Hi! One note before the chapter, there are a few tiny (and not so tiny) details I'll be pulling from the books that you should notice when you see them, but that is mostly because I liked the way it happened in the book in that instance and didn't feel like changing it just for the sake of changing it, but this story is still AU!

Chapter 10: The Calm and the Storm

Potter took care of informing Dumbledore about what we'd heard, though we had to try to evade telling him how we got the information in the first place, since we didn't want anyone to know about Draco killing Greyback.

In any case, whether Dumbledore believed us or not, he had to take a threat against his school seriously. And he did. If you weren't watching for it you may not have noticed the tense stance that most of the Professors adopted in the past few days, or the extra attentiveness of the portraits and suits of armor.

I hoped that it would be enough.

Since our journey to Knockturn Alley, mine and Draco's relationship with Potter had changed. Potter had always been friendlier to me than Draco, due to my dating George, but now… it wasn't quite that we were friends with him. But we were something. Draco had saved my life, but he'd also saved Potter's, and I guess that changes things.

Greyback's death hadn't appeared in the Prophet, unsurprisingly, but Potter assured us that Dumbledore was aware of his death.

"He didn't ask too many questions, though." Potter had said when he told us.

I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Things had been almost too quiet at the castle. It was as though everyone knew something was coming, even if they didn't know exactly what. Everyone was on edge which didn't make for pleasant hallway altercations between the houses.

"Come on, we're late for dinner" I yanked Draco out of the library that Tuesday evening.

"Dinner can wait, these spells can't." Draco argued. For the past few days, we'd spent every spare moment until curfew in the library research both defensive and offensive spells.

"You won't be prepared for anything if you starve yourself." I countered, "We're going to dinner and that's final."

Draco grumbled but followed me anyway.

The Great Hall was noisy as we pushed the doors open and walked to the other end of the hall where our table was. As we approached, we noticed what the noise hadn't made clear when we'd come in.

Even though dinner had started, there wasn't a single person at the Slytherin table.

I felt my stomach drop as I whipped around, my eyes searching the Gryffindor table. I made eye contact with Granger, who cocked her head in confusion. I motioned toward my empty House table and her eyes widened. She quickly got Potter and Weasley's attention and their grave faces met my own.

"We need to sit, Draco, we can't create a panic." I muttered, trying to convince myself more than him.

We'd almost reached the table when a voice called out, "Draco! Lexi!" We turned and saw Blaise running toward us.

"I've just found out, it's today, it's happening to—"

BANG!

The doors to the Great Hall flew off of their hinges. Screams filled the hall as thirty or so Death Eaters came into the hall, about ten holding a student against their chest, wand pressed against them. Those that weren't pointed their wands toward the students and staff.

Draco shoved me behind him as we saw Bellatrix Lestrange at the front of the group. From the corner of my eye I saw Potter, Weasley, Granger, and the other older Gryffindors stand and shield the younger ones from view. Ginny was rounding them up.

"Ah, ah ah!" Bellatrix cackled as she saw the staff standing, wands drawn. "You can't hurt us without hurting your precious students, can you?"

Everyone in the hall froze at these words and I took the opportunity to glance at the students that were being held at wandpoint. They were all fairly young, mostly Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, and I didn't recognize any of them, which made it likely that they were Muggleborn of Halfbloods.

The Death Eaters wouldn't hesitate to kill them all.

"Blaise, where's Astoria? Flora? Tracey?"

"I think most of them stayed willingly in the Common Room once they heard, Astoria didn't want to but her sister stunned her." Blaise replied, not taking his eyes off the advancing group. We moved ourselves away from the Slytherin table and more towards the crowd, pushing our way in front of the younger students. A natural divide was forming, and quickly: the older students were placing themselves between the Death Eaters and the younger students.

"Now, we can do this easily or not!" Bellatrix was talking again, her voice sounding decidedly pleased. "Turn the school over to us, surrender, and you'll get your precious students back safe and sound."

Dumbledore spoke up, "And the Muggleborn students?"

"Our Lord is feeling generous today and has decided that we can snap their wands, Obliviate them, and send them on their way." Bellatrix laughed, "Which is more mercy than the filthy mudbloods deserve."

Draco tensed, "She's lying."

