The world had ended, so why had the battle not ceased, the castle fallen silent in horror, and every combatant laid down their arms? My mind was in free fall, spinning out of control, unable to grasp the impossibility, because Harry Potter could not be dead, the evidence of all my senses must be lying. 

A body fell past the hole blown into the side of the school and curses flew in at us from the darkness, hitting the wall behind our heads, my wings were shrinking back into my skin, but I didn't give a fuck about any of it. 

"Get down!" Fred shouted as more curses flew through the night, but I lay across Harry's body, shielding it from further harm, and when Percy shouted, "Daisy, come on, we've got to move!" I shook my head. 

Pain greater than any Cruciatus Curse had ever caused me was coursing through my veins; I felt as if my heart was shrivelling up but also exploding at the same time. I started to sob, grief wracking my body, wailing through great heaving gasps. 

"Daze!" I saw tear tracks streaking the grime coating Terry's face as he seized my shoulders and pulled, but I wouldn't budge. "Daze, you can't do anything for him! We're going to -" 

Someone yelled in shock, and I didn't need to ask why. A monstrous spider the size of a small car was trying to climb through the huge hole in the wall. One of Aragog's descendants had joined the fight.

Fred and George shouted together; their spells collided and the monster was blown backward, its legs jerking horribly, and vanished into the darkness.

"It brought friends!" Percy called to us, glancing over the edge of the castle through the hole in the wall the curses had blasted. Then more curses came soaring over my head, so close I felt the force of them blow my hair. But I didn't care, hot, boiling tears filling my eyes and streaming down my face in waves as I whimpered. 

"Let's move, NOW!"

Pushing Fred ahead of him with Percy and Terry, George stooped to seize Harry's body under the armpit. Realising what George was trying to do, I stopped clinging to the body and helped: together, crouching low to avoid the curses flying at us from the grounds, we hauled Harry out of the way.

"Here, princess." George said, and we placed him in a niche where a suit of armour had stood earlier. A strange black substance was leaking from Harry's mouth, eyes, nose, and ears, and I swear I saw him vibrating slightly, but I put it off to my mind playing tricks on me, wishing so desperately for him to be alive. I held his hand, squeezing it hard, praying that the magical orb that had came out of me and saved Terry two years ago could appear right now, but nothing was happening. 

A fresh wave of tears gushed from my eyes as Ron and Lee appeared through the dust, sprinting and coughing, then stopped dead as their eyes fixated on Harry. 

"No." Ron said, then louder, "No!" 

Rounding the corner, Percy let out a bull-like roar: "ROOKWOOD!" and sprinted off in the direction of a tall man, who was pursuing a couple of students. 

I heard a malicious cackle from the end of the corridor, which was now full of dust and falling masonry, glass long gone from windows, and I saw many people running backward and forward, whether friends or foes I could not tell. 

Then I saw him. His eyes were on the body in the niche, and my blood started boiling; the brick of pain in my chest thrashed, anger pulsing through me as the Death Eater said, gleefully, "Harry Potter! Dead!" 

My wand stashed in my pocket, my hands started glowing white. I stormed forward, ignoring the yells of my companions. Ron was at my side, his wand out, directed straight at the Death Eater. 

"You will never touch my friends again!" He yelled, his voice strained with grief and his eyes wide and wild. 

"Be thankful we only took one." The Death Eater laughed, his wand now trained on us. "Besides..." He tilted his head towards me, a nasty smirk unfurling on his face. "It's not like you don't have a spare." 

"AAARGHHHHH!" Ron yelled, charging. 

"She's not a fucking spare, you fucking piece of shit!" Fred charged also, from my other side, firing hex after hex, and between the two boys, I raised my glowing hands and screamed as I released the grief and anger inside of me, which had been increased tenfold by the Death Eater's spare-twin joke. 

The Death Eater was blasted off his feet by the force of Fred and Ron's spells and my Grace, and flew six feet into the air, hanging suspended for a split second; he was then sent backwards into the wall behind him with a sickening crunch, dropping to the ground and I could see as his head lolled to the side that he was obviously dead. 

Just as obviously dead as Harry... I turned away, the glowing in my hands fading, and another heartbroken sob left me. Fred and Ron were at my side again, and I was enveloped on all sides. 

"Get back!" Terry shouted, and Fred, Ron, and I broke apart, hurling ourselves against a door as a herd of galloping desks thundered past, shepherded by a sprinting Professor McGonagall. She appeared not to notice us. Her hair had come down and there was a gash on her cheek. As she turned the corner, we heard her scream,

"CHARGE!"

"Daisy," Ron said weakly, his eyebrows pressed together in anguish, "what.. what happened?" 

