Running AIAOY 7

Chapter 14

The Tonks' House emptied in minutes.  The members of the Order knew where they were apparating too, their hiding spots that had been assigned outside the castle in the Forbidden Forest.  All those who had agreed to fight crouched in the shadows, waiting for the sign from the students within.

The waiting filled Fred with anxiety.  Every minute that passed, every second they failed to hear from the inside, it felt like something was going wrong.

He couldn't have been farther off.

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McGonagall sent the first spell of the duel nonverbally.  A line of fire shot out from her wand and Snape just barely blocked it.  He wasn't expecting the ferocity of the attack, not in the name of a student not in her house.  McGonagall sent another, and another, and another.  All the whipping flames curved around Snape's defenses to get to him, but he redirected them to the ground.

As Snape stepped back and his heels hit the bottom of the stairs up to the dais, the Carrow twins fell to the ground.  Snape had pushed the curses onto them in order to right himself and continue his backtracking.  

An act of cowardice.

The Order watched on.  Harry and Rebecca kept their hands on their wands and stood where they had been.  The mass of Slytherin house was split in two, those that were watching the duel and those that stared at Draco.  Only two students approached Draco: Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson.

Snape realised that there was no way he could win, not with the fury and betrayal fueling McGonagall.  He raised his robe in from of him and apparated out, smashing through the stained glass window as he went.

McGonagall shook with hanger, holding her wand up to the window long after her final opportunity to hit him had passed.  "COWARD!"  She shouted after him, the students listening to the echoes of her voice fade away.

McGonagall let herself fume a moment longer before turning back to her students, to her school.  She raised her wand and lit the pulpits along the walls and the candles that levitated near the ceiling.  

Cheers broke out.  Hogwarts had been swathed in darkness for months, but the light had returned.  The Order tried to part through the students to get to McGonagall.  Fred was near the front, inching towards Rebecca throughout the duel.  He saw when her eyes faded and she was gone.  He hadn't been there when she saw the vision of Sirius' false torture, but if he had, he would have recognised the signs of Voldemort linking with the Potter twins.

"Children,"  Voldemort whispered.

Fred grabbed Rebecca's arm and held her up from hitting the floor as violently as Harry already had.  A chill descended over the hall and Sirius and Cedric recognised the feeling of a consciousness brushing up against theirs.  The were among the few familiar with it.

A shriek came from the Hufflepuff quarter of the room, then the Ravenclaw, Parvati fell to the ground with her hands over her ears and a terrible scream ripping from her.

Rebecca twitched in Fred's arms, towards where the screams came from.  Even with so little control over her body, she tried to get to those in need.

"I know that many of you will want to fight."  Voldemort's voice could be heard in every mind.  "Some of you may even think that to fight is wise, to fight is brave."  Nearly every student had a hand to their head, most to their ears, some around whomever was closest to them.  "This is folly.  Give me Harry and Rebecca Potter.  Do this and none shall be harmed.  Give me Harry and Rebecca Potter and I shall leave Hogwarts untouched."