Harry's POV

Amycus moves forward until he is offensively close to Professor McGonagall, his face within inches of hers. She refuses to back away, but looks down at him as if he is something disgusting she just found stuck to her foot.

"You time's over. It's us what's in charge here now, and you'll back me up or you'll pay the price."

And he spits in her face.

That sends a wave of anger down my spine, and pull the Cloak off myself, raise my wand and scream as loud as I can to attract his attention.

"You shouldn't have done that." As Amycus spins around, I shout. "Crucio!"

The Death Eater is lifted off his feet, flying around the room and howling in pain. He smashes into the front of a bookcase and falls to the floor, his body as still as the Ravenclaw students around me.

"I see what Bellatrix meant." I say. "You need to really mean it."

"Potter!" Professor McGonagall whispers, clutching her heart. "Potter, you're here!?" She struggles to pull herself together. "Potter, that was foolish!"

"He spat at you." I defend myself.

"Potter, that was very, very gallant of you, but don't you realize-?"

"Yeah, I do." I assure her. "Professor McGonagall, Voldemort's on the way.

"Oh, are we allowed to say the name now?" Luna asks with an air of interest, pulling off the Invisibility Cloak.

The appearance of a second student seems to overwhelm Professor McGonagall, who steps backward and falls into a nearby chair.

"I don't think it makes any difference what we call him." I tell Luna. "He already knows where I am."

In a distant part of my brain, that part connected to the angry, burning scar, I can sense Voldemort sailing fast over the dark lake in the ghostly green boat... Searching for the necklace.

"You must flee." Professor McGonagall whispers. "Now, Potter, as quickly as you can!"

"I can't!" I answer. "There's something I need to do. Professor, do you know where the diadem of Ravenclaw is?"

"The d-diadem of Ravenclaw? Of course not, hasn't it been lost for centuries?" She sits up a little straighter. "Potter, it was madness, utter madness, for you to enter this castle-"

"I had to." I interrupt her again. "Professor, there's something hidden here that I'm supposed to find, and it could be the diadem. If I could just speak to Professor Flitwick..."

There is a sound of movement, of clinking glass: Amycus is waking up. Before any of us can act, Professor McGonagall rises to her feet, pointing her want at the groggy Death Eater, and says "Imperio."

Amycus gets up, walks over to his fallen sister, picks up her wand, then shuffles obediently to Professor McGonagall and hands it over along with his own. Then he lays down on the floor beside Alecto. Professor McGonagall waves her wand again, and thin white ropes bind them tightly together.

"Potter." Professor McGonagall calls me, turning to face me again with superb indifference to the siblings. "If He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named does indeed know that you are here-"

As she says it, pain blazes through me, setting my scar on fire, and for a second I look down and see what He is seeing, no golden locket on the basin.

"Potter, are you all right?" Says a voice, and I come back. I don't remember clothing Luna's shoulder to steady myself.

"Time's running out, Voldemort's getting nearer. Professor, I'm acting on Dumbledore's orders, I must find what he wanted me to find. But we've got to get the students out while I'm searching the castle. It's me Voldemort wants, but he won't care about killing a few more or less, not now-"

Not now he knows I'm attacking Horcruxes. And I still have to check on Lilith.

"You're acting on Dumbledore's orders?" McGonagall repeats with a look of wonder. Then she draws herself up to her fullest height.
"We shall secure the school against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named while you search for this object."

"Is that possible?"

"I think so." She says dryly. "We, teachers, are rather good at magic, you know. I am sure we will be able to hold him off for a while if we all put out best efforts into it. Of course, something will have to be done about Professor Snape-"

"Let me-"

"-and if Hogwarts is about to enter a stage of siege, with the Dark Lord at the gates, it would indeed be advisable to take as many innocent people out of the way as possible. With the Floo network under observation, and Apparition impossible within the grounds-"

"There's a way!" I quickly add, as I explain about the passageway leading into the Hog's Head.

"Potter, we're talking about hundreds of students-"

"I know, Professor, but if Voldemort and the Death Eaters are concentrating on the school boundaries they won't be interested in anyone who's Disapparating out of Hog's Head."

"There's something in that." She agrees. She points her wand at the Carrows, and a silver net falls upon their bound bodies, ties itself around them, and raises them into the air. "Come. We must alert the other Heads of House. You'd better put that Cloak back on."

She marches toward the door, and as she does so she raises her wand. From the tip burst three silver cats with weird markings around their eyes. Patronuses. They run sleekly ahead, filling the silver staircase with silvery light, as Professor McGonagall, Luna and I hurry back down.

We run along the corridors, and one by one the Patronuses leave us; Professor McGonagall's dressing gown rustles over the floor, and we jog behind her under the Cloak, not wanting to be seen by the others.

