Stumbling through the corridors was pure agony. Any minute now, Fred's fate could take hold and she wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it. She prayed that he hadn't moved from the Entrance Hall as she didn't think she'd have the strength to make it any further. Her side burned and her head pounded, threatening to put her to sleep against her will. Her wand was glued to her hand in preparation for any Death Eaters to come running at her. At this point, she could only muster the protection charm and maybe a disarming spell.

She made it into the Great Hall and saw that teachers and students were dueling left and right. Professor Flitwick and Professor Slughorn, the latter of which she had never met but had heard of from Harry, Ron and Hermione, were finishing their battles quicker than Sophia had ever seen. They turned from one opponent to the other as if it was child's play, protecting themselves and students in the mean time. But it didn't change the fact that various bodies laid on the floor of the Hall either dead or too injured to get back up again.

"Protego," Sophia swished her wand and made the yellow spark flying towards her bounce and hit the wall next to her. She looked up and saw the famous Death Eater that she had come in contact with too much for her liking.

"Is that the only spell you know?" Antonin Dolohov cackled before he shot spells towards her as if his wand was a whip. "Dance Lupin!"

Sophia continued to cast the charm in a hopeless attempt to maybe tire the man out. She found herself grunting after a shot of red broke through her barrier and hit her shoulder, making her shiver and drop her wand from the shock. The wood rolled away and left her defenceless, making Dolohov grin in triumph as he pointed his wand directly at her chest. Sophia's heart pounded at the thought of this being her last moments alive as the man had no intention of taking her hostage or showing any mercy. She had the urge to shut her eyes and pray that Fred didn't follow the same fate, and that maybe the future will change if she was the one to die instead.

"Finally. A satisfying end!"he cheered. "I'm sure you will be solely missed Looney Loopy Lupin. Avada Keda-"

"Stupefy!"

Dolohov flew across the hall and skidded into the wall to his left. He lay there motionless with his eyes wide in a trance and his wand rolled away pathetically with its unfinished curse. Sophia whipped her head around and saw her father standing with Tonks by his side, his wand pointing at the Death Eater who had no chance of getting up again with Remus standing there. She felt her shoulders slack from their tense posture and showed her father the most grateful of smiles, crouching to pick up her wand from the floor.

"T-Tonks, what are you doing here?!" Sophia limped over. "I thought you were staying with Teddy?"

"He'll be fine without me," she replied, looking admirably at Remus next to her. "I can be more of a help here."

"Fred's out in the Entrance Hall. From what I saw, he was turning people into ferrets," Remus informed her with a hint of smile, shooting a body-binding curse to a woman across the hall.

Sophia nodded and gave him a quick hug, thanking him for saving her from Dolohov. She then turned to start heading towards the double doors to hear her father calling after her. She stopped and looked over her shoulder, seeing Tonks fighting next to him while he stared at her with jittering lips. He had so much he had wanted to say to her before this battle and its early commencing hadn't allowed him to speak to her properly. But this wasn't the time to launch into his heart felt speech that he needed for her to hear. Instead, he let her leave with a short but honest and desperate call.

"Be safe."

She nodded with a close-lipped smile before dashing out the doors as fast as her tired legs could take her. Coming to the archway of the Entrance Hall, she couldn't believe the chaos that was happening in front of her. There were fires everywhere with piles of debris sitting in random places of the clearing. There were huge spiders and even giants mauling people to death and coming in the hundreds along the bridge. Curses and spells flew over Sophia's head as she attempted to search for the gingers she knew were stationed in the area.

Over in the open corridors that lined the clearing, Fred, Bill and Arthur stood side by side as they fought off the people who came running from the bridge. Bill shot curses that Arthur and Fred hadn't even heard of, conjuring daggers and swords that pierced Death Eaters before they could make it within ten metres of them. Arthur focused mainly on levitation spells, sending rocks and pieces of the corridor flying towards the crowd and sending them over the bridge and to their gruesome end.

"If I knew ferrets bite so hard, I wouldn't of learnt this bloody spell," Fred complained as a brown ferret resulted in biting his ankle. Fred reared his leg back and kicked the animal out the glass-less window of the corridor, sending it searing into the distance.

"Is that Percy?!" Bill questioned over the noise of explosions, pointing towards the redhead who was making his way over with dirt smeared on his face.

"What do you have to say for yourself then?" Arthur said bitterly as he glanced at his son who took a spot next to Fred in the corridor.

