Exitus Acta Probat

Chapter Five Consequences of Neglecting the Stairmaster

Second Floor Corridor

12:55 A.M.

Morag MacDougal hurried down the second floor corridor near the Ravenclaw tower. She was so anxious, she couldn't run. Their group of thirty or so Ravenclaws were huddled together in a pack, all with their wands out and trained at a different spot. The people covering the rear (who essentially had to shuffle backwards) were the ones holding them up. They had decided to journey together to a spot equidistance from the Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Slytherin dormitories. They would then split up into three groups and head to each house, since they were unaware where their help was most needed.

There was just one flaw in Padma and Michael's brilliant plan, Morag thought sarcastically. None of them had any idea where the Hufflepuff and Slytherin dormitories were. They only knew where Gryffindor was because Michael Corner had dated Ginny Weasley last year. Even Cho, (who was towards the front of the group) had no idea where the Hufflepuffs were. Morag had tried repeatedly to point this small flaw in their plan out, but everyone kept telling her to shut up. The group dashed over to the stop of the marble staircase, and skidded to a halt.

"Right," Padma barked out, "everyone split up into three equal groups, and head to your designated dormitory. Everyone clear? Good," she finished, as the herd of Ravenclaws split themselves up.

"Alright," Michael Corner ordered, "you lot," he pointed to Cho's group, "go to Slytherin. You," he gestured at Luna and Morag's group, "go to Hufflepuff. We're," Michael indicated his and Padma's group, "going to Gryffindor tower. I'll lead the way. Any questions?"

"Yes," said Morag loudly, without raising her hand. A few people looked around at the speaker, and rolled their eyes upon spotting her. "How, exactly, are we going to find the Hufflepuff and Slytherin dormitories?"

"Obviously," Michael started, annoyed, "we..." he stopped as a look of dawning comprehension crossed his face. "Err... actually...I haven't the slightest idea."

"So," Morag said in a sickly sweet voice, "shouldn't we all go to Gryffindor tower, seeing as that's the only dormitory we know the location of, as I've been saying for the past ten minutes?"

Michael and Padma at least had the courtesy to look embarrassed.

"Right," said a red-faced Padma, "new plan, we're all headed to Gryffindor tower."

"Actually," Luna Lovegood spoke up, her voice rapidly regaining its former dreamy vagueness, "I was wondering how we were going to get into the Gryffindor dormitory."

Michael opened his mouth, paused, and then stuttered, goggling, "I have no idea."

Morag groaned. "I thought we were supposed to be the smart house," she grouched.

"Well-" Padma started to snap angrily, before being silenced by what sounded like a herd of stampeding elephants.

The Ravenclaws' heads swiveled simultaneously towards the door leading to the kitchens. It banged open suddenly, emitting a swarm of pyjama-clad students, who Morag recognized as Hufflepuffs. Justin Fintch-Fletchley and Susan Bones led the charge, followed by Ernie MacMillan, Hannah Abbott, Daphne Greengrass, Sally-Anne Perks, Megan Jones, and twenty or so others. A sickly white pair of Sam Capper and Summerby, the Hufflepuff seeker, brought up the rear. The swiftly moving group was half way up the marble staircase before they looked upwards and registered the open-mouthed Ravenclaws frozen at the top.

"MacMillan!" Morag heard Anthony Goldstein yell from behind her, "Are you lot alright? There was an attack in our dorms!"

"Ours too," Fintch-Fletchley replied as the groups converged. "We have it under control. We're on our way to Gryffindor tower."

"So are we," Michael said as the Hufflepuffs pushed through the group and began to hurry away. He raised his voice, so Justin could hear him, "We were going to-" he paused, and gestured to the rest of the Ravenclaws to follow the Hufflepuffs, (Morag, Luna, and Cho had long since left) "rescue you and the Slytherins as well, mate, but-"

"You know where the Slytherin's dormitories are?" Susan Bones called back to him.

