The Order had been stationed around the entrances and in the interior of Hogwarts. It was cold and the sky was a ceiling of grey; the Dark Mark plastered within the storm clouds above the castle. Snape and the Carrow siblings had been exiled from the Great Hall thanks to Professor McGonagall's duelling skills and it had been momentarily regained by the Professors and the Order. But You Know Who was waiting over the hills with his army and waiting patiently for the Order and the whole of Hogwarts to defend themselves.

"The first and second years are on the Express," Hermione stated as she came over to the Order. "It'll leave in a few minutes."

"Thank you, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall patted her shoulder before turning to the bridge that led from the Entrance Hall to the greenery. Neville, Seamus and Dean stood next to the woman as she cried a spell they were unfamiliar with and watched as the stone figures they thought were only decoration for the castle come to life.

George stood looking up at the barrier that was beginning to form over the castle. Remus and Arthur stood nearby with the same looks of awe as the electric blue field solidified over the grounds. But everyone knew it was a futile attempt against an army of dark witches, wizards, giants, Acromantula, Inferi and You Know Who himself. But it wouldn't hurt to delay their storm of the castle. The youngest students had to be sent away from harm as they weren't permitted the choice to fight in the battle that was going to be messy. It wasn't going to be a small confrontation and everything would be over. It would be a night of fighting and most likely mass death.

But George's mind couldn't process the night ahead. He was too busy worrying about where in the world Fred and Blair were. It had been a total of three hours since the Patronus had been sent out to the Order, telling them to meet at Hogwarts where Harry had turned up and was looking for another Horcrux. You Know Who seemed to be set on destroying Harry along with anyone who stood in his way, yet George couldn't concentrate. They should have been here by now. If not here, then have sent a Patronus to let him know they were okay. It had been five months since he had seen them; since anyone had seen them.

"What are you doing here?" Remus's voice made him turn in hopes that maybe they had turned up afterall. But he deflated when he saw Tonks jump into Remus's arms and kiss him on the lips.

"I came to help," she said with a smile.

"What about Teddy? He needs you," he replied with worry and a sense of relief in his eyes from seeing his wife.

"I'm needed more here," Tonks caressed his scarred face. "He'll sleep until dawn just like his father."

George's heart ached at their love-filled words and turned back to the dark hills that disappeared into the night. He thought of Blair and what she looked like on Christmas Eve. Her long, black hair had been so thick and her eyes so bright. They may have been troubled with the idea of leaving The Burrow and having to say goodbye for a unknown amount of time, but they were still the ones he had fallen in love with during their Hogwarts days. If something happened tonight, it would be the last thing he remembered of her more than anything. But he wanted to see her at least once before the unknown happened. Tonight will be unpredictable and if he were to have his last conscious thought, he would want it to be of Blair.

The sound of impacts to the field around the castle made him jump and realise that cracks were beginning to form in the blue shield. Countless sparks were flying from the darkness that the lit torches from the bridge didn't reach and gave the effect that harmless fireflies were soaring through the night. But the crumbling pieces that flaked on to George's knuckles that clutched the cement wall destroyed any sense of nature and natural beauty.

"George," Arthur called and he turned his head, seeing his father staring at him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he gulped and tried to keep his voice tone as the explosions of blue reflected off his father's face. "I'm alright."

---

Fred and George's room was hot and humid. The steam that flowed from the potion and into the air left a taste of salt and sour in the mouth. Blair didn't bother to try and flatten the hairs on her head that had begun to frizz and the sweat that dripped down Fred's brow was part of him at this point. The witch stirred the cauldron with the glass tool that was turning the concoction a creamy beige and stared tiredly at its swirling.

Fred sat back on his hands and resisted letting his head fall on to his shoulder. The quietness and warmth of the room was making him dozy but he was being kept awake by the bad taste in his mouth and the mumbles of incoherence that occasionally came from Blair. His bed was so close and his mind was dying to stand up and collapse onto its softness, but the potion needed to be finished. As close as he was to a night's rest was how close the potion was to being done and corked in small glass bottles.

"How long?" his voice came out in a slur, rolling his head on his shoulders to loosen the stiffness.

Blair didn't answer as she pulled out the glass rod and laid it down on the floorboards. She peeked her frizzy head over the top of the cauldron and Fred watched as her lips connected and parted in unspoken words. From what he could tell, the potion was creamy and reminded him of melted ice cream. He didn't know anything about potions and didn't know what Blair was looking for in the consistency, colour, scent etc.

"It's done."

"What?" Fred perked up from his sleepy state. He let his aching hands sag from the floor and straighten his posture, pushing away his doziness for a moment. His eyelids peeled back like blind rollers and he stared at Blair's face. She was staring into the potion with what he could see was an unconvinced grimace.

"It's finished. We did it," she breathed loudly in between her words.

She couldn't believe it herself. They had spent months gathering ingredients, preparing the potion and spending galleons and galleons on the project. It couldn't possibly be finished. There was no end to this. It seemed like it was a lifelong ambition that she would grow old trying to finish and end her life unfulfilled and pointless. But here it was; smelling like vanilla and pine and ready to be poured into portions of large gulps. Nothing in her father's book said about what it should look or smell like, because he never completed it. But there were no more steps and the method finished with 'stir for ten minutes until steam is at its most humid'.

