The Potion Princess

Vance

"That's Ginny."  Ron sobers at the mention of his sister, giving Audra a dull flicker of hope, but then he just laughs again.  "Okay.  New plan."

Which is why Neville takes off in one direction, dragging a helpless Ron behind them, and Audra turns her back on them to run towards the sound of the fighting, trying not to get caught in the middle of anything else, and rounds the corner just in time to get caught in the shower of exploded crystal that Ginny had sent her way.

She's pale faced and clinging to Luna for support, panting, and now has a slightly horrified look on her face when she realizes who she just cursed.  Audra yanks a bit of glass out of her cheek, and her face was feeling suspiciously wet, which made her think that she was bleeding.  "Audra, I'm so, so sorry.  I thought you were someone bad."

Technically, I am, she thinks, but doesn't say it, just ducks under the arm that Luna isn't holding onto and starts to move her forward.  "It doesn't matter now."  They have to step over a body to get away from the rubble, turning a corner and moving slowly down through the row of shelves. 
"What matters is-,"

"Audra?"  It was Vance, striding down the hall.  He makes an imposing sight, his head held high and robes fluttering out behind him.  His voice echoes down towards them before he really steps into the light, giving Audra just enough time to move away from the girls and turn their wand on them, hoping that they've got enough presence of mind to just go with it.  Luna doesn't seem alarmed by the turn of events.  "Your face."  He doesn't seem to understand yet, but he's scrambling to catch up.  "Did they do that to you?"

Audra can't even think of a plausible way to explain away this situation, but before she even comes to that, Ginny lungs forward with a snarl and sends a stunning spell his way.  Vance deflects it without missing a beat, and he smiles that feral smile of his, advancing towards on them.  "You little bitch."  He disarms Ginny, who's so stunned by her spells being blocked that she just lets her wand go without protest.  It rolls away from her and lands at Audra's feet.  He gets close enough that they're practically touching, but Ginny doesn't back down, even when he reaches out to take a lock of her hair in his hand, letting the red stream between his fingers.  "You really shouldn't have done that." 

"Vance,"  Audra moves between them, pulling her brother away from Ginny.  She has her hands out, placating, pleading.  She could finish this and get the girls to safety anytime she wanted, but she cannot bring herself to raise a hand to her brother.  Not yet.  "Please, just let them go."

"We have our orders."  There's a quick scuffle where he tries to shove her out of the way but doesn't, and then she's finally pushed to the side.  "If you don't have the stomach for it, that's okay.  I knew you used to be friends."  He grabs her into a hug and then shoves her back.  "Let me do this for you."

Like that was problem, that she didn't have enough nerve to finish them off.  It's a sickening realization that he doesn't get it, that he seems to not see anything he doesn't want to see, no matter how obvious.  She watches in a kind of drawn out horror as his mouth shapes the first word of the spell, sees Ginny shove Luna behind her, wandless but arms spread out like that might forget her.  In her mind, she sees Neville blasting the shelf apart and makes her decision without really thinking about it, just pulls her arm back and lets the spell fly.

"Reducto!"  It works marvelously, even by her standards, the shelf full of prophecies that had been previously stretching towards the unseen ceiling crumbling down. It's quiet at first, and then there's a grinding, wrenching sound as it starts to collapse from the bottom up.  Vance is still standing underneath it as the dust and splintered wood and crystal fall around him, and then he disappears in the middle of it all, leaving the three of them standing in the silence when it was over.