"Harry Fucking Potter!" I scream as I stomp into the Gryffindor common room behind Neville. "You are the worst fucking person!"

"Looks like she found out," Ron sighs as Harry stands up from the chair.

"I reckon ten seconds before she kills you," Ginny says barely looking up from her Quibbler.

"You almost killed him?! What the fuck?!" I scream as I reach him. "What could warrant almost killing him?!"

"Harry tell her," Hermione demands. Harry stays still. "Tell her now."

"Answer the damn question!" I scream as tears pour from my eyes. "Harry!"

"No," he says clearly restraining himself, "I can't do that to her."

"What?!" I sob, "tell me!"

"No," He repeats. I feel anger bubble up as he avoids my eyes. Everyone else in the room was watching me except him. I raise my bad and smack him as hard as I can.

"You know this is all I have why try to take that away from me!" I scream still sobbing. He reaches up to the red mark on his cheek.

"I didn't know what the spell would do," Harry says.

"So you tested out on Draco?!" I scream at him. He stays silent. "Answer me!"

"Go to your dorm," Harry demands. It takes me back a bit. Before I look up to him.

"After all that you think you can tell me what to do?" I ask harshly. "Fuck you Harry."

"Y/n-"

"No! Don't come near me. After today you are dead to me Harry James Potter," I say my anger festering, "i fucking hate you!" I turn away from him and the others and stomp out of the common room. As I get outside I collapse breaking down sobbing into my hands.

"Y/n?" I hear Neville asks as he steps from his common room. I hear nothing for a second and then arms wrap around me. And I turn and sob into Neville's chest. As he strokes my back I spill all the tears I've needed to spill since watching my brother die. Everything I've been pushing away I lost at once. All while being in Neville's arms.

"I can't do any of this anymore," I whimper, "I
wish I was dead. I wish they killed me when I was a baby."

"Don't talk like that," Neville says as he pulls back and looks down at me. "You've done so much. And I couldn't lose you as a friend."

"I've done nothing," I whimper, "I'd be more useful dead."

"That's crazy talk," He says, "you've done so much for this school and everyone. You've done as much as Ron and Hermione and Harry. You helped me and the others learn in the DA. You've made Draco nicer to the other students. You are one of the greatest witches this school has." I wipe my eyes and look up at Neville.

"Thanks," I say softly as he lets go of me and stands up. "and thanks for letting me into your common room."

"Anytime," He says as he offers a hand to help me up. I take it and pull myself up. I dust off my robes then turn away.

"I'll see you around Neville," I say as I step away.

"Yeah yeah sure," he says. I rush back towards the hospital ward. As I reach it I see Blaise and Draco talking. They stop as I reach the bed.

"You okay?" Draco asks as he places a hand on my cheek.

"Yeah," I say as he wipes the stray tears from my cheek. "I'll be fine. Are you doing okay?"

"I'm doing fine," he says, "Madam Pomfrey says that it most likely won't scar. Thankfully. I couldn't deal with an ugly scar like how it would be."

"Yeah you're ugly mug couldn't take anything else," Blaise mocks.

"Stop that he's stunning," I say happily as I curl next to him.

"Are you sleeping here?" Draco asks. I nod as I yawn.

"I'm not leaving you alone," I say to him, "nope not a damn chance."

"Well I see you two will be fine," Blaise says as he stands up from the chair. His eyes on Draco harshly. "I'll be back in the morning."

"Goodnight Blaise," I say as he walks away. Draco snakes his arms around me and I smile weakly. He's okay. I just have to remember he's okay.

The stars are gleaming. It's nothing like any dream I've had. Especially recently. I see Dumbledore staring off the Astronomy Tower. Then it moves to the Blond hair.

"I have to do this- or he'll kill her," I hear again.

"We'd never let that happen," Dumbledore's voice cuts through. "Miss Cultven will be fine." The dream moves and I see a tall dark cloaked figure pointing a wand at someone.

