Dumbledore had Apparated us to where he said was the cave Riddle had taken two of his peers to terrorise them when he lived at the orphanage. We entered the cave after Dumbledore sussed out the enchantments surrounding it, and we discovered a vast lake inside with an island in the middle, where there was a basin with a locket at the bottom of it. Dumbledore made us force him to drink the potion that was inside the basin, preventing us from just taking the locket. 

And now he had begged us for water. Before I could tell him not to, Harry had taken some from the lake to give to Dumbledore - and suddenly, everywhere I looked, white heads and hands were emerging from the dark water, men and women and children with sunken, sightless eyes were moving toward the rock: an army of the dead rising from the black water.

"Petrificus Totalus!" I yelled, pointing my wand at the Inferius that had Harry's arm. It released him, falling backward into the water with a splash; he scrambled to his feet, but many more Inferi were already climbing onto the rock, their bony hands clawing at its slippery surface, their blank, frosted eyes upon me and my brother, trailing waterlogged rags, sunken faces leering.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry and I bellowed, backing away as we swiped our wands through the air; six or seven of them crumpled, but more were coming toward us. "Impedimenta! Incarcerous!"

A few of them stumbled, one or two of them bound in ropes, but those climbing onto the rock behind them merely stepped over or on the fallen bodies. They walked on, unfeeling, their shrunken hands outstretched toward us, and as we backed away still farther, I felt arms enclose me from behind, thin, fleshless arms cold as death, and my feet left the ground as they lifted me and began to carry me, slowly and surely, back to the water, and I knew there would be no release, that Harry and I would be drowned, and become two more dead guardians of a fragment of Voldemort's shattered soul... 

No. No! I don't want that... I don't WANT this... 

And then, through the darkness, fire erupted: crimson and gold, a ring of fire that surrounded the rock so that the Inferi holding me so tightly stumbled and faltered; they did not dare pass through the flames to get to the water. At the same time, something burst inside me; the Inferi dropped me; I hit the ground, slipped on the rock, and fell, grazing my arms. I crouched on the rock as my hands pulsed with white light, something feathery wrapping around me. 

Dumbledore was on his feet again, pale as any of the surrounding Inferi, but taller than any too, the fire dancing in his eyes; his wand was raised like a torch and from its tip emanated the flames, like a vast lasso, encircling us all with warmth. The Inferi bumped into each other, attempting, blindly, to escape the fire in which they were enclosed, attempting to get away from me, who was glowing so bright that Harry, freshly dropped by his own gang of Inferi, was shielding his eyes from me. 

Dumbledore scooped the locket from the bottom of the stone basin and stowed it inside his robes. Wordlessly, he gestured to me and Harry to come to his side. Distracted by the flames, the Inferi seemed unaware that their quarry was leaving as Dumbledore led us back to our boat, the ring of fire moving with us, around us, the bewildered Inferi accompanying us to the water's edge, where they slipped gratefully back into their dark waters.

Shaking all over and glowing, I thought for a moment that Dumbledore might not be able to climb into the boat; he staggered a little as he attempted it; all his efforts seemed to be going into maintaining the ring of protective flame around us. Harry seized him and helped him back to his seat. Once we were all safely jammed inside again, the boat began to move back across the black water, away from the rock, still encircled by that ring of fire, and it seemed that the Inferi swarming below us did not dare resurface.

"Sir," Harry panted, "sir, I forgot - about fire - they were coming at me and Daisy and I panicked -" 

"Quite understandable." Dumbledore murmured. I was alarmed to hear how faint his voice was.

We reached the bank with a little bump and Harry leapt out, then turned quickly to help Dumbledore, me leaping out and letting my wings guide me beside Harry. The moment that Dumbledore reached the bank he let his wand hand fall; the ring of fire vanished, but the Inferi did not emerge again from the water. The little boat sank into the water once more; clanking and tinkling, its chain slithered back into the lake too. Dumbledore gave a great sigh and leaned against the cavern wall.

"I am weak..." He said. 

"Same." I said. 

"Don't worry, sir." Harry said. "Don't worry, Daisy and I'll get us back..." 

"Lean on us, sir... get that side, Harry." I said. 

And pulling Dumbledore's arms around our shoulders, Harry and I guided our headmaster back around the lake, bearing most of his weight.

