Marooned - Fred Weasley

Chapter 80: Courtyard Apocalypse

Dark shadows were circling the towers, taking members and walls down one by one. There were bricks fallings, people shouting, wands spitting fire, an image picked right out of a History book and painted before Sarah's eyes. 

The floor beneath her feet crumbled after a fireball had been thrown. She was facing a Death Eater, staring in the whites of his eyes. They were both dazed from the fall, coughing out dust for a second, then as if rehearsed, they picked up their wands at the same time. 

"Av-"

"Stupefy!" He flew back at once, giving her the chance to get back on her feet and start running. She'd fell just a floor below, where Kingsley and Arthur were fighting off two Death Eaters each. Sarah flicked her wand and threw an Impedimenta jinx at one of them, just as he was about to hit Arthur again with a spell. The Death Eater crashed against the wall behind him. That was the opening for Arthur to disarm and petrify the other. 

"You alright?" he squeezed her shoulder a bit too tightly from the adrenaline rushing through him. Kingsley had just gotten rid of his two attackers, pushed the bodies of the unconscious Death Eaters down, leaving them, if they were lucky, either plummet to their death or a significant injury. It was unlikely they would bother them again. 

Sarah nodded briefly and threw herself on the ground along with the two men. Something had hit the tower and made an entire arcade crumble. It was a sickle, with a wooden handle, its rounded blade looking incredibly rusted but as it just displayed, still cut sharply. 

She felt fragments of brick falling on her back. Unconsciously, Arthur had tucked her under him, meaning he and Kingsley got the most of it. She used her wand to get the stones off of them and helped them up. 

"They've got Giants!" she screamed in horror as she glanced outside. "Not just a few, but dozens! And one is coming to get that-"

"Follow my lead," said Kingsley, coming out as a grunt more than anything else, visibly still sore from the explosion, and that was only the beginning. Sarah subtly moved her wand in his direction to set a Stamina charm upon him, saw his traits relaxing instantly, showing off his determination once again. 

He made the sickle levitate, made it shoot right towards the Giant's head. It wasn't fast enough, Sarah and Arthur had to jinx the Giant, for a few seconds he moved in slow motion, timing it perfectly, with an inch left between him and the tower. The giant punched the stone wall, making it crack all the way up to where the three were now. Just as he was preparing for a second one, Kingsley drew a steep line with his wand, the blade of the sickle mimicking it perfectly, cut off the Giant's head. 

It rolled down into the Hogwarts courtyard, making a few people scream. But that wasn't all, because now their position had been disclosed to a stream of Death Eaters who were looking for nothing but sowing terror. 

"Run." Arthur mumbled and stupidly enough, none ran in the same directions. Sarah ran up the stairs, that was the place she had been assigned to, she couldn't have been gone for longer than ten minutes. She had to know her friends and Fred were alright up there. Such a stupid thing to do, really, to hang on to structure and stability knowing it was antithetical to even think it during war. 

"Fred?" The place was empty, how could no one be here? "Selena! George!" She didn't dawdle, because she'd heard an unmistakable scream a few stories down. Panic surged, if she heard it, it must not be very far from her. The entire school was crumbling and burning down. 

She was getting closer to the source of the struggling, just as she turned the corner, she crashed into the Death Eater that was about to attack Tonks. Sarah made him lose his balance and they both fell down. He growled furiously when he saw her, grabbed her collar and formed a fist into the air that he didn't get to throw. Remus sent him flying through the stone arcade and cursed at him for trying to hurt her. "You okay?"