"And the thing is I'm not scared anymore. You know what I mean?"

-Rapunzel (Tangled)

Harry's announcement was met with a loud cheer and everyone seemed to move for the door at once. Scarlett stood up and craned her neck to see if she could find Fred, George, Erica, or Ginny in the moving crowd. Eventually, she found all four of them on the other side of the room. They were standing with Bill, Fleur, Lupin, Harry, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"You're underage!" Mrs. Weasley was telling Ginny. "I won't permit it! The boys, yes, but you've got to go home!"

"I won't! I'm in Dumbledore's Army!"

"A teenagers' gang!"

"A teenagers' gang that's about to take him on, which no one else has dared to do!" Fred exclaimed.

"She's sixteen!" Mrs. Weasley responded angrily. "She's not old enough! I don't know what you two were thinking, bringing her with you."

Fred and George looked at the ground and blushed, looking ashamed of themselves.

"Mum's right, Ginny," Bill said. "Everyone underage has to go home. It's only right."

"I can't go home!" Ginny exclaimed. She was so angry that tears were coming to her eyes. "My whole family's here. I can't stand waiting at home and not knowing what's happening."

"Maybe she could stay," Scarlett chimed in hesitantly. "I mean, she only has a few months left until she's seventeen anyway. What difference does it make?"

"Plenty!" Mrs. Weasley said.

"I'd have thought you'd be all for having Ginny go home, Scar," George said, crossing his arms. "Since you're so scared to lose people, isn't that right?"

Fred nudged his twin and shook his head slightly as Scarlett looked away, her cheeks turning red. It hadn't been that long ago when George had been nothing but reassuring. He had been nice to her and told her things would be okay. Now he completely hated her and maybe it was rightfully so. They were down to the last few hours of the vow's time limit and it was pretty clear that things wouldn't be okay.

"Anyway, the fact of the matter is that Ginny isn't staying," Mrs. Weasley said firmly.

Ginny let out a cry of frustration and met Harry's eyes. He gave his head a small shake and looked at her apologetically. Ginny turned away as she wiped away her tears of anger.

"Fine!" she said. "I'll just say goodbye now, and—"

She was interrupted by a scuffling sound as someone clambered through the Hog's Head tunnel, lost their balance and fell over. They got to their feet and looked around. "Am I too late? Has it started? I only just found out about this not too long ago and I—I—"

Percy spluttered into silence as he stared around in surprise. He clearly hadn't expected to run into nearly all of his family members. There was a long, awkward moment of silence before Fleur turned to Lupin and asked him how Teddy was.

"He's fine. Tonks is with him at her mother's house now," Lupin answered. Another few seconds of silence went by before he reached into his pocket. "I have a picture!" He pulled it out and showed Fleur, Scarlett, Erica and Harry.

Scarlett smiled when she saw the tiny baby with turquoise hair waving up at her from the photo. "He's adorable," she said.

"I was a fool!" Percy suddenly cried, causing Scarlett to jump and Lupin to almost drop the photo. "I was an idiot! I was a pompous prat! I was a—a—"

"A Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power hungry moron, Perce, we've discussed this," Fred finished.

"What do you mean you've discussed this?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking at Fred in confusion.

"Percy's the one who married me and Scarlett," Fred said. "He's also the one who saved her and got her away from Umbridge."

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley blinked in surprise. They both seemed to be at a momentary loss for words, which gave Percy the opportunity to speak again.

"I've wanted to come back for a while, but it was hard. They're imprisoning traitors all the time. I managed to get in contact with Aberforth and he told me only about an hour ago that we were going to fight, so here I am!"

Fred grinned. "Glad you could make it."

Mrs. Weasley suddenly burst into tears and pulled Percy into a hug. Even Mr. Weasley joined in after a moment.

"We do look to our prefects in times like this, Perce," George said, imitating Percy almost perfectly. "Now, come on, let's get out there before all the good Death Eaters are taken!"

The twins began leading the way to the door at the other side of the room, neither one looking back at Scarlett. She bit her lip and tried to push away the hurt as she remembered that they were still quite upset with her.

They all reached the great hall at the same time. A lot of people were already gathered in there, including the Order and most of the teachers. Erica and Scarlett took a seat at the Hufflepuff table while the others joined the Gryffindors. Professor McGonagall began to explain what was going to happen and the room fell silent. She explained that anyone seventeen or older could stay and fight, but anyone younger had to be evacuated. There was no time for them to go back and collect their things. They were barricading the school as quickly and effectively as they could in order to keep Voldemort out as long as possible, but nothing could keep him out forever.

"So," McGonagall continued, "I must ask you all to move quickly and do as your prefects—"

She was cut off by a loud, chilling voice that seemed to come out of thin air.

