InsaneJournal

Geoff and Emily vs Nott Sr + Katie Bell.

Emily, while physically well enough after her previous Death Eater encounters, was nonetheless reeling from the effects of her previous battle and, even moreso, the time in between. She'd seen her friends hurting and even dead. She'd tried to help heal where she could but mostly felt overwhelmed by the carnage around her.

She'd lost Chloe and Demelza and Wayne--and she knew, she knew she'd seen Andrew through a crowd as the fighting started up again but hadn't been able to get close. Part of her was proud that he'd come back to fight, but more of her was scared that something would happen to him, too. She didn't know what would happen next and it scared her.

What she did know was that she couldn't handle fighting some Death Eater alone, so when she'd found Geoff she stuck to him like glue. She didn't want to see another friend hurt and she knew the two of them would be better together than apart.

Geoff was not as well off as Emily. He and Declan had just fought The Bellatrix Lestrange and she did not go easy on the two boys. It was a miracle Geoff was even still alive, but he knew it was partially due to the fact that Declan was by his side. The two would fight until the death together...but Geoff hoped it would be more fighting and less death.

However, due to an explosion and the general chaos of the battle, Geoff was separated from everyone he knew UNTIL he spotted Emily. He sported gashes along his left side, as well as a rather terrible boil on his forehead and eye, causing him not to be able to see very well out of his right eye. Geoff was in a tremendous amount of pain, but a combination of survival instinct and adrenaline told him to keep moving. He was panicking before he found Emily, and to say he stuck by her side was an understatement. Literally, he held onto her with his free hand -- not keen on letting another friend out of his sight.

“We should go find some others!” said Geoff to Emily, but no sooner had he said that the pair of Gryffindors were face-to-face with a menacing cloaked figure.

Dorian had appeared out of no where - almost literally. An ardent fan of disillusionment charms, he had managed to sneak up on quite a few victims like that throughout the night. The Death Eaters’ short lived victory over Potter was still crashing by the time he’d popped out at these two children. The stampede of Centaurs had forced him inside with the rest of the crowd, and it was only through sheer skill he’d managed to shroud himself as many of his comrades were taken down with the surge of what appeared to be reinforcements. Things were not going well for them, but Dorian was determined to continue fighting for his lord. They could still win with careful maneuvering.

“Good evening,” he said to the two kids in a calm, bordering on kind tone. The boy already looked worse for the wear, which meant Dorian was sure they wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight. “Depulso,” he said, wand pointed at the boy, before quickly turning to the girl with an equally polite, “Crucio.”

Emily's wand was ready but not fast enough to defend against this bizarrely polite Death Eater's curse. "Geoff!" she managed to scream before the Unforgivable hit her. This man was clearly experienced, much more so than Pucey. Though there was no real menace in his voice, this cruciatus was worse--so much worse--than the last she'd experienced. Which, frankly, she hadn't realized was possible.

She writhed under the effects of the spell. Everything hurt and the pain was sharp. She tried to push her mind elsewhere, to focus on anything else. She tried to think of Andrew. Of her friends. Even of her Astronomy charts. Nothing worked. "Geoff...help..." she managed to sputter.

Geoff’s wand flew out of his hand before he could even think. Then Emily was on the ground writhing in pain against Nott Sr’s Crucio. Panic came over the Gryffindor boy and he did the only thing he think to do, which was bend over and quickly take Emily’s wand, pointing it directly at the Death Eater.

What spell? What spell?! Something to stop this Cruciatus Curse! “REDUCTO!” he boomed, a jet of red going straight for Dorian’s chest.

Never having seen much use for women beyond procreation, Dorian was certainly quite happy with the response he managed to get from the girl. There was something satisfying about watching her twitch in torture, completely helpless. He had no expected the boy to recover so quickly though, being caught completely off guard by his spell. It hit him hard, making his balance questionable for what felt like several long moments. He wasn’t at all pleased by the pain it caused, feeling his breathing come in as a short, choppy struggle. That the girl had been released from his spell wasn’t his first concern. Defense. Feeling rather vulnerable now, he threw up a shield as quickly as he could, allowing himself the extra moments he needed to recover from the blast.

Anger boiled through his veins. He’d had quite enough of these type of children to last him a life time. Of course, he’d never been a fan of the killing curse - it was useful in a pinch but wholly unsatisfying - so he preferred to be more creative in death than that. It was an art. One he intended to perfect now. The shield had dissipated by now and he threw out a spell of his own devising -- a dark curse designed to melt bone from the inside. The thrill of anticipation filled his chest, as he fervently hoped to hear a scream of pain from one of them.

