Author's Notes: Direct quotes from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are in italics with a * and are cited at the end of the chapter.

Warnings for original character deaths.

~EA

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The Lull


Adrian noticed Courtney didn't take her eyes off of Kenneth as they slowly made their way back into the castle. Her face betrayed no expression, and Adrian couldn't help but wonder what Courtney had lied to Alicia about. Whatever it was, Alicia didn't seem upset, and the lie clearly didn't affect how Alicia thought about Courtney. His girlfriend was on Kenneth's other side, carefully floating the stretcher while Courtney kept her eyes locked on the diagnostic spell, occasionally asking Courtney if Kenneth's diagnostics were still stable.

And that was when Adrian tripped over a woman, who yelped.

They all froze and turned, even as he apologized profusely and jumped back to his feet to help her.

To his horror, Bridget was gazing up at him.

"Adrian!" she gasped, throwing her hand out so he could pull her up.

"Bridge! Fucking hell, are you okay?" His voice was rushed and panicked.

She stumbled into him and he held her steady, realizing quite abruptly that she couldn't put weight on her left foot.

With a grimace, she said, "Eh, I broke my ankle running after a Death Eater over an hour ago. Stepped in a hole. So I pretended to be dead to avoid getting killed. Thought those giants were going to do me in for a bit, though."

"Merlin, Bridge," Adrian groaned, slipping his arm around her. "You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack! Alicia can heal you, we just need to get you inside. Get on my back, yeah?"

"I'm too tall for you to carry, Adrian," Bridget winced.

"It doesn't matter, I still need to get you inside! Atticus would hex me to oblivion if I left you out here —!"

"I can get her, Adrian," a man's voice said.

They turned; Conall and Bess Galbraith were walking up to them. Both were streaked with sweat and grim and a couple of minor cuts, but otherwise unharmed.

"Come on, MacMillan." Conall knelt and she clamored onto his back, where he hoisted her up. Then he joked, "Just don't tell that Slytherin fiancé of yours, yeah?"

Bridget managed a weak laugh. "Doubt he would mind, since you're happily married. I'm a little worried he's not here yet, if I'm honest."

As they started again for the castle steps, Adrian saw his mother helping another young man inside.

"Mum!" he yelled.

Alania turned abruptly, her face stark white at his voice, and Adrian suddenly realized she was supporting Gilbert Royle, who appeared to have a fractured wrist.

"Adrian! Bridget!" she cried, abandoned Gilbert and running back to them. For the first time that night, Alania looked panicked. "What happened?! Bridget, love, are you okay?"

"I'm fine! I just broke my ankle," Bridget insisted, as Conall readjusted her.

"Dieu merci," Alania muttered, hugging Adrian. "You're both alive…! Dieu, I don't know what I would have done if…" She straightened up and steeled herself. "Let's get you inside, mon petit blaireau."

"Gilbert," Alicia asked, "are you okay?"

Adrian looked back at Gilbert and realized the Hufflepuff seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"Ah. Well. He's had a bit of a shock," Alania said, releasing Adrian and looping her arm back into Gilbert's. "His grandfather…" She trailed off.

"You may as well say it," Gilbert muttered, his voice oddly cold despite his red-rimmed eyes. "The bastard tried to kill me. On purpose. He knew exactly who I was and said he wanted to kill me because I had been caught dating a muggle-born, and he wouldn't let his line continue with me."

Alicia gasped, Chrysanthe and Adrian both swore furiously, and Bess growled even as sparks shot out of her wand at the grass.

Gilbert looked miserable. "Your mother killed him, Pucey. Thank Helga. I couldn't have defeated him, myself. She's amazing, though."

"It was nothing, dear. I'm glad I was there and could help," Alania said, hugging Gilbert with one arm.

Suddenly, Gilbert's eyes widened as he remembered — his best mate had been seriously injured. "Kenneth! How is he?" he blurted, the coldness disappearing as he hurried forward to look down at Kenneth's body, then immediately back at Alicia in panic. "Oh, fuck, please tell me he's alive!"

"Barely," Courtney griped. "I need to get him inside. Get the fuck out of my way, Royle."

"Er, where did she come from?" Gilbert asked in confusion, looking at Adrian.

"She's with us," Adrian said firmly. Courtney had saved Kenneth, and the least they could do was offer her their protection. Kenneth would have very likely died without her help.

"But she's a Slytherin —" Gilbert started.

Alicia cut him off angrily. "So are Adrian and his family! The world isn't divided into good people and Slytherins, Gil!"

