Barty looked down at the woman he had just lowered to the ground. What was he doing? Why was he helping her? He shook his head in confusion, not sure which part of him was in control anymore. For some reason, both sides of him had been in agreement when he had cast at Macnair. Was he territorial as well as lonely?
Angry with himself, he stood up. Padma was probably far enough from the heat of the battle for her to not be noticed for a while. He was going back after Bella. Both sides of him wanted her dead, and he knew that he would have his best chance while he was thinking in harmony.
With a last glance at Padma, he turned, only to be confronted by a sodden Macnair. He had come back for another go, and was grinning in that way that had unnerved Barty when he had been a young man taking his first steps as a Death Eater.
"This one's mine!" he shouted at the oath.
"And who are you?" Macnair shouted back.
Without waiting for an answer Macnair hurled a curse at Padma's still body, and Barty threw himself in the way. He cast as he lunged, hoping to rebound the curse. He managed to hit Macnair, but the curse came on, filling his vision with green light before it hit his face.
He was thrown back, and his brain vaguely registered the pain of his landing. He heard a loud crack, but inside it felt more like a click, like something finally fit together rather than being broken apart. An unusual peace settled over him, and there was the whisper of cool air as the halves of his mask slid from his face.
For a moment he felt whole and happy, and then he felt nothing at all.