raison d'être (george weasley x reader)

7.15

A bright red-orange light zipped across the room, burying itself deep in the brittle stone brick surrounding the now exposed wall of the Room of Requirements. The light caused an aggressive crash to sound around the room as the remaining stone fell away, landing in varying sized chunks on top of the Inquisitorial Squad.

A series of shouts sounded from both sides of the room: Umbridge screaming out shrill orders to capture the gathered students and Dumbledore's Army yelling out different forms of the word "run." All resulted in a chaotic flight as students slammed through each other, grabbing aimlessly at the air around them as they either attempted to trap someone in place or pull them along to avoid being caught.

In the midst of the swarm, a collection of small marble-like objects rolled through the trampling feet. A few detonated into clouds of colored smoke, while others exploded into medium-sized puddles of thick, sticky putty. The added element of chaos only infuriated Umbridge more, resulting in a shrilling shout, "Weasleys!"

Despite the anxiety-driven tension, complementary laughs chimed through the screams as the twins sprinted off to the left with their friends in tow. They avoided the main exit of the room, having noticed a small door the castle had created for their escape.

With a haphazard swish of his wand, Lee sent a nearby stone pillar crumbling, creating enough path-way traffic to slow the oncoming Inquisitorial members and allowing the group of friends to slip through the door. Fred stuck to the tail-end of the group and made sure to send a dung bomb, from where he had managed to procure the object from no one was sure, straight at the door, subsequently covering a few green-robed wizards in a horrid stench.

"That was you, right?" Angelina called out, glancing back at Y/N, who ran a step or two behind the chaser. "The bombarda spell at the entrance?"

Y/N let out a stress-induced laugh and nodded, "Of course."

"Brilliant!" Alicia shouted before gesturing for them to take a sharp left. "We can lose them this way!"

"Ange, the pathway on-" Fred started, though he was quickly cut off.

"Yes, yes, on the fourth floor. I know!" Angelina said, flashing him a knowing grin.

Together, the seventh years sprinted towards one of the many hidden corridors scattered throughout the castle. Given their more-intimate knowledge of the castle's layout, it was difficult for fear to break through the adrenaline-filled tension still lingering around them.

Still, with the ruckus they had caused, they had become a target for the Inquisitorial Squad, meaning there was a constant stream of distant footsteps thundering a couple feet behind them. As the noise grew louder, George quickly ushered the group of six into a nearby storage closet. It was much too small to house them all and they were practically on top of one another, but it was enough to sort out a brief plan.

"You lot get to the common room. The fourth floor corridor has the path that should get you to the middle of the tower," George whispered, pausing only to ensure the Inquisitorial Squad wasn't right outside. "Fred and I will try to lead them the opposite way and buy everyone some more time."

"You two go left, I'll take the right," Lee added, never one to back-down from one of the twins' spontaneous schemes. "I saw a few of the younger classmen go that way, so I can see if I can help them get back to their dorms."

"Well, then I'm going with you," Y/N said, reaching a haphazard hand out towards Lee. Her eyes had narrowed in concentration as she mentally mapped out the hallways. "If anything, one of us can distract the Inquisitorial Squad, while the other gets the others back to their rooms."

Angelina blinked at her friends in disbelief and shook her head. "Why can't we ever just do anything normal?"

"Ange and I will scope out the tower then, and make sure the rest of the Gryffindors get back inside," Alicia spoke for the two of them. "I'm sure I saw Neville running off with some of our fourth years, so we can see if they made it back."