~Astra~

As soon as we'd gotten down the stairs, I passed the child in my arms off to Jack, who looked strong enough to hold a toddler. Then I glanced at Albus. "I've got to go find Cassie."

"Are you kidding?" he asked, staring at me like I was out of my mind. "We need to get out of here, Astra. We certainly shouldn't be splitting up."

"Wren will be down here soon, I'm sure," I said, shaking my head. "I told Cassie I'd get her out, though."

"I'm not sure we have time for that anymore," Albus pointed out. "Something's really wrong, and there's a very good chance it's because of us."

"There was an explosion, Albus! We didn't do that!"

"But we're here, and now everyone's on high alert! Even if they haven't already found Cassie and sent her back upstairs, they'll definitely catch you trying to find her."

"I can't just leave her!"

Albus pursed his lips, and I realized that this was probably paining him nearly as much as it was me. We'd already been hit by the fact that the children we were here to rescue didn't seem very interested in being rescued, which was hard enough, but now it was looking like we wouldn't even be able to save Cassie. I didn't know how I would be able to face her.

"Astra, we need to at least get these kids out while we can," Albus said after a moment. "They're not more important than her, but they're not less important, either."

I was starting to feel sick, but the logical side of me knew he was right. If we were going to get out, it needed to be right now. We didn't have time to spare, especially not when something was apparently going wrong. The alarms were still blaring, and the man who had been guarding the dungeon was gone now. Who knew when he'd be back? Who knew how quickly they'd shut down the tunnels?

I sighed, but nodded. "Fine. Let's go."

Before we could get more than a step, there was another distant explosion, though this one seemed much closer. Right over our heads, actually. Albus glanced at me, eyes wide, and I knew we were thinking the same thing: Wren.

I turned to dash up the stairs immediately, and almost collided with her as she came down. I grabbed her shoulders to steady both us, and realized for the first time just how pale she looked. Pale and shaken. Once again, the feeling that she shouldn't be here wormed its way into my stomach. I'd made a mistake in letting her come.

Wren seemed to gather herself more quickly. She glanced around at us, eyes wide. "What are you still doing here?"

For a moment, I could only blink at her and try to comprehend what she meant. Albus answered, "Oh, sorry. Let's go."

Again, we started down the corridor, the way we'd come, but before we'd turned the corner, I heard the sound of running feet up ahead. I bit down a word that wouldn't have been appropriate to say in front of children, and pulled the nearest ones off to the side, down the three step descent into the dungeon, followed by Albus and Wren with the rest of them. Maybe whoever it was would run past us.

The little boy I'd passed off to Jack was starting to cry, so I took him back and tried to shush him. I bounced him around a little, whispering that it would be okay, we just needed to be quiet. When he'd become content with whimpering into my shoulder, I glanced around at our small group. Most of the children seemed terrified, huddled together in the shadows behind Albus. Jack looked like he was gearing up to fight someone, fists raised like he was about to be in a WWE match, which would have been adorable if I hadn't been scared he might have to. Wren and Albus both had their wands drawn, tense expressions on their faces. Well, Wren's was more afraid, I suppose. Another wave of guilt washed over me. It was my fault she was here, after all.

The running steps had slowed down, but were still approaching. I resisted the urge to close my eyes, and fumbled for my wand as the child in my arms clung a little tighter to me. There were voices in the corridor, people just out of my sight. Then, the last thing I expected to hear.

"Albus Severus Potter," came Mr. Potter's voice, sounding both angry and worried at once. I felt my mouth drop open as he stepped into view, flanked by several other people I recognized vaguely as DA members. This wasn't real, was it?

"Oh, thank God," Wren exclaimed. She flew up the steps to hug him, and while he did pat her back, he was still glaring at both Albus and me. Though I was immensely relieved to see him, I couldn't help my face heating up. He seemed much more angry than when James and I had snuck off to Knockturn Alley.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Mr. Potter asked in an angry whisper.

"I... we wanted to save the children," Albus managed, glancing at me for confirmation. I nodded, which just made Mr. Potter frown at me, too.

