Perdition Mods (perdition_mods) wrote in perdition_rpg, @ 2009-05-01 20:57:00 |
|
|||
Alicia Spinnet (8), Katie Bell vs Jugson Basil Jugson was not a happy Death Eater, even if the prospect of The Dark Lord finally finishing off Harry Potter was rather brilliant to him. He had been enjoying a nice evening at the pub, making a new lady friend when he'd felt the Mark on his arm burn. Why did all of these epic battles start in the middle of the night, instead of more reasonable hour, like 5 pm? So, he found himself lurking in the corridors of his old school, hurling hexes at anything that didn't look like a Death Eater (admittedly, it was hard to tell, especially after a few pints). He noticed movement further down the hallway. Not one to mess around with namby pamby curses, he pointed his wand at the figures (or figures) and yelled, "Crucio!" He did want to get home at a relatively reasonable hour, still, so he was eager to get things over with as quickly as possible. Alicia had suspected that battle would be rather similar to Quidditch, that is to say, nothing that she couldn't handle. While the defenders of the castle had been preparing themselves, this seemed to hold true: the strategy, teamwork, and execution was all vaguely familiar to the former Chaser. But when the Death Eaters attacked the castle, it had become something completely different, and while Alicia was used to trusting her instincts and acting spontaneously, nothing could have fully prepared her for this. She was running down the corridor, not entirely sure where she was headed, when someone — presumably a Death Eater — hit her with a Cruciatus. Her shield charm, hastily cast just moments prior, lessened the severity of the attack but did not fully prevent the onslaught of pain. Alicia gasped as the curse overwhelmed her, and it was a few moments before she composed herself enough to point her wand in the direction of her attacker and cry "Impedimentia!" Katie, who had just escaped from a fight with a Death Eater whose face she vaguely recognised as someone who worked at the Ministry, rounded the corner, leaning against the wall for a moment to catch her breath. Her side was aching, from exhaustion or from a curse she wasn't quite sure, but at least she'd made it clear that she could stand her own. It had been almost oddly satisfying to watch the man fly into a wall with a loud crunch, and although Katie had come out of the fight far from unscratched, she felt more energised than ever due to the adrenaline coursing through her body. Hearing a sound of pain in the distance, Katie snapped her head to the side. Right. She didn't have time to just stand here. Taking another deep breath, she began to run into the direction of the sound, her eyes moving from side to side in an attempt to detect even the slightest movement. Jugson was stopped in his tracks, thanks to Alicia's spell. It did give him some time to observe the enemy, or enemies. It did appear to him that that were indeed to people. Young females, from the look of it. Definitely not Death Eaters. It was a pity that it seemed so many young females were wasting their time fighting for a dead man's cause. He also noticed one of the many tapestries at Hogwarts hanging up on the wall near one of them. He could probably just hit it from where he was stuck. "Incendio!" he yelled and the tapestry burst into flames. Fire was always fun, even if a bit less effective than Unforgivables. Alicia felt relief rush through her body as two things happened simultaneously: the intense pain faded and Katie appeared on the scene. A two-pronged attack would give the girls, inexperienced as they were in duels, a slight advantage. But first, she wanted to reinforce her shield charm. "Protego!" she shouted, not trusting a nonverbal to do the job. Having done that, she turned slightly to face her friend, taking care not to turn her back on the enemy. "Katie, thank Merlin you're still alive," Alicia gushed breathlessly. Mid-fight was decidedly not the best time to start a conversation, but her attacker was subdued for the moment and Alicia was never one to keep her thoughts to herself. Recognising Alicia's voice, Katie's first instinct was to make sure she was all right, and so she didn't notice the Death Eater until he shouted a curse and the tapestry right next to her suddenly burst into flames. With a look of horror on her face, she watched it heeling forward, threatening to fall on top of her, and she quickly cast the first spell that came to mind: "Confringo!" The tapestry was blasted into pieces, and Katie hissed as some of the still burning pieces of fabric hit her shoulders and arms. Still, it was not nearly as bad as it could have been. Making her way over to Alicia, Katie glared at the Death Eater, her wand still outstretched in her arm. "I'm fine," she told her friend, giving her a brief smile before going back to eyeing their attacker. "This one giving you trouble?" Damn, so Jugson's brilliant flaming tapestry idea didn't go down as well as he'd hoped. And now he had two of these Order of the Phoenix or Dumbledore's Army bitches to deal with. And what was this? Were they actually chatting? "Oh, Merlin, I love your shoes, where did you get them?" he muttered to himself in a high-pitched voice, mocking them, possibly loud enough for them to overhear. Fortunately Jugson had full mobility back as the impedimenta curse had worn off. He took advantage of this and creeped down the hall, sticking next to the wall on side, closer to the girls. It gave him a few seconds to think of how to best deal with the situation. A confundus charm popped into his head first, so that's what he thought of when he aimed his wand at one of the girls and silently cast the charm. Hopefully his aim was as good as the last curse was. "Just a bit —," Alicia managed to get out before she felt a spell graze past her shield charm, heading for Katie. "Watch it, he's moving again!" she shouted, hoping the warning wasn't too late. She swiveled to face their opponent, racking her brains for a hex to shoot back. She was still slightly shaken from being Cruciated for the first time in her life, and when she thought about offensive magic her mind focused on the Unforgivables — but of course, she wouldn't be able to cast one of