It was dark, and someone was screaming in agony.

The walls, an eerie green, illuminated only by the soft lamplight, were cracked and peeling from age.

No windows. One stone door on the right-hand wall, many inches thick and just tall enough to duck underneath.

Screaming. Crying.

"Thomas!"

Yelled, so forceful and strong that the walls shook. It was hinted with the gritted sound of pain, the voice of someone in an unimaginable hell.

"You have to go!"

Parseltongue, it sounded like, judging by the sharp hissing behind the words. This pained woman was a Parselmouth.

"I'm not leaving you!"

Male, deep. Through the dim glow, his eyes were were the color of blood, turned to slits, like a snake. His face, though, was handsome and his hair was dark, slight stubble shadowing his jaw. He didn't look like that very often. Most of the time, he resembled more of a snake than a human. Around the woman, though, his face always changed to one that could be considered normal.

They had been there for awhile. His stubble, her matted hair as she lied on the small cot, screaming, her eyes screwed shut.

This was not a normal room. It was more of a bunker, with thick stone and no windows, dark and cold under layers of earth.

"GO!" she screamed, grabbing him forcefully by his arm, pushing him out of his perch beside her.

He hesitated, watching her cry and writhe in pain.

"I'll be as quick as I can," he whispered finally, taking her hand. "I'll be back. I'll only be just a few hours, and I'll have what you need."

With one parting look, he hurried out of the stone door, heaving it shut behind him, leaving her to scream alone.

Scraping.

The door was being forced open.

The only thing visible of the intruder was the light skin of their hand and a pair of blue eyes that were so painfully familiar.

And then, darkness.

Once, when Diana was thirteen years old, she found a secret hall in the hospital. It was in the Head Nurse's office, blocked by a hefty bookcase and sealed from sight, unknown to everyone except for the high executives.

She had a knack for sneaking around. She broke into the office once, late in the evening when the others were eating dinner. She always loved books, more specifically the ones in the Head's office.

She remembered pulling one out, opening the cover. Next thing she knew, there was no bookcase anymore: there was merely a rectangular hole in the wall where it had been, leading into a dark and damp hall that was the complete opposite of the rest of the sterile white hospital.

The damp, stone floor soaked her socks, seeping into her feet and giving her goosebumps. She followed the hall to a wooden door, opening it with hesitancy, and being met only with an empty, dark room, the only light coming from the small, round window to the outside.

She opened the window, and she fell. She told the nurses it was an accident, that she was merely exploring and she lost her balance. She though, knew otherwise: this was no accident. She could tip-toe through a room littered with laser detectors if she pleased; there was no way she could've slipped.

She didn't remember the fall, but she remembered the pain: every bone in her body, burning as if drenched in flames, every nerve screaming, just like the woman in that dream.

"I'm trying to mend them, but they won't! I don't know what's wrong!"

This was not the words of the nurses, she realized. She was hearing them, really hearing them outside of her head.

That same pain she felt when she jumped from the ledge, she felt now.

The screaming of her nerves, though, were slowly receding to the center of her body. First, it was her toes and fingers that calmed; then, it was her calves and forearms, then her thighs and biceps, then the only pain left was in her chest, behind her ribs, the pain of her entire body rolled into this little ball in her heart.

She heard a relieved huff.

"It's working," they said.

Then, the singularity of pain in her chest began to dissipate like steam, floating from her until there was no pain, just exhaustion.

"Diana," someone said. "Diana, wake up."

"Harry, we need to get 'er to the Portkey. We're running out of time."

She was being lifted by large hands, there was more muffled muttering, then she felt the cold breeze of the outdoors. In no time, she was being secured by the hands, and she felt herself flying through space, spinning in dizzying circles around and around until they landed on solid ground.

Her eyes were still closed. The breeze was replaced by the feeling of a warm hearth on her cheeks. She couldn't open her eyes. She didn't know if she even wanted to.

