Blurred Lines Mods (blurred_mods) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-08-31 17:28:00 |
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THE FINAL BATTLE [01] [02] [03] [04] [05] [06] [07] [08] [09] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
The lake
Bellatrix could hear the others charging onto the grounds behind her, the fights starting up all around her, the sounds of chaos that she so revelled in, but she was quite singularly focused on one thing. She was going to find Severus Snape and destroy him. Completely. Slughorn's ruined body was abandoned behind her as she stalked across the grounds in search of the man who had struck down the Dark Lord. Supposedly. Her fractured mind could not handle the news she had just been given. She could not process it. And so, as she was so prone towards doing, she settled upon her preferred method of destroy first, ask questions later. But before she could find the traitorous half blood she so longed to crush with her bare hands, another sight caught her eye. A flash of ginger hair. The one thing that could distract her from her crusade. Whether the Dark Lord was alive or not, she would see his will carried out. And if- no, when he returned, she would be rewarded for her actions. For faithfully carrying out his orders even in the face of his seeming defeat. That the girl was the childhood friend of Severus himself was an added bonus. "LILY POTTER," she called out with no care for the element of surprise. She charged towards the other woman, looking every bit the part of an insane, crazed witch, from the expression on her face to the dirt and blood covering her tangled hair and robes. And then, as soon as she was within striking distance, a furious crucio tore from her wand. The thought that a death eater was calling out Lily's name never would have occurred to her. Death Eaters didn't usually give their targets a heads up that sudden doom was searching them out, they just hexed and let the inevitable pain that followed speak for itself. So when Bellatrix called Lily's name out across the field, Lily turned around expecting it to be a friend or someone who at least was on their side, not the psychopathic charging wildebeest that was thundering in her direction. There was no time for shield charms, no time for retaliation. Lily just dove, her eyes wide with terror and panic and an urgency to get out of the way that could not be duplicated. However, although she was thankfully no longer pregnant, Lily was still feeling the weight (quite literally) of her inaction since Harry's birth. The Cruciatus Curse clipped Lily in the lower leg as she collided with the ground, and unlike other spells that graciously only effected the area hit, the full force of the fury behind Bellatrix's curse ripped through Lily, leaving her shrieking and sobbing as she practically convulsed on the ground. Something inside her kept her hand clenched around her wand, but all that Lily could focus on was how much everything hurt, and how badly she wished it would stop. The loud screams from around the greenhouses caught Priam's attention, and he retreated back into the Forbidden Forest as he galloped toward where they were coming from, using the trees to hide his approach even as his hooves thundered across the ground. He could see the human with red hair writhing in pain on the ground and, recognising her as one who was trying to fight against the Death Eaters, he withdrew one of the remaining arrows from his quiver. As he reached the edge of the forest he knocked the arrow back in his longbow, waiting until he reached the wall barrier to leave the forest and circle around to run toward Bellatrix -- and it was then he released the bow string. Amelia, too, was drawn by the screams and ran to help, though she wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do when she got there -- she'd figure that out after. Ignoring some of the other fights taking place around her and ducking out of the way of a few stray curses, she finally arrived to the place where the three had begun to fight. She paused when she saw Bellatrix Lestrange -- she wasn't sure what, exactly, was going on, but from Lily's cries, she could only imagine. Aiming her wand at the woman, she cast a Disarming Spell spell before running to Lily's side and casting a somewhat careless Shield Charm around the two of them. Bellatrix was far too focused on channelling her anger and frustration and pure, unadulterated hatred into her curse to properly enjoy the sounds of Lily screaming in agony. There was no satisfaction, no abating of her rage. Just the unsatiated desire to make the Mudblood suffer beyond anything she had ever experienced before. She was also, unfortunately, far too focused to notice the centaur and Amelia running to Lily's defence. Priam's arrow hit home, sinking into her left arm, and Bellatrix let out a furious snarl of anger (and pain, although she would never admit as much) as she was forced to break off the curse and turn her wand on whoever had dared to interfere. A