Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter; it belongs to JK Rowling, etc etc.

Authors Note: Okay everyone. Let me explain why I have been gone so long. My dad took away my internet, so that's the main reason. I've been trying to get it back ever since, but i'm not having much luck. I'm on my friend's PC at the moment, and i'm going to try to upload chapters on here for the time being, but they might be few and far between. Sorry everyone.

Voldemorts Death Eaters attacked various points of the train. They boarded at both ends, killing some and injuring others, as the rest of the students fled. Unfortunately, most fled up the train, rather than off and into the woods. In other words, they ran right into the Death Eaters trap. As the students converged in the middle of the train, the Death Eaters struck in full force.

Ron Weasley was in the thick of it when all hell broke loose. As Hermione had instructed, he had done his best to calm the growing panic, but one could only do so much. His efforts had fallen on deaf ears.

The Death Eaters charged into the middle compartments from both ends, trapping the panicking students. Killing Curses rained down on them, killing those on the edges, and ensnaring those in the middle. Motionless students fell onto their fellows as life left them, only causing more terror. Witches and wizards alike screamed in horror.

Ron was struck in the middle, shouting at the top of his lungs for people to listen to him, for them to abandon the train and seek refuge in the forest surrounding the train. It was the only other option, but the shock seemed to have struck everyone else dumb. Blind panic had locked its hold on his classmates and would not let go.

"Ronald!" Someone screamed in his ear.

Ron turned as best he could, twisting his neck at an odd angle so he could see who was speaking to him. The compartment was so crowed he could not move, and he wasn't the only one. He spotted Luna Lovegood, a sixth year from Ravenclaw, wedged uncomfortably against the compartment wall.

"Ronald!" she cried again, trying to get his attention.

"I heard you!" he yelled back.

"We need to get out of here!" she said, speaking loudly over the screaming of their schoolmates, which echoed around them.

"Don't need to tell me twice!" Ron argued, roughly forcing his way through the crowd.

"Do you have your wand?" Luna asked calmly, apparently not at all fazed by almost certain death. "I lost mine."

"Yeah," Ron pulled out his wand, but couldn't raise it past his waist he was so tightly wedged into the crowd.

"Can you aim at the window?" Luna said, nodding her head to the large train window that she was being forced against.

Ron tried, but it was futile. He continued to force his way through the crowd, finally reaching Luna's side. The crowd surged once in a huge jerk, forcing him forward and further crushing Luna against the wall. He almost lost his grip on his wand, but managed to hold onto it at the last second.

"Shit!" Ron hissed, uncomfortably close to Luna now. She grinned at him, a wide, terrified parting of her mouth. "Sorry," he said, feeling her breasts heaving against his chest as he forced out a breath. "You're hands free," he pointed out, "maybe you can do it. If you can get at my wand, that is."

"I'll try," she said, her breath hot against his face.

Ron closed his eyes, trying to concentrate. He was all too aware of her ample curves against his body, despite the situation. Luna Lovegood wasn't an overly attractive girl, but she wasn't exactly ugly either. At least, not in Ron's book.

Get a grip you pervert, he thought, this is Loony Lovegood your thinking about - she's crazy! Besides, it's so not the time to be thinking about girls, especially nutty ones.

"Can you move your hand at all?" she asked, breaking into his thoughts.

He opened his eyes, finding her flushed face inches from his own. He gulped down a breath and tried to move his hand, which was pressed awkwardly between their two bodies. He felt the top of his hand touch the underside of her breasts and stopped, meeting her eyes. She nodded, urging him on. He shuffled his hand again, forcing it up in little notches. His hand was now caught between her two generous mounds. He looked her in the eyes again, noticing her face was a giant blotch of red, much like his own.

"Quickly," she pressed.

Before he could continue, a shout arose above all the terror induced screaming.

"It's the Order!"

