...I'm so sorry.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A streak of green light soared toward me. I froze, staring wide-eyed at the streak of lime that had shot from Katy's wand at her words. Just as it was about to hit me, just as I closed my eyes and readied myself to face oblivion, there was a squawk and one last gentle, loving nip on my ear.

I opened my eyes in shock.

Peltie's body collided with the curse, went limp instantly, and fell to the floor in front of me.

My legs jellied and I collapsed to the ground with her. "No," I whispered, Not my beautiful, kind, adoring owl. Not my sweet companion. Not my loyal, caring pet. "No, no- not Peltie-"

I cradled her feathered form in my hands, all traces of warmth gone from the husk.

Moments ago I'd been on top of the world, so sure we would win with the Ministry at our backs, positive we could overwhelm them with our sheer numbers and force without causing any more deaths to taint the halls of Hogwarts. Now Peltie was dead.

She'd died protecting me.

"Charge!" yelled a deep voice from behind me.

Kingsley Shacklebolt raised his wand and charged past me, straight at Damien. He blocked the tyrant's first Cruciatus Curse and they began to duel with loud shouts and flashes of color.

All around me, Ministry workers hurried to everyone third-year and younger, shielding them from curses and ushering them to the main doorway, where Lynne waited with a whole chain of Portkeys. She would get the younger students to France, where they would all be safe.

That is, if they went willingly. Most did, but I saw Raj wriggle out from an Auror's shielding grip and try to jump Damien from behind. Art snatched him out of the air by the collar of his tattered robes, backed him into a corner, and guarded him fiercely from an approaching and angry Katy.

Art shot a Scalping Curse that the blonde Slytherin, who was so fiercely loyal to the wrong side, only narrowly dodged. She stared open-mouthed at him, for how he knew the Dark curse she could not understand. I suppressed a grin. Every curse I had learned had been taught to my classmates by yours truly. Everyone fourth-year and up knew a barrage of charms and curses that the army of the tyrant had learned, and then some. Shield Charms, Disarming Charms, Entrail-Expelling Curses, everything. We were indeed well-prepared.

But it was not enough, at least not for Art. Katy was soon backed by Sara, and duelling two at once was too much for Art. As his body hit the floor- the victim of a painless, sweet Killing Curse- Sara walked up to Raj and sent an Entrail-Expelling Curse straight into her fellow second-year's chest.

She barely had time to smile in triumph, an ugly smile of yellowing teeth against pasty skin and dark hair, and kick Raj's twitching, dying body out of the way before a Killing Curse slammed into her side with all the force of a thunderbolt. The slender, raven-haired second-year's body crumpled to the ground beside the body of her first kill, still wearing that arrogant smile on her thin, cruel face.

Nellie had killed her.

Ash Fleetwood's Ravenclaw sister rushed to Raj's side. Tears still streaked her face from Annie's death, and a fresh batch flowed freely down her cheeks as she knelt beside her dead friend. Blood pooled beneath Raj, coupled with guts and gore that Nellie tried in vain to stuff back into his chest. Squeamish, I tried to look away, but I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away from the terrible carnage. Nellie, the poor sweet soul, was struck down where she knelt by an equally brutal and bloody Amputation Curse from Sami.

I stood, letting Peltie's body fall to the floor.

Four second-years and Art July down.

I couldn't provide much, couldn't do much to save people on my own- but I could be a distraction.

Harry Potter was helping Kingsley Shacklebolt duel Damien now, and they would have easily been able to overtake the dictator except for two things. The first was the latter's extensive array of new curses. The Blocking Curse, the Whirlwind Hex, and more- he cast new defensive curses and shot attacking ones at the two famous wizards. A Whirlwind Hex even hit Minister Shacklebolt in the soldier and spun him around like a top, leaving him dizzy and disoriented when the wind dissipated. The second thing was a tiny bottle that Damien kept swigging tiny sips from, full to the brim with a glowing golden liquid. I'd never actually seen any, but I'd heard of the mythical potion.