"No," Luna replied dreamily. "Nor did we know where yours are." The group dashed past countless classrooms, portraits, and clanking suits of armour.

"Yes, we only know where the Gryffindors are as well," Hannah Abbott said breathlessly. "I hope the Slytherins will be alright."

Scattered conversations and information sharing commenced between the rapidly mixing groups as they scurried up a rickety wooden staircase. Morag was towards the middle of the group with Sam Capper and Summerby, both of whom she had grabbed and started dragging to the front.

"I'm a murderer," Sam said woodenly out of nowhere. Morag turned in shock to the dark-haired boy, who was so pasty white only his freckles held any colour.

"What?" she said surprised. He turned his eerie brown eyes upon her with a woebegone expression. Sam looked like a kicked puppy, thought an alarmed Morag.

"I murdered my best friends," he said monotonously. Morag glanced at Summerby for a clue as to what was wrong with Sam, but he too looked like a walking corpse, with his blanker than blank face. "I can feel it, you know," Sam said almost conversationally. "The way it felt to stab their hearts with that dagger." Morag did a double take. "The way their blood felt on my hands; warm, and sticky, and smelling so disgustingly sweet. I can hear the knife tearing through their flesh, and muscles, and bones," he continued emptily.

"Sam," Morag interrupted shakily, "What are you talking about?" The group passed a statue, and a loudly insulting portrait and continued upwards.

"I told you," said Sam, showing the first sign of life with his annoyance, "I killed Theseus and Wayne. Justin and Ernie keep saying it's not my fault, and that Eloise put me under Imperious, and not to feel bad. But I did kill them. I was too slow to move out of the way, and too weak to fight it off."

Morag was speechless. "Sam..." she managed to croak out, fumbling in the gloom for his shaking hand, "Sam..." It seemed all she could say. Sam turned tormented eyes to her face, but he didn't let go of her hand.

They ran in silence for the next few minutes, then turned a corner and hurtled to a crashing halt in front of a large portrait of a hefty woman in a pink dress that Morag had never seen before. Morag pushed to the front of the crowd, next to Michael, Luna, Padma and Cho, still tightly gripping Sam's hand and Summerby's arm. Michael was shouting out words with frustrated urgency, as the Fat Lady eyed them all suspiciously.

"Mimbilus Mimbletonia! Come one, that's what it was last year! Let us in, it's important!" The Fat Lady raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"None of you are Gryffindors, and you do not know the password. I won't let you in," she said firmly. Michael turned to them with a desperate look, and they all began shouting random phrases at the stubborn portrait.

"Godric Gryffindor!"

"Bravery! Chivalry! Nerve!"

"Dumbledore's Army!"

"The-Boy-Who-Lived!"

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!"

"Stupid recklessness!"

"Weasley is our king!"

"Slytherins are a bunch of slimy bastards!"

"Snape is a greasy git!"

"We all love Hagrid for some reason!"

"Harry Potter is a sexy beast!"

More and more voices joined the shouting, until the hallway was filled with deafening yells and echoes. Luna turned to Morag as their classmates continued their arguing, pleading, and threatening of the fat lady.

"Does it strike you as odd," she said mistily, "that we have raced through half the castle, made an unhealthy amount of noise, and yet not seen one prefect, ghost, teacher, or even Filch?" Morag frowned. Sure, Luna was a bit dotty, but sometimes her ramblings made a lot of sense.

"You're right," she said to her fair haired companion, "and I don't see half of our prefects either," she gestured to the crowd.

It was at that moment, when the herd in the corridor was verging on hysteria, that the Fat Lady swung forward violently on her hinges, (knocking a few students to the ground) and emitted sixth years Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, and Seamus Finnigan, (the object of Morag's undying love.) They were clambering hurriedly out of the portrait hole when they stopped dead upon seeing fifty or so of their classmates (a quarter of whom were lying on the floor in a pile.) Padma sprang to her feet.

