I was really thankful to Draco Malfoy who had informed us about the Death Eater's plan. If not for that, we would have been completely unaware of what was to come that night... and there was a lot.

The castle was asleep. The majority of the students were resting before the exams that were awaiting them in the following days, some of them were still revising the material. None of them, though, could be aware of what was to come – and we truly hoped that they would not have to be aware. Because that was exactly the point – to dispose of the Death Eaters without raising any suspicions.

Besides, I was convinced that it was not only about the students' suspicions. In their case, the main problem was their frame of mind; it was the worst moment for the school to be attacked, and our enemies were well aware of that. But it were not the students that were supposed to remain blissfully unaware.

Our main point was not to let the Death Eaters at large know that we know their plans. We did not want Lestrange and his supporters to find out that we had been fighting with the ones he had sent to Hogwarts. Otherwise, he would most probably send reinforcements, and I was aware of the fact that we were terribly outnumbered that even without that we had really little chance of survival.

Just like the Headmistress had said, there were not many people who would be capable of helping us, since involving too many people from outside the castle could put the students on their guard, the same was with engaging too many teachers. She had promised us, though, that she would join the battle. After all, she was the Headmistress. Her duty was to protect Hogwarts and everyone inside.

Now, along with Severus, I sat in his room; he was busy preparing some potions which, as he thought, could come in handy. The ones which he already had in his storage, now stood in row on the table in front of him.

"I don't know if I'm going to use any of these," he muttered under his breath, and I raised my eyes from over the book in which I tried to find any spells and jinxes that might be useful. "The potions are hardly convenient in the battles."

I frowned a little and put the book in my lap, slowly turning the page. I was doing it unconsciously, because my whole attention was focused on Severus.

"I know that you're one of the greatest Dark Arts expert," I said after a moment. "You'll be fine, with or without the potions."

Snape sighed and put off the fire under the cauldron. With one flick of his wand he poured its contents into a small bottle which he immediately corked. The cauldron itself he cleaned right after.

"You wanted to say that I'm great at Dark Arts... that'd be right," he said quite sourly, not even looking in my direction.

"No, you know perfectly that this is not what I meant," I answered, standing up. I put the book aside, then walked over to Severus. "You know how to fight them... Perhaps because you know how to use them, too, but it doesn't change the fact that you know counter-spells... counter-curses that could save our lives for sure."

"You're overestimating me, Shirley," said Snape after a moment of silence. Only then did he look up and glance me right in the eye. "In the majority of cases fighting skills don't matter. Potter, for instance... he's defeated many qualified wizards. All of this not because he had such skills or talent, no... what he had was luck. And in many cases only luck can save our lives... even though I would rather believe this is not the case."

I put my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me, surprised, then gently caressed it with his fingers.

"I have a feeling that I've already run out of luck, Shirley."

"Then add some to your supply," I answered with a soft smile.

"I don't brew Felix Felicis on a daily basis, if that's what you mean." Snape frowned slightly. "More than that, I believe that the less one uses this potion, the better, so I haven't brewed it for at least several years."

"It doesn't change the fact that you might need it tonight," I noticed.

"Can't you hear anything I say, Shirley?" said Severus, looking at me angrily. "I do not brew this potion."

I could not help but smile, even though the expression on Severus's face should have rather made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I ran over to my trunk, in which I still kept my things (the wardrobe was taken by Severus, and I had not agreed to his idea of making place for my things even there), and then started searching through my clothes. On the very bottom I found a tiny phial about which I had almost completely forgotten.

"Where did you get it?" asked Snape, apparently surprised. "I don't believe that you'd be able to brew a potion as complex as..."

"I didn't brew it," I answered quickly, shaking my head. I returned to him and tucked the bottle into his hand. Snape was so shocked that he did not even object. "During my classes with Professor Slughorn I had managed to achieve such satisfactory results that I got it as a reward... until now, I have never considered it necessary to use it, so I always had it in my trunk. But tonight it might actually come in handy."

Snape did not answer. He stared at me in shock mixed with doubt. I, however, had no doubts. If I ever were to use Liquid Luck, it would be exactly when that one night was about to decide whether I would survive or not.

"There's not much... it'll be enough for just one person," noticed Severus, weighing the bottle in his hand. "If we share it..."

"I know that it won't work as well or as long as it should... but there's no better solution, is there?"

I looked him in the eye and smiled. After a while, I noticed a hint of smile on his face, too. We had to make it.

