George's View Point

The door in front of us blasted open as I hit it with a Bombarda. Fred ran through, rapidly firing off stunners. I followed him in, casting a sealing charm on the empty doorway. I scanned the room swiftly; everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. There were two Death Eaters in here, the one Fred stunned, and one that was petrified on the floor. I didn't spend half a second on them, though. My eyes found Harry and Neville crawling on the floor towards a crumpled body.

Hermione.

A scream of anguish reached my ears as I saw Harry grab her arm. Fear overtook me and I leapt across the room to her side in two steps. Her beautiful brown eyes looked up at my eyes as I grabbed her small body in my arms. She blinked softly, her eyes going out of focus.

"George?" she whispered, and then her head fell backwards and her body went limp.

"No!" I bellowed, shaking her gently before pulling her to my chest. Harry was staring at her with terrified eyes. Neville finally reached us, his nose broken and bleeding profusely. He groped around the body as I rocked it back and forth. My mind had stopped working. I couldn't think, couldn't see, couldn't even feel. My mind just kept saying no, no, no, over and over. She couldn't be dead, she couldn't - not because I was too slow, Merlin, don't let it be because I couldn't get here sooner.

"Dat's a pulse, I'b sure id is," Neville said suddenly, holding her wrist in his hand. Relief flooded through me, leaving me giddy and lightheaded. I clutched her to me tightly, time still moving too slow. I could sense everything going on around me, hear every sound, smell every scent. Including the apple, cinnamon, and fresh parchment smell that was so uniquely Hermione.

"George?" Fred's hand on my shoulder shook me out of my thoughts, and brought time back to speed with a jolt. I nodded my head at his unspoken question and stood, carrying her.

"I've got to find the others," Harry said as he rose as well. Neville shook his head in exasperation at him before turning towards me and Fred.

"How did you ged here?" he asked, standing on shaky legs. Fred spoke, telling him about the galleon message, and that we brought Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Kingsley and Sirius with us.

"We have to find the others," Harry insisted again. Fred just rolled his eyes.

"No kidding," he said. He turned towards Neville and raised his wand. The boy flinched but a moment later his nose was fixed.

"Here," Harry said, handing him Hermione's wand. "Use this. Sorry about your wand."

"Come on guys," I said, cutting in, finally able to use my voice again. "I'll carry Hermione." I cast a feather light charm on her and wrapped her up in my robes. I made them into a sling of sorts and draped it across my shoulders sort of like what mothers use on their children, only it was much bigger. We ran from the room in a hurry, searching for any sign of the others.

We'd broken into three groups when we'd arrived. Sirius, Kingsley, and Moody, Remus and Tonks, and Fred and me. They'd tried to get us to stay behind, but we weren't having any of that. They'd finally had to relent when we told them we'd follow them anyway. They'd tried to stun us, but we were wearing shield belts so the spells bounced off harmlessly.

We ran into another roomand found two of the people we were looking for. Ron was on the ground, bleeding from a split lipand Ginny was beside him, her ankle at an odd angle.

"Ron!" Harry croaked, dashing forward. Ron started giggling as Fred ran to Ginny. He cast a quick spell on her ankle and a splint of sorts wrapped itself around the broken joint.

"Harry," Ron said, still giggling. He lurched forwards and seized Harry's robes. "There you are . . . ha ha ha . . . you look funny, Harry . . . you're all messed up . . . Tonks and Lupin are here. She has funny hair."

His knees gave out but he still held onto Harry. Fred was questioning Ginny but she couldn't speak. Neville was pulling Ron up, looking frantic.

"Where are Tonks and Remus?" I asked, scanning the room, I couldn't see any sign of them. I called for them again and heard an explosionbehind me. Fred and I cast a shield charm at the same time the back wall blew up. Two Death Eaters flew through the now open space as Tonks and Remus came blasting through.

"Wotcher, Harry!" Tonks greeted, flashing a quick smile before she hit the Death Eater with another spell. Lupin didn't say anything. He was pulling a young blond witch with him.