We descend two more floors when someone joins us, my scar still giving me frequent waves of pain. They're quiet footsteps can be heard behind us and McGonagall turns to face them, wand raised.

"Who's there?" She asks, ready to duel.

"It is I." Says a low voice.

From behind a suit of armor steps Severus Snape. I know I brought my sister to him but the hatred I feel towards him isn't changing. Noticing he is not wearing his nightclothes, which is uncommon because it's late, I hold my wand ready to fight as well.

"Where are the Carrows?" He asks quietly.

"Wherever you told them to be, I expect, Severus." McGonagall says.Snape stops nearer, and his eyes shifting from McGonagall and into the air around her, as if he knows I'm there.

"I was under the impression that Alecto had apprehended an intruder."

"Really?" McGonagall asks. "And what gave you that impression?"

Snape makes a slight flexing movement of his left arm, where the Dark Mark is branded into his skin. The same mark my sister wears.

"Oh, but naturally. You Death Eaters have your own private means of communication, I forgot."

His eyes are still searching the air all around her, and he is moving gradually closer.

"I did not know that it was you night to patrol the corridors, Minerva."

"You have some objection?"

"I wonder what could have brought you out of you bed at this hour?"

"I thought I heard a disturbance." Professor McGonagall calmly replies.

"Really? But all seems calm." Snape looks into her eyes.

"Have you seen Harry Potter, Minerva Because if you have, I must insist-"

McGonagall moves faster than me, her wand slashes through the air but Snape's Shield Charm is powerful, throwing McGonagall off balance. Her wand sends flames towards the air around Snape and I push Luna out of the way. The flames turn into a giant black serpent, which hisses and lunges to Snape.

"Minerva!" Says a squeaky voice, and looking behind me, still shielding Luna from flying spells, I see Professor Flitwick and Sprout sprinting up the corridor toward us, with Slughorn panting behind them, all of hem wearing nightclothes.

"No!" Flitwick says, raising his wand. "You'll do more murder at Hogwarts!"

Flitwick's spell hits the suit of armor behind which Snape is hiding, and it came to life: Snape struggles to break free of the crushing arms and is sent flying back towards us. Luna and I have to dive sideways to avoid him.

When I look up again, Snape is in full flight, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout all thundering after him. He opens a classroom door and disappears. A moments later, I hear McGonagall's cry. "Coward! COWARD!"

"What's happened, what's happened?" Luna asks.

I drag her to her feet and we race along the corridor, trailing the invisibility Cloak behind us, into the deserted classroom where Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout are standing at a smashed window.

"He jumped." Professor McGonagall says as we run into the room.

"You means he's dead?" I sprint to the window, ignoring Flitwick's and Sprout's yells of shock at my sudden appearance.

"No, he's not dead." McGonagall says bitterly. "Unlike Dumbledore, he was still carrying a wand... And he seems to have learned a few tricks from his master."

With a tingle of horror, I see in the distance a huge shape flying through the darkness, away from the castle.

There are heavy footfalls behind me, and a great deal of puffing: Slughorn.

"Harry!" He pants, massaging his chest. "My dear boy... What a surprise... Minerva, do please ex- plain... Severus... What...?"

"Our headmaster is taking a short break." McGonagall says, pointing at the Snape-shaped hole in the windows.

"Professor!" I shout, my hands at my forehead. I can see the lake sliding beneath me, as I feel the green boat bumping into he shore and Voldemort jumping out of it with anger emanating from his soul.

"Professor, we've got the barricade the school, he's coming now!"

"Very well. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is coming." She says to the other teachers. Sprout and Flitwick gasp; Slughorn lets out a low groan. "Potter has work to do in the castle on Dumbledore's orders. We need to put in place every protection of which we are capable while Potter does what he needs to do."

"You realize, of course, that nothing we do will be able to keep out You- Know-Who indefinitely?" Asks Professor Sprout.

"Thank you, Pomona." Professor McGonagall says. "I suggest we establish basic protection around the place, then gather our students and meet in the Great Hall. Most must be evacuated, though if any of those who are over age wish to stay and fight, I think they ought to be given the chance."

"Agreed." Professor Sprout says, already hurrying toward the door. "I shall meet you in the Great Hall in twenty minutes with my House."

And as she jogs out of sight, we can hear her muttering under her breath. "Tentacula, Devil's Snare. And Snargaluff pod... Yes, I'd like to see the Death Eaters fighting those."

"I can act from here." Flitwick says, and points his wand through the smashed window and starts muttering incantations of great complexity.

"Professor." I call him. "Professor, I'm sorry to interrupt, but this is important. Have you got any idea where the diadem of Ravenclaw is?"

"Protego Horribilis. The diadem of Ravenclaw?" Squeaks Flitwick. "A little extra wisdom never goes amiss, Potter, but I hardly think it would be much use in this situation!"

