Lost Memories

lxxii. officially lost

There were loads of people who joined Harry in fighting against Lord Voldemort, including Percey Weasley. Harry and I moved up the Hall alongside the Gryffindor table, still looking for Ron and Hermione. As we passed, faced turned to Harry and a great deal of whispering broke out in his wake.

"We have already placed protection around the castle," Professor McGonagall was saying, "but it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. I must ask you, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your prefects —"

But her final words were drowned as a different voice echoed throughout the Hall. It was high, cold, and clear: There was no telling from where it came; it seemed to issue from the walls themselves. Like the monster it had once commanded, it might have lain dormant there for centuries.

"I know that you are preparing to fight." There were screams amongst the students, some of whom clutched each other, looking around in terror for the source of the sound. "Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood."

There was silence in the Hall now, the kind of silence that presses against the eardrums, that seems too huge to be contained by walls.

"Give me Harry Potter," said Voldemort's voice, "and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded.

"You have until midnight."

The silence swallowed them all again. Every head turned, every eye in the place seemed to have found Harry, to hold him frozen in the glare of thousands of invisible beams. Then a figure rose from the Slytherin table, Pansy Parkinson as she raised a shaking arm and screamed, "But he's there! Potter's there! Someone grab him!"

Instantaneously, I clasped my hand in Harry's, as means of protecting him. Suddenly, all of the Gryffindor table stood up, wands out, in front of Harry and me, and stood facing towards the Slytherins. Then the Hufflepuffs stood, and almost at the same moment, the Ravenclaws, all of them with their backs to us, all of them looking toward Pansy instead.

I only let go of Harry's hand to stand up on the table, wand outstretched, and bellowed, "Pansy, you double-crossing cow, I always knew you were a coward! Slytherin loyalty, my ass!"

Her face contorted in fear and her eyes narrowed at me in hatred.

"Quite enough, Miss Harring. Thank you, Miss Parkinson," said Professor McGonagall in a clipped voice. "You will leave the Hall first with Mr Filch. If the rest of your House could follow."

McGonagall ordered the houses to leave, all of the underaged wizards left with a few of the of-age ones. Following Harry, I ran up to our old spot at the Gryffindor Table where the Weasleys sat.

"Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"Haven't you found — ?" began Mr Weasley, looking worried. But he broke off as Kingsley had stepped forward on the raised platform to create a battle plan with those who had remained behind,

"We've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast! A battle plan has been agreed upon between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers — Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor — where they'll have a good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus" — he indicated Remus — "Arthur" — he pointed toward Mr Weasley, sitting at the Gryffindor table — "Sirius" — he looked towards Sirius standing behind Mr Weasley— "and I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organize defence of the entrances of the passageways into the school —"