The rest of the day passed quite uneventfully. We managed to make camp in a deserted clearing obscured by trees. It wasn't a fortified military base with top notch protection, but honestly, no one said this would be easy. James took about a whole hour and a half to do the protective enchantments with Hermione. Hermione laughed at some joke James had cracked and he winked at her, grinning like an idiot. She pecked him on the cheek and continued to work. I looked away and caught Lily's eye.

She pretended to gag and then returned her attention to Colin, who was munching on an apple slice. He whispered something into her ear and she giggled. I felt a sudden urge to run over to the two and yank them apart from each other. They're only talking. They're friends, I told myself.

Hugo and Molly sorted through food rations. Ginny was casting glances at Hermione and James, and making vomiting motions. They were having no trouble maintaining their star-crossed lovers status.

"You should clean that up," Scorpius sat down next to me, pointing at my bleeding arm.

"Oh, yeah," I looked down at it. I had completely forgotten.

"Here, let me," he grabbed some herbs Lily and Hermione had gathered and made some Muggle healing remedies. He rubbed some sort of sticky paste on my arm. It stung but gave my wound cool relief.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"No problem," he said, "That's what allies are for."

"Yeah," I grunted, "Allies."

"Something wrong?"

"Don't worry about it. I'm just a depressing person."

The rest of the day was spent just lying around and talking amongst ourselves. At sunset, a silver parachute descended upon us, bearing a package.

Colin sat up from where he was lying, "Who's that from?"

Hermione stared at it, "No idea. But who cares? Who is it for is the question."

We watched the package continue to fall until it landed in James's lap.

"Open it," Ginny insisted.

He lifted the top from the box gingerly. We all crowded around him, curious to see what he had received. It was a small flask.

"That's it?" Frank asked, puzzled. He wasn't the only one.

"A flask," I stated plainly.

"What use is this?" Scorpius asked.

"And why did they send it to James, of all people?" Molly added quickly, "Not to offend you or anything. Who is it, anyway?

James hastily tucked the flask away in his bag. "No idea. Doesn't matter. Thanks to whoever sent it, anyway."

Everyone else shrugged and turned their heads to the sky. But I saw Hermione give James a quick anxious glance. He waved her away.

The face of Ashley Page appeared in the sky. Lily shook her head sadly, "Her poor brother."

And then Ariana Jackson. Only two tributes today.

~

"Breakfast!" Lily yelled in my ear.

"Ow," I cried grumpily, "You could've just prodded me."

"I know."

Breakfast today consisted of some apple slices, bread, and water.

"What's on the agenda, today?" I asked James.

"Not much, we've got plenty of food and weapons, some protection. We could head out for a bit," James answered.

Molly slipped a backpack over her shoulder, "Let's go. I can't stand staying in one spot for too long anymore. Not after yesterday."

"We could go find that Goyle brute," I suggested.

"No," James replied firmly, "Too dangerous. Just keep an eye out for anything."

"Guys," Lily said suddenly, "What's that?"

She pointed to something just over the trees. Smoke blew over the trees tops.

"One of the tributes must've lit a campfire," Hermione answered.

"That's stupid," Scorpius pointed out, "They're going to be caught. Probably by Goyle's lot."

"Come on," Molly beckoned, "Let's go see."

James looked uneasy but agreed.

We snuck through the trees carefully and silently. The fire wasn't very far from where we were staying.

"No one's here," Molly said when we got there.

"Do you hear that?" I asked suddenly.

They stayed silent and listened. Bang. Screech. Crunch. Boom. Thud.

"We got to go," I said, a note of panic in my voice, "We have to go now before it's too late-"

A tree fell, nearly crushing Colin. He jumped away from it, his eyes wide. Another tree collapsed next to Scorpius.

We were surrounded. On every side, some monstrous creature stood. A dementor stood before us, a troll standing behind it. There was a troll to my left, an acromantula on my right, and an acromantula behind me.

Hugo yanked hard on one of my sleeves and turned to look at me. His eyes portrayed fear. His voice cracked as he spoke, "I don't like spiders."

All was silent. The creatures didn't attack and we didn't attack. Suddenly, everything happened all at once. The dementor swooped down on us, the acromantulas crawled creepily in our direction, and the trolls blundered around, knocking over more trees.

Someone screamed and we scattered. I saw Lily, Colin, and Hugo run in the opposite direction of where I was standing, pursued by  an acromantula. Scorpius and Ginny ran into the trees on my left, the other acromantula in their wake. James pulled Hermione along with him, disappearing into the trees to the right with the dementor trailing after them. I grabbed Molly's wrist and yelled, "Come on!"

The two grotesque trolls spotted us and stomped their way toward us. We fled into the trees, hoping to loose them.

