∞ ϟ 9¾ ♔ ⚯͛ △r⃒⃘ ➵ ♆
Y/N's ears were ringing loudly as endless explosions occurred around her, as well as roars and growls of creatures brought to the battle.
She tried not to look at the bodies on the floor, friend or foe, she wanted no one dead.
She caught a glimpse of a body in black robes that bore the Hufflepuff crest. She turned away immediately, feeling her throat tightening.
"There she is!" Cried a masked male Death Eater, from across the courtyard. As Y/N was expecting, he was pointing directly at her. "There's the Scamander g-!"
Y/N's spell hit him in the face. His body turned rigid, and for a moment Y/N didn't know if it'd hit him, but when he toppled over, she sighed in relief.
Around her, spiders the size of boars were skittering across the surface of the castle. People screamed and shrieked, running arms raised away from them.
A boarhound dog came barking along, jumping right at her, its whimpers sounding alarming.
"Fang- hey, Fang-!" Y/N tried to calm the dog down. It continued to leap on her. "Where's-?"
Her question answered itself. Amidst the furry crowd of spider legs, Y/N spotted a familiar bushy face.
Just as she rushed forwards to help him, Hagrid fell face-first onto the ground.
"Hagrid!" Y/N bellowed, fighting off Fang's attention as the enormous bearded figure clambered to his feet. "What the-?"
"Y/N, yer here! Yer here!"
Hagrid stooped down and bestowed upon Y/N a cursory and rib-cracking hug.
"I don' understand!" Hagrid cried as Y/N gasped for air. "Where are the others?"
"I don't know!" said Y/N. "I'm trying to find them, but I have to help the others out here,"
"No, you go find 'em, Y/N," Hagrid said firmly, giving her a rough pat on the shoulder. "I'll handle this... Grawpy! We got this, eh? There's a good lad!"
Y/N tilted her head up, and with a faint gasp, her eyes were met with Grawp the giant, who was grinning down at her with his toothy smile.
"Are you sure?" She asked Hagrid again.
"'Course!" Hagrid replied, leaping away from another red jet of light.
"Alright! I'll see you!" And with that, Y/N sprinted back into the castle.
In a way, she was furious with Ron and Hermione for not telling her where they were going.
On the other hand, she was glad they had something to do. That meant they had a plan.
She arrived in the Great Hall and was faced with two other Death Eaters.
She recognized one of them- a blonde and sneering Death Eater by the name of Mulciber.
"We'll be rewarded good," Mulciber laughed maniacally. "Thanks to you, Y/N Scamander!"
Y/N ignored him and directed a Stunning Spell at both of them, but missed both times.
Mulciber continued to laugh as he sent a jet of purple light right at her, at the exact same time as the other Death Eater cast a striking green jet of light at her.
Y/N gasped and jumped away merely half a second in time, but she had to sacrifice her face to Mulciber's purple curse.
She didn't know what exactly it was, but it hit her head like a hammer. She could hear something crack, as she was knocked off her feet.
Her body met the cold floor, seconds later, and half of her face felt like it'd been ripped off.
Y/N winced and coughed, the pain digging its nails into the side of her face.
She peered through her eyelids, one swollen, and could see blood dripping from the bridge of her nose onto the floor in vibrant spots.
"What were you thinking?" Mucliber roared at his friend. "We can't kill her!"
"She killed Rookwood!" His Death Eater fried bellowed.
Y/N snorted humorously, catching their attention. A few chuckles turned into uncontrollable, triumphant, laughter.
Shaking her head, she wiped the blood from her chin and peered up at the two Death Eaters, sneering.
Even Mulciber seemed taken back by what his curse had caused upon her.
"That's right," Y/N spat, as she pushed herself onto her feet with difficulty. "Hurts, doesn't it? You lot go out and kill innocent people, but throw a tantrum when one of your little murderers get themselves killed,"
The realization that she'd missed death by an inch still made her head fuzzy. But it was worth seeing the Death Eaters' furious faces.