"I know that," he said apologetically, while glancing back at Courtney. "I didn't mean it that way…"

"She saved Kenneth," Alicia went on, and Adrian could hear the sheer stubbornness in her voice. "He would have died without Courtney. I couldn't have saved him by myself."

"Thank you, then," Gilbert said sincerely, meeting Courtney's eyes.

Courtney just rolled hers and kept monitoring Kenneth as they made their way into the castle.

Other defenders were straggling into the Great Hall, too. Adrian stepped over the emeralds that were strewn across the cracked floor of the Entrance Hall as he looked about, noting who was injured. A space had been cleared in the center of the Great Hall for the dead, though only a couple of bodies had been brought in so far. He knew there would be far more to come, and he dreaded it.

Professor Sprout met them at the doors to the Great Hall and sucked in a quick breath as she looked down at Kenneth's body. "Oh, Helga, not Kenneth —!"

"He's alive," Courtney said curtly. "Just barely."

Sprout clutched her chest. "Thank goodness! Up to where the head table used to be, Miss Vanhausen," she said, not remotely questioning why Courtney was there.

Conall carried Bridget to the platform, too — but as soon as he put her down, he murmured to Bess that they needed to go back onto the grounds and start bringing in the dead and injured. Bess nodded, her expression resolute, and she followed him out. Adrian and Alania sat with Bridget, and as soon as Alicia had lowered Kenneth to the floor, she left Courtney to monitor him and came over to heal Bridget's ankle.

"You'll probably need a teaspoon of Skele-Gro after all this is over," Alicia said, meeting Bridget's eyes. "Just to strengthen the bone."

Bridget nodded and flexed her foot. "Thanks, little sis."

Alicia blushed at that. "I'm not —"

"You will be soon enough," Bridget said softly. "If we make it out of this alive."

Adrian was just about to tell Bridget to knock it off when someone frantically called Alicia's name.

The four of them turned; Angelina and Katie were running up to them. Adrian couldn't help but notice that all three girls still had the broomsticks they'd brought into the battle; Alicia had even remembered to grab his old Nimbus when they started to bring Towler back inside.

Then he realized Angelina's face was stricken and her cheeks were wet. It was strange; he'd never seen Angelina Johnson cry before. He'd always imagined her as the type who didn't cry if she could avoid it.

Alicia rose to her feet steadily and asked in a would-be calm voice, "Who?"

Katie swallowed and blinked; a few tears dropped as her lower lip trembled. "F-Fred."

Alicia sucked in a quick breath, and before Adrian could say anything, she had jumped off the platform. Angelina and Katie flanked her, just as if they were on the pitch, and the three of them headed for the Weasley family. It was only then that Adrian noticed George kneeling on the floor with his brother's head in his lap, and Mrs. Weasley sobbing over her fourth son's chest. He felt an awful stab of grief. He hadn't been acquainted with Fred and George long at all, but the fact that they had accepted him as a member of the Order as fast as they had… that had stuck with Adrian. And they were in his year, too. He closed his eyes and inhaled. How many more were dead that he didn't know about yet? He shuddered to think.

A gentle hand fell to his shoulder and, still squatting, he turned on the balls of his feet. Bridget was looking at him sadly.

"At least your lass made it through."

"Yeah, well, like you said… it's not over yet," Adrian reminded her grimly.

Bridget sighed. "I know. I'm so worried. Where the hell are Att and Charlie? They should have been here by now…"

"I don't know," Alania said. Anxiety laced her voice. "I'm worried, too."

"Alania, Adrian, there you are."

They looked up; Adrian's father was standing in front of them, just off the raised dias. He was completely expressionless, and fortunately, uninjured. A wave of relief washed through Adrian; both of his parents and Bridget had survived. But they didn't know where Atticus was. At least the four of them were safe for the moment, but Voldemort would attack them again within less than an hour. Would they make it through the second wave? Adrian didn't know. And what was Potter doing?

His father interrupted his thoughts. "There are plenty of wounded and dead that need to be brought into the Great Hall. If you're not hurt, come with me, Adrian. It's going to take all of us who can help to get them inside before the next round."

Adrian rose and followed his father out into the Entrance Hall. However, instead of going onto the grounds, they wandered up into the castle, through corridors and hidden staircases, searching for survivors in unlikely places.

It wasn't long before Adrian was helping a sixth-year Hufflepuff back down through the castle; the girl had a compound fracture to her left arm and been hit with a full Body Bind in a secret staircase. When Adrian discovered her and reversed the Body Bind Curse, she burst into tears. As he helped her up, she sobbed that she had been sure no one would find her and she was in so much pain. Her arm was dripping blood and the bone was exposed; he knew he couldn't heal it. Alicia, Courtney, or Madam Pomfrey would have to tackle that. He pulled her good arm around his waist and helped her hobble back downstairs.