"What on earth happened?" someone screeched. Female. Warm hands prodded her neck, checking for a pulse.

"We were falling, and sh--she saved me. Shielded me with something, I don't know, but she hit the ground with full force," someone rushed. Male and hurried with anxiety. It was the voice of Harry Potter.

With great strength she could barely muster, she opened her dry lips. "The others," she croaked, her eyes flitting open slightly. "Are they back?"

The light blinded her, but soon adjusted. Harry and Mrs. Weasley peered down at her, and soon Hagrid's head appeared above, blocking all of the light that had been hurting her eyes.

"Yer okay!" said Hagrid, relieved.

"You're awake!" Mrs. Weasley squeaked, jumping to a stand and rushing off to the kitchen.

Soon, there was another head of long, red hair above her.

"Here, drink this," said Ginny lifting a small glass to Diana's lips, her head elevated just enough to allow her to drink. It burned her throat as it passed, but she forced herself not to cough.

She began to sit up, lights dancing in her sight like stars. She pushed through, gritting her teeth hard enough she thought they might break, a soft groan escaping her lips as she raised herself. She pushed herself to her feet, and her knees buckled. Someone caught her.

"This isn't a good idea, Diana, you shouldn't--"

"The others," she said again, using all of her strength to stand steadily, leaning on Harry. "Are they back?"

"No, they aren't--"

"Take me outside," she said immediately. While she had meant it as an order, it came out as more of a cracked whisper.

"Diana--"

"Now!"

He carried at least half of her weight as he helped her outside, her limbs screaming in protest and muscles straining. Another body lifted Diana's other side: Ginny.

A blue light ahead of them cut through the darkness, and Diana closed her eyes against it.

Ginny shouted for Molly, and two figures fell to the ground, one bloodied and the other supporting their weight.

After she made sure Harry had a good grip, Ginny rushed to the bloodied figure with her mother. It was George, his face covered in red, with Lupin pulling himself up beside him. They carried him at once to the same bed Diana had been laying on, with her and Harry trailing behind.

Harry's arms, though, we're suddenly yanked from her torso, and she fell to the floor. The impact made her dizzy and she stayed on her side until it subsided.

There was shouting. It made her head hurt.

"What creature sat in the corner the first time that Harry Potter visited my office at Hogwarts?"

There was more silence, and Lupin yelled, "answer me!"

"A--a grindylow in a tank, wasn't it?"

Lupin released him and went to her side on the ground at once. Lupin crouched beside her form huddled on the floor and furrowed his eyes.

"What happened?"

"She fell, broke nearly every bone--she saved me from impact. Tonks's parents healed her as best as they could before we had to take the Portkey."

The tip of Lupin's wand loomed into sight, her vision rocking like a boat being jostled by waves.

"When you were first introduced to the Order, who was the person that was the most startled by your real name?"

Though it pained her, her lips twitched upward and she gave a weak laugh.

"Molly," she slurred. "Molly started crying."

"It was a very stressful time for me, okay!" Mrs. Weasley said somewhere to her right, defensive. Diana gave another weak laugh.

Lupin smiled slightly. "I'm sorry, but I had to check," he explained. "We've been betrayed. Voldemort knew that you were being moved tonight and the only people who could have told him were directly involved in the plan. You might have been an impostor."

"So why aren' you checkin' me?" said Hagrid, struggling to fit through the door.

"You're half-giant. The Polyjuice Potion is designed for human use only."

Harry explained to Lupin what happened before they crash-landed at the safe house. He told him about how they were cornered by Voldemort himself, how his wand moved on its own accord, and how Diana saved him from the fall.

"Is George okay?" Diana muttered, blinking slowly.

"I think so," said Mrs. Weasley. "Although, there's no chance of replacing his ear, not when it's been cursed off--"

She was interrupted by a scuffling outside. Lupin seized his wand and dived for the back door, and Harry sprinted into the yard. Diana sat up and leaned against the leg of a chair, slowly bringing her legs under her to stand. With great luck, she was able to stand, and she stumbled through the room and out of the door, collapsing onto the door frame.

