Dark Pasts { A Harry Potter Story }

Chapter 112 - The Battle of Hogwarts

As we hurried back down the stairs we heard the echo of loud screams and the unmistakable sounds of duelling and my heart seemed to fail: Death Eaters had penetrated Hogwarts. Wands at the ready, we hurried faster down a corridor and saw Fred and Percy duelling Death Eaters. A jet of light escaped Harry's wand and the man in front of Percy backed off and his hood fell, revealing the familiar face of Pius Thicknesse.

"Hello, Minister!" Percy said as he disarmed him. "Did I mention I'm resigning?"

"You're joking, Perce!" Fred shouted. "You actually are joking, Perce. . . . I don't think I've heard you joke since you were —"

"Fred!" I cried and jumped to push him out of harm's way as a Death Eater moved to curse him from behind.

The curse hit the stone wall behind us as I raised my wand and stupefied the hooded man so that he fell to the floor like a puppet without strings. Harry helped me up as Fred stared at me with wide eyes.

"You just saved my life," he said breathlessly.

"Don't mention it," I said, panting heavily.

Suddenly there was an explosion behind us and Harry immediately pushed me against the wall and shielded me with his body. There was a cold breeze running through the corridor, which told me that the side of the castle had been blown away.

"Liz!" Harry cried, but nodded to tell him that I was alright.

I frantically looked around and sighed in relief as I saw Ron and Hermione holding on to each other beside us and a little further Fred and Percy, unharmed as well. But then Hermione screamed, and I turned to see a monstrous spider trying to climb through the hole in the wall. Ron and Harry shouted as they pointed their wands at the spider, which was instantly blown backward into the darkness.

"It brought friends!" Harry shouted as more spiders could be seen climbing the side of the building toward where we were standing. I fired a few Stunning Spells, but soon more curses came flying toward us and we were forced to back away.

It was not much safer inside the castle. Death Eaters were everywhere, sending curses in every direction so that we were forced to crouch down and hide behind a large rock.

"We'll cover you," Percy told us. "You guys go on to do whatever it is you're doing."

He and Fred stood and began to fight the surrounding Death Eaters, allowing us to run past them, but soon more came and we were forced to hide behind a tapestry.

"You need to find out where Voldemort is, because he'll have thesnake with him, won't he?" Hermione said quickly in a breathless voice. "Do it, Harry — look inside him!"

He closed his eyes at once. I frowned as I thought of how easy it was for him to get inside Voldemort's mind . . . how easy it was for him to understand him . . .

After a moment Harry gasped and opened his eyes. "He's in the Shrieking Shack," he said. "The snake's with him, it's got somesort of magical protection around it. He's just sent Lucius Malfoy to find Snape."

"Voldemort's sitting in the Shrieking Shack?" Hermione said. "He's not — he's not even fighting?"

"He doesn't think he needs to fight," Harry said. "He thinks I'm going to go to him."

"Why would he think that?" I asked nervously.

"He knows I'm after Horcruxes — he's keeping Nagini close beside him — obviously I'm going to have to go to him to get near the thing —"

"Right," Ron said. "So you can't go, that'swhat he wants, what he's expecting. You stay here and look after Hermione and Liz, and I'll go and get it —"

Harry interrupted him. "You three stay here, I'll go under the Cloak and I'll be back assoon as I —"

"No," I said in a heated voice. "I'm not leaving you —"

Suddenly the tapestry was ripped open and two Death Eaters looked at us.

"POTTER!"

Before either of them could raise their wands, Hermione shouted, "Glisseo!"

The stairs beneath our feet flattened into a chute and we hurtled down it, unable to control their speed but so fast that the Death Eaters' Stunning Spells flew far over our heads. We shot through another tapestry at the bottom and landed flat on the floor.

"Duro!" Hermione cried as she pointed her wand at the tapestry.

At once it turned to stone and we heard two loud crunches as the Death Eaters crumpled against it on the other side. Before I knew it, Harry had thrown the cloak on the four of us.

"Together," he said and we continued to make our way toward the entrance hall.

We were making our way down the last flight of stairs when a body fell from the floor above in front of us, causing me to gasp. With horror, I realized that it was Lavender, and I felt bile rise up in my throat. Then a large four-legged animal sped across the hall and sunk its teeth into the body.

"NO!" Hermione shouted before she sent a curse straight into the werewolf's chest. With a loud blast, Greyback was thrown back through the window.

I stared at her body in horror, but Harry pulled on my arm and I was forced to try and compose myself as we ran.

My eyes widened in horror as we reached the courtyard where more spiders and Giants attacking people left and right. Large fragments of the castle blocked our way so we were forced to zigzag through the battlefield. Screams echoed all around us as jets of light flew over our heads.

Halfway toward the forbidden forest, the air around us froze and I could discern shapes moving out of the darkness toward us.

I raised my wand and took a deep breath. "Expecto Patronum!"

At once a beautiful silver doe shot from my wand and sped off toward the dementors, followed by Ron's silver terrier and Hermione's otter. But still more dementors made their way toward us.

"HARRY, COME ON!" Hermione shouted desperately.

Suddenly a silver hare, a boar, and a fox soared past us, and I turned around to see Luna, Ernie and Seamus standing behind us.

"That's right," Luna said encouragingly as they continued to cast their Patronuses. "That's right, Harry . . . come on, think of something happy."

"Something happy?" Harry said, his voice cracking.

"Harry, please, you can do this . . ." I said in a low voice as I held his shoulder.

He looked into my eyes for a moment before turning back to face the dementors, raised his wand and cried, "Expecto Patronum!"

There was a silver spark and a wavering light and then, at last, a silver stag burst from his wand and chased the dementors away for good.

A loud roar was heard and the earth trembled as another giant stepped out of the forest.

"RUN!" Harry shouted and we all scattered.

A second later the giant's foot landed exactly where we had been standing. I looked around and saw Ron, Harry and Hermione standing near me, but Luna, Ernie and Seamus had run back into the battle.

"Let's get out of range!" Ron yelled and we nodded.

"The Whomping Willow," said Harry as he grabbed my hand, "go!"

And so we sped off toward the tree. Harry raised his wand and cried "Wingardium Leviosa!" so that the branch obscuring the secret passage flew up into the air. Then, one by one, we wriggled ourselves into the narrow passage. It was so low that we were forced to crawl as we advanced forward to the place where we knew Voldemort and the snake awaited and, possibly, the end of it all as well.