"Don't worry," he said softly. "My girlfriend can heal you. She's studying to be a Healer."

"Who is your girlfriend?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Alicia Spinnet. She was in Gryffindor, we graduated together in '96."

"She's lucky," the girl whispered, glancing at him and blushing slightly.

Adrian smiled and tried to keep distracting her. "No, it's the other way around. I'm lucky."

"That's why she is, too."

As he came to the marble staircase however, he saw his father levitating the body of a young man.

Adrian's breath caught painfully, and suddenly, he wasn't able to distract the girl with conversation anymore.

The boy had light brown hair and was wearing a torn Gryffindor t-shirt.

Luke Towler had snuck back in, just as Adrian predicted he would.


Alicia didn't want to intrude on the Weasley family's grief. Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, and George all looked so devastated and crushed that she almost couldn't bear it. Nor did she want to examine her own grief at the loss of Fred. They had all entered this battle knowing any of them might be killed, but to see one of her own classmates and teammates dead? It was so horrific that she felt as though her insides were being ripped out, just as they'd been when her parents had been killed.

To distract herself, she began to heal others. Minor broken bones and simple cuts and scrapes were easily mended, but more advanced hexes and curses took more time. She was silently grateful for all the notes Courtney had sent her that term; they were immensely helpful.

As for Courtney, she remained on the platform, helping Madam Pomfrey with the extreme cases because Eilish MacMillan hadn't arrived, yet. According to Straun and Keiran MacMillan, Eilish had been assigned a late shift at the hospital, and Alicia guessed that Cecil Vanhausen had deliberately seen to that to prevent Eilish from helping the defenders. What Cecil hadn't counted on was his own daughter betraying him and the Death Eaters, and openly switching sides.

Alicia's stomach squirmed. What would Cecil do to Courtney when he found out? Could they offer her protection? They could barely protect themselves, right now! They were outnumbered and Voldemort was about to enter the fray, himself!

She didn't want to think about that, so she turned to heal another injured defendant — but at the same time, she happened to notice Conall Galbraith coming back into the Great Hall. His expression was grave as he gently carried the body of a young woman wearing dark jeans and a navy blouse, with long, ash-blonde hair. A few strands had come loose from its braid throughout the night as she fought. Bess was hurrying beside him, tears streaming down her face.

Alicia's heart caught in her throat.

No, she thought wildly, as another wave of grief hit her full force. No, not…!

A few feet away from her, Chrysanthe was suddenly in motion, the boy she'd been healing forgotten as she bolted for Conall and Bess. The wail that ripped from her throat was raw and devastated; it echoed in the Great Hall in an eerie way that made the hair on Alicia's neck stand up. Danny was suddenly behind his girlfriend, wrapping his arms around her to hold her steady, even as she sobbed and screamed in pain and tried to fight him off.

Conall gently laid Karen Pickford next to Fred Weasley, and gazed sadly down at her for a long moment before he turned and left the Great Hall to bring in others. Bess and Danny stayed with Chrysanthe, even as Chrysanthe threw herself over her best friend, her body convulsing as she cried.

Angelina met Alicia's eyes from where she was standing just behind George, who was still bent over his brother in grief, and Alicia realized that both she and Angelina were crying, too. Fred had been one of them since they were eleven, and Karen had been such a part of their lives over the past year, too. It was impossible not to cry.


When Kenneth came to, it felt as though someone had punched him repeatedly in the chest with an iron pipe. His entire body hurt. He groaned softly and tried to think. The last thing he remembered was dueling with a masked Death Eater, who had cast a powerful curse at him… it had sliced him from his shoulder down to his opposite hip… he had been thrown backwards as horrible, agonizing pain radiated from every point of his body, but especially across his chest. He remembered Chrysanthe and Danny trying to save him, but he knew they couldn't. He'd killed a Death Eater to save Adrian, and as soon as he cast the spell, he'd felt a second, horrible pain in his chest. But he hadn't been afraid to die. Was he dead?

No, he wouldn't hurt like hell if he was dead. That meant someone had saved him, somehow. He distantly remembered Alicia showing up… Alicia had probably saved him, he thought. She had been in the Healer program longer than Chrysanthe, so he supposed she had somehow known what to do.

Suddenly, a young woman with pale blonde hair knelt beside him, and he saw a wand move over his body before he closed his eyes again.

"How do you feel?" she asked quietly.