"He - he's dead, Ron!" My bottom lip wobbled, then I burst into tears again. "They blasted a hole in the side of the castle - they killed him - they - they -" 

Screams echoed in the distance, followed by yelled curses and jinxes. I gazed around, as if compelled, focusing on the end of the corridor. 

"They fucking killed him." I said. "They fucking KILLED HIM!" 

And I broke out into a sprint, ignoring the cries behind me. I rounded the corner and found myself in a corridor full of duellers. The portraits on either side of the fighters were crammed with figures screaming advice and encouragement, while Death Eaters, both masked and unmasked, duelled students and teachers. Dean was face-to-face with Dolohov, Parvati with Travers. I raised my hands at once, ready to strike, but the duellers were weaving and darting so much that there was a strong likelihood of hurting one of my own side if I struck. Even as I stood braced, looking for the opportunity to act, there came a great "Wheeeeee!" and looking up, I saw Peeves zooming over me, dropping Snargaluff pods down onto the Death Eaters, whose heads were suddenly engulfed in wriggling green tubers like fat worms. 

"It's Potter!" Dolohov turned away from Dean, his eyes on me, and I raised my hand, willing my hands to glow; but the anger, previously felt separately to the grief inside me, was mixing, and my hands only flickered. Riddle said I needed to focus on one emotion and channel it... I couldn't do that while everything was so confusing inside me... 

"Daisy!" Dean yelled. 

"Stupefy!" Seamus's voice came from behind me, and Dolohov dodged a jet of red light, grinning wickedly. Seamus approached, stopping beside me, and raised his wand high. 

"What are you playing at? Get your wand out, Daze." 

I fumbled for my wand; together, Seamus, Dean, and I moved in on Dolohov, duelling furiously. 

Then out of nowhere Cedric joined the fray; wands flashing, the four of us surrounded Dolohov, and what seemed like a moment later, he was on the ground, very still. 

"Nice." I said, high-fiving each of the boys in turn. 

"Good to see you, Daze." Cedric grinned at me. "I wasn't going to let him take you, don't worry." 

"I know." I grinned back, though I felt it was hollow. "You got my back, I got yours." 

"Yeah, and we all had to have your back; you forgot your wand!" Seamus laughed. 

"Shit - watch out!" Dean yelled, and he pressed down on mine and Seamus's heads as Cedric ducked also; a huge chunk of wall flew over our heads and crashed into the wall opposite. 

"C'mon!" I shouted, my eyes on others in the same corridor, battling other Death Eaters. The rage was pulsing through me still, and I wanted to fight them, to hurt them, to kill them. Every single Death Eater in my fucking school. 

We ran to join in, and I threw myself into battle with three Death Eaters, Bonnie, Connie, and Ernie. 

"Reducto!" Bonnie yelled, and Connie ducked; one of the Death Eaters was blasted off his feet and landed in the rumble. 

"Good idea, Bonnie." I said, my eyes on him. "Blast all the fuckers - Reducto! Reducto! Reducto!" 

The Brooke twins, Ernie, and I fired off the spells in all directions, aiming at the Death Eaters around us. Anthony and Michael threw themselves aside as we approached, sending their opponents down the nearest staircase, and we saw Susan, Justin, and Hannah Abbott battling Bellatrix, who was firing off Cruciatus Curse after Cruciatus Curse, laughing maniacally. 

Then she halted as the Brooke twins and I approached, her wild eyes finding mine, and a wondrous smile broke out over her face. 

"Well," Bellatrix said slowly, "if it isn't little itty bitty baby Potter." 

"So what if it is?" I asked, my fist tight around my wand. Susan, Justin, and Hannah drew back slightly, their wands raised, glancing from me to Bellatrix fearfully. 

"I notice the lovely scar I gave you is there no longer." Bellatrix said, moving closer almost cautiously. "A shame; it was rather fitting, don't you think?" 

I knew what she was talking about: the 'slut' scar from Floppy's manor. "Your Master removed it for me." 

Despite my sarcastic tone, Bellatrix smiled wider. "This is the same Master that, coincidentally, wants you taken to him. I will be rewarded greatly if I am the one to capture little itty bitty baby Potter..." 

And she raised her wand higher. Immediately, there were shouts from all around us; Susan, Justin, and Hannah tried to step in to help, but more Death Eaters occupied their attention, aiming to kill my friends. Stuck between wanting to help them and wanting to get Bellatrix away from me, I faltered; aiming my wand between my classmates and Riddle's right-hand woman, I hesitated, and I knew as soon as I did it that it was a mistake. 

