There was no way in the world I was going to win this.

I pulled myself back against the column as he unleashed another Killing Curse. The spell struck the rock, causing a mini explosion. I didn't know how much more of a beating this hallway in the castle could take.

I bit my lip hard. Across from where I was positioned, my best friend, Lisa, took position behind a column. Even though there were two of us and only one of him, he was more skilled than Lisa and I combined. If it hadn't been for her coming to my aid, I wouldn't be in this position right now. I'd be dead.

Hogwarts was under attack. Lord Voldemort had declared war on us. We had almost lost hope, because we had thought Harry Potter had died. However, by some miracle, he was still alive. That was the only reason Hogwarts still had a second chance, that's why we were still fighting. If it hadn't been for Harry, most of us would be dead by now, and a small fraction of us would surrender to Lord Voldemort and join his league of Death Eaters.

"Come out and play," crooned the Death Eater. His voice made chills rake up my spine.

His name is Antonin Dolohov. He, like me, had once gone to Hogwarts—got Sorted into Slytherin. Even though I was a Slytherin myself, I was one of the very few who was actually fighting for Hogwarts and not for the Dark Lord. I never really understood why I was Sorted into the biased House, because my personality didn't fit. But I guess the Sorting Hat knew what it was doing, so who was I to question it?

I looked across to Lisa, my emerald-green eyes looking into her smoky-grey ones. Her tree-bark brown hair was showered with rubble; her Hufflepuff uniform was slightly torn up and singed. She looked more battle worn than I did.

"Come out now while you lovely ladies can," Dolohov called. "You don't want to make your death painful, do you?"

There were two emotions swirling in me: anger and fear. The fear was obvious, because Lisa and I were trapped by a Death Eater. I was angry because he was the reason fellow Hogwartians were dead. Right now, I was torn between fight and flight.

"We can take him," I mouthed to her. Her eyes widened, Lisa wasn't one to take action.

"Are you sure?"

"There's two of us and only one of him. How hard can it be, really?" I saw Lisa sigh, but she accepted my decision with a nod.

At the same time, on the same brain wave, Lisa and I jumped out to expose ourselves, our wands at the ready. I blew a strand lock of wavy pale blonde hair away from my eyes so I could focus. Dolohov's beady brown eyes lit up at the sight of us. In the far distance, cries and blasts could be heard.

"You finally decided to come join me," Dolohov crooned, a wry smirk on his lips. "Avada Kedavra!"

Lisa and I twirled away at the last second, the Killing Curse swept right past us.

"Stupefy!" I shouted.

I saw two jets of red light explode towards Dolohov—Lisa had joined me. But Dolohov deflected those both easily. He sent curse after curse on us without uttering a word. Lisa and I fought hard to parry his attacks, but the strength of deflection wasn't enough. She and I kept retreating while Dolohov advanced.

Maybe this was a bad idea after all. I jumped out of the way as a Stunning Spell nearly nicked my leg. Dolohov seemed to focus on Lisa more than me, because she was defending more than shooting. I tried to help her out, but Dolohov was too quick to catch off guard.

"Expluso!" he roared. A large blast of light flew over our heads.

A loud boom made the floor tremble beneath us. In an instant, the ceiling exploded. Lisa and I screamed, too rooted to where we stood to move. I didn't have time to move, because chunks of rock collapsed on me. I heard Lisa scream as we both got pelted by the downpour of rocks. Blow after blow hurt.

One minute I saw the hall of Hogwarts, and the next I saw utter darkness.

Panicking, I tried to lodge myself free. I coughed; dust was kicking up into my lungs. Every part of my body ached.

"Lisa!" I croaked as I tore away at the debris. I surfaced behind the mountain of rocks that blocked me from Dolohov's view. I wondered if he thought I was dead.

Turning my thoughts back to my best friend, I frantically tore away at the rubble to dig up Lisa. I managed to surface her head. Blood coated one side of her face and it was very fresh. Her eyes were closed, as if she was sleeping.

"Lisa!" I tried to shake her awake. She didn't respond. My lower lip trembled. She can't be dead, she can't be! "Lisa!" I tried again. Still no response.

Dolohov had killed my best friend.

