To say that Mary and Violet had been exhausted for the last three months was an understatement.

It was nothing but tracking down Muggle-borns and bringing them back to the Ministry. Both girls hated to see the looks in their desperate eyes as Snatchers took them to be questioned. They had to turn their heads in order to avoid any more heartbreak.

Violet had a harder time with it. Some nights, Mary would hear her crying herself to sleep, resulting in red and swollen eyes the next morning. It got worse whenever she spotted Jacob in the hallway. Mary knew that feeling too well with Oliver.

She really was trying to figure out a way to get out of Malfoy Manor, but there was always a loophole to her plans. It became frustrating with every strategy she thought would work. She began to worry that she would run out of ideas soon, which meant any hope she kept with her would also diminish.

A part of the problem was that both girls were kept under strict watch from the Snatchers and those residing at Malfoy Manor. Neither of them only had time to themselves at night, where being alone with their thoughts made them restless. It only got worse from there

It was Easter when Snatchers got word about some wizards that could potentially be Muggle-borns in what was most likely a safehouse just outside of London. With Scabior already out and about with his group, Mary and Violet were led by a Snatcher that occasionally joined them, but neither of the girls knew his name, nor did they care. Really, they just hoped that they missed the wizards that were spotted.

"Let's keep moving!" the Snatcher commanded the others. "We don't want to miss catching those Mudbloods!"

"What are the odds those wizards sighted aren't even Muggle-borns?" Violet whispered to Mary.

"Very slim, I'm sure," Mary whispered back.

The girls managed to remain in the back, giving some space between them and the other Snatchers. As they drew closer to their destination, Mary's heart was beating faster as she got more nervous. She had sent too many Muggle-borns to the Ministry already. Of course, she wished that none of them had to go to the Ministry. The only way that was going to happen was the war would have to stop, which meant Harry Potter needed to get a move on if he wanted to win.

When they reached the safehouse, the spot where the wizards were spotted, the head Snatcher used his wand to open the door. Mary and Violet parted ways with the Snatchers as they headed up the stairs. As each room was vacant, relief came over Mary and Violet when no one was to be seen.

"This is a good sign if no one's here," Violet commented.

"That means they got away, then," Mary said. "Or maybe no one was here at all."

"Who sent in the tip again?" Violet asked.

Mary shrugged, shaking her head. "I have no idea."

"Well, doesn't that seem odd to you?"

"I mean..." Mary trailed off, giving it more thought. It did sound suspicious, but who would set them up? "Yeah, it is odd."

Violet's expression turned concerned. "I think we should get out of here. It might be a--"

BOOM!

The girls were thrown backwards, hitting the walls with a thud! They grunted in pain, grabbing their wands with a tight grip. Dust was flying everywhere, along with

A trap. It was a trap.

As the two stumbled to get up, coughing and tearing up from the dust, they heard the sound of yelling from downstairs. They managed to get to the hallway but stopped at the top of the stairs, where spells being shot out of wands as flashes of red and green went all over the place.

"Who do you think ambushed us?" Violet asked.

Mary shook her head. "I don't know!"

All of a sudden, the sound of a crack echoed nearby, revealing the face of a familiar woman, who gave them a shocked look. "Girls!"

Violet widened her eyes. "Mum?!"

"Oh, Violet!" she exclaimed, then shifted her eyes. "Mary!"

"Mrs. Hamilton," Mary breathed out. "What's going on?"

"The Order set this up, to lure Snatchers and capture them. I did not expect for you two to be here, which is why we need to go now." She took their hands and held onto them tightly, taking a deep breath. "You two ready?" When the girls nodded their heads, Mrs. Hamilton Apparated out of the house, taking the girls to safety.

*******

Oliver and his friends were sitting around the cellar in silence, expecting for Malfoy to come down and take one of them any second. All of them were mentally preparing for whatever the Death Eaters had planned.

However, it had been hours and Malfoy still wasn't here.

Oliver looked over at the other side of the cellar and spotted the most recent prisoner: Griphook, a goblin from Gringotts, who arrived a few days ago. He didn't utter a word to anyone, only isolating himself in a corner. Getting the message loud and clear, no one made any attempts to talk to the goblin.

"You think the Death Eaters are taking a day off today?" Jacob questioned.

Andrew scoffed in response. "I highly doubt it. They haven't done such a thing since we've been here."

"Maybe today will be different," Oliver commented. He wanted to believe his own words, but it was difficult to be hopeful about the possibility of that actually happening.