"Finnigan! Thank Merlin. We came to help, let us in!"

A shocked Dean replied, "How did you- never mind. There's nothing you can do to help. We're going to get Professor Lupin and Professor Podmore."

"Good luck with that," Luna said slowly, "I think the teachers and staff have been taken out."

"Yeah," Morag added, "we ran through most of the castle, and we haven't seen anyone, not even Filch or Peeves."

"Right," Dean said briskly, "everybody in then, don't want to linger in the halls if something is out there."

"Er... can we all fit?" Susan Bones asked cautiously.

"Yes," Seamus said promptly, "it will be squashed, but none of the girls are in there, so-"

"What?" Padma barked. "What do you mean 'none of the girls are in there?'"

Dean rolled his eyes. "They are not in the common room Patil."

Neville Longbottom suddenly spoke up. "Everyone should really get inside now," he said softly, while looking fixedly at the floor. "The girls can help us, Dean." This statement caused Seamus and Dean to sport expressions that brought to mind a cartoon light bulb pinging on over their heads.

"Brilliant, Neville! Quick, everybody in!" Seamus gestured.

The three Gryffindor boys leaped back through the portrait hole, and the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws started to pile in. Morag pulled Summerby and Sam through, the Fat Lady's bark to hurry up ringing in her ears. She glanced around the common room, impressed. It was very similar to the Ravenclaw common room, but somehow seemed more welcoming with the red and gold colour scheme.

The Gryffindor boys were huddled in a huge group by the fireplace, and appeared to be arguing about something. The last student entered the room, and the Fat Lady slammed shut with an irritated bang. The Gryffindors looked over in shock.

"Oy, Finnigan!" a seventh year yelled. "What the bloody hell is going on? We sent you three to go get Lupin, and you bring back a bunch of know-it-alls and duffers instead?" Morag noticed she wasn't the only one who looked furious.

"Oh yes, our apologies for risking our necks to come and save yours," she snapped sarcastically. A few angry murmurs of assent came from the group.

"Yes, really Hooper, shut up," Dean Thomas commanded.

Seamus had looked over at Morag with everyone else when she spoke up, and he continued to look at her strangely. Her heart leapt, then Seamus turned back to Dean, and her stomach promptly nose dived when she realized she was still holding both Sam's hand and Summerby's arm. She groaned out loud and received yet more strange looks.

"Look, Thomas said, taking charge, "we guys weren't attacked, so we don't really know what's going on. The girls' door," he waved his hand at a door on the right side of the room, "sealed itself off, and they're all stuck in there."

"Not like we could get in there anyway," Seamus interjected, "only girls can go up there, it's enchanted." All the boys in the room nodded wistfully.

Screams pierced the silence of the common room, screams and yells and bangs. Padma once again took charge.

"Alright, girls over here, we're going to break the door open and storm in," she said brusquely. The boys moved aside as the girls congregated around the door leading to the stairwell. "Wands out, watch each others backs, and don't panic. No one goes off alone," Padma ordered. Her forceful manner faltered. "Also," she said with a pained grimace, "to those who aren't in Ravenclaw, Turpin confessed some Death Eater's names. My..." she cleared her throat, "my sister Parvati is one. Try to hex her instead of me" A few people snickered. "Let's-"

The door flew open, smacking Padma and Cho in the face, and knocking them down. A group of three or four girls tumbled down from the stairwell and onto the two fallen girls.

"Oh my God," Hannah Abbott gasped. "They're dead!"

Daphne Greengrass yanked Cho, who was sporting a blackening eye, and Padma, whose lip was bleeding profusely, to their feet. Padma didn't even look down at the dead girls; instead she turned on her heel and barreled up the stairs as chaos erupted below. Morag stared at the now empty stairwell, in shock with everyone else. She saw Luna Lovegood turn to her in her peripheral vision. They locked eyes, nodded once, and jumped over the dead Gryffindors after Padma.