"I only meant-do you know where it is? Have you seen it?"

"Seen it? Nobody has seen it in living memory! Long since lost, my boy!" I feel a mixture of desperate disappointment and panic. What, then, is the Horcrux?

"We shall meet you and your Ravenclaws in the Great Hall, Filius!"Professor McGonagall says, beckoning to me and Luna to follow her.
We reach the door when Slughorn rumbles into speech.

"My word." He puffs, pale and sweaty. "What
a to-do! I'm not at all sure whether this is wise, Minerva. He is bound to find a way in, you know, and anyone who has tried to delay him will be in most grievous peril-"

"I shall expect you and the Slytherins in the Great hall in twenty minutes, also." Professor McGonagall warns. "If you wish to leave with your students, we shall not stop you. But if any of you attempt to sabotage our resistance or take up arms against us within this castle, then, Horace, we duel to kill."

"Minerva!" He says, aghast.

"The time has come for Slytherin House to decide upon its loyalties." McGonagall interrupts. "Go and wake your students, Horace."

Luna and I run after Professor McGonagall, who stands in the middle of the corridors and raises her wand.

"Piertotum—oh, for heaven's sake, Filch, not now!"

"Students out of bed! Students in the corridors!" The aged caretaker comes hobbling into view, shouting.

"They're supposed to be here, you blithering idiot!" McGonagall shouts. "Now go and do something constructive! Find Peeves!"

"P-Peeves?" Filch mumbles as if he never heard the name before.

"Yes, Peeves, you fool, Peeves! Haven't you been complaining about him for a quarter of a century? Go and fetch him, at once!"

Filch leaves, muttering under his breath.

"And now! Piertotum Locomotor!" McGonagall cries.

And all along the corridor the statues and suits of armor jump down from their places. The same noises are heard from the other corridors, so I guess the other statues are doing the same thing.

"Hogwarts is threatened!" McGonagall shouts at them. "May the boundaries, protect us, do your duty to our school!"

Clattering and yelling, the horde of moving statues walks past me, some of them smaller, some of them larger, than life. There are animals too, and the statues are armed with stony swords.

"Now, Potter, you and Miss Lovegood had better return to you friends and bring them to the Great Hall. I shall rouse the other Gryffindors."

We part at the top of the next staircase, me and Luna turning back toward the concealed entrance to the Room of Requirement. As we run, we meet crowds of students, most wearing traveling cloaks over their pajamas, being shepherded down to the Great Hall by teachers and prefects.

"That was Potter!"

"Harry Potter!"

"It was him, I swear, I just saw him!"

But I do not look back, and at last we reach the entrance to the Room of Requirement. I lean against the enchanted wall, which opens to let us in, and we speed back down the steep staircase.

"Wh—?"

As the room comes into view, I slip down a few stairs in shock. It is packed, far more crowded than when I left. Kingsley and Lupin are looking up at me, like Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, Bill and Fleur, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"Harry, what's happening?" Lupin asks, meeting me at the foot of the stairs.

"Voldemort's on his way, they're barricading the school. Snape's run for it. What are you doing here? How did you know?"

"We sent messages to the rest of Dumbledore's Army." Fred explains. "You couldn't expect everyone to miss the fun, Harry, and the D.A. let the Order of the Phoenix know, and it all kind of snowballed."

"What first, Harry?" George calls. "What's going on?"

"They're evacuating the younger kids and everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organized. We're fighting." I say.

But then an image enters my mind. Lilith. I have to get her, find a safe spot and hide her there until this is all over.

"I have something to do before we leave." I look around the room and motion for the Weasleys and Lupin to follow me. I whisper to them my next words. "Lilith is somewhere down there in the dungeons, we have to get her back."

"Don't worry about it, Harry. Fred and I will get her. We'll warn you as soon as we get to her." I open my mount to protest. She's my sister, I'm the one that has to save her.

"No, you're Harry Potter. These people need you." George pats my back. "Go save the world. She'll be fine."

But they don't know what happened to Lilith. Or do they? Bill and Fleur swore not to talk about my sister's condition. But they probably told Mr and Mrs Weasley. And those two told the twins.

"Fine." I finally let them go to retrieve my sister and turn to the crowd in front of me.

There is a great roar toward the foot of the stairs, I am pressed back against the wall as they run past me, the mingled members of the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army, and my old Quidditch team, all with their wands drawn, heading up into the main castle.

"Come on, Luna." Dean calls as he passes, holding out his free hand; she takes it and follows him back up the stairs.

The crowd is thinning: Only a little knot of people remain below in the Room of Requirement, and I join them. Mrs Weasley is struggling with Ginny. Around them stand Lupin, Bill, and Fleur.

"You're underage!" Mrs Weasley shouts at her daughter as I approach them. "I won't permit it! They boys, yes, but you, you've got to get home!"