"Stupefy!" 

~~~ 

"Get her over there - c'mon, Softpaw, wake up, wake up -" 

"C'mon, lift her - get her out of harm's way -" 

There was a groan, and I was heaved up into the air. I whined, trying to force my eyes open. Someone's arms were wrapped tight around me, under my knees and upper back, and my head was lolling as I lay limp, being hoisted over something as more yells and screams rang out around me. 

"Baby, wake up..." 

"Ughhhh..." 

"Princess, c'mon, please wake up." 

"Ughhhhhhh..." I moaned, my eyes finally fluttering open. 

The corridor hadn't changed at all - students and teachers and Death Eaters alike sending hexes and curses back and forth, chunks falling from the ceiling and walls around, all that jazz - with the exception of Fred, George, and Lee, Fred and Lee battling Bellatrix, and George carrying me over to a secret passageway. 

George kicked open the portrait, which revealed a hidden staircase beyond, and lay me down on the steps. I groaned, struggling to sit up. 

"Hey, baby." George smoothed back the hair on my head, his chocolate eyes moving in concern across my face, which was hotter with more sticky liquid; I must have hit my head when Bellatrix Stunned me. "We'd just found you when Lestrange got you with the Stunner; you whacked your head pretty bad, and she was about to levitate you out down the corridor when -" 

George gestured down below. Fred and Lee were duelling Bellatrix while Susan, Justin, Hannah, and the others were all preoccupied with a fresh wave of Death Eaters, my classmates all seeming to be preventing them from advancing up the corridor towards me and George. 

While Bellatrix was duelling both Fred and Lee, she definitely was more focused on the former. Fred was fighting with a kind of wild rage on his face, his eyes flashing with fury. Bellatrix was panting; she'd met her match in the form of a redhead in love. 

"Don't you ever fucking touch her!" Fred roared, and Bellatrix laughed. 

"Don't you worry, little boy, I have no interest in little baby Potter." She cackled, dodging his spells. "But the Dark Lord does... he's VERY -" 

"Confringo!" 

Bellatrix smirked, deflecting Fred's yelled curse. I felt my heart thump, fast, in my chest. Harry was dead... he was dead... I didn't want Fred to go the same way. 

I staggered up, holding onto the wall for support. George had been tending to the gash on my temple and I hadn't realised, all of my attention focused on the two duelling in the middle of the corridor. 

"Princess, sit down, you're in no state to -"

"No, Georgie, she's gonna kill him!" I gasped out. "She's gonna kill Freddie - and where's Terry - I -" 

I set off down the corridor, George hot on my heels, and I drew my wand as I reached Fred and Lee. Lee gave me a grim nod and a smile, but Fred shoved me behind him, gritting his teeth. 

"Fred, I need to -" 

"No! Everte Statum - get behind me, Daisy, you'll get hurt -" 

"No! Expelliarmus!" I aimed at Bellatrix, but she deflected my spell and Lee's at the same time, right after Fred's, and a second later a jet of red light flew from Bellatrix's wand as I darted out from behind Fred, and I collapsed onto the floor, screaming and shaking as the Cruciatus Curse that was meant for my boyfriend ran through my body. 

"No! NO! Fuck you!" Fred yelled above me. "CRUCIO!" 

The sound of Bellatrix's screams rushed into my ears as I sat up, the pain from the curse gone. She was writhing on the floor, jerking wildly; Fred was watching her with a vindictive, dark pleasure on his face, his wand shaking in his hand. 

"Yeah, you do really have to mean it, Softpaw." He said. 

"Jesus, Fred." Lee blanched, looking from me to Fred to Bellatrix. Half the corridor had stopped fighting, watching the strange situation. 

"She deserves it, to be fair." I stumbled up again, but I tugged on Fred's sleeve. "C'mon, we gotta go! We need to find Terry - where did he -?" 

Fred reluctantly looked away from Bellatrix, and he followed me as I sprinted away from this end of the corridor, grabbing George with my other hand, and the three of us rounded the corner, sending one last glance back at the battle, where Bellatrix was rising, mutinous, and Lee was facing her, joined by Bonnie and Connie. 

All along the next corridor, more battles were going on. We dove through, helping out Lewis and Kurt as they struggled against a giant spider - 

"Arania Exumai!" 

"Thanks, Daze!" 

- Katie and Colin as they battled a particularly vicious Death Eater - 

"Fuck off! Leave them alone! REDUCTO!" 

"Oh my Godric, he's -" 

"- Dead? Yeah. Daze, you're ruthless!" 

- and Louis and Pansy as they fired spells from a window, offensive spells from below nearly blowing their heads off - 

"FUCK!" 

"Out of the way, you two - REDUCTO! REDUCTO! REDUCTO!" 