"G-Great! Should we test it?" Fred suggested and prepared to stand from the floor to find a dead bug. Maybe they could give it to the ghoul in the loft to see if it comes to life?

"No time," Blair shook her as she suddenly snapped into reality and conjured a spoon. Taking the jars and bottles that once held the very expensive ingredients, she began to fill them with the potion that consisted of months of stress, hard work and lots of money.

"We're going to Hogwarts?" Fred questioned hopefully and Blair nodded.

"We're going back to Hogwarts."

---

Blair and Fred appeared along the rim of the Forbidden Forrest. Stuffed in their pockets was a total of eight bottles and jars of the freshly made potion. They had cast expanding charms on their pockets in order to fit as many as they could before they left The Burrow smelling of every smell imaginable. You wouldn't believe that the vanilla smelling cream in the vials had the foulest of toad's skin and the most vulgar of herbs in it.

"What's that?" Fred questioned at the sight of blue cracks forming around the perimetre of the castle. It was dark and the swarm of Death Eaters could barely be seen on the hills, but their spells were creating prominent holes in the air.

"It's a force field," Blair answered. "But it'll be gone soon. It's to keep whatever is out here out for good."

"I know what a force field is," Fred mumbled in slight irritation. All the drowsiness that once weighed his body down had been replaced with excessive amounts of last minute adrenaline.

The two watched as a thick flash of green hit the field and caused a hole to widen until it swallowed the barrier completely. Shining blue flakes fluttered down and disintegrated into the grass, the magic fading away into nothing. With Hogwarts' first line of defence gone, anyone could now enter the castle.

"Come on!" Blair called, running forward with Fred's coat sleeve in her hand. She yanked Fred into action and the two ran towards the archways they could see up the curvature of the hill. Kingsley Shacklebolt and a group of sixth years were standing guard and waiting for an ambush to come out of the trees, but were surprised to see the two lonesome Order members stumbling towards them instead.

"Where have you two been?!" his voice boomed once they reached him. His deep brown eyes flickered between them both with a look that believed they were hiding away from their responsibilities as part of the Order of the Phoenix.

"We finished it!" Blair replied, taking one of the bottles out of her pocket to show the purple-robed man. "Just now! We can use it-"

"Does it work? Have you tested it?" Kingsley cut her off.

"We haven't had the time," Fred answered. "But there's bound to be a guinea pig soon if you don't let us through!"

Kingsley narrowed his eyes at Fred's remark before stepping to the side, making the sixth years do the same. They knew who Blair and Fred were and stood in awe at the two legends passing by them in a hurry. Their (and of course George's) names were legendary among students and those who said they were a part of the resistance against You Know Who were never believed. But here they were, running past them after the burly purple-robed man let them through with a shake of his bald head.

The first lot of explosions started when Blair and Fred made it into the courtyard. Bricks and stone flew over their heads as students and Death Eaters piled in while firing curses and hexes at each other. The floor was already covered in rubble and ancient archways that had been there since the school had opened were torn down to leave gaping holes in the infrastructure. Blair covered her head as a shot of yellow light singed her hair before she heard Fred fire a Reductor curse over his shoulder towards her attacker.

"We need to find George!" Blair cried, finding herself in a duel with a cackling, bucktoothed witch. The woman was hunched over and sneered at Blair, but her wand work was sloppy and fired spells as if she was swatting flies out of her wrinkly face.

"Go on, then! Tell him I missed the bleeding sod!" Fred said back while in his own duel. Blair ignored his last comment and sent the cackling witch into a pile of rubble with a powerful stunning curse. She looked to Fred once more and saw him moving on to the next Death Eater who was backing a fifth year into a corner. He would be fine without her.

Blair left the courtyard and began running through the halls in search of her desired Weasley. People ran past her while screaming and nursing bloody wounds that she could heal with the one vial of healing potion she happened to bring along. But she supposed that she couldn't help everyone and should stay on the path she was heading for. Her shoes echoed across the tiled floor and the school she once called home was breaking apart in front of her very eyes. She could see smokes of blackness flying around through the holes that had been created in the sculpted window frames and she couldn't resist but send a few jinxes to send them plummeting to the ground. The smokes fell from her sight but she didn't grin or stop to celebrate. She was only prolonging the deaths of other by taking the advantage of firing from above away from the dangerous.

Running up and down flights of stairs, Blair finally came to a corridor that she remembered led to her old Transfiguration classroom. Piles of rubble and stone were on fire and bodies were beginning to litter the floor. Those who were still on their feet were duelling and running away from monsters that had chosen to fight for You Know Who. In the midst of the chaos, George stood with his father while fighting off two Death Eaters. The Weasley pair were strong but were struggling to shield the curses that were sent their way by the crazed men.

George clenched his teeth together as a spell skimmed his bicep and split the material open, revealing a freshly made cut that began to leak blood. The Death Eater who sent the spell grinned and went to send another, only to be sent crashing through a wall. George whipped around in confusion to see his saviour and froze, unable to contain his grin at the sight of his fiancé standing well and truly in front of him. In her hand that wasn't holding her wand was a beige, milky liquid in a corked bottle. She held it up with a wide smile to match his own.

"I finished it!"