"I know you are preparing to fight," it said. A few screams echoed throughout the hall and Scarlett cringed. The voice—it had to belong to Voldemort—was like torture in itself. "Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood. Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you shall be rewarded. You have until midnight."

The room was suddenly filled with a silence eerier than Voldemort's voice and that was saying something. Everyone in the room turned to look in the same direction: towards Harry, who was standing by the Gryffindor table, looking unsure of what to do.

Just then, Pansy Parkinson stood up from the Slytherin table and broke the silence. "He's right there! Someone grab him!"

Everyone in the room began to move at once, but not to follow Pansy's orders. Instead, the Gryffindors stood and pointed their wands at her and the other Slytherins. The Ravenclaws did the same a moment later and then the Hufflepuffs. Scarlett almost had to laugh at the confused and outraged look on Pansy's face.

"Thank you, Miss Parkinson," Professor McGonagall said. "You and the rest of your house will leave the house with Mr. Filch. The Ravenclaws will go next, then the Hufflepuffs."

Students began to quickly and quietly file out of the room. Scarlett and Erica remained in their seats. Scarlett could see Ernie and Hannah sitting a little further down the table, as well as a good amount of other Hufflepuffs. A lot of Ravenclaws were also staying to fight and even more Gryffindors had stayed behind.

"Okay," Kingsley announced to the remaining students. "We only have half an hour until midnight so we need to act fast. We've agreed that Professors Flitwick, Sprout and McGonagall will be taking students to the three highest towers of the school—Astronomy, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor—which will be great places to fire spells from. Remus, Arthur and I will take groups onto the grounds. We'll also need people to position themselves at the entrances to passageways into the school."

"Sounds like a job for us," Fred said, gesturing to himself and George.

"Alright, let's get moving, then and divide up into groups."

"Come on," Erica said, dragging Scarlett towards the front of the room. "I think we should go up to the Astronomy tower. Like Kingsley said, we'll be in a great position to fire spells and we'll be able to see the Death Eaters when they get closer to the school."

From that moment forward, things seemed to start to move at high speed again. Things were crazy and hectic and people were running every which way, evacuating or preparing to fight against Voldemort. Scarlett made it to the Astronomy tower and she could barely remember how she made it up there. After that, timed slowed down again as they waited for the attack. Scarlett looked at her watch. Five minutes to midnight and exactly three hours and twelve minutes before the vow's time limit ended.

She was suddenly jolted out of her thoughts by lights flashing from below and a lot of movement at once.

"They're here," Erica whispered from beside her.

Scarlett's stomach clenched and she gripped her wand tighter. The Death Eaters were still too far away from the castle for any spells sent from the castle to hit them, so nothing could be done yet, but it would only be a matter of minutes.

Time sped up again as the battle officially began. All too soon, the Death Eaters were inside the castle and Scarlett was running down from the Astronomy tower to fight them face to face. The sounds of explosions boomed all around her and dust fell from the ceiling as the castle shook. It was hard to breathe and hard to see and Scarlett found herself separated from Erica within minutes. By the time she reached the entrance hall, she had no idea where anyone was. She only hoped they were all still okay.

She was also slightly overwhelmed by how many people were there. The entrance hall was crowded and dust and debris were flying everywhere. The flashes of spells constantly illuminated everything, flying in every direction and Scarlett didn't know how she was managing to dodge stray spells as she concentrated on fighting a Death Eater whose name she didn't know or care about.

Eventually, she managed to Stun the Death Eater, but she didn't even get to let out a sigh of relief before she had to work on taking down another one. They seemed to pop out of the woodwork and materialize from nowhere. She wondered just how many there were, because there seemed to be a whole lot.

Someone suddenly grabbed her from behind, pressing his wand into her collarbone. "We meet again," he laughed into her ear as she struggled to get away.

"Greyback," she muttered, as fear tore through her. He definitely wasn't the person she wanted to be trapped against.

"Bingo," he said, his voice strained as he struggled to keep her still. He growled and pressed his wand harder into her collarbone. Scarlett felt it heat up in his anger and she let out a hiss of pain as she felt it burn her skin.

"Let me go," she gasped.

Greyback just laughed. "I don't think so."

Just as the words left his mouth, however, his arms fell away and he released her. Scarlett turned to see him on the ground, obviously having been hit with a Stunning spell. She looked up and saw George standing a few feet away, his wand in the air.

"You okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you…for saving me."

George didn't say anything. Instead, he just nodded before darting away.

A few minutes later, Scarlett found herself outside, which wasn't much better than being inside. It was crowded and rubble was everywhere. Scarlett actually tripped and fell once, scraping her knee in the process. She could also feel her lip bleeding, but she wasn't sure how that had happened.