"Avada Kedavra," I hear a harsh fake voice scream. Then the man falling from the tower. As my focus moves back I see Snape looking off from the tower. The hut burning. Bellatrix smirking. "You know she isn't safe. He'll still kill her if he gets the chance."

"We did what he asked? He promised-"

"She's too great of a threat... It's not up to me. The first chance he gets he'll rip her into sherds. Every lock of her purple hair. You knew this would happen Draco.... she's not safe. Dumbledore died for nothing. We killed him for nothing."

"Draco!" I scream as I sit up. As I look around the hospital wing I realize the boy who hours ago was in the bed snoring softly was gone. "The astronomy tower!" I get up and run towards the tower as fast as I can. Once I reach I see Draco standing in front of Dumbledore. "No," I whisper. Before I can do anything else a hand goes over my mouth. As I trash I see Snape behind me.

"Hide now," He orders.

"I can't," I start and he sighs before pointing his wand at me.

"If you say anything you'll get him killed. Now go hide," Snape orders. I debate for a second. I can't be the cause of Draco's death. But could i really let him murder someone else.

"I can't let him-"

"He will die," Snape says seriously, "and as a member of the order you are to follow instructions set by Dumbledore. His instructions are to let this happen."

"W-what?" I ask.

"Why else do you think I'm here you stupid girl?" He asks harshly before tossing me back with a wordless knockback jinx. As I fall under the main floor of the tower I see Harry. He pulls me towards him and tosses his cloak over us. Preventing Draco and everyone else from seeing us. I start to talk but Harry places his hand over my mouth.

"No, Draco," Dumbledore says quietly as he looks down to were Harry and I are. Somehow I knew he could tell I was here. "It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now." Draco does not speak. His mouth is open, his wand hand trembling. He couldn't do this. But suddenly footsteps were thundering up the stairs, and a second later Draco is pushed out of the way as four people in black robes burst through the door onto the ramparts. Terror strikes me. How could Draco be working with them.

"Dumbledore cornered!" A man says, and he turnsto a stocky little woman who looked as though she could be his sister and who was grinning eagerly. "Dumbledore wandless, Dumbledore alone! Well done, Draco, well done!"

"Good evening, Amycus," Dumbledore says calmly, as though welcoming the man to a tea party. "And you've brought Alecto too... Charming..."

"Think your little jokes'll help you on your deathbed then?" she jeers.

"Jokes? No, no, these are manners," replies Dumbledore.

"Do it," Fenrir Greyback says. He was horrifying. His harsh voice and bloody appearance.

"Is that you, Fenrir?" Dumbledore asks.

"That's right," Greyback says, "Pleased to see me, Dumbledore?"

"No, I cannot say that I am." Dumbledore says and Greyback grins, showing pointed teeth. Blood trickles down his chin and he licked his lips slowly, obscenely.

"But you know how much I like kids, Dumbledore."

"Am I to take it that you are attacking even without the full moon now? This is most unusual... You have developed a taste for human flesh that cannot be satisfied once a month?"

"That's right," Fenrir Greyback says. "Shocks you that, does it, Dumbledore? Frightens you?"

"Well, I cannot pretend it does not disgust me a little," Dumbledore says. "And, yes, I am a little shocked that Draco here invited you, of all people, into the school where his friends live..."

"I didn't," Draco says. He was not looking at Fenrir; he did not seem to want to even glance at him. "I didn't know he was going to come—" I grip onto Harry's hand nervously. All I wanted to do is scream but no words would come from my mouth. Silencing charm.

"I wouldn't want to miss a trip to Hogwarts, Dumbledore," rasps Greyback. "Not when there are throats to be ripped out... Delicious, delicious...And I could do you for afters, Dumbledore."