"The protection was... after all... well-designed." Dumbledore said faintly. "One alone could not have done it... you did well, very well, Daisy, Harry..."

"Don't talk now." Harry said. "Save your energy, sir... we'll soon be out of here..."

"The archway will have sealed again... my knife..."

"There's no need, I got cut on the shitty rock." I said firmly. "Just tell me where..."

"Here..."

I wiped my grazed forearm upon the stone: having received its tribute of blood, the archway reopened instantly. We crossed the outer cave, and my twin and I helped Dumbledore back into the icy seawater that filled the crevice in the cliff.

"It's going to be all right, sir." I said over and over again, more worried by Dumbledore's silence than I had been by his weakened voice. "We're nearly there... we can Apparate us back... don't worry..."

"I am not worried, Daisy." Dumbledore said, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. "I am with you." 

And so Harry and I, despite not having took our test yet, Apparated us into Hogsmeade. Immediately upon arrival, we noticed that the Dark Mark had been set over the Astronomy Tower, and Harry and Dumbledore borrowed Madam Rosmerta's brooms to hurry back to the school; it was unnecessary for me to, as I flew alongside them using my wings. 

Harry and Dumbledore had crossed the crenellated ramparts of the Astronomy Tower and were dismounting; I landed next to them seconds later and looked around.

The ramparts were deserted. The door to the spiral staircase that led back into the castle was closed. There was no sign of a struggle, of a fight to the death, of a body.

"What the fuck does it mean?" I asked Dumbledore, looking up at the green skull with its serpent's tongue glinting evilly above us. "Is it the real Mark? Has someone definitely been - Professor?"

In the dim green glow from the Mark I saw Dumbledore clutching at his chest with his blackened hand.

"Go and wake Severus." Dumbledore said faintly but clearly. "Tell him what has happened and bring him to me, both of you. Do nothing else, speak to nobody else and put on your Cloak. I shall wait here."

"But -" 

"You swore to obey me, twins - go!"

Harry and I tossed the Cloak over ourselves and hurried over to the door leading to the spiral staircase, but my hand had only just closed upon the iron ring of the door when I heard running footsteps on the other side. I looked round at Dumbledore, who gestured to us to retreat. Harry and I backed away, drawing our wands as we did so.

The door burst open and somebody erupted through it and shouted: "Expelliarmus!"

My body became instantly rigid and immobile, and I felt myself fall back against the Tower wall, propped like an unsteady statue, unable to move or speak. I could see Harry meeting the exact same fate out of the corner of my eye. I couldn't understand how it had happened - Expelliarmus was not a Freezing Charm - 

Then, by the light of the Mark, I saw Dumbledore's wand flying in an arc over the edge of the ramparts and understood... Dumbledore had wordlessly immobilised us, and the second he had taken to perform the spell had cost him the chance of defending himself.

Standing against the ramparts, very white in the face, Dumbledore still showed no sign of panic or distress. He merely looked across at his disarmer and said, "Good evening, Felix."

Floppy stepped forwards, glancing around quickly to check that he and Dumbledore were alone. His eyes fell upon the second broom.

"Who else is here?"

"A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone?"

I saw Floppy's pale eyes shift back to Dumbledore in the greenish glare of the Mark.

"No." He said. "I've got back-up. There are Death Eaters here in your school tonight."

"Well, well." Dumbledore said, as though Floppy was showing him an ambitious homework project. "Very good indeed. You found a way to let them in, did you?"

"Yeah." Floppy said, panting. "Right under your nose and you never realised!"

"Ingenious." Dumbledore said. "Yet... forgive me... where are they now? You seem unsupported."

"They met some of your guard. They're having a fight down below. They won't be long... I came on ahead. I - I've got a job to do." Floppy's eyes flashed black. "You know, it was easy. I just had to mend that broken Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement that no one's used for years. The one Ash got lost in last year."

"Aaaah."

Dumbledore's sigh was half a groan. He closed his eyes for a moment.

"That was clever... there is a pair, I take it?"

"The other's in Borgin and Burkes." Floppy said. "And they make a kind of passage between them. Ash told me that when he was stuck in the Hogwarts one, he was trapped in limbo but sometimes he could hear what was going on at school, and sometimes what was going on in the shop, as if the Cabinet was travelling between them, but he couldn't make anyone hear him... in the end he managed to Apparate out, even though he'd never passed his test. He nearly died doing it." 