"Woah... you good, Daze?" 

"...I'm fine. See ya!" 

"I'm Tim Rudd, I'm Rudd, I'm on your side!" Rudd, one of the Three Douchebags, was on the landing that we sprinted onto next, pleading with another masked Death Eater. I Stunned the Death Eater as we passed. Rudd looked around, beaming, for his saviour, and Fred punched him. Rudd fell backward on top of the Death Eater, his mouth bleeding, utterly bemused. 

"That's for all the times that you stayed silent and watched while Floppy, Ash, and Spieler sexually assaulted Daisy!" Fred said viciously, and we hurried on. 

There were more duellers all over the stairs and in the Entrance Hall. Death Eaters everywhere I looked: Yaxley, close to the front doors, in combat with Flitwick, a masked Death Eater duelling Kingsley right beside them. Students ran in every direction; some carrying or dragging injured friends. I directed a Stunning Spell toward the masked Death Eater; it nearly hit Neville, who had emerged from nowhere brandishing armfuls of Venomous Tentacula, which looped itself happily around the nearest Death Eater and began reeling him in. 

Fred, George, and I sped down the marble staircase: glass shattered on the left, and the Slytherin hourglass that had recorded House points spilled its emeralds everywhere, so that people slipped and staggered as they ran. 

Blaise, Theo, and Draco were battling another masked Death Eater with wildly messy hair - I sprinted forward to join, and raised my wand, immediately shooting off a number of Reductor curses that the Death Eater deflected easily; however, he was now distracted by me. 

"Potter!" He yelled. "What a nice surprise - I hear my Lord requires your SERVICES -" 

"Don't you dare touch her!" Draco shouted, and the Death Eater deflected his spell with a snarl. 

"Yeah, touch her and I'll tear you to shreds. With a spell I learned from Professor Snape's old school books, in fact!" Blaise said loudly, and the Death Eater sent Blaise's spell flying into the ceiling, causing a load of dust to float down, making everyone cough. 

"And he's pretty good at it now." Theo added. The Death Eater turned to him, expecting an attack from him as well, but I saw my chance. Channeling my emotions about Harry, I directed my hand at the Death Eater, and he was blasted off his feet into the Hufflepuff hourglass. 

"Nice one, Daisy-flower!" Draco grinned. My eyes went wide as I saw another Death Eater approaching him from behind, and opened my mouth to yell - Draco turned, but it was too late, the Death Eater was practically on top of him - 

- But before anything could happen, the Death Eater dropped. Terry was standing behind him, the sword of Gryffindor in his hands, blood dripping from the blade. 

"Wow," Terry wiped his brow with his free hand, "the first time I ever stabbed someone, and it was to save my reckless, dumbass boyfriend." 

He let out a little giggle, and my heart exploded at the sight of him - my best friend, alive, his freckled face a little grimy but otherwise unharmed. He grinned at Draco, who looked as though he'd just seen the sun rise after fifty years' worth of darkness - the bleach blonde dropped onto one knee, reached for Terry's hand, and beamed up at him. 

"Terry Aaron Boot," Draco said, as a body went flying past us into the wall and several red jets of light flew past, "I know we're in the middle of a war right now, but that's precisely why I have to ask you this right now. Before either of us dies and I can't anymore. Because I love you with all my heart." 

I watched in awe as Terry's jaw dropped. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. His honeyed eyes gazed down at Draco, flickered across his face. 

"So that's why I'm asking... Ter-bear... will you marry me?" 

The sound of screams and yelled spells faded out around us. Blaise and Theo defended us as I, completely distracted, watched Terry yank Draco up by his collar. The two boys stared into each other's eyes, searching. 

"No." Terry said. 

"Oh." I said softly. 

Draco's face fell. 

Then Terry burst out laughing. "I'm joking around, you gullible idiot! Of course I'll marry you - yes, yes, YES!" 

"You - you dickhead! You -!" Draco choked out, but the rest of his insult was suffocated by Terry grabbing his Slytherin tie and using it to yank his lips onto Terry's. 

"Whoop!" I cheered, pumping a fist into the air. "Taco reigns!" 

"Taco?" Blaise queried as he Stunned a Death Eater. 

"Terry and Draco's ship name." I told him. 

"You've made me hungry now." 

More people charged into the Hall as Blaise, Theo, and I protected the two furiously snogging boys. Several Death Eaters poured in, located me, and ran for me, with Sirius, Emily, Lupin, and Tonks hot on their heels. 

