Sarah vanished the next instant. Barnaby just managed to remember Elena this time, grabbing her hand before disapparating. As he spun on the spot, he heard Talbott yelling for them to wait. Barnaby ignored him.
They landed just outside the gate that separated the Hogwarts grounds from the village of Hogsmeade. It was as close to the castle as they could possibly get through apparition. Barnaby dropped Elena's hand and sprinted up the hill after Sarah, who had already ran several meters ahead.
It was near pitch dark now, and before the castle loomed into view, Barnaby saw it--an eerie, green glow suspended high in the air. It was the mark, the mark on Merula's and his parents' arms, the mark Death Eaters placed above a location where they had just murdered. The Dark Mark. The skeletal eyes glowered down at him, and the serpent wound its way through the stars, hissing at him. "Go away," it seemed to whisper. "You'll find only death here."
But Barnaby just ran harder. He could see the castle now. Lights were blazing to life in the windows across the castle as people inside were woken up by the commotion. As he drew closer, Barnaby could hear the sounds of shouting and loud bangs. Every now and then, a jet of light would shoot across a window.
Sarah blasted the castle doors open with a spell and charged through. Barnaby and Elena slipped through before they swung shut again. Barnaby's chest felt like it was being squeezed by an icy hand, but he ran up the grand marble staircase, toward the astronomy tower.
"They've blocked it! Reducto! Reducto!" shouted a man, as they arrived near the doorway that led to the astronomy tower. The door had been blocked by tons of ice and stone. Two adults, Barnaby assumed they were Order members, were chipping away at it with blasting curses, while a battle raged around them.
"Duck!" Barnaby dove forward and tackled Sarah to the ground. They landed hard on the marble steps, but the jet of red light that had been aimed at Sarah's chest missed the top of her head by inches.
They jumped to their feet and held out their wands, trying to work out who was friend and who was foe. Barnaby spotted Professor McGonagall; her hat missing and her normally tight hair bun unraveled as she dueled with a figure in dark robes.
"Impedimenta!" he shouted, and the figure slowed, his wand moving through the air like a sloth moving along a vine.
McGonagall was able to blast him backward. He hit the railing over the staircase so hard that he flipped over it backwards and landed on the floor below.
Barnaby continued to fire spell after spell at the Death Eaters. He barely noticed when he, Elena, and Sarah were joined by the others.
"Watch out!" he heard Penny shriek.
One of the Death Eaters was being particularly destructive, using his wand to separate the lower staircases and fling the giant hunks of marble at them.
"Arressto Momentum!" Sarah shouted, and the giant chunk of marble slowed on its journey to crush them.
Talbott transfigured the hunk of stone into a flurry of snow and it cascaded down upon the fighters as they battled furiously on.
Barnaby glanced back at the bit of staircase that had been removed. He saw a group of students in their pajamas beneath it, staring up at them with pale, horrorstruck faces.
"Go back!" he shouted at them. "Get out of here!"
He just managed to place a shield charm in front of kids as the same Death Eater blasted another chunk of castle wall at them. The stone rebounded from the charm and fell toward the floor, hundreds of feet below. The students, many of them first years by the looks of them, screamed and ran back down the corridor.
The battle continued. Twice Barnaby saw a jet of green light miss his body by a fraction. He had never been in a situation quite like this before. He saw bodies falling around him, but he didn't have time to check on who they were or if they were alright.
Finally, just as the blockade had been completely removed from the tower entrance, the door banged open.
"It is done. Get out. NOW!"
Barnaby didn't see the person who had spoken, but he recognized the oily, enraged voice. Professor Snape.
A few of the Death Eaters let out gleeful cackles and shot final spells at their enemies before rushing down the stairs in retreat. One of them waved a wand and the missing chunk of staircase came together again just as they ran down it.
"No!"
The Order members, teachers, and a few older students divided, some rushing up to the tower, some pausing to help the injured, and some pursuing the Death Eaters.
Barnaby was knocked to the side by a spell, and he slammed his head so hard against the railing of the marble staircase that his vision blurred. He held onto the railing to pull himself up, his vision adjusting enough to recognize Snape sweeping past, moving quickly but surely. He was dragging a boy along with him, a boy with white-blonde hair and an even whiter face.
Barnaby shook his head, saw a mess of long, blonde hair charging down the staircase, and made to follow, but he was knocked to the side again, this time by a boy with black hair, who was sprinting down the stairs at such a speed, Barnaby didn't get a good look at him.
"Potter, come back here!" he heard McGonagall call, but the boy was already a floor down.
The Death Eaters were making their expeditious retreat. The Death Eater who seemed bent on destroying the whole castle conjured a giant boulder to land behind them and block their pursuers' path, freezing it in place. Sarah had to jump backward to avoid being crushed by it.
A collective breath was taken as those that remained felt the release of being out of immediate danger.
Sarah raised her wand to work away at the giant boulder, but McGonagall, unfazed at suddenly being surrounded by so many former students, shouted, "Spellman! You and your friends help get those injured to the hospital wing! We'll take care of this."
She, Professor Flitwick, and few other Order Members set to work on the rock. Barnaby helped carry the bloodied mess that was Bill Weasley to the hospital wing, while the others performed healing charms on those who were less gravely injured.
