"Fred, you aren't allowed to close your eyes," Bill chastised his younger brother, who was falling asleep as he leaned against one of the pillars. Fred always thought that missions like these were always filled with action with every second, but he found himself waiting for most of the day. He didn't ignore the fact that there might be danger around the corner, but he never knew waiting for danger to come could put someone to sleep.

His mind lingered to Florence. He had not seen her in a couple hours but knew that she was safe. After all, she was stationed with Moody and Julien. He was sure that they would be able to protect her when needed. If ever danger actually came, though he'd prefer it if they could go home without a single scratch on them.

The sixth floor hallway was eerily quiet, that he could hear the ticking of Tonks' pocket watch from where he stood. They had been on several rounds across the right wing of the whole floor, not finding anything out of the ordinary. So they had been waiting for any instructions to come.

Tonks' eyes snapped up from where they were focused on the floor as they heard a tapping noise, Bill immediately spotting a black barn owl hovering outside a closed window. Bill let the owl in, and unclasped the roll of parchment that had been secured on its leg. His eyes skimmed through the contents, a frown dawning on his face, "That's odd..."

"What is it?" Tonks inquired, Bill shaking his head, "Kingsley says Dumbledore and Harry aren't back yet. They should be right now, though, right?"

Tonks fished her pocket watch out, glancing at it, "They should have been back several minutes ago. Its thirty minutes to eleven." she said worriedly, "I have a feeling that something is wrong."

From where he stood, Fred was able to spot a faint green glow from outside one of the windows. He rushed towards it, throwing it open to find the sky dimly lit in a green haze. His stomach dropped, "Bill, Tonks... Have a look at this..."

Bill stuck his head out of the window, trying to get a better angle at what was causing the green glow, but to no avail, "Whatever that is, doesn't look good, either."

Tonks looked over, instantly recognizing it, "It could be the Dark Mark. If it is, it means Death Eaters are in the castle."

A worried look dawned on Bill's face, "We better tell Kingsley, then. I don't think he can see this from his office. We better alert the others, Tonks, send out a patronus to Sloan and the rest... We have to find out where they came in from and stop it. There might be more coming."

"Do you think they went through the forbidden forest?" Fred asked, worry now brewing at the pit of his stomach, "I know Florence, Moody and Julien were guarding the covered bridge. I should go check—"

"No, I need you to go get Professor McGonagall and ask her to rouse the staff." Bill said, "We need reinforcements. I'm sure the people stationed at the grounds are already seeing this."

"But what if they came through the Covered bridge, what if they need—"

"That's why they stationed Aurors there. They'll be fine. Now go get McGonagall."

Fred ran to the nearest stairwell, running down as fast as he could. The stairwell was barely lit, him doing his best not to trip on his own feet. He was just about to turn another hallway when he heard footsteps running toward him, Fred drawing his wand out and racking up his brain for any defensive spells he could use to defend himself.

He was just about to shoot a stunning spell when he came face to face with Julien and Moody, his heart slamming against his ribcage as he looked around and saw that Florence was not with them. Julien saw the question in his eyes, and answered even before the query could leave his mouth, "She's still downstairs. Someone had to stay at our post."

"They didn't go through the Forbidden forest?"

Moody shook his head, "No. They must have entered through another place. You saw that Dark Mark? It was conjured from one of the windows leading up to the Astronomy classroom. They're already somewhere upstairs."

"Where were you heading off to?" Julien asked, Fred was in the middle of telling him that he was sent to call McGonagall when his pendant burned slightly against his skin. He fished it out from under his jumper, seeing the tiny metal words rearranged.

Dark Mark. Alo

"Alo?" Fred frowned, Julien looking to him, "What's wrong?"

"Florence sent me something through our Protean but its not making sense, its—" he paused, realization dawning on him. She'd been interrupted in the middle of sending him a message. "She's in danger." was all he said, before sprinting down to the courtyard as fast as he could possibly manage. Julien was about to go after him when Moody held him back, shaking his head, "No. You go and get McGonagall. I'm heading up to where Nymphadora and Weasley are."