centaur? While others might have wondered just what would compel a centaur to fight alongside wizards, Bellatrix's only thoughts were to destroy the disgusting, meddling halfbreed. She shot a killing curse towards Priam before returning her attentions to her prey, just as Amelia was firing off her own attack. The disarming spell was more easily dealt with although Bellatrix had only moments to deflect it. She sent a hurling hex towards Amelia to try and throw her away from Lily and then a black fire curse for the Mudblood, before she finally dealt with the arrow in her arm, ripping it free from her flesh and throwing it to the ground. Lily's brief reprieve from the pain of Bellatrix's curse was over much too soon. She was barely aware of the others who had rushed to her assistance -- it briefly dawned on her that the man had too many legs and that the woman looked familiar, but she couldn't place her face -- as she tried to pick herself up off the ground, shooting a gouging hex in Bellatrix's direction. It was child's play in comparison to anything a Lestrange would use in a fight, but painful retaliation, especially after what had felt like minutes under the Cruciatus Curse, was not Lily's forte. Whether it hit or not, however, Lily would never know; Amelia and her shield spell were tossed away from Lily's side as quickly as they'd arrived. She had retaliated with an "Oppugno!" in Bellatrix's direction, gathering up several of the sticks and rocks in the area and shooting them spiraling quickly in her direction before a second glance toward the ground and pain in her leg alerted Lily to the fact that her leg was on fire. The black flames were creeping up the leg of her jeans silently and smokelessly, although the moment she realised Lily began to cry out in pain, shooting blast after blast of useless Aguamenti charms at her leg until finally attempting the muggle route of "stop drop and roll," the thought of using Finite Incantatem not occurring to her in her panic. Bellatrix's hurling hex had sent Amelia tumbling backward until she came to rest several yards away on her back, trying desperately to catch her breath and convince herself that she needed to get up and keep trying. As much as she willed herself, she felt too stiff -- with shock or fear -- to make herself get up. It was the reprise of Lily's cries that snapped her out of her daze and caused her to scramble up to her feet. She stared at the black flames for a moment, confused as to how something like that was even possible, before sending a Blasting Curse after Lily's Oppugno. She did not wait to see if their spells met their marks, but instead turned her attention to Lily's legs and performing the same Aguamenti that Lily had before, not knowing that it would be useless. When it didn't work, she descended into a feeling of panic -- the girl was in pain, she needed to do something to help her right now -- and it took all of her focus to think of something else. Finally, she pointed her wand at the enchanted flames and yelled Finite as loudly and clearly as she could, hoping that would work. The green light of Bellatrix's killing curse missed him by a mere few inches as Priam leaped out of the way; the size of his body made it difficult for swift enough movement to dodge spells as easily as humans could. While the women were distracted attempting to put the black flames out, he tried to spare them some more time. He held his hand out toward the lake and then pulled back, as if he were tugging on an invisible rope -- weeds from underneath the water rose up and began to slither across the ground like snakes toward Bellatrix's feet and ankles, ready to drag her back down into the lake with them. Fighting off three opponents at once was something that would have given most others some pause. Had she been in her right mind, it might have even brought about some measure of caution, or at least care in Bellatrix. But she was most certainly not in her right mind and so her only response as she deflected Lily and Amelia's attacks was a shouted, "IS THIS THE BEST YOU HAVE? YOU WOULD DEFEND YOURSELF BY THROWING STICKS?" Hubris was a dangerous thing, however (although Bellatrix would never dream of acknowledging as much) and as she raised her wand to curse Lily yet again, the creeping weeds curled around her ankles and pulled her quite ingloriously to the ground. The crucio that she had just managed to cast flew wide and Bellatrix did not have time to see what, if anything it might have hit as she was forced to contend with the disgusting mess that Priam had summoned from the lake. But weeds were easily pruned and it was only a matter of moments before she had freed herself and was back on her feet, snarling and throwing curses yet again. She retaliated with an oppugno of her own, throwing not sticks and stones at the two women but an array of freshly conjured knives that went sailing towards them, sunlight glinting off their blades. And then as she left them to deal with the flying weapons, she turned her attention to the damnable, meddling