Molly raised her wand and turned back to one of the trolls, "Stupefy!"

It helped in no way, whatsoever. Actually, it seemed to make them even angrier. They came faster and their massive footsteps shook the ground harder.

"Expecto Patronum!" James's voice carried throughout the forest. Over the treetops, there was a beam of silver.

"Stupefy! Reducto!" Scorpius was yelling.

"Protego," came Lily's voice.

"Impedimenta," I shouted. It had some effect, but little. Molly and I took advantage of that time to run ahead of the trolls. And then we broke through the bracken and bushes into a clearing. It was where we had started.

James and Hermione burst out from the bushes. One troll turned and saw them. He began to stomp his way over to them and James cried, "Impedimenta!"

The troll slowed. James did the same to the other troll.

"Where are the others?" James shouted.

Just then, Scorpius and Ginny ran into the clearing, panting heavily. Lily, Colin, and Hugo came after them.

It was absolute mayhem. The only good thing was the lack of a dementor. I battled my way through the midst of hairy spider legs and tried not to be squished underneath the trolls' feet.

"Lumos Maxima!" Scorpius's voice echoed. An acromantula slammed into a tree.

Hermione's scream rang through the clearing. I whirled around and saw a troll grab and lift her. He raised his gigantic club.

"Hermione!" Molly shrieked. She ran to her and pointed her wand at the troll, "Stupefy!"

The spell did nothing except anger it. The troll dropped Hermione. Luckily she only fell a few feet. Unfortunately, Molly was its new target. Molly flailed and kicked, but it made zero difference. It lifted her off the ground and shook her violently.

James turned around in the middle of his fight with one of the giant spiders to see what all the commotion was. The distraction was enough time for the spider to jump on him. "Lumos Maxima!" It flew off him.

Molly wasn't doing too well. No mater how many spells Hermione and I fired at it, the troll did nothing. Then it seemed to tire of Molly and flung her hard to the side. Molly hit a thick tree trunk with a sickening crack sound. Blood dripped from her scalp.

"MOLLY!" Lily yelled.

An arrow flew through the air into the troll's eye.

"Nice one, Hermione!" Hugo shouted while running from the other troll.

"It wasn't me!"

Another arrow shot into the troll's other eye. As he roared, more arrows descended upon him. Five. Ten. Twenty. And then too many to even estimate. We ran out of the way as it collapsed with so many arrows sticking out of it, it looked like a giant, horrendous porcupine.

The mysterious arrows from nowhere attacked the other troll. Soon, its fate went the same way as its companion.

An acromantula went the same way. The last one retreated, not wanting to end up like the other.

"Is everyone all right?" A voice came from the trees, obscuring whoever was behind them.

A man's handsome head poked through. And then came the rest of him. He wasn't wearing a shirt. And his bottom half was identical to a horse's. More came from behind him. There were about thirty in all.

"Centaurs," I heard Lily breath in disbelief.

"Thank you," Hermione said gratefully, "Thank you so much for your help."

"We centaurs do not help," the first centaur, probably the leader, said in a deep voice.

Hermione replied hastily, "Oh, I didn't mean to offend you-"

"Then why did you?" Hugo interrupted her.

"You are all merely children. Innocent children who were unfortunate enough to receive this kind of fate," the centaur answered bitterly, "We'll be getting into trouble for this. But the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord's servants won't do as well in the forest as us. We've helped you. Don't make us regret it."

And with that, the centaur led the others away.

"Wait!" Ginny called after them.

They all turned to look at her.

"What's your name, sir?" She asked the head centaur.

He raised his eyebrows and answered, "Bane," and then he and the centaurs were gone.

"Oh my gosh! I just remembered!" Hermione exclaimed.

"What?" I said.

"Molly!"

We all rushed to her side. "Molly," Hermione said, "Are you okay?"

Colin waved a hand in her face.

I shook her shoulder, "Molly, you okay?"

Her head lolled to the side. Scorpius shook her, "Molly? Molly Weasley? Come on!"

"Move," Hermione snapped, a note of fear in her voice. She shoved Scorpius away and grabbed Molly firmly by the shoulders. She shook her and said her name a few times. And then she shook her shoulders even harder, almost violently. She screamed Molly's name.

"Hermione! Stop," James placed a hand on her shoulder.

Hermione sobbed and didn't stop, "MOLLY! MOLLY, WAKE UP! GET UP! YOU'RE OKAY! WE'RE ALL FINE!"

Lily shook her head and turned to face me, tears sliding down her face, "Albus-"

"She's still alive," I told her, "She's just really hurt. She'll wake up any minute now. Molly just needs a bit of rest."

The cannon sounded, confirming my fear that Molly would never wake up.