Vallencia, you're time is running out. I will attack tonight. Harry must be on our side. 

Voldemort shorted out and I received no other words from him. I smirked to myself. If only he knew that Harry wasn't on my side, but I was on his. 

At that moment, Harry came up to me. "Vallee," he murmured in my ear, hugging me from behind.

I smile softly and close my eyes. 

"Any word from Him?" Hermione asks, walking into the Common Room. 

Harry awkwardly pulls away, but Hermione has her nose stuck in a book. "From who?" I ask.

She sighs and sets her book on a nearby table. "Voldemort, of course."

"AW, do you have to call him by his name?" Ron crows, walking into the room. 

"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself," Hermione says proudly. "Well, have you?" she asks, ignoring Rons' puzzled expression. 

"Yes, he's attacking tonight. Same as it's always been."

Her eyes widen. "Oh, great heavens, we're not ready!"

"You're tellin' me!" Ron exclaims, shoving a pillow in his face. 

Harry bites his lower lip. "All of these innocent people," he mumbles to himself.

I wrap my arm around his waist. "Oh, Harry, it's not your fault. Besides, he's weak. We're stronger than him."

"But what about his army?" Harry asks, running a hand through his dark hair. 

"We need to fight. Get Neville, Luna... everyone for crying out loud!" Hermione shreeks and takes off. I look at Harry. Let's go, we seem to say to each other.

He nods and starts for the door, grabbing my hand and pulling me along. "Ron!" he calls, and I hear the red-head shuffle after us. We run down the stairs, not bothering to look back and see if Ron was following.

Then it shifts. The ground literally starts moving. I gasp and reach for the nearest railing. These goddamn staircases. "Val," Harry breathes and holds me to the railing. What is he doing? 

"Harry?" I ask. 

"I swear, if these start moving one more time, I am suing Dumbledore," he growls, half to me, half to the world. 

then something crashes into us, and I cry out. Red fills my vision. "Ron! Get your fucking hair out of my face!" I groan. "And get off!"

The staircase finally shifts into place and I feel Rons weight be removed from me. I roll my eyes to myself. A hand appears in front of me. "Here," Harry says. 

I take it and he pulls me up. "Thanks," I breathe.

"Your girlfriends salty, mate," Ron says, out of breath. He covers his eyes with his hands as he tries to catch his breath. 

I glance at Harry, and he looks at me, and he smirks, a laugh coming on. I roll my eyes once more and start giggling. 

Harry wraps his arm around my waist and we start walking more carefully on the stairs. Ron follows, his breathing sharp. He's nervous. I can tell. 

I pull away softly from Harry, smiling at him as I backed up towards Ron. "Aye, you alright?" I ask lightly.

He looks at me, then looks away. "I don't know. It's just this. And... and... and..." he looks at me and makes this weird gesture towards me. "And you..."

"What about me?" I ask, confusion taking over my features. 

He sighs. "You... You're helping us. At least I think you are. And you're not supposed to be, but you care about us." He lowers his voice. "You might even care about me." He looks away again and runs a hand over his face.

"Of course I care about you," I say gently. 

Ron sighs once more. "Yeah. Of course. Right."

"What?" I ask. Here I am, trying to help him, reassure him, and he's being a jerk.

"That wasn't what I meant," he says so that I can barely hear him.

"Wha-?" I break off and look at Harry. He seems absent-minded, like he has no idea what's going on, but who knows.  Ron, wanting my care? My special care? That wasn't him. Ron was all about Hermione. "Ron!" I gasp.

He looks away, anger rolling off of him in waves. "Yeah, I know, you like Harry, the Chosen One, the Boy Who Lived. Yeah. I know."

I recoil from him, feeling anger course through my vanes. How dare he? "That is not why I like him. Harry is sweet and kind and caring, unlike you!" I hiss.

"Oh look at you, a temper like you father's."

I scoff. "Excuse me?" Who was he, talking to me like that?

"You heard me loud and clear," he grumbles. He turns back towards the direction of the Common Room, and shoves past me. 

A small cry escapes my lips at his force. He doesn't care. He doesn't hear. He doesn't matter. 

I look back at Harry. He's quite a bit farther down than we are now, walking along like nothing has happened. 

I feel like I'm being suffocated, by how everything changes so fast. But I push it down, away, out of sight. It can't get in the way of the battle. Nothing can. This was what was important now.

Sooooo super late update. Thank you guys so much for still reading! Vote, comment, follow!

-Blu