Out of the Shadows [Book Three]

Chapter Nineteen:

dedicated to weareallmadefromstar 

[[A/N: ALSO I KNOW THAT YOU HAVE ALL NOTICED how i've been switching a lot of things up, im sorry but it's needed.  after this one, there is only two more chapters and an epilogue (sort of an epilogue) and AT THE END OF THE EPILOGUE WILL BE A SUPER IMPORTANT NOTICE SO BE SURE TO READ THAT PLEASE.  I'll update the next chapter tonight before bed, and the last chapter and epilogue tomorrow <3 ]] 

Chapter Nineteen:

"I know that you are preparing to fight. 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."

I froze, hearing the voice in my surround me , as if it were coming from right behind me, though by the screams that filled the halls, I wasn't the only one hearing it. His voice was colder than I remembered. Darker than many probably ever imagined. The petrified looks on the students faces were enough to tell me that they would be haunted by that voice for years to come, even if we won this battle; even if we won the war.

"Give me Harry Potter and non shall be harmed. Give him to me and I shall leave the school untouched. Give Harry Potter to me and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight."

Silence. That was all there was in the Great Hall. Where once there were feasts and jokes, laughing and general happiness there was now terror and silence. Nothing more, nothing less.

"But he's there! Potter is right there. Someone grab them!" I recognized the girl who stood up from the Slytherin table as the same one who I had believed had stolen Draco Malfoy from me. I'd hated her then and I hated her now. She was still nothing more than a leech, ugly and despicable.

Almost at once, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw all stood and blocked Harry from the Slytherin's. They began pulling out wands as they stared at the leech with eyes full of hatred and I knew if I stood where she did, I would have killed myself just to make it all stop.

"Thank you, Parkinson, you can be the first to leave the Hall with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your house would follow, please."

As they were leaving, the other houses were told to follow them, Filch would lead them to the Room of Requirement, then they would all leave through the portrait and exit out of the Hogs Head, where the students who could apparate would do so and some professors would go there to help the rest get safely away.

"Creevey, and you Peakes, and Amy Potter, you all go immediately. Anyone else under the age of seventeen will also leave, no arguing," McGonagall called out. I watched as Collin and Peakes left, not bothering to move from my seat though many students gave me questioning glances.

I had only had a half hour until midnight when I would be seventeen. I was not going to abandon anyone here just because of a lousy half-hour between that moment and my coming of age, that was for sure.  

"-We'll need to act fast," The larger unknown man from the Room of Requirement bellowed, following up that sentence with action plans. Fred and George volunteered for defenses, while McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout would be taking three groups of students to the highest towers. He, Remus and Arthur Weasley would be taking another three groups of students down to the grounds. "Leaders up here, and we'll divide up the troops!"

"Miss Potter, I thought I told you to leave at once!"

"Sorry Professor McGonagall, but no. I won't leave. I'll be seventeen in a half hour and I'm going to stay and fight. Nobody can stop me." I felt as if I should be feeling terror or at least I should have been slightly afraid or nervous but truthfully I'd never felt as calm as I did in that moment. I'd been preparing for this moment for nearly seven months, I was a witch and a good one at that, I would fight. There was no one that could talk me out of it.

"Very well. You can be in my-"

"I'm going to be in my Godfather's group, sorry professor."

Sighing in defeat, McGonagall turned and got upon the raised platform along with the other five people. Harry still stood beside me, his eyes widening as McGonagall reminded him that he was here to search for something before he left quickly, probably to find the diadem he'd been speaking of earlier. I did as I said I would, leaving with Remus and his group of ground fighters, my wand in one hand and my ring upon my finger on the other.

Immediately, I'd cast my Contedio shield spell, my hands becoming uncomfortably hot but it was a discomfort that I was willing to live with considering I didn't have to watch my back. We raced out to the south of Hogwarts, watching as the shield that the professors had put up was broken, and then we were fighting.

In our group I knew nobody personally besides Remus, the others were mere aquantainces that I'd met through the D.A and some were complete strangers that I'd only ever glanced at in the corridors between classes but one thing was true about each of us, we were warriors and we were here to protect our home and our friends. We marched together, making sure we could properly protect the school, placing defences up left and right though we knew the wouldn't last long.

As the shield came down slowly but surely, Death Eater's came through, Dolohov himself went straight for Remus though you only knew it was him by his towering height and rather large shoulders. The other Death Eaters were unknown to us, but we fought them all the same.

Slowly our group broke apart until we were spread out all over the southside of the grounds, curses and spells flew every which way, most hitting our enemies but a few of our group went down. Once I realized this group of Death Eaters were all that was coming through, I left the six in our group, including Remus, to fight the three remaining masked men and took off across the grounds, determined to find and kill the Carrows if nobody else.

*

"Reducto!" I bellowed, pointing my wand at a giant who had been clambering towards me desperately, as if all he could think about was grabbing me up, holding me in his fat hands and squeezing until my head popped off not unlike the cork in a champagne bottle. I dodged his fist as it kept flying at me, a small hole carved out in his hand but other than yell in agony, it did nothing. Running between his legs, I kept moving in hopes that giants were just as idiotic as trolls though I knew they weren't.

Glancing around to make sure nobody was around who could see me use a curse, I sighed in relief before ducking once more under the giant's hand.

"Cas-casoplent-ta homo!" Wincing at the rather dull red spark that flew out of my wand, I reminded myself that I'd have to use silent spells otherwise I'd never be able to do much to protect myself.

Cold air swirled around me, screams and yells rebounded from one side of Hogwarts to the other but still, despite how many people I knew were in this battle, I found myself alone with the giant. There was no chance of being seen using such a dangerous curse.

Repeating myself, I bit my lip as once again it did nothing. It struck me as I began to run from the beast that I was using a curse meant for humans or inanimate objects and he was neither. What was the latin word for giant, I questioned myself, running away but not making it as quickly as I'd have liked.

Gigas.

Casoplenta Gigas!

With a roar, the creature burst into flames before disappearing long before his dying breath had stopped echoing over Hogwarts grounds.