"Draco, wha—"

"The Dark Lord's idea of mercy is anything but merciful. There's no way he'd let any Muggleborn student leave the school alive." Draco spat.

Dumbledore seemed to have the same idea, "Of all the years I have known Tom, I have never known him to be this... kind."

"Tom? Who's Tom?" I whispered, feeling Draco shrug slightly in front me.

"You dare call him by that filthy name!" Bellatrix screeched, "You dare spit on his offer!"

"I will not allow you to harm the students of this school, Bellatrix." Dumbledore warned, waving his wand quickly.

The Death Eaters with free wands quickly erecting shields, trying to stop Dumbledore's magic from reaching them. Bellatrix, however, took this as a declaration of war.

"Kill them all! Every single filthy mudblood and blood traitor, make them bleed!" She shrieked, firing a familiar bright green curse at the student in her arms. The thud of a body hitting the ground seemed to echo throughout the Hall.

And then everything went to hell.

"Move, now!" Blaise shoved Draco and I to the ground behind the Hufflepuff table as a stunner zoomed over our head.

"We need to get out from under this table." Draco muttered. I glanced at the crowd of younger students hiding under the tables.

"What about them?" I gestured to the younger students. Draco shook his head.

"Lexi, Dumbledore's got people fighting here, they aren't our problem. If Bella gets ahold of either of us, we're dead. We need to go." Draco insisted, Blaise nodding along.

Another blast made us look up in surprise. More Order members were coming in, including...

George!

"George is here." I tried to move from behind the table, but Draco yanked me back down.

"Lexi. We're leaving. We'll make our way behind the staff table and through the chamber behind it, all right?"

"Draco, I can't just leave George to fight by himself!"

"He has his twin and half the Order to help him!" Blaise exclaimed, "If we get caught in this crossfire, they'll at best take us back to your parents, and at worst kill us."

I frowned, "They'll kill George and the rest of them no matter what. They need us."

"They don't need us and they never have, Lexi! We need to save ourselves!"

I wrenched my arm out of his grasp and leapt from behind the table, "No, I'm going to help, you can come with me or not!"

"Lexi! Get back here!" Draco and Blaise scrambled after me.

I began to make my way across the hall, but dodging the spells flying through the air proved difficult, especially as I was still trying to pinpoint exactly where George had gone.

"Protego!" I yelled out as a violet streak of light came towards me. Draco pushed in front of me and fired a bright blue curse in return, causing the Death Eater in question to drop to the floor with a thud, clutching his throat. My eyes widened and I glanced at Draco curiously.

"Asphyxiation curse." He growled, motioning for Blaise to stay behind me so that they were effectively shielding me.

"Let's go." I nodded and moved forward, spying a flash of red hair.

George and Fred were duelling back-to-back against four Death Eaters, and holding their own quite well. It reminded me, suddenly, of a story my mother had told me once about the infamous (and quite dead) Prewitt twins, who had taken out five immensely talented Death Eaters in the fight that ended their lives.

"Let's get them and get out." Draco nodded towards Blaise, who set to work shielding us from any wayward spells while Draco fired off a curse at the back of one of the Death Eaters, causing him to cry out in pain as his wrist cracked.

Two fo the Death Eaters turned to face Draco and I, leaving George and Fred with one each.

"Flipendo!" I shot at the injured Death Eaters, knocking him back over the table. I turned my attention to Draco's duel in time to see a bright green jet of light zoom towards him.

"NO!" I shrieked, summoning a chair to take the curse instead, causing it to explode in midair and rain shards of wood down on all of us.

"Expulso!" Draco blasted the Death Eater away.

"George!"

"Lexi, what are you doing here?!" George looked furious.

"I-"

"No! You think I want Nott or some other bloody creep to get ahold of you? This is when they'd do it. You need to get somewhere safe." He huffed, "Malfoy, get her out of here!"

I felt my temper flare, "I can take care of myse- Draco!" I was cut off as Draco yanked me away from the Great Hall, towards the chamber he'd wanted to make a quiet exit through earlier. Blaise followed, relieved.

"Let me go!" I fought against Draco's arms, glaring at George, who had gone back to fighting.

"Lexi, stop fighting me!" Draco roared, casting a spell at a Death Eater in our path. By now reinforcements had arrived for both sides.

