Soundtrack

2. Future Starts Slow by The Kills | The Gryffindor Common Room

3. Into the Fire by Thirteen Senses | The Battle Begins (Part One)

_____________

ROXANNE

The castle was dead silent, besides the sound of our feet hurrying up the staircase. I didn't usually like leaving the Shrieking Shack early, but the two of us had homework we had to finish. Besides that, Lysander and Alexander would be down there with him when he finally came out of it. He would appreciate the two of us not asking him to do an assignment or two for us or asking to copy his homework.

"Do you actually think Lysander and Alex can handle themselves?" Sam asked from a step behind me.

"Of course they'll be able to." I sighed heavily, glancing back over my shoulder at him. "They don't need us to babysit."

Sam shrugged, "I've never left Josiah for his transformation, though," he replied.

"Sam, you're acting like you're his mother." I sighed, "They can handle themselves, they're big boys."

The two of us hurried up the staircases in silence, if any prefect or professor was out and about we'd surely get a detention even though McGonagall knew that we hadn't been doing anything. Every month, during the full moon, the five of us, Lysander, Sam, Alexander, myself, and obviously Josiah, would go down to the Shrieking Shack. Then, while Josiah went through his transformation, or as Sam liked to call it 'his furry little problem,' the four of us would sit outside and just chat-- practice a spell or two, or plan a few things for the next trip to Hogsmeade.

"Weren't Harry and Max going with Dumbledore tonight?" Sam asked suddenly as they neared the top of the staircase.

I nodded, "I think so, they're probably back now, though. Why?"

He shrugged, "Just curious," he stated.

"Isn't it a bit late for the two of you two be wandering the castle?" the Fat Lady voice asked as we reached the top of the final staircase. She had her arms crossed over her chest, and an eyebrow raised suspiciously.

"Isn't that frame a bit small for you?" Sam replied in his usual, snarky tone.

The Fat Lady looked taken aback by his remark, "Don't take anything he says personal, he's a moron," I said, looking up at her before shooting Sam a glare. "Do you want her to let us in?" I asked after a moment.

The Fat Lady glared at the two of us, "Well? Are you going to tell me the password or not?"

"Bobble-head lemon drop," Sam replied.

"Wrong," she replied simply as she gave Sam a dirty look and then looked at me, "Miss Weasley?"

I sighed. It wouldn't be the first time they didn't spread the word that the password had been changed. But Gryffindor had just gotten this password. "Bobble-head lemon drop..."

The Fat Lady smiled a bit and then gave a curt nod.

"But that's what I said!"

She let out a long sigh, "Yes, but I don't like you, Mr. Willson."

I snickered as I pulled the door open to the Gryffindor Common Room. Sam mumbled a few curses under his breath as the two of us stepped into the Gryffindor Common Room. When Sam shut the entry way, he was sure to shut it a bit harder than he really had to.

"Still not seeing eye to eye with the Fat Lady?" Lana Dowel asked from the leather couch next to Hermione Granger, and then, on the floor on the other side of the coffee table sat Elizabeth Granger.

Sam sighed, "She's just..." he frowned as he flopped down on the armchair. "She's never liked me."

I smirked as I sat down on the floor with my back against the wall next to the fireplace. "Well, you aren't exactly nice to her."

"Since when is making a few jokes considered mean?" Sam replied quickly.

"You called her fat," I reminded him.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and snickered, "You don't just call a girl fat, Willson."

"It's in her name! The Fat Lady is literally her name!" he said defensively.

Hermione rolled her eyes a bit, "You still shouldn't call her that."

"And you wonder why people don't like you guys..." Elizabeth sighed, a slight smile curving her lips, "Your jokes are rude."

Sam dramatically rolled his eyes and he turned so he was sitting sideways in the chair, "You shouldn't expect too much from us, Granger One and Granger Two." Sam shrugged, "Besides, people love us. We are entertaining."

"If that's what you want to call it," Lana stated, "But I would call it something else."

Elizabeth chuckled.

"What would you call it, Dowel?" I asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"Pure genius, I bet," Sam smirked.

I laughed a bit, "That sounds about right."

"You two are impossible," Hermione sighed, fighting back a laugh of her own.

"You're right, Hermy, impossible to hate." Sam smiled as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm sure that was what she meant," Lana replied.

I raised an eyebrow, "Well, you have yet to explain what it is..."

"Don't make her say it, Roxxy," Sam said, looking over his shoulder. "No need to make her admit she adores me."

The group of us fell silent and Lana sunk further into her seat for a moment while her cheeks flushed red, rolling her eyes with a huff.

Elizabeth then shook her head, "You will be single forever, Willson."

Sam rolled his eyes again, and this time as he was about to say something in reply as a loud sound of commotion in the hallway made us all remain silent and look at the entry way. I quickly fumbled with my school robe and grabbed my wand from my pocket, and Sam did the same as he began to stand up out of the chair. We usually didn't wear our school robes at this time of day, but it made it easier to carry around our wands and such between the castle and the Shrieking Shack. What made the sound suspicious was the fact that it was past curfew, everyone was supposed to be in their houses.

"We should go get the others," Sam said, looking down at me. "If something's happening, they might want to know about it."

"Where are you two going?" Hermione asked quickly as Sam and I were both on our feet and walking towards the entrance.

"The Shrieking Shack," I replied simply as Sam pushed open the door.

The two of us stepped out of the Gryffindor Common Room and let the doorway fall shut behind us. We didn't bother to say anything to the fat lady, instead we started running down the staircase again. Then it wasn't until we passed a window that Sam stopped and looked out at the sky. At first, I had no reason to look, too, until he grabbed the collar of my robe and pulled me back. I followed his gaze with my own, in the sky above the castle was the same shape that had been above the camp grounds at the Quidditch World Cup. The shape of a skull with a snake weaving out of it made my heart stop for a moment, out of fear.

"Where do you two think you're going?!"

Sam and I both quickly looked up the stairs at the next landed, there stood a man and a woman. The woman had been the one to speak. She had greying brown hair, and she wore a black cloak. The man looked like he wasn't much older than I was, but his eyes looked sunken in as if he hadn't slept in weeks.

Then, gave his wand a flick and a stunning curse just barely missed me and Sam.

Sam gave me a light shove forward, and we both began to hurry down the rest of the staircase. But we ran, a few stunning spells just barely went past us, hitting the railing of the wall instead.

"Stupefy!"

"Expelliarmus!"

The woman easily blocked the two spells while the man retaliated. The first spell Sam blocked, but the second knocked him down the rest of the stairs onto the platform before the next staircase. I silently thanked Josiah for his tutoring lessons all year, I hadn't been able to cast one spell without saying anything, but now I was almost as good as him at it.

For each spell I threw at them, I had to block two of them. It was getting exhausting, I could feel my arm beginning to ache. Every time a spell hit my shield, it vibrated my whole arm, and it took all of my strength to not just let down the shield.

"Crucio!"

The red sparks erupted from the man's wand, and my shield wasn't nearly strong enough to resist it. It was almost like the shield was paper and the sparks were a bunch of little razors that cut through it and dug into her skin. The pain was unbearable, it wasn't like anything I had ever experienced. I dropped my wand, and wrapped my arm around my stomach where most of the pain was. And that was the worst mistake I had ever made-- as soon as my wand was on the stairs, a spell hit me right to the ground.