"Courtney!"

Both Jade and myself turned to see my mother and Narcissa following us out of the castle. I sighed in disappointment because I was hoping that no one had noticed where we had gone. I knew that either my mother or my brother would follow me. They already had put some kind of protection spell on me, so I knew that it wouldn't be enough for them.

"Mum, go back inside!" I yelled and started running down the steps again.

"Courtney Thorne Flint!" I heard her yell again.

I was almost to the bottom of the stairs when she had yelled. When I got to the bottom, I turned to face her. I looked up the stairs to see that Draco was going back into the castle with Crabbe, Goyle, Kam, Astoria, and two other guys that I didn't recognize. I felt the pull to follow him, which I started to do, but my mother and Narcissa blocked me. My eyes traveled back up to try and catch a glimpse of him, but he was gone.

"I need to get to Draco," I told them, "so, move please."

"Your brother warned me that you would try to find Draco," my mother scoffed.

Narcissa nodded. "Going after him would be idiotic."

I shook my head. "I don't think you understand-"

"Marcus told us about how you think you have a mission from Dumbledore. Courtney, the man has passed on, and you should move on from this," mum grabbed my arms and held them. "I can't lose any of my babies. You all are my entire world."

"Listen," I looked deep into her eyes, "there is a prophesy that both Draco and I are apart of, and I need to stop it from coming reality."

"What prophesy?" Narcissa came closer, touching mum's shoulder. "I've heard rumors, but no death eater would confirm them for me."

"Draco dies," I said. "He dies because he switches sides-"

"In order to protect you," Jade interrupted. "I agree with your mother. It would be idiotic to go to him during this battle. He'll try to protect you."

I sighed. "But he needs someone to protect him from his idiotic decisions."

"I know you saw Malfoy just go into the castle with a whole group of people, two of which have great heads on their shoulders. Trust me, those two were not meant to be death eaters."

Narcissa turned to look behind her, but of course, her son was no longer there. My heart longed to be next to him, to protect him. I looked from Jade to my mother. I wasn't sure if I could trust Jade just yet, but my mother seemed to. That was enough for me at the moment.

"What do you suggest I do then, Hel-" I paused and looked back over to her. "Jade?"

"Perhaps we should go back to the Great Hall?" Narcissa suggested.

A burst of light blinded all of us for a brief moment. We heard loud explosions that seemed to be coming from the barrier. I spun on my heel to see that the death eaters had penetrated the protection spells and were starting on their way up to the castle. There seemed to be a barrier of statues guarding the perimeter, which had to be McGonagall's doing.

"We need to get into the castle," Narcissa said right as a spell went past her head.

Jade shook her head and moved herself in front of me. "No, we stand and fight."

I rolled my eyes. "I can fight as well," I said as I readied my wand and walked around her.

As soon as I walked around her, I noticed a stunning spell coming straight for me. Instead of shielding the spell as I should've, I turned and let the spell hit me in the back. I was pushed off balance for a brief moment, but it did not hurt. I looked over at my mother, who looked like she was relieved.

"It worked!" she shouted as a blue spell missed her face by inches.

I turned back to the fight and started sending stunning spells into the small crowd that had made it past the both barriers. I used my head this time and started shielding myself from the spells as well. All the while, I was thinking of the spells that had been put upon before the battle started. What did they do to me? Is this a protection spell of sorts?

I then noticed a thick, black smog coming towards us. I continued to shield myself from some incoming curses as I watched the smog travel fast up that hill. My heart skipped a beat when I realized that the smog was going straight for my mother.

"Mum, watch-" I was cut off as the black smog formed into a person as a fist was flung at my mother's face.

I started to run over to her to help, but I was caught by the arm. I screamed and fought the person that had grabbed me, but I was told to calm down. I turned my head to see Marcus's face turn with anger.

"Michael," he said, pulling out his wand.

My eyes traveled back to my mother, who was supporting her nose. Then they traveled to the back of the man who had appeared out of the smog. I knew that outline. Marcus was right; our father had joined the fight. I didn't expect him to stay home when he could prove his loyalty to his precious Dark Lord.

