Mod Journal for Throwing Stones RPG (throwing_mods) wrote in throwingstones, @ 2010-04-17 18:29:00 |
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Who: Evan Rosier, Rabastan Lestrange, Silas Selwyn, Roderick Gamp, Severus Snape, Aston Mulciber, Felix Greengrass, Walden Macnair, Constantine Travers, Dorcas Meadowes, Marlene McKinnon, Sirius Black, Edgar Bones, Ted Tonks, James Potter, Lily Potter, Remus Lupin, Gideon Prewett, Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Valere Lestrange, Augustus Rookwood, Jack Nott, Sabriel Mulciber, Solomon Rosier, Frank Longbottom, Alice Longbottom, Euan MacDougal, Albus Dumbledore.
When: Saturday, 17 April, 1979; early evening.
Where: Hogsmeade, Scotland.
What: Bad things.
Rating: R.
Status: Completed log, part 4 of 7.
Felix vs Marlene Marlene was still shaking terribly after her last fight, not quite sure how she and the Death Eater she'd been fighting against had gotten separated, but relieved nonetheless that it happened. She wasn't too bad off, and was extremely thankful for that, but a small part of her wished that she would have been able to do a bit more damage -- the last thing Marlene wanted was for the Death Eater to go running off to hurt someone else that she cared about. Running to duck into the shadows cast off of the side of one of Hogsmeade's businesses, Marlene attempted to calm herself down a little before running back into the fight. It wouldn't help anyone, herself included, if she was so busy panicking in the middle of the battle to be of any use to the rest of the Order. When that Tonks fellow had apparated, leaving behind empty space, Felix had been incredibly frustrated. It was like a favourite toy had been taken away, and he was none to pleased that he couldn't have finished Ted off. Still, as Felix softened the pout and aimed the blasting hex that was intended for Ted at some innocent civilian, he couldn't be too disappointed. After all, it wasn't as if the night was finished. Almost lazily Felix turned around to take in the atmosphere of the street that had turned into a battlefield, noting with some pleasure that it seemed like the do-gooders were getting their moral superiority complex dragged through the mud. Adjusting the sleeve of his cloak (they weren't comfortable. Looked imposing maybe, but itched like hell) Felix was about to turn back down the street to find his next victim, when a movement in the shadows caught his eye. As the girl ran out from behind a building, Felix's eyes followed her with predatory patience, standing stock still with only the beginnings of a smile twisting his lips. Marlene didn't notice the figure standing in the middle of the street staring at her at first -- Felix had somehow managed to remain so incredibly still that her eyes moved right past him when scanning the street, and she nearly jumped out of her skin upon looking back and finally noticing him standing there. It gave Marlene the creeps, the way the Death Eaters would sometimes just stand there and wait for their victims to come to them. ...And in this case, Marlene was perfectly happy to oblige, even though she had no notion of becoming this guy's victim. "Depulso!" she shouted at the Death Eater, aiming the spell at his expressionless face as she ran in his direction, not sure if it was easier or worse not knowing that the weirdo was smirking beneath his mask. Felix recognized Marlene McKinnon almost the instant that she appeared. That she was determined to be the first to throw a spell didn't surprise him in the least, it seemed to go with his already negative opinion of her irritating ways; it fit. "Protego," he uttered easily, the spell useless as she made her advance on him. "Banish me," he chuckled, "not interested in finishing me? And here I thought you 'heroes' had actual backbone. Defoldio" he shot back strongly. He wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to play this out longer, or get it done and over with quickly so that he could move on to the next innocent vigilante. "You don't know where I intended to banish you to," Marlene retorted, diving out of the way of the Death Eater's spell, never one to instinctively move to throw up a shield charm when a spell was flying at her. (That was something she was definitely going to need to work on.) "I could've sent you to the bottom of the North Sea, and then you'd be in some deep shit, wouldn't you?" Felix's gouging spell sliced into her leg, grazing her upper thigh -- and ruined a pair of jeans that Marlene liked, which she was not particularly pleased about. She shot back a "Duro" spell at him, figuring that someone who'd been turned into a human statue would be easier to deal with. "Was that meant to be a pun?" he grinned behind the mask, voice dripping with cruel amusement. That she physically attempted to dodge the spell was something Felix liked to see. A man who much preferred to drop the wands and get physical, he found it rather boring when dueling formula consisted of an alternating combination of spells and shielding charms. And then the gratifying