Late in the evening, Flitwick informed us that nothing could stop him from participating in the battle. He did not want to watch whatever could happen and have no influence on it. Once again I remembered why he had used to be my favourite teacher when I had still been at school. When he had been young, he had been a Duelling Champion, and once he had told me in secret that the Sorting Hat during his Sorting, had not been sure if he would not make a decent Gryffindor. Now, I finally understood why.

However, I still had a strange feeling that even after having drunk Felix Felicis we would not be safe. After all, in Azkaban, there were many Death Eaters, and there were only four of us, even with McGonagall and Flitwick.

Everything was about to change, though, which I soon discovered. A few people had come to Hogwarts, using the cover of night and other miraculous solutions.

"Who?" I heard Snape's quiet question, as he had just stuck out his head behind the door to talk to McGonagall. "No... I know nothing of that... I haven't summoned anyone. Do you really think I would have summoned him?"

When he had returned to the room after a while, I looked at him in surprise.

"What were you talking about?" I asked.

"Some people have got to know about the attack," answered Snape, and in his voice I could hear a hint I had never heard before. It was not fear... "Someone must have told them, because I... I have only told you and McGonagall."

"If not you, then who?"

Despite the question I had just asked, I had a feeling that I knew who the secret informant could be. Snape probably thought the same, because when he glanced at me, he narrowed his eyes, yet did not answer.

My suspicions were confirmed a quarter of an hour later, when, together with Severus, we entered the Entrance Hall, as directed by McGonagall.

"Oh God," I whispered, staring at the people gathered there.

Besides me, Severus, McGonagall and Flitwick, there were quite a lot of people. The first one that drew my attention was Lucius Malfoy in his black robes and hair tied at the back of his head. To his right stood his son, strangely similar to him.

"I thought you might need some help," said Draco with a soft smile, slipping his hands into the pockets of his robes and looking around proudly. "I've summoned a couple of people who, I think, could help us tonight."

Behind Dracon stood no-one else but Neville Longbottom, staring at the floor, but I could have sworn that a few seconds before he had been looking in my direction. My heart began beating a bit faster; with him by my side, I felt a bit better.

Yet they were not the only ones gathered in the Entrance Hall. Some of them I had never seen in my life, or at least for a couple of years.

"Let me introduce you some of my acquaintances," Draco addressed me, making a step forward. "Our old friend, Harry Potter, currently an Auror," he said, pointing to a young man with dark, disheveled hair, who raised his hand in greeting. "Then... Ronald Weasley, an ex-Auror." Now, he pointed at the red-haired man, standing not far from Harry. "Hermione Granger, a Ministry employee." The woman, who had just been introduced by Draco, smiled and waved her hand.

Apart from the famous trio, even more people appeared in the school. George Weasley with his brother Percy, Aberforth Dumbledore from Hogsmeade, Hagrid and Madam Pomfrey, as well as some other people, but there was not enough time to introduce them – Severus reminded Draco of it quite harshly.

McGonagall was just sharing her action plan with us when the front door opened once again, and in the hall appeared a person nobody expected.

"I hope... I am not too late," panted Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister for Magic himself. "I couldn't leave Hogwarts alone at such a moment."

Snape glanced at me and to my surprise, he smiled. I could not help the smile that slowly slithered onto my lips. Softly, I squeezed his hand, and he only whispered one word, "Now."

I knew perfectly what it meant. I nodded my head, then reached for the bottle of Felix Felicis. Having uncorked it, I sipped a little, then handed it to Severus. He took the phial from me, then sighed. I still had a feeling that he had some doubts, but finally, he downed its contents and closed his eyes.

The feeling that filled me up right after having drunk the potion was incredible. I was aware of the fact that our project risky... but then, we were not alone. Along with us, there were around twenty other wizards; there were Aurors amongst us. We definitely were not as defenseless as it had seemed at first.

The attack started shortly after midnight. The teachers that did participate in defending the castle were supposed to protect the students in their dormitories. There was a moment when I felt like returning to Ravenclaw Tower, but something told me that I should stay and stick to McGonagall's plan; although it was the first time when I had used Liquid Luck, I understood that I had to trust it.

Until now, we had not realised how much the Death Eaters had achieved. The fact that they had convinced some students and a teacher from Hogwarts to join them had certain consequences. One of them was that they had managed to get rid of the protection around the castle, and even McGonagall was completely oblivious to that. Therefore, that night they could quite easily enter the school grounds.