those, having never practised them. As soon as something came to mind, she cast it: "Rictusempra!" Perhaps it wasn't ideal for a duel with a Death Eater, as she mostly remembered it from casting it lightly on her brother when they were younger, but at least it might distract him momentarily. Luckily Katie was prepared for another attack, and so she had caught the moment from the corner of her eye. "Protego!" she yelled, unsure as to what spell exactly he had thrown at her and unwilling to take a risk. Had she been too late? Had her shield charm done the trick? Her head felt slightly fuzzy, and Katie shook it, pinching her eyes shut for a moment. A few deep breaths later, Katie felt slightly better and she quickly followed Alicia's example and threw a jelly legs jinx in his direction, cursing into herself as she could feel her aim wasn't exactly what she had expected it to be. "Damn," Jugson muttered to himself, thinking that he'd missed. He tried to dodge Alicia's spell, but he didn't quite have enough time and it hit him square in the chest. It was incredibly undignified for a Death Eater and he knew it, but he couldn't help collapsing into a fit of giggles. Fortunately it only lasted a few seconds and he managed to avoid Katie's jelly legs jinx. Unfortunately for the girls, it really pissed him off. "You're going to regret that!" he spat. "Crucio!" he yelled, aiming at Katie. Shite, Alicia berated herself as the Jugson attacked Katie in retaliation for Alica's hex. Shite bugger prat that was my fault. A tickling spell had obviously not been the best choice. She needed to get her head in the game before she got one of her friends, or herself, seriously injured. Her eyes darted around the corridor, and in a moment inspiration struck: she cast a reductor curse at the wall above the Death Eater's head, hoping it was strong enough to have some effect on the ancient castle. It would be just her luck if the castle had wards to prevent this kind of thing. Katie hadn't completely recovered yet from the confundus charm, and so his spell hit her fully on the chest. Her nerves exploded in pain all over her body, and Katie fought not to scream, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. Instead she bent double, holding herself up against the wall as well as she could, hoping it would be over soon. "Bassstarrd," she managed to hiss out with difficulty through her teeth, in-between the shockwaves that rolled over her. Already sweat was forming on her forehead, and Katie could feel herself slowly sliding down against the wall. Jugson frowned, thinking he'd missed again, but then he realized that the girl was doubled over. Still, he'd wanted to hear the girl scream, it was always better when they screamed. Suddenly, something hard hit him square on his shoulder and then on his foot. "Arrgh!" he yelled, hopping on his non-injured foot and grabbing his shoulder. Looking down, he noticed chunks of rock on the floor where there had been none seconds earlier. He glanced up and noticed a bit of the wall above him was missing. He'd had enough of this monkey business. He was so angry that he couldn't really feel the pain anymore, so he aimed his wand at Alicia and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" Relieved and slightly surprised that her blasting curse had achieved the desired effect, Alicia assumed the damage would buy her enough time to help Katie. Having just taken a Cruciatus from Jugson when they started to duel, Alicia hated the thought of anyone else suffering through it, and Katie hadn't even had a shield charm to alleviate a fraction of the pain. All it would take was a simple but strong Finite Incantatem. In her eagerness to help — and to help now — the Gryffindor broke a cardinal rule of battling and turned her back to the enemy. Raising her wand, she got no futher than "F—" when the green light surrounded her and she collapsed, growing cold as the stone floor beneath her motionless body. Finally the Cruciatus was lifted from her body and Katie took a few relieved breaths, trying to get back on her feet. She looked up just in time to see the green light advancing rapidly towards Alicia. A strangled scream tore from her throat, more anguished than any scream the Cruciatus could have caused, but it was too late. As if in slow-motion, Katie watched her friend dropping to the floor before remaining there. Cold, lifeless, dead. Tears jumping into her eyes, Katie began to advance towards the Death Eater, practically roaring in anger. Her skin was still burning from the after-effects of his curse, but she no longer noticed. No one hurt her friends and got away with it, and she was going to make him pay. Opting for a spell that had proved successful in the past, she yelled out the curse that was meant to blow him right into the wall, putting as much of her anger behind it as she could. As Katie approached Jugson, he couldn't help thinking that that was not the reaction he would have had if some bastard had just killed a friend of his. No, he would have turned tail and gotten the hell out of there. She must be a Gryffindor, only they would do something that ridiculous. However, his brief thoughts were interrupted when he was blasted backwards into the wall behind him. He hit the wall very hard, mainly with the back of his head and the shoulder that had been previously hurt. He felt himself sliding down the wall until his bum hit the ground. It was going to take him a few seconds to get up, as his head was pounding and he felt very dizzy. It was like being drunk and suffering the hangover at the same time. With no small amount of satisfaction Katie watched him slam into the wall with a loud crack, and she took another few steps forward, staring down on him as he lay there. Kill him, said a voice in the back of her head. He killed Alicia. Now you can make him pay. Kill him. You know he deserves it. Yes, thought Katie, pain and anger still coursing through her veins. Why shouldn't I? If they can do it, then why can't we? It's not fair. None of it is. "I should kill you," she spat, taking another step forward. Lifting up her wand, Katie opened her mouth to say those two words, the words that would end everything, but they died right there on her lips. She wanted to say them, she wanted to so