Lupin and Kingsley had their wands pointed at each other. Hermione, now back to her normal appearance, watched with wide eyes. None noticed the panting girl half-way through the back door.

"The last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to the pair of us?"

"'Diana and Harry are the best hope we have,'" replied Lupin. "'Trust them.'"

Kingsley turned his wand on Harry.

"I've already checked, don't worry! I checked Diana too, though she isn't in the best condition right now."

"Shut up,"  she heard herself murmur, just loud enough for the others to notice her. "I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much."

She was bruised and blooded, her hair matted and knotted. She was panting, her weight supported by the frame. She did not look perfectly fine.

"Diana, what--?"

Harry gave a quick explanation to Hermione and Kingsley.

The four began relating what happened to all of them which Diana tuned out, her eyes to the sky in search of the next arrivals.

She heard Kingsley ask, "Where's George?"

Whatever potion she had been given seemed to have lowered her inhibitions.

"He seems to have misplaced an ear," she slurred heavily.

"Lost an--?"

"Snape's work," replied Lupin.

Diana winced and lowered her head slightly.

Harry was called to aid Mrs. Weasley with George, and another couple appeared from the sky.

Another great jolt of pain surged through her body, ripping at each nerve. She shouted and her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor, her jaw clenched from screaming. Two red-heads appeared, and she was picked from the ground gently by Kingsley, and they all went inside.

There was shouting, and there was so much noise, but it was like it was all draining from the room. In no time, it was silent, and she could only see the movement of their lips.

Her ears began to ring, louder and louder until her head throbbed with the sound. It was like a high-pitched church bell, over and over until she felt like she needed to scream.

Cutting through the noise, she heard her name.

"Why are Diana, Ron, and Bill not huddling around my sickbed?"

"Shut up," she grunted, rolling heavily to her side to glare at him. "You're not the only one who's been injured."

"Jesus Christ," said Fred, watching her. "What the hell happened to you?"

She didn't reply, only pulling herself to her knees only to slump against the wall.

Tonks and Ron we're next, then Bill and Fleur, each rushing to the girl and asking what had happened, only for Harry to have to explain over and over again. Her head throbbed and she groggily listened to their conversations, slipping in and out of consciousness against the floor.

"Mad-Eye's dead."

Dead. She almost had the urge to laugh. Alastor Moody, the invincible, was dead. It was like hearing that aliens had invaded, or that they were all actually dreaming this entire war.

Alastor. Dead.

George made another ear joke. She only laughed halfheartedly.

"There's work to do," said Lupin. "I can ask Kingsley--"

"No," interrupted Bill. "I'll do it, I'll come."

"Where are you going?" said Tonks and Fleur together.

"Mad-Eye's body," replied Lupin. "We need to recover it."

"I'm going," said Diana at once, attempting to push herself to her feet.

Amazingly, everyone in the entire room gave her a firm "no" in perfect unison.

"If you don't think--" she growled.

"You're too injured," said Lupin patiently, watching her struggle to keep her head up.

Too quiet, now. The ringing got louder.

"Where's Hedwig, Harry?" asked Mrs. Weasley. "We can put her up with Pigwidgeon and give her something to eat."

Diana watched from the floor as Harry clenched his fists.

"She's dead," Diana replied for him after he did not answer. "She was hit by a Killing curse."

Another silence, louder than the first.

They all scattered, some leaving to find the body of Mad-Eye and some off to bed, like Ginny, Diana, and Hermione. They helped her to her cot, where she fell heavily on top.

The ringing in her ears seemed to heave subsided, and all that was left was the biting emptiness inside of her. Before falling into a heavy sleep, she wondered how many more of her friends will have to die in order to right the world permanently.

update! xx here you go!