We weren't born to follow....come on and get up off your knees...hold on to what you believe-- December 15 1998

<< Hehe.. this is the 300th post in this thread.  That is so exciting!  This thread has that many posts in it... lol >>

I saw Juniper open her eyes and relief filled me.  "Hey... take it easy," I said to her, re-positioning myself the best that I could.  "The Great Hall... aka the new infirmary for the time being."  I felt like a weight had been taken off of my shoulders now that she was as good as she could be in a situation such as this.

The hell if I was going to stay in North America while my parents fought You-Know-Who in England.  Of course I was not graduated yet, so I really should not be fighting... but that was why I waited until later to use a Portkey to get to Hogwarts.  I could not stand not knowing if my parents were okay.  I knew they had Xander somewhere being watched since I was technically supposed to be at Alma Aleron.  I held my wand aloft and walked through the carnage in Hogsmeade... the fight clearly was no longer there.  It was all up at the castle.  I bounded up that way, trying to stay in the shadows and outskirts of the battles.  I just needed to find Mom, Dad, and Iggy -- I was sure he was there somewhere... his boyfriend had gone to Hogwarts.

Instead, I had seen one other person that might be able to help.  I ran up to Iggy.  "You're alright!" I said, trying not to feel too at ease out in the open.  "Have you seen Dad?  Or my mom?" I kept an eye over his shoulders to make sure that he was not going to be attacked from behind.

<<that's crazy!! >>

"The Great Hall? What happ..." I was about to ask what happened when the memories flooded my mind, saying Harry had died, him coming back, Aunt Bellatrix, Draco's injury. My eyes widened as I tried to sit up again with the same result. "Your leg." I managed, "You need a help."

I had finished bandaging Mr. Thomas, as I told him to lay back on the cot. I looked over to the next set of patients. The set of three Weasley's. I saw Elena's husband sitting in between the two of them. " I need you to be on a cot George." I told him as he didn't look like he heard me. I walked over kneeled in front of him. " I need to be able to look at the three of you."

I had just told Luna to keep ice on her head and to stay on the cot as I walked over to the next patients. The Malfoy's. " Hello, I'm Mrs. Lupin..." I told them as they knew who I was but I always found it easier to introduce myself before I helped anyone. " Let's address those wounds all right?"

I was taking cover behind a slab of what used to be a wall of stone out on the grounds.  I was feeling woozy to say the least; I looked at my chest and it was dirty and bloody and a little mangled.  But I would not stop fighting until Harry had won.  I knew he would.  I had full faith in him.  I took a couple more deep breaths and went back into the fray.

I opened my eyes and looked at her.  "I'm not moving from right here between them.  Fit a cot here, or you'll have to work around me," I said quietly.  "If I'm not with them and I lose one of them... I'm not moving."  I felt like I was not whole.  I did not have the strength to argue with her, but I hoped that Lily knew where I was coming from.

I looked over, still laying on the cot, and nodded, "Thank you. My brother has a bad injury to his leg. He needs help first." I insisted.

I tensed up when Mrs. Lupin came to help us.  I still felt like I was unwelcome here -- and I did not blame them.  "Juniper has been tortured, passed out, and might have some other head damage," I pointed out.  "Now you have all the information to know which of us to help first."  I automatically went into the formalities when addressing adults.  I could not help it.

I had Potter at the top of the tower. I looked down to the grounds were there were screams and explosions. I turned to Potter. " You see what you've done Harry?....This could have all been prevented....if you just came to die..." I told the boy who I had ahold of by his face. " Why do you live?" I taunted. He almost smirked at me. I did not like his answer however.

I smirked at him, " To destroy you.." I said quietly as I ran at him taking him off the top of the tower with me as I knew we wouldn't end this until we hit the ground. I gripped my wand tightly, punching him as he punched me. It took me that brief moment to realize we were falling to the ground. We landed on the stones of the courtyard as the scene around us almost erupted when we landed. Gathering myself up quickly as I looked ahead to see Tom doing the same thing. I urged myself to move towards my wand as he did the same. Pointing it at him as I shouted. "Expelliarmus!" Feeling the magic collide against his it was pushing me back. I took a step into the spell urging it to go faster. Feeling the blood on my face as it dripped from my cheeks.

I caught Iggy's gaze for a fleeting second as we got up and starting walking toward the exit. "Just get me out of here," I whispered, my pace quickening.

I laid my hand on the small of Blaise's back, ushering him toward the exit. Once we got outside, I saw his shoulders finally relax. "You did well in there," I admitted. "Even I was impressed."

He didn't say a word, but we kept walking back toward the edge of the grounds. That was when Madelyn's voice caught my attention. She ran up to me out of the darkness, and I reached out my arms to embrace her. "We're fine," I said, nodding toward Blaise. "I saw Dad, but it was only for a moment."

My mind flashed back to the moment when Blaise nearly killed my father. He wanted to be my father, and I felt a pang in my heart at the thought of leaving the scene without knowing how or where he was. Blaise took priority, though. I wasn't going to let anything happen to him, or let him do anything to anyone else.

"We were just going to try and find somewhere to hide, or even go home," I admitted. "Blaise isn't doing well after being in there. Just really overwhelming. Are you really going to go in there now, what with all the chaos going on? You should wait until it's died down a little. Come with us?"

I wanted to find my parents, but Iggy had a point.  It would be useless if I tried finding them now with everything going on.  I nodded at him.  "Okay... you're right.  I probably wouldn't do much good anyways except make Mom and Dad worry about me more than themselves," I said.  I did not want to be the cause of them getting injured.  They always put us kids first and sometimes that meant they would get seriously injured... I had seen it happen with Dad before when I was little.

Part of me really wished that Iggy had not invited her to come along, especially with the vampirism being so intensely heightened with all the carnage it had seen this evening. I didn't want to hurt one of Iggy's best friends, too. The other part of me knew that since she was his best friend, and half-sister at that, he'd do anything he could to protect her.

"Where are we going to go?" I wondered aloud.