"I won't!" Ginny's hair flies as she pulls her arm out of her mother's grip. "I'm in Dumbledore's Army-"

"A teenagers' gang!"

"A teenagers' gang that's about to take him on, which no one she has dared to do!" Fred says.

"She's sixteen!" Mrs Weasley shouts. "She's not old enough!"

"Mum's right, Ginny." Bill says gently. "You can't do this. Everyone underage will have to leave, it's only right."

"I can't go home!" Ginny shouts as well, angry tears sparkling in her eyes. "My whole family's here, I can't stand waiting there alone and not knowing and-"

Her eyes meet mine for the first time since I left her a few hours ago. She looks at me, begging me with her eyes, but I shake my head and she turns away bitterly.

"Fine." She says, staring at the entrance to the tunnel back to the Hog's Head. "I'll say good-bye now, then, and-"

There is a scuffling and a great thump: someone else is coming out of the tunnel, ending up falling on the floor. He pulls himself up on the nearest chair, looks around through lopsided glasses.

"Am I too late? Has it started? I only just found out, so I-I-"

Percy splutters into silence. Evidently he was not expecting to run into most of his family. There is a long moment of astonishment, broken by Fleur turning to Lupin and saying, in a wildly transparent attempt to break the tension. "So, how is little Teddy?"

Lupin blinks at her, startled. The silence between the Weasleys seems to by solidifying, like ice. "I-oh yes-he's fine!" Lupin says loudly. "Yes, Tonks is with him, at her mother's."

Percy and the other Weasleys are still staring at one another, frozen.

"Here, I've got a picture!" Lupin shouts, pulling a photograph from inside his jacket and showing it to Fleur and me. A tiny baby with a tuft of bright turquoise hair, waving fat fists at the camera catches my eye and I can't help but swoon internally. He's too cute.

"I was a fool!" Percy roars, so loudly that Lupin nearly drops his photograph. "I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a-a-"

"Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron." Ginny finishes for Percy, who swallows.

"Yes, I was!"

"Well, you can't say fairer that that." Ginny says, holding out her hand to Percy.

Mrs Weasley bursts into tears. She runs forward, pushes Ginny aside, and pulls Percy into a strangling hug, while he pats her on the back, his eyes on his father.

"I'm sorry, Dad." Percy says.

Mr Weasley blinks rather rapidly, then he too hurries to hug his son.

"What made you see sense, Perce?" George inquires.

"It's been coming on for a while." Percy answers, mopping his eyes under his glasses with a corner of his traveling cloak. "But I had to find a way out and it's not so easy at the Ministry, they're imprisoning traitors all the time. I managed to make contact with Aberforth and he tipped me off ten minutes ago that Hogwarts was going to make a fight for it, so here I am."

"Well, we do look to our prefects to take a lead at times such as these." George says in a good imitation of Percy's most pompous manner. "Now let's get upstairs and fight, or all the good Death Eaters'll be taken."

"So, you're my sister-in-law now?" Percy asks, shaking hands with Fleur as they hurry off toward the staircase with Bill.

"Ginny!" Mrs Weasley barks.

Ginny has been attempting, under cover of the reconciliation, to sneak upstairs too. That's my girl.

What. The. Hell. Was. That?

"Molly, how about this. Why doesn't Ginny stay here, then at least she'll be on the scene and know what's going on, but she won't be in the middle of the fighting?" Lupin proposes.

"I—"

"That's a good idea." Mr Weasley firmly says. "Ginny, you stay in this room, you hear me?"

Ginny does not seem to like the idea much, but under her father's unusually stern gaze, she nods. Mr and Mrs Weasley and Lupin head off for the stairs as well.

"Where's Ron?" I ask. "Where's Hermione?"

"They must have gone up to the Great Hall already." Mr Weasley calls over his shoulder.

"I didn't see them pass me." I say.

"They said something about a bathroom,not long after you left." Ginny ads.

"A bathroom?"

I stride across the room to an open door leading off the Room of Requirement and check the bathroom beyond. It is empty.

"You're sure that they said bath-"

But then my scar starts hurting and the Room of Requirement vanishes: I am looking thought the high gates of the castle. The snake, Nagini, lays on my shoulders. The need to kill runs thought my veins.

He's coming.

---------------

For those who don't know, the place where Lilith and Neville talked is her mind. He entered her mind and he saw what she was picturing. Ok? Ok.

Thank you so much for reading and following the series, I just want to say that this book is almost over! A few more chapters, plus the epilogue and I'm done! Acabou, the end, o fim!

Sorry! XD I'm just sad because I love writing this and I don't know what I'll do when it's done.... Guess I'll start crying like a baby... I'm already crying because I know what's going to happen next and I'm sad...

No spoilers then!

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Love ya guys! And thank you!
@@Rita@@