Ron turned his head sharply, bumping heads with Luna, who let out a startled cry of pain. He ignored the heavy throb coming from his own head and peered over the top of the crowd, grateful for his considerable height. He could see the Death Eaters turning their backs of the students and engaging in battle with several blurry figures in the far background. Ron felt a smile bloom on his face.

"It's the Order!" he cried, echoing the Death Eaters shout.

"The Order?" Luna asked, puzzled.

"Yeah," Ron said, "in other words, we're saved."

"Really?" Hope rose in Luna, clearly heard through her voice.

"Really," Ron said, "but best we get out of here anyway. Come on."

Ron wiggled his hand, and as the crowd slackened and turned to see what had distracted the Death Eaters, Ron was able to raise his hand above the crowd. He pointed his wand at the window.

"Duck," he told Luna, using his other free hand to pull her away from the window, into his chest. "Reducto!"

The window shattered in a hail of glass, which thankfully fell mostly outside the train compartment, with only a few shards landing inside. The crowd screamed anew, shocked by Ron's sudden spell. They turned to find out what was going on, quickly calming when they realised it was only a fellow student.

"Everyone!" Ron yelled, turning to face the crowd. "Keep calm! We have to get off this train, but if you all rush, all it's going to do is slow us down! We need to climb out of the window one at a time. I'll go first and help down those that fellow. Also, anyone with a wand should break the windows nearest to them so we can get more out, faster!"

Ron let go of Luna, who stepped away as he cleared away a few more shards of glass that had clung to the frame. Then he stepped onto the sill and looked down, out of the train. It was a slight drop, but it wouldn't be a problem. He could hear glass being smashed all around him as other students broke the windows nearest to them, overlaid with the battle going on between the Order and the Death Eaters. Ron dropped and landed neatly. He turned and looked up at the window, unsurprised to see Luna balancing between the frames. She looked uneasy, so he stepped closer and held his hands up.

"I'll catch you," he said.

She nodded, took a deep breath, and then fell. He caught her and set her on her feet. She looked up at him with relief on her face, which was still a little flushed. For the first time he noticed that she wasn't wearing her usual horn rimmed glasses, and he was momentarily stunned by her beautiful and soft pale eyes staring back at him. Then, before he could even react, she had pressed a quick kiss to his lips and pulled back, moving away as if his lips had been acid. He was so stunned he was almost crushed under the next student to drop from the window.

(----)

In the next compartment, Harry found two more dead students. Harry didn't recognise them, but he doubted he would have been able to even if he knew them. Their small faces where fixed in rigours of terror, twisted hideously by what looked like agonizing pain. Judging by their rather lack of size, he figured they where either first or second years. Harry knelt by them for a moment, feeling his anger building.

The sliding door at the end of the compartment opened, the sound echoing in Harry's ear, and he was up in a flash, wand drawn, aimed at…

"Draco?" Harry said, his eyes widening just a fraction.

Draco had his own wand pointed at Harry, but his face showed a relief that Harry returned. The two best friends stared at each other for a second, wands still aimed, before they dropped. Hermione appeared at Draco's shoulder and her own eyes widened.

"Harry!" she cried, shoving past Draco, who fell to the side with an ungainly yelp. She ran full pelt into Harry's arms, which wrapped possessively and protectively around her.

"Hermione." Harry murmured in her ear, kissing her affectionately. He hadn't really been all that worried about her, after all, there was no one he trusted more than Draco, but it was still wonderful to see her alive and well - to feel her.

"Don't mind me," Draco said, sarcastic as always. "Feel free to shag each other senseless."

"Shut up Draco," Hermione shot back, remarkable cheerful, given the situation. Harry figured she was as relieved to see him, as he was to see her.

"Yeah," Harry said, grinning at his friend over her shoulder. It was like the three of them had entered some sort of twilight zone, away from Voldemort and all their worries. "Just because you don't get to fuck anything but your hand."

"Harry! Don't be so crude!" Hermione scolded, her cheeks reddening. She dropped her eyes to the floor to cover her embarrassment, but then her eyes widened and the twilight zone vanished.