Felix Felicis.

I crept over to the side of the Hall and prepared to leap.

If we're all equally lucky, we'll stand a better chance at capturing Damien, and then this foolish bloodshed will be over.

Harry Potter glanced my way. He shot off another curse, and in the loud chaos he mouthed at me, Look out!

I was able to turn only halfway before Peggy tackled me to the ground and put a thin kitchen knife to my throat. "That house-elf was good for something, at least," she sneered, dark hair curling over her face and down into my mouth. I spat out a lock as she reared back, ready to cut my throat.

A Stunning Spell from Jessie knocked her off of me, and as I thanked my near-lookalike in my head, I leapt to my feet and dove for Damien, dodging a stray curse from Liv and snatching the Felix Felicis from Damien's hand as I passed.

Damien roared in surprise and fury. "Get her!" he boomed, gesturing to me with his broken arm.

I fled the Great Hall with a few nearby rebels, at least fifteen of Damien's army in hot pursuit. I glanced to either side as I turned the corner. Harry Potter had followed me and was covering us in flashes of scarlet light- Disarming Charms. The other three people accompanying me, as I discovered while we ran, were Sunny (who had stayed behind in secret instead of going with Lynne, plump face streaked with tears), Nick, and Aleyn. Sunny was chubby and short, but she was able to keep pace with us as we sprinted down corridors, up stairs, and through classrooms. Nick too was very fast, faster than me even, and I had long legs so I could keep up. The issue was Aleyn. Nick and I had to tug him along as we sped towards and into the library.

We ran up the steps onto the catwalks, Harry Potter close behind. We were, however, forced to skid to a stop there when confronted from the front by ten of Damien's followers, led by Ivan and Eve-Charlotte (who wore matching snarls of disgust and wrath upon their faces).

"Thought you could run, eh?" a voice sneered from behind us. The voice, which I hadn't heard directed at me since Christmas, sent a chill of terror down my spine.

Finley Denton's sky-blue eyes glared me down as I slowly turned to face him. "Give me the Felix Felicis," he continued, "and maybe I'll let you go… with minimal damage."

I folded my arms and scoffed at him. "Sure, you'll pin me to the wall and try to tear my robes off again? I don't call rape 'minimal damage', Finley. You're a creep and a pervert, and you can go to hell!"

Nick beside me looked both highly disgusted and highly impressed.

"Get them," Eve-Charlotte ordered snidely from behind us.

And the enemies charged.

I deflected a curse from an older Gryffindor boy and pushed him off the catwalk. He flipped over the safety rail, hair blowing in straw-colored curls over his horrified face, and fell with a scream until he landed on the floor below with a sickening crack. With no time to feel remorse, I turned to shield myself from Eve-Charlotte's Disintegration Curse just in time to watch Jida, who was duelling Sunny in flashes of red and green light. It looked like a dangerous Christmas-themed light show. Jida deflected Sunny's Disarming Charm and Stunned her, then raised her wand to finish the last of the second-year quartet off.

"No!" Ivan shouted, leaping in front of Sunny and killing Jida with a curse at the same time. I had never heard Ivan speak of his own accord before… and I never would again.

Sunny scrambled out from under her brother's dark body with a shriek of terror and pain as Jida fell. "Ivan, Ivan!" she screamed, shaking him. "Get up- get up! I can't go home without you there- not you, too- I've already lost my best friends of all time- think of Mummy, think of Papa, get up!"

"Stop your sniveling!" Finley bellowed, and then he stopped her whining himself with a curse. Two Liripine siblings, dead in under a minute.

Aleyn and Nick appeared at my side, two loyal comrades and allies. Aleyn panted, "Aly, there are too many of them. We have to go!"

My head was throbbing madly from all the shouted curses, danger I was in, and flashes of light. I said dreamily, "But it's so beautiful in the library."

"She's snapped," Aleyn stammered with a bewildered laugh. "Aly's gone mad!"