"You little-"
"Kill me, then," Y/N smiled sweetly, wiping another track of blood from her cheek. "For Rookwood's death... except, your boss wouldn't like that, would he?"
"He's the only one who wouldn't!" the Death Eater growled. Despite Mulciber's warnings, he raised his wand at Y/N once again. "You killed Rookwood! You deserve to die-!"
There were two loud bangs and two flashes of light. Y/N shielded her face with her arms, ready for impact, but the spells did not hit her.
She opened her eyes, slowly, and found Mulciber and his friend's body half-buried in a pile of rubble. They were both unconscious.
"Y/N!" cried a familiar low voice.
Regulus Black came hurtling forwards from the end of the hall, followed closely by Aberforth Dumbledore, who looked confused and frustrated.
Y/N swayed in her spot and Regulus came forwards and seized her by the arms. Y/N was beyond grateful to have his shoulder to cling onto.
"Y/N, are you OK?" Regulus asked. His locks of black hair hung eerily around his face and his dark grey eyes were fixed upon her bloody face.
"I'm fine," Y/N grimaced.
Regulus stared at her bloodied face calculatingly. There was blood trickling down from her nose, the side of her face was bruised deeply, and her left eye was swollen pretty badly.
"Metal Fist Curse," he muttered under his breath.
"He punched me with a spell?" Y/N shouted.
"It's not as bad as it seems!" Regulus assured. "Hold still and I'll-"
"I'm fine, Reg!" Y/N repeated, trying to back away from him. "It hurts, but I have time to cry about it later. What are you two doing here?"
"I've had hundreds of kids thundering through my pub," said Aberforth.
"I know, we're evacuating," Y/N said, "Voldemort's-"
"Attacking because you haven't handed Potter over, yeah," said Aberforth. "I'm not deaf, the whole of Hogsmeade heard him."
"Where's Harry? You've got to keep him away," said Regulus.
"I know! I'm trying to find him- and the rest," Y/N looked around uneasily. "I've got to go, before-"
Before what? Before one of them dies? Before Harry turns himself in? Y/N couldn't finish her own sentence.
"Find him. We'll go help the others," Regulus nodded understandingly. "And Y/N-" He put a hand on her shoulder. So much like his brother. "Be careful."
With that, He and Aberforth and tore away in the opposite direction.
Y/N had an odd feeling that everything and everyone was slipping through her fingers.
She hurried out of the Great Hall, trying to ignore her injured face, wand out and ready.
With a yell of mingled relief and fury, she saw them, at last- Ron and Hermione, both with their arms full of large, curved, dirty yellow objects.
They were talking in low, rapid whispers. Y/N stormed towards them.
"Where have you been?" she shouted at them, as a blast landed just outside.
They both froze, startled, and their jaws dropped when they saw her face.
"Y/N, what-" Hermione's lips trembled. "What happened?"
"I'd like to ask you two the same!" Y/N said furiously.
"We're sorry, Y/N!" cried Hermione. "We thought of something and didn't have time to tell you. We're so sorry!"
"I know, I understand," Y/N waved her off.
"Oh, Y/N, what happened to you?" Hemione's brown eyes stared at her with concern.
"Is it that bad?" Y/N asked weakly. Hermione and Ron nodded.
At that exact moment, someone collided with Y/N from behind, making her stumble forwards and the lot of them gasp.
With no hesitation, Y/N turned around and poked her wand on the stranger's chest, just to realize that stranger was no other than Harry.
"It's me!" said Harry. He came to a steady halt in front of her, raising his two hands.
When his eyes traveled across her face, his breath stopped for a moment.
His eyes lingered on the bruise on her cheek and the blood on her face.
"Thank heavens, Harry," Y/N started forwards to embrace him, but Harry seized her arm, his face grim.
"I told you to stay out of trouble, Y/N," He said in a low tone, his voice unstable with frustration. "Who did this? Why- why would you go out there?"
