"Out of here. Quickly," Snape demanded, grabbing Draco and Star by their shirt collars and dragging them through the door. The other Death Eaters followed, celebrating Dumbledore's death.

Harry and I were sitting against the wall, still hidden by the Invisibility cloak, shocked. Suddenly, realisation hit me and I stood up, nudging Harry and pulling out my wand as I did. My brother quickly followed and we ran down the stairs, casting spells at the Death Eaters ahead of us.

"Stupefy!" I screamed, causing Alecto Carrow to topple over and tumble down the stairs.

Amycus, Alecto's brother, jumped and turned around to face me.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry yelled. Amycus went stiff as a board and fell on top of his sister.

Harry and I took off running down the stairs, trying to stop the Death Eaters before they could cause any other damage.

I also needed to talk to Draco and Star.

We leapt over the remaining steps and stopped as soon as we reached the floor. The corridor we had landed in was utter chaos: the ceiling was caving in, dust hung in the air everywhere I looked, and a battle was in full swing in front of me.

"It's over, time to go!" Snape screeched, and I bolted toward the sound of his voice. Harry fell behind, shooting spells at some of the Death Eaters who had collected to join the fight.

I ran as fast as I could, the sound of my feet slamming against the floor mixing in with the sound of the battle raging behind me. Snape had a bit of a head start, but as long as I could see him, I could reach him. He was running surprisingly quickly for someone practically dragging two teenagers behind him; nevertheless, I couldn't risk slowing down.

Students were filling the hallways as they were awoken by the noises. Over the worried chatter of the Hufflepuffs I passed, I heard a large, metallic crash come from behind me.

I took a second to look around my shoulder and saw none other than my brother, laying on the ground, covered with armor from a knight previously perched against the wall.

He got up quickly and we continued chasing after Snape. By now, Draco and Star had started running, and their pace had nearly doubled. The grand doors in the entrance hall were wide open, and the trio burst through them.

I followed out the door, the cold night air burning my lungs. Even though every movement hurt from running the entire length of the school, I kept going. I had to get to Draco.

He and Star were so close to leaving Voldemort's side. If only we'd had one second longer, they could have joined us in the fight. Maybe if I could talk to them I could bring them into the Order of the Phoenix.

I just needed to get to them.

Bright flashes of light slowed down my run for a moment. I looked around for their source and saw Hagrid, who was firing anything he could at the Death Eaters around him.

Harry sent a spell towards Snape, but it missed. Snape pushed Draco and Star forward, told them to keep running, and turned to fight Harry. I kept running.

Draco had slowed down without Snape to push him. Star was pulling on his arm to drag him forward, but he turned around instead, maybe trying to get a last look at the castle before leaving. However, I was blocking his view of the castle.

"Draco!" I yelled, tears welling in my eyes due to both him and the cold wind blowing in my face. I ignored everything other than Draco--I was here, and now I could convince him to come to the Order. He didn't need to go with Voldemort.

"No," he said quietly. "No." His hands flew to his eyes, wiping away his sudden tears. "I'm sorry, Y/n, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen--"

I approached him, slowly putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Draco! We have to go now!" Star said angrily.

Draco took a breath as more tears streaked down his face. "I'm so sorry, Y/n. H-he was going to kill me, and h-he said if I helped him he would keep you safe."

"I understand, love," I lied. "Please, Draco, stay with me. You and Star both! You don't have to go with Voldemort."

Draco flinched at the name, crying harder. "I-I have to," he choked out. "He's going to kill me!"

"We can keep you safe!"

"Draco!" Star yelled. "Come on!"

"I . . . I have to go. I'm sorry, Y/n."

"No, Draco, please--"

Star pulled him out of the gates and they Disapparated without another word. They were gone, and I had failed to help them.

I nearly fell down and started crying, but Snape's yell brought me back to reality and I rushed back to my brother to help the fight.

"Don't call me coward!" Snape screamed.