He felt like he had heard her voice before, somewhere. It was haughty and arrogant, but oddly soft at the same time.

"Like hell," he muttered.

"I don't doubt it."

A moment later, his repaired glasses slipped back onto his face. He opened his eyes once more, and she came into focus.

Kenneth stared. He couldn't process it; why was Courtney Vanhausen leaning over him? She wore the pistachio-colored robes that Trainee Healers wore at St. Mungo's. He knew she had sent Alicia notes the entire term, but he had stated repeatedly that he didn't trust her, and never had! She was a Slytherin! Surely she wasn't helping the defenders in the battle? Or… had they lost? But if that was the case, why was she healing him? His eyes took in her platinum hair, which was braided in a crown around her head, and her eyes. They were just as green-blue as he remembered from their school days, cutting and sharp and narrowed.

"What happened?" he whispered.

"You got hit with a powerful curse," she answered curtly, performing some diagnostic spell over his chest. "It fractured your sternum, shoulder, clavicle, hip, pelvis, and most of your ribs. Two ribs were splintered too badly to heal with a wand, so Alicia had to Vanish them. I'll have to give you Skele-gro later, when you're more stabilized. One of your ribs punctured your left lung, and then you ruptured your spleen trying to protect Adrian. I barely managed to stabilize it and repair it before it killed you. You also have a very weak artery. You'll have to wait for a qualified Healer to fix that. But I am going to give you a couple of Blood Replenishing Potions in the meantime. You lost a lot of blood. I don't want you to drink it; I'm going to give it to you intravenously."

He didn't have time to react before she threaded the potion into a vein in his arm with her wand. It stung, but it wasn't as painful as everything else.

"Why are you here?" he asked hoarsely.

Courtney didn't answer.

"You're a Slytherin."

"Thank you for stating the obvious," she answered coldly.

"I meant… You didn't come in with everyone else, did you? I don't remember seeing you before the battle. The only Slytherins were Adrian and his family, and Farley and Warwick."

"I came in a different way."

That implication chilled him, slightly. He couldn't stop himself from blurting, "Are you a Death Eater?"

Angrily, she snatched the left sleeve of her robes back to show him her slender, pale forearm. There was nothing there, and he immediately felt a bit ashamed.

Very quietly, she hissed, "The man I am regrettably forced to call father ordered me to join the Death Eaters to help heal their injuries tonight. I had to do as he ordered, but as soon as the battle began and I was allowed to move forward after the first wave of attacks, to start treating fighters, I slipped in front of their lines to treat you lot instead. Healers take oaths, you know. I hate the Dark Lord and his damn Death Eaters, why would I heal them?"

Kenneth wasn't sure how to respond to that. Courtney turned her eyes back to the potion that was slowly slipping into his arm and went on quietly, "Hopefully they'll just think I was killed or captured."

"What do you mean?"

"We're in a lull. The Dark Lord gave the defenders of Hogwarts one hour to collect the dead and wounded, and he ordered Potter to meet him in the forest. I stayed behind to help treat the wounded here."

Kenneth felt his gut clench. "No! If they find out you've been helping this side, they'll kill you outright —!"

Her expression was fathomless. "I made my decision months ago, and I won't change it now, Towler."

"Why not?"

She looked down at him, and he saw fear in her eyes. "If the Dark Lord knew the truth about me, he would likely kill me, anyways. I'm not…" She trailed off.

"Not what?" Kenneth frowned.

Courtney didn't elaborate. She looked back at the vial of Blood Replenishing Potion to monitor it.

Something else suddenly occurred to Kenneth. In fact, he was horrified he hadn't thought of it sooner. Why the hell hadn't he?! His gut cramped again and his anxiety spiked so fast it actually hurt. "Vanhausen…?" he stammered. "Do you know where Karen is? Karen Pickford? I got separated from her in the battle, and I don't know what happened to her. One minute she was with me and the next…"

Courtney's petite frame tensed just slightly. After a couple of seconds, she answered in a would-be calm voice, "I haven't seen her with the seriously wounded."

It felt like someone had sliced him open all over again. Courtney knew and she didn't want to tell him. Kenneth closed his eyes tightly as tears burned against his lashes. Fuck, noanything but what his gut was telling him!

"Courtney," he whispered shakily, trying to draw breath. "Tell me the truth, please."

"Towler, your heart isn't in the best of shape at the moment. You need a real Healer, as soon as Madam Pomfrey is free or Eilish MacMillan arrives."

"Please," he whispered again. He felt those hot, scalding tears sliding down from his eyes to his ears as he lay on the floor where the head table should have been. He didn't even care if she saw him cry. "Just tell me. What happened to her?"