Oops. Will Ash nearly died. Oh well... it wouldn't be any real loss, would it? Nobody cares about a wannabe-rapist. 

"Everyone thought it was a really good story, but I was the only one who realised what it meant - even Borgin didn't know. I was the one who realised there could be a way into Hogwarts through the Cabinets if I fixed the broken one."

"Very good." Dumbledore murmured. "So the Death Eaters were able to pass from Borgin and Burkes into the school to help you... a clever plan, a very clever plan... and, as you say, right under my nose..."

"We decided to put the Dark Mark over the Tower and get you to hurry up here, to see who'd been killed." Floppy said. "And it worked!"

"Well... yes and no..." Dumbledore said. "But am I to take it, then, that nobody has been murdered?"

"Someone's dead." Floppy said, and I noticed his eyes change back from black as he said it. A flash of desperate terror went across his face before it was covered again, almost like a mask fell over it. "One of your people... I don't know who, it was dark... I stepped over the body... I was supposed to be waiting up here when you got back, only your Phoenix lot got in the way..."

"Yes, they do that." Dumbledore said.

There was a bang and shouts from below; it sounded as though people were fighting on the actual spiral staircase that led to where Dumbledore, Floppy, Harry, and I stood, and my heart thundered unheard in my invisible chest... someone was dead... Floppy had stepped over the body... but who was it?

Suddenly footsteps were thundering up the stairs and a second later Floppy was buffeted out of the way as four people in black robes burst through the door on to the ramparts. Still paralysed, my eyes staring unblinkingly, I gazed in terror upon four strangers: it seemed the Death Eaters had won the fight below.

A lumpy-looking man with an odd lopsided leer gave a wheezy giggle.

"Dumbledore cornered!" He said, and he turned to a stocky little woman who looked as though she could be his sister and who was grinning eagerly. "Dumbledore wandless, Dumbledore alone! Well done, Felix, well done!"

"Good evening, Amycus." Dumbledore said calmly, as though welcoming the man to a tea party. "And you've brought Alecto too... charming..."

The woman gave an angry little titter.

"Think your little jokes'll help you on your death bed, then?" She jeered.

"Jokes? No, no, these are manners." Dumbledore replied.

"Do it." The stranger standing nearest to me said, a big, rangy man with matted grey hair and whiskers, whose black Death Eater's robes looked uncomfortably tight. He had a voice like none that I had ever heard: a rasping bark of a voice. I could smell a powerful mixture of dirt, sweat and, unmistakeably, of blood coming from him. 

"Is that you, Fenrir?" Dumbledore asked.

"That's right." The other rasped. "Pleased to see me, Dumbledore?"

"No, I cannot say that I am..."

Fenrir Greyback grinned, showing pointed teeth. Blood trickled down his chin and he licked his lips slowly, obscenely.

"But you know how much I like kids, Dumbledore."

"Am I to take it that you are attacking even without the full moon now? This is most unusual... you have developed a taste for human flesh that cannot be satisfied once a month?"

"That's right." Greyback said. "Shocks you, that, does it, Dumbledore? Frightens you?"

"Well, I cannot pretend it does not disgust me a little." Dumbledore said. "And, yes, I am a little shocked that Felix here invited you, of all people, into the school where his friends live..."

"I didn't." Floppy breathed. He was not looking at Greyback; he did not seem to want to even glance at him. Flashes of that same desperate terror kept flickering on his face, though it looked as if he was struggling to conceal it. What the fuck was happening to him? "I didn't know he was going to come -" Then the mask of black eyes and cold smirk fell over his face again, and he said, "But no matter, the more the merrier, right?" 

"I wouldn't want to miss a trip to Hogwarts, Dumbledore." Greyback rasped. "Not when there are throats to be ripped out... delicious, delicious..."

And he raised a yellow fingernail and picked at his front teeth, leering at Dumbledore.

"I could do you for afters, Dumbledore..."

"No." The fourth Death Eater said sharply. He had a heavy, brutal-looking face. "We've got orders. Felix's got to do it. Now, Felix, and quickly."

