⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅
EBONY AND SLUGHORN ENTERED THE SLYTHERIN COMMON ROOM. Ebony made an alarm go off which made everyone leave their dorms and gather around them. Many were surprised to see the woman back in their common room, others looked confused.
Ebony looked at Professor Slughorn to begin to speak. After all -- he was their Head of House. "I, well. . . it is like this. . . this day, er -- I want to. . . we all. . ." Ebony rolled her eyes and pushed the man aside. She lowered her voice to match the way she spoke to her Quidditch team at the time.
"Listen up, there is a gathering in the Great Hall! I expect every single one of you to move your lazy asses down the corridors and silently move towards the Great Hall! You will get more information over there! Understood?" For a moment it was quiet, everybody still seemed to be against her but then Blaise spoke up.
"Understood, captain!" With that, Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass followed.
"Understood, captain!"
There was -- once again -- pride that bottled inside her chest. Soon, every Slytherin student followed her orders and began to move down the corridor towards the Great Hall. They were quiet and moved rather quickly. Slughorn was stunned.
The enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall was dark and scattered with stars, and below it the four long House tables were lined with disheveled students, some in traveling cloaks, others in dressing gowns. Here and there shone the pearly white figures of the school ghosts.
Every eye, living and dead, was fixed upon Professor McGonagall, who was speaking from the raised platform at the top of the Hall. Behind her stood the remaining teachers, including the palomino centaur, Firenze, and the members of the Order of the Phoenix who had arrived to fight.
"...evacuation will be overseen by Mr. Filch and Madam Pomfrey. Prefects, when I give the word, you will organize your House and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point."
Many of the students looked petrified. However, as Harry skirted the walls, scanning the Gryffindor table for Ron and Hermione, Ernie Macmillan stood up at the Hufflepuff table and shouted, "And what if we want to stay and fight?"
There was a smattering of applause.
"If you are of age, you may stay," said Professor McGonagall.
"What about our things?" called a girl at the Ravenclaw table. "Our trunks, our owls?"
"We have no time to collect possessions," said Professor McGonagall. "The important thing is to get you out of here safely."
"Where's Professor Snape?" shouted a girl from the Slytherin table.
"He has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk," replied Professor McGonagall, and a great cheer erupted from the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws.
Harry moved up the Hall alongside the Gryffindor table, still looking for Ron and Hermione. As he passed, faces turned in his direction, and a great deal of whispering broke out in his wake.
"We have already placed protection around the castle," Professor McGonagall was saying, "but it is 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—"
But her final words were drowned as a different voice echoed throughout the Hall. It was high, cold, and clear: There was no telling from where it came; it seemed to issue from the walls themselves. Like the monster it had once commanded, it might have lain dormant there for centuries.
"I know that you are preparing to fight." There were screams amongst the students, some of whom clutched each other, looking around in terror for the source of the sound. "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."
There was silence in the Hall now, the kind of silence that presses against the eardrums, that seems too huge to be contained by walls.
"Give me Harry Potter," said Voldemort's voice, "and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded.
"You have until midnight."
The silence swallowed them all again. Every head turned, every eye in the place seemed to have found Harry, to hold him frozen in the glare of thousands of invisible beams. Then a figure rose from the Slytherin table and he recognized Pansy Parkinson, she looked at Ebony.
"What do we do?" She asked the woman in front of her.
"You're asking me?" Ebony asked back.
"You're our captain." Pansy looked absolutely terrified. "You said you would always be there for us." Ebony looked at the entire Slytherin group and nodded. "We have take him, we have to take Potter."
Before Harry could speak, there was a massive movement. The Gryffindors in front of him had risen and stood facing, not Harry, but the Slytherins. Then the Hufflepuffs stood, and almost at the same moment, the Ravenclaws, all of them with their backs to Harry, all of them looking toward Pansy instead.
"Pansy--"
"Our parents will be there!" She yelled, tears in her eyes. "I don't want to disappoint them!" It broke her heart, she nodded and looked at her own house.
"Your parents made a choice long ago." Ebony stated. "They chose whether to fight against or with Voldemort. Their decision does not affect you! You are your own person! You have your own choices. I know it's hard, alright? Being someone you're not allowed to be, it's incredibly hard and scary but. . . you're not doing it alone."
Pansy looked towards her fellow Slytherins, Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass and Flora Carrow -- the members of the Quidditch Team Ebony had made -- nodded at her. Pansy took a deep breath and nodded as well.
"We want to be our own person, make our own choices."
"We do not want to live in the shadows of our parents." Blaise stated. "We want to do what's right."
"I am proud of you." Ebony said and watched them all smile softly. "So proud."
They followed Slughorn down to be seperated into who was allowed and who wasn't allowed to fight along. Ebony walked over towards the Gryffindor table.
"We've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast!" Kingsley stated. "A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers—Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor—where they'll have a good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus"—he indicated Lupin—"Arthur"—he pointed toward Mr. Weasley, sitting at the Gryffindor table—"and I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organize defense of the entrances of the passageways into the school—"
"Sounds like a job for us," called Fred, indicating himself and George, and Kingsley nodded his approval.
"All right, leaders up here and we'll divide up the troops!"
"Potter," said Professor McGonagall, hurrying up to him, as students flooded the platform, jostling for position, receiving instructions, "Aren't you supposed to be looking for something?"
"What? Oh," said Harry, "oh yeah!"
"Then go, Potter, go!"
"Right—yeah—"
"Hey, we see each other after, right?" Fred told Ebony, he had taken ahold of her arm and looked down at her with worried eyes.
"Of course, we will both make it." Ebony stated to which Fred nodded back at her. He smiled softly and leaned down, he pressed his lips against hers and it felt -- somehow -- as if it was a goodbye kiss. When he pulled away, he smiled at her and followed his brother outside. Oh God.
⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅
Written: 28/07/2023
Word Count: 1277