I couldn't find him anywhere. I frantically searched through every corridor that I could, my heart rate increasing rapidly as the sick feeling in my stomach rose with every step.
It was chaos. The second the defensive charm was broken down death eaters, giants, spiders and dementors came bursting into the grounds. The air was full of green light as killing curse after killing curse was fired.
I knew after a while that I had to abandon my search, my friends needed me out in the courtyard.
"STUPEFY!" Katie Bell had narrowly avoided a death eater's a curse, and I sent him flying to the very edge of the courtyard.
Together, we battled. I'd used the wand many times in the weeks leading up to this night, but nothing had prepared me for how powerful it was in this moment. It's as if it had a mind of its own. I threw my body in front of students to protect them, not even having to utter a single incantation, the wand just knew what to do. The hardest part of it all was seeing fellow students fighting alongside the dark lord, Pansy Parkinson firing a nasty cruciatus curse my way that I narrowly dodged. As much as I hated her, I couldn't bring myself to kill her, I simply disarmed her and watched as she ran inside, followed by her parents.
"VICTORIA!" My mothers voice came from behind me as she ran to me, grabbing my hand as we fired spells together. Remus was right, she was good. Red flashes of light left her wand at a great speed as she defended herself and me from any approaching death eater.
When we saw Harry and the others emerge from inside we ran after them, only to see hundreds of dementors coming straight for us. Closing my eyes I raised the wand as the coldness began to take over my body and attempted to cast the one spell that never worked for me.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" The wand let out a huge beam of blue light, and with it came a silver Phoenix, my patronus. The dementors were sent flying back, and I handed Ron some chocolate from my pocket as he staggered off balance. "Eat, you'll feel better."
"Couldn't have put it better myself" Remus, who had just joined us smiled down at me before turning to duel with a death eater.
"He's ok, I just saved his life" Harry said as he ran off yelling "ILL TELL YOU LATER!"
"Oh Greenwoods!" The unmistakable voice of Theodore Nott came from behind us, and I took in his appearance. His face was covered in bruises and cuts, no doubt from Draco, and his eyes were full of manic terror, as he raised his wand and said "come on then."
Holding onto my mother's hand we simultaneously sent spell after spell at him, and I began to laugh at how easy it was to send him flying back. It wasn't until I saw him smiling that I realised my mother's hand had gone limp in my own. Looking down I saw the worst thing I could have ever imagined. My mother lay still and motionless as the killing curse fired by Theo had hit her, taking the only family I had away from me in a split second. The air echoed with screams, and it took me a moment before I realised they were my own as I sobbed over her body, refusing to leave her despite Fred trying to tug me away.
"VICTORIA! THEO HAS DRACO!" Fred urged, and I looked up to see Theo holding a shellshocked Draco, his wand to his throat.
"You have one hour to find me or loverboy gets it."
"Go find Harry, he's inside! I'll take her inside for you!"
As much as I didn't want to leave my mother I knew that I had to, I knew what I had to do.
"HARRY!" He was just inside the castle, running towards the staircase. He turned around when he saw me and ran to me, scooping me up in a tearful hug.
"You saw?"
He nodded.
"Harry, you need to disarm me."
"What?"
"The wand's allegiance is with whoever disarmed the last owner right? Voldemort wants the wand, thinking if he disarms me then it's his, but if you disarm me and I take the wand to him then it won't really be his and won't work for him!"
"Tori I'm not letting you go to him, he'll kill you!"
"Please Harry, Theo has Draco, and I know he's taken him to where Voldemort is. I know what I have to do."
Harry seemed to understand. Nodding slowly he concentrated and raised his wand, shooting the elder wand out of my hand.
"Go. Save him."
"Do is a favour and kill that Nott git will you?" Ron called as I ran off, up the staircase.
I had no idea where I was going, but my legs carried themselves, until I was standing at the foot of the staircase where everything happened last year. The astronomy tower. I hadn't been up here since it happened, and yet my legs were climbing the stairs, dragging my body along unwillingly.
Held by an incarcerous spell, Draco sat in the corner, his face streaked with blood and his hair a mess, while Nott looked at me with a beaming smile on his face.
"I knew she would come my lord. The silly girl would do anything for love."
That's when he emerged from the shadows. I'd never seen him before, but he was exactly how I had imagined him. His snake like features made him embody pure evil and he held out a long hand, beckoning me towards him.
"Victoria Greenwood. We meet at last."