Blaise opened the door and Draco shoved me through before they came in behind me, sealing the door with wave of his wand.

"You assholes!" I ran at the door, but Draco caught me around the waist. I turned and tried to shove him from me to no avail.

"We're trying to keep ourselves safe, Lex." Blaise went to the door leading to the Entrance Hall and sealed it as well.

"I don't need to be locked up like a child! I can fight!" I declared.

"Really?" Draco snapped, "When all you're using against a Death Eater is a stunning or disarming spell, that's not fighting, Lexi, and it would've gotten you killed!"

I looked down at my feet.

"I've been trained by Bellatrix, Blaise has learned some things from Damien and Theo, we can handle ourselves! You're a fair duellist, Lexi, but I'm not willing to risk it against people who have been trained to kill and not even bat an eye over it!" Draco's eyes were blazing, "Yes, you fought my father and won but that was luck more than anything!"

I swallowed and kept quiet, not trusting myself to speak. Draco was right; I had no idea what a real, life-threatening duel was like. My experience so far amounted to petty duels with Granger and other Gryffindors in the corridors. I'd been lucky that his father hadn't tried to use a wand against me, otherwise I'd surely have ended up dead.

"Okay, Draco. What do we do?" I asked, glancing between him and Blaise.

"We need to leave Hogwarts. I don't know if they're just trying to attack and then leave, to scare all of Wizarding Britian, or if they are planning to take over the school, but either way, Hogwarts isn't safe for us anymore." Blaise decided.

I nodded. "So we need to get off the grounds so we can Apparate..."

Draco ran a hand over his face, "Which means we've got to leave this room."

Blaise sighed, "We're safe for now here, but how long til someone else gets the idea to come in? Our charms on the door won't hold forever."

"Better to leave on our terms than theirs." I added.

"Right." Draco nodded. "I'll take the lead, Lexi, you'll be in the middle, firing mainly defensive spells for our group-shields and whatnot. Focus on me up until we reach the doors, then focus on Blaise as we leave. Blaise, you bring up the rear." Draco paused, "Do whatever you have to, to get people to leave us alone."

Blaise and I nodded, glancing at each other nervously. Draco definitely had the most fighting experience out of the three of us. Anyone trained by Bellatrix Lestrange wasn't to be underestimated. Remembering that she was out there fighting, I shuddered, hoping we wouldn't run into her.

"Lex, you unseal and open the door." Draco instructed as we situated ourselves around the door.

I swallowed but nodded. Suddenly, staying in this tiny room, away from the fighting and the chance of being hit by a wayward hex-or worse-was very appealing. But Blaise was right. Sooner or later someone would think of breaking in, and we'd be trapped. I sighed and undid the locking charm on the door, then opened it.

We moved quickly into the corridor, noting that the fighting had spilled out of the Great Hall, but only a bit.

"Let's leave before anyone notices us-" Blaise stopped as his wand flew out of his hand. He scrambled to catch it while Draco tried to summon it. My eyes narrowed at Rodolphus Lestrange, who was now twirling the wand between his fingers.

"Going somewhere?" He raised an eyebrow. Draco preferred not to make idle chit-chat.

"Sectrumsempra!" Rodolphus deflected the curse and shot one of his own back. Angered, I joined in.

"Reducto!" I aimed, not at him, but at the wall behind him, causing a blast that knocked him off his feet.

Draco summoned Blaises' wand and handed it to him. "Leaving, now." We scrambled out the door.

And straight into Theo Nott. Looking beyond where he was standing, I saw a shimmering wall, tinted green, that extended around the castle as far out and up as I could see.

A barrier. We were trapped.

"Excellent day for an ambush, am I right?" He grinned at us, me. I tightened the grip on my wand.

"You helped Damien get Death Eaters into the school." I stated.

"Obviously." Theo rolled his eyes, "As if Damien could've ever fixed that Vanishing Cabinet on his own. The Dark Lord's forces would've ended up in Japan if he were left in charge of it."

"We're leaving, Nott. Step aside." Draco drew his wand and stepped in front of me.

"But if you leave now, you'll miss all the fun." Theo pretended to scowl, "The Dark Lord won't take kindly you to leaving early, you know."

"The Dark Lord isn't going to get any of us, and you're not touching Lexi." Blaise snarled, "So move, before we make you."