Michael turned to face all three of use since Helena came to stand on my other side. "Look, all of my children are together once more."

I rolled my eyes. "You need to step away from our mother."

"Your mother has been a very naughty girl," he said, turning back to her.

Narcissa had came over to my mother and fixed her nose for her. Of course, my father thought mum needed to be punished for leaving him once more. It looked bad on him to the Dark Lord, so like usual he was pissed about it. I knew he had some pint up rage for all three of us standing before him as well.

"You might want to step away, Narcissa," Michael warned, "or not. You deserve this just as much, if not more."

He raised his wand, which caused my heart to beat faster in my chest. I raised my wand as well and disarmed him. Helena - I mean, Jade - jumped up and grasped his wand in her hand before he even had a chance to react. Michael had turned to face us, but before he could get a word out, he was hit with a blue spell and sent flying. We watched as his body collided with the ground and rolled down the hill. All three of our heads turned to see mum breathing heavily with her wand out.

"Come on, you three," she said, waving for us to follow her as she ran down the hill after him.

Marcus and I exchanged worried looks before following her and Jade. I looked behind us as we ran to see if Narcissa was coming, but she was already hightailing it up to the castle. I had a feeling that she was heading to see if she could find Draco. It might have been idiotic for me to be with him at that moment, but someone needed to be with him. I wasn't sure if his mother could stop him or not. I then remembered that Kam had followed Draco. Hopefully, she was still with him. I knew I could count on her to stop him. I just hoped that she hadn't hurt him herself.

I brought my focus back to following mum. She had caught up to where Michael and stopped rolling. She had her wand out and sent him flying once more. I continued to run as everyone else had as well. This time, he had rolled onto the shore of the Black Lake. I joined my mum and siblings with all of our wand out and pointed down to him. I looked down at my father. I knew this wasn't a time to underestimate him. He had been trained by his Dark Lord. I knew that he had flown twice. He had to be sporting some broken bones and was in pain. However, no one was about to let their guards down around him.

"Stand up," Marcus instructed Michael as he began to stir. "I said, stand up."

Michael slowly stood up, and as soon as he was fully erect, Marcus's fist collided with his nose. Our father froze for a moment before he slowly skewed his face and wiped the blood that had started dripped from his nose.

"Marcus, it is nice to see you," he smirked. "How is my granddaughter doing? I bet she's a pretty little thing, just like her mother."

Marcus punched him in the face again, making more blood pour. "You don't get the right to talk about my family."

"I thought we were all family," he said, his eyes fluttering over to me. "My, my. Courtney, won't you tell your brother that we all should-"

"Absolutely not," I cut him off. "You're not our father. You lost the right to that title a long time ago."

"Oh," he said, placing a hand over his heart, "how you break my heart, Court. I remember when you were a daddy's little girl. You would worship me, defend me to your brother."

I shook my head. "I was stupid and naive. Don't worry. I will never make that mistake again."

"Why are we allowing this scum to keep talking," Jade spoke up. "We should be ending his life, torturing him for all the wrong he has put all of us through. I know you all are dying to. If you want, I'll make the first move.

I took in a deep breath. My father was a piece of shit that put us all through our own torments. Regardless, I do believe that I came out more unscathed than everyone that was surrounding him. Yes, he emotionally abused me and...other things. Most things, I don't even remember. I believe because of me not being as affected by his behavior, I had not once thought about killing him. I wanted to get even with him, sure, but I couldn't imagine what the rest of my family was thinking.

"What do you think I had plan-"

Marcus was cut off by Michael tackling him to the ground. We had spent too much time talking. I raised my wand, but I was afraid of hitting Marcus. Helena threw a stunning spell at him, but he ducked, so the spell went right over his head. I needed to send a spell that wouldn't hurt Marcus.

"Petrificus Tot-"

I stopped saying my curse because Michael had taken Marcus's want from him and threw a curse at Jade, who it hit right in the face. I screamed for her as I ran over, but I tripped and fell. Someone then pushed me down onto the ground. Tears stung my eyes as I felt my head being jerked up by my hair.

"Do you want to watch," Michael breathed heavily into my hear, his beard scruff scratching my face, "as I kill your sister?"