Fred raced down the stairs and past hallways, running as fast as he could without paying attention to anything else around him. He didn't remember the castle being as large as it was now that he was trying to get to her. It seemed to have expanded since his school days, or it was just the sheer urgency of getting to the clock courtyard that was making the trip seem longer than it was.

He finally made it to the ground floor, Fred running over to the courtyard to see the love of his life pinned down by a cloaked figure, a wand pressed to the side of her head.

Fred grabbed his wand as quickly as he could while sprinting towards them.

"Expelliarmus!" he shouted, the wand flying out of the Death Eater's hand. He then followed it up with a full body binding spell, the person dropping to the ground with a thud before they could even get to their wand that was laying a few ways away from them. He rushed over to Florence's side, helping her up. She threw her arms around his neck, enveloping him in a tight hug as she sobbed, "Rowena's sake... you came just in time, Fred."

"Ive got you... I've got you..." he said, kissing her hair as he rubbed her back, "Its okay, I've got you."

She pulled away from the hug, picking her wand up from where it laid on the ground, before stepping over the Death Eater and grabbing her wand as well. Fred got a better look at her, her dark hair instantly making him realize that it was Raegan Fawley.

"What are we gonna do with her?" he asked as Florence pocketed Raegan's wand, "I dunno... but she's not going anywhere with the state she's in right now... we better go help the others."

After dragging Raegan's stiff body behind one of the concrete benches, they rushed back inside the school, heading up to the Astronomy tower where the Dark Mark had been conjured. They got to the fifth floor when they found Bill lying on the floor, a large gash across most of his face which had been bleeding out. Julien had been battling Fenrir Greyback, who was inferably the one who had caused Bill's injuries. Florence backed her cousin up, whilst Julien yelled for Fred to help the others in the floor above them.

Florence could not understand where they had come from, as well as why they were fleeing. They hadn't stayed for long, which lead her to believe that they had completed what they came for. She had not been prepared thoroughly about their expertise in dueling, as Greyback had managed to slip away from both Florence and Julien combined, Julien giving chase to him, instructing Florence to tend to Bill's injuries and somehow get him back to Hogsmeade for further treatment.

"Shit," Florence cursed as she knelt down and got a better look at Bill. "Is it that bad?" He managed to mutter, Florence biting her lip at the question. The gash across his cheek was the deepest, while the one that went across his eye wasn't as bad. "Its manageable. Hold on."

She quickly unzipped her bag, rummaging through it to find some cotton pads and gauze, wrapping the wounded part of his face to the best of her ability, the blood already soaking through the bandages before she could even lift Bill up his feet. "Can you stand?"

"I can try... I think I busted my ankle when he pushed me down the stairs..."

Florence got up to her own feet, crouching down and slinging one of Bill's arms over her shoulders, gently lifting him up. With him putting half his weight on her, the two hobbled down the stairs and through hallways, Florence praying that they wont run in to even more trouble. She could still hear commotion all around her, but focused on getting Bill to Hogsmeade to be treated.

A jet of bright light sailed past them, Florence screaming as it narrowly missed her and Bill. She swiveled around to find one of the Carrow siblings heading straight for her. She fumbled for her wand that was tucked in to her pocket, all the while keeping her balance so she and Bill would not topple over. Amycus Carrow was about to send out another Cruciatus curse when his aim was redirected by a jinx sent his way. Florence looked over to see Ginny running towards them, wand out and ready to duel the much older Death Eater.

"Ginny, Ginny no!" she called, the ginger-haired girl wearing a determined look on her face, "Florence, go! Get my brother to safety."

"Ginny—"

"Please, I can handle it, go!" She said, this time with much more force, Amycus already firing spells at her. Florence didn't want to leave her, but she felt her arms grow tired as Bill started slipping from her grip, "Florence," he uttered, "Ginny can do it. We have to go."

Hesitantly, she complied, hobbling through the hallway as fast as she could manage.