He pursed his lips. "Are you out of your minds?" Before we could answer, he shook his head. "There isn't time for that. All of you need to get out of here immediately."

A few of the people with him stepped forward to pick up the children around us. Without even acknowledging us, they each picked up or took the hand of two or three children, then disapparated, so quickly that before I had time to process anything, they were all gone, leaving only Mr. Potter and Albus's Uncle Ron.

Mr. Potter was still glaring at Albus and I. "Leave. Now."

"They'll be casting an anti-disapparition jinx soon," Mr. Weasley added.

I shook my head. "I can't apparate."

"You can, and you will." Mr. Potter didn't seem in the mood to argue. "You're both lucky to still be alive right now. If we hadn't found Wren's note—"

"What?" Albus exclaimed, turning to stare at her. She had the sense to look contrite. "Wren, what the hell?"

"She's the reason you're still alive right now!" Mr. Potter exclaimed. "What on earth were you two thinking?"

"We wanted to help them," I said softly. That hadn't been that bad of thing, had it?

"I hope this was all worth it to you, then," Mr. Potter said. I could see the frustration and disappointment on his face now, underneath the angry and worry. "This operation was supposed to be much more thought out, but now we've had to do it now, all to get you out. And you dragged Wren here?"

"She chose to come!" I exclaimed.

Mr. Potter shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Get out of here now, all three of you." He glanced at Mr. Weasley. "Make sure they get somewhere safe, will you?" Mr. Weasley nodded, and before any of us could say anything else, Mr. Potter had run off in the direction of the stairs.

"We're going to your house, Albus," Mr. Weasley said. "Apparating. Now. I don't want to hear any more arguing."

"I don't know how to apparate," I said sourly.

Mr. Weasley held his arm out. "Side-along it is, then."

I still hesitated. Apparating made me want to throw up. It still reminded me of Gringotts. I couldn't handle that tonight, too. "Can't we just go back the way we came, then?"

"Absolutely not; the other end'll be guarded by now."

"Astra, it's just once," Wren said, in a very reasonable tone of voice that somehow reminded me she was the reason we were having to leave so abruptly anyway.

I glared at her. "Oh, shut up."

"What?"

"Why on earth did you leave a note? And when?" Albus demanded.

"Before I chased after you initially, and because I would prefer to have my friends be alive," she snapped. "Speaking of, can we please go?"

Mr. Weasley wasn't going to let us go anywhere else. I groaned, already feeling a little sick to my stomach at the thought of apparating. "All right. Fine."

"Albus, you first," Mr. Weasley said. "Straight to your front door. I mean it. This is very serious, more serious than you know." Albus rolled his eyes, but pulled his wand out and spun on his heel.

And didn't go anywhere at all. When he opened his eyes, he seemed surprised. "I did it right, I swear."

Wren's brow had furrowed, and now she spun, trying to apparate. "They've cast the jinx already," she said, though that was pretty obvious based on the fact that she was still here.

Mr. Weasley cursed. "Come on." He turned and dashed in the direction of the tunnel. We took off after him, though I didn't know what we were doing.

"We'll be able to apparate from just outside that circle of runes," he explained over his shoulder. "It's off the property."

When we came into the room, though, we stopped short. Halfway across it, dividing the room and blocking our way, was a shimmery... something. It was like a curtain, or a wall, but completely see-through. Mr. Weasley gingerly reached out with his wand to tap it, but his wand went right through. When his hand reached the shimmer, though, it stopped, as if it couldn't pass through.

"What is it?" Albus asked.

"Some sort of barrier," Mr. Weasley said, frowning. "Very clever of them. They knew you'd try to come out the same way you came in."

A chill went down my spine. "They knew we came in this way?"

"I'm sure someone's known you're here since you got to Purdue's house," Mr. Weasley said. He sounded just as annoyed as Mr. Potter had, but in a more friendly tone, somehow. Like he was trying to put us at ease, though I was feeling anything but at ease.

"Can you get rid of the barrier?" Wren asked from behind me, in such a shaky voice that I turned around to check on her. She was even paler now, breathing quickly and shaking. I couldn't imagine what was going through her head, and once again I nearly winced from the stab of guilt that shot through me. This is our fault. My fault.