lifeless body drop. He would take torn clothing and a little blood, however. Felix barely dodged her spell, though was gifted with quick enough reflexes that when it hit the sleeve of his cloak he ripped a third of it off. As the now stone sleeve dropped heavily to the ground, Felix wasted no time in hurling "Expulso" at the ground near her feet, causing an explosion to ripple and propel loose objects into the air. Should it have hit her, it likely would have killed her, but Felix wasn't quite ready for that yet, he was having fun. "I can't say I'm upset about the sleeve," he said conversationally as the smoke from his explosion caused momentary distraction, "they're rather itchy." Truth be told, Marlene hadn't even noticed the pun as it came flying out of her mouth, but was actually quite satisfied with herself once it had been pointed out. She didn't reply as to whether or not it had been intentional, though -- it was none of his business, especially when the question was being asked by someone who wanted her dead. Felix's expluso hit the ground near her feet, and Marlene covered her head as a shower of jagged rocks and dirt and leaves rained down on top of her, causing smaller cuts to appear across her limbs and a rather pointy rock to smack her on the top of her head. "What is this, some sort of Death Eater strip tease?" Marlene called back at him as she cast an Incarcarous charm at Felix and pushed herself to her feet. "Gotta say the mask isn't all too attractive." Simply hearing the charm for rope binding nearly had Felix's eyes narrowing . He wasn't sure why exactly, no actually memories indicated that he'd had an unpleasant experience with them, but the second she'd said it, his upper arms began to throb, and Felix had to ignore the bad taste it left in his mouth. Casting a slashing hex with more seriousness than he'd previously allowed himself to express, Felix watched the ropes get cut up in mid air. "I don't think you need the added distraction of my half-naked body, I want this to be a fair fight. Well as fair as it could be" he smiled, though she couldn't see it and let the remainder of his sentence go unsaid. He was enjoying the banter but the noise of battle in his ears was reminding him that they did have a time limit, he was supposed to get this done quickly before moving on. "You're right about the mask though," he wrinkled his nose in disgust, though she couldn't see it. "It's clear that this is all about functionality, hell if they take any of my suggestions. Immobulus," he said off handedly, and for the first time began to step closer to her. "If you want to burn it horribly past the point of recognition, I'd be quite alright with it. I already," his lip twisted in irritation, remembering his beloved dragon mask "seem to have an issue with holding onto masks." Marlene's eyes narrowed at the hanging sentence about this not being a fair fight, not sure if she liked the implication that he was making. "And what exactly do you mean by fair as it could be?" she demanded. Although it made sense - Marlene wasn't exactly about to start pulling out Unforgivables on him, even if he was a Death Eater. She'd show him fair, though. And he had encouraged her to burn the mask beyond recognition... Just as Marlene readied her wand to fire an Incendio spell at him, though, she felt her body freeze entirely up, as though she'd been bound by invisible ropes while still standing up, unable to move. Unable to do anything to defend against the Death Eater's advances, her body's momentum all-together diminished, Marlene tried her hardest to steel her nerves and glare at the Death Eater as she tried to fight against the spell, terrified and frustrated that this had left her so utterly defenceless. "Seems to be a problem with you lot. First Yaxley when he attacked Dorcas, then the ones at the masquerade... They're not very functional if we eventually find out who you all are anyway." "I think you get my meaning," he inclined his head to their current position--she, completely immobile, and he advancing on her. He was about to...well he wasn't quite sure, he hadn't actually consciously killed anyone before, and was certain he could easily put her out of commission and not be punished for it. However, he promptly snapped his mouth shut when she made the comment on the masquerade and his eyes narrowed. He still wasn't sure what had happened, but the certainty of death at the hands of the Dark Lord that Felix had felt was a bad memory enough for him. "You were one of the uninvited then," he stated, keeping his tone calm but feeling the anger over what had happened boil up. "Can't quite grasp the concept of invitations?" It was completely frustrating for Marlene to not be able to back away from someone who was stealing towards her, especially knowing he could kill her any time he wanted to. She was slightly terrified that she found herself actually hoping he was one of the Death Eaters who played with the people they were attacking first rather than kill them straight out, because at least that could