"I stayed in here the whole time." Y/N lied. There wasn't time for useless quarrels.
"Kingsley told me you were attacked by two Death Eaters!" Harry asserted.
"Nevermind that, now," Y/N shook her head, then cast her eyes on Ron and Hermione. "Would you mind explaining yourselves?"
"Yeah, where the hell have you two been?" Harry frowned.
"Chamber of Secrets," said Ron.
"Chamber- what?" said Harry.
"It was Ron, all Ron's idea!" said Hermione breathlessly, holding up the objects in her arms. "We still hadn't got rid of the cup, had we? And then he thought of it! The basilisk!"
"Genius," Y/N echoed in understanding.
"What?" Harry repeated.
"Something to get rid of Horcruxes," said Ron simply.
Harry's eyes dropped to the objects clutched in Ron and Hermione's arms and realized- they were great curved fangs, plucked from the skull of a dead basilisk.
"But how did you get in there?" he asked, staring from the fangs to Ron. "You need to speak Parseltongue!"
"He did!" whispered Hermione.
"I've heard you a few times," said Ron, modestly. "It took me a few tries, but we managed in the end."
"Show him, Ron!" said Hermione. Ron made a horrible strangled hissing noise.
"He was amazing!" said Hermione. "Amazing!"
"Any updates from your side?" Ron asked Harry and Y/N. "Y'know... apart from the bloody nose?"
"I know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it is," said Harry, talking fast. "He hid it exactly where everyone's been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on."
As the walls tremble, he led the other three up the staircase into the Room of Requirement.
It was empty except for three women: Ginny, Tonks, and Pansy.
"Is everyone okay?" said Ginny and Tonks together.
"Y/N, what happened to your face?" Pansy asked, her mouth wide open. Harry ignored her.
"Are there still people in the passage to Hog's Head?" he asked. "Is everyone-?"
"What are you doing here, Tonks?" Y/N demanded, panic rising in her chest.
Everyone turned to her, confused. There was a pause of silence.
"You're supposed to be with Teddy at your mother's!"
"I couldn't stand not knowing," Tonks looked anguished. "I had to come... But Y/N- heavens- are you OK?"
She touched Y/N's face ever so slightly as a mother would. Y/N's heart twitched.
"Please go back," Y/N said in a whisper. Tonks sighed deeply. "Please go back, Tonks. For Teddy. Teddy needs his mother."
"The world needs his mother," Tonks said firmly. "My mum's looking after him, it'll be fine."
"How is it, out there?" Pansy asked the Quartet.
"Why don't you go look for yourself?" said Ron.
"I would, Weasley," Pansy shot sourly. "The only reason I'm here is because your fiery stubborn-headed sister, here, would follow me."
"So how's the battle going?" Ginny asked loudly, trying not to roll her eyes.
"It's horrible out there," Hermione shook her head. "There are Death Eaters everywhere. A lot more than we'd expected."
Tonks' face paled, and Pansy and Ginny glanced at each other uneasily.
"Have you seen Remus?" Tonks asked quietly.
"He was planning to lead a group of fighters into the grounds-" Harry started, but without another word, Tonks sped off.
"Ginny, Pansy," said Harry, "I'm sorry, but we need you to leave too. Just for a bit. Then you can come back in."
Ginny looked simply delighted to leave her sanctuary. Pansy looked concerned.
"Fine, but be quick, Potter," said the Slytherin, putting her two hands on each of Ginny's shoulders. "I can't keep her still for long,"
The two left, and the door of the room swung shut.
"Hang on a moment!" said Ron sharply. "We've forgotten someone!"
"Who?" asked Hermione.
"The house-elves, they'll all be down in the kitchen, won't they?"
"I don't think there's time to stop for a meal," Y/N said grimly.
"I'm not talking about food, I mean, the castle's falling apart!"
"You mean we ought to get them fighting?" asked Harry.
"No," said Ron seriously, "I mean we should tell them to get out. We can't order them to die for us-!"