Gryffindor Girls Stairwell

1:02 A.M.

Katie Bell hurtled down the stairs to the sixth year's dormitories two at a time, Lynn Darson-Hughes on her tail. She burst into the sixth year's room, and halted so suddenly that Lynn rammed into her forcefully, making them both stumble.

"Katie, what..." Lynn started to ask before looking upon the scene before them. A strange noise, somewhere between a squawk and a moan sounded from her throat.

Katie took in the scene before them in stunned silence. When her eyes rested upon Dez - whom she had seen alive not five minutes previously - chalky white, claw marks on her skin, laying in a pool of her own blood, Katie turned and dragged Lynn out of the room with her. She knew there was nothing they could do for the sixth year girls, and she also knew she would snap if she thought about them for even a second.

Lynn was whimpering behind her as they continued downwards. They turned a bend in the stairwell and saw pure chaos before them. A fierce battle was raging in the steps, a group of first and second years - with a smattering of third, fourth, and fifth years mixed in - were dueling with a hooded figure in the middle of the crowd. By her size, the mysterious stranger was clearly older than the others, and far more knowledgeable. She was more than holding her own against the panicked girls, many of whom were unarmed. Katie turned to Lynn. They had not yet been spotted in the shadows.

"Lynn," she whispered urgently, "we're the only ones who can take her out." Lynn nodded, her eyes wide with fear.

"Katie, we can't get a clear shot," she hissed desperately.

"I know," Katie murmured back, "we'll have to charge through the group, and hope we don't get hexed." Lynn didn't look too keen on the idea, but gave her assent. "Ready?" Katie said quietly. "On three." The two girls watched as three second years were hexed. "One... two..." Lynn suddenly fell forward heavily on Katie's back. Katie stumbled and barely managed to keep them from falling down the stone steps, by slamming her shoulder hard into the wall to regain her balance. "Lynn!" she hissed angrily. "What do you think you're..." she trailed off, as she took a look at her glassy eyed companion. Lynn's dead body slumped to the ground without Katie's support to hold her up. Carina Zimmerman, wand pointing in Katie's face, was revealed in front of her.

Secret Staircase

1:07 A.M.

Hermione rasped for breath as she, Harry, Zabini, Byron Thingamabob, Crabbe, and the other Slytherins followed Filch upwards through a secret staircase. They all had their wands lit, since it was pitch black in the narrow staircase, and one never knew when a jutting stone or sticky cobweb would come in contact with one's body. The stairs themselves were covered in thick, indistinguishable coloured carpeting, which muffled their footfalls. Hermione was silently vowing to start getting in better shape after this was over. Her vision swam before her eyes, the staircase a blur of dark shapes and fuzzy lights. A pair of hands grabbed her around her waist, and hoisted her over a shoulder. Hermione squeaked in surprise and indignation.

"Granger, quit wiggling!" A suspiciously Zabini sounding voice said. "We can't have one of the Golden Duo collapsing in a hidden stairwell, can we?"

"Zabini put me down! This is degrading and patronizing and sexist, and I won't stand for it!" Blaise sighed as Hermione continued to struggle.

"Granger, do you really want me to leave you on the floor in a dirty stairwell? Because I will, if you don't stop being difficult. As Slytherins, we always tend to our weak," Hermione sputtered incoherently, "regardless of gender. I mean, look, they've got Crabbe back there," Zabini nodded to a few steps below them, where indeed, no less than five Slytherin boys were climbing with a reclining Crabbe over their heads. "Thank Merlin you only need me to carry you, or that would be a little embarrassing, no?"

"Shut up, Zabini," Hermione grumbled in defeat.

"Shutting up," Zabini chirped. Hermione swore she could hear him grinning in the dark.

"You know Zabini," she said conversationally after a minute of silence, while still hanging upside down, "I think I liked you a lot better when I thought no one had ever taught you how to speak." Dammit, she could hear the git grinning.