potentially give her more time to try to break through the spell. "I suppose I could ask you the same question about you and your little friends," Marlene snapped back, glancing towards where the rest of the battle was taking place. "Breaking into peoples' houses without their permission just to torture and kidnap and kill. I think it was fair game." She hated the way that her voice was shaking as she sassed back at the Death Eater, having no way to defend herself beyond her words, and knowing that all she was doing was digging herself a deeper hole. "Come on, take off the mask. I want to know if you're that one with the receding hairline." Felix's amusement had descended more to deadpan, and he only managed an empty smirk at her mention of their trespassing. "What I find most interesting is that you acknowledge what we do is wrong," he stole away closer, inches away from her personal bubble. "And yet you do the same. If you're trying to teach us a lesson in right and wrong, you aren't doing a very good job." There was something prickling in the back of his head, an awareness of their close proximity, as if he should be familiar with it. It was annoying, and Felix's brow creased in the frustration of it. Any momentary satisfaction at the feebleness of her tone, was replaced by outrage that she could be implying that he had a receeding hairline. "Are you daft!" his laugh was boisterous in its disbelief. That anyone could think he was anything less that physically perfect, was laughable. Though he supposed that she couldn't actually know that from the mask, but it should shine through his voice or something...it was just something you knew. "Tempted as I am to show you just how weak I can make your knees, the mask unfortunately stays on," he tutted her, and typically would have gone in for a long ramble about his good looks, but the nagging feeling had him interested in her knowledge of the masquerade. "And what mask did you wear?" he asked, wanting to get back on track. Marlene didn't have an immediate answer for him; she was distracted by attempting to figure out who it was she was fighting with by the very self-assured tone of his voice, and was almost positive that the man in question had been the same one she and Remus had been responsible for kidnapping. She knew she' recognized the voice slightly, and given that she knew Aston's voice from school and Constantine Travers's from the WWN, she knew this wasn't either of them. Deciding to take a wild guess, Marlene decided to go for it. She briefly thought well, it couldn't hurt to guess, but then logic kicked in when she realised that yes, it probably could, and most likely would. "I think it is you," Marlene smirked, praying that he'd lose his concentration on the immobilizing spell so that she could get away from what she was certain would be an extremely unpleasant reaction. "You're Felix Vance, aren't you?" she raised a curious eyebrow. "You're really not as cute as you think you are. Maybe the mask does help, the dragon one did." Any sliver of facial expression immediately dropped off his face at the mention of his name. How the bloody fu-- She knew about his mask, she somehow identified him by the sound of his voice. That fucking cow. Felix eyes narrowed into slits, and the grip on his wand tightened. She had to of had some part in his kidnapping, and that put Marlene McKinnon in an even worse position than she currently was in, because now he was feeling murderous. He was ready to make a comment about it, likely give himself away fully, but the self-control that had been beaten into him the last two months reared its ugly head and he bit down so hard on his tongue that he could taste blood. "Reducto" he practically hissed, and at such close range it hit Marlene hard in the sternum, propelling her backwards. Well he may have managed to learn some self-control, but he wasn't a bloody saint. It would have been easier to just finish her off, but Felix wanted to make her really suffer; gone was the calm that induced finesse in his skills, it was swiftly replaced by a recklessness he was known to get in trouble for. Marlene could see that moment of recognition in Felix's eyes as everything clicked, even if the rest of his expression was obscured by his mask. Apparently she'd been right if she earned that reaction. There was nothing she could do but attempt to brace herself as the blasting curse sent her flying backwards in the air and slamming into the ground, the wind knocked from her lungs. It was hard enough to catch her breath, let alone to try to get out of the way given the immobilizing spell that was still possessing her. "Thought you wanted a fair fight, you bastard," she finally choked out as air began filling her lungs once again. Because him beating up on someone who couldn't even move was hardly fair in Marlene's eyes. "That's what I just gave you," he spat back scathingly, and released her from the immobilizing spell, breathing already starting to come out harshly as he fought his anger. He should have killed her in the first 5 seconds, now