𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐎𝐮𝐭 {𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲}

| 𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐇 | 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦

The sounds were deafening as spells ricocheted, tearing off chunks of the ornate walls and filling the hall with dust. 

Both sides had fractured into opposite ends of the room. Draco and Lorcan were battling the Death Eaters, while Hannah took on both Codrus and Erebus by herself. I was not worried about them yet - they could hold their own. Amora, however, had barely turned eighteen and never had to fight like this before, so amidst the commotion, my first thought was to return her wand. 

I found her and the other girl backed into a corner by Susan, who was slinging a flurry of spells at them with such an enraged passion I was surprised they had not already fallen dead.

The girl was bravely shielding Amora, and for a second, her charcoal glare locked with mine over Susan's shoulder. This distracted Susan, who turned to follow her gaze. It was enough time for her who blow Susan's wand out of her hands. Then, she aimed at me. 

"Lilith, DON'T!" Amora's cry fell on deaf ears as a jet of green fire roared towards me. I barely managed to duck, the Killing Curse singeing my ears as it whizzed past. 

Lilith. Amora had told me about her. Peter Pettigrew's daughter. When Lucius approached the Death Eaters' children with the offer of world domination, she had been the first to jump at the opportunity. She was a snake in the grass; luring people in with girlish guiles and honeyed words. One might find it easy to think her a friend at first, not realising they were dinner until they were already halfway down her oesophagus. 

I struggled to keep up with her speed, but Amora's wand felt strange in my hands. The shields I conjured were weak, cracking upon contact with each of Lilith's curses. She cackled wildly, a high-pitched screeching that sounded too much like Bellatrix's. "Where're your blood traitor friends now?" she jeered. But Lilith was so drunk on bloodlust that she had quite forgotten about Susan. 

"Right here, you bitch!" a voice called. 

Liliths head snapped around in surprise, and she hesitated for a heartbeat to recalculate her next move. Susan, however, did not. Her wand flashed, and with a thunderous explosion of blue light and smoke, Lilith disintegrated into a cloud of black ashes.

Susan spun around to Amora, before shaking her head and lowering her arm. "Why can't you kids just stay in school?" she groaned. The young girl could only stare back in a wide-eyed stupor. I tossed the wand her way, and she caught it deftly despite her shock. "Morie," I called, just before she slipped away. 

"Whenever you're ready, okay?" 

We both knew what I meant. Her worried gaze lingered on me for only a moment longer before she was gone.

"You're going to regret that," Susan panted. "I don't think so," I replied, with no inkling of how wrong I would be. Hannah, Susan, and I would never attack to kill, but we would rue the day we did not eliminate all the Death Eaters here at the Manor while we had the chance, as we would soon come to know.

Susan and I prepared to jump back into the fray, but it was only then we noticed the shouting and rumbling had died down. There was now only a strange, unnerving silence. We squinted through the thick cloud of dust as it began to settle.

Reality faded into view, and the breath caught in my throat. Hannah and Lorcan were bound, gagged, and kneeling on the ground in front of the fireplace. The Death Eaters presided over them, wands to their prisoner's necks. They had been watching us silently all this while, waiting. Amora stood with Erebus and Lucius, her head bowed to the floor.

Susan sent the Expulso Curse towards them, but Codrus blocked it with a wave of his wand, the shield so strong it knocked Susan's wand out of her hands once more. "You've really got to work your defence, darling," he mocked. His next attack would have found its target had Draco not leapt in with a shield charm of his own.