It was utter chaos in the Entrance Hall; rubies littered the floor where the giant Gryffindor hourglass had been hit by a jinx. There was another loud smash as emeralds joined the mess. There were Death Eaters and members of the Order running everywhere. Jets of brightly coloured light shot in all different directions as hexes and curses were exchanged. They stood, frozen, for a moment near the bottom of the stairs; neither side had seemed to notice they were there. Quickly scanning the room they found Bellatrix Lestrange duelling with Bill and Tonks duelling with her husband Rodolphus. Sirius was engaged in a bitter fight with Crabbe Senior and Rabastan Lestrange and it looked, for a horrifying moment, like they were going to overpower him. She immediately distinguished Lucius in the mêlée, despite his hood still being in place. He was locked in combat with Mr Weasley and she could see the hatred burning in Arthur's eyes as he parried and aimed curses at his opponent.
"STUPEFY!" Kathryn yelled, pointing her wand at Crabbe. At first she thought the spell had bounced off his bulk but no, he fell seconds later with an almighty crash. Of course, this ruined their element of surprise and several pairs of eyes flicked to where they stood. Before they could move an inch, there was a great bang, and the stairs beneath their feet exploded. Flung aside with great force, Kathryn was sure she felt something snap in her ankle, but ignored it as they extracted themselves from the wreckage as fast as they could.
"After them!" she heard Malfoy bellow.
"Run!" Hermione shrieked as Malfoy, Bellatrix and Rodolphus abandoned the person they were duelling, now lost in the smoke. The seven of them went tearing down the nearest corridor and split up as it branched off into various rooms. Hermione, Luna and Ron went one way and Harry and Neville the other. She had no choice but to keep on running, her cloak flying out behind her, until she reached the large classroom at the end of the hallway. In a vain attempt to hide herself, she ducked inside the large, empty fireplace that ran along the left wall. She took several deep, steadying breaths as she heard another set of footsteps enter the room.
"Come out, come out Potter." She heard Bellatrix Lestrange say in a horrible, playful tone. "Throw me your wand and I won't hurt you."
"Not bloody likely! IMPEDIMENTA!" she yelled, breaking her cover and aiming wildly at Bellatrix. Her jinx missed by several feet and sent rows of desks smashing off the walls.
"Crucio!" Bellatrix cried gleefully. Kathryn ducked back into the fireplace just in time as the carved stone exploded above her head. "You can't hide there forever!" she cackled, sending another curse her way and making more of the stone fireplace explode above her head. Kathryn took several deep breaths, the pain in her ankle was more obvious now, but she couldn't afford to let it bother her. She could only hope that her stiff boots would stop her damaging it much further.
"Stupefy!" Kathryn cried, dashing out from the fireplace to stand in the middle of the room. It missed but gave her enough time to get ready for Bellatrix's next curse.
"Impedimenta!" Bellatrix yelled. Kathryn did not move; she did not even dodge to avoid the jinx. She could see the shock and fury in Bellatrix's eyes as the spell just glanced off her body and hit the teacher's desk.
"Come, come," Kathryn taunted her, "I thought you were better than that. Voldemort won't be pleased with you for failing to succeed with the simplest of jinxes."
"How dare you speak his name you filthy little half-blood!" she shrieked manically. "Crucio!" she cried.
"PROTEGO!" Kathryn blocked the curse.
Without speaking, Kathryn waved her wand and sent a jet of fiery orange flame straight at Bellatrix. To Kathryn's disappointment, she deflected it with ease.
"Foolish child." Bellatrix chided, glaring menacingly at Kathryn. "Your powers are no match for mine." With a flick of her wand, she sent Kathryn flying backwards into the corner of the fireplace with such force that it cracked the stone. "I shall have to teach you a lesson." With a quick wave of her wand a fierce, bright purple flame erupted from the end of her wand and descended on Kathryn. She could feel the intense heat searing at her skin as the flame licked at her torso, and only hoped that the dragon hide would hold it back well enough. She gritted her teeth as it touched her shoulder and burned the unprotected flesh.
"Aguamenti." She managed to gasp; countering the flame with an icy jet of water that soothed the searing pain in her left shoulder. She stood once more, determined not to be defeated by such a foul woman; determined not to let her think she was weak.
"Well, well." A cold voice suddenly filled the room. "What have we here?" it was Lucius Malfoy.