"I thought you were at home with Teddy!" I yelled to Tonks as she backed up close to us. 

"I couldn't stand not knowing what was happening here!" Tonks yelled back, deflecting a curse. 

"Fair enough! Hi, Sirius!" 

"Hi, sweetheart, how are you keeping? You doing well?" Sirius called, grinning, as he brought down two Death Eaters with one sweep of his wand. His long, straggly hair had been tied up in a ponytail at the back of his neck. 

"Well -" I faltered as I thought about Harry, and a Death Eater aimed at me; Emily and Lupin jumped in front of me, wands flashing furiously as they battled him. "Well - I - I'm good -" 

Sirius frowned. My tone hadn't been very convincing, but Harry's death was something he had to learn about later. I couldn't, wouldn't, tell him like this. Not while we were fighting for our lives also. 

"Daisy -" 

I looked away as Sirius approached, only to be forced to look back as another Death Eater followed. The two of us turned, diving into the duel with our wands twisting and turning, us dodging and aiming. 

"Ah, Puppy Potter and her dogfather, fighting together - the two doggies! How sweet!" The Death Eater sniggered, sending a Cruciatus right past my ear. 

"Ha ha, very funny." Sirius snarled. "Don't you dare ever send one of those at my goddaughter again!" 

"Is that a challenge, Black?" 

Sirius glanced at me, raising his wand high. I gave him a brief nod. And together, we yelled, "EXPULSO!" 

The force of our two spells combined sent the Death Eater flying; a small explosion created a crater in the ground ten feet across, and debris and certain slimy things which I did not care to examine too closely rained down upon us, streaking us with dust, grime, and blood. 

"Nice one, sweetheart!" Sirius grinned through the cloudy air at me, slinging an arm around my shoulders, and hugging me to him briefly before charging off into the fray again. 

"Daisy -!" 

Fred and George came sprinting through the dust, coughing and choking, and grabbed me on either side, pulling me through. I was tugged through the Entrance Hall, and two bodies fell from the balcony overhead as we passed; a grey blur that I took for an animal sped four-legged across the hall to sink its teeth into one of the fallen.

"NO!" Ginny shrieked from in front of us, and with a deafening blast from her wand, Fenrir Greyback was thrown backward from the feebly struggling body of Lavender. He hit the marble banisters and struggled to return to his feet. Then, with a bright white flash and a crack, a crystal ball fell on top of his head, and he crumpled to the ground and did not move.

"I have more!" Professor Trelawney shrieked from over the banisters. "More for any who want them! Here -" And with a move like a tennis serve, she heaved another enormous crystal sphere from her bag, waved her wand through the air, and caused the ball to speed across the hall and smash through a window. At the same moment, the heavy wooden front doors burst open, and more of the gigantic spiders forced their way into the front hall. 

We battled through the spiders, which were being taken down by Cynthia Malfoy and - I recognised with a jolt of surprise - Jerk, the Death Eater who'd left Riddle's ranks due to his fondness for me in fourth year. We reached the front doors, and struggled outside. But the air around us had frozen: my breath caught and solidified in my chest. Shapes moved out in the darkness, swirling figures of concentrated blackness, moving in a great wave towards the castle, their faces hooded and their breath rattling...

Fred and George closed in beside me as the sounds of fighting behind us grew suddenly muted, deadened, because a silence only Dementors could bring was falling thickly through the night, and Harry was gone, and my classmates and friends were surely dying or already dead...

"Come on, princess!" George's voice said from a very long way away.

"Patronuses, baby girl, come on!"

I raised my wand, but a dull hopelessness was spreading throughout me; how many more lay dead that I didn't yet know about? I felt as though my soul had already half left my body....

"DAISY, COME ON!" Fred yelled. 

A hundred Dementors were advancing, gliding toward us, sucking their way closer to my despair, which was like a promise of a feast...

I saw Fred's silver puppy burst into the air, flicker feebly, and expire - huh? Wasn't his Patronus his Animagus - I saw George's exact same puppy twist in midair and fade - what was going on? - and my own wand trembled in my hand, and I almost welcomed the oncoming oblivion, the promise of nothing, of no feeling...

And then a silver dragon, a bunny, and bear soared past mine, Fred, and George's heads; the Dementors fell back before the creatures' approach. Three more people had arrived out of the darkness to stand beside us, their wands outstretched, continuing to cast Patronuses: Terry, Draco, and Neville.