"It'll be okay," said Mr. Weasley. He stepped past me to gently pat Wren's shoulder, which didn't seem to help her much. She managed something resembling a smile at the gesture, at least. "There's another tunnel on the next floor."

"Oh, I remember where that is!" Albus exclaimed.

"Glad to hear you've memorized the plans you stole," Mr. Weasley snapped at him.

"I didn't steal them! Just copied them!"

"If that had been something your dad would've been okay with, you wouldn't have been keeping all of this a secret," he pointed out, then shook his head. "There'll be plenty enough time for lectures from all the people you've frightened later. We need to get out of here."

"What if the barrier is up at the other tunnels?" I asked as we started walking.

"We'll worry about that when we get there," was Mr. Weasley's reply, which I knew was adult for I have no idea. That wasn't very reassuring.

As we mounted the stairs, new sounds started become noticeable. At first, it was distant yelling, but as we wove our way through the corridors, it started becoming clearer, and I realized it was the sound of people dueling. "Is the whole DA here?" I asked.

"Everyone who could be spared."

I caught Albus's eye. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. While I was still confident that our plan would've worked if Wren hadn't interfered, I was definitely starting to feel horrible about causing all of this. An under-prepared DA raid on Stillens manor might have actually been enough to shatter the DA once and for all, and that would be riding on Albus and I.

We had reached the room leading to the tunnel on the second sub-level (and thankfully found no magical barrier keeping us from leaving) when I stopped. "Wait, if we're already up here, it wouldn't be too hard to find Cassie."

"It absolutely would be too hard," Wren said, rolling her eyes. "Can you not hear what's going on above us?"

"No, no, Astra's right," Albus said seriously. "We told her we'd help her."

Mr. Weasley seemed beyond done with us. "Who the hell is Cassie?"

"One of the children," I said, moving to pass him as I did. Any more detailed explanation would probably take too long.

Mr. Weasley stepped in front of the door to block my path. "Absolutely not. You three are leaving now, while you still can. That's the most helpful thing any of you can do right now."

"The most helpful thing I can do is not break a promise to a six-year-old girl!"

"You shouldn't be making impossible promises to six-year-olds!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"If I have the chance to fulfill it, it's not impossible."

"Rotten luck you don't have the chance to fulfill it, then," Mr. Weasley said fiercely. He pointed behind us, to the passage. "Go. Now."

"Uncle Ron, you don't understand," Albus said, in a frustrated tone that he seemed to be trying very hard to make into a reasonable one. "Cassie is in more danger than the other kids, we think."

"I think Mr. Weasley is right," Wren said, very unhelpfully. I glared at her.

Albus was still glaring at his uncle. "You don't want us to do what's right? Even if it's dangerous, it's still right! Isn't that what you and Dad and Aunt Hermione did when you were my age?"

"That was different!"

"How so?"

"We didn't run straight into the arms of death on a whim every year! Bloody hell, Albus! Stillens isn't Voldemort. You don't understand everything that's going on."

"Maybe you don't!" I exclaimed, then drew my wand. "If you don't let us go, we'll have to fight you."

To my annoyance, Mr. Weasley started laughing. "You two are going to fight me? I used to be an auror, you know, before the joke shop. I don't think I've lost my touch that much."

Albus was brandishing his wand, too. "It's worth a shot, at least."

"You can't be serious right now." Wren rolled her eyes.

"You can go!" I shouted. I almost didn't feel bad when she winced, but I lowered my voice. "Go ahead, go home. It's okay. We'll be fine."

"I can't leave without you," she said.

"I would prefer it if you did, honestly."

The bad feeling hadn't gone away, and I could tell she knew I was thinking about it again. She looked scared, yet resigned, as she shook her head. "Astra, please."

Mr. Weasley still didn't seem to be taking us that seriously, but I noticed his wand in his hand now. I wasn't at all sure that I could beat him in a duel. Beside the fact that he had decades more experience than I did, I wouldn't have put it past him to hurt Albus and I just a little bit, for the sake of "saving our lives" or whatever it was. He was an ex-auror and current vigilante. He wasn't Wren.