"No," the fourth Death Eater says sharply. He had a heavy, brutal-looking face. "We've got orders. Draco's got to do it. Now, Draco, and quickly." Draco was showing less resolution than ever. He looks terrified as he stares into Dumbledore's face.

"He's not long for this world anyway, if you ask me!" the lopsided man says, to the accompaniment of his sister's wheezing giggles. "Look at him—what's happened to you, then, Dumby?"

"Oh, weaker resistance, slower reflexes, Amycus," Dumbledore says. "Old age, in short... One day, perhaps, it will happen to you... if you are lucky..."

"What's that mean, then, what's that mean?" the Death Eater yells, suddenly violent. "Always the same, weren't yeh, Dumby, talking and doing nothing, nothing. I don't even know why the Dark Lord's bothering to kill yer! Come on, Draco, do it!"

But at that moment there were renewed sounds of scuffling from below and a voice shouted, "They've blocked the stairs —Reducto! REDUCTO!"

"Now, Draco, quickly!" the brutal-faced man says angrily. Draco please. Please don't do this. I whimper silently as I watch him. He was shaking badly. Almost as if he's hesitating.

"I'll do it," snarls Fenrir, moving toward Dumbledore with his hands outstretched, his teeth bared.

"I said no!" the brutal-faced man yells there was a flash of light and the werewolf was blasted out of the way; he hits the ramparts and then staggers looking furious. I see Dumbledore's eyes move back down to Harry and I before he mumbles something. Within seconds I recognize another jinx to keep us from moving. It hits before I can protest. Leaving Harry and I stuck. Watching the scene with no way to but in.

"Draco, do it or stand aside so one of us—" the woman screams, but at that precise moment, the door to the ramparts bursts open once more and there stood Snape, his wand  in his hand as his black eyes swept the scene, from Dumbledore slumped against the wall, to the four Death Eaters, including the enraged werewolf, and Malfoy.

"We've got a problem, Snape," says the lumpy Amycus, whose eyes and wand were fixed alike upon Dumbledore, "the boy doesn't seem able—"

"Severus..." the plead of Dumbledores was sickening.  Snape says nothing, but walks forward and pushes Draco roughly out of the way. The three Death Eaters fall back without a word. Even the werewolf seemed cowed. Snape gazes for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face. "Severus... please..." Snape raises his wand and points it directly at Dumbledore. "Avada Kedavra!" A jet of green light shoots from the end of Snape's wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. For a split second, he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backward, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight. I feel a tear fall down my face soon being joined by more. Harry felt as though he too were hurtling through space; it had not happened... It could not have happened...

"Out of here, quickly," Snape orders as he seized Draco by the scruff of the neck and forces him through the door ahead of the rest; Greyback and the squat brother and sister follow. As they leave I attempt to pull away from Harry. Thankfully it worked this time. I point the wand to my throat and undo the silencing charm.  I pull him up and we run down the stairs to catch up with them.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry screams. Beside us a masked death eater falls to the ground. I follow suit until we see Greyback. "Petrificus Totalus!" And suddenly Fenrir collapses against Harry. And with a stupendous effort he pushes the werewolf off and onto the floor as a jet of green light came flying towards us. I pull him down to dodge it then pull us away. We now see red hair flying like flames in front of him: Ginny was locked in combat with the lumpy Death Eater, Amycus, who was throwing hex after hex at her while she dodged them: Amycus was giggling, enjoying the sport: "Crucio—Crucio—you can't dance forever, pretty—"

"Impedimenta!" I yell. The jinx  hits Amycus in the chest. He gives a piglike squeal of pain, lifts off his feet and slams into the opposite wall, the slides down it, and fell out of sight behind Ron, Professor McGonagall, and Lupin, each of whom are battling a separate Death Eater. Beyond them, Harry saw Tonks fighting an enormous blond wizard who was sending curses flying in all directions, so that they ricocheted off the walls around them, cracking stone, shattering the nearest window—

"Harry, Y/n where did you two come from?" Ginny asks.