"That's right," Terry said encouragingly, as if we were back in the Room of Requirement and this was simply spell practice for the DA, "that's right, Softpaw... come on, think of something happy..."

"Something happy?" I said, my voice cracking. 

"I know you loved him," Terry whispered, "so, so much. He meant so much to you... those memories aren't lost. Come on, now, baby girl..." 

Harry... I loved Harry... my twin brother... 

I thought of him, I thought of Fred, of George, of Terry... my boys, all in their own different ways... and Harry was dead, but I loved him, and that love would never go away, would never fade, no matter how much time passed. The ache and pain inside me was grief, it was because I loved him so much. 

There was a silver spark, then a wavering light, and then, with the greatest effort it had ever cost me a silver squirrel burst from the end of my wand. It scurried forward, and now the Dementors scattered in earnest, and immediately the night was mild again, but the sounds of the surrounding battle were loud in my ears.

"Can't thank you enough," George said shakily, turning to Terry, Draco, and Neville, "you just saved -" 

Then he stopped dead. And my heart stopped also. 

A very much alive Harry was stepping towards us through the dust, black gunk dried into his face, his glasses crooked, and his mouth split into a wide grin. Suddenly, I couldn't breathe; I staggered forwards and fell onto my knees, stunned, disbelieving. 

"I was going to help you out with my Patronus," Harry said with a chuckle, "but it looked like you had it sorted." 

"H-H-Harry!" I whimpered, reaching out for Fred and George behind me, and one of them helped me up. Then, louder, I screamed, "HARRY!" 

I flew forward into his arms. My brother staggered back slightly, then hugged me in return, and I sobbed into his cardigan as he squeezed his arms tight around me. 

"You must've saved me with your Grace, Daze... there's no way I should be alive right now." 

Harry's words made Fred and George join us, hugging me too, but it didn't make sense - I'd tried to revive him, but it didn't work, and there was no orb of light this time... I eyed the tarrlike substance on Harry's face, and opened my mouth to speak, but my attention was torn away a second later. 

With a roar and an earth-quaking tremor, a giant came lurching out of the darkness from the direction of the forest, brandishing a club taller than any of us.

"RUN!" Harry shouted, but the others needed no telling; we all scattered, and not a second too soon, for the next moment the creature's vast foot had fallen exactly where we had been standing. 

 "C'mon!" 

We all dove back into the Entrance Hall, back into the fray; I joined Suzanne and Shannon as a Death Eater I recognised as Adam Malfoy battled them both. Together, the three of us forced him back against the wall. 

"What shall we do with him, girls?" Suzanne pondered, her soft blonde locks streaked with black. 

"I've a few things in mind." Shannon smirked as we held him at wandpoint. 

"Yeah. He was there the night of Amy's death, and he helped Riddle drug me." I told them. "I think he deserves everything we can give him." 

We all smiled at each other. Then, turning, all three of us raised our wands, and Adam Malfoy's screams rang out louder than anything else in the Hall. 

"Harry! You're alive!" I heard Ron's voice as I returned to the middle of the Hall, rubbing the blood off my hands onto my uniform. I jogged forward to see Harry being embraced by Ron, Hermione, and Kylie, and two Death Eaters moving towards them; I flicked my wand, twice, well-versed in Sectumsempra by now, and the two collapsed onto the stone floor. 

"Daisy!" Kylie gasped. "It's good to see you - I wasn't sure if you were -" 

"I'm still here, don't worry." I grinned, a newfound hope and exhilaration inside me now that I knew my brother was alive. "Watch out - Sectumsempra!" 

The five of us dove into battle as Death Eaters approached us from all sides, all wanting to claim me for their own glory. Harry stood right beside me as we swept our wands, duelling with a Death Eater who'd gotten too close; Hermione was taking on her own behind us, spitting out spells half of which I'd never even heard of; Ron and Kylie were duelling another masked one, who was seemingly trying to set them both on fire. 

"Confringo!" I yelled, and the Death Eater Harry and I were fighting was blasted off his feet. 

"Sweet!" 

"Indeed." 

"Naturally!" 

Harry and I turned to assist the others, Harry using Sectumsempra on Hermione's Death Eater while he was distracted by her boil-creation curse, and me, with a slow clasp and release of my fist, setting fire to Ron and Kylie's Death Eater. 