Emily, not able to do much, did manage to avoid the mysterious hex sent her way. She pushed herself--with much effort--against the wall and willed herself to fight through the pain she was feeling. Geoff had her wand so she was essentially defenseless. She had to find his. She knew it was behind them in the hallway somewhere but she was loathe to turn her back on the man they were fighting. Already on the hallway floor, she backed away, hoping the Death Eater would simply think she was afraid. She was, of course, but she was really searching for the wand.

She kept her eyes on the man as her hand closed around the wand. She stopped crawling, took a deep breath, and mustered what strength she could. "Deprimo!" she shouted, a harsher spell than she'd ever really be comfortable casting but really, it was now or never.

Dorian was further enraged when his spell failed to hit, something that emboldened him further. He would teach these children a valuable lesson. If they wanted to be heroes, they would certainly get to learn about what happened to kids who thought they could stand up to someone like him. He roared in pain when another hex hit him. The small hole taking a chunk out of his right shoulder, causing blood to pool into a deep shade in a large spot around the injury. He instantly cast a spell to clot the blood, ignored the throbbing pain as best as he could, while turning his entire focus on the girl who’d hexed him.

“Expulso!” he roared, watching the wand she held explode in her hand. “Petrificus totalus!” and as if freezing her wasn’t enough, he added “Incarcerous!” content to see ropes spring out of nothing to wrap themselves around the girl. He would start with the boy, now that she was out of the way. Force her to watch as he tore her friend apart, as a promise of what would be in store for her when he was finished. “Are you ready to watch your friend die?” he directed at the girl. But he didn’t need to wait for a response, before turning on the male, firing off, “Conjunctivitis!” followed by an, “Incendio!” which was aimed at the collar of his shirt. He hoped that setting the boy’s face and neck on fire would be would a good start for the end.

Geoff was blinded almost immediately followed by a horrible burning sensation beyond belief, ripping at the skin of his neck and face. He screamed in agony, falling back on the ground -- completely dropping Emily’s wand as he clutched his neck and writhed in pain.

“E-EMILY!” he shouted, tears streaming down his face from his reddened, pus-filled eyes. “EMILY, HELP ME!”

Geoff thought this was it. He might die. The pain he was encountering was too much to bear, and he felt and smelled his skin rotting away...

Emily tried to struggle against her bonds but it was no use; both hexes had hit as intended so not only was she petrified, she was tied up as well. Again. If she wasn't so preoccupied with anger and fear, it would be embarrassing. She watched, helpless, as the man attacked Geoff. If she could move she would be crying out, running to him and trying to help but there was nothing. She was going to watch someone else she cared about die right in front of her and then she was going to die herself. Her heart began to race. I'm sorry, Geoff, she thought, unable to say it aloud. I'm so sorry.

The boy’s screams made Dorian feel a bit light headed with pleasure. There was jovial bounce in his step as he moved forward, advancing on him. He appeared helpless lying there on the floor, screaming. Dorian kicked the wand he’d dropped away from him, smiling as he did so. Even the pain in his shoulder seemed to have dissipated in the wake of this triumph.

With a wave of his wand, the flames disappeared from the boy’s robes. As much as he enjoyed the sight and sounds of it, it wouldn’t due to have him die of smoke inhalation. Not when there was much more pain to be inflicted. Lifting his foot up, he stopped down hard on the burnt flesh of the boy’s nose. “You made a mistake supporting Potter,” he said sweetly. A mistake he would pay for with his life. “Osseous Rumpo,” he said, wand pointed at his ribcage. The sound of bones breaking could easily be heard over the shouts that rang out through the castle. Levitating the boy up off the ground, he waved his wand in a motion to throw him toward a wall a few feet away.

Geoff flew helplessly into the wall. He fell less than gracefully to the ground in a heap, his left leg bent in the complete opposite direction than it should, his neck and face were so charred, his usually cute, boyish, and innocent face was almost unrecognizable.

He looked at the blurry form that was Emily, his fingers twitching as though he was reaching out for her, trying to tell her to run, to save herself -- but the pain of everything was so overwhelming, so incapacitating, before Geoff could let out more than just a small whimper...everything faded to black.

Dorian was a bit disappointed to see the boy crumple against the floor after crashing into the wall. He didn’t seem to be moving. Although he’d tossed him with some force, he hadn’t thought it had been enough to kill him. In fact, all of his spells had been precise, purposeful in their execution. Having spent most of his life as a Healer, he knew very well the limits of the human body, making him an expert in torture. Restraint was something he prided himself on. He walked over to the boy’s body, pushing him over with a foot. After a moment, he observed the chest rise and fall in a breath. He was only unconscious.