he was being foolhardy, and he didn't even care. "Lacarnum inflamarae," a large ball of fire erupted from Felix's wand, shooting towards a prone Marlene. Marlene was barely able to roll out of the way of the fireball as it blasted from Felix's wand, nearly flipping onto her stomach from the momentum she'd build up while trying struggle away as the spell was released. The ends of her hair were singed by the fire as she kicked herself up to he feet, shooting a Scourgify spell straight into his eyes (something that she knew from personal experience to be extremely painful) and a slicing spell at Felix's abdomen. "The hell that was, shooting stuff at someone who can't even move." It hit it's mark, and while the majority just cleaned his mask, the part that did hit his eye burned like hell. He cursed loudly and freely, distracted enough that he didn't see her fire the slicing spell until it already cut deep into his abdomen. Double fuck, he winced, one hand clasping his stomach out of reflex, warm blood pooling through his fingers. Like his incident with Zamira, his eyes were once again barely functioning, though Felix had done just fine with her without the use of sight. With a flick of his wrist he sent a slashing hex right back at her, though with bleary eyes it wasn't as strong nor accurate as he would have liked. His urge to use crucio burned heavily on his tongue, but it was something he'd need full vision for, and he was determine to do just that later. Marlene had been busy pointing a spell that would have transfigured Felix into a duck when his wildly aimed slashing spell ripped through her shirt an against her side, and the Ducklifors spell missed entirely, crashing instead against the sign for the candy shop. She cried out at the sudden pain and gripped her side with her non-wand hand, not wanting to let the injury distract her from the fight now that she could finally defend herself again. Aiming at the ground in front of Felix instead of at him, she sent a glacius spell to cover the grass, hoping the ice would make it difficult for the Death Eater to keep his footing. She then yelled out an Incendio spell at him -- which sort of seemed like an oxymoron, switching so quickly from ice to fire, but Marlene didn't care, as long as it made this guy hurt. Already fumbling his way with bad eyesight, Felix hit the ground hard on his hip the second the ground iced over, conveniently missing the fire that was meant to turn him extra crispy. Seething, Felix managed to twist himself so that he was moderately upright and hurled "ossis quasso," the bone shattering curse. Ideally he was aiming for her sternum, but Felix would take anything at the moment. Grunting in pain, blood still seeping from the wound in his abdomen in rivults, Felix dismissed his more major injury for a quick healing spell on his eyes, which would better allow him to kill her. "Candidus Ignus," he shouted soon after he could actually see, a white hot bolt of lightning erupting from his wand and flying towards its intended target. The bone shattering curse missed Marlene's sternum -- which was a great relief for her -- but the spell seemed to pass straight through her shoe as she threw herself to the ground, crushing the bones in her toes and through her upper foot instead. Shooting another deep slicing spell at Felix, Marlene managed to pull her legs away from the lightning spell just in time before the magic crashed into her legs, burning a smoking hole through the grass instead. "What, do you think you're bloody Zeus or something?" Marlene scoffed, shooting another "Incarcarous!" spell at him while she tried to stand again, only to slide to the ground once again due to the effects of her own ice spell. He'd made an attempt to move but the ice was still unforgiving and unable to shield himself in time, another slicing spell ripped through him, this time leaving large open wounds across his chest and shoulder. There was quite a lot of blood now, where his abdominal wound had begun to bleed out slowly, the deep gash in his chest began soaking his cloak in red seconds after he'd been hit. Spluttering as blood lined his throat and made its way forcefully up into his mouth, Felix spat it out dismissively, pigheadedness and anger surpassing common sense and the warning to go heal and kill her later. She fired another rope curse at him, and the knowledge that she'd had some part in his kidnapping solved his aversion for the spell quite easily, and as quick as his weakening limbs allowed him, he threw up a neighbouring slab of stone up. The bound rock fell to the ground harmlessly. Grimacing in pain, though a pain that didn't even roughly surmount to the level he was used to getting, Felix moved into a standing position carefully. He nearly fell right where he stood due to dizziness from blood loss alone, but determined as ever he set his sights on a fallen Marlene. "Adonis actually," he parried back with a bloody grimace, free hand clutching his torso in a feeble attempt to stop the bleeding. Though it wouldn't be nearly as strong as it