The American. (George Weasley)

Thirty-Two.

George and I got back together that night, which made both of us so happy. Our families were both happy to hear the news, but no one was as happy to hear this news as Fred and Genevieve were. Things were actually calm at Muriel's. Luna and Dean told us all about how they were kidnapped and thrown in the cellar at Malfoy Manor. Luna since Christmas and Dean has been there since early March time. They said it was Harry, Ron, and Hermione that saved them. But it was Dobby the House Elf that took them to Shell Cottage where Bill and Fleur live.

I would love to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione. It certainly would be nice to see them. At least we know they're still alive. Lupin always said he was certain he was still alive because if he had been killed the Death Eaters would flaunt his body around and make sure we knew they killed him.
   
They told us how they heard Hermione getting tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, how when he was home Draco was put in charge of bringing them food, and how sorry he looked every time he came downstairs. The Draco I knew was still in there, he was just buried by what his family has forced him to become.
   
About a week later, after everyone had gone to bed, Ginny came running into the bedroom George and I shared saying we needed to leave, and quickly. That Harry was back at Hogwarts and that meant a fight was going to happen. So we headed off to Hogsmeade to the Hog's Head Pub where Dumbledore’s brother let us through a portrait hole.
   
The Room of Requirement, it looked much larger than it did when we had D.A. meetings here. Multicolored hammocks were strung from the ceiling from a balcony that ran the dark wood-paneled and windowless walls, which were covered in bright tapestry hangings: I saw the gold Gryffindor lion emblazoned on scarlet, the bronze eagle of Ravenclaw on royal blue, and finally I saw the black badger of Hufflepuff on yellow. We were all greeted by cheers and hellos.
   
“Yeah,” says Neville as we reach the room, “I told her I’d send for her if you came back. I figured if you did come back it would mean revolution.”
   
“Did someone say Revolution?” the twins two nearly identical voices singsong together.
   
"Irinia?" A voice asked.
   
"N-Neville!" She yelled back and ran over to him, hugging him tightly.
   
That’s when Harry takes control again as everyone gathers around us.
   
“Guys, you’ve got it all wrong. We’re not here to fight. We’re here to find something. Something very important. But, we don’t know what it is, just that it belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw. Does anyone know what that could be?”
   
“Is what you’re looking for going to help overthrow You-Know-Who?” Asked Fred, curiously.
   
“Yes,” Says Harry, but that’s all that he would tell them. “Does anyone know anything that was of importance to Rowena Ravenclaw?”
   
“There’s the lost Diadem,” says Luna, dreamily. “But no one in living memory has ever seen it.”
   
“What the bloody hell is a Diadem?” Asks Ron from behind Harry.
   
“It’s like a crown,” says Hermione. “Or a tiara.”
   
“If you’d like to see what it looks like, Harry, I could take you up to our common room and show you. Ravenclaw’s wearing it in her statue,” says Cho Chang, Harry’s ex-girlfriend from fifth year.
   
“Luna can take him, won’t you, Luna,” pipes up Ginny, also Harry’s ex-girlfriend.
   
“I’d love to,” says Luna, happily.
   
“It’s the best shot we got,” says Harry, shrugging. He and Luna put the cloak on and he and Luna leave the room together. A few moments later, Ron and Hermione leave for the Chamber of Secrets as well, saying they need to get Basilisk fangs.
   
More people start to enter through the tunnel then. Harry’s old Quidditch Captain’s Oliver Wood and Angelina Johnson enter first, followed by Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet, and many more members of the D.A. that have since left Hogwarts all come to our aid. It was so nice of them, but it was certainly not what we needed from them. I was glad to see them show up for us though.
   
That’s when the heads of house of Professor Sprout, Flitwick, and McGonagall all enter the room with Harry and Luna yelling about how we needed to get to the Great Hall now to evacuate because Hogwarts is under attack and the Professors are going to put some protection charms over the school but it will only hold them off temporarily. My friends all take off, Jude rushing to get to her younger siblings first, but I stay behind with the Weasley’s and the Order. “Come on, Luna,” Dean calls to her and takes her hand and runs off with her to the Great Hall.
   
Mrs. Weasley starts on Ginny, telling her to go home, and Ginny is not having it, saying she wants to fight. Then she rounds in on the twins, saying that they shouldn’t have let her come. Eventually, Mrs. Weasley said she could stay in the Room of Requirement, but that she was not allowed to leave it under any circumstances whatsoever, Ginny agreed to this because at least she’d still be allowed to be here.
   
That’s when another surprise exited the tunnel, Percy Weasley. “I’m sorry I’m late,” he says with a smile on his face. “I only just found out, so I – I – ”
   
There was a deafening silence in the room as we all looked at him. It wasn’t until Fleur broke it, saying, “So, how is little Teddy,” to Lupin.
   
“Oh, yeah, he’s fine,” he says, sounding proud. “Tonks is staying with him tonight. Here, I’ve got a picture now.” He pulls the photo out of his jacket pocket, and I rush over to him to see it. He was so cute, he looked like Lupin. I couldn’t wait to meet him.
   
“I was a fool!” Roared Percy, getting the attention again. “I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a – a –”
   
“A Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron,” says Fred.
   
“Exactly,” says Percy, nodding. “I was.”
   
“Well, you can’t say any fairer than that,” says George, holding out his hand to him and the brother’s shake. Mrs. Weasley burst into tears and hugged her son, while he patted her on the back and eyed his father.
   
“I’m sorry, dad,” he says. Mr. Weasley blinked rather rapidly, then he too hurried to hug his son.
   
We leave Ginny safe in the room then and head to the Great Hall. Everyone was sitting at their respective house tables. Lupin and Kingsley took to the stage with Professor McGonagall, standing behind her.
   
A girl at the Slytherin table asked where Professor Snape went, and Professor McGonagall said he has been sacked and the entire tables of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw erupted in cheers at the sound of it, but the Slytherin table stayed silent.
   
“We have already placed protection around the castle,” said Professor McGonagall, “But it’s unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. I must ask you, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your Prefects – ”
   
Her last words were drawn out by a different voice. It was cold, high-pitched, and clear. There was no telling where it came from; it seemed to issue from the walls themselves. Like the monster it commanded, it might have lain dormant for centuries.
   
“I know you are preparing to fight,” the voice said, “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. Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have until Midnight.”
   
Silence fell in the hall. Every eye in the place was now on Harry at the Gryffindor table. Then a figure rose from the Slytherin table, and the voice of Pansy Parkinson shouted, “He’s there! Right there! Someone grab him!”
    
We quickly huddled around Harry, protecting him. We would not let anything happen to him as long as we were around here. I had half a mind to last her into the wall to keep her back from Harry. She was always annoying, she'd deserve it.
   
That was when Professor McGonagall had Filch the caretaker take the Slytherin students back down to the dungeons. And she told them that they better choose their sides of the fight quickly as they were taken out of the Great Hall.
   
That was when Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall lead groups of fighters to the highest towers (Astronomy, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw) and they took equal groups with them. Fred, George, and Lee Jordan took groups of fighters to man the secret entrances into the castle. The rest of them all stayed on the grounds.
   
One thing was for sure. It was time to fight.

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Here's part 32!

It's time to fight!

The last chapter is the last chapter and then there will be an eiplogue.

-Emily Winchester.