Good, he thought. The boy could be revived, brought back for more. But perhaps, perhaps he would let the girl think her friend was dead for now. Watching a loved one die worked wonders in diminishing resolve, he’d learned. He would be surprised if she put up much of a fight now, when she knew how defeated they were. Leaving the boy’s body undisturbed, he walked over to where the girl was bound, reaching up to touch her face in a gentle caress. “He’s gone,” he told her. The grin on his face was rather wide, his expression even joyful, pleased. “You won’t go as quickly,” he added. Plenty of ideas ran through his mind, things he could do to her. Most of the fighting seemed to have shifted to the Great Hall, something he’d noticed before their duel had moved down the corridor. He pressed the tip of his wand against her cheek, then moved to point it at the way, only inches way from her. “Avada Kedavra,” he said gleefully, excited by the green flash that chipped away part of the stone work where it had struck the wall next to her. He liked power. He liked demonstrating he had it. Nothing proved that more than the fact he could have killed her, but did not.

His brain buzzed with a warm pleasure now, one that overrode his other senses. Things happened so quickly after that, he wasn’t sure what happened. At first he was flexing his victory, and then he was lying on the cold floor several feet away from his victim. He couldn’t feel his legs. A dizzying memory of flying threw the air came crashing into the forefront of his mind but he was still dazed as he looked up. There was a young blonde girl not far from where he’d just been standing, with her wand out, pointed at him. It was only then he realised that she had blasted him away, catching him completely unaware.

Katie Bell, for her part, was nursing a broken left arm. Thankfully, however, her right was still good as new, which was all she needed to continue fighting. She’d found herself in this corridor, after having run away from a giant who’d smashed the classroom she’d been dueling in. Once the death eater had been knocked away, she waved her wand, banishing the ropes that had bound Emily. “Are you alright?” she asked, keeping her eyes trained on the man who was now lying part way across the corridor.

Emily started to fall as her restraints disappeared but managed to catch herself. Her body had endured an awful lot in a very short period of time and there was so much adrenaline pumping through her that she could barely hold her hands steady. She didn't acknowledge Katie's question, instead only murmuring. "He killed Geoff -- he killed ..."

She ran to him, stumbling and nearly falling until she kneeled next to him. "Oh God," she whispered, looking over his injured body, but something caught her eye. His chest was moving up and down. A rush of relief stronger than any Emily had ever felt washed over her as she realized her friend was still alive, though not in great shape.

Still, he would survive, for now. She reclaimed her wand and, hands still shaking, threw a conjunctivitus curse at the man. She didn't care that his defenses were down or that he was injured from Katie's hex. He was terrifying and evil and needed to be stopped.

Katie’s heart pounded a little harder at Emily’s words. She didn’t know her very well, but she did recognize her a fellow Gryffindor, just a few years younger. Death seemed to be everywhere tonight. While she went to claim her friend’s body, she kept her wand trained ahead on the death eater. She was more reserved than some of her friends when it came to dueling. She knew her hesitation was a weakness, but she was afraid of letting her emotions rule. She didn’t want to become like them.

Dorian continued to stare at the girls through bleary eyes. Though his mind was beginning to put together the pieces of the last few moments, he still felt rather incapacitated. His wand was no longer in his hand, he realised. The blonde girl didn’t seem to be making a further move though, so he hoped he would be able to use that to his advantage as soon as he found where the wand might have rolled too. Glancing around him, he was only vaguely aware that the other girl had left her friend’s body to advance on him. The sting of her curse made him cry out and his hands immediately went up to his eyes, pressing his fingers against his lids. The puffy sting sealed them shut and although he knew the counter curse, his wandless state left him effectively blind.

He thought she might have hexed him with a freezing charm as well, as his temperature dropped dramatically seconds later. The pain from the hole in his shoulder, and now the curse to his eyes, increased ten fold. He felt the blast over and over as it replayed in his mind. And then he started remembering things. Terrible things. The memory of seeing his oldest son die in the first war jumped out full force, and he screamed. The pain of that day overriding his physical injuries now.

Katie gave a nod to Emily when she’d hexed the death eater. Although she hadn’t been able to bring herself to attack a disarmed man like that, she had no scruples about watching someone else do it. Her next thought was they should tie him up now, to keep him from moving on to harm others. But that was quickly replaced by the chill of the room. From the far end of the corridor she could see the dementors. Flashes of the great hall popped in her mind. Alicia’s dead body. And Fred’s. Sorrow over came her and she almost doubled over.

