Incendio

Samantha stood inside Gryffindor tower in the seventh year girl's dormitory with Angelina Johnson taking one window and Samantha looking over Luna's shoulder through another window. Samantha had a team of fourteen, one for each window in the girl's dormitory.

The last twenty minutes lingered in her mind. Voldemort had boisterously summoned that if Harry Potter wasn't surrendered before midnight, he was going to send everything he had.

Helping McGonagall lead students out had been the hardest part so far. Many underage students had put up a tizzy. Colin especially, had stood fast in his decision.

"I'm not going." Colin had shouted at her as she told him to leave the Great Hall with everyone else.

Samantha rolled her eyes, "Yes you are."

"I want to fight!" Colin argued back coming closer to her.

"Go home Colin!" Samantha practically yelled, physically pushing him back this time. "Now."

Colin nodded taking a step back, surprised at her strength.

"Go home!" She repeated. "Please."

This time he nodded, "Be safe Sam."

"You too!" She smiled before he left to get in line with the others.

She was just grateful at least one of her friends was safe and she wished she could say she knew more of them were as well. She especially hoped this as she was now with the group that had volunteered to go with her and McGonagall and she was determined they should all stay safe as well.

She watched the lanterns flicker around her and she felt the earth quake as the Death Eaters set off an explosion near the grounds. Trees in the forbidden forest had begun to catch fire. The witches and wizards lined up on the grounds stood fast, but Samantha couldn't help but worry for anyone near the front.

She looked over at Angelina, who was shaking a little bit.

She called at her while fidgeting with her wand, "You good Johnson?"

"Yeah, just nervous is all." She admitted with a nod.

Samantha looked out the tower window and took a deep breathe, she could see students and Order Members lining the outside of the grounds, making a barrier.

"It's natural to be nervous I think." Luna observed at Angelina.

Samantha patted Luna on the back, "I'm going to go check everyone."

Luna nodded at her before turning back to the window.

Samantha walked from the dormitory and checked every floor.

McGonagall had taken the boys side of the tower. She had a decent set of students, Ernie and Justin Finch-Fletchley had chosen to join them instead of Professor Sprout. Terry Skeres, Dean and Seamus all had been more than proud to defend their houses' tower. There were a few others who Samantha didn't know, but they all looked strong and ready to fight.

Cormac McLaggen had grumbled a bit when McGonagall instructed that if anything had happened to her, they were instead to listen to Samantha's orders.Samantha tried not to shrink under the pressure, she kept wondering if she was really the best person for the job.

Only women could be on the other side of the tower, the stairs were transfigured to not allow boys. She knew several of the young women, some she knew like Eloise Midgen and Katie Belle. Others she had seen, but never spoken to. To her great shock, Marietta Edgecombe and Elsie Overbast had joined her team.

Elsie said nothing to her as Samantha checked on them, but nodded her head before looking out a window on the first floor.

Marietta, who's face had cleared more, tried to say something to her, she spoke quickly and intensely, "Sam, I regret everything I ever did. With the Gazette and the DA, please, I can't express how sorry I am."

Samantha had noticed almost everyone had been blurting out confessions to each other, as if to get everything off their chests before the battle. Samantha had very little to get off her chest, but admitted it would have been comedic at any other time.

Ernie had revealed his lifelong crush on Hannah Abbot before being rejected, which Samantha suspected was why he had changed groups. Dean and Seamus kept apologizing to each other for stealing each other's Chocolate frog cards and McLaggen kept admitting how much he wished he'd played Keeper for Gryffindor.

Samantha responded calmly to Marietta, "It doesn't really matter right now. Focus on the present."

"But we called you some really horrible things." Marietta expressed looking between her and Elsie who turned down her head. "We literally called you a scheming whor-"

"I'm sure you will live long enough to call me much nicer things in the future." Samantha responded with a nod, "And now I have a very thorough education in insults."

Marietta meekly smiled before looking out the window.

Another explosion sounded.

Samantha went back to the top of the stairs and looked out the giant stained glass window in the corridor beside the dormitory room. She'd always wondered what it would be like to stay in the seventh year dormitory, and now here she was, hoping she didn't die there.

The castle shook and all the lights flickered out. It was pitch black now, except for the moonlight.