"What?" I shrugged as the redhead and the drummer gazed at me. "He wanted fire, he got fire." 

A familiar shout reached my ears, and I looked around. Terry, Fred, and George were battling two Death Eaters and Spieler. I glanced around at Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Kylie, judged that they were fine, and sped off towards the Insurgents. 

"You'll never touch her again!" Fred was yelling. "You'll never touch my girl -" 

Spieler was laughing. "Your girl? Your girl? She belongs to the Dark Lord now -" 

"You fucking piece of -" 

"Hey, guys!" I joined the group of three, wielding my wand. "I'm here to help!" 

I sent a curse at Terry's Death Eater, and Terry beamed at me. George's Death Eater moved in on me, and George yelled, "Crucio!" 

The Death Eater fell to the ground, yelling in pain, and Terry and I stared at George in shock. 

"Wow, Fred I can understand, but Georgie, you're of a gentler nature." I said in wonder. "You okay, bro?" 

"Sorry." George said hastily, rubbing the back of his neck. "It just sort of came out." 

"She's the Dark Lord's whore, now, and if she doesn't shut up and suck his dick then I think he's going to kill her tonight!" Spieler's gleeful voice sounded behind us, and Terry, George, and I froze. Our heads turned slowly in the direction of Fred and Spieler, the former snarling. 

"What," Terry said dangerously, stepping forward, "did you just say about my best friend?" 

"I SAID," Spieler sneered, lowering his wand as he leaned in, "she's the Dark Lord's WH-" 

He'd let his guard down, consumed by the need to bully. He'd left himself undefended. Terry's spell hit him square in the chest, and Spieler looked down at himself momentarily, in shock, before falling to the ground with a final thud. 

Terry straightened up, looking very proud of himself. His smug little smile said it all as he gazed down at Greg Spieler's body. 

"Well done." I told him, and he beamed. 

"Thanks, Softpaw!" 

"I was going to do that myself." Fred said, kicking Spieler's head. "Oh well. As long as I get to kill Riddle, Floppy, or Greyback. You said Greyback made a deal with Floppy to rape you, right, Softpaw?" 

"Yeah, only he didn't succeed." I said, shuddering. 

"But he still tried to. So the piece of shit is going down." Fred said darkly, gripping his wand tight. 

"In the meantime, though," I said, my eyes twinkling, "I think we should wreak some havoc." 

And so we Insurgents did what we do best; pranked. We released our full supply of Multiplying Rabbits through the school as distractions; we set off fireworks we'd cursed to explode in Death Eater's faces; we led Death Eaters on wild goose chases, letting them follow us as we charged down hallways then escaped down secret passageways, turning the hidden staircases into slides, then, when we'd escaped out of the portrait at the end, closed it and turned it to stone, making a nice Death Eater Crunch. Yum. 

I knew this battle was going to result in a lot of pain and death, but honestly I was having the time of my life. The joy at having discovered my brother was still alive, and at being with friends in solidarity with each other, all in this together, was making me feel the best I'd ever felt. I laughed with delirious abandonment as the four of us soared around the castle on our brooms, our excellent flying skills demonstrated by the way we directed our brooms as we fired well-aimed spells into the fighters below. 

We clattered to the ground a little while later, panting and laughing breathily, and I leaned against a stone wall, my wand out, ready to fight more. 

"So, where to nex-" 

Quite suddenly a high, cold voice spoke so close to us that I jumped on my feet, cutting me off. Riddle's voice reverberated from the walls and floor, and I realised that he was talking to Hogwarts and to all the surrounding area, that the residents of Hogsmeade and all those still fighting in the castle would hear him as clearly as if he stood beside us, his breath on the back of our necks, a deathblow away.

"You have fought," said the high, cold voice, "valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured."

"I speak now, Daisy Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Daisy Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

"Never! Do you hear me! NEVER!" Fred yelled, his voice straining. 

I felt suddenly somber. I glanced around me. The castle had quietened, there were no more bangs, thuds, or castle walls shaking. 

"Daze... don't listen to him. We'll - we'll keep fighting -" 

But I wasn't listening. I was gazing out towards the Forbidden Forest... 

'You have permitted your friends to die for you... I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me... one hour...' 