There was a clatter as the basilisk fangs fell out of Hermione's arms.
Running at Ron, she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips.
Ron threw away the fangs he was holding and responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted Hermione off her feet.
"Took 'em seven years," Y/N grinned, her arms crossed and her head slightly tilted as if she was admiring a painting.
"Is this the moment?" Harry asked weakly.
Nothing happened except that Ron and Hermione gripped each other still more firmly and swayed on the spot.
"Oi!" Harry called. "There's a war going on here!"
Ron and Hermione broke apart, their arms still around each other.
"I know, mate," said Ron, who looked as though he had recently been hit on the back of the head with a Bludger, "so it's now or never, isn't it?"
"I know, but-" Harry sighed and shook his head. "D'you think you could just- just hold it in until we've got the diadem?"
"Hark, who's talking," Ron laughed. "Let Y/N give you a kiss and see if you'll remember anything about a bloody diadem,"
Y/N winked at him teasingly and Harry made a face.
"Yeah, alright, sorry," said Ron, and he and Hermione set about gathering up fangs, both pink in the face.
∞ ϟ 9¾ ♔ ⚯͛ △r⃒⃘ ➵ ♆
The noises of the battle died the moment they closed the door behind them. All was silent.
They were in a place the size of a cathedral with the appearance of a city, its walls built of objects hidden by thousands of long-gone students. The Room of Requirements.
"And he never realized anyone could get in?" said Ron, his voice echoing in the silence.
The room had appeared so easily that the four grew suspicious. All they had to do was... wish for it.
"He thought he was the only one," said Harry. "Too bad for him I've had to hide stuff in my time... I think it's this way,"
They sped after him, past rows and rows of every object one could ever think of- bottles, hats, crates, chairs, books, weapons, broomsticks, bats...
"Somewhere near here," Harry muttered to himself. "Somewhere... somewhere..."
"I think we should split up," said Y/N, thoughtfully. "into two," she added in exasperation, as Harry opened his mouth to protest.
"Fine," Harry muttered.
Ron and Hermione nodded and went down a different aisle, their footsteps quite audible in the silent room.
"You have to stop worrying so much about me," Y/N said in a mere whisper, looking right ahead and not at Harry.
"There won't be a day I stop worrying about you," Harry replied calmly, also looking nowhere else but ahead. "but I'll pretend otherwise if you want me to."
Y/N didn't reply to that.
Deeper and deeper into the room they went, Y/N following Harry's lead.
Y/N's heart was thundering, her breath was loud in her ears.
Her soul seemed to shiver the moment Harry stopped walking.
There it was, right ahead, on a blistered old cupboard on top of a pockmarked stone warlock- an ancient discolored tiara.
Harry had already stretched out his hand, though he remained few feet away when a voice behind spoke up.
"Hold it, Potter."
Y/N skidded around immediately, her wand raised.
Crabbe and Goyle were standing right before her, shoulder to shoulder, wands pointing right at them.
Through the small space between their jeering faces, she saw Draco Malfoy.
His sickly face and platinum hair were quite recognizable. He seemed to be very determined to look anywhere but at her.
"That's my wand you're holding, Potter," he said, his own wand visible through the gap between Crabbe and Goyle.
Y/N could not hear Ron or Hermione anymore. They seemed to have run out of earshot.
"Not anymore," snarled Harry, tightening his grip on the hawthorn wand he had stolen from Malfoy, weeks earlier. "Winners, keepers, Malfoy. Who's lent you theirs?"
"My mother," said Draco. "Also something you don't have,"
Y/N couldn't contain her anger any longer and raised her wand higher, but Harry caught her hand immediately, without even looking at her.
"Don't, Y/N," He whispered from the corner of his mouth. "Stay behind me."
Crabbe and Goyl errupted into laughter.
"Noble Harry Potter, protecting his brat girlfriend," Crabbe jeered. "A shame both of you've gotta go, tonight."
