maintenance must have done something to calm some of the witches and wizards down, but there was still chaos as I squeezed through small gaps in people to get to the fireplaces for departure. Severus was already out as I Apparated to Gideon and Fabian's.

We found ourselves outside a small cottage that I recognized as Gideon and Fabian's home. We were unsurprised to find that it was surrounded by Death Eaters – I could see at least two of them from where I stood just inside the gates. They were all shooting jinxes into the shattered windows. I could also see either a few small fires or a large fire that spread throughout the entire house in several of the windows.

Severus and I both stunned the nearest Death Eater, who fell without even realizing what or who had hit them. A green jet of light flew into one of the windows from the other Death Eater within my reign of vision, and he fell when two stunners – one from me, one from one of the twins inside the house – hit him simultaneously.

I ran up the pathway and threw the door open to the house, Severus right behind me.

The fire seemed to be a single large one, for it was burning the stairs to the upper level and had engulfed the drawing room as well. Severus and I ran into the large combined kitchen and dining room, where Fabian and Gideon were deep in battle with six Death Eaters. When they noticed us, two of them turned to me and two turned to Severus.

"You!"

Despite the fact that each Death Eater had their face covered, there was no mistaking that voice.

"So we meet again, Bellatrix," I said calmly as I easily blocked a nasty looking curse headed toward me sent by the Death Eater that I now knew was Bellatrix.

"You!" she screeched again. "You – you – you –blood traitor!"

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" I asked, keeping my voice just as calm as it had been previously – I knew that it pissed her off. I sent two well-aimed jinxes at her and my other dueler. They both dodged them. Bellatrix's mask got knocked off in the process, but she didn't seem to care, or even notice. The other wasn't so lucky – he tried to dodge, but it hit his shoulder and sent him against a counter, knocking him unconscious. "Because if so, I know you can do better." Instead of responding, several jets of green light flew out of her wand, one right after the other. I easily ducked the first three, but the fourth and fifth both narrowly missed me.

"Why do the Aurors think sending their youngest and most inexperienced Auror will keep us from overpowering the Prewetts over there?" she sneered. As she said this, she jinxed the kitchen knives sitting on the counter near her and sent them flying straight at me. I quickly transformed them into feathers, and they fell limply to the ground.

I laughed humorlessly at Bellatrix as I sent another jinx at the other Death Eater. They ducked, but the jinx did hit one of the Death Eaters that Severus was dueling, causing him to fly backwards into the wall and fall down it, unconscious.

"Me? The most inexperienced Auror there? You must be confused. I am probably the most experienced there, except maybe Sirius or James. I was the one to defeat Voldemort afterall, wasn't – ?"

"You dare say his name!" Bellatrix yelled, sounding like the insane witch that she was, sending a nasty curse at me. It glazed my cheek as I sidestepped it, and I felt blood. "You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare –!" I didn't hear what she was going to say next, for there was an explosion and a part of the counter exploded. I shook my head at Bellatrix as I saw the twins each knock down a Death Eater. Severus was now dueling one, Fabian and Gideon one together, and me one. I noticed that they all seemed to be getting nervous.

"What?" I asked when I noticed Bellatrix glance around nervously. "The sixteen year old is beating you? I'd be nervous too." Bellatrix sneered at me, but said nothing back.

Suddenly, all four Death Eaters, along with the three on the ground, disappeared with a loud pop! Gideon, Fabian, Severus and I stood staring at one another, our wands still at the ready, just in case. But when nothing happened, we all lowered them slowly.

"Everybody okay?" Fabian asked. I nodded as I felt the gash on my cheek. When I removed my hand, it was covered in bright red blood.

"I'd heal that, Nick, but Fabian and I never were ones for healing spells. It's just a small gash, you'll be okay, right?" Gideon asked. I nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I didn't pay the gash much attention as I watched Fabian shoot out his patronus and send it off out the window, probably to inform the Ministry. "Are those other Death Eaters still outside?" I asked him as he looked out the window.

"Nope."

"One of them was Walden Macnair," Severus said suddenly. We all turned to face him. He was helping Gideon put out the fire, but there was no use – the house was already ruined. The upper level and drawing room had been ruined in the fire, and the kitchen had several crater sized holes in the cupboards and counters. The table in the dining room had somehow been thrown into the fire. I noticed for the first time that it was storming outside – the storm that I had felt coming a few hours previously – had it really only been a few hours since the publishing building had looked foreboding? – had finally come. Even the rain pounding on the roof wasn't putting out the fire.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"His mask was knocked off after he was stunned. He's not that hard to recognize."