"The Potter girl. She dares say our Master's name." Bellatrix spat.
"Really." Malfoy smirked. "Why don't you go find the Longbottom boy, Bella? I'm sure you'd like to collect the set. Leave this one to me." Bellatrix scurried off with a gleeful sneer on her face leaving Malfoy and Kathryn alone in the classroom, standing in the middle of the debris of the desks. The door behind him snapped shut and she heard a click of a lock. With a cruel smirk, he raised his wand and pointed it straight at her.
'Oh Merlin,' she thought, 'he is actually going to fight me.' A chill of fear spread through her body as she squared her shoulders, ignoring the searing pain in her shoulder, and raised her wand to match him. She turned slightly to the side, making herself less of a target and shielding her wounded side, but never taking her wand off him. He admired the way she stood; her shoulders back not unlike the way a wolf raised its hackles when threatened. After a few moments of this stand-off he smirked, lowered his wand, and crossed the room in a few strides. She recognised that smirk and, with one of her own, she lowered her wand and flung her arms around his neck. His lips sought hers with a desire stronger than he had ever felt and she seemed to respond with equal want.
"Don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed." She said, hugging him tight.
"Only if you do the same." He replied, stroking her hair.
"Promise." She murmured, stepping away. He nodded and disappeared back out the door. She did not follow him, instead climbing out of one of the large windows and slinking around the side of the castle, being careful to avoid the clumsy feet of the giants that were blundering around the grounds. She stopped by a window and saw McGonagall inside battling a very solid looking Goyle Senior.
"Reducto!" she cried, shattering the window and then, a split second later, transforming once again into her animagus form. Leaping through the window with ease she ran straight at Goyle and bit down hard on his leg before leaping further up and sinking her fangs into the soft flesh of his neck. He howled in pain and collapsed onto the floor, blood soaking his robes. Transforming back to her human self she quickly performed the necessary charm to staunch the blood flow and leave him alive. Slightly shaken, McGonagall stepped forward and had the man bound tightly in rope with a wave of her wand.
"What, might I ask was that Potter?" she asked in a shaky voice. "How long have you been an animagus?"
"Since February." She gasped.
"And are you registered?"
"No, but I don't think that is a major concern at this point." She said dryly as Crabbe Senior came charging through the door followed by Sirius.
"Sorry Minerva." Sirius said as they nearly bowled her over, sounding as if he had done no more than interrupt a lesson. "Won't be a moment. PETRIFICUs TOTALUS!" he yelled and, in comic fashion, Crabbe's arms and legs snapped together and he fell flat on his face as stiff as a board.
"What happened to Goyle?" he asked with a grimace as he secured Crabbe alongside Goyle, surveying Goyle's wounds.
"Your goddaughter." McGonagall said in an annoyed voice.
"What?"
"She's an Animagus." McGonagall explained. "A wolf, to be precise."
"When?" Sirius asked in disbelief.
"February." Kathryn shrugged. "It's not really important now." There was cry from the hallway that sent them all running. Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Neville were cowering in a corner as Fenrir Greyback advanced on them, his hideously yellowed teeth bared menacingly. Hermione was sporting what looked like a broken wrist and Neville had added a bloody nose to his already purple eye.
"Levicorpus!" Kathryn cried and, with a strangled yelp, Greyback was lifted bodily from the ground. With a quick swish of her wand, Kathryn sent him hurtling along the corridor and out of one of the large windows at the end.
"Thanks." Neville gasped.
"Where's Harry?" Sirius demanded, noticing the worrying absence of his god-son and Ron.
"Went with Ron." Hermione gasped. "The Lestranges were after them."
"Harry!" Kathryn cried, setting off at a run back down the corridor where she had last seen Harry. Sirius and Hermione followed not soon after.
Kathryn ran towards the sounds of a commotion and found Harry duelling Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange alone. Ron was slumped unconscious against the wall.
"Impedimenta!" Kathryn shouted, aiming her wand at Bellatrix who froze mid-curse. Sirius, meanwhile, was busy trying to dispatch of Rodolphus. With a slash of his wand a bright flash of blue light illuminated the room and sent Rodolphus flying off his feet with incredible force. He lay there, sprawled on the floor, and shuddered for a moment before becoming still. Harry, seizing that opportunity, grabbed Ron and dragged him from the room.