"Ron!" Luna exclaimed, running forward and grabbing hold of Ron.

"There are at least a dozen Death Eaters here," Remus said, walking up to Fred and me. His eyes drifted to Hermione briefly and he paled.

"She's alive, not sure what hit her though," Fred said quickly.

"We'll have to check her out later. We came in the midst of the fight. Ginny broke her ankle, Ron got hit by some curse that made him go mental, Luna was the only one left able to fight. We got Ron and Ginny out of the room, but three more Death Eaters got through before we could join them."

"We got them all though," Tonks said, breathing heavily. She was trying to repair Ron's lip but he was laughing too hard for her to help.

"Moody and Sirius?" I questioned, Remus just shook his head.

"No idea, you're the first ones we've seen."

"Well," Fred said, holding Ginny to his side, "we've got all the kids, we just need to get out now."
"There they are!" a high, maniacal female voice shrieked. We whirled around, shooting shield charms out together.

The figures barged in, seven of them, all Death Eaters.

"Hey!" Ron called out laughing. Luna lunged for him, trying to pull him back.

"Hey Harry, there are brains in here." He started laughing hysterically, raising his wand.

"No, Ron!" Luna screamed, diving for him. She was a second too late.

"Accio brain!" Ron laughed. We all froze, watching in horror. The top of the tank broke and a brain - that was indeed what they were - burst out and spun towards Ron. It disgorged strange ribbon-like innards, and they flew towards Ron. Luna had reached him now, and was desperately trying to pull him out of the way. She couldn't stop him, though. He grabbed the brain in his outstretched hands. The ribbons wrapped themselves around his arms, but we couldn't help; the Death Eaters took advantage of our distraction and began attacking again.

"Diffindo!" I heard Luna cry. Ron gave a strangled cry, but I couldn't look to see what was happening. We were all fighting for our lives, Fred, Remus, Tonks, Harry, Neville, and I, and we were outnumbered.

'STUPIFY!" A wonderfully familiar voice bellowed as I dove to the side, twisting so that I landed on my back. Hermione flopped against my stomach, still unconscious and thankfully unharmed.

Moody, Kingsley and Sirius ran into the room, eyes ablaze with anger. Sirius ran instantly to Harry, and started helping him fight. They'd brought along five more Death Eaters, though; we were still outnumbered.

"GIVE ME THE PROPHECHY!" Lucius Malfoy bellowed.

Prophecy? Was that what this was all about? Why hadn't anyone said so? We should have destroyed it months ago! This could have been avoided!

I didn't have long to ponder, though. Dolohov refused to go down. Fred was by my side in a second, deflecting a black spell that would have gotten me. I jumped up next to him, turning so he was at my back, and we started dueling again, back to back. I heard a scream come from behind me, but I couldn't turn around. I was fighting Dolohov with every spell I knew; I was about to have to get un-traditional on him.

A crazy laugh cut through the battle, followed by an ear piercing scream from Neville. My first instinct was to turn and help, but I fought the urge down, focusing on finishing Dolohov.

"Conjunctiva!" I bellowed, remembering Krum's second task from last year. Dolohov threw his hands up to his eyes, bellowing in pain as the spell ruined his vision. I hit him with a stunner and body bind quickly, spinning with Fred to fight the next Death Eater.

"Dumbledore!" someone bellowed. Screams rose up all around us and Death Eaters started hightailing it out of the room. Fred let out a victorious shout as we shot spells at the retreating Death Eaters' backs.

"Harry, NO!" a voice screamed. I turned around from the retreating backs to see Harry running away from the battle, after Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Remus!" Tonks screamed. She was racing after Harry, but her leg wasn't working right, it kept flying around, like a jelly leg but it was only the one leg. Remus was lying next to Sirius, who wasn't moving.

"I killed Sirius Black, I killed Sirius Black!" Bellatrix sang as she ran down the hall.

What? Sirius was dead?

Dumbledoreand Moody ran after Harry, their robes billowing behind them.