"I need to reach him. I need to stop them," I say to Harry as I pull away. He looks and nods following suit. We run as fast as we can dodging everyone and thing until we get outside. The cold air burning our over worked lungs. Once we reach Hagrid's hut we catch up.

"Draco! Snape!" I scream angrily.

"Impedimenta!" Harry yells hitting one of the lagging death eaters. Now we could see them aiming at Hagrid.

"No!" I scream angrily, "stupefy!" I hit the opponent of Hagrid's then tear past the half giant towards Draco and Snape. As Harry heads off towards Snape I corner Draco. He stops and turns to me.

"Love," Draco says as he turns to me lowering his wand.

"You foul evil  man," I hiss at him. This shocking him. "you made me believe you loved me. Hell you made me love you."

"I did- I do," Draco says as I point my wand towards him. He takes a step back. Clearly not expecting me to pull my wand on him. "Y/n please believe me. I love you."

"You Draco Malfoy are just like your parents," I hiss at him, "you take and you destroy all for what? Because you're a petty little coward!"

"Y/n," he pleads.

"I've defended you. I turned a blind eye to everything you did. I let myself ruin my life for you," I sob, "all for what?! So you could split us here? You chose a side and you chose wrong!"

"Y/n-"

"Shut up!" I scream pointing my wand towards him, "I loved you so fucking much. I saw a future with you. I wanted to marry you! And you threw it all away to become another slave to Voldemort." His eyes stare into mine. A tear slips out again as I grip my wand tighter. "I loved you. Did you ever even love me?"

"I love you," He says, "I had to do this."

"No you didn't," I hiss, "no matter what they said we could of dealt with it. The order could of protected us."

"I'm sorry," he says tears brimming in his eyes.

"Don't say you're fucking sorry! You didn't have to do this!" I scream. As I start to say a curse a feel a hex hit my back knocking me down. As I slowly sit up I see Snape now with Draco.

"Y/n I love you okay?"

"You're dead to me Draco," I say to the second person today, "you better get the hell away from me or I will kill you."

"Let's go Draco," Snape orders but the blonde hesitates as he looks at me as I stand back up.

"Y/n you don't mean that-"

"The next time I see you Malfoy. I'll kill you both myself," I hiss at him. I see the blond boys lips quiver. Snape points his wand to me again hitting me with a stinging hex. As I attempt to stand again I see them moving away before I collapse. After a couple minutes I feel someone lift me up. It was Hargid. As I get to my feet Harry moved to support my weight helping me up the path back to the school. The oak front doors were open ahead of us, light flooding out onto the drive and the lawn. Slowly, uncertainly, dressing-gowned people creep down the steps, looking around nervously for some sign of the Death Eaters who had fled into the night. As we get closer we could see the gathering crowd.

"What're they all lookin' at?" Hagrid asks as he, Harry ,and  I approached the castle front, Fang keeping as close as he could to our ankles. "Wha's tha', lyin' on the grass?" Hagrid adds sharply, heading now toward the foot of the Astronomy Tower, where a small crowd was congregating. "See it, Harry? Righ' at the foot o' the tower? Under where the Mark... Blimey... yeh don' think someone got thrown—?" As we reach the body Hagrid falls silent, the thought apparently too horrible to express aloud. As we get closer I feel my chest get heavy. We reach the front and Harry transfers my work body over to Blaise. While Harry moves towards the lifeless body.

"I got you," Blaise says as he moves to support me. I nod thankfully as my eyes shift back to the Greatest Wizard I'd ever know. Dumbledore's eyes were closed; but for the strange angle of his arms and legs, he might have been sleeping. Harry reaches out, straightening the half-moon spectacles upon the crooked nose, and then wiping a trickle of blood from the mouth with his own sleeve. As he begins to whimper and sob McGonagall reaches us.