Courtney didn't answer for a moment. Then he felt her slender hand slide into his. Her fingers were cool and soft and oddly comforting, and silently, he started to cry harder. When she spoke, her voice was barely audible, but gentler and sadder than he'd ever heard it before.

"It was… Avada Kedavra. I didn't find out until Conall Galbraith brought her in, just a couple of minutes before you came around." She hesitated, then said in a broken voice, "If I could have saved her, I would have… she was my friend…" Her voice hitched with tears. "She was the only friend I had in school…"

Something painful seared through Kenneth's body long before Courtney finished; the second half of what she said sounded far away and he barely even heard her. All that really stuck in his brain were the words Avada Kedavra.

Merlin, no… He turned his head away from the Great Hall to look at the back wall as more tears slipped out, hot and fast. No, please, anything but this! He grit his teeth, his breathing became fractured, and he closed his eyes as hard as he could, but he couldn't stop the tears or the convulsions or the sharp pain inside his chest. He loved Karen…! He'd loved her since he'd been eighteen years old and she'd snogged him behind Scrivenshaft's! They had both known that either or both of them might die tonight; they had told each other that they were prepared for that possibility. Some things were more important than their lives, like defeating Voldemort once and for all, to create a better world without the hatred or bigotry or torture and murder. They had even agreed that if one of them survived, they would keep on living without the other. But he hadn't been prepared to lose Karen, he thought desperately. Not really. He'd wanted to marry her, to spend the rest of his life with her. The idea of her having their children, raising a family with her, growing old with her… he'd wanted it more than anything. He felt like curling in on himself and ripping his heart out.

He could feel the pressure of Courtney's fingers against his as she sat there with him, and at some point he suddenly thought how odd it was that the person offering him comfort was a woman he'd never even liked when they had been in school… a woman who had been in a House he'd hated, who had entered the battle behind Death Eaters because she couldn't enter any other way. A woman who had literally used any means to achieve her ends. She was an unlikely, unexpected ally. And she was now an unlikely and unexpected source of comfort. If someone had ever told him that Courtney Vanhausen would one day sit with him and console him over the loss of Karen, he would have snorted derisively and told them they were out of their damn minds.

Without thinking, he squeezed her hand in return, even as he kept his eyes tightly closed and kept crying. She didn't pull away.

After what seemed like an eternity, she said quietly, "I need to give you the other vial of Blood Replenishing Potion, Kenneth. Don't move."

He abruptly realized that tonight was the first time he'd ever heard her say his given name. When they had been prefects together, she had always used his surname, and he had used hers. He had always thought she hated him. His eyes snapped open.

"Why did you call me that?" he whispered, blinking back tears to look at her.

She shrugged. "You called me by my given name a moment ago. You'd never done that before. I was only returning the favor."

He swallowed, took his glasses off, and moved his left arm over his eyes. He felt the second potion thread into his right arm, but he didn't even care.

"I'm sorry," she said again, a bit awkwardly, even though Karen's death wasn't her fault. "I know you loved her. That was evident to everyone."

"We'd planned to get married," he admitted, his voice choked with tears. "I mean, we both agreed that if one of us died tonight, the other would keep living. But now… Oh God, now… I can't… I don't know how to live without her…!"

"It's like that old saying: Easier said than done." Courtney sounded a little bitter.

He swallowed, and didn't move his arm. "What am I going to do?" he whispered. "Godric, I don't know how I'm supposed to keep on without her… she was everything to me…!"

"You just keep putting one foot in front of the other," Courtney said softly. "Keep looking ahead, keep resisting the urge to look back because there's nothing you can do about what's behind you. And hope…" She hesitated, then went on, "Hope that one day, the future is better than the present."

Kenneth took a shaky breath and his arm slipped off his face, above his head. He looked up at her again, confused. "That sounds like the voice of experience."

Courtney didn't look at him.

And then, out nowhere, he heard that awful, horrible voice ringing through the very air around him.

"Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone. The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman, or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together." *

Courtney tensed. He saw the fear on her face and noticed how her breathing grew shallow.

Everyone rushed out of the Great Hall except the severely wounded and those who were tending them.

And in spite of fear and grief, Kenneth could feel his anger rising sharply. He sucked in a breath and snarled in a low voice, "It isn't true. Harry would never have done that. You-Know-Who is lying. Something else happened."

"It's what a Slytherin would have done," Courtney said, her breathing fractious.

"But Harry wasn't a Slytherin," Kenneth reminded her furiously. "I'm telling you — You-Know-Who may have Harry, and Harry may be dead, but he's lying to us about what happened."