Floppy was showing less resolution than ever. He looked terrified as he stared into Dumbledore's face, which was even paler, and rather lower than usual, as he had slid so far down the rampart wall. The black eyes kept flickering, and he turned his head, slowly, gazing right at me. My heart pounded faster. 

"He's not long for this world anyway, if you ask me!" The lopsided man said, to the accompaniment of his sister's wheezing giggles. "Look at him - what's happened to you, then, Dumby?"

"Oh, weaker resistance, slower reflexes, Amycus." Dumbledore said. "Old age, in short... one day, perhaps, it will happen to you... if you are lucky..."

"What's that mean, then, what's that mean?" The Death Eater yelled, suddenly violent. "Always the same, weren't yeh, Dumby, talking and doing nothing, nothing, I don't even know why the Dark Lord's bothering to kill yeh! Come on, Felix, do it!"

But at that moment, there were renewed sounds of scuffling from below and a voice shouted, "They've blocked the stairs - Reducto! REDUCTO!"

My heart leapt: so these four had not eliminated all opposition, but merely broken through the fight to the top of the Tower, and, by the sound of it, created a barrier behind them - 

"Now, Felix, quickly!" The brutal-faced man said angrily.

But Floppy's hand was shaking so badly that he could barely aim.

"I'll do it." Greyback snarled, moving towards Dumbledore with his hands outstretched, his teeth bared.

"I said no!" The brutal-faced man shouted; there was a flash of light and the werewolf was blasted out of the way; he hit the ramparts and staggered, looking furious. My heart was hammering so hard it seemed impossible that nobody could hear me standing there, imprisoned by Dumbledore's spell - if I could only move, I could aim a curse from under the Cloak - 

"Felix, do it, or stand aside so one of us -" The woman screeched, but at that precise moment the door to the ramparts burst open once more and there stood Snape, his wand clutched in his hand as his black eyes swept the scene, from Dumbledore slumped against the wall, to the four Death Eaters, including the enraged werewolf, and Floppy.

"We've got a problem, Snape." The lumpy Amycus said, whose eyes and wand were fixed alike upon Dumbledore. "The demon doesn't seem able -" 

But somebody else had spoken Snape's name, quite softly.

"Severus..."

The sound frightened me beyond anything I had experienced all evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading.

Snape said nothing, but walked forwards and pushed Floppy roughly out of the way. The three Death Eaters fell back without a word. Even the werewolf seemed cowed.

Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face.

"Severus... please..."

Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. My scream of horror never left me; silent and unmoving, I was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air: for a split second he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backwards, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight.

I felt as though I too were hurtling through space; it hadn't happened... it couldn't have happened...

"Out of here, quickly." Snape said.

He seized Floppy by the scruff of the neck and forced him through the door ahead of the rest; Greyback and the squat brother and sister followed, the latter both panting excitedly. As they vanished through the door, I realised I could move again. What was now holding me paralyzed against the wall was not magic, but horror and shock. I threw the Invisibility Cloak aside as the brutal-faced Death Eater, last to leave the tower top, was disappearing through the door.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The Death Eater buckled as though hit in the back with something solid and fell to the ground, rigid as a waxwork. 

"Harry, come on!" I yelled, and grabbed my brother's hand. Harry shook himself out of his shocked stupor, and we were clambering over the Death Eater and running down the darkened staircase.

Terror tore at my heart... I had to get to Dumbledore and I had to catch Snape... somehow the two things were linked... I could reverse what had happened if I had them both together... Dumbledore couldn't have died...

We leapt the last ten steps of the spiral staircase and stopped where we landed, Harry's wand raised, my hands shining again. The dimly lit corridor was full of dust; half the ceiling seemed to have fallen in and a battle was raging before us, but even as I attempted to make out who was fighting whom, I heard the hated voice shout, "It's over, time to go!" and saw Snape disappearing around the corner at the far end of the corridor; he and Floppy seemed to have forced their way through the fight unscathed. As Harry dived off into the fight and I plunged after Snape and Floppy, one of the fighters detached themselves from the fray and flew at me: it was the werewolf, Fenrir. He was on top of me before I could raise my hands: I fell backward, with filthy matted hair in my face, the stench of sweat and blood filling my nose and mouth, hot greedy breath at my throat - 

"Petrificus Totalus!" Fred's voice came from the fray. 