"You all up to the hospital wing," She orders and Blaise leads us away. We walk in silence but once inside the hospital wing I pull away from Ron only to collapse again. He and Lupin step towards me to help me up.

"Don't touch me!" I scream as I sob loudly. I grab ahold of the necklace Draco gave me and lean over as I cry. How could he do this? How could he betray me like this? Hide this scheme and threat from me. We could of protected him! Done something.  "That selfish little bastard!"

"Y/n breath," Hermione says as she steps towards me. I look up at her with my red puffy eyes.

"I'll kill him. I'll kill Draco," I sob, "I fell for him. I ignored every sign that he was doing something bad something wrong. I defended him!"

"What happened Y/n?" She asks softly placing a hand on my back.

"I'm a spy for the order and I gave up my assignment for him," I whimper, "I was supposed to keep Harry and everyone here at the school safe. And I just let him almost kill Ron and Katie! I let myself think I had a future with him." They all watch as I melt down in front of them. None of them knowing what to do. Hermione just wraps her arms around me pulling me into a hug calming me down.

"Shhh," She says to me. I whimper as I hide my face in her shoulder.

"He said he loves me, and I told him I'd kill him," I sob as she holds onto me tightly. As I start to calm down she helps me up. My body still buzzing weakly. We move to the back beds and I sit on the bed with the others pulling my knees to my chest. Blaise sits beside me watching me carefully.

"Are you all right, Harry?" I hear Lupin ask. I look up and wipe my eyes. Harry and Ginny were now with us.

"I'm fine... How's Bill?" Harry asks. No one answers. Now I see the oldest Weasley in one of the beds with deep cuts around his face.

"Can't you fix them with a charm or something?" he asks the matron.

"No charm will work on these," Madam Pomfrey says. "I've tried everything I know, but there is no cure for werewolf bites."

"But he wasn't bitten at the full moon," Ron says as he gazes down into his brother's face as though he could somehow force him to mend just by staring. "Greyback hadn't transformed, so surely Bill won't be a—

"No, I don't think that Bill will be a true werewolf," Lupin says, "but that does not mean that there won't be some contamination. Those are cursed wounds. They are unlikely ever to heal fully, and—and Bill might have some wolfish characteristics from now on."

"Dumbledore might know something that'd work, though," Ron says, "Where is he? Bill fought those maniacs on Dumbledore's orders
Dumbledore owes him, he can't leave him in this state—" I feel Blaise grab my hand nervously. I've never seen this boy express this much emotion but I could tell his eyes were watery.

"Ron—Dumbledore's dead," Ginny announces.

"No!" Lupin says looking wildly from Ginny to Harry to Blaise and I as though hoping once of us might contradict her, but when We did not, Lupin collapses into a chair beside Bill's bed, his hands over his face.

"How did he die?" whispers Tonks. "How did it happen?"

"Snape killed him," Harry says, "Y/n and I were there, we saw it. Dumbledore and I arrived back on the Astronomy Tower because that's where the Mark was... Dumbledore was ill, he was weak, but I think he realized it was a trap when we heard footsteps running up the stairs. He immobilized me, I couldn't do anything, I was under the Invisibility Cloak—"

"How did you get there Y/n?" Ron asks. I look up.

"I saw the rest of the dream," I say to them, "I saw Draco pointing his wand at Dumbledore and thought I could stop him. But Snape hit me with a silencing charm and then a knockback jinx hitting me toward Harry."

"Draco came and disarmed him. He was apparently the one meant to kill Dumbledore," Harry announces and the room looks to me as I whimper softly. Falling into Blaise's chest. Blaise strokes my hair calmly as the tears reform in my eyes. "More death eaters arrived and in the end it was Snape." Madam Pomfrey bursts into tears.

"Shh! Listen!" Ginny whispers to us. I pull away from Blaise to hear the Phoenix singing. It was a terrible beauty. The remorse and sorrow in the tune.

