~*~*~*~Snape's Office 4:30~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus took a seat on his chair, as his last Slytherin flooed home. His floo powder canister was still half full, so he knew he would have enough(hopefully) for his remaining Slytherins. He had wished that all of them had chosen to go home, but of course they hadn't. He knew he couldn't legally take them out of school without their parents explicit permission and that was impossible in such a short time. He shook his head, knowing he didn't have time to rest. The lava he had seen, not to mention the air he had breathed outside, had told him that it was coming and there was no stopping it. He shook his head, as he finally stood up and made his way of of his office. He hurried to the Slytherin common room. He walked in and looked around to find most of his Slytherins ready and packed and looking at him with a stoic expression.

"You are free to go anywhere but outside and back to the Common room. I would suggest however, that you head upstairs as high as you can in any case. I don't know what today has in store for us, but it would make me worry less if my snakes were out of harms away," Severus told them honestly. With a chorus of yes sir's he watched them leave, making his way towards the fireplace. As the common room emptied out, he started making his way up the stairs and into the dorms. He felt that he needed to be thorough, he would never forgive himself if one of his snakes got sealed in here because of his negligence. Not to mention depending how the situation went, their life would surely be in danger.

As he started on the first year girl's side, he had no idea what his third years were planning. He checked every closed curtain and under each and every bed, in each and every wardrobe and every stall. And then after that, he did a magical scan just to make sure that no one was hiding before he deemed it done and walked out and did the next year. Surprisingly it didn't take him that long before he finished all dorms on the girls side and he made his way to the boy's. He found a few stragglers in the 2nd year boy's dorm, but none on the third or forth.

He thought he heard voices as he made his way up but when he did he scan each time, nothing had came up. He didn't think to check the 7th year trunks, he didn't think there was a need. As all of his 7th years had gone, he didn't stop to think that someone would hide in the secret compartment in one of the trunks. He knew that Adrian Pucey, his Slytherin Seeker had a room compartment in his trunk, because his home life situation wasn't the best. Severus didn't think that a few of his thirds years would know that, though he should have as Pucey's younger brother was a third year who had been sent home.

As he gave the 7th years a final sweep, he walked out of the room and down to the common room, doing a thorough check he walked through the portrait, and nearly bumped straight into Draco who looked to be coming in. He raised an eyebrow at the boy's deer caught in the headlights look.

"Professor!" Draco squeaked, his heart thudding painfully in his chest. He looked up at the man dark gaze before looking at his feet. It was always safer to look down then up, as Snape had a knack for catching liars.

"Draco I do hope you have gotten all that you wanted, as I am sealing the doors now," Severus told him firmly.

Draco nodded instinctively, as he looked at the man fearfully. He knew this was not a man to mess with, but he figured he would be able to still get into his common room. He knew now that Snape hadn't been able to find his friends so his plan to hide in the trunk had worked! The only crummy part was he was supposed to be in there! He didn't believe the batty old man about the Volcano and he was a bit embarrassed that his Head of house did. Draco had no intention of spending time in the company of the lions or any other house. He was most comfortable in his dorm, so that was naturally where he wanted to be. Besides it wasn't fair that the other houses got to stay in their common rooms and the snakes couldn't. What a load of crap!

"Is there something else you needed or forgot to get?" Severus asked, as he was trying to determine why Draco was looking so pale like he did.

"No sir," Draco replied softly.

He wanted to tell the man what was going on, but he knew his friends would never forgive him if he sold them out like that. So Draco watched him with dismay as the man preformed a complicated spell, one that made his heart nearly stopped beating. He could see the satisfied expression on the man's face after preforming it; and Draco knew he had no hope of ever breaking it. Snape was his father's go to man for a reason.

"There, we should get out of here," Severus told him as he tucked his wand away. He didn't think anything was wrong; and really why should there be? He didn't know what his students had done, and the danger they had unknowingly placed themselves in.

Draco nodded silently as he followed the man out of the Dungeons. He continued to walk towards the Great Hall, as Snape made a detour to his office. He was planning on going back to see if there was a crack in his Professor's spell so he could get back in, as he was sure that his friends were having the time of their lives, while he was stuck out here.