"It can talk?" Y/N raised her eyebrows.
"Shut up, Crabbe," Malfoy snapped.
"And what would you do, if I don't?" Crabbe turned to Malfoy in disgust. "I don't take your orders no more, Draco. You and your dad are finished."
"Damn," Y/N muttered.
"We're gonna be rewarded," continued Crabbe. "We hung back. We decided not to go. Decided to bring you two to him."
"Good plan," said Harry in mock admiration.
"No!" shouted Malfoy, grabbing Crabbe's arm as his mouth opened to fire a spell. "If you wreck the room you might bury this diadem thing!"
"What's that matter?" said Crabbe, tugging himself free. "Who cares about a die-dum?"
"Potter came in here to get it," said Malfoy with ill-disguised impatience at the slow-wittedness of his colleagues. "so that must mean-"
"Harry?" shouted Ron, from the other side of the junk wall. "What's going on?"
"Harry?" mimicked Crabbe. "What's going on- no, Scamander! Crucio!"
Y/N had dashed for the diadem. Crabbe's curse missed her but hit the warlock statue, which flew into the air.
The diadem soared upward and then into the mass of objects behind the cabinet.
"STOP!" Malfoy shouted at Crabbe, his voice echoing through the enormous room. "The Dark Lord wants her alive!"
"No, you want her alive!" Roared Crabbe. "I'm sick of your selfish acts, Malfoy!"
A jet of scarlet light shot past Harry by inches. Hermione had sent a Stunning Spell straight at Crabbe's head.
It only missed because Malfoy pulled him out of the way.
"It's that Mudblood! Avada Kedavra!"
Y/N saw Hermione dive aside, and with a fury that he'd almost killed her best friend, she shot a Stunning Spell at Crabbe.
He lurched out of the way, knocking Malfoy's wand out of his hand.
"Don't kill her! DON'T KILL HIM EITHER!" Malfoy yelled at Crabbe and Goyle, who were each aiming at Harry and Y/N.
"Expelliarmus!" Hermione shrieked.
Goyle's wand flew out of his hand and disappeared into the bulwark of objects beside him.
Crabbe wheeled around and screamed, "Avada Kedavra!" again.
Ron leapt out of sight to avoid the jet of green light.
"I got it!" Hermione called, from somewhere behind the pile of chairs.
"RUN, THEN!" said Harry, and they started sprinting.
Y/N tried not to crash into Hermione as she ran full-speed through the narrow aisles of endless gadgets.
Ron started yelling bloody marry from behind them.
"What, now," Y/N muttered under her breath, as she jumped over a pile of textbooks.
"WHAT NOW?" Ron roared, from a few steps behind her. "GOYLE'S SET THE BLOODY PLACE ON FIRE!"
Sure enough, Y/N could feel the heat of the huge flame before she turned around to have a look.
A dragon-sized serpent made of pure fire was slithering after them, catching everything in its way on fire as well.
"Fiendfyre!" said Hermione, but didn't stop for a second to acknowledge the creature any further.
The fire didn't stop growing. One serpent turned into two serpents. Then the two serpents turned into a tsunami of flames.
Y/N could feel the hotness at the back of her neck as they ran. Harry was trying to slow the fire by blocking them with large furniture, but it barely affected the fire.
"Brooms!" Ron came to a sudden halt.
Y/N thought he was crazy for stopping, but once she saw the brooms that were lined up against a cabinet, her heart sprang back to life.
Without wasting a second, the four seized a broom each, mounted them, and kicked off the ground.
It was faint, but Y/N finally saw the two double doors across the room.
Passing a mountain of old furniture, Y/N could see the faces of Malfoy and Goyle. They were holding onto a slipping table for life.
"We can't leave them!" said Harry.
For a moment, Y/N thought he was out of his mind. They were so close to not dying.
But it was at moments like this that she often used anger and selfishness instead of her mind. They were still human.
"If we die for them, I'm going to kill you, Harry!" said Ron, but they turned their brooms after Harry anyway.