Just then, I saw a familiar silver lion floating quickly toward the house.

"Hey, that's Regulus's patronus," I said, causing everybody to turn and notice it just as it entered the room through the large, smashed front windows.

"Help needed at the McKinnons' house. All four of you are probably needed as soon as possible."

Without another word, the four of us Apparated straight to the McKinnons' house. Ever since her parents had died a few years previously, Marlene and her two brothers had lived together in their parents old house. She and both of her brothers were high up in the Ministry, so it was no mystery why the Death Eaters had attacked them first. I recognized their house somehow and assumed that I must have been there before.

The house was surrounded by Death Eaters and Aurors alike. It was difficult, in the now dark night, to tell whether the wizard was a Death Eater or an Auror. Severus, Fabian, Gideon, and I split up to the areas of the house that looked like the needed the most help. I headed straight for the back, where I could see distant flashes of light.

"Not you again," I muttered as I made my way to the back and noticed one of the Death Eaters. There was no mistaking that mass of crazy long, curly black hair.

"Well lookie here," Bellatrix was taunting in her baby voice that I had heard her use before. "If it isn't my little baby cousin!"

"Hello Bellatrix," I heard Sirius' voice respond. He said something more, but I didn't hear it, for I saw a masked Death Eater raise his or her wand to point it at Sirius's back.

"Oy!" I shouted, though they probably didn't hear me over the bangs, shouts, and screams from in and around the house. They didn't expect the curse that hit their chest a moment later – I didn't even have to raise my wand, because for the first time in a while, I had managed to control my wandless magic. The Death Eater was thrown backward, his wand flying out of his hand and his mask flying off as he hit the ground with a thud.

"Well, well, well," I said tantalizingly as I walked slowly up to him. I towered over his cowering figure. "If it isn't the little rat." I stopped walking. "I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned. Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do," I said, quoting Mad-Eye Moody from my original time. "Although," I added, "that fits you." Ropes appeared out of thin air and wrapped themselves around Wormtail. I left him there as I turned back to the fight.

"Come on," I heard Sirius tease Bellatrix as I jinxed another Death Eater who had narrowly missed hitting me with a nasty curse. "You can do better than that!" Bellatrix sneered at him and sent a green jet of light at him. I knew, as soon as I saw it, there was no way that Sirius could dodge it in time, and there's no way to block it.

Except –

My mouth formed the words that I had only said a few times previously –

"Avada Kedavra!"

The jet of green light that I had sent flung straight toward the one Bellatrix had sent. But I could tell easily – anybody could tell easily – that mine was going to be too late. I pushed all of the magic that I could muster into it, and hoped to God that it would work.

There was a pop! louder than many of the previous bangs in the house, and both of the green lights disappeared in a small explosion. The glass in the nearby window shattered. A piece of it chipped my upper lip, but I didn't care. Bellatrix, furious, turned to me.

"Hello again, dear Bella," I said, blocking a jinx from some other masked Death Eater. I sent a curse at her, which she blocked.

"I heard you were head of the search for me at the Ministry," she sneered, sending several more curses that I blocked or dodged. I sent several back at her, but she was just as hard to hit as I was. "Didn't do too good of a job, did you?" If she thought that was going to anger me, it didn't – we had been hot on her tail a few days previously, though she didn't know it.

"You were hiding high in the Grampian mountains Friday, were you not?" She paled as she sent a Cruciatus sent by the familiar green jet toward me. They were both easy to dodge. "Yeah, we knew that. But those Aurors who were hot on your trail had to leave when your buddies busted out."

"You'll be sorry," Bellatrix snarled at me. "You'll be sorry you ever thought of betraying him."

"I will, will I?" I asked, disbelief obvious in my voice. I sent several consecutive spells at her, but she blocked them. There was another bang and part of the wall of the large home behind Bellatrix gave out, causing the third floor to cave in. I hoped nobody was up there, but as it had looked as though the whole third floor were on fire, I doubted that, if they were, they would have been alive anyway.

"Hello there, Bellatrix."

If possible, Bellatrix paled even further as Regulus stepped up beside me and he and I both sent the Impediment jinx at her. She was so stunned to see her supposedly dead cousin that she almost got hit by the curse that I had sent, but she stepped out of the way just in time to escape it.

"You – you're – impossible," she muttered. "You're dead!"