badly, but she couldn't. For a few seconds, Jugson really though the girl might kill him. They were both terrifying and humiliating seconds, so he was rather relieved when he realized that she couldn't. Too bad for her, that meant he now had another opportunity to get rid of her. He smirked, looking up at her. She was close enough now that if he could muster up the concentration to Cruciate her again, it would really hurt this time. Although the pain in his shoulder was almost unbearable, he pointed his wand at her. He would channel his pain into the curse. "Crucio!" he said shakily, but not without malice. Still caught up in her own inner turmoil, Katie wasn't prepared for the curse coming her way, and this time she couldn't keep herself from screaming as her already frayed nerves took another beating. Staggering backwards Katie prayed for the pain to end, and when it finally did she only allowed herself a few seconds to catch her breath before whipping her wand - which she had been clenching in her hand during the torturing - towards him and casting the conjunctivitis curse. If he couldn't see her, he couldn't curse her either. "Dammit!" Jugson swore as his eyes immediately clouded up. But just because he couldn't see, didn't mean he still wouldn't try to get back at Katie somehow. He aimed his wand at the ceiling (at least he still knew where that was) and blasted it, hoping it that maybe some chunks of it would fall on her... and not on him. Katie didn't even have time to enjoy her small victory: the ceiling burst with a crash, several large chunks of plaster falling down and hitting her hard on the head and the top of her back. Fortunately she managed to avoid being hit by one of the biggest pieces by diving to the side, falling hard on her stomach in the process. Biting her lip against the pain, Katie tried to get up as quickly as possible. She had to get out of here now, she realised, but she couldn't leave without Alicia. The Death Eater was still down, but both her injuries and Alicia's body would slow her considerably, so she needed something to give her a bit of an edge. Looking around frantically, Katie tried to ignore the now throbbing pain in her upper back. Spotting a suit of armour halfway down the corridor, she was about to hex it when a voice suddenly rose above the castle, cold and eerily calm, and began to speak to them. Voldemort. "-to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured." A chunk of the ceiling had landed on Jugson's foot and it hurt a considerable amount. He was pretty sure it was broken, but his vision was still blurry for him to take a good look at it. Jugson had just pushed the ceiling chunk off his foot when he heard the Dark Lord speak. It was partly a relief and partly an annoyance -- he did want to finish off this little brat, too, but things weren't exactly going in his favour. Jugson struggled to stand up, using the wall to help him. He hobbled backwards, so that we was still facing Katie, in case she tried any funny business while he retreated. He didn't turn around until he could no longer see her blurry outline. Jugson continued to limp through the castle, not entirely sure he was going, and willed himself to not pass out. He sincerely hoped he wouldn't run into anymore of these annoying Dumbledore's Army kids. For a brief moment Katie considered hexing him as he walked off, but this was exactly the opportunity she had been hoping for, and she wasn't about to spit fate in the face. It seemed ironic, in a way, that You-Know-Who indirectly had been the one to save her from no doubt even more painful injuries, but Katie had heard enough stories to know not to trust him at face value. She had to get back to the Great Hall, and fast. Moving over to where Alicia still lay, Katie watched her silently for a moment, before shaking her head sadly and casting the spell to gently levitate her body into the air. What she wouldn't give to have a timeturner now. Morag MacDougal, Padma Patil vs Edward Goyle It occurred to Edward after several minutes of skulking around the hallway, dropping hexes on anyone in the general vicinity, that he should find some one to really engage in combat. He'd been hoping to duel one of the Order members -- they would likely be a far more engaging fight than any one of the little children running around underfoot and the reward would be so much greater. He'd really like to get that Kingsley fellow's head on a silver platter to bring to the Dark Lord himself. Now that would be impressive. Edward was practically salivating at the idea of the promotion something like that could get him, but for the sake of time and the fact that it was somewhat limited, he resolved to engage the first person he encountered in a good old-fashioned duel to the death, which happened to be a third year boy standing off to the side of the fray, looking both scared and confused. Ugh, fine. He could probably crush him and be done with it. Easy peasy. Taking advantage of all his weight and bulk, Edward took a deep breath and lumbered toward the boy. Maybe he'd cry like a little girl. Ha ha ha, that would be funny. He'd make him cry for his mum. Maybe even wee himself. Brandishing his wand, he let out a loud noise in hopes of scaring the kid even more, before casting a Tripping Jinx. He let out a bellow of a laugh as the kid fell down. Maybe this wouldn't be worth it after all. "Get the hell away from him," came Morag's growl from down the hall. She wasn't very good at growling and probably seemed a bit ridiculous, all five foot two of her glaring at a hulking mass of someone who could only be related to Croyle, but she was dead serious -- and sent a blasting curse straight for the man to prove it. "Try picking on someone half your size instead of a fourth." And she jutted her chin at the poor child. Run! Truth be told she was scared as hell to be fighting actual death eaters in the hallways of somewhere that had been her home for the better part of seven years, but whatever maternalistic instinct she had had been flared, both for the younger years still scrambling to escape and for the grounds themselves. They had no right to be here. None the bloody fuck at all. Just a step behind, Padma's wand was grasped tightly in her hand - so tightly, in fact, that it