Courtney didn't answer.

As they waited in the silence, Madam Pomfrey and Audrey Sprayberry hurried to move the dead to the back wall to get them out of the center of the Great Hall just in case Voldemort entered the space. During those long minutes, Kenneth decided that he wouldn't mind dying. He didn't even care if Voldemort killed him personally. He'd be with Karen again, and that would be better than trying to live alone, trying to move forward without the girl he loved.

On top of those thoughts, he could also sense Courtney's fear even as she kept monitoring him. He turned his right hand up and gently grasped her left hand again. She jumped slightly and stared at him, but he only sighed and squeezed her fingers.

"Need some Gryffindor courage?" he asked, meeting her eyes. "You can have mine. I don't need it anymore."

Despite her obvious fear, she glared at him, which was much more like her, and she snarled, "Of all the… shut the fuck up, Towler. You're absolutely insufferable! It's not as if you can just stop being a fucking Gryffindor, you know!"

But that was just it, he thought. He wanted to stop being a Gryffindor at that moment. He wanted to stop living at the moment. He was just so tired, and he was broken beyond repair. Nothing mattered anymore.


Alicia found herself hurrying to the front steps of the castle with everyone else. Adrian gripped her hand tightly, and she knew that his parents, Bridget, the MacMillans, the Woods, and the Weasleys were all around her. Angelina was on her other side, her teeth bared and her wand ready. And as they exited the doors, they found themselves facing far more Death Eaters than anyone wanted to see, plus the terrifying figure of Voldemort; and Hagrid, who was carrying Harry Potter's body.

Professor McGonagall shouted in disbelief and Alicia felt all the hair on her neck stand up; she'd never heard her Head of House make that kind of sound before in her life and it petrified her. The Death Eaters laughed loudly at McGonagall's reaction. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all screamed Harry's name, too — and the next thing Alicia knew, they were all yelling and screaming at Voldemort and the Death Eaters in their anger. Even her.

Adrian suddenly squeezed her fingers tightly to get her attention, and when she stopped yelling for a second, he said quietly in her ear, "If this is it, and we don't survive… just know that I love you, Alicia."

Alicia didn't want to think about not surviving, so she replied fiercely, "I love you, too. But we're not going to die — it's not over yet! There's still —"

But at that very moment, Voldemort suddenly yelled for silence and cast a Silencing Charm.

With a flash of bright light, Alicia felt her voice disappear. She almost grabbed her throat in surprise. Adrian's grip tightened on hers; when she looked at his profile, it was to see nothing but anger on his features as he glared hatefully towards Voldemort for stealing their very voices. She knew that wouldn't stop him from dueling nonverbally, but Voldemort was trying to prove he had the upper hand.

"You see?" said Voldemort, pacing in front of them. "Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"

"He beat you!" yelled Ron, and the charm broke. *

Alicia's voice returned just like Ron's; she, Katie, and Angelina immediately began screaming, along with practically everyone else, that Voldemort was wrong, damn it! He was wrong! Harry would never have fled and allowed others to die for him, because that wasn't Harry's way!

But in the midst of her tirade, she glanced at Adrian. To her complete surprise, his face had changed. He no longer looked hateful. Actually, his eyebrows had gone up slightly, as though he had realized something crucially important.

"What is it?" she asked, tugging his hand to get his attention.

"Something isn't right," he said, and he sounded excited. "The Silencio Charm didn't hold…"

Alicia blinked. "What?"

"What do you mean?" Alexander demanded softly, his eyes still on Voldemort even as the defenders screamed themselves hoarse and Voldemort repeated the same lie about Harry again.

"The Silencio Charm should have held, but it didn't," Adrian repeated in a quiet rush. He sounded absolutely delighted, for some reason, but Alicia couldn't quite figure out why.

Neville Longbottom ran forward to challenge Voldemort at that moment. Alania's eyes were on the scene before her, but she inhaled sharply and said, "You're right mon fils! A charm can only be broken if the caster dies or if it is released, but the Dark Lord didn't release it…!"

"Exactly," Adrian said, as Neville and Voldemort faced off.

"Someone must have released it…" Alexander frowned.

"This is your field of expertise," Adrian muttered to his mother. "What do you think?"

Her eyes widened. "Unless…? Maybe that's it! If the Dark Lord is lying, and the boy actually sacrificed himself instead of fleeing…! That would break the hold of the spells…! It's an old, obscure charm, and very, very few people know of it! Albus once told me about it, or I wouldn't know of it!"