She also had to worry about dodging not only spells, but all kinds of magical creatures, including giants. A centaur's arrow narrowly missed her and in the next second, she was narrowly avoiding a giant's foot. There was no time to breathe or think, so when, in an effort to get out of the way of a group of centaurs, Scarlett ended up flattened against the castle wall, concealed in shadow, she was glad. She leaned against the wall, gasping for breath and looking around.

She was just about to head back out into the battle when two figures appeared in front of her out of nowhere, engaged in a duel. It froze Scarlett where she was for a second and she was even more surprised when she saw one of the figures was Colin Creevey. He was supposed to have been evacuated, but he must have stayed.

He was a decent dueler, but he was getting tired and losing stamina. Scarlett stepped out of the shadows to go to his aid, but just as she did, the Death Eater, knowing Colin was weakening, chose to send a well-aimed killing curse his way. Colin tried to dodge it, but was a split second too slow. He sailed into the air and landed a few feet away.

Scarlett gasped and clapped a hand to her mouth. Colin was the first person she had actually seen die tonight. Obviously others had and she was aware of it, but things had been too hectic and crazy for her to actually notice it happening or notice any bodies. But now that she had witnessed Colin's death, she was beginning to feel sick again and her head was spinning. Now, all she kept noticing were the bodies littering the ground. She wasn't exactly close to Colin; in fact, she barely knew him at all. But he shouldn't have even been here. He was underage. He had a family that loved him and now he was gone. She also had to wonder about the Weasleys and Erica. What if they had been killed just as Colin had? Tossed into the air, limp as ragdolls before they even hit the ground.

She looked up just then to see the Death Eater turning his wand on her now and Scarlett's mind seemed to find a window of clarity just long enough for her to quickly Stun him. Then, she took the opportunity to run. She made her way into the castle before heading to the left and concealing herself behind the tapestry Fred had shown her nearly three years ago. It was the only place she could think of right now where she could get a moment to herself. A moment to catch her breath and calm down.

She leaned against the wall of the passageway behind the tapestry and closed her eyes. Images of Colin's face, frozen, wide-eyed and empty before he even hit the ground, were flittering through her mind and she couldn't get rid of them. He had been brave, she thought. He was expected to evacuate. He was ordered to evacuate. But he had snuck back. It would have been so much easier for him to leave and get away from all of this, but he hadn't. All of these people were putting their lives in danger and facing their fears, and here Scarlett was, hiding from her biggest fear of all. Hiding from something so simple compared to what was happening tonight. She had been hiding for weeks. She thought of Colin again. He must have been scared. There was no way he hadn't been. But he had come back anyway. Because that's what being brave was. It was taking a chance. It was doing things that scared you and living in spite of them. It was coming back to fight for what was right, even though it was dangerous. It was facing Potion's class every day for seven years, even though you were so scared of the teacher that he was your boggart. It was losing someone you loved and allowing yourself to heal. It was loving someone even though you might get hurt, even though you might lose them.

Scarlett didn't want to lose Fred, that was for sure. And like Mrs. Weasley had said, she could lose him tonight, she could lose him tomorrow, or she could lose him in seventy years. It was inevitable, even though nobody knew when it was going to happen. But she could somewhat control it if she took this chance. If she believed in herself and took this leap into the unknown, she could make sure that Fred would not die because of her. She also knew, somewhere inside of her, that if she did jump, Fred would always do his best to catch her.

Ginny had talked about one moment that could change everything, and clearly, watching Colin die had been it. While it was terrible and tragic, it had gotten Scarlett to understand, it had gotten her to be brave, and it may have been what could save her life.

She glanced at her watch. It was ten minutes to three o'clock. She had seventeen minutes to find Fred. Taking a deep breath, she ran out from under the tapestry and dashed through the school, firing spells left and right as she ran. She didn't know where she was running to, because she had no idea where Fred was, but she had to attempt to find him and hope she got lucky.

Luck came for her a few minutes later when she rounded a corner on the seventh floor and saw Fred and Percy halfway down, dueling a Death Eater and the current Minister of Magic. She looked at her watch. It was five minutes to three. She had twelve minutes. If she hurried, that would be plenty of time.

"Fred!" she called, taking off down the hallway. He didn't hear her; he was too busy dueling the Death Eater in front of him while Percy dueled the Minister.

"Fred!" Scarlett yelled again. She finally reached his side and began helping him duel the Death Eater. She switched her wand to her left hand and tried to send out spells as best as she could. "Give me your right hand," she said, holding hers out. If they were going to have to do it this way, in the middle of a duel, then so be it.

"Why?" Fred asked. "I'm a little busy right now."

"Why do you think?" Scarlett asked impatiently as she successfully hit the Death Eater with a stunning spell.

Fred finally seemed to get it and he blinked at her. "Really? You're serious?"

"Yes, now come on, we have nine minutes."

Fred was just reaching out for Scarlett's hand when Percy, oblivious to them and still dueling the Minister, said something that distracted him.