"Lumos." She could hear everyone in the tower call.

Samantha opened the top of the window and looked out to see a clear picture. Death Eaters had entered the grounds. Samantha looked down to the bottom of the stairs, it was McGonagall's Patronus, the signal to begin firing off spells.

"Fire away ladies!" Samantha yelled at the top of her lungs. She looked out and began firing stunning and disarming spells at every dark figure she could.

A large roar sounded through the grounds of the castle. It was a roar Samantha believed would be etched in her mind for her entire existence. Jinxes and spells flying past her in an incredible fashion. She could smell the burning of flesh and the stench of blood. The screams were what rang through her mind consistently. Blood curdling and full of rage, all the different voices sounded in unison.

She did as she always had done, focused on the task at hand.

She kept repeating to herself, "I can do this."

She began yelling to everyone, realizing she wasn't the only one doubting herself, "We have this ladies!"

There was a loud whizzing sound, one she recognized and she saw it come flying towards the tower.

"GET DOWN!" She yelled before diving away from the window into the seventh year dormitory. She dove so hard, she hit herself in the eye with her own fist.

BOOM!

The window where Samantha had been standing had exploded. Glass shattered everywhere.

Luna and Angelina had both ducked, but she worried about the other floors.

She stood and turned to see that the landing where she had been was more like an open balcony now. The wind was whipping through and rocks were crumbling.

"We need to get to a lower level!" Samantha yelled at Luna and Angelina. "Protego." She yelled putting up her wand to block anything that could hit them as they jumped across. Luna went first, followed by Angelina who reached an arm out for Samantha.

Samantha leapt across and heard the whizzing again. "Everyone get down!" She yelled again.

Angelina, Luna and Samantha crouched on the stairs as another explosion hit below them.

Samantha couldn't imagine the tower could take much more. It had shaken and more rocks were tumbling.

The tower was more exposed and she decided it was best to get everyone out.

"Everyone!" She shouted as they began going down the stairs. Spells were whizzing past her head. "Down the stairs before this side goes under!"

She put up another shield charm and held it while she evacuated everyone from their rooms.

She was almost to the first floor when another whizz could be heard. Marietta and Elsie began leaving the dorm when the blast hit.

BOOM

It barely grazed her, but it hit the first floor dormitory and in the second she blinked, both the room and the occupants had fallen from the side. They didn't even have time to scream.

"NO!" She screamed. She went to look and see if maybe they had survived or had jumped, but another whizzing sound began.

Arms grabbed her around the waist and threw her to the ground behind her, laying on top of her and shielding her.

Ernie got off of her and pulled her up. She'd thank him later for saving her life. Her side was in pain, like it had been scraped along a concrete floor.

McGonagall was standing in the halfway destroyed common room, rebuilding the wall. "Miss Fyre, get everyone into the lower hallways and get them fighting. This will not hold long! I will follow when I can"

Samantha and Ernie began running after the group who were exiting the portrait hole. She shouted as she came through the crowd leaving the tower, "Down the stairs now. Fight whoever you see!"

She counted heads as they ran, they still had twenty-seven people in their group, with Marietta and Elsie being their only casualties so far. The guilt seeped through her immediately, she could have saved them, why wasn't her shield charm stronger? Why wasn't she better? They'd be alive. She tried to instead focus on the lives of the people in her care.

It had never been more convenient to have a loud voice in her life. Everyone could hear her. They began running down the stairs while a pack of Death Eaters began running up.

Dueling on a stairway, especially a moving one was particularly difficult. She successfully disarmed one and knocked another off of the staircase as they aimed for Eloise Midgen. The thud as he hit the bottom was unforgettable, like a rubber ball with no air. She realized she probably killed him and she shuddered at the thought, telling herself it was necessary.

When the group reached the bottom, she still had nearly everyone counted for. They spread apart at the bottom, each dueling a different Death Eater as they came close. Samantha kept glancing up the stairs to see if McGonagall was following.

She eventually came down the stairs, her dark robes billowing behind her.

"Everyone, spread apart down the hallways, push them out with whatever force you have!" McGonagall called loudly. "Push them back to the grounds!"