Ron and Hermione dragged Goyle onto their broom and rose into the air once more as Y/N pulled Malfoy up by the arm and threw him onto Harry's broom.
Malfoy was screaming and holding Harry so tightly it hurt his shoulders.
Then, through the smoke, Y/N saw their exit again.
"Drop the diadem, Harry!" She yelled. She could hear the first of Harry's protest. "TRUST ME, FIENDFYRE KILLS IT!"
"She's right, drop it!" said Hermione.
Y/N didn't see if he dropped it or not, because at that point her eyes started to water. Smoke waffed into her face.
Finally, moments later, clean air filled her lungs, and they were out.
They all collided with the wall in the corridor beyond.
Y/N fell like a rag doll from fifteen feet above, and onto the very hard ground with a thud.
She laid facedown, gasping, coughing, and retching.
Harry rolled over and sat up.
"It worked!" He announced, panting, but otherwise looking healthier than the others. "I felt it- the fire destroyed it,"
"And it nearly destroyed us!" Y/N coughed, her shoulder shaking.
She could imagine how horrible she looked- her face covered in soot and sweat and blood, her hair worse than a goat's.
Her limbs and face were so sore that they felt numb.
The door to the Room of Requirement had vanished, and Ron and Hermione sat panting on the floor beside Goyle, who was still unconscious.
"C-Crabbe," choked Malfoy as soon as he could speak. "C-Crabbe..."
"He's dead," said Ron harshly.
There was silence, apart from panting and coughing.
Then Y/N heard a number of huge bangs shook the castle, and panic suddenly flared in her.
"Where's Ginny?" she asked sharply. "She was supposed to be waiting out-"
But she broke off as yells and shouts and the unmistakable noises of dueling filled the corridor.
"Merlin, please give me a break," Y/N groaned.
Death Eaters had penetrated the inside of Hogwarts.
Fred and Percy had just backed into view, both of them dueling masked and hooded men.
The Quartet ran forward to help, as Malfoy and Goyle continued to roll around.
Jets of light flew in every direction and the man dueling Percy backed off, fast.
"Hello, Minister!" bellowed Percy, sending a neat jinx straight at Pias Thicknesse, "Did I mention I'm resigning?"
"You're joking, Perce!" shouted Fred as the Death Eater he was battling collapsed from three Stunning Spells. Fred looked at Percy with glee. "You actually are joking, Perce... I don't think I've heard you joke since you were-"
The air exploded.
For a fragment of a moment, Y/N had not a single clue of anything's existence in the world, as she felt herself flying through the air as if in slow motion.
She could do nothing but wish for a safe landing, shielding her head in her arms.
She heard screams from all around, without knowing who they belonged to.
And then the world resolved itself into pain and semidarkness.
She was half-buried in the wreckage of a corridor.
Just for a moment, the air echoed with silence and suspense.
Then she heard a terrible cry that pulled at her insides, that expressed agony neither flame nor curse could cause.
She stood up, swaying, more frightened than she had been her entire life.
"No- no- no!" someone was shouting. "No! Fred! No!"
And then she saw them. Percy was shaking his brother, and Ron was kneeling beside them.
She could see Fred's eyes that stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face. Y/N's world crumpled before her.
She felt as though a petal of beautiful rose, one that made the world happier by simple existing, had just been ripped from its stem.
As Ron let out a gut-wrenching cry, another petal was plucked.
Warm tears streamed down Y/N's face. She was shaking badly. She couldn't differenciate between phiscal pain and emotional pain.
She could only wish for the nightmare to be over.
And then a body fell past the hole blown into the side of the school, hitting the wall behind their heads.
Only aware of half the things around her, Y/N scrambled away, panting, crying, and absolutely terrified.
"Get down!" Harry shouted, grabbing Y/N's wrist, as more curses flew through the night.
They dropped to the ground and he pulled Y/N into his chest, wrapping his arms around her head and body protectively.
