dark side • draco malfoy

28 | Professor Dumbledore

Several hours later, I woke up suddenly to a loud commotion in the common room. Sitting up, I noticed that Hermione and Parvati had both woken up as well, while Lavender continued to snore quietly in her bed.

"What's going on?" I asked, sleepily throwing my dark brown hair into a loose ponytail and standing up.

"No idea, but it doesn't sound good." Hermione answered, and together the three of us hurriedly left our dormitory and headed down the stairs into the common room to see it filled with students from first to seventh year. I spotted some distinctly red hair across the room, and Hermione and I ran over to Ron and Ginny.

"There's Death Eaters in the castle!" Ginny exclaimed, and my heart sunk as I remembered what Draco had told me earlier that day.

"And to make matters worse, Harry hasn't come back yet!" Ron added, and I swore Hermione's eyes looked as though they were about to pop right out.

All around me, students were crying and hugging each other, and whispering about whether or not the Death Eaters could get inside the common room. Finally, a blonde, seventh year boy stood on top of the sofa and yelled for everyone to be quiet.

"Everyone, please stay calm! There is no way that anyone can get inside this common room unless they know the password, which is highly unlikely. First, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth years, please stay inside the common room. My fellow seventh years, you are welcome to join me in leaving the common room and fighting the intruders inside the castle. Thank you." The blonde boy stepped down, and immediately all of the seventh year students followed him to the door, and anxiously made their way into the corridors.

"Come on, lets go." Hermione muttered under her breath, grabbing mine and Ron's arms and dragging us towards the portrait hole.

"Bloody hell, Hermione! Did you not hear them? They told us to stay here!" Ron whispered, glaring at the bushy-haired girl.

"Harry's out still out there! And besides, this is what the D.A. was for!" She retorted, and I nodded. Ron sighed in defeat, and the three of us quietly snuck out into the dark corridor. I knew Ginny would be pissed that we left her out of the action, but it was for her own safety. The less people sneaking out of the common room, the better.

The closer we got to the centre of the castle, the louder we could hear shouts and commotion. I tightened my grip on my wand as I heard the familiar cackle of Bellatrix Lestrange, and it took everything in me not to run straight to her and make sure that she would never laugh again.

"So let me get this straight; we're hunting Death Eaters in our bloody pyjamas?" Ron suddenly blurted out, and I realized that he was right. I was wearing an old, white tank top and a red pair of plaid pj bottoms, Ron wore a black t-shirt and blue, striped bottoms, and Hermione was wearing a purple dressing gown. And to top it all off, all three of us were barefoot. Wonderful.

I sensed that Hermione was about to shoot some witty retort back at him, but suddenly the wall beside us exploded as it was hit with a powerful curse. The three of us immediately shielded ourselves, before jumping straight into the action. The first thing I saw was a head of crazy, dark curls and I recognized who it was immediately; Bellatrix.

"Stupefy!" I shouted as I aimed my wand at her, and she easily blocked my attack.

"Oh hello, darling! Back to avenge your mummy and daddy?" She taunted, and I angrily threw as many hexes and curses as I could think of towards her, but with a few simple flicks of her wand, she deflected all of them.

"Sorry, sweetheart, but we're going to have to continue this another time!" She sang, before hitting me with a dark curse that I was unfamiliar with. As I flew through the air, the last thing I saw was her grabbing a familiar blonde Slytherin as she ran out of the room. And that's when I hit the brick wall behind me and everything around me went black.

***********************************

"Ivy? Ivy? Oh, blimey I hope she's okay."

"I'm sure she'll be fine, Madame Pomfrey is a wonderful nurse."

"Hold on, I think she's waking up!"

I was suddenly overwhelmed by all of my senses working at once, and immediately my body felt stiff and sore, like I had been hit by a bus. Slowly, my eyelids began fluttering open and the world around me came into focus as I let out a quiet groan of pain.

"Ivy! You're awake!" The familiar voice of Ginny spoke, and I looked up to see her, Hermione, Ron, and Neville standing around me.

"What... what happened?" I slurred, sitting up in bed and realizing that I was in the hospital wing.

"You don't remember?" Neville asked with a frown.

"I-I remember we were in the common room, and then we left to go find the Death Eaters... and nothing after that." I sighed, frustrated that I couldn't remember a piece of my own life.

"Well, you started duelling with Bellatrix Lestrange, and she used some crazy, dark curse on you. You were knocked out when you hit your head." Ron explained.

"You've got a concussion, and your right arm is broken and your left ankle is sprained. Madame Pomfrey was able to heal your arm, but you're going to have to use crutches for a little while. And you'll have to take it easy until your concussion heals." Hermione added, and I nodded at the new information.

"Wait, where's Harry?" I realized that one of my closest friends was missing in the group surrounding me.

"He's alone in his dormitory. Um, Ivy, something else happened that night. Professor Dumbledore is dead." Ginny spoke, and I noticed a small tear rolling down her cheek. My entire body went cold, and I felt like crying too.

"Who did it?" I asked, feeling my eyes water slightly. Professor Dumbledore was a great man, and he did not deserve to die that way.

"It was Snape. The slimy git was working for You-Know-Who the whole time." Ron muttered angrily. As furious and sad as I was at the headmaster's untimely death, I was even more relieved that it wasn't Draco who actually killed him. He didn't deserve to carry the weight of ending an innocent man's life, and I was secretly thankful that Snape saved him from having to do it.

"Also, all classes and exams have been cancelled. Dumbledore's funeral is in two days, and then we're all being sent home the next day." Neville told me.

At that moment, Madame Pomfrey scurried over to my bed and ordered my friends to leave.

"Miss Chapman needs her rest now, but you are welcome to visit her after dinner tonight if you wish." She spoke to them, before turning to me, "Alright, Miss Chapman. I'm going to give you another potion for your broken arm, and then a little something to help you sleep so that your head can heal."

I nodded and begrudgingly gulped back the bitter medicine, but in minutes I felt myself becoming drowsy. Before I knew it, a warm darkness was wrapping its arms around me, and I slipped into a dreamless slumber.