Strawgoh: The American Hogwarts

Chapter Eleven

The next day, the five girls sat in their dorms. Emma was taking large amounts of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion to calm her wavy hair down. It became straight, glossy, but still the same brown it had always been. Maddie, Lottie, and Grace had done intricate braids and buns, but Laurel just used her wand to make her hair curly-wavy. They had their dresses on and before long were gorgeous.

The boys wore their dress robes and tousled their hair. At six forty-five, they ran down to the common room that was full of boys and girls meeting their dates. They saw the group of five, and Joseph's eyes widened at the site of Emma's beautiful straight hair.

"Holy smokes!" exclaimed Oliver. "Is that really Grace? She looks like one of those Muggle things... oh, models!"
"Yeah!" Ben whispered.

The girls and boys hooked arms and walked out of the common room to the stairs and then to the Great Hall. The rest of the years were dancing. A popular band called the Insane Bros. Everybody was dancing, and Ben asked Laurel to dance. She rolled her eyes.

"It's a slow song!" she said. "Don't be cliche."

He waited until a fast song began to play and Laurel dragged Ben into the midst of the dancing crowd. The pair began to dance crazily. Suddenly, a scream filled the Great Hall.

"Go! Go! Leave, it's not safe!" shouted Professor Brentley. "Tius and I will hold them back! Tius?! Tius! Where are you?!"

Death Eaters had stepped into the room. Laurel's hand went straight to her scar which had been badly paining her. She began to roll on the ground. Her friends stayed by her side. Laurel picked up her wand, which she had dropped, and shouted "Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus!"

The Death Eater's wands flew out of their hands. "Accio wands!" shouted Emma.

"I didn't know you could do a Summoning Charm!" exclaimed Maddie.

"What do you think I've been reading about all this time?" Emma laughed. Emma threw the wands to Grace, Oliver, and Joseph, who hadn't brought their wands. They began to shout spells.

"Flipendo!" shouted Ben, and a Death Eater fell back.

"Tius!? Where's Tius? Have you seen him?" asked Professor Brentley. "And Craddock? Where's Craddock?"

Easton was pulling the masks off the Death Eaters. Many of them were people that Easton didn't know, and Professor Brentley was shouted the Killing Curse at all of them. "I don't want to do this, but I can't let them get the students first." He continued to shout "Avada Kedavra!"

Laurel began to shout curses and hexes at the Death Eaters and Easton was taking off their masks. Laurel saw Lottie fall on the ground as a Death Eater shouted "Illishio!"

"I've never heard that spell before," Emma announced. Then she saw Lottie. "Lottie! Lottie!" Laurel and Emma ran over to where Lottie lay on the ground.

"She's not dead," said the potions master, Professor Eskel. "She's very ill. I'll take her up to Madame Burnell. Honora will help me."

Suddenly, Honora turned up out of nowhere. She smiled sweetly at Professor Eskel. They grabbed Lottie and hauled her to Madame Burnell in the infirmary. Laurel grabbed her wand and began to start using Stunning Spells, which Emma had told her about. She wasn't very good, but she managed to stun one Death Eater. Easton ran to his side and ripped of the mas. Easton gasped.

"Professor Brentley!" Easton shouted. "It's... it's... Junior Professor Humble!"

Professor Brentley shouted more Stunning Spells as he ran to Easton's side. Professor Eskel suddenly appeared with Honora at his side. They both gasped as they saw Tius lying there with his mask thrown askew. Honora began to cry.

"He's so handsome! He's a bad boy! I liked him, but he's a Death Eater!" she cried. Laurel rolled her eyes as she shouted, "Avada Ked-" but Professor Brentley began to scream.

"Don't do it! We need him for questioning!" the professor shouted. Laurel put down her wand. Suddenly, Oliver burst from nowhere, shouting the Killing Curse at random. Grace fell to the ground.

"Grace! No!" screamed Oliver as he saw what he had done. He ran to her side where Emma was already perched, a steady stream of tears running down her cheeks.

"How could you, Oliver? How could you?" she asked, holding Grace's limp hand in her own. Snot came out of her red nose. Another tear fell onto Grace.

Oliver was at a lost for words. Grace's red hair fell into her face, where the look of surprise was going to stay forever. Her hands were at her side and a copious amount of blood was coming from her head. Ben, Joseph, Laurel, Alex, and Maddie were at Oliver and Emma's side almost immediately. In the commotion, Easton's wand had slipped through his fingers. Laurel turned back to look at him, and he had his wand pointed at Oliver, and began to shout "Avada Kedavra!" Laurel began running at him the moment she saw the green burst of light. He fell over. It was too late.

"NO!" she shouted. Easton's wand had been pointed the wrong way, and the spell had hit him squarely in the chest. More Death Eaters had flooded into the Great Hall, led by a tall man. Laurel yelled "Stupefy!" several times, causing a few of the Death Eaters to fall. The leader fell as well.

Maddie was quick to grab the leader's mask. It broke away and resulted in an old man's face, with a wispy beard and watery blue eyes.

"Grandfather?" asked Maddie. "Oh, Grandfather! How? How could this be!" She grabbed her wand and shouted "Avada Kedavra!" Maddie burst into tears. "I killed him. I killed my own grandfather!"

Laurel rubbed her back as Joseph, Ben, and Alex held them off. Suddenly, Joseph was hit directly in the head with a Stunning Spell. He fell over and his skull cracked. He was gone. Emma whipped around and a tear rolled over face. Suddenly, a Killing Curse hit her in the back. She fell over. Laurel, Ben, Maddie, and Alex were all that was left. More teachers, such as Professor Kendall of Transfiguration and Professor Jacoby of History of Magic ran in, shouting Unforgivable Curses, Stunning Spells, and Disarming Spells at an alarming rate.

After the last of Death Eaters had been defeated, Laurel finally felt the throbbing pain in her head go away, only leading to throbbing legs and an arm. Madame Burnell was busy with many other patients after the fifth, sixth, and seventh years joined the fight. Professors Eskel and Caldwell (of Care of Magical Creatures) were helping hurt kids get to the hospital wing.

Laurel ignored the enormous pains she was enduring and told the professors that she would help some of the other children. "What about Honora? Is Ben OK? How about Lottie and Alex and Maddie?"

Another professor, one she hadn't met before, Professor Liahona of Arithmancy, told her that everybody was quite alright and she hadn't anything to worry about. Professor Brentley had to grab her unbroken arm and drag her to the infirmary.

"No! I won't! I won't until I've seen Lottie or Ben or Alex or Maddie or somebody!" exclaimed Laurel.

Professor Brentley ignored her pleas and dragged her to the hospital wing. She collapsed on one of the cots. The cots had multiplied themselves as much as the patients had. Laurel didn't realize how tired she was until she laid down on the cot and another nurse, named Madam Jillens. She gave Laurel some Skele-Gro to mend her broken legs and arm.

"Here's the strongest sleeping potion we have. It's for a dreamless sleep. Don't want any nightmares, now, do we?" asked Madam Jillens.

Laurel drank the bubbling purple concoction and her eyelids became heavy. The world around her turned blurry and she fell asleep.