"Oh, and Minister, did I mention I'm resigning?"

Fred turned his head, grinning from ear to ear. "You're joking, Perce! You actually are joking! I don't think I've heard you joke since you were—"

At that moment, a million things seemed to happen at once. Scarlett, in frustration, started pulling Fred towards the other side of the hallway in an attempt to get them out of the action for just another few seconds in order to make the vow, but they hadn't gone more than three steps before the wall they were moving away from exploded.

Scarlett felt herself being flung to the ground with the force of the explosion. Rocks, dust and debris were falling around her and she did her best to cover her head and shield herself from them until it was safe to move. Something grazed her cheek and she felt warm, sticky blood on her face, but she didn't care. She just needed to get to Fred.

"Fred," she croaked, half choking on a mouthful of dust as she raised her head and began crawling around, looking for him. "Fred, where are you?"

A second later, she saw him, lying motionless on the other side of the hallway, next to the wall that was still intact. Even from her position, she could see the side of his head was bleeding.

"No, Fred, no," she whispered, crawling as quickly as she could over to him. She was starting to feel weaker and weaker, but she forced herself to crawl over to him. "Fred," she whispered, taking his head into her lap and pushing his hair out of his eyes that were half closed.

He slowly blinked up at her. "Scar," he said, his voice almost inaudible.

"No, no, don't die, Fred, hang on," she said, tears falling from her eyes as she gently touched the cut on the side of his head. It wasn't deep, but it was bleeding heavily. It still shouldn't have been fatal, though, so why did Fred look like he was fading away? Had he been hit somewhere else? "We're going to make this vow," she said. "We're both going to be okay. Give me your hand."

"Scar," he whispered, swallowing thickly. He was struggling to breathe and struggling to talk. "I'm dying anyway," he finally said. "I can feel it. I'm dying and you're going to fall apart."

"No, Fred, you're not dying. Of course you're not dying," Scarlett sniffled, forcing a smile as she looked down at him. "Now give me your hand."

"No," Fred said, giving his head a small shake. "You were right. I can't let you go back to how you were when your mother and Justin died. Not without me there to help you. I don't want to be the reason you're like that, either."

"You've lost it," Scarlett whispered, hiccupping slightly as she cried. "You've completely lost your mind. You're having a momentary lapse of judgment or something because I wasn't right about anything! I was being stupid and you knew I was being stupid." She gently stroked his cheek with a shaking hand and forced him to look at her. "Listen to me. I'm not going to let my fear control me anymore. I'm going to take a chance because you did. You do it every day, with everything. You're never afraid to try, even if something scares you. If you and everyone else here tonight can face their fears, why can't I? You've been so good to me, these past few months especially. You made me want to take a chance, Fred. You made me braver. You made me fall in love with you."

"Scarlett…I'm not…I'm not going to make it."

"Yes, you are!" she cried. The room was spinning She felt like she was going to pass out, but she pushed the feeling away. "You're going to be okay!"

"Scar?" Fred lifted a shaking hand, which was also a struggle for him, and placed it on her cheek. Her vision was blurring, but she didn't know if it was from tears or not. None of it scared her, though. She couldn't care less. She only cared about Fred.

"What?" she sniffled.

"I'm sorry for what I said to you when we fought. You were right. I was being a jerk."

"No, you weren't! You were the one who was right about me," Scarlett said, tears falling even more rapidly down her cheeks. She picked up Fred's hand in hers and held it tightly. "Come on, this is going to work. We're going to make the vow…where are those dumb glowing things?"

"Scar, look at me," Fred breathed.

"What?" she asked, her voice cracking.

"I love you." Fred's voice was so quiet that it was almost inaudible. Suddenly, his hand slipped from her face and his eyes slid completely closed.

"No!" Scarlett cried, squeezing her eyes shut and holding Fred's hand tighter as she leaned forward and buried her head in his chest. "Don't die," she sobbed. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me. I need you, Fred. I'm not afraid anymore, and I'm so in love with you."

In that moment, the second hand on Scarlett's watch reached the twelve and the long hand ticked forward to the line representing the seven, but Scarlett wasn't even thinking about the time any longer. In fact, she wasn't thinking of much at all. Her brain was getting foggier and she was fighting to even stay conscious. In the next few seconds, she wasn't able to control it anymore and she found herself slipping into unconsciousness. But if she had managed to keep her eyes open for a second longer, she would have seen three glowing bands winding themselves around her and Fred's hands, shining brightly for a few seconds before fading away completely.

A/N: Please don't hate me for this chapter! I know it's a cliffhanger and it's not exactly clear what happened, but you'll find out next chapter, I promise! That's all I'm saying and you're just going to have to keep reading to find out what's going on.

Also, to the guest reviewer who wanted me to let them know if I was getting their reviews, yes I am and I'm really glad you like the story :)