Blooming in the Dark (Flora Weasley and Elwin Malfoy romance)

23. Is a Daring Ray of Light

"And here he is...the boy you all believed had been my downfall..." Voldemort was saying as he turned toward the gravestone, facing the three prisoners. Raising his wand, he shouted, "Crucio!" 

Flora felt tears spring to her eyes as Harry thrashed and screamed, but there was nothing anyone could do. Voldemort did not draw it out, however, and soon relinquished the spell. Harry leaned his head back against the gravestone, breathing heavily. 

"You see, I think, how foolish it was to suppose that this boy could ever have been stronger than me," Voldemort drawled. "But I want there to be no mistake in anybody's mind. Harry Potter escaped me by a lucky chance. And I am now going to prove my power by killing him, here and now, in front of you all, when there is no Dumbledore to help him, and no mother to die for him. I will give him his chance. He will be allowed to fight, and you will be left in no doubt which is the stronger. Just a little longer, Nagini." 

Flora drew in a harsh gasp as the hissing of the snake rose up just behind her. 

"Unbind him," Voldemort ordered. "And give him his wand. Tie the other two in his place. They shall be dealt with when this business is concluded." 

Wormtail instantly went forward, cutting through the cords with his new, metallic hand. Harry only just caught himself before collapsing. While Wormtail fetched his wand, he looked at Elwin and Flora. Flora had both arms wrapped around one of Elwin's, her head buried in his shoulder as she tried not to cry with debatable success. Elwin was stony-faced, his eyes fixed unmoving from where Harry knew his father was standing. 

Upon sensing Harry's eye, however, he quickly looked up and asked, "Do you know the shield charm, Harry?" 

"Yes," he replied. 

"Well?" Elwin pressed. Harry did not know how to answer. "Use only what you know well. You can't afford heroics. Otherwise you'll..." He didn't finish his sentence. Glancing quickly at the Death Eaters and Voldemort, Harry quickly caught Elwin's knife with his foot and toss it to him. 

"Wait for a moment you know you can escape," he said. "You can't exactly afford any heroics either." 

Wormtail returned, thrusting Harry's wand into his hands just as Elwin managed to hide the knife in the sleeve of his sweater before he and Flora were forced to their feet. Flora let out a surprised cry at the action, the tears that had flooded her eyes but refused to fall spilling over onto her cheeks. Shoving them back against the gravestone, he bound them with a flick of his wand. The cords were so tight they could barely breathe. Flora fought against her tears as hard as she could. Who was she to be crying when Harry... She couldn't finish the thought. 

The cords were so tight she felt she could hardly breathe. Her chest felt constricted, limited in the amount of air it was able to draw in. Flora gasped, almost instantly breathing back out every bit of the air again before gasping once more. She was hyperventilating. Elwin slipped his hand into her own, but she seemed hardly to notice it. Even so, Elwin noticed her grip tighten almost to the point of bruising. 

"You have been taught how to duel, Harry Potter?" Voldemort inquired. When Harry said nothing, he resumed, "We bow to each other, Harry." He bowed slightly, but not enough to qualify as much of anything. "Come, the niceties must be observed...Dumbledore would like you to show manners...Bow to death, Harry..." 

The sickening laughter of the Death Eaters forced a fresh wave of panic through Flora's systems as she drew in a sharper gasp, tears continuing the roll down her cheeks. At the sound of her sob, Voldemort's eyes flickered to her with a pleased smile. 

Harry stayed standing straight. 

"I said bow," Voldemort said, raising his wand slightly. Harry's spine bent forward. "Very good. And now you face me, like a man...straight-backed and proud, the way your father died...And now - we duel." 

Voldemort raised his wand, instantly forcing Harry to the ground with a scream. He had been hit by the same spell again. The moment it was over, he rolled over back onto his feet, shaking more than a frightened rabbit. He staggered, losing his balance toward the Death Eaters who instantly shoved him back toward Voldemort. 

"A little break, a little pause," he remarked, beginning to move in a circle and forcing Harry to mirror him. "That hurt, didn't it, Harry? You don't want me to do that again, do you?" Harry, who Flora could now see across from her, remained silent. "I asked you whether you want me to do that again," Voldemort said softly. "Answer me! Imperio!" 

Harry's expression contorted to one both of bliss and yet a strange something wrong about it as though some internal battle was being waged in his mind. After a few seconds of struggle, he shouted, "I WON'T!" 

"You won't?" Voldemort said in some surprise. "You won't say no? Harry, obedience is a virtue I need to teach you before you die...Perhaps you need another kind of pain..."

Turning toward the two at the gravestone, he pointed his wand at Flora. Instantly, her entire body ignited. Her mind was blank apart from the pain. Her throat raged from the force of her sobs and shrieks. Then, it suddenly subsided. She did not bother trying to stop her sobs now. She hung, limp and weak, supported only by the cords binding her, tears streaming down her cheeks. 

"Now, will you obey?" Voldemort asked. 

Sending an apologetic look toward Flora, Harry remained silent. They had begun circling again. Just as Harry began approaching the gravestone again, Voldemort raised his wand to strike again, but before he could, Harry suddenly dove out of sight, rolling out of the line of fire and instead behind it. 

"We are not playing hide-and-seek, Harry," Voldemort said. "You cannot hide from me. Does this mean you are tired of our duel? Does this mean that you would prefer me to finish it now, Harry? Come out, Harry...come out and play, then...it will be quick...it might even be painless...I would not know...I have never died..."

Throwing himself around the edge of the gravestone, Harry shouted, "Expelliarmus!" 

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort cried. Elwin, who was closest to the wand beams, flinched, prepared for some kind of explosion, but it never came. Instead, the moment the streams of light connected, they became one, neither the green of Voldemort's curse nor the red of Harry's: it was a vibrant gold. Suddenly, as though the ground itself was moving, both lifted into the air, flying above the Death Eaters and landing several feet away.