"That must be it," Alicia gasped. "Harry would never run away! I know him, he wouldn't!"

Angelina nodded fiercely. "Alicia is right. Potter would never run."

"Then all is not lost," Alania said, a dark smile curving her lips. She gripped her wand more tightly. "Potter did something that helped us," she said quietly, "but the Dark Lord missed it, because he isn't infallible! And Atticus and Charlie Weasley aren't here yet, either. Get ready to fight again, and when they start fighting us, fight with everything you have."

Then, quite suddenly, the Sorting Hat flew out of a window in the castle and Voldemort forced it onto Neville's head; at the same time, Voldemort also cast a full Body Bind curse on Neville, who went rigid.

"Neville here is now going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me," said Voldemort, and with a flick of his wand, he caused the Sorting Hat to burst into flames. *

Neville's screams were horrific, and Alicia and several other girls screamed, too. But she wasn't entirely sure what happened next. Because everything happened so bloody fast.


Despite the horror he felt at what was happening, Adrian suddenly realized he was hearing something in addition to Neville Longbottom's screams: furious yelling from the gates of Hogwarts. He jolted and looked out over the grounds, and realized there were people coming towards them, blocking the Death Eaters' main escape route. At the same time, three giants came lumbering back into sight and began fighting each other, their footfalls making the very ground quake and tremble, and to Adrian's further shock, the sound of hooves came from the Forbidden Forest, where centaurs were galloping forward to block that escape route, too. The centaurs released a flurry of arrows, which pelted onto the Death Eaters, who were caught in the middle, and in the midst of all this, Adrian saw a weird movement from where Neville Longbottom was standing engulfed in flames.

Longbottom broke free of the full Body Bind and the flames — a feat which should have been impossible — but if Alicia and Angelina were correct and Harry had indeed sacrificed himself for the defenders, and Adrian's mother was correct in her deduction that Harry's selfless act had somehow created a problem with Voldemort's spell-casting…

There was a flash of silver and glittering red, and Longbottom suddenly swung a sword down, catching Voldemort's huge snake on the neck and killing the creature instantly. The head spun through the air and people screamed at the sight, but none more furiously than Voldemort.

Adrian gripped his wand more tightly. His mother had been right: they were about to fight again.

But in the distance, a mere second before the battle began once more, he saw two men leading a crowd of fresh fighters. One had flaming red hair like his six siblings and his parents; he was short and stocky and had been a Seeker for Gryffindor before he went off to Romania to train dragons.

The other man had jet-black hair like his own family; he had been a Keeper for Slytherin before heading to Paris to crawl through the catacombs for hours on end, breaking evil, dark curses to find treasure.

In all his life, Adrian had never seen his brother's face so resolute and determined as it was when Atticus angrily fired a Killing Curse into the crowd of Death Eaters and faced them head-on with a look of fury and hatred on his features.


Kenneth wasn't sure how much time passed as he and Courtney waited anxiously for the next thing to happen, but suddenly, everyone burst back into the Great Hall. He jerked and turned his head to stare in horror. People were dueling every which way, Death Eaters against the Defenders and vice versa, and Courtney immediately cast a powerful shield around them and literally flung herself over his bare chest with her wand ready. In fact, he hadn't quite realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt until that moment — that moment when Courtney Vanhausen pressed one small, cool, soft hand gently against his sternum to brace herself. He could see fear in her face, but also an unshakable defiance that hadn't been there moments before.

"Vanhausen! Don't worry about me!" he insisted, grabbing his own wand from his back pocket just in case, and damned grateful it was still with him. He vaguely remembered Chrysanthe had yelled for Gil to take it away from him, but his old mate hadn't listened and had shoved it in Kenneth's back pocket, instead. If Gil was still alive, Kenneth would have to thank him later. For now, he realized Courtney hadn't obeyed his order. He grabbed her wrist and made her look at him, and when their eyes met, he said roughly, "Courtney, did you hear me? Get out of here! Save yourself; just leave me —!"

She glared at him and shouted over the noise, "You really are a fucking idiot if you think I would leave now! I put your damn arse back together, Towler! I saved you from dying mere seconds before you did, and I won't let anyone, not even the fucking Dark Lord, undo my hard work!"

He gaped at her, then he snapped angrily, "I'm not kidding, you need to get out of here!"

"No!"

"There's no sense in you dying because of me!"

She just ignored that, and turned her eyes back to the battles taking place around the Great Hall. She didn't move; her hand remained firm against his chest, and he realized: not only was she protecting him, she was keeping him from trying to get involved. Because she knew he would.