would have been had he not been quickly bleeding out, Felix lifted his wand, a feral look to his eye and shouted "Crucio." "Adonis? Really?" Marlene scoffed, staring up at Felix in dumbfounded disbelief, trying to scoot back away from the ice patch so that she could climb to her feet, annoyed at herself for her own spell effecting her negatively, rather than just the Death Eater. "You have to be compensating for som-" And then her sentence was cut off by the guttural scream that escaped her lungs as Felix's Cruciatus curse hit its target dead on, ripping through every limb and muscle of her body. It wasn't the most intense crucio Marlene had ever received -- although really, that was like saying that some murderers weren't as evil as the others since they had killed less people or something, which didn't make sense at all -- but the curse still left Marlene thrashing on the ground, digging her fingers into the dirt to try to brace against the spell that never seemed to end. Felix’s vision was beginning to swim as he watched her writhe on the ground, focusing on the satisfaction of shutting her up rather than the fact that he could now see two of her. His arm was beginning to waver as he struggled to hold it in place, the furore of anger and bad intentions fading as his energy did. That was the unfortunate thing with dark magic, it required a good deal of stamina, stamina that was currently bleeding out of Felix’s entire torso. He gritted his teeth and sent one final blast of violent thought towards her before he staggered forward, arm dropping to his side. He should leave, throw a killing curse her way and stop the blood before he died from his own stupidity. How embarrassing would that be? The laboured breathing that should have tipped him off to this fact went unnoticed and from his hunched position, he raised his head to see that she was recovering from the curse. Bloody bitch, he thought scathingly, flicking his wrist to cast a heating charm of the ice at their feet, having had enough games. Gritting his teeth he ignored his weak limbs and Felix lunged forward with a final burst of energy, taking a hold of her throat with a hand smeared with his own blood and clenching hard before she could even steady herself from the aftershocks of the curse. “I compensate for nothing” he gritted, stepping down hard on her broken foot, words only slightly sticking from the fact that his mouth was once again filling up with blood. He’d never tried the killing curse before, and he didn’t think he’d have the strength of will to even attempt it, so instead Felix gripped her throat hard enough to crush, intending to put Marlene McKinnon out of commission the old fashioned way. It was a strange sensation to be on the receiving end of the cruciatus curse and to feel it dwindling due to the caster growing too weak to support the spell. The hate was still there behind it, but the energy was depleting, and before long even though the spell was still extraordinarily painful, Marlene was at least capable of bearing through it to fight back. The ground around her was beginning to grow warm as Marlene flipped herself onto her back, facing upwards just in time to witness Felix stomping down on her already injured foot. Her unhurt leg kicked out at Felix's shin as he dropped down on top of her, his blood-soaked hands wrapping around her throat to cut off her air supply mid-scream. Finding herself suddenly unable to breathe was terrifying for Marlene, and her eyes went wide with petrified fear as her survival instincts kicked in, because like hell she was dying like this. Marlene pounded her hands against Felix's arms, slapping at his face and trying to claw at his eyes through the mask, trying to remember all of the self defence tactics that she'd been over with Emmeline. (It almost seemed ironic that she had to use them against Emm's brother of all people.) Her head was growing light, her vision swimming from the lack of air as her lungs burned, and Marlene finally began grasping at his arms and fingers to unwind them from her throat, praying that that mixed with the blood covering his hands would be enough to force them to slip away. She tried to twist out from underneath where she was pinned beneath him, using her knees to try and push Felix away and knee him in the groin, knowing that was painful enough to stop any guy in their tracks. Barely able to move her legs under Felix's weight, though, Marlene instead grabbed for her wand that had fallen to the wayside, aiming a "Diripio Testis" spell at him instead, praying it would be effective even when cast silently. There was little Felix could do to ward off the spell, and it hit him hard. “Fuck” he swore loudly, blood dribbled down the side of his mouth as he did. Reflexively his grip on her throat slackened as he doubled over, rolling off of her. If he’d been woozy from blood loss before, he could barely summon the strength to punish her for that now, the pain was unforgiving. Feeling sluggish, Felix made a motion to grip his wand, intending to at least try to do something