An explosion above made me scream. I scooted away just before rocks fell once again, burying Lisa in the rubble. I swore if I lived through this, I'd yank her out and give her a proper burial. This was not her final resting place.

My hand clutched my heart, my heart sprinted. I had no doubt Dolohov had just shot the top of the rock pile. He had to have heard my pleas.

"I know you're still alive, little girl," I heard Dolohov purr from the other side of the pile.

I gasped but soon covered my mouth as I slowly slunk around the pile. I hoped to evade him long enough to where I could escape. As much as I wanted to avenge Lisa right now, I wanted to make sure I could survive a little longer first.

"I will find you, and you will join your friend."

You'll rot in hell faster than I'll die.

I managed to sneak around the pile right to where Dolohov once was. I bolted down the hallway, my footfalls echoing.

I took all sorts of twists and turns until I burst into what was left of the courtyard. Light was upon Hogwarts. I didn't think about running to the broken viaduct, I didn't think about running into the Great Hall. My only thought was to evade Dolohov.

I looked above me to see black smoke trailing high above me. Dolohov. I knew he wasn't stupid, so sneaking away had been helpful to a degree. I didn't know how to Disapparate, so I was screwed there. There were no brooms nearby to try and shake him off with.

The only option for me was to run.

I yelped as soon as I looked over the edge of the courtyard. If I had taken one more step, I would have easily fallen to my death. I backed up, looking around anxiously for another way around.

"Well, well," Dolohov snickered. I gasped and wheeled around. Dolohov stood a few feet from me, his dark hair in his face. "You managed to survive."

I soon realized that it was eerily quiet. There were no cries of battle, nor were there cries of despair, pain, or even spells being shot. The war had stopped. Somebody had won.

Dolohov hissed suddenly, clutching his left forearm. There was only one solution for that: Lord Voldemort was dead.

Well, that seemed to be the only good thing about this for me. I was standing face-to-face with death. There was another way out of this—but I wasn't going jump. At least here I could still fight and hopefully win. The only way I'd jump is if I panicked to the point where I did the first thing that came to my mind.

"You'll soon rejoin your friend," Dolohov murmured. I gripped my wand tight in my hand, breathing deeply. "Avada—"

"STUPEFY!" roared a voice.

I saw Dolohov stumble forward. He shot a look at me then wheeled around. I moved to see who had come to my aid.

It definitely wasn't Lisa.

I almost didn't recognize the boy. He looked battered from the battle, the left side of his head all bloody. I would recognize those hazel eyes anywhere. Neville Longbottom.

I was sure he didn't remember me, but I remembered him. After all, how could I forget the boy who I had fallen in love with when I had first met him in fifth year?

Neville and Dolohov engaged in a duel, completely ignoring me. I took this chance to slip past Dolohov and surprise attack him. I slowly crept around, waiting to attack him when he looked vulnerable. Neville fought his hardest, his jaw clenched, his wand whipping out spells as quick as Dolohov was deflecting them.

I threw a spell in there, but Dolohov must've anticipated that, because my own Stunning Spell knocked me on my back. I rolled onto my side to look at the battle. Neville started to look like he was losing. Dolohov had that smirk on his face; a smirk I knew was anything but good.

"Stupefy!" Dolohov barked.

Neville got blasted off his feet. I knew he wasn't dead, but he wasn't exactly springing back up ready to fight either.

"NO!" I screamed. Dolohov's head snapped towards me. My breath trembled. I had my wand in my hand.

"Expelliarmus!" My wand catapulted from my hand, I started crawling to it.

I gave a yowl of pain as something came down on my foot, hard. I heard a sickening snap. I looked up to see Dolohov standing over me. This was cruel; he wanted to watch me suffer.

"You won't escape this time."

His wand lifted high above me. I turned my head away, eyes shut

"STUPEFY!"

I heard Dolohov's yell fade. I soon peeked an eye open to notice he had disappeared. I let out a shaky breath of relief and disbelief. Dolohov was gone.

I looked to see Neville standing, though he looked about ready to topple over any minute. He had just saved my life.

His eyes strayed over to me, and in an instant he went for me. I tried to move my feet but my right one had a horrible ache.

Neville knelt down beside me. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"U-uh huh," I stammered. "What did you do with him?"