Percy lay across Fred's body, shielding it from further harm.
"Percy, come on, we've got to move!" said Harry. Percy shook his head. "Percy!"
He seized the elder Weasley brother's shoulders and pulled, but Percy would not budge.
"Percy, you can't do anything for him! We're going to-"
Hermione screamed. Turning around, Y/N saw a monstrous spider the size of a small car climbing through the huge hole in the wall.
Y/N and Harry shouted together, their spells collided and the monster was blown backward.
A Death Eater, tall and masked, obviously the one who had caused the explosion, dashed across the corridor.
Percy yelled in fury and ran after him, his face angrier than Y/N had ever seen.
Y/N turned to her side and saw Hermione trying to restrain Ron, to stop him running after Percy.
"Listen-LISTEN RON!"
"I wanna help- I wanna kill Death Eaters!" Ron's freckled face was glazed with tears and smeared with dust and smoke. He was shaking with rage and grief.
Y/N turned away. The poor rose kept losing its petals.
"Ron, we're the only ones who can end it! Ron, we need the snake, we've got to kill the snake!" said Hermione.
She was crying too, and she wiped her face on her torn and singed sleeve as she spoke.
"We will fight," Y/N said firmly, sniffing loudly. "We'll have to, to reach the snake. Do it, Harry- look inside him! Let him in."
Why was it so easy? Harry thought.
He closed his eyes on her command, and at once, he started wincing and twitching. His brows were furrowed and his breath started to pick up.
With great difficultly, Y/N simply watched.
A minute later, with a gasp, Harry pulled back and opened his eyes.
"He's in the Shrieking Shack." He breathed. "The snake is with him. He's just sent Lucius Malfoy to find Snape."
The four set off the corridor, as the floor rumbled beneath their feet.
They ran down the next staircase and found themselves in a corridor full of duelers.
Dean had won himself a wand, for he was face-to-face with Dolohov, Parvati with Travers.
"I'm Draco Malfoy, I'm Draco, I'm on your side!" Malfoy was on the upper landing, pleading with another masked Death Eater.
Y/N stunned the Death Eater as they passed.
Malfoy looked around, beaming for his savior, and Y/N ran forwards and threw a punch at his face.
Malfoy fell backward on top of the Death Eater, his mouth bleeding, looking at Y/N with wide eyes.
"That's the second time we've saved your life tonight, you two-faced bastard!" Ron yelled.
There were more duelers all over the stairs and in the hall as they went.
Yaxley, was close to the front doors, in combat with Flitwick, a masked Death Eater dueling Kingsley right beside them.
Suddenly, two bodies fell from the balcony above. Y/N's breath ceased.
"NO!" shrieked Hermione.
With a deafening blast from her wand, Fenrir Greyback was thrown backward from the feebly struggling body of Lavender Brown.
The werewolf struggled to return to his feet.
Then, with a bright white flash and a crack, a crystal ball fell on top of his head, and he crumpled to the ground and did not move.
"I have more!" shrieked Professor Trelawney from over the banisters. "More for any who want them!"
Perhaps Divination was not so bad after all.
∞ ϟ 9¾ ♔ ⚯͛ △r⃒⃘ ➵ ♆
Panting and gasping, Harry slowed down, skirting the Whomping Willow's swiping branches, and toward its thick trunk.
Y/N, Ron, and Hermione caught up, Hermione so out of breath that she could not speak.
"How- how're we going to get in?" panted Ron. "I can- see the knot- if we just had- Crookshanks again-"
"Crookshanks?" wheezed Hermione, bent double, clutching her chest. "Are you a wizard, or what?"
"Oh- right- yeah-" Ron looked around, then directed his wand at a twig on the ground. "Winguardium Leviosa!"
The twig flew up and zoomed directly at the trunk through the Willow's ominously swaying branches.
It jabbed the tree's knot and at once, the writhing tree became still.
The four sighed in relief and went for the narrow entrance at the roots.
