A/N: Thanks for the reviews and for putting my story on alert! Please continues to read and review, it really means a lot to me...Here's part 7, hope you enjoy!

Astrid's POV

"You what!" Hermione gasped out quite loudly.

"Shh!" I quieted her, "I don't want the whole bloody library to know!"

"Sorry," Hermione apologized while glancing around the library to see quite a few students glaring in our direction before returning to their books and essays. "You actually said his name while you were with Michael?" Hermione whispered to me. I nodded slowly, looking down at the book in my lap. "Oh Astrid…" Hermione sighed and came over to give me a comforting hug before returning to her seat. It had been a couple days since that last date with Michael, and news of our break-up spread like wild fire throughout the school. However, I had just built up the courage to tell Hermione about the main event behind our sudden breakup…I had yet to talk to Neville at all.

"I know Hermione… I can't believe I said his name. I mean how awkward?" I groaned out, placing my head in my hands.

"Well, at least it was still early on and you two weren't you know…actually having sex." Hermione whispered the last part so quietly that even I had trouble hearing her.

"Tell me about it, I would have just died on the spot in embarrassment." I groaned out, there was a silence between the two of us before Hermione sat up more in her seat and leaned closer to me.

"You know what this means, don't you?" She asked.

"That I don't have a boyfriend anymore…" I said slowly, stating the obvious.

"No…well yes, but that's not what I mean." Hermione clarified. "Astrid, it's fairly obvious that you fancy Neville. Hell you probably love him!"

"Hermione!" I was quite shocked to hear Hermione curse.

"Oh come on Astrid, don't be so daft."

"I'm not daft!" I argued, "Look, Neville is a friend and nothing more. Plus, he's dating Hannah. And I was dating Michael but now I'm single. End of story."

"You really don't see it do you?"

"See what?"

"What's he's doing."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about Hermione?"

"Neville is only dating Hannah to make you jealous and get your attention." Hermione acted as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "At first I really thought that Neville may have fancied Hannah, but once you told me about them snogging around you so much it became clear. And when you told me about how much their snogging annoyed you, it only proved that Neville's plans worked."

"Really Hermione? ...I somehow don't see Neville scheming like this."

"Oh no, of course he didn't do it consciously. He probably just asked Hannah out because he was lonely."

"Hermione…as always, you are putting way too much thought into all of this." I shook my head and laughed at my best friend.

"Hey Astrid," I looked over my shoulder and saw Neville walking towards us. "Hi Hermione." Unfortunately Hannah was right by his side, holding onto his arm as the two walked up and sat down in the loveseat facing Hermione and I.

"Hi Neville, Hannah." Hermione smiled at the two; I just smiled at the pair.

"Astrid, I haven't seen much of you the past few days…" Neville paused and it looked like he was trying to think about what exactly to say next. "I heard about you an' Michael…I'm sorry to hear about that."

"It's fine really." I replied blandly.

"What happened? You two seemed very happy together…" Hannah asked curiously.

"I'd rather not talk about it, thanks." I snapped a little too harshly. "Look I've got to go. See you later Hermione." I quickly grabbed my bag and rushed out of the library. I had almost made it to the common room when I heard footsteps running up behind me.

"Astrid, slow down!" I turned and saw Neville jog up to me. "Blimey, it was hard catching up to you." He leaned over and placed his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath for a moment before straightening back and taking a closer step to me.

"What do you want Neville?"

"Why are you so upset? I just want to see how my best friend is doing."

"I really don't want to talk about it Neville, especially with you." I couldn't help but notice the look of hurt that crossed his face; it sent a sharp pang to my stomach and made me look away from Neville.

"We used to be able to talk about everything Astrid, what's happened?" I continued to look away until Neville grabbed my chin in his hand and forced me to look into his eyes. "Did Michael do something to you? I swear I'll kill him!"

"No Neville! Nothing like that…I just, I'm confused about my feelings and I need time to think is all." This seem to somewhat satisfy Neville as he simply nodded his head and let go of my chin.

"I understand; I've been the same way this whole bloody year. I swear it's the year from emotional hell."

"What do you mean? You seem happy with Hannah."

"…I guess, yeah." He seemed to hesitate with that answer, and it really didn't sound convincing at all.

"What's that supposed to mean? You want to tell me something?"

"I-yes, I do but I can't. I mean I really want to tell you, but I don't want to mess things up...I already do that without meaning to. But, I really need to tell you.. I-" He exhaled sharply and got a very determined look on his face. "I've wanted to tell you this for years, Astrid…I lo-"

"Oi, You two! Have you seen Hermione?" Ron cut off Neville as he and Harry jogged up to Neville and me.

"Yeah, she's studying in the library." I replied. The two boys nodded and shouted their thanks as they ran towards the library in the direction Neville and I had just come from. "You were saying, Neville?"

"It's nothing important really." Neville mumbled.

"Oh…well, I've got to go get ready for a last minute choir rehearsal." I turned on my heels and left Neville standing alone in the empty corridor. I quickly made it through the common room and into my dormitory. I placed my bag on top of my trunk at the end of my bed and threw myself back onto the covers. Today was turning out to be a rather shitty day…first I finally decided to tell Hermione about my date with Michael, which only led to me realizing that I'm more confused about my feelings than I am about my latest Herbology assignment. Then I had to see Neville and Hannah attached at the hip, this led to me flipping out and Neville trying to confront me about why I was giving him the cold shoulder for the past few days. Now, I had to go and face Michael at Frog Choir rehearsal! I mean it wouldn't be too bad, Michael seemed to understand my own feelings more than I did. Don't get me wrong though, it was still obvious that he was hurt…and I felt really horrid knowing that I was the one to cause him so much heartache. I just wish I didn't have any feelings at all! It would make things so much easier.