That being said, was there a way to get away from him without knocking him out? If we could get out the door, I could put a couple of locking spells on it to give us a head start, and hopefully lose him in the maze of hallways. The problem was just getting out the door.

I sighed heavily, my shoulders slumping in an exaggerated way that made Wren narrow her eyes suspiciously. Mr. Weasley didn't seem to notice anything off about it, at least. "Fine," I said, lowering my wand. "I suppose we should go."

"Thank you," Mr. Weasley said, rolling his eyes. "About time, honestly. I haven't seen anyone as ridiculous as you two since Fred and George were your age."

Albus was staring at me like I'd lost my mind, and I turned my head so I could wink at him without the others seeing. Then, I glanced at the passage and tried to feign fear. "What if there are people in there, guarding the rune circle?"

Mr. Weasley raised an eyebrow, apparently not having thought of that. "I suppose you'll just have to hex them."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Albus asked. I thought he high-pitch to his voice might very well have been due to fear, not the fact that he was faking it.

Wren could see right through both of us, of course. I could tell by the way she was staring at us, frowning. "Mr. Weasley, I think they're lying."

"Lying?" he repeated. He glanced back and forth between us. "What do you mean?"

"I thought you wanted us all to go?" I snapped, before Wren could answer. "Why are you accusing us of lying now, when we're doing exactly what you want us to?"

"I—"

"Come on, Wren, really?" Albus shook his head, much more convincing now that he could funnel actual frustration toward Wren into his tone. "What on earth would we even be lying about?"

"There might really be people lying in wait in the passage, hoping to capture anyone that comes down it," I said, widening my eyes and praying that made me look more serious. "Do you want us to walk blindly into danger?"

"Obviously not." She hesitated, seeming conflicted, then shook her head. "There's no way you've given up this easily."

Albus did an admirable job at looking offended. "Honestly, that's a little condescending of you. You literally just said this was the reasonable thing to do, and now you're saying you didn't think we would see reason?"

"Merlin, that's harsh," I agreed, nodding. I turned back to Mr. Weasley now. "Speaking of reason, don't you think the most experienced wizard should lead the way, in case we do run into anyone?"

Mr. Weasley frowned at me for a little too long. I almost got scared that I'd just given away my plan. "Do you take me for an idiot?"

"Of course not," I answered. That wasn't a lie; if I thought he was an idiot, I wouldn't have been wasting so much time trying to trick him, would I?

"You think I don't know that the second I turn my back, you'll all be running off on your own?"

"We won't, I swear," Albus said. "You're right; we'll get ourselves killed if we go back out there."

"We're not completely stupid," I added.

"Could've fooled me," Mr. Weasley deadpanned.

I glanced at Albus. This had to work better than it was. How could we convince him we weren't going to run off and do exactly what I was hoping to run off and do?

"Wren can bring up the rear," Albus suggested. "You know she doesn't want to run off, at least. You can trust her."

"And she knows a lot more dueling magic than we do," I added. "She could probably take us, don't you think?"

Wren's eyes had widened. She opened her mouth, probably to tell me I was wrong. After all, it couldn't have even been two hours since we'd proven she couldn't take us in a duel. As gratifying as that would've been to hear, I was relieved when Albus cut her off. "Perfect solution, honestly. You don't have to worry about us running off behind you, and there's not chance we'll get murdered by anyone ahead of us. No death or dying at all, see?"

I stepped over to Wren and threw my arm around her shoulders, a chance to silently cast a silencing charm on her without Mr. Weasley noticing. "Wren'll keep us in line, won't she?"

Wren was glaring at me now. There was a lot underneath the glare, too, but I couldn't bring myself to look at her long enough to figure out what it was. At least she didn't seem to be able to say anything.

Mr. Weasley was glanced back and forth between the three of us. Wren's lack of objection was working in our favor, I could tell. Finally, he shook his head. "Fine. We don't have time for this. Come on."