"So hostile." Theo twirled his wand between his fingers.

"Nott, let us go." I ordered.

He stared at me for a moment. "The Dark Lord will probably torture all three of you when he arrives. He doesn't suffer blood traitors, as you know." He paused, "He might even kill the two of you." He gestured to Draco and Blaise.

Draco laughed, "If he kills us, you know he'll kill Lexi too."

Theo blinked, "I have faith that my Lord will reward me-"

"The Dark Lord doesn't have to keep any promises to you, Nott. You serve him; not the other way around." Blaise warned.

Nott wasn't having any of it. "What would you know, blood traitors?"

I swallowed nervously. Every minute we were here was more and more dangerous. We needed to leave; more importantly, we needed to get Theo to let us leave.

"Nott." I forced my voice to stay calm, looking him in the eyes. "If you don't let us go, I'll make sure the Dark Lord kills me, first, out of the three of us."

"Lexi!" Draco nearly yelped, but I ignored him.

"I'll taunt, and talk back, and insult him until he has no choice but to kill me. Or until Bella goes crazy enough with rage that she does it." I promised, "Then you doing this, it'll have been for nothing."

Theo's face remained blank, except for a tightening in his jaw that was almost impossible to notice. "You wouldn't dare. You don't want to die, Lexi. I know you don't."

I swallowed. Truthfully, I didn't. And I wasn't entirely sure that my threat was anything other than a giant bluff. But I continued on anyway, "I'd rather die than have to watch Draco and Blaise get killed."

In a second, Theo was fuming, "This is all because of your blood traitor boyfriend! Look t what he's done to you, he's ruining you!" He paused, "You're lying."

"Try me." I dared.

He glared at me for a moment, then ground out, "Get out now, the three of you. Before I change my mind." The shield fell for a moment and we moved past him.

"Draco, Blaise." Theo called after us, "Just so we're clear: the only reason I'm letting the two of you leave here today is because at the end of the day, you are no threat to me, or the Dark Lord. Don't think otherwise." The barrier went back up, an we couldn't see the school any longer.

We wasted no time in joining hands and Apparating.

We Apparated to Grimmauld Place, where we had stayed with the Order for the summer, because we really had no where else to go. We weren't sure if the Ministry was still safe, none of us really had homes to go to (other than Blaise), but most importantly, we wanted to know what happened, and figured Headdquarters was the best place to go and wait for information.

And we didn't have long to wait. Soon, the house filled with the sounds of those returning from battled, some being rushed upstairs so that their injuries could be treated, others yelling in various rooms. Draco, Blaise and I tried to ask for information, but no one seemed to hear us, or pay attention. It was a madhouse.

A crack signalling someone Apparating near us made me jump, and my eyes narrowed into a glare when I saw the-relatively unharmed-Weasley twins.

"You absolute arse!" I smacked my boyfriend on the shoulder, causing him to wince. Relatively unharmed or not, I felt no pity. "How dare you send me away from battle like a child, a dog?!" I cried out.

"Lexi, I just wanted you safe-" George held his hands up, but I cut him off.

"And what about me? What about what I wanted? You are my boyfriend, not my master. If I wanted my freedom taken from me, I would've stayed with my parents!" I fumed, my anger building.

"Lexi, this really isn't the time-"

"Like hell it isn't the time, George Weasley-"

"Lexi!" Draco interrupted, and I shook my head, noticing for the first time the twin's weary appearances.

"W-what happened?" I asked hesitantly. George looked at his twin, and sighed heavily, his voice shaking as he answered:

"Dumbledore's dead."

Ergh, bleh, bleh. I don't like this chapter, I'm not great at writing battle sequences and there was really no great point to end it on. Anway, this is why it took me so long to update, this chapter was actually probably the chapter I've had the most difficulty with in both of the stories in this series. Not only that, but I've recently moved across the country and am trying to find a job an adjust and whatnot, all very time consuming (and probably boring to hear about!)

Anyway, I hope you all somehow enjoyed it!

Up next: the battle is explained by those who were there, the fate of Hogwarts is revealed, George and Lexi continue their discussion, and Draco hears from his mother!

Thank you all so much for sticking with the story, it really means so much to me. You all rock!

-AJ