I moved to fire something at the professor, but something flashed in front of me, knocking me and Harry to the ground. When the initial dizziness passed, I looked up to see Buckbeak the hippogriff slashing at Snape, screeching.

Harry sat up, reaching around randomly to look for something in the grass. He eventually picked up his wand and we stood back up. It was too late, though: Buckbeak had flown away and was now circling the gates, and Snape had Disapparated from the grounds.

There was no time to wallow. Hagrid's hut was on fire and Fang, his dog, was stuck inside, yelping wildly. I raced toward the house, ready to help as I ignored the searing stitch in my side.

Hagrid emerged, coughing, holding Fang in his arms. Harry literally fell to his knees in joy.

The light of the fire from Hargid's hut illuminated Harry just enough that I could see dark blood trickling from his head and right arm. He was shaking and panting, but I was too.

"Let's put out the fire, Hagrid," I said. "Aguamenti."

A stream of water flowed out of my wand and landed on the hut, extinguishing some of the flames. Harry and Hagrid joined me and the fire was out in no time.

"S'not too bad," Hagrid said about his wrecked house. "Nothin' Dumbledore can't fix."

I cursed under my breath, remembering what had happened earlier. "Hagrid," I said quietly, "Dumbledore's dead."

"What?"

"Snape killed Dumbledore," Harry said.

"Don' say that," Hagrid said gruffly. "That can't be true."

"We saw it happen."

"You couldn' have."

"We saw it, Hagrid," Harry said firmly. "Dumbledore's dead."

"I don' believe that," Hagrid responded as we started walking toward the castle. Students had begun piling onto the steps and walking around the school, staring at something on the ground. "What's over there?" Hagrid asked. "Do you think someone fell?"

Harry and I locked eyes, sharing a solemn look.

We followed Hagrid as he ran through the crowd. There, on the ground, lay a very dead Dumbledore.

Hagrid let out a cry of shock and sadness. Harry kneeled down on the ground but stood back up quickly, holding something in his hand.

"The locket," he said quietly. He must have put his knee on it. It was open, and as soon as I looked at it, I knew something was wrong. It was much smaller than I had thought it would be, and there were no markings on it. Harry cursed.

Inside of the locket, there sat a folded piece of paper. I grabbed it to read it.

"To the Dark Lord," I read aloud, "I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. R.A.B."

"What in the world does that mean?" I asked.

"I wish I knew. All I know is that Dumbledore nearly killed himself for this stupid fake locket."

I looked down and nearly fell over as the events of tonight rushed back to me. I sat down, leaning against the wall, and cried.

~~~

"What are you going to do next?" Hermione asked after Dumbledore's funeral.

I turned to Harry, expecting him to answer. He knew that the two of us were in this together.

"Well," he began, "I'm not sure. We have to go back to the Dursleys' first. We're not coming back to Hogwarts, though."

"Why?" Ron said.

"We need to find the rest of the Horcruxes. There are still five of them out there. We need to find and destroy them, and then we need to kill Voldemort. I also wanted to visit Godric's Hollow," Harry answered. "Maybe even see our old house, or our parents' graves."

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances. "We'll be there," Ron said.

"What?" I blurted.

"At your aunt and uncle's house, and then wherever else you go," he explained.

"No," Harry interjected quickly.

"You've told us that there was time to turn back if we wanted to. Well, we've had time, haven't we?" Hermione said.

"We're with you, whatever happens," Ron added. "We just have to go to my house before that."

"Why?"

"Bill and Fleur's wedding, remember?"

I didn't remember, but I didn't care. Ron's brother was marrying Fleur Delacour, from the Triwizard Tournament? The idea of even something as nice as a wedding sounded bizarre to me in this time of despair.

"Yeah, we won't miss it," I said.

Even though I had just lost the two people I thought I could rely on most, which also happened to be two of Harry's enemies, I gave a weak smile, comforted by the fact that I had three people by me who weren't afraid to risk their lives for Voldemort's downfall. I clung to the small hope that maybe, just maybe, I could be reunited with Draco if we both survived this upcoming year. All I could do was hope.