With that, he stepped past us, toward the passage. The second his back was turned, I made a dash for the door, followed quickly by Albus. Before I could slam the door closed behind us, though, Wren had slipped out, as well.

"What the hell are you doing?" Albus demanded. Wren just glared at him, still unable to speak. I rolled my eyes and cast as many different spells on the door as I could think of to keep Mr. Weasley from opening it. I could hear him yelling at us from the other side, pounding on it.

"We've got to get out of here," I said. Wren shook her head and stomped her foot. As much as I didn't want to hear her lecturing us, I sighed and quickly performed the counter-spell on her.

"We aren't going anywhere," she said, eyes narrowed. "You're out of your minds. There's absolutely no way you're going to be able to find Cassie now!"

"We have to try!" I exclaimed. "I told her we would!"

"You shouldn't have told her that!"

"If you don't want to come with us, you don't have to!" Albus shouted. He gestured to the door. "Stay here, wait for Uncle Ron to get through those charms, then go home. That's fine. But we're going, whether you like it or not."

"I can't let you go alone," she said, a tinge of desperation in her voice now. "Please, we need to go. We need to get out of here. You don't understand how dangerous this is."

"Maybe you don't understand how important this is," I snapped. "That's what you do all the time! You go risk your life and spy because it's the right thing to do!"

"That's different." She shook her head. "Really, please, can we go home?" She bit her lip, and for a moment I thought she might cry. "I don't want to die. I don't want you to die."

"We're going to be fine," Albus said, in a slightly more reassuring tone than before. He patted her shoulder. "We can handle a couple of bad guys."

"It's not just a couple. There's a literal battle going on." Wren closed her eyes for a moment, as if she were in pain. "If we get captured, they're going to torture and kill you, Albus. And Astra, Stillens will use you against your will until he doesn't need you anymore, then he'll kill you, too. You'll be in misery for the rest of your lives, praying for the end, and it'll be very unlikely that anyone will be able to save you. You seriously don't understand how bad it's going to be."

I glanced at Albus. I wish I could say I heard all that and didn't get frightened at all. Gryffindors are supposed to be brave, not afraid, after all. But I felt just a little scared for Albus and myself now, for the first time since we'd decided to do this. I could see that reflected in his expression, too. But there was also a resolve there, even stronger than before. What we were trying to do was worth risking it.

With a shake of my head, I squared my shoulders. "You can come with us, or you can stay here. I'd rather you stayed."

Wren blinked quickly a few times. "Please, don't."

"We're going now," Albus said, starting to back away from the door.

To my dismay, she kept walking with us, though it seemed like the last thing she wanted to do. I tried to tell myself that this was her choice, that she was the one who was deciding to come with us, but I knew in her mind it wasn't any sort of choice at all. We had essentially forced her to come with us the moment I'd given her the option to, because to her, the choice was abandon us to go die, or come with us and possibly save us.

The bad feeling kept growing with every step we took.

The fighting was getting nearer, it sounded like. We tried to avoid it, doubling back when we turned onto corridors with people dueling at the other end, and intentionally taking the more obscure ways. So far, I didn't recognize anyone. In fact, from the few glimpses I'd seen, I couldn't tell who was on our side and who wasn't, because I had no idea who any of these people were.

"We should try the first sub-level," Albus said. "If she's still down here, I bet she'll be hiding up there."

"I think that's where most of the fighting is," Wren said.

"Then you'd better get ready to fight," was all he said in reply. I tried to ignore the expression on her face, but I couldn't get the fear and resignation out of my head. The only thing I knew for sure was the Wren was convinced we were all going to die, and she would rather walk knowingly into death with Albus and I than stay safe and let us go by ourselves. Whatever happened, I was now determined to get her out, too.

Albus led the way to an out-of-the-way staircase to the next floor. We climbed it, and I stuck my head out into the corridor before we kept walking to make sure the coast was clear. Though the sounds of fighting were much clearer, now, there didn't seem to be anyone in this particular hallway. I motioned for Albus and Wren to follow me, then crept out the door. At Albus's direction, we headed left.

