When we stepped into the room, it was fairly packed with old members of Dumbledore's Army who quieted when the portrait opened for another time.
"Don't you think your mum will murder you for sneaking Ginny with us?" I whispered to George.
"Gin can fight, and we can protect her," George nodded.
I took his hand, after getting the message we'd gone to the Order members who were hanging about the safe house and informed them of what was possibly going to happen. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went off to get Bill and Fleur while George, Fred, and I apparated to Hogsmeade, but of course Ginny had heard when she passed by the kitchen so we had to take her.
"Besides, mum will murder us for another reason soon enough," Fred shrugged. "Aberforth's getting a bit annoyed, Neville," when several shouted at our arrival. "Not too happy his place is like King's Cross out there."
I nodded as I jumped to the floor, I felt my hands pulled forward into a tight hug, the air left my lungs quickly and I gasped to breath as Seamus released me.
"Seamus," I grinned, he looked completely horrible, what the bloody hell had happened?
"Finnigan," George's voice was like a low growl behind me, I closed my eyes, not wanting to even picture his face as he stared down Seamus.
But I didn't have to imagine it, Seamus' face reflected slight panic as he quickly stepped away from me. I turned on George, his face was soft as he smiled innocently at me, but I had seen it. The look he had been giving Seamus, it was a deadly one that threatened destruction, Fred was purposely turning away from us.
"Fred, George!" Oliver Wood appeared, not feeling the tension. The second George's eyes left mine I pushed Seamus away from the danger and forced him over to Dean.
"I'm going to guess that you're with George," Seamus looked at me expectantly, I nodded which made him grin. "Dean, pay up."
"Have....you had a bet...on my love life?" I questioned.
Seamus and Dean looked at each other not knowing what to say, Dean slightly tilted to his head to Seamus who averted his gaze.
"On second thought. I'm going to get George," I raised an eyebrow and turned around.
"Alright! Alright! We had a slight bet....But that was made months ago!" Seamus grabbed my wrist.
I smirked, "so what exactly is going on here?"
"We're heading for a fight," Seamus nodded. "Potter just left with Luna to go to the Ravenclaw common room and look at something," he shrugged.
I looked around, noticing how much fuller the room was compared to earlier, all of the Order was present which meant that word had spread. I felt my heart skip a few beats as I looked around, I'd had made myself sick over the thought of fighting and losing people and now here we were...getting ready for battle. I waved off Seamus and Dean and ran into George's side. Burrowing my face into his ribs as he talked with Angelina and Oliver, George's arms wrapped around me securely and out of the corner of my eye I noticed Angelina's face was one of jealousy.
"Harry, what exactly is going on?" I heard Lupin's voice float toward us.
Looking up I saw Harry conversing with Lupin, all students falling silent.
"We're fighting," was all I heard Harry say before cheers were sounded around the room before people began to leave.
"I'm fighting and that's final!" Ginny was protesting to her mother who was demanding she go back home. "I'm in Dumbledore's Army!"
"That's just a teenager's gang!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.
"A gang that's about to take him on, which no one else seems to be doing," Fred spoke up, I groaned. That wasn't helping this argument.
"She's only sixteen! How could you bring her with you--"
"Ginny, mum's right. You can't fight, everyone underage is leaving," Bill spoke gently.
"I can't! Not with my entire family here!" Ginny protested. She was about to say more when the portrait hole flew open to reveal Percy Weasley. I raised an eyebrow as George stiffened beside me, it's been a few years since he'd seen his older brother, even though he was prat, I bet George missed him deep down.
"I was a fool, a pompous prat...I was a..."
"Minstry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron," Fred finished for Percy who only nodded.
"I'm sorry, Dad," Percy said.
I averted my gaze as Percy was embraced by his parents, George's hands found mine while Fred's hands found my shoulders. They must've known what I was thinking about, what I was remembering...Even though my heart was hammering from the torture the scene brought me I still felt happy, because I had two great people who felt just as strongly for me.
~*~*~
After the reconciliation, we all hurried to the Great Hall where people began to speak up at our arrival. I stood between Fred and George, it felt so normal to be standing like this as Voldemort's voice filled the hall.
"Give me Harry Potter and no one will 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 to give me him." Voldemort's voice echoed around us, when it disappeared everyone looked around, I caught George's eye, he looked at me terrified.