before he completely blacked out. This is what he got for being so damn foolish, he’d had her, and now he was the one who was likely going to die. Bloody brilliant, if he lived he’d never hear the end of it. His fingers seemed useless to him, and as his muscles twitched to hex her, his vision began to spot. He was aware that there was enough blood that it was beginning to pool around him, making his cloak heavy from the sticky substance. Stubborn as he was, it was far too late to do something about it. “Cheers,” he managed to slur almost drunkenly before the back of his head hit the stone street and he fell unconscious. Learning the ball-exploding curse had officially become one of the best things that Marlene had ever done with her free time. She didn't move at first once Felix rolled off her, savouring the moment of simply being able to breathe again. He didn't seem to be moving quickly either though, especially after her latest curse, and so Marlene allowed herself a few seconds to gather her wits about her and clamour up to her feet, casting a shield spell around herself -- finally, now that the fight was done -- and keeping her wand trained on the Death Eater in case he tried anything funny. He wasn't moving though, just babbling nonsensically before drifting into unconsciousness. Marlene waited a few more minutes, nudging his body with the toe of her foot to make absolutely sure he was out. This was awesome. She could capture him and leave him on the doorstep of the Ministry of Magic to be tried like the murderer he was. Out of the corner of her eye, though, Marlene noticed another masked figure moving quickly in their direction, and she knew that trying to stick around would be a bad idea. Instead, she yanked Felix's wand away from him and threw it into a nearby arrangement of shrubbery -- she didn't want him waking up and running around hurting more people -- before dashing in the opposite direction, shooting one final slicing curse at the knocked-out Death Eater before running off to assist any of her fellow Order members who needed it. Valere vs Lily Valere had no preset notions about what he would do in this fight but that ended within seconds of his apparition when he saw a red-headed girl, about twenty years of age, slinging spells back and forth with a Death Eater. Lily Evans Potter. He had been looking forward to an introduction for quite some time. With a flip of his wand and an incantation he lifted the girl off the ground and sent her flying through the air, depositing her several yards ahead of him roughly. "Lily, my girl!" he greeted jovially. "I thought we would never meet. Crucio!" He left it on only for five or six seconds, not wanting her to be too tired to enjoy their conversation. It all happened so quickly. One moment Lily was facing a Death Eater and throwing hexes and the next she was flying through the air, landing roughly on her hip and letting out a cry of pain as she felt the bruise begin to blossom, only to look up a few yards and see another Death Eater. Was this normal procedure? Did they just steal dueling partners from each other like that? Turning briefly, Lily tried to find where her old one had gone, but then the new one said her name and seemed all too cheerful about it. Belatedly Lily's hand went to her hair - visible since she'd lost her hat in her first duel - and her face paled into an expression of panic just as the red light slammed into her. Valere had been her first crucio, and if she had a chance to get past the all consuming pain she might have recognised the curse for his. You never forget your first really, and Lily very much wished she could. But she didn't have a moment to recognise it, nor did she have to. As she screamed quite as loudly as she had the first time this Death Eater had hit her with the curse, she already knew who had her. Valere Lestrange. And as the curse was lifted and she took a rasping, sobbing breath, she found herself really wishing she'd taken the time to use a bloody glamour. Then vowed if by some miracle she did get out of this she was going to permanently colour her hair black or something. But first she had to get out. The problem was that once the curse was lifted and she could look up at Valere all she was able to feel was stark, all consuming fear. All she could hear was Vernon in her ear yelling, all she could remember was lying on Valere's lawn and listening to James screaming. And as hard as she tried to lift her wand and defend herself she couldn't stop that panic that crept in and caused her eyes to widen and her breath to quicken and her hands to shake. Nothing came. Not a curse, not a charm, not a shield. And she starred up at Valere from where she lay on the ground in pure terror. "Oh, you recognize me?" Valere asked, sounding more delighted than menacing. "Everyone I've asked about you did tell me you were a terribly clever little mudblood," he said, using his wand to lay Lily out on the ground by pinning her left arm straight out before her. "Before we begin, you owe me something, child." He could have