Hogwarts Legacy : A Sixth Year Continuation

Chapter Fifty Two : Safe

Ominis was the first out the front door.

I hadn't even noticed the downpour of rain that had begun as I raced after him, toward the blaze of my village. My feet weren't moving fast enough and I could feel shouts and screams from the others still in the cottage behind me. I turned on my foot and disapparated to the bottom of the mountainous hill my home was perched on, appearing with a crack on the cobbled path of the village. The heat blazed up my arms, a mix of water and flame engulfing the air. The smoke was thick, like a wall of black, blinding me. The pub was the closest building, if you could call it that. The beams of the roof were falling in on themselves, crashing, plumes of thick smoke billowing from the collapse. The wood from the pub groaned loudly in protest, the music that would call from inside of it normally was dead. Replaced only by the dying memory of what once was.

A crack to my left and right announced the appearance of Ominis and Sebastian, panting and coughing as the smoke invaded their chests.
"Is this rain you, Kitty?" Sebastian spluttered, holding his arm up to his mouth, white shirt now black with soot.

"I don't know. Probably, it doesn't matter. Find as many people as you can, then disapparate with them to the cottage!" I shouted over the roar of the flames. Natty and Mr. Brooke appeared next to Ominis with a sharp crack. Coughing and choking against the flames.

"The rain will help with the fire but you two should try and put this out. I need to start getting people ou-"

There was a noise above the roar of the fire. Cutting my sentence short, a gargled scream, and a distant flash of green beneath smoke. My legs pulled me forward in a flash of white light pushing the clouds of black aside as I searched desperately for the source of the scream. It didn't take much searching to find it.

On the ground of the cobbled stone, was a flurry of blonde hair, body limp in the slushy street. The woman was one of the fiddle players from the pub. Her eyes stared unseeing at the night sky and at the man who leered over her, menacingly. He was dressed in an outfit almost identical to my own, tight, leathery and practical, the holster on his thigh was empty, wand in his hand. The rain fell harder, pelting the flames and remaining snow in the street as the man met my eyes. I didn't recognise him, not really. Gleaming blonde hair, straggly from rain but glowing non the less. He looked up slowly as I froze in place.

A chilling smile crept upon the man's face, the thunder began to rumble angrily overhead. Encouraging me to find my voice.

"Leave this place, now. I know why you've come. I don't have it. Leave here, now , or die."

The threat that left my lips was natural, spoken in a controlled steady stream. But I didn't feel controlled, nor did I feel steady and the sky around us was a perfect reflection of what I felt inside. I could see Molly's house at the bottom of the lane, fire had tried to lick its way up the house but it remained unharmed. I breathed out shakily. The man only grinned wider, I saw his fingers twitch the wand handle and I held mine up to face him. Who was he?

"Kill me will you? Very dark I must say, for a mudblood you have got some gall." His voice was silky as he began to circle me. I followed his pace, wands still pointing at each other as the thunder growled louder. He was an incredibly handsome man...almost hard to look at. The halo from his hair reminded me of Ruby. My mind wandered back to the conversation the morning I'd left Hogwarts.

She said she had lost Malachi Gaunt's trust, and that her brothers would instead be asked to carry out his wishes. The words echoed in my mind, bloodthirsty...more so than Marvolo...

"Ruby not accompany you? She never really did have much of a spine." I spat at the man who I could only assume was one of her brothers. His smile only widened at the mention of her name.