"Aly was always mad," Nick claimed. Then he took the Felix Felicis from my tightly clenched fist, working his fingers into mine so that we were almost holding hands before he confiscated the vial, and slapped me across the face.

This was not what brought me out of my dreamy, forgetful stupor. No, it was a sudden flash of yellow and black, brown hair and pale skin, in front of me, and then a sudden weight on my toes. I glanced down.

Aleyn lay on the floor, choking and burbling in a growing pool of blood. A silver knife protruded from the side of his throat.

He'd jumped in front of me, taken the blade that had been meant to kill me in the most mundane way possible.

I knelt beside him as he shuddered and opened and closed his mouth, trying to speak. "It's okay, Aleyn. You're going to be fine- we'll get you to Madam Pomfrey and-"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Finley stomp closer. He threw the knife, I instantly realized. Nick leapt to defend us, me and the dying boy on my feet, and the two began to duel.

When Aleyn opened his mouth, his teeth were soaked red with dripping blood. I quickly looked away, just in time to see more people fall. There was nowhere safe to look. I closed my eyes.

"Tell… Mum…" Aleyn's voice pervaded my silence, raspy and weak and dying. He coughed, spattering warm blood into my face. I tried to keep my lunch down and squeezed my eyes shut even more tightly. "I love…"

When I opened my eyes, he was dead.

I ran my hand over Aleyn's neck. The wound was on the side; if the knife and blood were gone, he would almost look like he was sleeping from a certain angle. Slowly, softly, I magically siphoned all the blood off of Aleyn and, I was pretty sure, myself- then I yanked the knife out and slid it into my sleeve, careful to keep all of the resulting blood off of Aleyn. The liquid spilled from the gaping hole, staining my fingers and shoes, but I didn't care.

In every book I've ever read, if a character watches someone else die, they close the dead person's eyes.

Aleyn died for me. I need to thank him, even if it's in such a small way as closing his eyes.

I reached out to close Aleyn's greenish-blue eyes, then hesitated squeamishly.

Well, that's sort of disgusting… will it squish?

Before I could decide whether to brave touching a dead corpse's eyeballs or not, a grunt and a cry exploded through the chaos to attack my ears, and Nick flew by me, airborne. He landed on the bannister, toppled over, and grabbed on to the outer side of the safety rail with one hand. All I could see were Nick's knobby fingers, nails bitten to the quick, as he dangled over a deathly drop.

Two down on our side. I did a quick head count of my enemies. Eight dead, ten having run away, and seven remaining. Five of them dueled Mr. Potter in flashes of light and loud bangs as curses were cast and deflected. Then, there was Finley. Backed by Eve-Charlotte, he approached me slowly, fury and delight mixing on his handsome face.

I tried to get up and run, but I tripped over the dead body of Liv Reid. Her blonde bangs were mussed and covered in blood. I slammed backwards into the ground and retched from the grotesqueness and the force, scrambling back away from my attacker.

"Go to hell, Finley," Finley mocked as he advanced eerily. "You're a creep, Finley. Get away from me, Finley. Well, I hate to break it to you, darling."

My back hit something hard and uneven. I half-turned. I was backed all the way up against the safety rail, right next to where Nick was five fingers away from falling to his death. He glanced up, I looked down; we saw utter terror in each other's' eyes in that moment.

"But you're mine," Finley snarled, drawing my attention back to him. Eve-Charlotte laughed daintily and tossed her vermilion hair, like we were simply preparing to drink afternoon tea. "You've been mine since I first laid eyes on you, and you'll be mine until the day I die!" He kicked aside Aleyn's body, crossed to me in three quick strides, and roughly yanked me to my feet by the collar of my robes. "You'd better accept that, or it'll only make things worse for you."

Then he punched me in the mouth.

My head snapped to the side, and I tasted blood. That made me think of Aleyn, which only fueled my anger more.

It's time to end this.

I smiled up at Finley, sure my teeth were covered in blood the same as Aleyn's had been.

He quirked an eyebrow, his face relaxing somewhat, and a hopeful smile crept across his face. It was actually a rather nice smile, but that didn't change my mind about what I was about to do.