centaur. "Stay out of this, half-breed," she yelled as she pelted him with a sectumsempra, an incendio and an expulso all in quick succession. The woman was absolutely out of her bloody mind, there was no question, and Lily was having a difficult enough time attempting merely to defend herself, let alone retaliate. It was three against one. Logic dictated that Lily, Amelia, and the centaur should have had the upper hand! She shot a grateful look at Amelia for figuring out how to end the black fire spell, and in her distraction wound up with one of the knives barreling through the air straight towards her. Lily dove out of the way, but still surfaced with a rather nasty slice gouge down her shoulder. For the moment, though, Bellatrix seemed distracted with the helpful centaur and finally provided Lily with a window to attack back. A wave of her wand sent a disarming spell and an Incarcerous in the Death Eater's direction, followed by a screamed blasting curse that Lily hoped would blast Bellatrix into the lake and into oblivion, never to darken another doorway again. The giant squid was already splashing around in the water, its rest obviously disturbed by Priam's centaur magic. Hopefully the rumours of it being a vegetarian weren't true and the squid would eat her. Like Lily, Amelia had been distracted as well, kneeling down to make sure the woman's legs were not too badly burned. Lily's alarm caused her to look up at the Death Eater only to see knives soaring through the air toward them. With a scream, Amelia threw herself down onto the ground as flat as she could to avoid the path of Bellatrix's attack, but the knives sliced up her back, leaving her robes torn and soon bloodied from the wounds. Sitting up, she hastily wiped her arm across her eyes to remove the hot, stinging tears from her eyes and hoped that adrenaline would kick in soon and overcome the pain. Rolling over to face the Death Eater, Amelia collected the knives she'd sent at them and sent them flying back with her own Oppugno, trying to channel her pain into anger until it went away. Half-breed. Priam's eyes narrowed at the insult; how dare a human speak to him like that? A female human? His thoughts of superiority were interrupted only by the volley of spells coming his way, and the centaur reared back, red lines of blood crisscrossing over his underbelly as the first spell struck him. He stumbled two steps back on his hind legs before collapsing over onto his side, but he was left with little time to recover. A swift wave of his hand and a thin wall of earth rose up to protect him, the flames from Bellatrix's spell splitting as it struck the barrier and spreading out on either side of him instead, but the blasting curse made short work of the dirt wall and he covered his head with his arms to protect himself from the flying bits of rock and earth. With the centaur effectively dealt with for the moment, Bellatrix turned her attentions back towards the women. A little too late. She narrowly avoided the disarming spell by sheer luck alone but the incarcerous connected, ropes tangling around her arms and legs. She started to free herself, only to be sent flying through the air by the blasting curse a moment later. At least she had been thrown out of the path of her own knives. Or at least that was her thought, right up until the moment where she felt something slimy and wet curling around her body. The giant squid had risen from the lake and caught her in one of its tentacles that was now squeezing her chest. Awash in fury, Bellatrix gave a violent twist of her body and sent a severing hex at the tentacle, tearing it from the squid's body and sending her into a free fall towards the water. The squid was clearly not pleased. Another tentacle snaked out from the water and smacked Bellatrix across the face, sending her flying back towards the shore. Pain shot through her body as she hit the unforgiving ground but still she would not relent, firing a barrage of blasting curses blindly towards where the women had been with little care for aim or even picking herself up off the ground. There was not time. It was hard not to simply stop and watch while the squid took hold of Bellatrix and dragged her towards the lake. The temptation to wave goodbye as she was pulled away was all too intense. Lily at least remembered to throw up a shield spell around herself; just because Lestrange was gone didn't mean that other Death Eaters wouldn't run in to attack in her absence. And the shield did, in fact, hold up; Lily simply had not predicted that Bellatrix would regain her senses as quickly as she did to send a barrage of blasting curses in their direction. The shield took the brunt of a few of the blasts, but the assault of spells continued to rush in every direction. Lily shot back every spell she could think of (binding spells, blasting spells, ones that would make Bellatrix's teeth grow, ones that would cause her hair to fall out in patches) until her shield finally grew weak enough that Lily was caught up in one of the blasting