𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐃𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓| 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲✔️

𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍|𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆

MARA WILLIAMS

We made it to the meeting with minutes to spare, and when we practically crashed into The Room of Requirement I collided face first with Cedric Diggory.

"Woah Mara, watch where you're going!" His rich laugh made the candles seem to glow a little brighter, "Where on earth have you been anyways?"

"Oh you know... Just the usual," I grinned, beaming up at him, "-Running from Umbridge."

He raised a sinfully thick eyebrow with a smirk, "You too? I thought she only had it out of Potter and the Weasley twins."

I was glad there didn't seem to be any awkwardness between us after our last encounter, I would've hated for my dismissal of him to drive a wedge between us. But as I stared up at his towering form, he seemed like just the same old Cedric I'd come to care for so deeply.

"Mara's been added to the hit list too, along with the rest of us." Chimed Parvati from the corner, who was still doubled over panting from all the running.
"-Jesus Christ now I know why I don't run unless it's for my life! Mara how the hell are you not out of breath?"

"Oh I umm..." I bit my lip awkwardly, "...I did a lot of exercise over the Christmas holidays."

"I bet!" A snort came from Parvati and in my peripheral I saw Hermione choke on her own spit before shooting me a sideways glance.

"Cool me too! What kind of exercise are you into? Maybe we could work out together some time?" Cedric smiled innocently and I felt myself die a little inside.

"I ah... I-."

"-She swims!" Grinned Parvati, enjoying my discomfort a little too much, "Maybe you two should take a swim in the lake together some time, the colder the better really!"

"Yeah I'd like that." Cedric said softly, and I nodded mutely, feeling myself die a little more inside at the thought of swimming in the baltic lake along with him. I'd rather throw myself off the top of the Astronomy tower, thanks.

"Right listen up you lot!" Harry's shout cut through the crowd and caused everyone to fall silent, eagerly awaiting what he had to say. Even his cheeks were still flushed from the sprint. "Umbridge and The Inquisitorial Squad are onto us now, so we need to even more careful, Hermione's put some extra safety precautions in place, however those can only stand as long as every member is loyal. Even Hermione's spells are not impenetrable."

"Please report any suspicious activity to Harry, Ron and I immediately, and be sure to be extra cautious entering and leaving meetings." Hermione said loudly, her feminine tone reverberating off the high ceilings and thrashing in the fire. "Try to stay in groups of no more than three, as large crowds will only serve to draw more suspicion to our... Extra curricular activities."

"Exactly," Harry continued, "-And now without further without further ado, how do you lot feel about trying out Patronus charms today?"

The mass of students erupted in shouts.

• • •

"Make it a powerful memory, the happiest you can remember!" Harry yelled, weaving his way through the students, adjusting arms whilst Hermione corrected pronunciations.

"It's not Expecto Patronum," Hermione scolded a frowning Ron, "It's Expecto Patronum."

"Expecto Patronum!" I gave my wand a flick, and a sad little burst of blue light, like a whisper of smoke, coiled from the end.

"Allow it to fill you up and then channel that feeling into your magic! A full bodied Patronus is the hardest to conjure, so don't be disheartened if you can't do it at first just keep trying, don't give up!" He yelled, helping a rather crestfallen looking Neville to cast the same whisp of pale blue I had. "-Just remember your Patronus can only protect you for as long as you stay focused!"

He wasn't wrong, because when I looked back my own little wisp had evaporated into thin air. Clearing my throat I tried again, thinking of warm nights by the fire, frozen noses, forbidden kisses, stolen moments. "Expecto Patronum!"

"Fantastic Mara!" Harry shouted, as a full bodied snake erupted from the end of my wand, hissing and coiling and spitting and striking. A mighty beast, and yet an unnerving one. It reminded me of the monstrous snake that had brushed my ankles all those nights ago at Malfoy Manor, the one that moments later led to our undoing.

My electric blue snake vanished, and I turned to see Cedric looking increasingly frustrated by his failed charms. "You can do it Cedric, just try to concentrate!"

And surely no more than a moment later a badger leaped to life from his wand, bounding around Cedric in circles as his face lit up with a devastating smile.

"Go on Neville!" Fred and George roared with cheer as the skittish boy managed to produce his Patronus as a blast of shocking blue light shot from his wand.

-But then it came. And little did we know it, but our world was soon to come crashing down around us, leaving nothing more behind than the ashes of what we once were.

It was quiet at first, just the creaking protest of the stone, but when the second wave hit it could no longer be ignored. Patronus' disintegrated like sand scattered in the wind, only a mere memory of what they left behind.

Whether it was conscious or not, we all held a little tighter to one another as the third strike rocked the walls of The Room of Requirement. "What's going on?" Cedric whispered but Hermione's hissing hush made the words fall from his lips only to echo in our minds. What was happening?

The impact shook the candles in the chandeliers, sending little sparks of magic light raining down upon us like hellfire rain. Mirrors fell from their walls, shattering upon impact only to evaporate from the nothingness they once came from, it was all just a figment of our imagination, the room had one purpose, to serve.

But as the fourth wave hit the walls buckled and bricks tumbled, I choked on the ash as it fled thick into my lungs, for even the dust itself feared a woman scorned. What ever spell bound The Room of Requirement tore, spilling all our secrets to the world beyond.

When the concrete mist began to settle I could just about make out their silhouettes, in the centre of them all, a short, even squat woman. -Professor Umbridge.

"Run for it!" One of the Weasley twins yelled, and not a single soul needed to be told twice. We barrelled towards the exit, not caring for the bodies of our captors that stood in the way. We barged, shoved, trampled our way past them in the thick smoke.

"Mara!" I could just about make out Hermione's shout through the haze, and by some miracle I found my way to her through the thick mesh of bodies, each as desperate as any other to escape. I grasped her right hand as we ran, and in her left she held Parvati. "Come on let's get out of here!"

The mess of students began to thin as we each turned a different path and we had just began to slow as we neared the Gryffindor dorms, believing that we'd made it out unscathed.

"Not so fast." A rough hand ensnared my wrist and tore my from Hermione's grasp.

"Mara!" She yelled as she turned to face my attacker. "Let her go Malfoy!"

Almost as if shielding me from the girl, he instinctively shoved me behind him as he sneered, "Leave it Granger, best not to stick your nose in things you know nothing about."

For a second I thought she may attack him herself, and in all honesty I wouldn't have blamed her, I probably would've helped her if anything. But she knew better, she pursed her lips into a firm line as she looked between the two of us, knowing full well that Draco was acting of his own accord and not off some orders from Umbridge.

In this moment I couldn't exactly tell his intent, though I knew from experience that it was more than likely selfish and self serving.

"Hermione go," I urged, a strange kind of morbid curiosity gnawing at the pit of my stomach. Why hadn't I learned by now? Would this only end when I learned my lesson in blood and fire and anguish. It was almost as if I longed for my own destruction, sought some sick kind of pleasure in the anarchy.
"-I promise, I'll be fine I can handle myself."

***
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