Madam Pomfrey was in a state like Barnaby had never seen before. As soon as Bill was laid on the bed, she tossed Barnaby out so she could set to work. He found the others outside waiting for him.
"Will Bill be alright?" Sarah asked. Barnaby knew he thought of Bill as an older brother.
"Dunno, Pomfrey wouldn't tell me anything." He was covered in Bill's blood.
"I didn't see any dead bodies," said Talbott. "What was the Dark Mark for?"
"There was a body," said Elena, her voice a hoarse whisper. "I saw it as we ran in. At the foot of the tower. An old man, long white hair and beard."
She looked very sick.
They all shared grave looks, until Sarah cracked a smile and actually chuckled.
"No, it wasn't."
"Yes, I saw it."
"That's not what you saw," said Sarah firmly, settling the matter. And of course she was right. Elena's description only fit one person at Hogwarts, and that person couldn't possibly be dead.
"You should do something about that," said Barnaby, pointed at the bleeding cut below Elena's eye that he'd only just noticed. "I would, but I'm no good at healing spells."
"Here," said Sarah. If she thought thrusting her wand at Elena's face would cause her to flinch, she was wrong. "Episkey!" Elena's cut vanished and the blood disappeared.
"I think we should leave," said Jacob. "The Death Eaters are long gone by now. There's nothing else we can do, and the less people who recognize our faces the better."
Nobody seemed to want to leave, but when Jacob turned and stalked down the corridor, one by one, they followed.
As the came upon the entrance hall, they witnessed what appeared to be the entire castle running about, in various states of undress and all with shocked, pained expressions, like the ones Barnaby remembered seeing in his textbooks on the Dark Arts.
They traveled down a river of whispers.
"Dead. Yes, dead. In the Courtyard."
"He can't be!"
"That's what I saw!"
"It was Dumbledore!"
Sarah ran ahead of the others, pushing by the confused members of the crowd as they all filed past the great oak doors.
The only light in the courtyard shone down from the castle windows, the twinkling stars, and the angry green glow of the Dark Mark above them.
A crowd had gathered around the base of the astronomy tower, standing several feet back from a boy who was crouched on the ground. The boy had dark hair and glasses. Barnaby realized it was the same boy who had pushed passed him on the staircase during the battle. Harry Potter.
Harry was gazing down at a broken body; the body of an old wizard, his long silver hair and beard flailed about on the stone floor. Barnaby stared at the body, glaring at it until his eyes watered, trying to make sense of what he saw, to realize his eyes had played tricks on him. But, there was no mistake.
Albus Dumbledore was dead.
He heard whispers and sobbing. How could this have happened? The whole night seemed to be asking. Nobody seemed sure what to do; they all just stood, staring at Dumbledore, as though waiting for him to spring to his feet and admit to the joke.
Hagrid howled in agony and his dog, Fang, howled balefully beside him. Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, had taken flight, circling the battlements of the tallest tower and singing a song that was so beautiful and sad, Barnaby could feel his heart breaking.
A light at the corner of his eye made him look away from the body. Professor McGonagall, her hat back in place on her head, had raised her illuminated wand in the air. One by one, the other members of the crowed followed suit. Barnaby raised his own wand, catching a glimpse of the others as he did.
Penny was sobbing quietly into Talbott's shoulder. Talbott's usually sleek hair was askew as he stared on gravely. Diego wiped his watery eyes with his sleeve. Tulip had closed her eyes, protecting herself from the horrible, impossible scene before her. Sarah just looked at Dumbledore with her wand held up, tears falling freely down her face. Jacob and Merula wore similar expressions, expressions he understood well. Quiet fury. Even Elena seemed to understand the dire hopelessness of the situation. She watched on somberly, as the school mourned the loss of their general for good, while the army of evil laughed and celebrated.
At last, McGonagall recovered enough from the shock to address the students. She gave a small speech Barnaby barely heard, then ushered the students inside so the teachers could tend to the body. Students slowly filed back into the castle. Barnaby saw a trio move to stand beside Harry Potter. A boy with fiery red hair rested a hand on his shoulder, while a girl with bushy brown hair sobbed behind them. A ginger girl held Harry's hand as he stood up, and the four of them headed into the castle together.
Once the students had all gone, McGonagall addressed Barnaby and the others. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of Jacob, who was said to be dead, and Merula, who she knew to have joined the Death Eaters, but all she said was, "Thank you all. There might have been many more causalities if not for your help."
Barnaby had never seen his professor cry before. She was always so controlled. But there was no sense of control anymore.
"What do we do now?" Tulip asked. "All our orders came directly from..."
"The Order of the Phoenix will have to regroup," said McGonagall, her voice shaking. "I'm sure we will reach out to you when we can. Until then, I suggest you...stay safe."
Then, she did something he never imagined McGonagall would do. She reached out to touch each of them in turn, little things like bringing one of Penny's ruined braids forward to rest on her shoulder, and stroking Barnaby's cheek with a shaking hand.
"You've all grown so much," she said.
But, he could tell that when she looked at them, she didn't see adults. She saw a group of eleven-year-olds.
"Go on then," she said. And she turned and stepped back to the broken body on the ground, without looking back.