Anna Potter and the Deathly Hollows

Chapter 21

CORRIDOR - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[The Grey Lady drifts eerily, staring at Anna.]
Anna: You’re the Grey Lady, the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower.
"She wouldn't like to be refered like that." Said Regulus.
The grey lady: I do not answer to that name.
Anna: I’m sorry. It’s Helena, isn’t it? Helena Ravenclaw. Rowena’s daughter. Luna told me about you.
The grey lady: Are you a friend of Luna’s?
Anna: Yes. She thought you might be able to help me.
The grey lady: You seek my mother’s diadem. [Anna stops, stunned.]
Anna: Yes! That’s right --
The grey lady: Luna is kind. Unlike so many of the others, but she was wrong. I cannot help you. [She begins to drift away. Outside, explosions are heard. The room quakes. Anna looks desperate.]
Anna: Wait! Please!
The grey lady: Many have sought my mother’s diadem. Its powers are legendary...
Anna: But I don’t care about its powers!Honestly -- [But she is drifting away. Anna watches in desperation.]
Anna: I don’t seek it for myself! You have to believe me! [But she only drifts on. Helplessly, Anna watches her go, then... decides:]
Anna: I want to destroy it. [She stops. Turns. She sees this has hooked her in some way.]
"She got her." Said Sirius.
[Begins walking back toward her, nodding.]
Anna: That’s what you want, isn’t it, Helena? You want it destroyed.
The grey lady: (vague, drifting) She thought I took it to hurt her. But I only wanted to be more like her, clever and wise. She wore it so beautifully, but on me... I grew to hate it... the pain I felt... the pain I feel even now...
People looked at Helena sadly.
Anna: I’ll end your pain, Helena. Tell me where it is and I’ll destroy it, I swear --
The grey lady: Another swore to destroy it, many years ago, a strange boy with a strange name...
Anna: Tom Riddle --
The grey lady: But he lied.
Anna: He’s lied to many people --
[Suddenly, her eyes blaze with anger, her face contorting horribly and Anna can’t help but take a step back.]
The grey lady: I know what he’s done! I know who he is! He defiled it! With Dark Magic!
"It's awfult." Said Lily.
[Anna stares at her, watching as her eyes drift and her face resolves itself again, vacant but beautiful.]
Anna: Yes. That’s right. But I can undo that, Helena. I can destroy it once and for all. But only if you tell me where he hid it. You know where he hid it, don’t you, Helena? You just have to tell me. Please. (stepping toward her) Trust me.
"Why would she?" Asked Lucius.
[She looks at Anna, standing so close now, only inches apart, lost in her eyes for a moment.]
The grey lady: Strange... you remind me of him a bit... [Anna stares at her, stung, suddenly looking a bit lost herself. Explosions sound again, faintly this time and for a moment it’s as if she’s forgotten why she’s come here. Then, her voice brings her round:]
The grey lady: It’s here. In the castle. In the place where everything is hidden...
"Room of requirment." Said Lily.
[Anna probes her eyes, baffled.]
The grey lady: If you have to ask, you’ll never know. If you know, you need only ask... [Slowly, Anna’s expression changes. Then, she is backing away.]
Anna: Thank you...
MARBLE STAIRCASE - NIGHT
[Anna careens down the staircase, buffeted by the chaos that surrounds her, swept forward by the tide of people screaming and shouting as they deploy to different parts of the castle. It’s madness.]
MARBLE STAIRCASE - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[Anna staggers, roaring in agony, her irises blooming red in the reflected glow of the guttering torch on the wall she steadies herself against as...]
HOGWARTS CASTLE - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[... impulsively, violently, Voldemort draws his wand -- the Elder Wand -- then stops -- briefly -- studying it. A strange mixture of awe and ambivalence darkens his face. Then, suddenly, it vanishes and he points the wand to the sky. His arm sweeps forth. And a crack of thunder shakes the grounds. The sky turns white. For a
moment, everything is frozen...]
HOGWARTS CASTLE - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[... and then an eruption of sound and fury rolls over the grounds.]
"There isn't lot of time left." Said worried Remus.
WOODEN BRIDGE - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[Neville and Roze stare to the sky, their faces bleached white.]
COURTYARD - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[McGonagall studies the trembling shield above.]
BATTLEMENTS - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[Stricken, Fred and George and Dean stare at the night sky.]
VIADUCT - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[An armored warrior statue stares impassively.]
OTHER PART OF VIADUCT - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[Flitwick turns, stares up at the castle, standing dark as ink against the sky.]
HOGWARTS CASTLE - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[And then Voldemort’s arm drops and...
... Flitwick’s shield shatters.]
"Fucking hell." Said Sirius.
