Always and Forever

Chapter 37

George POV

Chaos reigned at the battle. The charging centaurs coming from the Forbidden Forest were confusing the Death Eaters and scattering them across the courtyard and into the Great Hall. George reached out and grabbed Hermione's non-casting arm, dragging her away from the chaos and into the castle walls with the rest of the Order.

The two of them were casting Shield Charms to help their friends get up the front steps. George swiftly cast one over Charlie as he was trying to help Professor Slughorn get to safety. The older professor looked rather out of breath from all of the fighting.

Hermione let out a gasp and his eyes turned, seeing what would cause her to be so shocked. The house-elves of Hogwarts swarmed into the entrance hall, screaming and waving carving knives and cleavers. Leading the pack of small elves was Kreacher. He opened his mouth and screamed, "Fight! Fight! Fight for my Master, defender of house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus Black! Fight!"

"Hermione!" Ginny called out for back up the same time that George spotted Lee struggling to remain in control of a battle with Yaxley.

Hermione and George looked into each other's eyes. "I'll see you at the end of this."

"That's a promise, you know." George gave her a small, tight smile.

The two separated to help their fellow Gryffindors. Yaxley was looking grim and tired from the battle, no longer, having the sinister confidence that the Death Eaters had moments ago when they thought they were winning. He was throwing nasty and illegal hexes and jinxes towards the two.

George and Lee were not letting this Death Eater take another soul in the battle. The two worked in tandem to cast spells at the older dark wizard. He lost his wand and George punched him square in the face before Lee slammed him to the ground. "That felt a lot better than a Stupefy." Lee cracked a joke as they scanned the room to see what other Order and Dumbledore's Army members needed assistance in battle.

George was swept with emotion as he saw Dolohov fall at Professor Flitwick's skilled wand movements, Macnair thrown across the room by sheer force of Hagrid, Greyback being struck down by his younger brother and Neville, and Thicknesse being struck down by his dad and Percy. It was like the turning of a page of a new book. They were winning the battle.

Voldemort was in the middle of the Great Hall. He was not giving up without a mean fight. He was battling with McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley, all at once, and there was cold hatred in his face as they wove and ducked around him, unable to finish him off. George went to move towards them but haulted by the sound of Hermione letting out a small yelp.

Bellatrix with her wild, curly, black hair, moving around her as if it had dark magic coursing through the strands was still battling as well. She was cackling and taunting her duelers. George wanted to throw up and collapse at the same time when he saw who was brave enough to battle her.

The bright blonde hair of Luna Lovegood was dancing around the evil witch. Her face was covered in dirt and blood and he had never seen such an intense look of hatred and determination on the strange girl's face. Next to her, the bright red hair of his baby sister caught his attention. Ginny. She was casting every hex and jinx that she knew and was using her athletic skills to keep her from standing in one place for too long, not to catch the wrath of the crazy Death Eater. That should've been the worst, seeing Ginny battling Bellatrix.

But the person who really made his stomach flip at the thought of the danger they were in was his beautiful and brave Hermione. Her curly hair was bouncing around her face as she dove and jumped out of the way of the illegal hexes that Bellatrix was throwing her way. She was casting both verbal and non-verbal spells towards the witch and didn't look scared, only determined and tired.