Some of them were walking, some were flying. Fortunately, the Headmistress's analytical mind allowed her to construct a plan that made us prepared for such a possibility, so a part of us stood on the towers, while the others took their positions on the ground, around the castle.

We used the ignorance of the Death Eaters. They could not be aware of the fact that we would be prepared for their attack, so we stayed as silent as we only could, watching them moving closer, almost noiselessly. We waited for McGonagall's sign.

And finally, it came. A little spark left the tip of her wand. I did not know whether the Death Eaters noticed it, but we, who were focused on the Headmistress, noticed it instantly.

It sounded as though the whole castle exploded. Each of us cast a different spell; each of them with full force hit the opponents. At first, we needed to deal with those on the brooms, so we would not let them into the castle through the towers that were not protected by our people. We could now spot some black silhouettes slipping off the brooms; I did not want to picture what was going to happen to them, but right now, it was really a fight to death. There was no prison to put them in anymore.

However, I did not really have much time for such thoughts. The only thing my mind was focused on was casting spells towards the black cloud of Dark Wizards on the broom, moving quickly towards us. Not always did I hit them, the same was with my companions; besides, now, as we had already revealed our presence, the Death Eaters had begun to cast Killing Curses at us, and avoiding them made aiming much more difficult.

At that moment, Harry Potter was in the best position; yet, he had accepted the most difficult of tasks. Having put his Invisibility Cloak on, he had got onto his broom and approached them from behind. He was far enough for them not to notice the broom floating by itself, but soon, they tasted the spells the Auror began to cast at them.

However, it did not mean he was safe there. After some time, several of the Death Eaters understood what was going on and turned back on their brooms. I was not sure what happened then, because I was not able to watch that. My task was different – I was to focus on the other Death Eaters, who had approached the school walls disturbingly fast...

I looked down and noticed a dark shadow, moving quickly in the rhythm of spells and curses being cast. It made me feel better, because I knew that Snape was still safe and sound. Because although both of us had used Liquid Luck, I could not resist the temptation to look in his direction from time to time...

Until now, I had never realised how many Death Eaters there were in Azkaban. Only now did I appreciate the fact that there were more of us, because if the original plan had remained unchanged, and just the three or maybe four of us had been forced to fight against them, we definitely would not have made it. For even now, when there were five times as many of us as back then, it was really difficult. We could not stop all of them from entering the castle.

"Inside!" I heard McGonagall's voice. She had abandoned the plan of "not stressing the students" long time before, since it was infeasible. She had changed it, though, to not letting the students out of their dormitories, so their lives would not be risked. Therefore the corridors were completely empty when we followed the Death Eaters who had entered the castle.

I was just running down the stairs when at least four of them stood on my way. My heart in my throat, I disarmed one of them; they were too close, though, for me to do the same to the rest.

"I think we're going to play," I heard a husky voice of one of them, coming from behind the mask, but I still recognised it.

"Not this time, Avery," growled another, more pleasant voice, and Avery fell flat onto the stairs.

It was enough. The other two were distracted enough for me to be able to cast some jinxes at them. As they lay on the stairs, I glanced a few steps down and grinned.

"Thanks for saving my life."

"I think it's the fourth time, Shirley, you owe me," answered Snape calmly, but I noticed that he was smiling a little.

"Remind me when we get rid of this vermin," I told him, laughing, and then, we both headed towards the Great Hall, where McGonagall was battling Blade and three other Death Eaters.

The rest scattered all around the castle, but from the fact that our people were nowhere to be seen, I concluded that they did not get the chance to just hang wander about. At first, we needed to get rid of those who were close to us, only then should we look for the rest, so told me common sense and, as I thought, Felix Felicis, too.

We were dashing across the Entrance Hall when some spell swished right next to my ear. Then came a smash of the glass being broken and a clatter of rubies falling out of the great hourglass over my head. I did not look at who it was who had attacked me; I aimed over my shoulder and gave him a taste of his own medicine. Only later on did I realise that at that moment, I had Petrified Marcus Stillwater.

The worst of all was looking for the Death Eaters all around the corridors and empty classrooms in which they were lurking. At some point, we needed to revive Stunned Ron Weasley, who had been ambushed near the Charms classroom. We had no idea how many of them there were, and we could only hope that when dawn came and we started restoring the castle to its original state, indeed all of the Death Eaters were locked in the dungeons...