I felt Greyback collapse against me; with a stupendous effort Fred pushed the werewolf off me and onto the floor as a jet of green light came flying toward us; my boyfriend grabbed my hand and pulled me upright, and we ducked and ran, headfirst, into the fight. My feet met something squashy and slippery on the floor and I stumbled: there were two bodies lying there, lying facedown in a pool of blood, but there was no time to investigate. 

"Thanks, Freddie!" I called, and Fred wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, now aiming his wand at another Death Eater approaching. 

I turned; George was locked in combat with the lumpy Death Eater, Amycus, who was throwing hex after hex at him while he dodged them: Amycus was giggling, enjoying the sport: "Crucio - Crucio - you can't dance forever, ginger -" 

I thrust my hand out; a jet of bright white light flew from my hand and hit Amycus in the chest: he gave a piglike squeal of pain, was lifted off his feet and slammed into the opposite wall, slid down it, and fell out of sight behind Ron, Professor McGonagall, and Lupin, each of whom was battling a separate Death Eater, and Emily, who was battling two at once. Beyond them, I saw Tonks fighting an enormous blond wizard who was sending curses flying in all directions, so that they ricocheted off the walls around us, cracking stone, shattering the nearest window - 

"Softpaw, where did you come from?" George yelled, but there was no time to answer him. I put my head down and sprinted forward, narrowly avoiding a blast that erupted over my head, showering us all in bits of wall. Snape must not escape, I must catch up with Snape -

"Take that!" Professor McGonagall shouted, and I glimpsed the female Death Eater, Alecto, sprinting away down the corridor with her arms over her head, her brother right behind her. I launched myself after them, my wings flurrying, but as I rose into the air my foot caught on something, and next moment I was lying across someone's legs. Looking around, I saw Neville's pale, round face flat against the floor.

"Neville, are you -?"

"'M'all right." Neville muttered, who was clutching his stomach, "Daisy... Snape 'n' Malfoy... ran past..."

"I know, I'm on it!" I said, aiming my glowing hand from the floor at the enormous blond Death Eater who was causing most of the chaos. The man gave a howl of pain as the jet of light hit him in the face: he wheeled around, staggered, and then pounded away after the brother and sister. I scrambled up from the floor and began to fly along the corridor, ignoring the bangs issuing from behind me, the yells of the others to come back, and the mute call of the figures on the ground whose fate I did not yet know...

I swung around the corner; Snape had an immense head start. Was it possible that he had already entered the cabinet in the Room of Requirement, or had the Order made steps to secure it, to prevent the Death Eaters retreating that way? I could hear nothing but my own powerfully flapping wings, my own hammering heart as I zipped along the next empty corridor, but then spotted a bloody footprint that showed at least one of the fleeing Death Eaters was heading toward the front doors - perhaps the Room of Requirement was indeed blocked - 

I swerved around another corner and a curse flew past me; I dove behind a suit of armour that exploded. I saw the brother and sister running down the marble staircase ahead and aimed my hand at them, but merely hit several bewigged witches in a portrait on the landing, who ran screeching into neighbouring paintings. As I flew over the wreckage of armour, I heard more shouts and screams; other people within the castle seemed to have awoken...

I pelted toward a shortcut, hoping to overtake the brother and sister and close in on Snape and Floppy, who must surely have reached the grounds by now. I burst through a tapestry at the bottom of the concealed staircase and out into a corridor where a number of bewildered and pyjama-clad Hufflepuffs stood.

"Daisy! We heard a noise, and someone said something about the Dark Mark -" Ernie Macmillan began.

"No time to chat, out of the way!" I yelled, knocking two boys aside as - the Hufflepuffs watching me with a mixture of awe and fear - I swooped toward the landing and down the remainder of the marble staircase. The oak front doors had been blasted open, there were smears of blood on the flagstones, and several terrified students stood huddled against the walls, one or two still cowering with their arms over their faces. The giant Gryffindor hourglass had been hit by a curse, and the rubies within were still falling, with a loud rattle, onto the flagstones below.

I flew across the Entrance Hall and out into the dark grounds: I could just make out three figures racing across the lawn, heading for the gates beyond which they could Disapparate - by the looks of them, the huge blond Death Eater and, some way ahead of him, Snape and Floppy...