made her hand sweat, but she didn't even notice. She was more nervous than she had ever been in her life, though the entire situation felt slightly unreal, which Padma was thankful for - it would keep her dinner down. "Yeah," came her poorly thought out response to Morag, though the other Ravenclaw's words gave her a sense of bravado. False, perhaps, but there all the same. Her eyes were fixed on the third year, wondering how he could have been separated from the rest of them, and the Prefect in her told her that she had to protect him. "Protego!" she yelled, casting a Shield Charm on the boy. It would do for now, but they needed to get him out of there. With a heavy groan, Edward was hit dead-on with Morag's blasting curse, which had the unfortunate (or fortunate, in his opinion) effect of sending him stumbling forward right toward the boy. If it weren't for Padma's shield charm, he'd have been able to fulfill his initial plan of crushing the boy and being done with it. Though he was extremely sore from the effects of the curse, he'd be damned if he was going to let two little whelps defeat him that easily and turned around to face them, glowering in his very practiced and highly evil and most menacing way. "Diffindo!" he shouted at Padma, before rounding on Morag, with whom he was particularly annoyed. "Sectumsempra!" Morag gasped as the spell caught her upside her non-wand arm and a plume of blood spread quickly out down to her elbow. The pain was surprisingly absent, but perhaps it just hadn't caught up to her yet -- there had been a second or two back when she'd lost her finger during which she hadn't realised she was in pain yet. Right now, though, she didn't have time to worry about the precise timing of her nerve impulses, because there was a giant death eater shooting off spells and apparently trying to kill them. Casting a repelling charm at the boy to push him further along the corridor, Morag then pointed her wand straight at the ceiling above Goyle's head, and levelled another blasting curse at it. Edward hadn't been expecting the students at Hogwarts to fight back, especially not with any level of success, but when the rocks fell from the ceiling, he barely had time to cast a cushioning charm on the ground before he fell and was knocked about by the rubble. It took him a few minutes, but he eventually rose from the pile of debris, bruised, scraped and concussed. He glanced at Morag and Padma in confusion -- what had he just been doing? He couldn't remember. Ah, well. They weren't death eaters, so he figured he'd just do what needed to be done. "Incarcerous," he said, pointing his wand at Morag first and Padma second. He didn't wait to see if the spells had worked before bellowing 'Incendio!' as loudly as he could. The Severing Charm that the Death Eater had previously deployed at Padma had hit her knee, creating a huge gash down her leg that reminded her slightly of pain from when she broke her ankle falling off the front step, but much more intense. She'd managed to keep her balance - by grabbing a hold of Morag's shoulder then hopping away to keep her balance- but the pain gave her barely enough time to put up a Shield Charm before ropes flew at her, even with the extra time she got while the large man (perhaps a Croyle?) got up from the rubble. Charmwork had always been her forte, but a real duel was completely different and Padma knew she would have to step it up if she wanted to survive. The flames from Croyle's second spell engulfed her, her shield growing weaker and weaker as the air around her got hotter. She had to do something fast, or she knew she would be engulfed in the flames. "CRUCIO! she yelled, wand outstretched, summoning all the training she had received from the Inquisitorial Squad and the anger she had at the Carrows, the Death Eaters, and the entire ruddy year and focusing it into her wand. "Crucio!" All at once, the flames coming from Edward's wand stopped and instead, loud shouts and screams that were far too feminine for a man of his size began in their absence. He'd had to endure the Cruciatus Curse before, but this one had caught him off guard. He hadn't expected students to be performing Unforgivables. The pain was numbing and sent him crashing to his knees, shaking the floor around him. There was no way he could fight the curse in order to retaliate, so he settled for glaring at them as evenly as he could (which was largely unsuccessful) and clenching his jaw in spite of the painful noises he made. The incarcerous hit Morag straight on, and she dropped to the ground, a tangle of ropes and her own hair, trying to avoid any other spells while vulnerable. Trying to twist so that her wand was better aimed, she worked her way out of the ropes as fast as she could, heart bursting in fear of what might happen to her while she was laying there defenceless. It seemed Padma provided good enough distraction, however, for when Morag finally dragged herself panting upwards, the other girl was surrounded by flames and she was casting -- god, casting an unforgivable. Morag's first reaction was aquamenti, but she soon realised it was unnecessary, and turned the spell on Goyle instead; in quick succession, then, thoughts and spells poured out. Glacius to freeze the water, Deprimo to blast it apart, Oppugno! to send those angry shards in the death eater's direction. Her nerves felt ripped apart and shoved back together without much concern for how they matched up. She truly had never felt this afraid -- and where she thought anger would displace that fear, it seemed only to amplify it. Under the Cruciatus Curse, Edward was certainly at a disadvantage when it came to defending himself, so when Morag sent shards of ice toward him, there was nothing he could do. The sharp dagger-like pieces pierced his robes and skin, amplifying the already loud bellows coming from his mouth. He had to find a way to distract their attentions and quickly, otherwise the pain would render him completely useless for some time. So, with another yell, he extracted one of the icicles from his shoulder and gripped it as tightly as he could, given that it was already beginning to melt from its proximity to the fire. He only had one chance for this to work, so he prepared himself, then lurched