I sighed and got up from my bed, deciding that I better stop moping around before I lost track of the time and was late to rehearsal again. I had about forty-five minutes or so before rehearsal would start so I changed out of my normal clothes and back into my Hogwarts jumper and pleated skirt before slipping on some knee-high socks and my black Mary Jane's. I still had a bit of time left so I grabbed my favorite muggle book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and headed down to the common room where I snuggled up with my book on the couch in front of the fireplace. I must have been reading for a good twenty minutes or more in the empty common room when someone burst through the portrait door. I looked up and saw that it was Hermione, Ron and Ginny all talking fiercely to each other.

"Hey, what's up with you lot?" I asked curiously.

"Astrid, something's going to happen tonight!" Ginny exclaimed as the trio made their way over to me.

"What do you mean?"

"Harry just talked to us and he's convinced that whatever it is Malfoy's been planning…it's going to happen tonight." Hermione spoke.

"And you actually believe him this time?" I asked.

"I know he's said it many times before, but this time he has some proof. Apparently Trelawney heard voices coming from the Room of Requirement while Draco was in there." Ginny informed me. "It definitely wasn't just Draco she heard, Harry's sure of it."

"Where is Harry anyways?" I asked.

"Dumbledore's taken him on some sort of mission. Harry didn't fill us in with details, because I don't believe he knew any himself…" Ron answered.

"Well, what's next?" I asked.

"We need to stake out the corridor outside of the Room of Requirement and wait for Malfoy to leave…from there we just need to keep an eye out and make sure his plans, whatever they might be, aren't fulfilled. We also should look at for Snape..." Hermione stated. "Come with us?"

"I know I need to; but I have rehearsal, and if I miss another one then I'll be kicked out…and choir is the one thing that's kept me sane this year." I explained. "I really want to join you, but maybe you could see about Luna and Neville? Or send out a message with the D.A. coins?"

"Brilliant!" Ron exclaimed.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Hermione groaned before she pulled out her coin and sent the message out to the rest of Dumbledore's Army to be on guard.

"Shoot, I've got to go or I'll be late again!" I gasped as I looked at my watch and saw that I had a little over five minutes to get across the castle for rehearsal. "Bye! And good luck!" I called out as I jumped up and quickly ran out of the common room. I knew I was probably making a big mistake, but I really felt like I should go to rehearsal. I made it down to the Great Hall where the rest of the Choir was crowded around while Professor Flitwick prepared the sheet music for today's rehearsal. Right as I walked up and said hello to Bem, Flitwick tapped his wand on the music stand to call us to attention.

"Good evening students and thank you for making it to tonight's rehearsal." The small wizard spoke. "Tonight I would like to work on our newest song, In Noctem." Flitwick waved his wand and sheet music for the song flew from the stack next to him to each of the music stands in front of myself and the other students. We spent a little while warming up, dividing everyone into sections and each rehearsing our harmonies before we were able to sing the song smoothly.

"Carry my soul into the night
May the stars light my way
I glory in the sight
As darkness takes the day"

It seemed that right as we began singing I got chills all over my body and the weather outside took a nasty turn which therefore affected the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall. It started drizzling heavily outside and lighting began to quickly descend onto the area. There was an overall eerie silence that could be felt throughout the castle, it was clear that the other students and even Flitwick also felt the same chills I did as I looked around at everyone and the expressions they had on their faces.

"Sing a song, a song of life
Lived without regret
Tell the ones, the ones I loved
I never will forget,

Never will forget."

Just as we were singing the last line of the song, Professor McGonagall burst through the large doors of the Great Hall and came running down towards Professor Flitwick. The look on McGonagall's face was not an encouraging one and instantly made me worried. McGonagall leaned down and whispered into Flitwick's ear who in return got a shocked look on his face before turning to face us again.

"Students, I'll be back." Flitwick said before running out of the Great Hall.

"What's wrong Professor?" A third year Hufflepuff named Bonnie asked.

"It's nothing for you all to worry about. You all should really get back to your houses."

"But Professor Flitwick said he would be back…we haven't finished our rehearsal yet." I pointed out to the head of my house.

"I know Ms. Burby-Black, but I have a bad feeling he won't be returning." McGonagall spoke gravely. Just as she finished, we all heard a terrible scream come from somewhere in the castle. McGonagall took off with a bolt and disappeared before we even knew what had happened.

"This isn't good…" Michael said looking at me.

"Come on Michael," I grabbed his hand and took off out of the Great Hall. Once we enters the main entrance, we could hear the tell-tale sounds of a battle waging on upstairs. I pulled out my wand and Michael followed suit.

"What the hell is happening, Astrid?" Michael asked as he climbed the stairs.

"I don't know for sure, but I know Draco is behind it." We then heard a loud cackle and out of the corner of my eye I saw something in the sky through the window. I pulled Michael over to the window and saw that someone had cast the Dark Mark in the sky…Death Eaters were in the castle.

I could tell that whoever had cast it was over in the Astronomy Tower; I could feel my heart speed up as Michael and I bolted for the door and ran outside towards the Astronomy Tower. We were about halfway there when I saw a bright flash of green come from the top…someone had just cast the killing curse. We both stopped dead in our tracks and watched in horror as a body fell from the top of the tower. The body was wearing light colored robes, had silvery hair and a long beard….that was when it hit me like a ton of bricks. I fell to my knees on the ground in the courtyard. Everything was spinning yet was somehow in slow motion as I watched the body plummet to the ground. I swear it felt as if my heart was in my throat as it pounded loudly. I let out a guttural sob, buried my face in my hands and then felt my heart stop momentarily when a loud thud was heard as the body hit the ground.

Albus Dumbledore was dead.