The cold night air ripped at my lungs as I tore after them; I saw a flash of light in the distance that momentarily silhouetted my quarry. I did not know what it was but continued to fly, not yet near enough to get a good aim -

Another flash, shouts, retaliatory jets of light, and I understood: Hagrid had emerged from his cabin and was trying to stop the Death Eaters escaping, and though every breath seemed to shred my lungs and the stitch in my chest was like fire, I sped up as an unbidden voice in my head said: not Hagrid... not Hagrid too...

Something caught me hard in my left wing and I fell forward, my face smacking the ground, blood pouring out of both nostrils: I knew, even as I rolled over, that the brother and sister I had overtaken using my shortcut were closing in behind me... 

My wrist was bent at a weird angle, and pain was pulsing through me. The light from my palms was faltering, and I growled impatiently, grasping my wand in my weak fingers. 

"Impedimenta!" I yelled as I rolled over again, crouching close to the dark ground, and miraculously my jinx hit one of them, who stumbled and fell, tripping up the other; I leapt to my feet and sprinted on after Snape, unable to use my wings as they folded up behind me, trembling and injured.

And now I saw the vast outline of Hagrid, illuminated by the light of the crescent moon revealed suddenly behind clouds; the blond Death Eater was aiming curse after curse at the gamekeeper; but Hagrid's immense strength and the toughened skin he had inherited from his giantess mother seemed to be protecting him. Snape and Floppy, however, were still running; they would soon be beyond the gates, able to Disapparate - 

I tore past Hagrid and his opponent, took aim at Snape's back, and yelled, "Stupefy!"

I missed; the jet of red light soared past Snape's head; Snape shouted, "Run, Felix!" and turned. Twenty yards apart, he and I looked at each other before raising our wands simultaneously.

"Cruc-" 

But Snape parried the curse, knocking me backward off my feet before I could complete it; I rolled over and scrambled back up again as the huge Death Eater behind me yelled, "Incendio!" I heard an explosive bang and a dancing orange light spilled over all of us: Hagrid's house was on fire.

"Fang's in there, yer evil bastard!" Hagrid bellowed.

"Cruc-" I yelled for the second time, aiming for the figure ahead illuminated in the dancing firelight, but Snape blocked the spell again. I could see him sneering.

"No Unforgivable Curses from you, Potter!" He shouted over the rushing of the flames, Hagrid's yells, and the wild yelping of the trapped Fang. "You haven't got the nerve without the Dark Lord's help -" 

"Incarc-" I roared, but Snape deflected the spell with an almost lazy flick of his arm.

"Fight back!" I screamed at him. "Fight back, you cowardly cunt!" 

"Coward, did you call me, Potter?" Snape shouted. "Your father would never attack me unless it was five on one, what would you call him, I wonder?" 

"I WONDER why you're still so obsessed with someone who died fifteen years ago!" I yelled back. "SOMEONE never moved past their pathetic teenage years, it seems! Stupe-" 

"Blocked again and again and again until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed, Potter!" Snape sneered, deflecting the curse once more. "Now come!" He shouted at the huge Death Eater behind me. "It is time to be gone, before the Ministry turns up -" 

"Impedi-" 

But before I could finish this jinx, excruciating pain hit me; I keeled over in the grass. Someone was screaming, I would surely die of this agony, Snape was going to torture me to death or madness - 

"No!" Snape's voice roared and the pain stopped as suddenly as it had started; I lay curled on the dark grass, clutching my wand and panting, wings curled around me; somewhere overhead Snape was shouting, "Have you forgotten our orders? Potter belongs to the Dark Lord - we are not to touch her! Go! Go!"

And I felt the ground shudder under my face as the brother and sister and the enormous Death Eater obeyed, running toward the gates. I uttered an inarticulate yell of rage: in that instant, I cared not whether I lived or died. Pushing myself to my feet again, I staggered blindly toward Snape, the man I now hated as much as I hated Riddle himself - 

"Sectum-" 

Snape flicked his wand and the curse was repelled yet again; but I was mere feet away now and I could see Snape's face clearly at last: he was no longer sneering or jeering; the blazing flames showed a face full of rage. Mustering all my powers of concentration, I thought, 'Levi-' 

"No, Potter!" Snape screamed. There was a loud BANG and I was soaring backward, hitting the ground hard again, and this time my wand flew out of my hand. I could hear Hagrid yelling and Fang howling as Snape closed in and looked down on me where I lay, wandless and defenceless as Dumbledore had been. Snape's pale face, illuminated by the flaming cabin, was suffused with hatred just as it had been before he had cursed Dumbledore.