forward, dashing through the flames with the tip of the ice shard pointed straight out for Padma. Keeping anger fuelled in such quantities was no easy task for Padma and in the struggle to do so she let her eyes slip closed, picturing Michael in the Hospital Wing, her sister being tortured by Zabini, her own house-mates as she was forced to Cruciate them, but it was still no easy task to hold the curse and before she had even realised her curse was faltering, there was a hole in her side, the dagger of ice sticking out of it and Goyle was practically on top of her. Her first instinct was a shield charm, but she couldn't see Morag and she didn't want to risk her friend being right behind him and crushed as the massive man flew backward. A number of other spells she would have liked to use would have hurt her as well at such short range, and Padma quickly grew panicked as she tried to find a way out. "Confundo!" she finally shouted, ducking down trying to sidestep out of his way. "Diffindo!" Morag accidentally took a step backwards, which was possibly the least brave thing she could have done, but she was scared of the sudden heap of man thudding for them -- and now for Padma, stabbing her, crushing her. She made a noise of mangled terror and thrust out her wand, unsure what she could possibly curse him with that wouldn't get Padma at the same time. Bugger bugger bugger! she had an internal fit before, a split second later, coming to a decision. Running up behind Goyle, she hesitated a heartbeat and then thrust her foot up beneath his backside, hoping the toe of her boot made contact with some of his more sensitive bits. "Get away from him Padma!" All three of the girls' attacks hit Edward almost simultaneously, causing an extremely speedy transition from dazed and confused to anger and finally extreme yowling pain. Goyle found himself once again on the floor, curling into a large ball to protect his most sensitive area. In the midst of his carnal move to protect himself (which was very useless in the grand scheme of things), he dropped his wand somewhere out of reach. Even if he'd been physically capable of making another move immediately after having been kicked in the groin, the smoke from the fire surrounding him was getting bothersomely thick. The Confundous Curse having removed what little sense he had left, Edward began to flail with his arms at the area he'd last seen Padma standing while keeping his legs clenched tightly together, lest one of them decided to try and repeat that particularly clever move. Padma was nearly away from him when his massive fist made contact with her leg - the bleeding one he had sliced up earlier - and she tumbled to the ground, his fist hitting her in the chest as well. A flash of heat rushed over her and she felt as if she would either pass out or throw up, since it seemed that her lungs had moved down into her stomach. Neither happened, though, and she realised a very long moment later that she had somehow managed to roll away from where the massive Death Eater was still writhing on the ground. Rolling over one more time, she lay still; despite knowing that she needed to get up right away, she couldn't, so she lay still, concentrating on every painful breath she brought into her lungs. Knocked backwards by Goyle's flailing, Morag collided against the ground with a sharp snap, and she screamed, trying to get herself under control as her already bloody arm now refused to respond to demands with anything but pain. Her elbow felt .... she didn't want to think about it, or what had happened to it, but she knew that Goyle was still attacking Padma and she wasn't going to sit idly (painfully) by and do nothing about it. With a suppressed moan, she rolled onto her face, breathing dust and detritus in with each sharp breath, and forced herself up by the chin so she could see what she was pointing her wand at -- Goyle's giant rear. "INCENDIO!" Edward's reaction to the back end of his robes being set on fire was another enraged and pained roar. Having been curled up to protect his front, he'd left his back end completely open to attack. Sitting up very quickly, he bounced up and down on his bottom to put the flames out, this new insult distracting him from the old, in spite of his still being very sore in his man-area. Before he could retaliate, he first had to find his wand, so he spent several moments grappling about on the floor in search of it before the smoke was too thick for him to see far enough ahead of himself to retrieve it. Giving up on that idea, Goyle raised himself up to his full height and charged at Morag, fists flying. Padma dragged herself off the ground, her chest hurting but not enough that she couldn't do anything, and tried to find some way to help Morag. She took a step forward and felt something underneath her foot - the Death Eater's wand. She held up the wand in her other hand - crude and bulky thing it was, like its master. "You there!" she said, following him out of the smoke and moving so he'd be able to see her. "Do you want this?" Locomotor wand she cast silently on the wand and sent it flying down the corridor. "Fetch!" She was counting on him looking after it and cast a Shield Charm in front of Morag. There, that should do. Nice an idea as the shield charm was, it didn't protect against Goyle's very non-magical fists, which landed heavily on Morag, who screamed, thrashing back against him with boots, teeth, anything that would protect her. And then her breath was gone as one hamlike fist hit the space beneath her ribs, leaving her feeling like she'd been kicked right in the lungs. As the room began to spin, Morag resorted to the messiest approach she could -- stabbing at him with her wand while casting deprimo in a squealing, terrified voice. Please just fuck off. Fuck. OFF. It took Edward a few moments to realize that Padma had sent his wand flying down the corridor and by the time he did, he was having too much fun with his fists to immediately back off. In spite of the kicks, punches and bites he was enduring, he kept going until a sharp jab to his stomach caused him to recoil. Fortunately, this also took him out of the immediate path of Morag's curse, though it still caused a great deal of damage to his robes and the wall behind him. Stupid