Out of nowhere, Alicia appeared in front of them and cast a powerful shield to reinforce Courtney's. She looked over her shoulder and met Courtney's eyes, and Courtney nodded once.

"Let me up," Kenneth said, tugging her hand.

"Shut up, Towler!" Courtney snarled.

"I need to help!" he yelled back.

"Shut up, Kenneth!" Alicia snapped at him, her tone livid. "You're damned lucky you're even alive!"

Kenneth realized he had no choice but to lay there while two stubborn, hard-headed girls who had been in opposite houses made sure he didn't move. Part of him was annoyed; another part of him was impressed with their resolve.

As various defenders defeated the remaining Death Eaters, those not involved in a duel began to move quickly against the walls to keep out of the way of the colliding spells. Kenneth caught sight of Adrian and Atticus fighting a Death Eater together, until one of Adrian's spells broke through the man's defenses and he was thrown violently backwards for nearly twenty feet. Kenneth couldn't help but smile; Adrian was damned good at fighting. Better than he, Kenneth, was. Maybe they stood a chance after all…


Alicia felt very exposed, standing in front of the platform while holding a powerful shield charm in place. She had a clear view of what was happening, even though she couldn't really hear anything. The final duelers were Bellatrix Lestrange against Molly Weasley, and Voldemort against Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Slughorn. Harry Potter had completely vanished, which was utterly bizarre, but she couldn't worry about that. He'd done something… something critically important… something to help them…

When Molly defeated Bellatrix, Alicia felt like shouting for joy, but it was cut short when Voldemort screamed in rage and McGonagall, Flitwick, and Slughorn were violently thrown backwards.

And then Harry emerged from nowhere. Alicia gasped in shock. What the hell? He had been dead, hadn't he? They had all seen Hagrid carrying his body! But no, there he was, perfectly alive! Had Voldemort really made such a huge mistake?!

Harry and Voldemort began to circle each other, wands raised, and everyone in the hall fell silent. Alicia could see them talking, but she could only catch snatches of their discussion. It seemed Harry knew something really important that Voldemort didn't, but she couldn't imagine what.

Courtney was suddenly at her side, helping her with the shield.

"Kenneth isn't going to move, is he?" Alicia muttered.

"He'd better not," Courtney growled. "Or I'll fucking kill him myself." She glanced behind her and gave Kenneth an ugly glare to make sure he stayed in place.

Alicia almost laughed as she glanced back, too. Kenneth looked a little annoyed, but he wasn't watching the two of them. He was watching Voldemort and Harry. Alicia said, "I don't think he'd be dumb enough to throw himself into this fight. I think it's going to be the last fight, actually. And it has to be between Harry and You-Know-Who."

"I think so, too." Courtney's face was set. "Thank Salazar."

For a moment, the two girls glanced at each other, before their eyes went back to Voldemort and Harry — both hoping that within moments, their world would be free again. As they waited, the former Gryffindor and Slytherin girl prefects for the Class of 1996 continued protecting the wounded together, just in case a random spell went awry.


* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Chapter 36: The Flaw in the Plan


Author's Notes:

1. Alania's French nickname for Bridget, mon petit blaireau, translates to "my little badger".

2. Courtney's conversation with Kenneth was written before much of SM2, too. However, I actually didn't kill off Karen for Courtney's benefit. In reality, I had decided on Karen's death while I was still fleshing out a lot of crucial details on Courtney's personality and life.

3. I knew for a very long time (ever since I decided to reprieve Kenneth, back when I was still writing SM1's one-shots) that Karen and Luke would both die in the Battle of Hogwarts. In fact, Mandy told me that when she wrote Order of Mercy, she had to ask herself who needed to die for Oliver to grow - and that resonated with me. In order for Kenneth to grow the way I needed him to in SM3, I had to kill Karen, much as I liked her. I won't lie, it wasn't easy. She's one of my favorite OC's in this story, right up there with Alania, Chrysanthe, and Courtney.

4. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, Kenneth was going to die, but I reprieved him. In my original musings, Kenneth died, Karen lived, and about 10 years post-Battle of Hogwarts, Karen married Gilbert. In the next version, Kenneth lived, Karen lived, and Gilbert died. Then I debated killing Karen and Gilbert, but I realized Karen and Luke would have the greater impact on Kenneth, while Karen and Remus had the biggest impact on Adrian, and Karen and Fred had the biggest impact on Alicia.

5. Much like Neville and Sprout's mandrakes, I also had to think about "what happened to all the bodies in the Great Hall that were lined up in the middle?" If they hadn't been moved, they would have been trampled, and they clearly weren't there when Harry and Voldemort faced off.