"I can't do this right now," I whimper, "I'm going to bed. Or going to talk a walk."

"Y/n," Lupin says cautiously.

"I'll escort her," Blaise says.

"She can barely walk she needs to stay here, Hermione says. I sigh and settle down again.

"Fine," I say.

"Molly and Arthur are on their way," McGonagall says and the spell of the music was broken: Everyone rouses themselves as though coming out of trances, turning again to look at Bill, or else to rub their own eyes, shake their heads. "Harry, what happened? According to Hagrid you were with Professor Dumbledore when he—when it happened. He says Professor Snape was involved in some—"

"Snape killed Dumbledore," Harry says again.

"Snape," McGonagall repeats faintly, falling into one of the chairs. "We all wondered... but he trusted... always... Snape... I can't believe it..."

"Snape was a highly accomplished Occlumens," Lupin says his voice uncharacteristically harsh. "We always knew that."

"But Dumbledore swore he was on our side!" whispers Tonks. "I always thought Dumbledore must know something about Snape that we didn't..."

"He always hinted that he had an ironclad reason for trusting Snape," Professor McGonagall mutters now dabbing at the corners of her leaking eyes with a tartan-edged handkerchief. "I mean... with Snape's history... of course people were bound to wonder... but Dumbledore told me explicitly that Snape's repentance was absolutely genuine... Wouldn't hear a word against him!"

"I'd love to know what Snape told him to convince him," Tonks says.

"I know," Harry says, and they all turned to look at him. "Snape passed Voldemort the information that made Voldemort hunt down my mum and dad. Then Snape told Dumbledore he hadn't realized what he was doing, he was really sorry he'd done it, sorry that they were dead."

"And Dumbledore believed that?" Lupin asks incredulously. "Dumbledore believed Snape was sorry James was dead? Snape hated James..."

"And he didn't think my mother was worth a damn either," Harry says, "because she was Muggle-born...'Mudblood,' he called her..."

"This is all my fault," Professor McGonagall says suddenly. She looks disoriented, twisting her wet handkerchief in her hands. "My fault. I sent Filius to fetch Snape tonight, I actually sent for him to come and help us! If I hadn't alerted Snape to what was going on, he might never have joined forces with the Death Eaters. I don't think he knew they were there before Filius told him, I don't think he knew they were coming."

"It isn't your fault, Minerva," Lupin says firmly.

"Snape said something to me," I say causing them all to look to me, "that he was following Dumbledore instructions. And that since I was a member of the order I was to follow the instructions. I didn't."

"And when you didn't that's when he uses a knockback jinx," Harry says. I nod.

"Of course," Lupin says, "he tried to manipulate you."

"I messed up, Harry," Ron says bleakly. "We did like you told us: We checked the Marauder's Map and we couldn't see Malfoy on it, so we thought he must be in the Room of Requirement, so me, Ginny, and Neville went to keep watch on it... but Malfoy got past us."

"He came out of the room about an hour after we started keeping watch," Ginny says. "He was on his own, clutching that awful shriveled arm—"

"His Hand of Glory," Ron says. "Gives light only to the holder, remember?"

"Anyway," Ginny goes on, "he must have been checking whether the coast was clear to let the Death Eaters out, because the moment he saw us he threw something into the air and it all went pitch-black—"

Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder," said Ron bitterly. "Fred and George's. I'm going to be having a word with them about who they let buy their products."

"We tried everything, Lumos, Incendio," Ginny says, "Nothing would penetrate the darkness; all we could do was grope our way out of the corridor again, and meanwhile we could hear people rushing past us. Obviously Malfoy could see because of that hand thing and was guiding them, but we didn't dare use any curses or anything in case we hit each other, and by the time we'd reached a corridor that was light, they'd gone."