curses and thrown back against the trunk of a nearby tree. Amelia followed Lily's lead and cast a Shield Charm in front of her even as she watched Bellatrix and the squid with horrified fascination. She'd always heard stories about the monster that lived in the lake but she'd never seen it, particularly not while it was attacking some one. What had Dumbledore been thinking, keeping such dangerous things near a school? Between that and the whomping willow, some one could have been seriously hurt. By the time the Blasting Curses knocked her off her train of thought, she had completely lost focus on maintaining her shield, which was already weaker than Lily's to begin with. It did not take more than one or two of the curses hitting it to wear it down, leaving her no time to send any spells back at the Death Eater before she was knocked off her feet and sent tumbling head over heels by the blast. Priam rolled back up to his feet, looking on with alarm as the fire was spreading around him, but all thoughts of putting out the flames were pushed aside at the sight of the giant squid. Unfortunately, it had been too much to hope that the squid would be able to end this fight here and now -- but the centaur was ready, and while Bellatrix was distracted with the human women, he took a leap over the fires and as he ran toward her he sent a volley of arrows at the fallen Death Eater. Bellatrix's own shield charm flew from her wand the moment the final blasting curse had been cast and while she was generally not one to hide behind shields, as she considered it, in this instance she needed a moment to get back to her feet. Her body protested as she was forced to move a bit more slowly than she would have otherwise, thanks to the force with which she had hit the ground. But whatever injury was hindering her was registered not as some specific ailment but as pain to be overcome. She had a purpose and she would not be swayed from it. Spell after spell were deflected by her shield and the centaur's arrows were left to fall harmlessly to the ground. She was halfway to her feet when the giant squid apparently decided that it was not finished with her. A tentacle snaked around her legs and her concentration on her own defence was broken as she was pulled back to her knees. She twisted to fire another severing charm at the squid, freeing herself from its grasp as one of the centaur's arrows pierced her shoulder and clumps of her hair began to fall from her head all in the same moment (although the latter was hardly noticed.) With a snarl of rage, she ripped the arrow free from her shoulder and cast a wild crucio at the charging half-breed. Bellatrix wasn't the only one with a purpose. True, at the moment Lily's cause was a little bit less noble, falling less-so under the category Shoot Kill Destroy and more-so under the heading of Don't Die, but it was no less important. Of course, Lily also didn't want to see either Amelia or the centaur whose name she didn't know hurt either, and so after casting up a shield charm around herself drew one up around the centaur as well (as she had no idea if they could perform that sort of magic on their own) before yelling an Expelliarmus, a stunning spell, and a Levicorpus at Bellatrix all one right after the last (making sure to keep her distance so that she could duck out of the way of anything sent back her way). Amelia was also pretty attached to the idea of Not Dying, so from her place on the ground several yards back, she too produced a Shield Charm. While struggling to right herself, she noticed the Death Eater doing the same and sent a Tripping Jinx in hopes of keeping her down for a bit longer. At least until she could right herself. And as soon as she could, she ran toward the fire and tried her best to put it out with a hastily cast Aguamenti -- all the while trying to steer clear of the centaur, his hooves and his arrows. As noble as Lily's attempt to aid him with protection was, Priam's actions were focused on destroying the Death Eater instead of protecting the witches and considering they might be in harm's way. As he began to draw one of his final arrows from his quiver, the Cruciatus Curse smashed through the shield spell in front of him and in an instant, the centaur was on the ground. His long bow was snapped in half as his body landed on top of it, the hand carved wood held together now only by the string at each tip, but Priam hardly noticed over the excruciating pain, hooves digging into the dirt and hands grabbing uselessly at grass as he writhed and screamed. Bellatrix's crucio was short-lived as Lily began shouting spells (she did so appreciate the warning) and she turned her attention and her wand away from the centaur to deflect the Mudblood's attacks one after another. But she did not notice Amelia's tripping jinx flying at her until she could feel the magic curling around her legs and she was back on her knees before she had even managed to stand. Tripping jinxes and disarming spells. This was how they intended to defeat her? Had she been in a state