used any slashing hex he knew but for this, only Dark Magic would do. The severing hex would not allow for regrowth and one by one he started on her fingers, first the pinky and then her ring finger, just below her wedding ring and then her middle finger. He already had two before, so he left the other two fingers, only taking what was his. He accio'd them to him and then released her from the holding spell as he slid her appendages into his pocket. "Now. We duel. Up on your feet, Mrs. Potter. You don't want to die begging and screaming like your pathetic muggle sister do you?" The pain from the crucio had barely ended and Lily found herself pinned to the ground, her arm stretched out in front of her and she knew what was coming. "No," she mouthed, the words unable to form themselves into something with sound. "No, no, no, no." Her lips continued to form the words and then sound came, but it was screaming - again - as he began to take her fingers. She'd lost them before, but this time was different. The ripping feeling of splinching wasn't like the Dark Magic Valere was using. It burned and ached and pain exploded through her hand as she watched the purple light cause her fingers to separate from her hand, blood immediately pooling and staining the ground, and then they were gone - the twinkling diamond of her wedding ring disappearing with her pinky, wedding finger and middle finger into his pocket and leaving the 'L' shape of her pointer and thumb. We duel. His order was direct. And Lily wanted nothing more than to wrap up her hand and run. But then he mentioned Petunia, and even fear couldn't stop her eyes from snapping towards Valere. He had no right to talk about her. She curled what remained of her hand up against her chest, struggling to stand and push herself to her feet with her right hand. The tremours from the cruciatus causing her nerves to twitch and jump, and she stumbled twice in her attempt to stand. But she did, shakily, pale, and her mangled hand pressed to her stomach began turning her white shirt deep red as it continued to bleed. But she couldn't just stand there and let him kill her. She had James, and Marlene, and Alice and the boys, and the Order. She was a Gryffindor. And this Death Eater had stolen her freedom and her life and now her fingers and her bloody wedding ring! So she held out her right arm with her wand, shaking and unsteady, but still standing. "I think you've taken enough from me. You can stop now," she said, her voice shaking as well, but just like her unresponsive body, she couldn't stop it. Valere watched Lily struggle, enjoying the show, and when she was on her feet and had spoken her sentence he sent her flying again, several feet into the air, waiting for her to land before casting several focused blasting spells at her midsection. Internal bleeding was always a favorite of Valere's. "Up again, Potter," he said, taking a few steps toward her and deflecting a spell that came shooting in his direction from elsewhere. He lifted her with a spell and landed her on her feet. "I would expect the useless muggle to let me get away unscathed. Oh how she begged. How she offered to give you up. Called you a freak and said she had nothing to do with you. She hated you in the end. She knew exactly why she was dying and with her last breath she blamed you. And she won't be the last. As long as we both live the people who care about you will die one by one. So what will it be?" He put both hands up in mock surrender giving her a moment to ready her wand. "Fight me." Blood seemed to be everywhere. Her hand was still gushing, she coughed and it covered her tongue, skin broke when she landed and she could feel it soaking the back of her shirt. Lily could feel the damage in her chest where the blasting curses had bruised, broken and brutalised the organs. She didn't press down on her stomach, but she knew it would be growing hard as blood pooled inside. Everything hurt, and the more he spoke the more vivid she could see it. Petunia, her sister. Not the woman who hated her, but the little girl she'd been with curls in her blonde hair, trying to swing as high as Lily on the swingset. Petunia who had loved her. Petunia who had died because of her. And it would be the last thing she'd ever think of. "Incendio," she choked, hoping that even if that fire she sent towards him didn't hit him it would at least catch someone's attention. It was the only spell she could think of, and the only chance she would have, and her arm with her wand fell back down as she coughed again and more blood came spewing from her lips as she laid back against the road and waited for the retaliation. The Death Eater that Marlene had been fighting had been drifting into unconsciousness when she left him, not wanting to be discovered standing there with a wand pointed at one of their fallen numbers when one of the other Death Eaters showed up seeking vengeance. She needed to find the others, to figure out how the rest of the Order was holding up and to figure out what their next move was. Noticing a