the next day, while madison taylor recovered, the rest of the death-eaters finalized their plan.
"look like it's your time to shine," a man said as he walked in to take off maddy's chains.
"get out," draco crossed his arms. although the other death-eater wasn't scared of the boy, he obeyed and walked out. "do you think you're up to apparate?"
"yeah," maddy sighed, taking a sip of water from the cup draco handed her.
"are you-"
"stop bloody babying me!"
the next thing she knew, they were turning on the spot and appeared in a hallway at hogwarts.
"be safe," he warned as he grabbed crabbe and goyle, running in the opposite direction.
before maddy knew what she was doing, she saw a group of three running up the staircase and headed towards them, pushing them into an empty room.
"i'm too young to die!"
"theo, it's just maddy!"
"thank god you're okay," daphne went in for a hug but maddy took a step backwards, pulling up her new shirt to reveal the scar.
"greyback."
"why are we here?" blaise questioned.
"what side do you guys what to fight for?"
"the dark side," theo mumbled.
"no. i asked what side you three wanted to fight for, not the side your parents' want you to fight for."
the trio of slytherins shared a look.
"hogwarts," they spoke in unison.
"that's what i thought, so go out there and kick some death-eater ass," the taylor winked at them, disapparating and appearing behind the weasley's, who were arguing with ginny about her being under-age.
"my whole family's here, i can't stand there waiting alone-"
"i can protect her," maddy spoke out, causing the room to fall silent as their gaze fell upon her.
the small figure, with a scar on her right arm and a dark mark on the left.
a great thump broke the silence, someone crawling out the tunnel and being slightly unbalanced.
"am i too late? has it started? i only just found out, so i-"
percy stopped talking, realizing his whole family was in the room.
"so, 'ow eez leetle teddy?" fleur asked lupin, trying to break the tension.
"i—-oh, yes—-he's fine! yes, tonks is with him—-at her mother's."
all the red-heads were staring at each other.
"uhm, do you have a picture?" maddy shifted uncomfortably, walking towards him, sirius, harry, and fleur.
lupin quickly nodded, pulling out a photograph from inside his jacket and showing it to them. there was a tiny baby with a tuft of bright turquoise hair, waving fat fists at the camera.
"i was fool!" percy roared, causing remus to drop the photograph. sirius snorted and maddy reached for it, the sudden motion stinging her arm. "i was an idiot, i was a pompous prat, i was a-"
"ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry, moron," fred listed.
"yes, i was!"
"well, you can't say fairer than that," fred held out his hand, but was pushed aside by his crying mother.
"i'm sorry, dad," percy spoke to arthur while patting his mother's back. the older man blinked rather rapidly, hurrying to hug his son as well.
"what made you see sense, perce?" george enquired.
"it's been coming on for a while, but i had to find a way out and it's not so easy at the ministry, they're imprisoning traitors all the time. i managed to make contact with aberforth and he tipped me off ten minutes ago that hogwarts was going to make a fight of it, so here i am."
"well, we do look to our prefects to take a lead at times such as these. now, let's get upstairs and fight, or all the good death-eaters'll be taken."
"so you're my sister-in-law now?" percy shook hands with fleur as the boys hurried off towards the staircase.
when they passed maddy, they all sent her a small smile.
"are you sure you're okay to fight?" molly carefully asked.
"yes, and i promise i'll keep ginny safe."
"no, she's underage-"
"mum!"
"trust me," maddy softly said.
"fine," molly sighed.
"where's phoebe, ron and hermione?"
𓆉
mcgonagall was speaking from the raised platform in the great hall while harry and maddy skirted the walls, looking for the other three of the group.
"-evacuation will be overseen by mister filch and madam pomfrey. prefects, when i say the word, you will organize your house and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point."
"and what if we want to stay and fight?" ernie macmillan stood up at the hufflepuff table.
"if you are of age, you may stay."
"what about our things? our trunks, our owls?" a ravenclaw girl called.
"we have no time to collect possessions. the important thing is to get you out of here safely."
"where's professor snape?" a slytherin asked, causing maddy to face that way, making eye contact with daphne, blaise and theo.
"he has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk," mcgonagall informed, cheers erupting for the red, yellow and blue tables. harry glanced at madison, sending her a sympathetic look.
faces turned into the direction of the duo, whispers being heard as they passed by.
"we have already placed protection around the castle, 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 frowned as a different voice echoed throughout the hall. it was high, cold, clear, and no one knew where it was coming from.
"i know that you are preparing to fight. your efforts are futile. you cannot fight me. i do not want to kill you. i have great respect for the teachers at hogwarts. i do not want to spill magical blood. give me harry potter and the taylor twins, and none shall be harmed. give me them, and i shall leave the school untouched. give me them, and you will be rewarded. you have until midnight."
silence swallowed them all again. every eye in the place seemed to find harry and maddy, binding them to their spot.
"but they're there! potter's there! one of the taylor's are there! someone grab them!"
before either of them could speak, there was a massive movement. all the gryffindors, hufflepuffs, and ravenclaws got to their feet, but instead of facing harry and maddy, they looked at pansy.
the slytherin trio maddy had come to love followed the lead of the other houses, and others from theirs shared looks.
next thing everyone knew, a group of slytherins rushed up, joining the big group.
"thank you, miss parkinson. you will leave the hall first with mister filch. if the rest of your house could follow."
the grinding of benches was heard, and soon, only a group of those wearing green and silver were left.
"ravenclaws, follow on!"
slowly, the four tables emptied. while mcgonagall scolded those underage, harry and maddy hurried over to the weasley's, who were all seated together at the gryffindor table.
"where are ron, phoebe and hermione?"
"haven't you found-"
the worried arthur broke off as kingsley stepped forwards on the raised platform.
"we've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast! a battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of hogwarts and the order of the phoenix. professors flitwick, sprout and mcgonagall are all 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, sirius, arthur 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," fred interrupted, gesturing between himself and george.
"we'll take care of ginny," george whispered to maddy, sharing a look with his younger sister.
"alright, leaders up here and we'll divide up the troops."
"potter, aren't you supposed to be looking for something?"
"what? oh, oh yeah!" harry remembered.
"then go, potter, go!"
"right—yeah," harry gave maddy a quick, soft hug, being sure not to hurt her, and rushing out of the great hall.
"taylor," minnie sighed, pulling her aside. "i'm aware this isn't the right time for a heartfelt moment, but i just wanted to inform you of how proud i am. that prophecy, it's not the truth. it's not the future. it has never been and it will never be. promise me you'll prove it wrong and make me even more proud."
"i promise. cross my heart and hope to die. if i do, then so be it. at least i'll have died protecting this place."
"very well, now go ahead and do what you do best."
"which is?"
"keeping people from dying," minnie answered as if it were the most obvious thing ever.
word count- 1491
date written- december 10, 2020