~*~*~*McGonagall's Office 5:35pm~*~*~*

Ron was standing towards the back with his brother's as they watched their Professor placing 3-4 students in the floo together and tossing the right amount of powder in. He wasn't sure just where they were going but, but he knew that anyplace was better then here. As he looked around; he could see an assortment of colors, every house was in here, and they were all terrified. The third year shook as he remembered seeing the boy being burned alive. He had wanted to look away but he hadn't been able to and had witnessed the horror of it all, and now he couldn't get it out of his head.

His trembling attracted the concerned gazes of his older brothers whose faces were devoid of their usual mischievous grins. It was quite disconcerting to see the twins, looking serious as they did. Then again a situation like the one they were currently in could turn anyone. They all knew that there was nothing funny about what was going on. Not to mention Percy, being the Head boy had gone with the teachers to search for some students and they had jokingly told him not to come back. At least they had until they lava burned down the entrance doors and then they realized the extent of the danger they were all in. Ron was worried as he hadn't seen Harry in a while, one minute he had been next to him looking at the window and when Ron had looked back his friend was gone!

He couldn't understand just where his mate was but he was uneasy about the whole thing. Especially since this morning he had just seen the bruises on his back when they had been changing. He had pretended that he hadn't seen anything but he had and he was extremely distressed at what he had seen on his mate's body. He hugged his torso area for a moment, trying to get his shaking under control.

"Relax Ronnie, we'll be home in just a moment, everything is fine," Fred soothed as he looked at his younger brother closely.

"M'okay, just worried about Harry," Ron admitted softly as he stared at the ground. He didn't even mind the pet name at the moment, it actually made him feel a little bit better. He could Luna getting shoved into the fireplac, and he had to wonder when did she get up here before he saw Hermione next to her before they disappeared into the flames. Well at least those two were safe, and he figured that Ginny was as well, even though he hadnt see her.

He was unaware of the look that passed between his twin brother's as they looked around suddenly, as if realizing the raven haired boy wasn't there. They frowned before George or was it Fred bent down to his brother's level. "Stay here Ronnie," he told him seriously as he ruffled his hair.

"Why where are you going?" Ron asked, his eyes wide in his fear.

"To make sure Percy doesn't do something stupid as mum would never forgive us," Fred replied softly as they made their way quietly towards the door.

"I wanna come, don't leave me," Ron pleaded, tears springing into his eyes without his permission. He couldn't help the sudden ache he got in his chest;like he was going to lose something dear. He didn't want his brothers to risk themselves, he just couldn't bear it if something happened to one of them. He followed them towards the door, pressing against his brother's body.

"No Ronnie, mum would kill us if something happened to you," Fred told him gently as leaned down and pressed a soft kiss into his brother's hair. He didn't know what compelled him to do it, but it just felt right.

Ron sniffled, not even bothered by it as his fingers gripped, one of the twin's shirt. He bit down hard on his lip as the tears fell without his permission. "Don't leave me," he begged tearfully. He wasn't even ashamed of himself in that moment, as he needed them to stay. It physically hurt inside at the thought of them going.

"We'll come back Ronnie, I promise," George told him as he gently pried his brother's hands off of his shirt. "Don't fret, we'll be home in no time," he said before they silently disappeared out the door.

Ron stood there staring at the barely closed door for a few minutes after they left, unwilling to believe that they had actually left him here alone. He had never felt more hurt then he did right now, wanting to hurt them as well. He turned back towards his Head of house, who was once more putting a small group into the fireplace. She wasn't paying any attention to what was going on by the door. He took a deep breath before he walked out of the office, shutting it tight behind him.

He swiped his tearful face angrily, clearly he didn't mean crap to his brothers as they had left him there alone. He wouldn't stay there, he would find Harry and they would leave. Ron wiped his dripping nose on the sleeve of his shirt before he took off towards Great Hall, hoping that Harry would be there; as he didn't honestly believe the boy had gone to the infirmary. If he didn't find him in the Great Hall, he would check there however. And if he we wasn't there, Ron would just go up and hope that he found his mate; but he wasn't going to stop searching for him, not until he found him.

~*~*~*Stairwells 6:00pm~*~*~*~

Harry was panting as they quickly went down, part of it was because of how fast they were running down the steps, the other was because the heat was rising. He turned towards Amanda who looked just as bad as he felt. Her face was sweaty and red and she was breathing a bit funny. He wanted to slow down but he knew that would be a bad idea. He held tight to her hand, their sweat mixing and making one anther's hands a bit slippery; but they were afraid of letting go.