Florence had made it out to the main courtyard, where she set Bill down momentarily to regain her strength. She noticed that the bandage was already severely saturated with blood, so she took it off and wrapped a new one as fast as she could, before continuing on with her journey to Hogsmeade.

It was a rather far trek with the burden of Bill's weight on her, but she pushed through it nonetheless.

Halfway through the trail to Hogsmeade, Florence heard the familiar sound of barking, before a big black dog came bounding toward them, before morphing into his human form. "Sirius," Florence breathed, the man immediately moving to grab Bill, slinging his other arm across his own shoulder, the two carrying him much faster to Hogsmeade Village.

Nicolai had set up a station in front of Three broomsticks for the wounded, immediately getting to work as soon as Florence and Sirius set him down on to one of their chairs.

"You're okay." Sirius sighed as he hugged Florence briefly, before peeling her away to check if she was injured herself, "You're bleeding."

"That's Bill's..." Florence said, looking down to see a good portion of her clothes soaked with the blood that had been dripping from Bill's face. "Fred... he's still in there. So is Jules, and Sloan... I have to go back, I—"

"No you don't. Kingsley flooed us a message from Dumbledore's fireplace as soon as he heard about the Dark Mark. I came in with the last group of Order as well as with a bunch of Auror affiliates. Matthew went too, also George. They took Buckbeak with them so they could get there faster. They have the situation handled. You need to rest, dear. You've done enough for the day."

"Raegan was there." she breathed out, a concerned look dawning on Sirius' face, "She almost killed me with the Killing Curse..."

"What happened to her?"

"Fred came... he stunned her. We left her there, though. We needed to get back and help the others."

"Its okay," said Sirius, "The others will take care of it."

—————

It was daybreak when Florence spotted a few people trekking back towards the Hogsmeade village from afar. She was wrapped up in a blanket when she could spot to redheads walking side by side together, Florence immediately shooting out from her chair and running to meet the twins halfway. In her relief she threw her arms around both of them, Fred and George whispering words of relief that she was okay. "Ginny told us you were heading back here. I'm glad you made it here safely."

"Ginny, is she okay?"

"She's fine. Handled herself pretty well, I'll say. She's still back at the castle with Hermione and the rest."

"Did anyone else get hurt?"

"No, not to our knowledge." Fred said, "But something happened."

The look of relief on her face vanished at his words, her mind immediately thinking that one of the people she loves got severely injured, or worse, died.

"It's Dumbledore..." George started, "He's dead. They killed him."

Florence was solemn for the rest of the day.

She couldn't properly express what she had been feeling. A sense of fear and dread starting brewing at the pit of her stomach. She had always thought of Dumbledore as the greatest and most formidable Wizard of her lifetime. He was the only one in the world that Voldemort was truly afraid of. She always thought that he was going to lead them through this war like he had in the past, thought he was going to defeat Voldemort again once and for all. But now he was dead. She felt her sense of security vanish. No one was truly safe now, and she knew that these dark times were not going to look up any time soon. 

A few hours after, Julien and Sloan arrived back at the village, Nicolai immediately escorting Julien to her station as she noticed his broken arm, Florence hugging her uncle who hugged her back, despite his normal indifference towards physical affections. "I'm glad you're okay. Thank you for bringing William back here. Julien told me he was injured quite badly."

"Its the least I could do," she said, "I heard what happened..."

"Yeah..." he said solemnly, "Hagrid's going to help us with his body... to plan a proper funeral..."

"Sloan..." Florence said, her voice sounding small and vulnerable, that Sloan couldn't help but remember her when she was but a small child, who liked to hang from his arm and was too small for the dangers of the rest of the world. She was a child no more, but the fear in her eyes was evident, "Sloan... I'm scared. With this. With all of this."

"Me too, kid." he said without a beat of hesitation, "But don't you worry. I'm here for you. I've got you."

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a.n: omg omg 3 updates within a span of 24 hours? I think yes :)))

5 more chapters until the end of this book AAAAAAAAAA lets goooo I might actually finish this finallyyyyy

-Denise