As it got quiet again, it was soon interrupted by the sounds of talking coming from above. The four listened closely, trying to catch a few words and recognize the voices. So far, they only picked up Bellatrix, Malfoy, along with his father, and Scabior.

Then, Harry Potter's name was mentioned.

"Do you think he's up there?" Eliza spoke up.

"It sounds like it," Jacob said. "I'm sure Ron and Hermione are with him as well."

"How the hell did they get caught by Snatchers?" Andrew added. "After being on the run for almost a year--"

"CISSY! PUT THE BOYS IN THE CELLAR! I WANT TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH THIS ONE, GIRL-TO-GIRL!" Bellatrix shouted. "GRAB THE OTHER TWO MUDBLOODS AS WELL!"

The four widened their eyes as Mrs. Malfoy came storming down the stairs with Harry and Ron in her grasp. As she threw them down to the ground, only Oliver and Eliza got a glimpse of them before they were taken away. Being forced up the stairs, they hurried on their feet and almost stopped in place when they saw Hermione on the ground, with Bellatrix standing over her.

"Where do you want them, Bella?" Mrs. Malfoy inquired.

Bellatrix pointed towards the fireplace. "Over there. Once I'm done with this one, they'll be next."

As Oliver and Eliza were pushed against the fireplace, they watched Bellatrix get down on the floor, her face right in Hermione's. "That sword is meant to be in my vault at Gringotts. How did you get it?"

Hermione began to whimper. "I-I didn't take--"

"How did you and your friends take it FROM MY VAULT?!"

"Please! I didn't take anything!"

"I don't believe it."

The sounds of Hermione's blood-curdling scream came next.

Oliver closed his eyes as the lump in his throat and the tears in his eyes formed, while Eliza was begging for Bellatrix to stop. Both of them knew exactly what was happening, remembering what pain they had to endure only a week ago. They were all too familiar with the word Mudblood carved into their skin, and for a brief moment, Oliver opened his eyes and looked down at his own scar on his arm through his misty eyes.

Finally, after another minute, Hermione's screams came to a halt, and the Death Eater that went by the name of Wormtail brought up Griphook. Bellatrix left Hermione on the floor as she took Griphook to the corner for his interrogation, while Wormtail headed back down to the cellar.

"We need to come up with a plan," Eliza whispered.

"There isn't much we can do without our wands," Oliver pointed out.

Before the conversation could continue, Draco Malfoy stepped beside his mother. "Mary and Hamilton have been gone with the Snatchers for quite some time now, longer than expected."

"Sweetheart, I'm sure they're still making their runs," Mrs. Malfoy stated. "Don't worry about it."

"It's not me who is worried as much. It's Mary's parents that are growing concerns."

"Well, they have nothing to fear. Mary is in good hands."

Oliver rolled his eyes at that, but he began to get concerned that Mary and Violet were gone longer than anticipated. He hoped they weren't into any trouble.

"I'm only going to ask you once more, goblin! Think very, very carefully before you answer," Bellatrix said in a low voice.

"I don't know," Griphook replied.

"You don't know? Why weren't you doing your job? Who got into my vault? Who stole it?"

"When I was last in your vault, the sword was there."

What sword are they talking about? Oliver thought.

"Oh, perhaps it just walked out on its own, then," Bellatrix retorted.

"There is no place safer than Gringotts," Griphook said.

"LIAR!" she shouted in his face, leaving a scar with her knife just below his eye. "Consider yourself lucky, goblin." She paused, strolling back around Hermione. "The same won't be said for this one, along with those two." She pointed her knife towards Oliver and Eliza, to which Oliver grabbed her in a protective manner.

All of a sudden, there was a shout coming from the stairs leading down to the cellar. "Expelliarmus!" It was Ron, who successfully disarmed Bellatrix.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted towards Lucius Malfoy, throwing him backwards.

"Ollie! Liza!" Andrew yelled next, throwing their wands. "Wormtail had these on him!"

"Where's Jake?" Eliza asked.

"He, Luna, and Ollivander got out! We'll explain once we get out of here ourselves!" Andrew replied.

Draco and his mother were dueling with Harry and Ron when two more Death Eaters arrived. Oliver recognized them immediately, already shooting a glare at them: Mary's parents.

Before he knew it, Oliver shot a spell their way.

Mr. Fowler dodged it with such ease, his expression getting angry. As he let a spell fly out of his wand, Andrew got in the way and blocked it, to which more spells followed. Mrs. Fowler joined her husband, while Eliza did the same with her friends. With each cast, with each wave of the wand, things were only getting more intense.