Dorian could feel the swirling movement around him, even if he couldn’t see anything. Even through his pain he finally began to realise what was going on. A cry escaped him when he realised that the reason he couldn’t feel his legs earlier was because they were broken. He was helpless to get up. He knew when the icy fingers of the dementors reached him. It was an indescribable pain. Like being stabbed multiple times, everywhere. He thought he might faint from the way it overwhelmed his senses. But then it vanished, replaced by the feeling that gravity had left him. He felt for a moment like he was floating, swimming perhaps, and then... then he felt nothing at all.

Katie watched in horror as a group of dementors surrounded the man. It was only when they began sucking his soul out that she was reminded of the fact they needed to get out. “Expecto Patronum!” she said, to no effect. There were no happy thoughts for her at all. She didn’t think she could conjure a one. But she had to fight the depression that threatened to keep her rooted there. “Lets go, we have to get out of here,” she said, turning on her heel. She pointed her wand at the unconscious boy, lifting him up. “RUN!” she screamed at Emily as she herself turned toward the only way out, levitating the boy along as she went.

The sight of the dementors froze Emily almost as completely as the petrificus from earlier. She had wanted the man to suffer but not like this--no one deserved this. She'd never seen a Dementor's Kiss but even for all she'd been through in the last months, she couldn't imagine anything worse.

Katie's words snapped Emily out of it. The younger girl tried to cast an Expecto Patronum but couldn't make it work. She stumbled backwards and, finally, turned her back on the horrors in the hallway and followed Katie, running as fast as her body would allow.



Seamus and Parvati vs Rodolphus.

Seamus barreled around the corner and smacked into someone. Someone who, luckily, turned out to be Parvati. And not some Death Eater. Except she didn’t look like herself.

“Parvati,” he said, brow furrowing. “What is it?”

Parvati had no idea what she was doing. One second she had been curled in a corner, head buried in her knees and arms clinging to her legs, and the next she was stumbling around the middle of the war which was, of course, still raging at full force. Of course it hadn’t ended. Her world may have come to a shattering halt, but life outside of her brain moved on, as it always did. Though the only person she would have really referred to run into her was Cal, alive and well again, Seamus was not a bad alternative.

“Dunno. Hi. Um. I’ll just be going now.” Parvati put her hand on Seamus’ arm and tried to weakly push him away as she mumbled under her breath and shook dark strands of her hair off her forehead.

Seamus was damned if he was going to let Parvati wander off. Especially not in the middle of a battle. She’d get herself killed for sure. So he grabbed her hands and peered down into her face. “What is it? Is it Lav?” That was the only thing he could think of, that something had happened to Lavender.

“No, it’s not Lav,” she whispered. Though it very well may have been. Cal, Lavender, Padma. Sure, why not take all three? While she normally enjoyed being grabbed by Seamus in more ways than one, she wanted nothing more than to kick and claw at him until he let her go and she was able to run away. But she felt weak and vulnerable and, upon raising her eyes and glancing at his intense stare, started to cry again. “I don’t think Cal and I are ever going to be able to visit India.”

He squinted, confused by her statement. Who was going to India? And why weren’t they now? And then seeing her tears, it dawned on him. “Cal is...” His voice trailed off, the words too difficult to force from his throat. So instead he pulled her into a hug, not knowing what else to do. “I’m so sorry, lass.”

Instead of hugging him back, Parvati simply froze her body so it became stiff and rather board-like against the warmth of Seamus’ dirty clothing. It was still fresh, too fresh to fully understand what had even happened. Instead of delving into the deeper meaning of what had happened and how it would affect her life in the long run, Parvati was wading through the hardest part, the part that consisted of nothing but pain. “I don’t think I’d mind. If I didn’t survive the war. I don’t know.”

After having relived his Quidditch days earlier that evening, Rodolphus was looking for something that would hopefully be a bit less athletic in the later part of the night. And spotting two students in a hug seemed to be right on target. Not one to dawdle or make small talk, he started right off the back with his favorite hex. “Furnunculus!” he shouted, aiming at the pair, and hoping to get at least one victim.

Seamus felt the hex hit him square in the back, boils painfully erupting under his shirt. He cursed himself for being stupid and letting his guard down. Taking care to shield Parvati (Merlin knew what she might -- or might not -- do in her current condition) he turned around and fired off a conjunctivitis curse. Blinding their opponent would buy them some time.