"I think I've to my senses Father," Percy admitted while firing spells to the spiders that crept along the walls. "I've chosen a side."

Even though the three were reluctant to trust him; they appreciated the help where they needed it most. Maybe this battle would finally bring the Weasley family together again, just like it used to be before Percy chose his path in the Ministry.

Sophia had been able to make her way through the chaos and only narrowly avoided the giant that was swinging his huge club around brutally. She had been able to duck and slide across the floor in time for the club to fly over her head and amazingly hit a Death Eater who had been following after her across the hall. She then weaved through the various duels and even sent a Patronus towards the descending Dementours who swooped overhead to suck the souls out of distracted students. Her leopard pounded after the creatures while growling protectively over Sophia, causing the Dementours to hiss and retreat back behind enemy lines.

She had made it to the other side of the clearing and caught sight of four ginger heads occupying the corridor next to her. Her stomach jumped with relief at seeing the back of Fred's head standing alongside his brothers' and father as they battled together. Taking hasty steps towards the opening of the corridor, she went to call out Fred's name when she saw Arthur and Bill rush forward to pursue the running Death Eaters who were attempting to retreat back into the clearing of the Entrance Hall. Percy and Fred stayed back and fired against Ministry members who started to pile into the corridor.

"Oh did I mention Minister? I'm resigning!" Percy joked as he hexed the new Minister of Magic, Pius Thicknesse, sending him over the side of the bridge.

"Did you just make a joke Percy?!" Fred called in astonishment. "Never did I ever think I'd live to hear you make a joke-"

A huge explosion suddenly was heard from above as a shot of sapphire blue hit the clock that sat on top of the Entrance Hall. The walls of the castle began to crumble and huge pieces of stone fell into the clearing, crushing students, adults, spiders, giants and Death Eaters alike. Percy had been that little bit further into the corridor to be able to sprint out of the line of rocks and only stumble to floor away from the catastrophe. Fred, unfortunately, had been too far near the explosion to run out of the falling debris and had no chance of leaping out of the way.

Percy watched in horror as Fred disappeared among the dust and stone, making him cry out for his younger brother. Tears streamed down the man's face as the debris settled and the dust cleared, expecting to see a severed arm or even Fred's crushed head sticking out from the crevices of the pile. But he was astonished to see the rocks had made a circle around a particular spot of the pile as a huge invisible field shimmered in a dome of protection. Fred stood in the middle while looking back at Percy with wide eyes and a hanging jaw, amazed to see that he was alive and well despite the three-hundred pound rocks that were heading to crush him completely.

Fred and Percy slowly looked towards the Entrance Hall to see Sophia panting heavily through the window of the corridor, her wand pointing at Fred among the rocks. Lowering her wand slowly, the field around him dissolved and left his own radius of floor space. Sophia felt a burst of pride and gratitude inside her chest at seeing Fred unharmed and grinning widely at her in the corridor. She had seen the whole ordeal in slow motion and felt her wand move on its own in her hand, casting the most powerful Protego charm she had ever cast. She willed it to circle around Fred and watched him emerge from the pile in astonishment.

"Good thing I like protective spells huh?" Sophia found herself teasing and Fred couldn't believe how lucky he was.

Stepping over the pile, Fred sprinted out from the corridor and latched his arms around Sophia's small frame. The relief at seeing her alive overpowered him and he squeezed her against his chest, stroking the back of her head while panting in drawn out breaths. Sophia wrapped her arms around his middle and relaxed at the realisation that he only had a cut on his cheek and burns along his hands and in the holes of his jeans. He was in better shape than she was, and could have been in the worst of states if she hadn't acted as fast as she did.

"You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, you know that?" Fred stated into her ear as he rocked her from side to side. Spells whizzed past them as they embraced on the battle field and felt as if they were in their own world. They felt like nothing could touch them now and that they were basically invincible.

A silence slowly spread about the castle as the hiss of a voice flowed into everyone's ears. The two pulled apart but kept their arms around each other as they looked up into the sky in hopes of finding the voice that everyone seemed to be hearing and recognise as Lord Voldemort's.

"You have fought valiantly, but in vain. I do not wish this. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a terrible waste. I therefore command my forces to retreat. In their absence, dispose of your dead with dignity. Harry Potter, I now speak directly to you. On this night, you have allowed your friends to die for you, rather than face me yourself. There is no greater dishonor. Join me in the Forbidden Forest, and confront your fate. If you do not do this, I shall kill every last man, woman and child who tries to conceal you from me."