"You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them - I, the Half-Blood Prince! And you'd turn my inventions on me, like your filthy father, would you? I don't think so... no!"

I had dived for my wand; Snape shot a hex at it and it flew feet away into the darkness and out of sight.

"Kill me then." I panted, feeling no fear at all, but only rage and contempt. "Kill me like you killed him, you coward -" 

"DON'T -" Snape screamed, and his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house behind us, "- CALL ME COWARD!"

And he slashed at the air: I felt a white-hot, whiplike something hit me across the face and was slammed backward into the ground. Spots of light burst in front of my eyes and for a moment all the breath seemed to have gone from my body, then I heard a rush of wings above me and something enormous obscured the stars. Buckbeak had flown at Snape, who staggered backward as the razor-sharp claws slashed at him. As I raised myself into a sitting position, my head still swimming from its last contact with the ground, I saw Snape running as hard as he could, the enormous beast flapping behind him and screeching as I had never heard him screech - 

I struggled to my feet, looking around groggily for my wand, hoping to give chase again, but even as my fingers fumbled in the grass, discarding twigs, I knew it would be too late, and sure enough, by the time I had located my wand, I turned only to see the hippogriff circling the gates. Snape had managed to Disapparate just beyond the school's boundaries.

"Hagrid." I muttered, still dazed, looking around. "HAGRID?"

I stumbled toward the burning house as an enormous figure emerged from out of the flames carrying Fang on his back. With a cry of thankfulness, I sank to my knees; I was shaking in every limb, my body ached all over, and my breath came in painful stabs.

"Yeh all righ', Daisy? Yeh all righ'? Speak ter me, Daisy..."

Hagrid's huge, hairy face was swimming above me, blocking out the stars. I could smell burnt wood and dog hair; I put out a hand and felt Fang's reassuringly warm and alive body quivering beside me.

"I'm all right." I panted. "Are you?"

"'Course I am... take more'n that ter finish me."

Hagrid put his hands under my arms and raised me up with such force that my feet momentarily left the ground before Hagrid set me upright again. I could see blood trickling down Hagrid's cheek from a deep cut under one eye, which was swelling rapidly.

"We should put out your house." I said. "The charm's Aguamenti..." 

"Knew it was summat like that." Hagrid mumbled, and he raised a smouldering pink, flowery umbrella and said, "Aguamenti!"

A jet of water flew out of the umbrella tip. I raised my wand arm, which felt like lead, and murmured "Aguamenti," too: together, me and Hagrid poured water on the house until the last flame was extinguished.

"'S not too bad." Hagrid said hopefully a few minutes later, looking at the smoking wreck. "Nothin' Dumbledore won' be able to put right..."

I felt a searing pain in my stomach at the sound of the name. In the silence and the stillness, horror rose inside me.

"Hagrid..." 

"I was bindin' up a couple o' Bowtruckle legs when I heard 'em coming." Hagrid said sadly, still staring at his wrecked cabin. "They'll bin burnt ter twigs, poor little things..."

"Hagrid..."

"But what happened, Daisy? I jus' saw them Death Eaters runnin' down from the castle, but what the ruddy hell was Snape doin' with 'em? Where's he gone - was he chasin' them?"

"He..." I cleared my throat; it was dry from panic and the smoke. "Hagrid, he killed..."

"Killed?" Hagrid said loudly, staring down at me. "Snape killed? What're yeh on abou', Daisy?"

"Dumbledore." I said. "Snape killed... Dumbledore."

Hagrid simply looked at me, the little of his face that could be seen completely blank, uncomprehending.

"Dumbledore what, Daisy?"

"He's dead. Snape killed him..."

"Don' say that." Hagrid said roughly. "Wha's made yeh say tha'?"

"I saw it happen."

"Yeh couldn' have."

"I fucking saw it, Hagrid."