Samantha's group dwindled to a group of three running up the center hallway. As she ran behind Ernie and Seamus she saw a flash of long red hair and a dark robe at the end of the hall. There was a wicked laugh that Samantha remembered from the Hogshead.

She stopped and felt a raging curiosity in her stomach as she came face to face with Hilda Burke.

Samantha had never seen her face before, but she could tell by the look in Hilda's eyes that they both knew who the other was. Ernie and Seamus looked ready to fight, but she seemed unbothered by them as her eyes bored into Samantha. She strode forward, staring Samantha directly in the eyes still, green and piercing. It was as if she had marked her territory.

"I'd know who you were anywhere." Hilda cackled at her before making a pouty face, "Little Sammy I expect."

It wasn't more than a few seconds, not even fast enough for anyone to attack and two more cloaked figures arrived, she nodded at them and they began dueling the boys.

Samantha held up her wand, more than prepared to fight this woman. This was the woman who had destroyed her family. This was the woman who had torn her world apart.

Hilda raised her wand and Samantha put up her shield charm immediately as green flashes came at her. She fired quickly back, angrily and hurting. They stayed locked in a duel and anger had grown into rage inside her, like her heart had been pressing out of her chest. Hilda kept firing curse after curse, and Samantha continued her shield charm. Hilda was backing Samantha further up the hallway and further away from Seamus and Ernie's duels. She seemed to want to get Samantha alone.

"Is that all you've got little Sammy?" Hilda laughed as she continued her stride, "You can't be your brother's sister, he'd have killed by now."

Samantha couldn't help it and the hot tears flowed from her as she began to send stunning spells back. If Hilda had turned her brother into a killer, she wouldn't stand for it.

"He wouldn't have been a killer if not for you!" Samantha yelled back at her.

"You think I'm why he is the way he is?" She laughed haughtily. "Well, you are mistaken."

Samantha shook her head, still backing away from her.

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe it's you and your family's fault." She narrowed her eyes towards her. "Maybe, you made him exactly who he is by rejecting your heritage?"

Samantha worried her egging it was a trap to make her loose her wits.

"I've heard it all from him." She sneered, "How he's always felt so alone, about how he will never be as smart or as talented as you."

Samantha felt herself make a face while pinching her cheeks together. Her brother had always been more talented than her, smarter too.

"He's told me just how rejected he feels." Hilda continued, "So it's not me who made him this way."

Samantha knew she shouldn't have given in, but she fired a stunning spell at her. She regretted the decision as she missed her quite a bit.

"That's better Sammy!" Hilda motioned with her hands mockingly, she spat at her, "Come and get me."

She stood still where she was, in a silent sort of way egging Hilda to come to her instead. She held her wand, ready to shield herself.

She coaxed Hilda more, making her follow further away from Ernie and Seamus. All the way down and around into a classroom, Hilda continued firing and Samantha continued her shield work.

"Oh come on." Hilda said grinning widely, but she was grimacing. The closer she came to Samantha, the older Hilda looked. Wrinkles were lining her forehead and Samantha could tell her prime years of beauty had all but passed.

Hilda began yelling a curse Samantha had rarely heard aloud, "Avada-"

"Expelliarmus!" Samantha shouted at the top of her lungs.

Samantha hit and Hilda's wand went flying. Samantha caught the wand in her free hand while Hilda stared at her in a deep shock.

"Go to hell you whore!" She shouted as she snapped the woman's wand into two.

The rage wasn't stopping at this point. As Hilda ran for her, her arms outstretched as if to strangle her, Samantha yelled, "Stupefy!"

She knocked Hilda back, knocking her first into a desk and then she collapsed on the floor. The spell had hit her directly in the chest.

Samantha leaned over top of her. Her eyes were wide open in the moonlight. She was dead. Her hair made a fan around her head. A pool of scarlet blood began flowing behind her hair.

Samantha looked at the broken wand in her hand and threw it on the ground beside Hilda as she walked out. The sound of the rolling wood upon the floor cracked louder than any explosion.

Samantha felt hot tears well in her eyes and she felt her chest heave. She had fully killed someone, someone she hated more than anything in the whole world, but she felt guilt seeping through her.

She declined to focus on it anymore and ran back to help Seamus and Ernie.