"Someone grab him! He's right there!" Pansy Parkinson shouted from the Slytherin table.
Instantly, everyone but the Slytherins stood as one to protect Harry, all wands pointed toward Parkinson and her pug face.
"Thank you Miss Parkinson, you will leave first along with your entire house escorted by Filch," McGongall instructed as Kingsley took to the podium McGonagall had once occupied.
George shifted beside me, cupping my face in his hands, he was smiling but his eyes were filled with concern. "I'm going to save us from having a heated argument and say I know I can't stop you from fighting, but I need you to be safe," he said quickly.
I kissed him gently, "I need you to be safe."
"We're going to get separated and I need you to take care. I don't know what I'd do if anything were to happen to you," he was studying my face, possibly trying to remember every last detail before we were separated.
"So does that mean we won't be together during this?" I whispered.
George looked over at Kingsley as he shouted orders for all of us, "Fred and I are to take positions somewhere that Lupin has to show us."
I nodded, my heart sinking slightly, he waited for me to say something but I couldn't speak. "I can watch her," Oliver spoke up when he appeared beside us. George released my face and frowned, "I'm going to be flying the grounds and could use a hand."
George looked at me, I chewed on my lip and nodded, I'd have an advantage of being in the sky at least. I could remain hidden under the night sky better than on the ground. "I'll help you, Wood," I smiled.
Oliver grinned, "I'll just step over here....let you two finish up," he quickly walked off.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" George whispered.
"It's an advantage, you taught me everything about flying and we know I'm great at spells," I said explaining the pros, even though they were true, I felt uneasy.
George looked worried but nodded once before kissing me passionately, when we broke apart we were both breathless. "Be safe, lovely," he kissed my forehead as he stepped away.
I was picked up and hugged tightly by Fred who laughed and kissed my temple lightly, "be safe, poppet. We'll meet back up shortly." He nodded.
"Be safe, Freddie," I murmured as I hugged him tightly and he turned to listen to Kingsley.
"Don't worry, nothing can ever hurt those two," Wood tried to comfort me.
I smiled slightly and nodded, "so where to, Wood?"
"We need to get brooms first," he nodded. "Good ones," he muttered more to himself.
I frowned, "can we make it to the pitch quick enough?"
"If we head for it right now, we can," Oliver nodded.
I looked over at Fred and George who were calling to taking care of the secret passages that led to Hogwarts, of course they would be handling those, I sighed and quickly followed Wood. With one last fleeting look I saw the twins looking at me, I gave them a small smile and they grinned, I waved and ran off after Wood to get brooms.
*Fred's POV*
I watched Kayley take off with Oliver Wood, heading off toward the oak front doors which could only mean one thing for sure...they were heading to the quidditch pitch. I rolled my eyes, typical Wood. But my palms began sweating as I waited for my group to form, Lee stood beside me smiling as we got a group of seven others with us.
"Come on, I know where we should go first," I instructed as I headed toward an empty stand where a statue had once stood.
As we stood there I felt the castle quake, Lee and I looked at each other. The castle was strong and sturdy, there was no way that had been real.
"Everything alright, mate?" Lee asked.
"Nice night for a fight, eh?" I grinned at him. Even though I felt completely nervous the longer we stood there. Waiting for the inevitable.
"Going to be a long night," Hannah Abbot nodded quietly.
"We'll make it through," I smiled slightly. I don't know if I meant to make myself feel better but I didn't, and as we stood there I was getting increasingly nervous.
*George's POV*
I felt the castle quake underneath me as I stood before a passage I'd taken with Kayley to get to Hogsmeade, just standing here made me nervous. Kayley wasn't with me. She was off fighting somewhere else and from here I could just make out flashes of spells and hovering figures in the sky. I wondered if one of them was her, but I couldn't tell.
I began hearing screams, becoming louder with every second and then black cloaks appeared.
"Lookout!" I shouted to the group of Ravenclaws I had with me as spells were shot at us.
The fight was here now and the Death Eaters looked ready to murder, many shouted the killing curse like it was as easy as any other jinx. That made me almost vomit as I stunned each one that appeared before me. I only hoped that Kayley was safe as two people were brought down before my own eyes.
~*~*~
I'm doing the battle in parts. Hope that's acceptable!! :)