Hermione stared at the dead body by her feet, her mouth slightly open and her eyes tearing up.

"Oh God," she gasped, turning her head away. Harry tightened his hold on her, meeting Draco's eyes over her head.

"Come on," Draco said, walking forward and joining Harry as he steered Hermione away from the dead boys. "Let's get out of here."

"It's just so horrible," Hermione said, her voice taken over by grief and sadness.

"I know sweetie," Harry said, kissing the top of her head, "that's why I'm going to stop him."

(----)

The forest grew denser and darker as Neville and Ginny led the first years further into it's realm. No one uttered a single sound. The only sounds were the crunching of leaves and twigs underfoot as they made their way even deeper into the darkness. Other than their own footfalls, the woods remained eerily quiet, as if someone had cast a Silencing Charm over the whole area. Not even a bird twittered.

"Neville," Ginny whispered from his left, where she followed him, still clutching his hand. "I think I heard something."

"It's nothing," Neville said, distracted. He was staring into the gloom, trying to find a clearer and safer path.

"I'm not hearing things," Ginny argued. "I definitely heard something."

"It's just your nerves playing tricks on you," Neville reasoned.

Ginny didn't argue back, but swept her head around, peering into the darkness to find whatever it was she kept hearing. She couldn't hear it now, but she was positive she had before. It was hard to make it out through her own footsteps, but she was sure she had heard another set, coming from her left. The first years followed behind her and Neville, so it wasn't them she was hearing.

There! Ginny strained her ears, certain she had heard a distinct snapping of twigs from her left. She scrutinised the darkness, looking for even a faint trace of something, anything that would alert her to whoever was tracking them. A different shade of darkness perhaps, or whispering voices, anything that would give them fair warning.

"Ginny," Neville said in her ear, but she quickly shushed him. "What?" he whispered.

"I heard something," she shot back, then, "be quiet!"

She said it with such vehemence that Neville closed his mouth, his protests dying before he could voice them.

"There's something," Ginny spoke softly, "I'm sure of it. Just listen."

Neville raised a hand to the rising murmur of questions coming from the first years, effectively silencing them, and then did as instructed, and listened. At first he couldn't hear anything, save for a slight swaying and rustling coming from the branches overhead, which was hardly audible at all. Then, faintly, he heard the snap of a twig. He focused more intently and heard another. Someone was definitely out there.

"Death Eaters?" Ginny asked softly.

"Probably," Neville said, running a hand through his hair. "Get behind me, behind the tree."

He manoeuvred her as he spoke, gesturing to the tree. Ginny didn't argue, pressing herself close to the bark and lowering herself into a crouch. Neville motioned for the first years to do the same, telling them to get down and stay down. They followed his instructions as he pressed his back against the bark and dropped into a crouch as well, wand out and aimed into the darkness.

Peering around the tree, his wand ready, he waited. The sounds grew heavier. Whoever it was, they were closing in on them. Neville gulped, taking a quick look for any decent places to hide. He doubted he'd be able to hold off more than a few Death Eaters for very long. The best he could hope for was to give Ginny enough time to escape with the first years.

Then the rustle of long hanging branches reached his ears, and he turned his head to stare back into the darkness, from which a shape was emerging. It was shrouded in darkness still, but roughly man shaped, and judging by the protruding rod, definitely holding a wand.

He had no idea what to do. If he attacked know, he'd probably be able to take out at least a few of them before they got him. That would give Ginny enough time to escape as well. It was probably his best option, but he didn't relish it. He didn't want to leave her alone, for one thing.

Before he could muse on this any further, another shape appeared at the side of the first, this one definitely a woman. She wasn't wearing a robe, which, if Neville had thought about a bit more, might have led him to the conclusion that these two figures where not Death Eaters, who most certainly always wore hooded cloaks.

However, before he could think on it any further, Ginny let out a gasp at his side and rushed forward. He tried uselessly to stop her, but she was gone before he could even blink. He watched as she ran forward and met the two figures, who welcomed her with…open arms? Frowning, Neville stood and took a few cautious steps forward; so as to get a better look at their pursuers. He immediately recognised the first figure.