to be even remotely amused, Bellatrix likely would have laughed as she rose more quickly this time as she stood, her eyes settling on Amelia, her expression one of crazed malice. Two sectumsempras and then a killing curse all went flying in quick succession towards Amelia and then a sharp jerk of her wand sent an entrail expelling curse in Lily's direction, although for the moment she was more focused on dispensing with the other two so she could take her time in killing Lily properly. "Stop it!" Lily screamed at Bellatrix futilely as she dove out of the way of the Entrail Expelling Curse, not wanting to know what it'd felt like when her friend Mary had gone through the same thing back in school (especially considering Bellatrix Lestrange was likely a million times more practiced with the spell than a barely post-pubescent Demetrius Mulciber had been. while silent magic was not Lily's forte, she whispered a "Glacius" and a "Diffindo" at Lestrange, hoping that the desperate sort of power behind the hexes wouldn't be lost due to the incantations not being screamed off in Bellatrix's direction. Having heard those incantations on a few other occasions -- and more importantly, having seen what the spells could do -- Amelia was in no rush to let them hit her, so she dove forward onto the ground, getting a mouthful of dirt for her effort. The first spell missed, but she cast a Shield Charm for good measure, which deflected the second curse; however, the impact sent her reeling backward, rolling closer to the water's edge but fortunately out of the Killing Curse's path. Grabbing onto tufts of grass to lift herself up, she ignored the stinging of dirt and sand making its way into the newly acquired scrapes all over her arms and legs and aimed her wand again at the Death Eater, sweeping up rocks from the shore of the lake as she went. "Oppugno!" For several seconds after the curse had ended, Priam remained on the ground as he recovered -- before this battle he had never experienced such powerful spells before, certainly not anything like the Cruciatus Curse. It was only another reminder of why centaurs kept themselves away from humans; it was much easier to avoid them all than to seek out those few they deemed worthy enough for their attention. However, these humans -- these Death Eaters -- threatened more than just their fellow witches and wizards. It was a struggle getting back up to his feet again, the loss of so much blood weakening him, his movements sluggish. His long bow remained abandoned on the ground, and he stripped himself of his quiver as well, now useless. While Bellatrix was distracted with fighting the other two young women, Priam took advantage of the opportunity to gallop up behind her, halting abruptly once he was close enough -- and he twisted his body around, using his hind legs to kick at the midsection of Bellatrix's back with every ounce of his strength. The glacius was avoided by mere chance alone as Bellatrix moved towards Amelia and the rocks that were flying in her direction. The diffindo on the other hand, sliced across Bellatrix's side, but she could not be bothered by such things beyond a growl of annoyance. No, it was Amelia and her rocks that had her attention as Bellatrix focused her magic and twisted the woman's spell, turning it back against her. It was not a mere wave of flying stone that went back towards Amelia but a furious tornado of rocks and dirt, barrelling straight for the woman. And then sheer agony was tearing through her back as the centaur's legs connected, sending pain shooting up and down her spine, reverberating in the base of her skull. She cried out in a furious rage as she was sent flying to the ground and it was only by sheer force of will that she fought through the pain and rolled to the side, instinct telling her to get out of the way from what she expected to be the centaur's hooves trampling down upon her. "Avada Kedavra," she snarled with a snap of her wand once she had ended on her back, sending the green light flying towards the half breed without a second thought. As soon as Priam felt the impact against his hooves, he turned around again, following the fallen Death Eater just as she had predicted, his front hooves crushing against the ground beneath him as Bellatrix rolled safely away from further harm. Each stomp of his hooves kicked up dirt and grass, and he reared up to bring his hooves down upon her with his full weight, and she was just a few steps away -- there was only a look of surprise that crossed Priam's face as he realised he could not dodge the spell directed at him, but he felt nothing when the green light struck him; and like a ragdoll the proud centaur fell, his body landing heavily on the ground as nothing more than an empty, lifeless shell. Amelia hardly had time to stare, speechless, at the centaur's form falling to the ground before she was being pelted with rocks of varying sizes. Those that connected with her shoulder cracked the bones in their wake while another hit her head, leaving her dazed even as the