Still stuck in a rather dazed state of mind, Parvati squeaked in surprise as Seamus shook and made an uncomfortable noise into her ear. At first she could not figure out what spell had hit him, but it became clearer as she spotted ugly little boils appearing on the top half of his arms. Instead of tending to him like she normally would, she raised her wand with a shaky arm and, to back up Seamus’ spell, sent a Stinging Jinx towards the Death Eater.

Rodolphus managed to avoid the conjunctivitis curse, but when his arm flew up to protect his face from the jinx, he was hit there. He growled angrily at the two students as his arm began to swell, trying to figure out how, once again, they were proving to be trickier than he’d originally anticipated. Seeing that he’d managed to hit the boy, he aimed for the girl this time, trying again for boils.

Too late to cast any sort of countercurse, Seamus resorted to plain brute force, pushing Parvati to the ground. There was no time to make sure whether his strategy had worked. He twisted around. “Diffindo!” he shouted, wand slashing through the air.

Being pushed to the ground seemed to be a running theme tonight. Parvati bounced rather roughly to the hard floor before trying to pull herself up with her left arm, which seemed to be aching for some unknown reason. She got to her feet just in time to watch Seamus’ wand thrash through the air, and, for good measure, quickly added her own. “Stupefy”

The severing charm hit Rodolphus’ non-wand arm, joining stinging jinx as he ducked out of the way of the stupefy. Angry again, he pointed at a spot behind them. “Accio! he called, summoning a nearby stone statue, and then sending it hurling at the pair.

Yes! Seamus thought when his spell hit the Death Eater. He only wished that it had hit the other bloke’s wand arm. That would have stopped him. Especially as Parvati’s stupefy missed. He really needed to get her out of here. Turning to check on her, he saw the statue coming toward them from the corner of his eye. Blasting it at the last minute, the statue broke into three sections, the largest of which hit his leg. He felt the bones give way and screamed in agony.

Hearing Seamus scream in such agony made Parvati instincintvely grab for him and tug him out of harm’s way. A little too late, of course, as the statue had separated and made a rather uncomfortable cracking sound on Seamus’ leg before she’d had the chance to do much but yank him in inch or two backwards. Once he was down, though, she seized the opportunity to tug him away from the other chunks of the rock, which teetered dangerously and threatened to topple down on top of him. Once sure that he was out of the way of the stone, Parvati glared at the Death Eater and dared to walk a few steps closer to him, arm outstretched. He wasn’t the Death Eater who had killed Cal, but he was another Death Eater nevertheless. Furious, she aimed her wand. “Obscuro! Stupefy!”

They seemed so concerned about each other rather than their own lives, which really was such a rookie mistake. Smirking when the boy went down with the statue, he didn’t duck the charms in time. The first one hit, but the second didn’t, and he turned blindly in the direction that he thought the pair were. He violently slashed his wand in their direction. “Sectumsempra!” he yelled, struggling to take off the blindfold with his injured hand, while still keeping his wand pointed at them.

Seamus watched in horror as slash marks appeared on Parvati and blood began to run. They had to get out of here. He raised his wand and, channeling all of the anger and panic coursing through him, shouted, “Stupefy!” The Death Eater flew backwards and was still. “Incarcerous!” Satisfied that the ropes would hold, he dragged himself over to where Parvati had fallen. Nothing he tried stopped the bleeding and he panicked even more. “Stay with me, lass,” he urged, tears running down his face. “We’re going to get help.”

Someone came around the corner and Seamus raised his wand. He’d protect Parvati if it was the last thing he did. However, he was overjoyed to see it was a friendly face, one of the Aurors from earlier.

The last thing Parvati remembered was Seamus’ familiar Irish accent whispering something. He sounded terribly sad. The warmth that was pooling against her clothing felt sticky and thick, a rather indescribable sensation. She had wanted to help Seamus. Really, she had. She was going to offer her shoulder for him to lean on, something that would make dragging his leg easier and less painful. But everything became a blurry blizzard of darkness once she hit the ground and mumbled something under her breath. Faintly, before closing her eyes, she heard an authoritative, safe-sounding voice. Perhaps hope was not lost after all.



Megan and Ernie vs Rookwood + Aberforth Dumbledore.