"You'd be surprised how often people tell me that," he replied cheerily as they all came to a stop behind a suddenly still Filch. A figure next to Filch - whom Hermione recognized as Harry from the wildly spiked hair- waved his arms for silence.

"All right," Harry commanded, "we're here outside the hallway with the Fat Lady."

"The what?" Hermione heard muttered from behind her.

"Crabbe's mum," another voice answered quietly.

"Oh."

"Are you listening back there?" Harry demanded, irritated. "Now, everyone get your wands ready, stay in groups, cover our backs. Hermione, you - "Harry paused in confusion. "Hermione? Where ... Zabini! Put her down, right now! And stop trying to cop a feel!" he roared. Blaise and Hermione both squawked in horror, and Zabini hastily set her down to her feet. "Yes, anyway, come up to the front with me, Hermione," she started pushing her way forward, "and I guess you can come too Zabini, you perverted bastard."

"Hey!" Blaise yelped.

"Okay, here we go!" said Harry when Zabini and Hermione reached him.

Filch opened the secret entrance, and they tumbled out into the corridor, diagonal and about fifty feet away from the Fat Lady. They rushed over to the portrait with the Slytherin boys at their heels.

"Password?" the Fat Lady snapped. She looked highly disgruntled about something, as she swept her gaze over the crowd. Harry opened his mouth to answer, and she cut him off before he could get a syllable out. "Oh, now really!" she shrieked, livid. "This is too much! Why don't you just tear me down and leave a big hole in the wall, so you can come and go as you please?" she snarled. Harry and Hermione exchanged puzzled glances.

"Your portrait is nuts," said Zabini in awe.

"Nuts, am I?" the Fat Lady fairly screamed. "You're the ones trying to trick me into letting a bunch of Slytherins into Gryffindor tower for the first time in six hundred years! Did you think I wouldn't recognize them in their pyjamas? I can spot those snakes a mile away! I did not stand up to a psychotic Sirius Black," Harry stiffened, "to let-"

"Silencio!" Byron Whaddyacallit yelled. The Fat Lady mouthed soundlessly.

"Good one," Harry said approvingly.

"Tea cozy," Hermione barked.

The Fat Lady swung forward on her hinges, clearly against her will. The Wonder Twins leapt through the portrait hole simultaneously, only to immediately collide with a group of Ravenclaw boys. The Slytherins had already charged in after them, and a domino effect was occurring inside the Gryffindor common room.

"Hermione, thank God!" she heard from the floor. She squinted in the direction of the shout, and spotted Dean, Seamus, and Neville waving at her frantically from over by the door to her dormitory. Hermione ran over to them without a second thought, only vaguely hearing the shouted questions and explanations from all around. She pushed her way to her friends, which was no easy feat, since the common room was now so crowded everyone was standing smashed against those in their vicinity. Hermione finally squeezed between Dennis and Colin Creevey, and gasped as she spotted four dead Gryffindor girls laid out on the floor. Dean grabbed her arm.

"Don't think about it now," he said grimly, "we need you." Seamus nodded.

"The girls are locked in their dormitories, and you know we can't get in." Dean cut him off quickly.

"The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff girls went in to rescue our girls, but that was over five minutes ago, and no one has come back."

"Hermione," a pale Neville said quietly but firmly, "you are the best dueler at Hogwarts after Harry, you have to take out Parvati Patil, she's behind this."

"Patil?" said Zabini from over her shoulder. The boy had an uncanny knack for sneaking up on her. "That explains the whole twin thing, then. "

"You know what to do, Hermione," Harry said emphatically. "I know you can kick her ass."

Zabini, Neville, and Seamus looked bewildered. Hermione witnessed Seamus mouthing "kick her ass?" to Dean out of the corner of her eye.

"Er, thanks, Harry," said Hermione. And with that, Gryffindor's Golden Girl marched to her possible doom.