stones pummeled her backward into the water. Terrified that the squid that had attacked the Death Eater earlier might still be angry -- and worse, hungry -- Amelia tried to drag herself back up onto the shore with one arm. Blood soaked her hair and left its stain on her forehead, leaving her no choice but to let go of her hold and wipe it away before it made its way to her eyes. Though she lost several feet of progress, she was determined to continue and swapped her wand from one hand to the other, casting another feeble Incarcerous at the witch. The colour drained from Lily's face as she watched with horrified wide eyes as the centaur slumped to the ground, never to rise again, screaming "NO!" as if that would change it. This wasn't fair. This wasn't even his fight and the centaur had been killed. Why did she have to keep killing people? No one would've disagreed with her and her family living the way they preferred as long as they'd left everyone else to live their lives. Lily's eyes narrowed, focusing on her spellwork rather than the fact that she felt as though she was about to be sick, shooting out another disarming spell, another diffindo -- it was always the same spells, over and over again, but perhaps Bellatrix would be thrown off by their persistence. Just to be safe, though, she tossed the same itching spell she'd used on Tabitha Pryce earlier in the afternoon, knowing if it hit, it would be irritating enough to distract her. One down, two to go. Bellatrix pulled herself back to her feet, unable to avoid the wince of pain that marred her features as movement sent a fresh wave of pain tearing through her back. But she had fought through far, far worse than this and she was not finished. The ropes of Amelia's attack were vanished before they reached her and Bellatrix sent a giant ball of flames at the woman, followed by a powerful hurling hex intended to send her crashing into the nearby trees. Now for the Mudblood. Persistence was nothing as far as Bellatrix was concerned. She was stronger than the two women combined and although she had been distracted by Amelia, a shield charm flew from her wand to block the girl's feeble attacks just in time. She was furious, but even in all of her desire to see the girl dead, it was still her suffering that she demanded first and the cruciatus flew from her wand yet again. Both of Bellatrix's hexes hit Amelia directly in the side as she struggled to pull herself further onto dry land. It was clearly very little use, since she wasn't staying put for very much longer. When the fire washed over her, Amelia could feel the back and sleeves of her robe catch flame, the proximity of the heat, if not the panic alone, causing her to sweat instantaneously. Before she could do anything to extinguish herself, the hurling hex sent her precisely where the Death Eater had intended -- straight into a three trunk. Fortunately, the process of being hurled across the ground had practically put out all of the flames on its own, and what remained would not cause damage any more serious than that which had already been caused. From the impact of the tree, she was completely disoriented and there were sharp pains along her side, which had taken the brunt of the impact. Her head wasn't exactly feeling in top top shape, either. Maybe if she just closed her eyes for a bit... Lily watched in horror as Amelia went hurling through the air, smashing hard against the trunk of a tree. She couldn't tell if she was alive or dead and before Lily was able to run over to check, Bellatrix's Cruciatus Curse hit once more. Legs dropping weakly out from under her, Lily smacked hard into the ground, writhing as she screamed and sobbed for Bellatrix to end the spell (she might as well have been asking the sky to turn green). There wasn't anyone else left who could help her. A glance towards Amelia was enough to confirm that the woman would not be interfering again - she would finish with her later - and Bellatrix stalked towards Lily, keeping both her wand and the cruciatus trained on her. But this was not how she wanted to do this. This was not how she wanted to kill the woman who suddenly seemed to represent everything that was wrong in Bellatrix's life. The Dark Lord's disappearance (as she chose to think of it in that moment) at the hands of this girl's traitorous childhood friend; the society that Mudbloods like her tried to ruin, that her cousin, her father, her husband had all died trying to protect; her ability to bear children (whether she wished to or not) torn from her by this girl's friend; even the loss of her memory at the hands of her sister's Mudblood husband. All of her fury and blame and need for vengeance was pinned upon Lily Potter in a moment as she broke off the cruciatus and with another flick of her wand, summoned the girl to her with a silent accio. Seconds turned into minutes that felt like hours under Bellatrix's cruciatus curse, the pain never giving way or lessening for even an instant no matter how furiously Lily twisted and tried to pull away. The