"You killed him." Harry gasped, dragging Ron behind him.
"It's war Harry." Sirius told him in a steely tone. "Besides, he might not be dead. That curse is unpredictable at best. It tends to do different things to incapacitate your foe each time. Enervate." He pointed his wand at Ron, whose eyelids fluttered open.
"Whassamatta!" he said, shaking his head and standing up.
"You took a bit of a bump." Harry told him as Hermione flung herself around his shoulders.
The battle raged on into the grounds, although it was impossible to tell who had the upper hand. They ran into Moody just beyond the castle steps. He was duelling three Death Eaters and was minus his revolving blue eye.
"Bloody Mulciber blasted it out." He growled as he stunned two of the Death Eaters. "Get undercover!"
They crept out of sight behind a clump of trees bordering the lake like Moody had ordered. To help the outnumbered Order members, they fired off curses from their hiding place, although the constantly moving battle made it more difficult to find their mark; they could not risk hitting one of the Order. Their interference, to their misfortune, was soon discovered.
There was a series of sharp pops behind them as people apparated and, before they had a chance to turn, a strong arm had wrapped itself securely around her throat. A second later, her wand was snatched from her hand.
"Look at the ickle babies hiding in the bushes!" a high pitched, demented voice cackled in glee. They knew the voice of Bellatrix Lestrange anywhere. Craning her neck as much as she could, Kathryn could see that four other Death Eaters had Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny immobilised in some fashion. Kathryn was thankful that Neville and Luna had gone a different way.
"Have fun." The man holding her said to the rest in a dark, merciless tone as she watched her friends all dragged off in different directions into the forest. Legs thrashing, she attempted to break her captor's hold around her neck as she too was dragged off into the seclusion of the trees. Her breathing became ragged and panicked as the Death Eater tightened his grip. She knew that, without a wand, she was just a girl. Her only response to an attack would be to run as she had not properly mastered wandless magic for duelling.
Trying to gauge where they were going, she looked at what she could see of her surroundings. He appeared to be dragging her deeper into the Forbidden Forest, away from the raging sounds of battle. The panic increased as her mind went over the possibilities. Was she being taken to Voldemort?
Suddenly, the choke-hold around her neck was released and she was unceremoniously dropped to the floor; banging her hip on a particularly gnarled root. Without thinking to see who had caught her, she scrabbled for cover across the forest floor, diving behind a fallen tree and waiting. The curses she had expected to hear did not come, and there was nothing but silence in the dense trees. Peering through a gap in the branches, she caught sight of a familiar blond head and the tip of a cane. Letting go an exasperated sigh, she stood and climbed back over the tree.
"I was wondering when you were going to come out." He remarked dryly as she walked towards him. "Here." He tossed her the wand he still held in his hand. She caught it deftly, but the scowl still remained on her face.
"You could've been slightly gentler." She replied, rubbing at her neck where he had dragged her along.
"I had to be convincing, didn't I?"
"True." She brushed the dirt off her jeans, sitting down beside him on the tree stump and resting her head on his shoulder. "I'd just rather this was over." He kissed her lightly on the forehead but, before he could reply, the sounds of people running through the forest reached their ears. Jumping to her feet, she dashed to the other side of the small clearing and turned to face him, levelling her wand at his chest. In response, he did the same, as they heard someone cry out her name.
"You ready for this?" she asked. He nodded in reply and, moving with lightning speed, they both cast their first spells.
The fiery light that illuminated the clearing as their curses met was blinding, sending sparks showering around their heads. It was this light that Harry, Ron and Hermione ran towards, having each extracted themselves from the clutches of the Death Eaters that had caught them. The sight that met their eyes amazed them. Kathryn was engaged in a duel with Lucius Malfoy, and it was no small one at that. All Harry could liken it to, as they watched, was a highly choreographed dance. They both twirled and dodged out of the way with precision, their spells meeting with such force that the ground shook. Catching sight of the three of them watching from behind a tree, Kathryn decided to try something that she had only seen one person do. Concentrating on the incantation, she pointed her want at herself and, after a moments pause when she thought that it hadn't worked, she took off into the air across the clearing.
"Impedimenta!" she cried as she soared over Lucius' head and landed next to Harry. With him frozen momentarily, Kathryn cast him one last glance over her shoulder as they pelted off back through the trees, towards the grounds and the battle they could not afford to lose.