"What's that?" Albus whispered, pointing to something on the floor I hadn't noticed. It was what looked like a bundle of clothes, thrown haphazardly at a junction between this hallway and another. As we drew closer, I realized the floor looked a little slick around it, like someone had spilled water. Maybe this was where they did laundry, and someone had abandoned their load halfway through to go fight?

But no, the wetness on the floor seemed distinctly dark. And the bundle of clothes didn't seem to be just clothes. A sick feeling started to wash over me just as Wren gasped and whispered, "Oh my gosh." It was then that I saw a hand protruding from the bundle, and a chill went down my spine. The bundle that was just a cloak, covering someone who was a little bit too eerily still.

Albus cursed under his breath, and Wren seemed to be breathing too quickly again. We all stopped, no one wanting to get any closer, even just to see who it was.

"It might be one of Stillens' agents," I said, after too long.

"They might just be knocked out," Albus added.

Wren shook her head. "They're dead."

"How do you know?"

She glanced at him, a haunted look in her eyes. "They're not breathing, Albus. You can tell the difference."

I took a deep breath, steeling myself. "We've got to keep going. Come on."

I started walking, trying to keep my eyes off the body on the floor, but it drew them like a magnet. I wanted to look at anything else, but my eyes were moving of their own accord, staring as we slowly moved toward it, and its face came into view.

Wren let out a choked gasp, or maybe a sob. Albus grabbed my arm for support. I felt like I was a million miles away, still seeming through my eyes but not quite comprehending what was there. That was Mrs. Longbottom. But she was lying on the floor, eyes glassy and staring out, blood covering her shirt and hands and face to the point where she was almost unrecognizable. But it was her.

Albus cursed again, several times, shaking his head quickly. "We need to get out of here."

Wren nodded, and I realized she was crying. I wanted to cry, too. I wanted to curse everything I could think of. I wanted to do anything except keep staring at our former matron's face. She was one of the very first people who welcomed me into the wizarding world. I'd ridden to Platform 9 3/4 with the Longbottoms my first year. I couldn't count the number of times she'd fixed me up in the hospital wing, and hadn't asked questions about some of the very questionable injuries I managed to get. Every time I'd ever been to the Leaky Cauldron, she'd met me with a smile and asked how I was doing, even when it was intensely busy and she probably didn't have time for me.

And now she was dead on the floor, bled out in the basement of Stillens manor. Unless the DA managed to somehow overwhelm Stillens' forces, they might not even find her body.

"Astra, come on," Albus whispered. He was trying to pull me back, but suddenly tears were blurring my vision and I couldn't see and I couldn't breathe and I was going to throw up and Wren and Albus's voices were getting very distant and the only thing I could hear was my own voice in my head, telling me over and over and over that this is your fault.

"Astra, please, we need to go." Wren was pulling on my arm, and I managed to snap back into reality enough to meet her eyes. She had tears running down her face, but didn't seem to notice. All she did was shake her head. "I know. But the best thing we can do right now is get home."

I drew a shaky breath, realizing for the first time that she was right, and she'd been right this whole time. I managed to nod. "Right."

"Just focus on what we need to do right now," she said, in a far steadier voice than I would have thought her capable of having. "We need to get back to the tunnel."

"The tunnel. Yes."

"We're just walking. Focus on taking the next step. One at a time." She gave me a tight-lipped smile. "It's going to be okay, I swear." I didn't believe her, but I wanted to.

Just then, there was a commotion at the far end of the corridor. I glanced up to see three or four people who I'd didn't have time to recognize yelling at us. I heard, "It's Lestrange!" which didn't seem to be a good sign.

Albus was holding his wand tensely, but glanced at Wren before doing anything. "They're with Stillens?"

She had frozen, like a deer in the headlights. When Albus spoke to her, she managed to shake it off, and nodded. "Run. We need to run."

So we ran.

I heard pounding feet and yelling behind us, but I kept my eyes ahead. We tried the door to the stairs, but it had swung shut and locked, and there wasn't time to get the unlocking spell right. We kept running, our only concern losing the people behind us.