Ernie had been rejoined with Hannah and Susan during the ceasefire, but had lost them in the stampede of giants and centaurs that had trampled over Voldemort and his followers. He’d only managed a single cheer when Neville had beheaded the snake before jumping out of the way of a giant’s foot. The chaos that followed had forced him back into the castle, casting hex after hex toward unknown enemies as every wizard there seemed to stampede back into Hogwarts. He didn’t know how much time had elapsed between that frenzied reentry and the first moment he was able to really able to catch his breath. The scene before him wasn’t a happy one - defenders and death eaters alike, spread across the floor. He was even impressed, for a second, by the charge of houseelves who had burst from the kitchens, armed to the teeth with knives.

Like most of those left standing, Ernie darted into the Great Hall, finding the fight there was heavy and enthralled. “Stupefy!” he screamed, nearly tripping over the still body of dark-robed figure on the floor in his haste to stun another one who had been aiming for Megan Jones. The stout figure fell to the floor behind her, and Ernie rushed forward kicking the man’s wand from his hand, and adding a binding spell to keep him from moving again. “Megan,” he breathed, giving her a nod. He hadn’t seen her since before the Easter holiday and his mind surged with questions about her disappearance and how she’d found out about the battle. He clutched his wand tightly in his hand as he glanced around the great hall, amazed at how many death eaters had seemed to have fallen already. His free hand came up gingerly to touch the right side of his face, which had been badly burned prior to the ceasefire. The minimal medical attention he’d received had helped numb the pain but nothing had been done to minimize the swelling or blisters which had formed since.

Megan was feeling pretty good. Call it an adrenaline rush or stupidity, but her focus was clear. She promised her mother she would make it back, and her mother had made her the same promise. No promises were going to be broken to night, she swore it. Somehow, she had managed to be fighting a Death Eater on her own, and when her back had been turned, there was another man who had been aiming for her. The voice behind her was familiar, and the moment the person she was duelling was now both unconscious and body-bound, Megan quickly turned around to see Ernie. The amount of relief that were in her eyes clearly showed and after breaking her opponent’s wand, she rushed to her good friend’s side.

“Bloody hell, Ernie,” she said after taking a look at him. Of course he would be here. Of course he would be fighting. Her concerned look turned into a determined grin within a matter of seconds. “It’s good to see you again.” Her eyes were constantly looking around, her wand out as she quickly cast shield charms around them. This was certainly not the time for tearful reunions but she really was so glad to see him.

“The circumstances aren’t ideal,” he replied, with the slightest of smiles. “But I’m relieved nothing terrible came of you,” he added. Megan’s disappearance had been met with apprehension from most of Hufflepuff, including Ernie. He hoped they’d get a chance to really talk about what happened, but now didn’t seem the time for that. Instead, he looked around the room, watching the fights that were unfolding before his eyes. With Voldemort in the center of the room, Ernie had half a mind to go at him, himself. There weren’t too many duelers between them and he thought he could probably make it if he tried. “Odds are on our side now,” he mentioned. Indeed, the Great Hall seemed to have more students and parents present than there had been before the ceasefire. Ernie had never doubted their ability to win - that Harry would come back - and now that it it was finally coming into fruition, he felt his chest swell with pride and confidence. It was nearly over, he thought.

But almost, wasn’t yet. Clenching his wand, he stepped forward, intent on helping with the fight directly against Voldemort.

Augustus came into consciousness slowly, sliding his hands beneath him in an effort to push himself up. He’d been waylaid by someone - someone without the sense to end things quickly with a proper curse - and stifled an oath as he lifted his nose inches from the floor. He looked around. The hall was pandemonium. People were running, spells were flying, and he quickly realized that he needed to be up and moving or else he’d be trampled by a giant or made into swiss cheese by one of the bloody elves.

With a grunt, he grasped his wand and rolled back, quickly pushing to his feet. The room spun and he staggered for a moment before uprighting himself and training his wand on the first thing he could see. In this case, it was a young man whose back was to him. He wasn’t a Death Eater, and as Augustus’ vision started to sharpen, he slashed his wand through the air. One less opponent meant they’d be that much closer to triumph.

“Avada Kedavra!”

The moment Megan saw the intense green light emerge from a wand not far from her, the Unforgivable was met with a jet of scarlet light, deflecting it back toward the caster. She was immediately in a duelling stance, glancing from Ernie to the Death Eater. The man had appeared unconscious when she had first assessed the area, so at least they were more alert, and there was also two of them compared to one of him. Megan suddenly felt relieved that this was Ernie by her side and not a younger student whom she was need to defend more than being able to attack the opponent.

The Death Eater clearly would not stop until they were dead, judging by his first method of attack. Megan cast stupefy followed by furnunculus.