I spat blood into his eyes.

The smile vanished and, cursing, he dropped me. Eve-Charlotte pulled her wand- to murder me, I'm sure- but she was caught off guard by a scarlet Disintegration Curse from Nick that slammed into her matching hair with a violent scream. As Eve-Charlotte screeched and clawed at her creamy skin with fingers that were crumbling to grey dust the more they moved, I stepped forward, towards Finley rather than away. With a steady hand, I drew my knife from my sleeve and stabbed Finley right in his beautiful and terrible blue left eye.

Harry Potter turned, having made the last of his enemies flee for their lives for the Great Hall, just in time to see Eve-Charlotte Carew's legs turn to ash and Finley Denton scream in pain. My would-be lover doubled over, clutching his eye as blood poured out of it around the silver blade of the knife he had used to kill Aleyn. The knife he would've used to kill me, had he had the chance.

Had it been up to me, I would have tortured Finley further for all the pain and deaths he had caused.

But behind me, Nick croaked, "Aly, just kill him."

I glanced back from the pained Finley to the near-death Gryffindor boy behind me. One finger slipped off of the rail. Then another.

"Mr. Potter!" I yelled to the ex-Auror, who was sheathing his famous holly wand. "Help him!"

Then, relishing the sweet justice that flowed through my veins like freedom, I stabbed Finley in the heart.

He convulsed for a moment, but I forced the knife in deeper, buried it into his barrel chest all the way up to his hilt, and turned it to the side to hasten the passing. Just as Harry Potter pulled a trembling Nick up over the railing, Finley's eyes rolled up into his head and finally, finally, I didn't have to worry about him any more.

"I guess I'm not yours anymore," I snapped at his corpse, a light grin spreading across my face. I didn't taste blood at that moment. I tasted liberty.

Nick sidled up to me, barely sparing a glance for the pile of dust that he had turned the once-beautiful Eve-Charlotte into. He took my clenched hand, the one that was still tightly clutching the knife embedded in Finley's heart, and gently loosed my tight fingers. He squeezed my hand in his for a moment- I thought Typical Justice and rolled my eyes- before slipping something cold and hard into my palm. It was Damien's tiny glass bottle of Felix Felicis. The tyrant had only taken about an eighth of the liquid, and it looked like Nick and Harry had taken some sips too. About half was left- the bottle was only about an ounce large, so I guessed there was about a tablespoon left. The potion shimmered like melted gold as I examined it, tilting the vial in the dying rays of sun from the high, arched windows.

"That stuff really is wonderful," Nick said, longingly gazing at the potion.

I smiled at him, finding myself more patient with the Gryffindor boy than normal.

"I took some in my sixth year," Harry Potter agreed, joining us. His robes were black like ours, but bore no Hogwarts or House crest- instead, the silver circle logo of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement shined brightly over his chest. Plus, the robes were far longer and had a completely different style of collar than our school robes, and he wore a buttoned-up brown trench coat and grey slacks beneath them. An Auror uniform for the Department Head. "It got my friends and I through a Death Eater attack on Hogwarts. Very useful stuff." He offered his hand to Nick and me. "I'm Harry Potter, by the way." As if we didn't recognize that lightning scar. "Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Nick took the offered hand and shook it eagerly. "I can't believe I'm meeting you, sir- the Boy who Lived- I've heard all about you- your portrait's in Gryffindor Tower and everything- I heard we get to study the Second Wizarding War more thoroughly in our sixth year of History of Magic- I'm Gryffindor Seeker too, sir, and-"

"Nick," I hissed. "We're in the middle of a war here!"

Harry smiled fondly, as if remembering a similar memory. Nick turned beet red, stopped rambling, and extracted his hand from the pounding handshake. "Right."

The ex-Auror turned to me. "And you must be Alyssa Salinger, since those people wanted to hurt you so much."