I turned back towards Sirius, torn as to what to do. Ron was still over in the corner, Luna had gotten the brain off him, but he was extremely pale and unmoving. Ginny lay next to him, her ankle still broken and her eyes unseeing. She'd been hit by a stunner at some point. I ran over to the two of them, Fred by my side.

"Enervate!" I bellowed, pointing my wand at Ginny. She gasped, jerking upright before falling back down with a grunt of pain. Fred pulled her into his lap, holding her tight against him.

I started examining Ron. Luna was sitting next to him, holding his hand tightly, a dazed look in her eyes. He seemed alright, just unconscious. His arms were covered in welts, his lip was split, his face extremely pale, but his pulse was strong.

"Remus?" I questioned, looking over at him now that I was satisfied that Ron and Ginny were alright.

"He's okay," Remus breathed out, relief washing over his face. "It didn't kill him, she didn't kill him." He sat up from where he had been leaning over Sirius. He stood up, gripping his wand and ran from the room, heading to where Harry, Moody, and Dumbledore had disappeared.

"Neville?" Tonks exclaimed, falling to the floor. She gave up trying to walk and pulled herself towards the body of Neville.

What had happened?

She pulled him to her lap, brushing his hair out of his eyes as she checked him out. "Enervate," she mumbled, holding him still. He jumped awake, looking around wildly until he saw her.

"Harry?" he questioned, cringing as he took a breath. She smiled falteringly.

"Dumbledore is taking care of him. What happened to you?"

"Crucioed, broke arm, trouble breathing," he said, coughing violently.

"Stay where you are Harry!" a voice bellowed from far away. We, Tonks, Fred, and I, caught each other's eyes.

"Go," Fred and I said together. "We'll take these guys to Hogwarts."

She looked uncertain for a moment, but then someone screamed in pain from the other room and she was up and running from the room. I picked Ron up, pulling a still dazed and unspeaking Luna with me. Fred picked up Ginny, who was growing paler by the minute, and we moved over to Neville and Sirius.

"How do we want to do this?" I asked Fred. Sirius, Ron, and Hermione were unconscious, Ginny, and Neville couldn't walk, and Luna wasn't fully here. How were we transporting everyone?

"Honeydukes passage?" Fred asked. He looked at Sirius for a moment and then pointed his wand at him. "Sorry about this." He mumbled, and then he cast a spell at him that caused his face to swell up. Must have been a stinging charm. Either way, it had the needed affect: you couldn't tell who he was anymore.

"Yeah, that'll work," I said as I gripped my wand.

I put a feather light charm on Ron and Neville, and carried Ron in my arms. Neville I had wrap his arms around my neck. Fred held Sirius in his arms and had Ginny hold onto his neck and wrap her good leg around his waist like she used to do when he'd give her a piggy back ride. He grabbed Luna's hand, maneuvering around so that he could hold her hand and still hold Sirius steady.

"Ready to apparate?" he asked once we had everyone settled.

"Yep."

We twisted in the air and landed in the cellar of Honeydukes. Now we just had to run to Hogwarts and hope we'd make it in time.

It was a long jog, made worse with all the weight we were carrying. Neville kept apologizing over and over, stopping only when Fred threatened to use a silencing spell on him. Fred gave Ginny his coin, telling her to type a message to Angelina, telling her to meet us at the tunnel's entrance with Madame Pomfrey.

We reached the tunnel entrance a few minutes later. Angelina was waiting for us there, her face pale and worried. Pomfrey was with her, and she summoned five stretchers immediately.

"What happened?" they both asked as we climbed out of the passage. I lay Ron in one stretcher, helped Neville in another, and finally lay Hermione carefully in one.

"Long story. We just need you to get these guys to the hospital wing now," Fred said.

Pomfrey nodded her head and we headed towards the hospital wing. Fred grabbed Angelina in an embrace and I held Hermione's hand the entire way.

A/N: Thanks to a ninja goldfish for betaing this, you're the best!