~~~ 

The castle was unnaturally silent. There were no flashes of light now, no bangs or screams or shouts. The flagstones of the deserted Entrance Hall were stained with blood. Emeralds were still scattered all over the floor, along with pieces of marble and splintered wood. Part of the banisters had been blown away. 

Terry and I walked forward. The twins had left to help with bringing the dead inside, what with their huge Beater muscles, leaving Terry and I to enter the Great Hall by ourselves. 

And in the Great Hall, the room was crowded. The survivors stood in groups, their arms around each other's necks. The injured were being treated upon the raised platform by Madam Pomfrey and a group of helpers. Firenze was amongst the injured; his flank poured blood and he shook where he lay, unable to stand.

The dead lay in a row in the middle of the Hall. 

I had a clear view of the bodies lying closest. Bonnie and Connie, their hands loosely entwined. Remus and Tonks, pale and still and peaceful-looking, apparently asleep beneath the dark, enchanted ceiling.

The Great Hall seemed to fly away, become smaller, shrink, as I reeled backward from the doorway. I couldn't draw breath. I couldn't bear to look at any of the other bodies, to see who else had died for me. 

I turned away and ran. Bonnie... Connie... Lupin, Tonks... I yearned not to feel... I wished I could rip out my heart, my innards, everything that was screaming inside me...

And it crashed over me. The realisation of what I had to do. I think I'd known it ever since Harry died, the black, tarrlike substance leaking from him like it did from the diadem. Perhaps I knew even before then. The reason I could talk to snakes. The reason mine and Riddle's thoughts and emotions were so closely entwined. The reason... I had to die. 

Riddle couldn't make me into a Horcrux. Because I already was one. 

Terror washed over me as I paced the floor of the Entrance Hall, right before the doors to the outside, with a funeral drum pounding inside me. I knew now what I had to do. Would it hurt to die? All those times I had thought that it was about to happen and escaped, I'd never really thought of the thing itself: my will to live had always been so much stronger than my fear of death. Yet it didn't occur to me now to try to escape, to outrun Riddle. It was over, I knew it, and all that was left was the thing itself: dying.

If I could only have died on that summer's night when I had left number four, Privet Drive, when the noble phoenix feather wand had saved me! If I could only have died like Mad-Eye, so quickly I wouldn't have known it had happened! Or if I could've launched myself in front of a wand to save someone I loved... I envied even my parents' deaths now. This cold-blooded walk to my own destruction would require a different kind of bravery. I felt my fingers trembling slightly and made an effort to control them, although no one could see me. 

It turned out that that thought was short-lived; Terry and Louis had left the Great Hall, and Terry started at a sprint towards me, Louis hot on his heels. 

"Shit, Softpaw, don't scare me like that! We couldn't find Draco, nor you, and we thought you'd gone to the Forest, we thought you might be -" 

"I'm going there now." I said. 

"Are you mad? No!" 

"Hopper, it's... it's meant to be." 

"Rubbish! You can't just give yourself up to him - Softpaw, please don't do this -" 

Louis squeezed Terry's arm, silencing him. The Ravenclaw looked down at his feet then back up at me, and there were tears shimmering in his eyes. 

"What is it, Daze? What is it you know?" Louis said shrewdly. 

Terry studied his face, then looked back to me. He gulped back a sob. 

"Terry... there's a reason I can... there's a reason I'm connected with Riddle..." 

Terry began to shake his head, clearly in denial, not wanting to believe. I simply nodded, touching the centre of my chest.

"I think I've known for a while." I studied Terry, thinking back to the way he reacted in Grimmauld Place when Kylie joked about having to kill me if Riddle turned me into a Horcrux. "I think you've known too." 

Terry flew into my arms, sobbing miserably. We held each other tight, neither of us ever wanting to let go. I breathed in his comforting scent of melted butter and whoopie cushions, begging myself not to cry. 

"I'll go with you." Terry said, his voice breaking "I'll -" 

He faltered hopelessly as a single tear traced his cheek. I reached out and wiped it away.

"Kill the snake. Kill the snake and then it's just him. Then it'll be over. Keep fighting, guys. Keep fighting for me." 

I let go of Terry, turned, and started walking. 

"Daisy, no, wait, please!" Terry's voice called from behind me, wracked with sobs. "Please - we can go, leave the country, we can protect you, you don't have to die, please!" 

I swung the Invisibility Cloak over myself and set off at a run, tears streaming down my face in waterfalls now. 

"Please, you don't have to die, please..." 

I left Terry's sobs in the Entrance Hall and rushed down the steps, my own body wracked with silent sobs. I gasped for air, steadying myself against a nearby wall for a moment, then carried on, my chest feeling as if a brick sat inside. 

Two other figures were moving not far away, stooping over another prone figure on the ground. I was feet away from them when I realised it was the twins.

I stopped in my tracks. They were crouching over a girl who was whispering for her mother.

"It's alright." Fred was saying. "It's okay. We're going to get you inside."

"But I want to go home." The girl whispered. "I don't want to fight anymore!"

"I know." George said, and his voice broke. "It's going to be alright."

Ripples of cold undulated over my skin. I wanted to shout out to the night, I wanted Fred and George to know that I was there, I wanted them to know where I was going. I wanted to be stopped, to be dragged back, to be sent back home... to our tiny little apartment over our shop, which I had barely lived in considering all my time spent living, but which I would refer to if somebody asked me where home was. 

Fred and George were kneeling beside the injured girl now, holding her hands. With a huge effort I forced myself on. I thought I saw the twins look around as I passed, and wondered whether they had sensed someone walking nearby, but I did not speak, and I did not look back. 

Because I knew if either of them touched me again, looked at me with those homely, handsome chocolate eyes, then I would be lost, and I would never have the strength to walk on. 

To walk right into Riddle's hands for the final time.