"I blasted him off his feet. He went over the edge. He won't harm anyone else anymore."

"Your head." I touched the bloody side of his head.

"It's nothing serious," he blew me off. I gave him a serious look. "Need a hand?" He extended his hand out for me.

"Yeah." I grabbed Neville's arm and tried to hoist myself up, but I fell back down. He hovered worriedly. "I think it's my foot." I grabbed near my injury.

"Is it tender?"

"It hurts."

"Looks like you'll have to hobble on one foot to the Great Hall, then. Come on."

Neville slowly helped me rise to one foot. He secured an arm around my waist to hold me steady. Slowly, he escorted me to the Great Hall, where everybody seemed to be recovering and making lively chatter, as if no battle had happened at all.

Neville found us a vacant spot so he could set me down. It seemed most of the nurses on hand were busy with other students. I didn't mind, it wasn't like my foot was being burned alive or anything. It was just throbbing agonizingly, that was all.

"How did you know where I was?" I asked Neville. We ended up sitting on a bench in the far corner propped against a wall. He kindly took my injured foot and rested it on him, my back rested against the wall.

"It was kind of hard not to notice someone being chased by black smoke," he mumbled. He looked into my eyes, and I saw a spark of revelation hit him. "Wait, I know you! You're Sonya, aren't you? Sonya Greenwich?"

A smile played on my lips. "You do remember," I murmured. "I don't see how you didn't when you first saw me."

"It was the heat of battle; I was focusing on saving you. But now...gosh it's been a while since we've actually talked."

"We rarely saw each other during school."

"How could I forget you? You were the only Slytherin in Dumbledore's Army when it was formed in our fifth year! You were the only one we could really trust letting into the group."

"I guess that makes me different from most Slytherins." I shrugged.

"You helped me out a lot when everybody else was busy," Neville went on. "Nobody ever really pictures Slytherins as nice or anything. But you—you are one to prove people wrong."

"Oh goodness," Madam Pomfrey cried as she scuttled towards us. "How come neither of you bothered to call for me? What's the matter, dear?" She looked at me.

"I think my foot might be broken," I whimpered.

"Which one?"

"My right."

Madam Pomfrey felt my foot carefully. I winced each time, no matter how much pressure she applied. "Oh, I'm afraid you're right. This shouldn't be a problem to fix, but I wouldn't recommend walking on it much." With a flick of her wand, Madam Pomfrey restored my foot to normal. The tingling sensation felt odd. Soon she wrapped my foot in gauze and left.

I moved myself away from the wall so I could sit up right, with my feet dangling over the bench. I didn't know why I felt an awkward silence fall on Neville and me.

"Neville," I voiced. I looked at him, his eyes met mine.

"Yeah?"

"I never really got to thank you for saving my life." I blushed. "I wish I had done the same for Lisa..." I blinked hard to fight off the tears. I could've saved her...

"I'm sorry about her." Neville slipped his hand over mine. I noticed it too was cut up and bloody. "I never really knew her, but she seemed like a nice girl."

"She was the best friend a girl could have," I sniffed. "She saw past the lies people said about me, that my personality was an act because Slytherins were deceiving."

"Sonya, I don't think anybody views you that way like you think they do."

"I find that hard to believe."

"You'd be surprised."

"We should get your hand wrapped up." I called for Madam Pomfrey and she gave me some gauze. I carefully wrapped Neville's hand, making sure not to expose any cuts to infection.

"You don't have to do this, you know," he said.

"You're hurt. I don't like seeing people hurt. I should've gotten something for your head, too."

"Sonya, it's not serious."

I searched around until I found a nearby cloth. I scooted closer to Neville, dabbing up the blood on his head. At least he'd look less battle-ridden. I tossed the cloth away when I was finished.

Neville reclaimed my hand. He laced his fingers through mine. His hand felt warm and comforting, two things I loved to feel most. I scooted closer to him because I felt there was too much of a gap between us.

Our eyes couldn't tear away from each other's. Oh just kiss him already. What could it hurt? That was my brain telling me what to do.

Let's think about that, I countered. He could be freaked out and not know what to do. He could not feel the same way and make me feel like an idiot for doing such a thing. The kiss could be such a huge mistake.