Ernie was completely startled by the sound of a voice, not to mention one that was trying to kill him. A wave of relief crashed over him when he realised he was still alive and that the spell had somehow missed him. He turned quickly on his heel, wand out, aimed toward the figure not far away from them now. He felt like an idiot for not having checked earlier, but at the time, the man had not seemed conscious. Voldemort would have to wait, as Ernie could not justify leaving Megan here alone with someone who was so ruthless.

“Depulso!” he yelled, trying to send their opponent even further away. As a second thought, he sent a stream of flames flying from his wand toward the attacker. His own face was a testament to how well fire worked in a duel. Ernie thought that the man had be injured, considering his place on the floor only moments ago, so he hoped they would be able to quickly overcome him once more.

The Stunner was deflected with a wave of Rookwood’s wand, but the Furnunculus hit his upper arm. His skin stung as the boils rose up, but the irritation was insignificant compared to the curses inflicted on him as punishment by the Dark Lord. He grinned and started towards her. Juvenile hexes. If she wanted to learn how to cast painful curses, to incapacitate a person with agony, he’d teach her through experience.

He planned on using the Imperius. He’d Imperius her, have her cast a Crucio on the young man. She’d learn. He’d force her to learn. However, before he could utter the incantation on the tip of his tongue, he was blasted sideways by a spell. He cursed, staggering, looking up only in time to see the air burst into flames in front of him.

The next thing he knew, his robes were on fire. He felt his skin begin to burn, but before he attempted to extinguish the fire with a spell, he rounded on the two young people.

Incarcerous. He pointed his wand at the boy and cast the spell nonverbally. His intention was to bind the boy, starting at his throat. The girl could help her friend or let him suffocate slowly. He didn’t much care, but it would give him time to stop the flames licking his robes.

Ernie raised his wand to disarm the death eater after his robes had caught fire, but the ropes that suddenly wrapped around his own neck caused it to come out in an incoherent gag. On reflex, he dropped his wand, fingers immediately coming up to claw at the restraints whose pressure tightened with every passing second. He couldn’t breath.

But he had to stay calm. Somehow the thought broke through the clutter of panic that had erupted in his mind. He turned toward Megan, practically begging her to banish the ropes as he struggled with an attempt to get them off on his own. His eyes darted to the floor looking for his wand hurridly.

Augustus extinguished the flames on his robes with a spell. They’d burned away, leaving gaping holes through which he could see seared flesh. It hurt like hell, but he gritted his teeth and cast a Charm to numb the pain. He really disliked fire. Burning.

When he looked up, he saw the young man digging at the robes around his neck. His face, which had already been marred by someone, was turning pink for the lack of oxygen. Perfect. He brought up his wand, teeth grinding together at the pain from the boils and burns, and decided he’d hoist his opponent up in the air to leave him dangling at the end of the robe.

Ernie thought he had spotted his wand when he was suddenly lifted off his feet. The pain increased double fold as his weight was held unevenly on the on the rope. His eyes began to bulge more and for a second the only thought was he had was that this was the end. He was going to die. Then, suddenly, he fell with a crash to the floor. He coughed, gasped, and struggled for breath. Momentarily unable to move except to heave in gasping breaths. His eyes were watery and his head fuzzy at the sensation. Glancing up, he saw Bill Weasley firing off a few spells at Rookwood. He was grateful for the salvation and the distraction the older man provided. As much as he wanted to continue regaining his composure, he knew that if he didn’t get back into the fight, worse could happen. Another Death Eater seemed to be advancing on Bill now and he as much as he respected the older man, he wasn’t sure that he could handle two on his own.

Scrambling forward, he grasp his wand, not even bothering to stand as he pointed over toward two man-eating plants which had been carried into the Great Hall during the early hours of the battle. They looked worse for the wear but still viable options. “Oppugno!” he said, the spell coming out in a hoarse, fairly raspy voice.

Unable to make out the spell through the man’s hoarse words, Augustus was startled when two plants, vines trailing behind like the tail of a kite, came hurtling at him. For a moment he jeered, ready to bat the plants aside, but then the first one hit him, roots and vines wrapping around his arm. The hold was tight, and his brows furrowed together just as one of the vines crept up his torso towards his neck. He grabbed at it, attempting to wrestle it away before blasting at it with a spell. Something had pierced his skin, and he could feel a strange heat spreading from the wound.

His eyes blazed and he stood up, arms swinging from his hunched posture. “Crucio!”

In the time it took the Death Eater to deal with the plant, Ernie had pushed himself to his feet, rubbing at his neck, still coughing and gaging. He knew his recovery time was lagging behind the duel, but there was nothing he could do about it. The best way he could help himself was by acknowledging he was the underdog here. Grandeur thoughts would only prove even more dangerous.