intensity behind it only grew more and more intense and horrific as time ticked by. Lily wasn't even sure if she was still screaming or not; she wasn't sure of anything except that the pain wasn't stopping. Until it did, for the briefest of instants. Lily twisted onto her side, grabbing her side and heaving up whatever it was that she'd had for breakfast. There was no reprieve, though; no chance to catch her breath or pull herself together before she was whisked violently into the air and went crashing backwards across the grounds until the full weight of her just-post-pregnancy self slammed into Bellatrix. Bellatrix had braced herself for the impact of Lily's body against her own, intending to catch her and pin the girl against her chest, but she had underestimated both her already weakened back and Lily's weight and instead they both went crashing to the ground. But even with the surprise of losing her footing, Bellatrix still managed to grab hold of the girl's arm and twist herself so she was not pinned beneath her. Quickly recovering, she was soon on her knees at Lily's side, the tip of her wand digging into the girl's chest as she pried her wand free from her clenched hand. It was tucked into her robes (a trophy she could think of more than a few people she might send its snapped pieces to lat) and a knife was retrieved in its place. "Did you see what I did to poor Slughorn?" she asked, her eyes dark with malice, although her voice was absent the more customary amusement that such a situation might usually provoke as she turned the knife in her hand, examining the blade with an odd sort of interest. "I have always wanted to flay a man with my hands. You will do." And then with one sudden, swift movement, she brought the knife down to stab through the soft flesh under her shoulder. She did not really have the patience for the kind of detail work flaying would require anyway. Everyone had seen what Bellatrix had done to Slughorn. Lily had tried to push that out of her mind; he'd been her favourite professor back at Hogwarts, and to see him killed like that had been just as heart-wrenching as it had been disgusting. There wasn't time to be disgusted though, or angry at Bellatrix, or sad for Professor Slughorn -- she was too busy being terrified that the same thing was about to happen to her. "Please don't," Lily whispered between her tears, sobbing as the knife dug into her as she tried to pull Bellatrix's arm (and the knife) away with her shaking free hand. "Why not?" was Bellatrix's only reply as she looked down at Lily with something that might have been akin to genuine curiosity. Not that any answer the girl might give would actually stop her, but she wanted to hear just what she might come up with regardless. It was a strange thing, that despite the battles still raging all around them, despite all of Bellatrix's fury and grief and insanity, she suddenly seemed almost calm for a moment, if a madwoman brandishing a knife could ever be called as much. And then Lily got her wish - or at least one of them - as Bellatrix gave a sharp twist of the knife and ripped it free from her shoulder. It was only a momentary reprieve, however, as the blade was next buried in Lily's thigh. She knew what she was doing - not that there was likely any question of that - and she fully intended to draw this out for as long as she could, to relish in the girl's suffering, to make her pay for all that she and her friends had done. "B-because I-" Lily started, only able to get out that much of a reason (or an attempt at one) before she was screaming again, the knife yanked from her shoulder and slamming down hard into her thigh. That wasn't her wish; she'd wanted Bellatrix to stop completely, not to move her stab-happy sadism south. It was hard to concentrate on anything beyond how much she hurt, let alone think up an excuse that Bellatrix Lestrange would decide was a worthy reason to spare her life. "You're wasting your time," she finally sputtered out, torn between trying to pull away and not wanting to hurt herself worse in the process. "No," she replied, her expression darkening further still as she did not tear her eyes away from Lily's even as she pressed the knife further into the girl's leg. "The Dark Lord has ordered your death and I will see it done. There is only one person I would more like to kill right now and he will be next." And then whatever sense of control and false appearance of calm she had managed to present at finally having this Mudblood under her knife was gone in an instant and only furious anger was left in it's place. She roughly dragged Lily off the ground, bringing her back to press against her, one arm firmly wrapped around her chest. She wanted to feel her die. She wanted to feel the life leave her disgusting, Mudblood-filled body. The knife was wrenched free of her leg then and plunged into her stomach. "Do you still care for your childhood friend? Perhaps I shall rip out your heart and present it to him as a token of your affection." Lily's thigh and shoulder were throbbing