The Slytherin Gem

91

They had little time to process that they had finally found the diadem and destroyed two horcruxes in less than five minutes, they started to hear duelling not far from them and they knew it was past midnight and the Death Eaters had broken the shielding spells and had gotten inside Hogwarts.

The five of them started moving, hearing several explosions everywhere. The first Death Eater they encountered was stunned by Draco. All but Jade were surprised at that but said nothing. More and more came and they fought Death Eaters when needed.

It was then when Jade's ability suddenly got out of control for a couple of minutes. She started hearing thoughts, sometimes one or two at a time but it could also be ten or even more at once. Some were a mess. Some were quite organised, some were thinking about their loved ones. Some were just thoughts of dying and some were thoughts of killing.

She kept hearing several voices at the same time and she couldn't block them out. They were currently in a part of Hogwarts with Fred and Percy, along with some other students fighting Death Eaters and it was Fred who defended Jade while she was trying hard to block the thoughts, as she couldn't think or do anything. She could hear many thoughts but not her own.

She did notice something though. Sometimes the thoughts would go mute immediately, mid-word or mid-sentence and the voice wouldn't be heard again. She wondered if those people had been killed, she hoped not.

Then there was a big explosion and that actually helped Jade to gain control over her mind. Jade landed hard on her side, so hard that she was bleeding and her already sore ribcage area felt even worse and she had a hard time taking deep breaths. She looked around and couldn't find Draco.

"Draco? Draco?" she yelled, looking around.

But he wasn't there anymore. Harry had to grab her and pull her along so they could get away from there. The hole in one of the walls the explosion had caused was being used as another entrance and this time not only Death Eaters were going in but huge spiders. While Harry and Ron did a spell against them, Jade just killed them.

The four of them hid inside a small cupboard for the time being, they barely fit but they needed a place to just stop and be able to think.

"I need to look for Draco," Jade said, almost crying.

"He's alright," Ron said quickly. "He wasn't there when the explosion hit us, so he didn't die. If we don't end this we will all die, Jade. We both have kids, don't we? So let's think about them and end this, okay? Right, so Harry, you need to find where Voldemort is. The snake will be with him. Do it Harry! Look inside him."

Harry nodded and closed his eyes and he even made a face of surprise at how easy it was. Jade had gotten used to getting into Harry's mind when he did that, she had discussed it with him and he wasn't against it as long as it wasn't his own mind being read.

So Jade closed her eyes too and read Harry's mind, seeing everything he was seeing. Voldemort somehow still hadn't felt that two Horcruxes had been recently destroyed.

"My Lord." Jade knew that voice too well but he had never sounded so weak, so desperate, so scared. Voldemort turned and faced Lucius Malfoy. Jade almost opened her eyes. He looked horrible. He had a closed and puffy eye. He was ragged and broken, his hair was messy and he had big bags under his eyes from exhaustion. "Please, my son."

"If your son is dead, Lucius, it's not my fault. He did not come and join me like the rest of the Slytherins. Perhaps he has befriended Harry Potter?"

"No. Never."

"You must hope not."

"My Lord... Potter might be killed by someone else. Wouldn't it be more prudent to call off this battle? Enter the castle and seek him yourself?"