𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐑

the one with the hermit and death

"What's a man to a King?
What's a King to a God?
What's a God to a
Non-believer?"

•

IT WAS CLEAR, as the five of us stepped back into the corridor upstairs, that in the minutes that we had spent in the Room of Requirement the situation within the castle had deteriorated severely: The walls and ceiling were shaking worse than ever; dust filled the air, and through the nearest window, I saw bursts of green and red light so close to the foot of the castle that I knew the Death Eaters must be very near to entering the place. My magic hadn't held up against an army of them. Looking down, I saw Grawp the giant meandering past, swinging what looked like a stone gargoyle torn from the roof and roaring his displeasure.

"Let's hope he steps on some of them!" said Ron as more screams echoed from close by.

"As long as it's not any of our lot!" said Draco. I ran ahead, my wand drawn at the next window, which was missing several panes, and sent a well-aimed jinx into a crowd of fighters below.

"Good girl!" roared a figure running through the dust toward us, and I saw Aberforth again, his gray hair flying as he led a small group of students past. "They look like they might be breaching the north battlements, they've brought giants of their own!"

"We found you!" I immediately turned around to the jeering faces of Draco's old friends.

"Crabbe what are you doing!" Draco sneered, looking at his friends and their wands pointed at us.

"So how come you three aren't with Voldemort?" asked Harry.

"We're gonna be rewarded," said Crabbe: His voice was surprisingly soft for such an enormous person; I had hardly ever heard him speak before. Crabbe was smiling like a small child promised a large bag of sweets. "We 'ung back, Potter. We decided not to go. Decided to bring you to 'im."

"Good luck with that," Draco spat. "Honestly, how on Earth you two could do this-"

"Who cares what you think? I don't take your orders no more, Draco. You an' your dad are finished."

"And," I said before Draco could do something horrible to them. "How are you planning to take us down? Where were you two?"

"We was hiding in the corridor outside," grunted Goyle. "We can do Diss-lusion Charms now! And then," his face split into a gormless grin, "you turned up right in front of us!"

"How unfortunate for you then," I smiled, twisting my wand only slightly in my hand as Goyle toppled backwards with a you'd bang.

"What did ye do!" Crabbe shrieked, looking at his friend. "Crucio!"

I doubled over at the aggression his curse had. I didn't even know he had the ability to cast Unforgivables so easily. I tried to raise my wand, but turned out I didn't have to. Draco's wand emitted a faint greenish light and Crabbe immediately stopped. His eyes turned hazy and he quickly turned laid down next to his friend.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

"Yeah-what was that?"

"Imperius," Draco shrugged. "They're going to remain there for the remnants of the war now."

"Smart," I said, holding his arm. "Voldemort is in the Shrieking Shack. Harry, you're going to get a vision that he's there, with-Diffindo!- L-Lucius Malfoy. We cannot go until that, okay?"

A foe laid wriggling a faint distance away bleeding from the gash on his chest from my curse. Hermione looked at me incredulously.

"What?" I muttered. "He was coming at us, y'all are lucky that I didn't kill-"