As they made it halfway down the staircase that would descend onto the 2nd floor Amanda suddenly started coughing. Harry turned to ask her what was wrong, until he found to his horror that he was having a cough attack too. He had to close his eyes suddenly as he they started burning, stopping their movement so they didn't tumble down the steps.

"I..can't...breathe!" She gasped out, the air was putrid. The gas was thick, if one could open their eyes a bit, they could literally say they could see it. And it was hot, it was like drowning on dry land, as the air was suffocating.

"We should go back up," Harry choked out, trying to open his eyes so they could turn around.

He didn't see Amanda's nod but he felt her hand squeeze his which let him know that they were on the same page. As he slowly turned, his resisted the urge to rub his watery eyes, knowing that would make it worse. They started making their way up back up the steps as quickly as they could when Harry felt the first step crumble under his feet. He nearly fell through, but he managed it and touched the next one only to find Amanda falling through it.

"Harry!" She screamed, a terrified sound that had the boy's heart stop for a moment.

It seemed like time was slowing down as she saw herself fall, but Harry's grip never wavered on her hand, even as he pulled her up. Her heart was thudding painfully in her chest as they ran up the steps, she didn't look back as she could feel the steps they had just been on falling to the ground. They had almost made it to the top one when she fell through again, only this time the grip on her hand was more sweaty then before, and it didn't feel as tight.

"Hold on Mandy!" Harry yelled down to her, as he had made it on the top step and was safe for the most part. He was on solid ground. He could see the staircase falling but what had his eye balls nearly falling out of his sockets was the bright red lava that was making its way under her. It had completely covered the first floor, and he hoped to whoever was up above that everyone had made it out of there.

"Ow! Its burning me!" She screamed painfully, as just being over it had the effect of feeling like she was being burnt, and she was. Her shoes was starting to melt, all over her socks and her feet, and Amanda screamed again.

"Don't let go Manda!" Harry told her frantically as he tried to pull her up. He had both his hands holding onto her wrist, so he couldn't grab his wand. He could see her tear streaked face, as he tried to pull her up.

Harry grunted as he tried with all of his might to lift the girl up. It wouldn't have been a difficult task even with a small boy like Harry. But they had just gone down numerous flights of stairs, and then ran back up one, and this small exhausted and hurt boy had nothing left in him. All he could do was let her hang there, but he couldn't lift her up. He prayed to whoever that someone would find them, especially as he felt his hands on hers slipping.

"Don't drop me Harry! Please I'm scared!" Amanda cried out tearfully as the grip loosened and she slid down a half of an inch. Her feet were burned she was sure of it, but she didn't care, she just didn't want to fall.

"Hold on!" Harry yelled before trying to look to see if anyone was near him, that only had the effect of him sliding a bit forward and her dropping a bit more. He sniffled, unable to brush away the tears that were starting to fall from his own eyes as he realized the helplessness of their plight. He was too weak to lift her up, and he knew he couldn't hold her forever.

"I'm sorry for how my brother treated you, he's not like that at home. Please I'm sorry, don't drop me Harry, please!" She pleaded as she struggled to hang on.

"It okay Mandy," Harry replied trying to be calm before he was trying once more to lift her up. He grunted as he felt forward suddenly dropping her even further down and his torso leaning off the edge. "Oh Merlin, someone help us!" He yelled out fearfully as he body slowly started sliding off. He couldn't let her go, but he knew if he didn't, he would fall in and they would both die. He didn't think he could live with himself, as she was only 11, he had to be strong! He wasn't ashamed either, to into his fear to hear that someone had heard their screams.

"Harry! I'm slipping!" Amanda shrieked horrified as they slid some more. She closed her eyes when she heard him yell out but nothing had prepared her for the moment when she felt that her fingers were no longer grasping his but now air. She opened her eyes to see Harry's horrified green ones looking down at her as she fell his arms still reaching even though they both knew he would never reach her. She saw him getting pulled back by someone with a dark cloak when he started to tumble down after her. The 11 year old closed her eyes tight as the hot air became painful as she fell, and though she tried to be brave she couldn't stopped crying because she knew for her that this was the end.