"I can assure you, I'm notdead," Regulus said calmly.

That's all it took – Bellatrix started firing spells off randomly. Green, blue, white, orange. She didn't care who they hit – an Auror or a Death Eater, it didn't matter to her.

So, Regulus and I followed suit.

We blocked or deflected every spell that she sent our way that we could, and dodged all those that we could not. And, throughout all of this, we were firing off any spell, jinx, hex, or curse that came to our minds. And with the two of us doing this against only one other witch, we knew that she would get hit eventually.

After a moment of jinxing, cursing, dodging, and blocking, Bellatrix fell to incarcerous that I sent her way.

"Nice one Nicki!" Regulus said, high-fiving me before we each started up separate duels with other, masked Death Eaters.

As I dueled with this obviously inexperienced Death Eater, I realized how outnumbered we were. I could see four Aurors and about seven Death Eaters, not counting those who had been taken down already.

"Regulus!" I hissed as I came up next to him after hitting the other Death Eater with the Impediment Jinx. I took on dueling another one quickly. "There's no way that we can defeat them! They have more than twice our numbers!"

"I know!" Regulus said back, knocking the Death Eater he was fighting down easily and then jinxing the one I was dueling while they were distracted with me. "We have to tell Sirius."

Somehow, as though on cue, the Death Eaters disappeared as one yet again, taking even those who were dead or tied up with them. At the same time, a sickly green glow came over those of us who were still standing there. I shivered, and the bottom of my stomach dropped. I knew what it meant without even looking up at the sky.

"You okay?" Regulus asked me, probably talking about the gash in my cheek. I nodded. "Come on," he muttered. He hadn't looked up either as he put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me toward the front of the house. As we walked around it, we heard a terrible cry that even the Cruciatus curse could not cause.

"No! Paul – no, no!"

No...

Cries like that only meant one thing.

"Marlene, it's okay, Marlene – "

No, no...

Regulus grabbed my hand and squeezed it lightly. It seemed that he knew what was going on, too.

"Where's Carter? Where's Carter?"

"I'm right here, Marlene."

Carter and Paul were Marlene's brothers. It seemed that Carter was okay, but Paul...

Regulus and I reached James, who was staring at the scene before him with wide, wet eyes. Marlene, Aaron, and Frank were standing near a body on the ground. I didn't – I couldn't – look at it. Tears filled my eyes, but I wiped them away before they actually

"Where's Severus?" Fabian asked, coming up beside me. I shrugged, looking around.

"He was hit with a nasty curse," Gideon said quietly, coming up beside his twin. "Sirius had Alice take him to St. Mungo's. He'll be okay," he added quickly upon seeing my horrified look, "but he was unconscious."

"Well," Sirius said, coming up beside us. "There goes our hopes of having you and Snape find the Death Eater hideout. I'm not sending you alone, and he's going to be stuck in St. Mungo's for a while, probably." I sighed, resting my head on Regulus' shoulder. "Go back to the Headquarters. We can talk there."

There were several pops. Regulus side-alonged me to the Ministry. The Atrium was now nearly empty. I wondered where everybody had gone, but didn't ask security as we passed.

Once at the Headquarters, we found Tonks, James, Alice, Frank, Gideon, Fabian, and Kingsley sitting in solemn quiet.

"The Death Eaters finally settled down," Tonks, who had been the only one to stay and wait while we went off to fight, said. "John, Gawain, Adrian, Rufus, Persephone, and Lynette are on their way back from fighting at Dorcas Meadows' place now. Livia was injured – not badly, but enough to where Persephone didn't trust herself to heal it – so Anna took her to St. Mungo's."

"Where are the others?"

"Erin never showed up, Troy and Kristen are d-dead – " Alice and I gasped. Regulus squeezed my hand. " – and the rest are either on their way back or still fighting somewhere."

"Somebody needs to take the list of those who are dead, injured, or missing to Dumbledore so he can talk to those students who are related to them. And we need to contact those waiting in the Room of Requirement," Sirius said suddenly. I sighed and removed my hand from Regulus's.

"I'll do it," I said. "I need to do something. I don't feel like just sitting here anymore."

"Is your cheek okay?" Alice asked me as she passed over the list of injured, missing, and dead that I was to take to Dumbledore. I nodded.

"Oh, I'm fine, thanks. I'll have Madam Pomfrey heal it when I get there."

Before anybody could fret anymore over the simple gash in my cheek, I took the parchment from Alice and headed back toward the Atrium.

A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want. Please review!