I cast a despairing glance at Finley, then immediately wished I hadn't, as Aleyn's lifeless body lay just behind his. Remorse flooded through me, and gratitude too. "Yes, sir. Thank you so much for coming to our aid."

"I think we should be thanking you, and your friends too, Miss Salinger," Mr. Potter said professionally, nodding. "If I understood the letter your owl brought correctly, it was you and seven other girls who came up with this counter-curse. I'm sorry about your owl, by the way."

Thinking of Peltie brought a fresh wave of sadness to my mind. I pushed it away and shook my head. "It was really coincidence, and dumb luck too. Without getting chosen as Damien's protégé, I wouldn't have had the opportunities I did to spy on Damien, distract him, or help the rebels."

A crash sounded from nearby, and then voices. Nick, Mr. Potter, and I all froze just as the doors to the library slammed open below us. In rushed Niamh, Melissa, Mari, Lorie, Nate, and Reuben, closely followed by a third-year girl with a head of blonde corkscrew curls. It was the star Slytherin seeker from the year before, a girl named Anise Cheverell. Come to think of Anise, I hadn't seen much of her all year, and was pleasantly surprised to find her alive and on our side.

"They're not in here," Reuben commented. His flat, elongated American accent was a welcome and familiar music to my ears. "But the tracking spell led right here!"

"Nice job, I-can-track-Aly-I-swear," mocked Anise, tossing her golden curls.

"Nate!" Nick yelled, and before I knew it he was sliding down the bannister of the stairs onto the first floor with a huge grin on his face and throwing his arms around his mate. "I thought you were dead, mate!"

Nate laughed a deep laugh and hugged him back. "Don't worry, Nicky, I'm still very much alive." His face darkened. "Art, Katy, Maile, Kevin, and Sami are down, though. And didn't Aleyn and Aly leave with you?"

"I'm up here," I called down, hurrying to descend the steps. Harry Potter followed me, wand out as I stuck the Felix Felicis in my pocket. "Aleyn is dead, and so is Sunny."

Mari's face fell. She was Hufflepuff, just as Sunny and Aleyn had been. "Ivan and Ms. Prince will be devastated," she murmured.

I reached the floor and patted her shoulder. "Ivan died protecting his sister. He may have followed Damien, but he had a good heart in the end."

"And Aleyn?" challenged Niamh, also a Hufflepuff, as she stepped forward. It was only then that I spotted the tiny figure of red and white in her fluffy dark hair- Tamsin, still shrunken from Aleyn's potion. I hid a giggle- a real giggle! "How did he die?"

I dropped my gaze to the floor, littered with books and desks and (now) human bodies. "He… well, he…"

Nick interjected, arm still slung casually over Nate's shoulders. Nate was easily the tallest in the room, taller than Mr. Potter even, and although Nick was tall his mate was still quite a bit taller. This made it a chore for my cocky friend, who seemed to be regaining his arrogance now that he was out of any imminent danger. "Finley threw a knife into his throat. But don't worry- Aly stabbed Finley with that same knife to avenge him."

I met Nick's turquoise gaze across the room, just a shade lighter than Aleyn's dead eyes, and he winked. Aleyn had died protecting me and Nick knew it; but Nick had helped save me from Will's bullying and shunning last year, and he would stop that from possibly happening again now.

And of course Nick will think I stabbed Finley because of Aleyn. He doesn't know about that night last Christmas… right? Did I let slip about it while I was taunting Finley? I can't remember. Everything seems hazy. If I did, is he protecting me from letting that get out, too? Or am I just imagining things?

As Niamh wiped a tear from her eye, I decided that I must have just been misremembering things.

I then turned to itty-bitty Tamsin. "Hey, I've been wondering something. How did Damien find you?"

Tamsin started to say something in her squeaky voice, but Nick interrupted once again. "It was Tadghi," he spat, a sour look on his face. "That backstabbing little elf went behind our backs and told Damien where we were hiding, then went so far as to leave the door open for him today when he came to clean the Room of Requirement."

This shocked me. "But didn't Tadghi hate Damien because his brother was killed?"