Hagrid shook his head; his expression was disbelieving but sympathetic, and I knew that Hagrid thought I had sustained a blow to the head or something, that I was confused, perhaps by the after-effects of a jinx...

"What musta happened was, Dumbledore musta told Snape ter go with them Death Eaters." Hagrid said confidently. "I suppose he's gotta keep his cover. Look, let's get yeh back up ter the school. Come on, Daisy..."

I did not attempt to argue or explain. I was still shaking uncontrollably. Hagrid would find out soon enough, too soon... as we directed our steps back toward the castle, I saw that many of its windows were lit now. I could imagine, clearly, the scenes inside as people moved from room to room, telling each other that Death Eaters had got in, that the Mark was shining over Hogwarts, that somebody must have been killed...

The oak front doors stood open ahead of us, light flooding out onto the drive and the lawn. Slowly, uncertainly, dressing-gowned people were creeping down the steps, looking around nervously for some sign of the Death Eaters who had fled into the night. My eyes, however, were fixed upon the ground at the foot of the tallest tower. I imagined that I could see a black, huddled mass lying in the grass there, though I was really too far away to see anything of the sort. Even as I stared wordlessly at the place where I thought Dumbledore's body must lie, however, I saw people beginning to move toward it.

"What're they all lookin' at?" Hagrid said, as he and I approached the castle front, Fang keeping as close as he could to our ankles. "Wha's that lyin' on the grass?" Hagrid added sharply, heading now toward the foot of the Astronomy Tower, where a small crowd was congregating. "See it, Daisy? Right at the foot of the tower? Under where the Mark... blimey... yeh don' think someone got thrown -?"

Hagrid fell silent, the thought apparently too horrible to express aloud. I walked alongside him, feeling the aches and pains in my face and my legs where the various hexes of the last half hour had hit me, though in an oddly detached way, as though somebody near me was suffering them. What was real and inescapable was the awful pressing feeling in my chest...

Me and Hagrid moved, dreamlike, through the murmuring crowd to the very front, where the dumbstruck students and teachers had left a gap.

I heard Hagrid's moan of pain and shock, but I did not stop; I walked slowly forward until I reached the place where Dumbledore lay and crouched down beside him.

I had known there was no hope from the moment that the full Body-Bind Curse Dumbledore had placed upon me lifted, known that it could have happened only because its caster was dead, but there was still no preparation for seeing him here, spread-eagled, broken: the greatest wizard I had ever, or would ever, meet.

Dumbledore's eyes were closed; but for the strange angle of his arms and legs, he might have been sleeping. I reached out, straightened the half-moon spectacles upon the crooked nose, and wiped a trickle of blood from the mouth with my own sleeve. Then I gazed down at the wise old face and tried to absorb the enormous and incomprehensible truth: that never again would Dumbledore speak to me, never again could he help...

The crowd murmured behind me. After what seemed like a long time, I became aware that I was kneeling upon something hard and looked down.

The locket we had managed to steal so many hours before had fallen out of Dumbledore's pocket. It had opened, perhaps due to the force with which it hit the ground. And although I could not feel more shock or horror or sadness than I felt already, I knew, as I picked it up, that there was something wrong - 

I turned the locket over in my hands. This was neither as large as the locket I remembered seeing in the Pensieve, nor were there any markings upon it, no sign of the ornate S that was supposed to be Slytherin's mark. Moreover, there was nothing inside but for a scrap of folded parchment wedged tightly into the place where a portrait should have been.

Automatically, without really thinking about what I was doing, I pulled out the fragment of parchment, opened it, and read by the light of the many wands that had now been lit behind me:

'To the Dark Lord 

I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. 

I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more. 

R.A.B.' 

I neither knew nor cared what the message meant. Only one thing mattered: this was not a Horcrux. Dumbledore had weakened himself by drinking that terrible potion for nothing. I crumpled the parchment in my hand, and my eyes burned with tears. 

Through my swimming eyes, I watched as the students all around me rose their wands to the sky, pointing at the Dark Mark above. Harry and Fred came forward out of the crowd, each taking one of my arms; they gently tugged me up, raising their free arms and aiming their lit wands towards the sky too. 

And, the tears streaming freely down my face now, I raised my hands. White light glowed from them, and together, our lights all shining as one, we vanished the Dark Mark from the sky.