I guess my internal debate had distracted me enough to where instead of me taking advantage of the situation, Neville did. He pressed his lips softly to mine. My eyes closed and my other arm grabbed a hold of his.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that," he said once he pulled away. Our faces were still inches apart. I was surprised nobody had seen us. I was expecting whooping and cat calls. We got no such thing.

"You've wanted to do that?" I stammered. "You don't know how long I've waited for a moment like this to happen." I hadn't realized I had just let that slip. I bit my lip and blushed a deeper red.

"Hold on now," he said cautiously. He pulled away, but our hands were still locked together. "I want to know: Are you in love with what I just did for you?"

"What?" I snorted. "Neville, I've had a crush on you for two years." I looked away. I couldn't believe I was confessing all this embarrassing stuff to him when he was the subject.

"Huh. That's funny," he muttered, "because that's how long I've liked you."

"Oh, that's weird," I said awkwardly. A thought suddenly sparked in my head. "Wait a minute. I thought you loved Luna Lovegood?"

For some reason, there were rumors that he loved her. I believed them for a time, that's why I had backed off, because I wanted him to be happy.

"Everybody seems to say that," Neville sighed. He slipped an arm around me. "But it's not true. I mean, I like her, but it's more mutual than what you and I have."

"I bet a lot of people will wonder what's going on when they notice us."

"We'll be talked about because of our Houses."

"Because a Slytherin and Gryffindor have never dated?"

"That's exactly why."

"Well, we're making history." I kissed his cheek. "I don't care if people think it's odd or wrong. I like it."

"That's what I like about you, Sonya," Neville chuckled. "You don't care about what people say about you. Speaking of likes...why do you like me?"

"Oh. Well...for one, you're sweet as anything. You're definitely brave, like the courageous House you were Sorted into. But most importantly, you're loyal to your friends and your causes. When you told off Voldemort, it was amazing. I didn't think anybody would have the courage to stand up to him and tell him off like that."

"Hogwarts needed leaders. Sometimes teachers aren't enough. Hogwarts has always been one big family. That's something worth fighting for—and so are you, Sonya."

"You know what I've noticed?" Neville looked at me, puzzled. "You never officially asked me out."

"Oh, darn it!" he hissed. "Well then, since you brought it up—Sonya, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes." I grinned and burrowed my head under his chin. His arms held me and I held him. I shut my eyes in content and bathed in the affection.

I heard whispers break out. I couldn't make out what people were saying exactly, but something in my gut told me it was about Neville and me. It wouldn't take long before a lot of people knew we were a couple.

"Neville," said a soft voice. I peeked one eye open to see Luna Lovegood. She looked a little damaged; her ridiculously wild blonde hair was pulled back into a long ponytail. She looked exhausted but somehow she managed the energy to be walking and talking right now.

"Luna," Neville greeted her. "Glad to see you're all right."

"I can say the same." Her gaze went down to me. "This must be Sonya."

"Mhm," I mumbled. "Sorry, I'm really tired. I'm not up for talking much."

"I understand. What happened to your foot?"

"Would you believe a Death Eater stomped on it and broke it?"

"I can. Oh, if you haven't already noticed, people are noticing you two."

"I got that impression when I heard people talking."

"Well, I'd say you picked a keeper, Sonya. Don't lose him."

"I wouldn't think anything of it." I hugged Neville tighter to emphasize my point.

"And I'm sorry about Lisa."

"You knew her?"

"Of course I knew her. She was a very kind soul. She's one of the few people who didn't treat me as if I'm some disease."

"Well, I don't, and I'm sure Neville doesn't."

"Oh, I know. By the way, if you ever need somebody to talk to—I'm always available."

"Thank you." I yawned.

"I think it's time for me to go." Luna wandered off to mingle with other students.

"You won't let go, will you?" I asked Neville.

"Of course not. Why?" he asked.

"I think I'm going to end up going to sleep on you soon."

"We've all had a rough night. But don't worry; I'll sit with you while you sleep. I'll make sure nobody bothers you." Neville kissed the top of my head as I situated myself.

Slowly, the chatter of the Great Hall faded, and I soon slipped into sleep.