"Luckily," Lupin says hoarsely, "Ron, Ginny, and Neville ran into us almost immediately and told us what had happened. We found the Death Eaters minutes later, heading in the direction of the Astronomy Tower. Malfoy obviously hadn't expected more people to be on the watch; he seemed to have exhausted his supply of Darkness Powder, at any rate. A fight broke out, they scattered and we gave chase. One of them, Gibbon, broke away and headed up the tower stairs—"

"To set off the Mark?" asks Harry.

"He must have done, yes, they must have arranged that before they left the Room of Requirement," Lupin says. "But I don't think Gibbon liked the idea of waiting up there alone for Dumbledore, because he came running back downstairs to rejoin the fight and was hit by a Killing Curse that just missed me."

"So if Ron was watching the Room of Requirement with Ginny and Neville," Harry says, turning to Hermione, "were you—?"

"Outside Snape's office, yes," whispers Hermione, her eyes sparkling with tears, "with Luna. We hung around for ages outside it and nothing happened... We didn't know what was going on upstairs, Ron had taken the map... It was nearly midnight when Professor Flitwick came sprinting down into the dungeons. He was shouting about Death Eaters in the castle, I don't think he really registered that Luna and I were there at all, he just burst his way into Snape's office and we heard him saying that Snape had to go back with him and help and then we heard a loud thump and Snape came hurtling out of his room and he saw us and—and—"

"What?" Harry urges her.

"I was so stupid, Harry!" Hermione says in a high-pitched whisper. "He said Professor Flitwick had collapsed and that we should go and take care of him while he—while he went to help fight the Death Eaters—" She covers her face in shame and continued to talk into her fingers, so that her voice was muffled. "We went into his office to see if we could help Professor Flitwick and found him unconscious on the floor... and oh, it's so obvious now, Snape must have Stupefied Flitwick, but we didn't realize, Harry, we didn't realize, we just let Snape go!"

"It's not your fault," Lupin says firmly. "Hermione, had you not obeyed Snape and got out of the way, he probably would have killed you and Luna."

"So then he came upstairs," Harry says "and he found the place where you were all fighting..."

"We were in trouble, we were losing," Tonks says in a low voice. "Gibbon was down, but the rest of the Death Eaters seemed ready to fight to the death. Neville had been hurt, Bill had been savaged by Greyback... It was all dark... curses flying everywhere... The Malfoy boy had vanished, he must have slipped past, up the stairs... then more of them ran after him, but one of them blocked the stair behind them with some kind of curse... Neville ran at it and got thrown up into the air—"

"None of us could break through," Ron says, "and that massive Death Eater was still firing off jinxes all over the place, they were bouncing off the walls and barely missing us..."

"And then Snape was there," Tonks says, "and then he wasn't—"

"I saw him running toward us, but that huge Death Eater's jinx just missed me right afterward and I ducked and lost track of things," Ginny says.

"I saw him run straight through the cursed barrier as though it wasn't there," Lupin says. "I tried to follow him, but was thrown back just like Neville..."

"He must have known a spell we didn't," whispers McGonagall. "After all—he was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher... I just assumed that he was in a hurry to chase after the Death Eaters who'd escaped up to the tower..."

"He was," Harry says savagely, "but to help them, not to stop them... and I'll bet you had to have a Dark Mark to get through that barrier—so what happened when he came back down?"

Well, the big Death Eater had just fired off a hex that caused half the ceiling to fall in, and also broke the curse blocking the stairs," said Lupin. "We all ran forward—those of us who were still standing anyway—and then Snape and the boy emerged out of the dust—obviously, none of us attacked them—"

"We just let them pass," said Tonks in a hollow voice. "We thought they were being chased by the Death Eaters—and next thing, the other Death Eaters and Greyback were back and we were fighting again—I thought I heard Snape shout something, but I don't know what—"

"He shouted, 'It's over,'" said Harry. "He'd done what he'd meant to do."

"We are alive. Let's take that for now," I say as I look at them. I couldn't stand talking about anything more. After tonight I didn't know if I could handle anything anymore.