girl, he thought to himself, swinging his arm once more toward her before turning his attention to the other girl who had told him to fetch his wand, as though he were some kind of mutt. Well, his blood was Pure and regardless of what hers was, she'd really hacked him off. After having such good luck fighting one of them wandless, he figured he could take on the second and so, focusing on her shadow in the smoke, he ran toward her, fists waving about carelessly in much the same fashion as they had before. Padma backed away from Goyle, still kicking herself over her mistake. Perhaps it was the heat of the battle or simply being too used to magic, but she hadn't even considered the fact that a shield charm would not work against fists and she had failed to help Morag even in the slightest. Getting rid of his wand hadn't distracted him at all and now he was coming straight at her. Panicking, since having an extremely large man with his fists ready to punch you coming straight at you is never anything fun, she tripped over her own two feet as she stepped backward and fell into the wall. He was going to kill her she thought, and she cast the first spell she could think of. "Avada Kedavra!" The flash of green light was far more terrifying than its actual impact, which just felt like an extremely effecting Stinging Hex. It made him pause for a moment, grimacing at the pain, but it wasn't going to stop him and he wasn't going to let her try that one again. Once he was close enough, he grabbed for her arm, wrenching her wand out of his hand. Now that he was the one with a wand, he would have an easy time of causing as much damage as he possibly could. Aiming his wand at her chest, he let out a vicious laugh before screaming "Expulso!" Morag rolled over, wincing in pain and gasping for breath, and her eyes bulged as stared agape at Padma. She'd just cast a killing curse. A real killing curse. At a person. Morag's heart stopped and she didn't know how to protest before it was too late -- -- but of course, Edward was fine and before Morag could react, he was against Padma and had her wand. FUCK Throwing herself forward, Morag thrust out her wand, screaming "ACCIO DEATH EATER" at the top of her lungs, praying to whatever deities existed in the great universe that she could pull him hard and far enough away before Padma was torn apart. PLEASE, she begged silently. She couldn't lose a friend. Not tonight. Not fifteen feet away. Padma waited for her life to flash before her eyes the moment she felt the tip of her own wand against her chest, but it never did. Instead she just felt panicked, terrified of dying here and leaving her sister and Anthony and her parents and brothers and the rest of her friends, the ones she never had the chance to apologise to in person. She closed her eyes, waiting for her life to end when suddenly the wand was no longer at her chest and the Death Eater was flying backward through the air, further and further away until fire ripped across her chest, slamming her backward into a wall she was already slammed up against, her head knocking soundly on the stones until she crumpled to the ground, motionless. Edward was annoyed that the curse hadn't hit the girl from a closer and more destructive distance, but at least it had made its mark and maybe she had died anyway. Next, he had to deal with the little blond girl that had dared interfere. Whipping around, he raised his wand to strike her with the only curse vicious enough to match his frustration -- the Killing Curse. But before he could, a loud, sinister voice echoed in his ears. He had to leave. The Dark Lord had summoned him. With a final sneer at the girl, he turned and sped off down the corridor, avoiding the flames as he went. He'd have to pass through another hallway filled with suits of armour to get there, but nothing would keep him from returning to his Lord. Holy shit, thank Merlin. Morag's abruptly erected shield spell wavered as Edward made his way out, and though she was trembling from the encounter, and the whole He Who Must Not Be Named thing, she could only think about getting to Padma. Please don't be dead, she thought hysterically, angrily, and dragged herself to where her friend was laying. Carefully turning her over, she held her breath and pressed her ear to the other girl's chest -- but she could hear nothing over the fervent beating over her own heart in her ears. All right. Okay. Pulse. Fingers in Padma's neck hailed relief and Morag let out a choked sob of thanks before dragging her arms around Padma's limp form and giving it a squeeze. Time to get the absolute hell out of here. With a shove of her palms, she righted herself, then pulled her friend into the air with a mobilicorpus and limped off to find help. There was an icy feeling of despair tugging at Harry, settling heavily in his lungs and plucking every awful memory from his head to throw right back in his face. He felt trapped in it, cold and alone despite the presence of his two best friends. It was easy for him to forget about them, though, when he felt as though he'd been plunged into an icy pool of everything that had gone wrong in his life. It was easy for him to forget the half-giant that had been carried into the Forbidden Forest by a swarm of Acromantulas and who he was meant to save from uncertain doom. There was only Harry and his despair. Boggarts were an intimidating creature for their ability to manipulate a person with their fears, but Harry had a feeling that dementors were actually far worse. After all, the strings a dementor tugged on were all attached to things that had actually happened. It was quiet on the grounds as the dementors showed themselves, their dark forms swirling out of the shadows. He forgot his wand. He forgot the spell that would drive the dementors away. There were no happy memories in his head, anyway. They had all been driven out and replaced with emptiness. Somehow Ron was always the one lagging behind, chasing after the other two. He had the longest legs of the bunch, sure, but he didn't exactly like to run when he didn't think he had to. It was especially hard for him to run when he had a thousand other thoughts in his head, or when he was running away from the place he wanted to be the most. In the back of his