HOGWARTS - GROUNDS/VIADUCT - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[Sizzling plumes strafe the night sky, raining down on the knights arrayed along the bridge and onto the castle itself.]
COURTYARD - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[The plumes ricochet madly, shattering the tracery as the Knights struggle to defend the castle. McGonagall looks up: more plumes light up the sky, begin to plummet.]
Professor McGonagall: Fall inside! Everybody! Fall inside!
BATTLEMENTS - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[Windows shatter, pierced by plumes, which materialize into death eaters. Instantly, students and staff engage
the dark wizards, standing shoulder to shoulder as they defend the school against the onslaught. Fred and George fall in on either side of Arthur, wands blazing, while Lupin, Tonks and Shacklebolt battle only yards away, the fighting swift and lethal.]
Everyone watches tensed up, very nervous and worried.
WOODEN BRIDGE - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[Neville’s eyes rake the fiery nightscape before him, then shift to the more immediate vicinity. He goes still. Scabior. The Snatchers. Are rising. Moving forward. Toward... him and Rose.]
Neville: Not good. [Neville grabs Rose's hand and starts to back up slowly, then turns heel and pelts back up the bridge. Plumes rain down from the sky. Enemy spells skitter at Neville and Rose's feets. They look back and see Scabior and the others closing like a herd of wildebeests.]
Rose: Are you bloody joking?! [She lifts her wand, ready to detonate the spells, when Seamus pops up beside het, a rather maniacal gleam in his eye.]
Neville: (to himself) Oh God --
[KA-BLAAAAAM! Neville sets off the charges. Instantly, one bridge section after another explodes, rolling up like a carpet. Snatchers fall from sight, plummeting into the darkness.]
"Yeaaaah!" Cheered Gryffindors.
[Rose looks over her shoulder, sees Scabior closing on them, Seamus's face blooming with fanatical ecstasy as he watches the charges detonate. As Seamus howls with pleasure, Neville, wheezing painfully at this point, glances back and sees that Scabior has closed the distance, is coming fast when -- KA-BLAM! -- Scabior is catapulted into the air. Rose and Neville look momentarily relieved, then realize, to their evident dismay, that the bridge is falling away with increasing speed.]
Seamus: He’s good... [The remainders begin to discharge, tripping off like
firecrackers, one section after another vanishing...]
Seamus: He’s good... [... including the section under Neville and Rose’s feets... And they are gone.]
"What did he do?" Said Lily.
[Seamus frowns. The moment hangs. Seemingly forever. Then charred fingernails appear over the final remaining section of the bridge, followed by Neville and Rose themselves.]
Rose: (sarcastically) Well done, Seamus!
Seamus: (grinning) Told yeh I’d bring ‘er down. [Neville shakes some ashes from his head and then... grins unexpectedly.]
Seamus: What?
Neville: That was kind of exciting.
Rose: (grins back) It was. [Seamus grins and winks knowingly.]
"Why is everyone enjoing thsi?!" Asked frustrated Lily.
"Adrenaline." Said Remus.
[Just then, a thunderingrumble almost sends Neville and Rose tumbling off the bridge again. As Seamus steadies him, they peer into the distance: Giants.]
Neville: Not good.
"Not at all." Said Sirius.
VIADUCT/ENTRANCE - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[Giants crash over the viaduct, laying waste to the Knights as more plumes rocket overhead.]
COURTYARD/VIADUCT - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[Death Eaters run roughshod over the grounds. Giants step on anything in their path, including the occasional Death Eater, crushing skulls, snapping spines. In the midst of the mayhem, Cassiopeia appears, her face bearing the small gashes she suffered at Malfoy Manor. Slipping past the nastiest players in the fray, she enters the castle.]
DUNGEON CORRIDOR - SAME TIME - NIGHT
[A grinning Filch regards the terrified run of Slytherin faces peering from within the dank cages before him.]
Filch: Night-tee night.
Everyone, excpecially Slytherins glared at him.
Pansy Parkinson: You let us out of here, you filthy squib! [Filch grins, shaking the ring of keys in his hand, then turns away. We stay with him as he walks away, then -- gently at first -- the chamber begins to tremble, until -- with each step -- it shakes more and more violently. Finally, Filch stops, glancing apprehensively about when... KA-BOOM! Plaster rains down and a ragged hole opens in the ceiling, followed by another and then another. A huge eye peers down from above; a massive nose sniffs stupidly. It’s... a giant. As the Slytherins scream, the giant’s fist drops heavily through the hole, fingers probing the cell clumsily. As Filch watches in horror, the cell falls to pieces and the Slytherins spill forth. Mucliber is ruthless, flinging Housemates aside while Goyle follows in his wake.]