weakly-cast Incendio from the other side of the wall she was crouched behind, Marlene limped off in that direction, trying to ignore the pain coursing through her foot and wand ready to join in the fray. That was her spell -- fire was almost like a calling-card to her, and if it was involved in the fight, clearly the battle was still active enough for the Order side to potentially need some help. She hadn't been expecting the sight that she stumbled onto in the slightest, though, and froze in her tracks for a moment as she spotted Lily on the ground, blood running everywhere, and the Death Eater standing over her seemingly not injured in the slightest. Marlene immediately cast a shield spell at Lily in case the Death Eater tried to attack her any further before she could reach Lily's side, then turned her wand on the masked figure standing near her. "Expelliarmus! Incendio! Deprimo! Glacius!" she shouted out, hoping at least SOMETHING would hit, and that whatever it was would hurt. Valere really hadn't been expecting the injured woman to manage anything and so the Incendio hit his robes and he was distracted for long enough that he didn't even see Marlene, only the flurry of spells coming his way. His wand went up to block them as the fire spread up his right sleeve. Glacius. It was always Glacius that got him. The other spells had been deflected without much effort but the Glacius hit under his feet and Valere immediately had to still to keep from falling as the flames on his robes grew. He threw up a shield charm to keep anything else from hitting him as he attempted to put out the fire that was burning to his skin now. A water charm had a puff of steam blowing up around him and then another spell at his feet to evaporate the ice. His left arm hurt and he could feel air passing through his robes as he began to cast blasting hex after blasting hex at the two girls. Lily watched as spells flew between Valere and the person who'd come to help her. From where she lay on the ground all she could see was the person's ankle, the voice yelling spells sounded far away and fuzzy, vaguely familiar and slightly robotic. She saw the slight sheen of a shield around her, and felt the reverberations as blasting hexes crashed into it. She wanted to get up, help the person who'd come for her, and despite her mangled hand and the severe pain in her abdomen as the internal bleeding breached the peritoneum and her skinned raw back, she attempted to push herself to a sitting position. Aiming her wand in the general direction of where spells were flying, Lily cast a silent blasting charm back at the Death Eater. But the energy expelled proved too much and a wave of pain and nausea overtook her as she crumpled again to the side, her stomach revolting as it expelled bright red blood to the pool already growing. She needed to get out of here, to find some way of escaping and hope for survival. Dropping her wand, her only good hand groped for her pocket, trying to pull out the whistle keychain Alice had given her when she'd first moved into the Safe House. Her portkey. But her shaking and blood drenched hands dropped the object and as she reached for it she finally succombed to the threatening darkness - her fingers lying only centimeters from where her portkey lay beside her. Marlene actually allowed herself to breathe a brief sigh of relief when she saw that something hit the Death Eater, keeping him (at least for the moment) from being able to attack her friend. In the few seconds that Valere was distracted, Marlene forgot about spells, forgot about magic, and simply bolted as fast as she could to try to reach Lily's side, desperate to get to her and get her out of there. It wasn't nearly as simple as she would have liked it to have been, however, as the numbness of her foot was quickly turning extremely painful. One of the Death Eater's blasting curses caught her and sent Marlene flying backwards into the side of one of the nearby buildings, sending her slumping to the ground on impact. Her side felt like it was on fire, but somehow adrenylin and fear of how bad off Lily looked kept her going. Rather than simply running back to Lily's side, though, Marlene instead worked off her earlier spell, shooting another glacius at Valere, and yet another at the ground between her and Lily. Once she was close enough to slide on the ice, she dropped to the ground and let herself glide across the frozen pavement and to Lily's side, grabbing (what was left of) Lily's hand with one of her hands and clamping down on Lily's wand (and the portkey Marlene had spotted only seconds before) with the other, vanishing both girls from the fight. A portkey. Valere should have expected as much but as he was busy fixing his burnt robes and brushing himself off he cast only a shield charm around himself. He would have gone to look for another fight but a commotion from down the street interrupted his thoughts. It was Dumbledore. Valere lifted his wand and took off in the direction of the one man who truly dared to defy his Lord. He was out for blood. |