"P-Professor Lupin?" Neville stuttered with surprise etched across his face.

Ginny was currently locked in a fierce hug with the other figure, a woman he did not recognise, but judging by the embrace, Ginny was very familiar with her. She was short and had a heart shaped face and spiky pink hair.

"Good evening Longbottom," Professor Lupin called, getting his attention again.

"Not so good," Neville said, feeling a grin forming on his face, "but definitely getting better. I am so glad to see you."

Neville turned to the first years, who still crouched silently, most of them wearing expressions of puzzlement, rather like the one that had been on Neville's face only a few moments before. He gestured them over.

"Did Harry contact you?" Neville asked, turning back to face Lupin.

"No," Professor Lupin answered, "he Apparated to Hogwarts and informed Hagrid, who in turn informed Dumbledore. Albus then contacted us and we set off straight away. Is anyone hurt?"

"No," Neville answered, "we got away pretty quickly. Harry knew what was going on right away, so we had a slight advantage over them. When Ginny and myself found these first years, we figured we'd best get them to safety as fast possible, so we ran into these woods."

"So what now?" Ginny asked, as she and the other witch appeared at their sides.

"Dumbledore sent the rest of the Order to the train," the witch answered, "so they should be fighting off the Death Eaters as we speak."

"He's also gone to the Ministry of Magic," Lupin added, "to get a squad of Aurors."

"Dumbledore and the Aurors will probably be arriving any minute now," the mystery woman finished, "and when they do, I think the rest of the Death Eaters will run. Then, we should see a signal, and head back to the train."

"So we wait?" Neville asked.

"We wait." Lupin agreed.

(----)

The battle between the Death Eaters and the Order was in full force when Harry, Hermione and Draco arrived. Harry entered the compartment first, keeping close to the wall. The trio had heard the fight long before they reached the compartment, so Harry was prepared. He scanned the area quickly.

Closest to him was the Order, who crouched shielded between the doors of the train's compartments, popping out every now and then to fire spells back at the Death Eaters, who had congregated at the other end of the section of train. Harry spotted Sirius at the front. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad Eye Moody crouched by Sirius, taking pot shots as well.

Harry turned back to face Draco and Hermione. "I doubt we'll be able to do much good from here," he said. "It's just too risky."

"So what do we do?" Draco asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Sit on our asses and whistle a jaunty tune?"

"Funny," Harry replied, deadpan. "No, I think I have an idea. If we get off the train, we can pass by this section and get into the other. Take them by surprise from behind."

Hermione nodded.

"Fair enough," Draco agreed.

Harry, Draco and Hermione left the Hogwarts Express, sneaking as stealthily as possible down the side of train, past the fight going on inside, and then entered the next section. It was empty, and strangely enough, all the windows had been smashed.

"What's with the windows?" Draco muttered, frowning.

"Never mind that," Harry said.

He peered through the sliding door at the end of the section, watching as the Death Eaters continued to fling curse after curse at the Order. They remained completely ignorant of the metaphorical knife that was about to stab them in the back. Harry raised his wand.

"Ready?"

"Ready," Draco and Hermione chorused.

But it wasn't meant to be. At that very moment, just before Harry was going to fling open the sliding door and charge in, several muffled cracks erupted behind them. Harry turned just in time to see Dumbledore and a squad of Aurors appear.

Dumbledore strode through the sea of red Aurors robes to join Harry side. He didn't seem at all surprised to see Harry as he set his bony old hand on Harry's shoulder and squeezed.

"This is not your fight," was all he said, before he moved on.

Dumbledore and the Aurors attacked swiftly. When the Death Eaters saw Dumbledore, they fled as quickly as Tonks had predicated. The fight lasted less than two minutes. In that time, several Death Eaters fell to stunners and disarming spells, but most of them managed to escape. They had no desire to test themselves against Dumbledore.

(----)

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