I was hopelessly lost after two minutes. I could only hope Albus was keeping track of where we were. I followed him, as he made seemingly random decisions about when to turn and which direction to go. Somehow, the people chasing us only seemed to grow closer.

I guess, looking back, it was only a matter of time before we accidentally stumbled into fighting. We were on the first sub-level, after all, and not particularly trying to avoid it. When we turned onto a hallway that looked like a battleground, though, with smoke everywhere and people shouting and screaming, Albus tried to backtrack and go the other way. The operatives who had been chasing us were too quick, though and blocked our path. I pursed my lips and pulled my wand out. We'd have to fight.

The operatives had slowed down, taking their time now that we had nowhere to run. There were four of them, three men and a woman. I recognized Alistair Hellion, now that I thought about it. And the woman, too, was Vane, his wife. They'd been at Gringotts. The other two men were people I didn't know, but honestly Alistair would've been enough to frighten me all on his own.

No one in the battle behind us had noticed us yet, thankfully, so we only had to worry about the threat from one side, but I didn't trust that luck for long. Better to break through this side and run back the way we'd come.

"Is that Predatel's daughter?" one of the men asked, pausing in surprise.

Alistair had a nasty grin on his face. "Would you look at that? Won't your parents be disappointed, Wren?"

She cowered a little, and I stepped forward, shielding her and brandishing my wand. "Back off. I'm not afraid to hurt any of you."

All four of them laughed, which made twice in about fifteen minutes. I didn't appreciate that at all. While they were off their guard, I quickly shot three expelliarmuses.

Only one hit its target. Alistair and Vane blocked me easily, though they did seem surprised. The man who'd lost his wand scrambled to pick it up again; I'd shot the spell too quickly to actually aim for catching the wand.

"Tricky," Vane said, sneering at me. "I'm afraid your little tricks won't be enough to save you tonight, though."

You know, in the movies, bad guys always pause to give snappy one-liners. They go one at a time, and the heroes always look like they're going to be overwhelmed, but they never actually are. The bad guys' backup only comes once nearly all of them have been knocked out already. Unfortunately, this wasn't a movie, and the Hellions were too smart to do any of those things.

"Hey, Lestrange is over here!" Alistair shouted at the fighting behind us. I glanced behind me to see several people noticing us for the first time. A few started in our direction, and I pushed Wren and Albus back against the wall, just so we wouldn't have anyone firing at our backs. Then there was hardly time to breath before an onslaught of curses began.

It was like the day on the Quidditch pitch last year, when Isaac Predatel had tried to kill Albus and I, only this time there were far more people fighting against, and far less room to run. I cast shield charm after shield charm, and fired as many curses and hexes as I could think of between them, but we weren't fighting school-yard bullies. These people were trained professionals.

Of course, there was still fighting to our right. There wasn't time to pay attention to who it was, but I could vaguely hear people calling our names. Our first names, not just "Lestrange," which at least gave me some hope that there were DA members who knew where we were and could help us. If they could only get to us, at least. There seemed to be a lot more of Stillens' crew.

Thee thing was, we were surrounded. As the Hellions drew closer on one side, and some other sketchy people on the other, I began to lose hope. There wasn't going to be a way out. I threw up the strongest shield charm I could, then glanced over my shoulder at Wren. Somehow, in the chaos, we made eye contact.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. She smiled a little, though her eyes showed nothing but sheer terror. Then she had to duck to avoid a curse just as her own shield charm gave out. The spell that broke it hit her in the side, and she crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

Albus cursed loudly, and managed to hit one of the men behind Alistair with a stunning charm. But they kept getting closer, and there were too many curses coming our way now, and it was all I could do to keep a shield charm up, let alone fight back.

The last thing I saw was Vane Hellion laughing as her charm broke through my shield. Then, everything went black.

~~~~

Question of the Day: How are you feeling?

Answer: I'll be honest, Mrs. Longbottom dying came to me literally as I was writing this chapter. There's so much angst here, oh my gosh, I hope it doesn't traumatize everyone too much.

Vote and comment!

~Elli

Word count: 5987