as blood pulsed through the gouges the knife had left behind, the small areas burning as if they were on fire when compared to the rest of Lily's body, which was freezing cold. She trembled as Bellatrix dragged her upwards, too weak to struggle anymore. She opened her mouth to reply but was unable to find words that mattered, not when Bellatrix was threatening to rip her heart out of her chest. "Please, I have a son, I need to-" she started pleading, only to have her words cut off again as the knife jammed into her stomach. It didn't seem real; the burning pain throbbed through Lily's body almost in slow motion, and it wasn't until she glanced down and saw the knife in her stomach that she truly realised that there wasn't any hiding from this. The damage was already done. "Killing me isn't going to bring Voldemort back," Lily rasped, struggling for the strength to keep breathing. "Neither will hurting Sev, or anyone. Everything you were fighting for is gone." If her fury had been frightening before, it was nothing compared to the sheer, incomprehensible rage that tore through Bellatrix at Lily's words. That this Mudblood would dare to speak the name of the Dark Lord. That she would speak of his death. Her affection for the half-blood who had betrayed them all. The truth of her words. A short, sharp, ear-splitting scream tore from her throat as her arm tightened crushingly around the girl's chest and the knife was buried to the hilt before she ripped it up through her stomach with a powerful wrench of her hand, stopped only as metal hit bone. Blood poured across Bellatrix's hands and soaked through her blouse and trousers but she did not even notice. Again the knife was sunk back into Lily's stomach and torn through soft flesh and organs. The blood-covered handle slipped from her fingers and she fumbled for a moment before it was reclaimed to her hand and thrust into her yet again. There was no grace to her actions, no careful consideration of how best to inflict pain, only blind, mindless brutality. Lily could feel every slice of the knife, each stab into her chest and her stomach, every hint of the full depth of Bellatrix's rage with an intensity she couldn't describe. The blade plunged into Lily again and again and again, every stab and every rebound ripping another hole into her skin and another surge of agony through her body. The pain was unbearable, and Lily found herself wishing that her body would just shut down so that she wouldn't have to feel it any more as her blood and her life leaked from her wounds and through Bellatrix's unrelenting grasp. Pure blood mingled with muggle blood. Hopefully Bellatrix noticed and felt tainted. The burning feeling that pulsed through Lily's body was slowly replaced by an all-over freezing coldness, and Lily's previous wish for everything to fade away was replaced a moment of excruciating panic and terror. She couldn't leave Harry. He only turned a month old yesterday. And James, Lily had only just gotten him back. There wasn't any coming back from this, though; there were no spells that the Healers could perform that would fix the all-over damage that Bellatrix had done to her body. Harry was safe, though, even if his mother was anything but. James was back to his old self again; he'd raise their son just as well as he and Lily would have together. Her childhood best friend, for all the mistakes he'd made in joining the Death Eaters, was the reason that Voldemort was dead. The Death Eaters were losing. Even Bellatrix knew it, Lily could feel her fury over that with every stab of the knife, and that almost made it worth everything. And as Bella dragged the knife in her stomach through flesh and tissue and organs, as the world around Lily grew fuzzy and her body grew weaker, she hoped that she was leaving Harry behind a world where he would grow up safe, and happy, and with friends he wouldn't have to say goodbye to as soon as she had to say goodbye to him. For all of her desires to feel Lily Potter die against her, to feel her last breath leave her pathetic little body, Bellatrix could not even notice that the only heart pounding against her chest was now her own. Even after Lily had slumped forward against her arm, the life gone from her body, Bellatrix kept tearing the knife through flesh. It was only when the knife again slipped from her blood stained hands that she noticed the girl was dead. The Dark Lord's task had been completed. And yet, oddly, there was no sense of satisfaction, no thrill of victory, of vengeance seen fulfilled. Only an ever present anger that could not be sated, but even that seemed flat. Hollow. Bellatrix ripped the knife free one last time and shoved Lily's body from her own before standing. The knife was carelessly dragged across her blood-soaked trousers in a futile attempt to clean it before it was replaced in its sheath. And with her wand back in hand, Bellatrix stalked off, abandoning the body of the woman she had so dearly wanted dead without a second thought.
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