Finally, it all came to a stop when Bellatrix yelled, "STOP!" She paused, holding a whimpering Hermione up with the knife on her throat. "Drop your wands!" Everyone stood around and did nothing, she shouted again, "I said, drop them! This time, wands fell to the floor and Bellatrix motioned for Draco to pick them up. "Well, well, well...look who we have here. It's Harry Potter. He's all bright and shiny and new again, just in time for the Dark Lord. Call him." When all eyes fell on Draco, he did nothing. "Call him!" Bellatrix repeated.

Oliver felt nothing but defeat as Lucius Malfoy stepped in and rolled up his sleeve to reveal his Dark Mark. For a moment, it got quiet in the room as everyone waited for You-Know-Who to arrive. But the silence broke as the sound of a creaking noise came from somewhere. When Oliver saw Bellatrix looking up, he did the same, only to see a house-elf unscrewing the chandelier from the ceiling.

Suddenly, as it began to fall, Bellatrix let out a scream and freed Hermione, with Ron there to catch her. As Draco scrambled back in the chair, he dropped some wands, resulting in Eliza running to grab hers, Oliver's, and Andrew's.

"Stupid elf! You could've killed me!" Bellatrix yelled.

"Dobby never meant to kill!" the house-elf protested. "Dobby only meant to maim or seriously injure!"

Draco's mother went to cast a spell, but Dobby the house-self disarmed her.

"How dare you take a witch's wand! How dare you defy your masters!" Bellatrix screamed in anger.

But Dobby stood taller. "Dobby has no master! Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!"

While everyone around the elf took a hold of his hand, Oliver, Eliza, and Andrew were nowhere close to them to do the same. Harry gave them an urging look to join them, but before any of them could get the chance to do so, the three were thrown back by a spell, hitting the wall. After groaning in pain, the trio stood up to see that Harry and the others were gone.

"You three aren't getting away," Mr. Fowler growled.

Eliza let out a scoff. "We'll see about that." Without any hesitation, she pointed her wand at the ceiling and released a fire, where it morphed into a giant dragon.

"Fiendfyre?!" Oliver shouted, widening his eyes.

"Gotta live up to the Fire Pack name, don't I?" she retorted.

The others back away at the sight of the fire.

"Let the Apparition wards down!" Bellatrix ordered, to which Mrs. Malfoy did just that, resulting in her, Bellatrix, and Draco Apparating with a crack, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Fowler.

As the three were about to do the same, Lucius interjected, shoving Eliza to the floor. "No more Mudbloods will escape today."

"No!" Andrew yelled, tackling Lucius, struggling to get him on the floor.

Oliver ran to get Eliza, leading her to the stairs that took them towards the front of the manor. They turned around to see Andrew putting up a fight with Lucius. As the Fiendfyre got stronger, Oliver and Eliza took their wands and did as much as they could to fight it off. When they made attempts to go after Andrew, neither of them could get far enough to help him.

"Andrew!" Oliver shouted.

"Go, you two!" he shouted back.

"No, we're not leaving you!" Eliza protested.

Their energy with holding off the fire was about to run out as Lucius managed to get Andrew in a chokehold. They gave Andrew a sad look, wanting to go help him, but knowing the power of the fire would take over in an instant.

"Andy..." Eliza croaked, tears getting in her eyes.

"Go to Shell Cottage!" Andrew yelled. "That's where the others went."

"Andy, we can't leave you!" Oliver cried.

"You have to if you want to make it out of here alive!" He paused, giving them a small smile. "It'll be okay. I'll see Sarah and the rest of my family again."

"But we're your family, too!" Eliza yelled.

"And you've been a great one!" Andrew was now crying, struggling in Lucius' grasp. "I love you all. Tell Jake and Vi that I love them, too!" He finally nodded his head and took a deep breath, letting out a scream as he threw him and Lucius backwards, engulfing them in the flames.

"NO!" Eliza sobbed, dropping her wand and body.

"Eliza, we have to go!" Oliver picked her up and managed to get her down the stairs and positioned to Apparate. He held onto her hand tightly, feeling the tears hit his knuckles. "Shell Cottage."

The two closed their eyes and Apparated with a crack, no longer feeling the heat from the Fiendfyre as they hit a sandy surface.

~~~~~~~

A/N: RIP Andrew. I'm gonna miss him so much. My heart hurts.

Anyway, the song above is Walk Through the Fire by Zayde Wolf and Ruelle.

Comment, vote, next update will be on 8/16.

-A