"He blamed Nick for the death of his brother," Lorie explained softly. "He thought Nick had told Damien to kill him."

"As if Damien would ever listen to you, mate," Nate chuckled, elbowing his friend in the side.

Nick still looked like he was sucking on a lemon. "He told Damien Bekka had helped us, and he stabbed her with a knife. I don't know if she's dead or not."

Mari's face grew grave. "That's one of the reasons we're here, actually. Nathan and Rossalene are outside the library tending to her. She's dying."

Nick let out a cry of pain and grabbed Nate's arm, hurt and panic and loss flooding his eyes.

"It was one of her requests to see both you and Aly before she died," Lorie mumbled.

Nick tore for the doors.

Bekka, outside, was wrapped in a fluffy Hufflepuff scarf, although at first I thought it was Gryffindor because it was stained with so much blood. Ross hovered around her, casting charms to slow the bleeding and keep the motherly house-elf comfortable, while Nathan cradled her in his arms. Nick went straight to his best mate and scooped Bekka into his embrace, tears streaming down his face. I felt my own tears prick at the backs of my eyes, hot and stinging.

"Oh, Bekka, no," Nick wept into the scarf. "You can't leave us. You can't leave me."

Bekka reached up, and with tiny, crooked fingers she stroked his wet cheek. The scarf fell aside, revealing a gaping and bloody wound that bared intestines and organs to the cold air. I winced, and Niamh threw up behind me in a crevice.

"Kufi," Bekka whispered. Her bossy voice was hoarse and crackly and hurt my ears to hear. "Kufi will feed Nicholas for Bekka, until he leaves. And someday there will be a girl to feed Nicholas all of his good food and his chocolate gateau."

"Bekka," Nick sobbed. "Please."

"It is Bekka's time," the house-elf scolded him softly. "Bekka's time to go. She will see Nicholas again someday, in another life. Promise Bekka that Nicholas will find a girl to feed him, so that he does not starve."

"I promise," Nick cried, linking his big fingers with Bekka's tiny ones. Dark skin on pale skin. Knobby fingers big and small entwined together in a mother-son embrace. "I promise, Bekka."

Then Bekka's big brown eyes turned to me, and I felt like a spotlight had been shone at my face. Her eyes were wet with tears, just like everyone else's present. "Alyssa saved them," she whispered. "Alyssa broke the spell and freed them. Alyssa did not fail."

A fat teardrop rolled down my cheek. "Yes, Bekka. You were right. I didn't fail."

Then Bekka was back to focusing on the boy she had chosen as an adopted human son, from the day he first came to visit her. I could see in her eyes dozens of memories of chocolate gateaus and pots of tea and jokes and Nick's own turquoise eyes as her gaze dulled.

"Nicholas," she murmured. "Nicholas."

Then she finally went limp in his arms.

"No!" Nick screamed, finally breaking. He shook the tiny house-elf's body in his arms, willing her to wake up. "Bekka! Bekka, please!"

Nathan hugged him then, calming him down, pleading with him to stop screaming, until finally the two boys huddled together in one big weeping heap over the body of the motherly house-elf that had loved them.

From behind me, Mr. Potter cleared his throat. I turned, and his green eyes were wet with tears. I saw similarity in those eyes to my own, both in color and in sadness and in dangers lived through. "She will be given a proper funeral, having died in this war," he murmured. "Has Professor Kayash been arrested yet?"

"That's the other reason why we're here," Lorie voiced quietly. She cast a nervous glance at me. "He's taken five people hostage and is threatening to kill them unless he can speak to you, Aly." He swears that then he'll go quietly and release the prisoners."

I stared into Lorie's quiet, intelligent blue eyes, half-hidden behind a curtain of white-blonde hair and filled with tears just like mine. And then I knew what she had meant, what she had understood, what she had seen, even if no one else had.

Damien would see me.

He would kill me.

And then, only then, would he "go quietly".

I understand that it was rushed. I meant to give Bekka a better death, I swear. I'm so sorry.

~atrfla