LOST ↝ G. WEASLEY [1]

31 | The Battle of Hogwarts

"Get in close," Kingsley ordered as Filch escorted the Slytherins from the room after Pansy Parkinson's outburst, Monty flipping his cousin the bird as she walked out of the room.

Magnus quickly slipped out of the group of Slytherins, getting into the group between Tommy and Nicolette. Joey first found it weird that Astoria and Daphne weren't with him, but she then realized they had gone down to the dungeons so he could be sure they'd be kept safe during the battle.

"Alright, Remus, you stay with me." Kingsley started. "Molly, you'll go with Professor McGonagall. Arthur, you stay with Fred, George and Josephine. Nicolette, Montague, Thomas and Magnus, you four are together. Finally, Sebastian and Lysandra will go with Rowan and Arden."

"Joey, come on," George said, grabbing her hand and tugging her after them.

"Just one second," she said, bounding back towards Nicolette and Monty and throwing her arms around them quickly. "Stay safe," she whispered to them, and they nodded.

"You too," Nicolette said as Joey quickly hugged Arden and Rowan before running off with Fred, George and Arthur, wand clenched tightly in her hand.

The corridors of the castle were in complete chaos with students running everywhere, whether it was looking for a place to hide or a place to stand ground and fight. Joey followed the men up flight after flight of stairs before they came to a halt in front of a window, seeing the beams of white light shoot up, forming a dome around the castle.

"Protective enchantments," Arthur mused, raising his wand and aiming out the window. "come on everyone. Protego Totalum,"

"Protego Totalum," they muttered over and over, watching as the dome solidified around the school, protecting them from whatever was waiting outside.

Or simply delaying the inevitable.

"Alright you three, come on. We're headed for the Astronomy Tower." Arthur said, leading Joey and the twins up the remaining flights of stairs.

"Merlin," Fred said, panting and bending over to rest his hands on his thighs. "I never did quite get used to those stairs, and it's been a couple years."

"Come on," Joey said, helping him forward until they reached the entrance to the tower, following Arthur up the steps.

"Hey Dean," Kingsley's voice called from above. "tell Professor McGonagall we may need one or two more wands this side."

"How's four?" Joey asked with a smile, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What about five?"another voice asked, and Joey turned to see Tonks climbing up into the tower, Remus's face dropping at the sight of his wife.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded. "You're supposed to be with your mother and Teddy!"

"They're safe!" she assured him. "They're at my mum's. I couldn't just abandon everyone. I want to fight."

"We'll need you on that side," Kingsley said to Joey, allowing the married couple to argue and gesturing down to the other side of the tower, and she followed the twins, standing on George's side and overlooking the countryside as Remus and Tonks continued going back and forth about whether or not she could stay.

Joey couldn't help but think about how the grounds used to seem so peaceful at night. Just the clear night sky, easy to see the stars, easy for her and her friends to sneak out and spend a couple of hours by the Black Lake, either swimming or simply looking up and pointing out constellations, and the Fat Lady giving Joey and Nicolette a hard time for disrupting her slumber when they tried to come back in the middle of the night. The last time had only been less than a year ago, at the end of sixth year, but to Joey it now felt as if had been an entire lifetime.

"Where d'you reckon he's at?" George asked, and an orange beam of light came shooting out of the darkness from across the lake, hitting the barrier and bouncing off.

"I think he's there," Fred said, trying not to snicker.

"We're okay, see?" Joey pointed out, trying to keep her voice steady. "They're just bouncing off."

Then the first crack in the barrier hit.

"Or not," she said then, watching as a burning sliver of the barrier began to float down towards the ground.

"We'll be okay," George insisted.

The barrier held on as long as it could, but eventually the cracks became too much, and the whole dome began crumbling down piece by piece. Yells echoed in the distance as groups of Snatchers and Death Eaters began running at the castle, faint clouds of smoke visible in the distance where they were Apparating toward the Astronomy Tower.

"Keep your heads up!" Arthur exclaimed as the first Death Eater hit the tower only to be met by Kingsley's spell, sending him toppling over the edge of the balcony.

"Avada Ke-"

"Joey, get down!" George yelled, aiming a spell at a man standing behind her before he could finish the incantation.

"Stupefy!" she shouted, only to have the spell be deflected before another was aimed at Remus, who had busied himself dueling Antonin Dolohov.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"No!" Tonks bellowed, screaming out in pain and frustration as Lupin lurched forward, the spell hitting him in the back.

He looked back slowly, catching his wife's eyes as he fell, wand slipping from his grasp as he stumbled a bit before falling forward onto the ground, eyes staring back in her direction but seeing nothing. An orange flash of light emitted from Tonks's wand, hitting the Death Eater and causing him to hit the ground of the Astronomy Tower, unconscious.

"Remus!" Tonks cried out, reaching for her husband and cradling his head in her lap, the rest of the group surrounding her in protection as one by one other Death Eaters reached the tower, only to be met by their hands.

Things had been going well until three showed up on Arthur and Kingsley's side.

The men had each been able to take one, Kingsley quickly getting his foe expelled from the tower before moving onto the third. However, the third man was anticipating Kingsley's every move, dodging his spells and sending jinxes and hexes every which way, which Kingsley had been able to deflect. One by one, the group had been surrounded, three more Death Eaters Apparating onto the tower on the side Joey and the twins were on. Joey had been dueling back and forth with her foe until one of the woman's spells blasted part of the stone wall, causing sharp chunks of rock to shoot out, hitting Joey in the shoulder and causing her to scream out in pain as her wand slipped from her hand, her fingers shooting up to hold her shoulder as she felt the warm wetness spreading below her tattered sleeve.

"Joey!" George yelled, unable to take his eyes off the man in front of him.

The woman laughed, raising her wand one last time as the twins were left defenseless on either side of Joey, the girl still down on the ground.

"Avada Kedavra!" she yelled as Joey scrambled around, trying to pick up her wand, but to no avail.

Joey shut her eyes tight, waiting for the spell to hit, but it never came. She could hear George screaming and Fred yelling out a curse, the woman's screams fading away into the distance as she was blown off the Astronomy Tower, the sound of the other men Disapparating filling her ears before the cries of the other men could be heard.

Opening her eyes slowly, Joey had the answer as to why the curse never hit her, in the form of the woman sprawled on the floor less than a foot in front of her.

Tonks.