head, way back there behind everything, he knew what was important. He knew that staying with Harry through this entire thing and ending it once and for all was his job. But how could he manage to keep all these worries inside? His brain was not capable of figuring out how to end this war while starting the mourning process for Fred he was sure would hit him like a tidal wave at any second. Maybe smacking his head against a wall would help. Or maybe dying would help. His mouth had no words to speak. His skin was tingling, cold and hot at the same time. Echoes were thumping inside his eardrums, like the sound of his mum yelling at him from above the watery surface of the bathtub back at the Burrow when he slipped under in an attempt to hold his breath for ten straight minutes. His wand had never left his hand, so at least he didn't have to struggle with the task of yanking it out. Thinking about the Burrow gave him that brief burst of fogged happiness that was needed for his silver terrier to appear, but it had no heart and no will to keep existing and faded only moments after appearing. He wanted to shout at Harry, to encourage him, but all he could do was babble to himself and glance at Hermione helplessly. The similar icy cold feeling was starting to affect Hermione as well as the Dementors crowded around them. She remembered her parents, she remembered having to go through the Cruciatus Curse, and seeing Fred died and not just that -- all the bad memories started to whirl around in her mind, making her feel helpless -- but not for long. She knew there was a solution to this, and there was only one way to escape the hooded figures. But she wasn't even sure whether she could cast the spell properly. She turned to Ron, seeing his helpless look, and then turned to Harry, who had yet to cast his Patronus. Harry could do it. She knew he could. He had to. She attempted to resist the hopeless feeling that was creeping in her and cried out, "Come on, Harry!", urgency and desperation mixed together in her voice. "Patronuses, Harry, come on!" Hermione tried to encourage him, hoping that he would hear her. She, too, forced herself to think of happy thoughts -- thoughts of what to do when this was over -- everything would be normal again; they would be happy. "Expecto Patronum!" she yelled, pointing her wand towards the dementors, momentary relief spreading through her as the figure of an otter came out of her wand. But there were too many of them, and her Patronus began to fade away, not even doing any good against the dementors. Ernie felt the sudden and unexpected chill, and heard the eerie silence before he ever caught a glimpse of the dementors off in the distance. Once he felt the change in the atmosphere, however, Ernie wasn't surprised to see exactly what was at the cause of it. No, he wasn't surprised, but he definitely felt afraid as soon as his eyes landed on the grim, hooded figures. His first instinct was to turn around and go the other way. Ernie was overwhelmed merely by looking at the multitude of dementors, and he could already feel the crippling effect of the dementors weighing down on his person. In a painful rush, Ernie was starting to feel his worst memories consume his mind; he could practically feel his body ache at the remembrance of the times he had the Cruciatus Curse used on him. Ernie took a few tentative steps backwards. He didn't have to fight them, Ernie decided, and neither did Seamus or Luna. There were just too many of them, and surely a professor or another adult world come and fight them. Someone older would be much better suited for the job than any three of them. He was just about to tell Seamus and Luna to turn around when he saw something that made him stop dead in his tracks. Ernie saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione right in the midst of the dementors. He saw the weak flicker of their patronuses, and when none of the dementors were repelled by the charm, Ernie knew they were in trouble. "Look!" Ernie called over to Seamus and Luna and pointed over at the group of dementors surrounding Harry, Hermione, and Ron. "Harry's in there with Hermione and Ron. I don't think they can fight them off by themselves, we have to help them," Ernie said. He moved in closer towards the dementors, and pointed his wand out in front of him. The closer Ernie moved towards the dementors, the greater their impact became. With every step Ernie took, it became easier and easier to let his darkest thoughts and worst memories dominate his mind. Images of his friends being tortured in class played across his memory, and it took a great deal of will power to push them out. "They need us," Ernie reminded himself. "They need us, and we need them." Ernie tried to imagine what things would be like if they won this battle. They would finally be free from the Carrow, and the whole Wizarding world would be free of Voldemort and the Death Eaters. They would no longer have to live in fear, and Maegan and Pippa could go to the Hogwarts Ernie always knew and loved before this year. If they won this battle, everything would be different in the best possible way Ernie could imagine, but the they weren't going to win if Harry, Hermione, and Ron had their souls sucked out by dementors. Ernie couldn't let that happen, they had too much to look forward to. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Ernie shouted, and from the tip of his wand a silver boar emerged. Seamus pulled his attention from the battle raging on in front of him and he watched as his fellow Gryffindors struggled with the swarming Dementors. He was standing in the middle of a war and he still found himself having trouble believing that it was all happening. Everything that they had learned in Dumbledore's Army had been a precaution, training he was never supposed to use in combat, and here he was. They were all here, fighting and falling like the adults they weren't even close to being. Seamus felt the negative thoughts cloud his mind as the damp chill floated down around him like an invisible sheet. How could they possibly win this? His wand was clutched in his fist and he stared blankly at Ernie as he cast his Patronus. Seamus licked his lips and stepped forward as if by some act that was not his own. He pushed the darkness from his mind and instead tried to fill it with warmth. His best friend was alive, Harry and the others had come back. When this was all over he could go back to Ireland and hug his mother. He could fly his broom. He could live. His wand was still clutched in his hand but he didn't cling to it with fear but with a determination that he would save his friends and they would survive this. Seamus thrust his arm out to match Ernie's stance and he bellowed, the strength in his voice almost unrecognizable. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" The shimmering fox slid from Seamus' wand and joined the boar, frolicking alongside as the two boys remained close to each other. Luna ran -- an unusual pace for her. But this was battle, and she was ready. She moved quickly, waving her wand high, ready to be of some help. She needed Harry to be safe, she needed Ron and Hermione and everyone to live through this. She concentrated on her happiest moments -- being asked by Harry to go to Slughorn's party, when Ginny made her feel like they were really friends, dancing with her father at Bill and Fleur's wedding. She focused on the memory of having a friend, a real friend, and the joy that burst out of that. Luna smile brightly, waved her wand, and called out, "Expecto Patronum!" The silver hare flew out of her wand, rushing next to the fox and boar, and then the three of the charged the dementors together. "That's right," Luna said. "That's right, Harry... Come on. Think of something happy." She came closer to him, kneeling at his side. Harry had watched dumbly as the scene unfolded before him. The three Patronuses barely registered in his mind, even as the dementors retreated somewhat. It wasn't enough and it wasn't until he heard Luna's words that he slowly began his climb out of his pit of despair, but it was still a difficult climb. "Something happy?" he asked haltingly, his voice breaking as he stumbled over the word 'happy'. He searched his mind for something happy, only turning up vague memories of afternoons at the Burrow and the broken fragments of stolen moments with his god-father. Luna smiled at Harry, nodding. "We're still here," she whispered, calm and serene. But they needed his help. She nodded at the dementors as she watched Harry. "We're still fighting. Come on, now..." They needed him. Luna's calm words did the trick and, with great effort, Harry lifted his wand from his side, aiming an Expecto Patronum at the dementors. He tried once, twice, and then a third time before his stag finally appeared and the dementors scattered. Exhausted and clear-headed, he let his wand arm fall back to his side. It never failed to amaze him how appreciative he was of his general state of mind until he'd crossed paths with a dementor. A hoard of them was something else entirely. Unfortunately, despite the calm the dementors had left in their wake, the battle still raged on around them and Harry's mind quickly went on alert. Even though Ron had failed at his own patronus in a rather ugly fashion, now was not the time to throw a jealous fit of rage at Harry's ability to produce something so powerful at the most opportune moment with just a little bit of coaxing. Hell, he would have lunged over at Ernie, Seamus, and Luna and hugged them if his brain would have cleared itself for long enough, but he was momentarily too mesmerized by the sight of Harry's silvery stag racing through the air to really do much more than stare for a few moments. It seemed enough to do the trick, and a large gust of breath that he had been holding left his lips when the dementors fled. Ron finally turned to his fellow Hogwarts students and nodded at Luna, then Ernie, then Seamus. "Can't thank you enough," he said, reaching up to wipe a tiny bit of sweat off his forehead. "You just saved--" MERLIN'S TIT! he started, his words fading out and moving inside his head as the world beneath them suddenly started trembling. Ron felt his whole body tremble dangerously just as another club-wielding giant emerged from the darkness. Harry had been about to thank the others himself when the earth began to move beneath his feet and the six of them were suddenly joined by a hulking giant. He made a sound of annoyance in the back of his throat as the giant barrelled towards them. "RUN," he bellowed, but his shout wasn't necessary. Of course they were going to run and he darted out of the giant's path, only looking back once he was sure nothing oversized would fall on his head. The giant's foot was right where he and his friends had been standing just seconds earlier. How many more close calls did the night have in store for him? Once the dementors had cleared, Hermione felt relief washing over her, and she turned to Luna, Ernie and Seamus, giving them all a shaky yet somewhat appreciative smile. She had never thought she would end up being saved by Luna despite the number of times she had somewhat chided the girl for her lack of logic, but now was not even the time to even consider these things. She was going to be grateful to them for the rest of her life. Opening her mouth to say her own thanks, she was cut off when the giants came. And Harry was right -- her automatic reaction was too run, though as she did she couldn't help but look back worryingly and make sure that her friends were running as well -- but she had no opportunity to hesitate or slow down, even if she wanted to. Ernie felt a rush of relief and accomplishment when he saw the dementors retreat. "You're wel-" Ernie was about to say to Ron when he too felt the ground start to shake beneath him; it would have been impossible not to feel the tremors coursing through the ground. Ernie's mouth fell upon when he saw the giant approaching their way. He was immobilized by fear, what was he supposed to do to fight against a giant? Well, the answer was simple, actually, and Harry had just yelled it. Ernie really didn't need to be told twice to run, he bolted in the opposite direction as soon as Harry said "Run", or rather, as soon as he didn't feel completely dumbfounded by the fact that a giant was coming after them. Ernie could only hope that the rest of them weren't paralyzed by fear, but he couldn't check and he couldn't go back for them; Ernie had to run. They all ran. |