He threw up a quick shield when he saw the man raise his wand. It wasn’t his best effort and it vanished as soon as the spell pierced it. The stinging pain of cruciatus hit him, making him stumble backwards. Somehow he managed to retain his balance, which he could only attribute to the flimsy shield diminishing some of its power. Not wanting to give him a chance to torture him properly, Ernie yelled, “Expelliarmus!” He watched as it sailed past the Death Eater, instead striking someone in the background.

In a desperate attempt to knock him aside, he tried, “Expulso!” aiming it at the floor in front of the man. “Wingardium Leviosa.” Ernie watched some of the debris fly up as he directed it with force toward the man’s face.

As much as Megan wanted to run toward Ernie’s side and fight the Death Eater with him side by side, she knew they would be much easier targets next to each other than several feet apart. Casting a confundus charm of her own, Megan remained agile on her feet in a duelling stance. She glanced over at Ernie with concern briefly before turning her complete attention to the Death Eater before them.

Quickly glancing around, Megan made sure there were not any stray spells that were coming their way as it had been when the Incarcerous had been cast on Ernie. While he cast offensive charms, Megan cast a shield charm in front of her friend. They would be able to take this Death Eater, she was sure of it.

Augustus aimed an Impedimentia spell at the girl when several large pieces of stone and glass soared towards him, picking up speed. He put up one arm to shield his face, but the rubble pelted him before he could banish it. A piece of stone the size of a Snitch cracked against his mouth, resulting in a gush of blood that ran down the back of his throat and tasted of copper. He was fairly certain he lost a tooth on that one, and he spat out a gob of frothy blood, just managing to dodge the jet of light sent at him by the girl.

He was tired of wasting his time with these young people. Dueling a couple of students needn’t take so long, nor so much out of him. With a new sense of vindictiveness, he advanced forward, ready to force them towards back.

“Sectumsempra!” he hissed, using the spell that their headmaster had perfected long ago. He waved his wand again, deciding to leave a matching set of bodies for someone to clean up later. Perhaps the giants would do something useful with them. “Sectumsempra!”

Ernie felt a bit more emboldened when the debris hit it’s target as intended. He stepped closer with the intention of making sure his disarming spell couldn’t miss this time. “Expelliarmus!” he yelled again, the strength of his voice defying the fact he had been choked only moments ago. Almost as soon as he’d cast it, he tried to scream but nothing came out. Flecks of blood spurted up into his eyes and it took several seconds for him to even process what had happened. The sharp pain hit a delayed second later and he automatically tried to scream again but nothing came out. Nothing but a gagging mouth full of blood.

His wand once again hit the floor as both hands went up to grasp his neck. The warm sticky fluids covering his fingers instantly. The pain subsided almost as swiftly as it had appeared. The room spun around, seeming as though it and everyone in it was getting further and further away. The sounds diminished and his sight narrowed. He didn’t see anything except what was right in front of him. He looked at Megan, seeing her only briefly. Then the floor rose up, meeting his face in a cloud of darkness.

Augustus let out a cry of success as he saw one of his spells hit its mark. The blood that spilled forward was such a relief - one down, one to go. Then he’d find another target. He’d find another target until the Dark Lord rid them of Harry Potter for once and for all.

His mistake was in turning his attention to the girl, and in that moment, his wand flew out of his grasp. He let out another cry and attempted to reach for it, but it had clattered to the stone floor several yards away. He was halfway there when he noticed someone step over it, finding himself suddenly faced with Aberforth Dumbledore. The old man’s reflexes were quicker than Augustus’. Augustus barely had a moment to register what was coming at him when the world went black and his head hit the ground with another, sickening crack.

The moment of victory from when the Death Eater was disarmed was extremely short-lived. Although Megan tried to block the spell coming toward her, the unfamiliar and dark magic cut through. Just as the Death Eater was knocked out, Megan looked down at her blood soaked hand, resting over her abdomen. Time seemed to slow as she glanced over to Ernie, only to see him on the floor. Panic did not come. All the sounds around her seemed muffled and Megan felt as if she was in a daze. Tears were falling but she couldn’t feel them. Her brows creased together at the realization which she was denying with all of her strength. Megan fell to her knees beside Ernie, a hand extended out toward him, before falling onto her side.

“Ernie,” she whispered. The last thing Megan Jones saw was Aberforth rushing toward her, shouting inaudible things and casting spells before everything turned black. “Ernie...”