They slid in with difficulty, for they weren't thirteen-year-olds anymore.
They walked down the dark and dirty tunnel, carefully but swiftly.
"The Cloak, Harry!" Y/N whispered, tapping Harry's shoulder. "Put the Cloak on!"
Harry groped into the pocket of his jacket pulled out a bundle of slippery material.
He threw the cloak over himself and Y/N.
"Don't," Harry said sharply, for Y/N was opening her mouth to protest.
They continued as silently as possible, all their senses straining, expecting every second to be discovered.
Then Y/N heard voices coming from the room directly ahead of them, muffled by a thin wooden wall.
The four crouched down low and pressed their ears gently upon the wall.
With a small gasp of shock, Y/N realized the voice behind the wall belonged to Severus Snape.
"... it answers to you, My Lord... you, only," Snape spoke.
There was a slight pause, then snickering from a raspy decaying voice.
"I'll ask you again, Severus," Voldemort snarled. "who does the Elder Wand truly belong to?"
Harry frowned and listened carefully.
"It belongs to you, My Lord," replied Snape, his voice even lower than usual.
"Mhm..." Voldemort hummed thoughtfully. "You are a clever man, Severus. Surely, you must know... where does its true loyalty lie?"
"With you," said Snape, a little too quickly. "of course,"
Voldemort waved him off.
"The Elder Wand cannot serve me properly, because-" There was another short pause, as though Voldemort wanted Snape to finish his sentence. "I am not its true master..."
"My Lord- let me get the boy-"
"The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard that killed its last owner, Severus," said Voldemort. "You killed Albus Dumbledore. While you live, the Elder Wand cannot truly be mine." "
"My Lord!" Snape protested. It was the first time Y/N had ever heard fear in Severus Snape's voice.
Voldemort's intention became clear to everyone.
And before Snape could do anything more than yell, Voldemort spoke in Parseltongue.
"Kill." Harry heard.
There was a loud hissing noise, then a terrible scream and Snape fell to the floor, his body crashing against the wall.
Hermione flinched, her eyes closed shut.
Y/N found her air pipe closing up. Harry held her closely under the cloak and pressed one hand gently but firmly around her mouth.
"I regret it," said Voldemort coldly. And with an echoing crack, he was gone.
Harry let out a shaky breath, relinquishing his hand from Y/N's mouth.
As quietly as he could, he slipped out of the Invisibility Cloak and pulled himself up into the room.
Harry did not know why he was approaching the dying man.
Y/N glanced at Ron and Hermione, who were both pale in the face, before following Harry closely.
Y/N stood back as Harry crouched down beside Snape's weak body and pressed his fingers on the bloody wound at his neck.
His eyes were half open, his face a colour or murky yellow. His chest heaved with difficulty.
Harry looked down upon the man he hated, whose widening black eyes found the four of them.
Snape's mouth opened slightly, then closed. He was trying to speak.
"Take... it...Take... it..." his voice came out as a terrible rasp.
That was the moment Y/N noticed the silver-blue substance that was leaking from his eyes.
He was using his remaining strength to deliver them.
If Y/N didn't know any better, she'd have thought they were merely tears.
A small flask was conjured from thin air and Hermione handed stuffed it into Harry's hand.
Harry swallowed and lifted the silvery substance from Snape's face into the flask with his wand.
When the flask was full to the brim, and Snape looked as though there was no blood left in him, he seized Harry by the jacket.
"Look... at.... me..." he whispered. He was looking at Harry.
For a moment, it was as though unspoken words were suddenly exposed. Y/N did not know what was trying to be conveyed.
But when the hand holding Harry thudded to the floor, Snape's head lolled to the side and he moved no more.
∞ ϟ 9¾ ♔ ⚯͛ △r⃒⃘ ➵ ♆
A/N ~ The last 2-3 chapters coming soon🥲 Brace yourselves for deaths, twists, and Y/N and Harry's conclusion.
See you all next week ! :)
-ScribblingQuills