"What is this place?"
Sebastian clenched his jaw when she asked, only hearing the wet footsteps on the moldy wet floors. Mostly rocks and algae in what so little light Sebastian had lit with his wand, the only constant sound was the pitter patting drops of water from the ceiling to the floor. Anything else was their breathing and their movements. "Is this where you kill me, Sebastian?"
"No," he grimly replied.
"Can we at least have more light here?" Finley asks her tone oblivious which made Sebastian grow tenser.
"Lumos Maxima," He recited, creating a large light to illuminate the entire room with his wand. The room looked as it smelled. It smelled molding, wet, and rotting.
The runespoor corpse in the middle of the room was a dead giveaway followed by a broken golden cauldron on the side and a probably burnt looking book, whoever did all this must've been in a hurry.
"I didn't know the black lake had a Runespoor," Finley gasped, walking up towards the runespoor that was ahead short. "How'd you find this place?"
"I didn't," Sebastian frowned, glancing at the burnt book near the broken cauldron. "You did."
She paused, her hand inches away from a runespoor head, she opened her palm retracting back into a fist. "I've never been in here."
"You have."
"No, I have not."
"Finley," Sebastian turns her to face him, both his hands on her shoulders slightly shaking her. Her confused expression made it seem impossible to keep her mind on the topic, he just wished he knew first. "You've been here before."
"How would you know, Sebastian? The last time I checked, you were a death eater and you betrayed us!" She snapped at him, pushing him away from her.
"Because I know you've been here before Finley, I know you have," he calmly tells her. "And as it would come as a shock to you, or maybe not, I've been here before too."
"You've been stalking me?" She fumed, growing angry by the second, breathing unevenly due to how rapid the situation had escalated.
"That's not the point!"
"Then what is it, Sebastian?" She snaps. "You're a traitor. You betrayed us, your friends, your family, your sister."
"Do not bring in Mirelle into this, Finley," he warns her, his chest aching at the memory of the look his sister gave him when he left home without an explanation. An explanation that he didn't want to say as he had sworn himself to secrecy.
"Now what? You've stalked me and whatever shit it is that you're pulling up your ass, what is it that you want? Why did you bring me here?" She frowns at him. "Is Tom here? Is this an ambush? Are your death eater friends here?"
"Finley!" He yells at her, stopping her from saying anything else yet she still glared at him.
"What more do you want, Sebastian?" She asked him. "I lost my parents to that bald vermin whom you call the dark lord, I lost Sirius to his right-hand psycho lieutenant too. Now I'm losing my friends, my brother, and Draco, for what?" She humourlessly laughs. "The only thing I could think of now is my life, do you want both of them?"
"That's not something to joke about, Finley—"
"Then give me Godric Gryffindor's sword and stab me in the heart, what do you want—"
"You're going to die, Finley!" He snapped.
"That's not old news now is it?"
"You frustrate me," Sebastian grits under his breath, turning away from her for a second. He didn't have time to think over the issues to his plan of telling her what he knows, he thought that maybe she would listen to him, see how well that backfired then?
"I frustrate you?" Finley scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Funny, does that mean what I'm feeling right now is bloodthirst? Because it would satisfy me to wring your neck right about now," she sarcastically said, staying put on where she stood, glaring at the back of Sebastian's head. But no answer or retort from the latter, he just stood there his back turned on her, the coldness of the room didn't help either.
The smell of the runespoor's rotting corpse was burning her nostrils, she glanced around the room analyzing every detail that could explain what happened.
"You're going to die, Finley."
"I don't need to be a genius to remember that."
"Listen to me—"
"I don't want to," Finely fumed, "why would I listen to someone who's betrayed me before?"
"This isn't about me betraying you, Finley! It's about you dying because of him!" He exclaimed.
"Now what are you talking about?" She huffed.
"Right at this moment, Malfoy is going into the Room of Requirement, and he is going to open the box that he and Nott have been fixing the whole school year to let the death eater's in."
"Is that how you got into the school?" She asks him, narrowing her gaze at him to see if she struck the right question. The way he fell silent was answer enough.
"Then what you're saying now," she trailed, tensing more at the realization, "this is an infiltration isn't it."
He nods, looking down on the wet floors. "I couldn't take the idea of them hurting you—"
"Then what about my brother? My friends?"
"They will never hurt the Slytherins—"
"I mean Hermione? Ron? Harry, what about my brother? Why isn't he here—"
Sebastian scoffed. "Please, your brother and Dumbledore fled the school, where do you think they're going?"
"I don't fucking know," she scowled, patting her pockets for her wand, freezing at the realization that she didn't have it with her. She turns to Sebastian who held both of her and his wands in one hand with a solemn look on his face.
"I can't allow you to leave."
"Give me my wand," she ordered him.
"No—"
"The hell do you mean no, Sebastian? Give me my wand!"
"And have you run into the school and get yourself killed again?" Sebastian snapped at her. "You died once when you shouldn't have died, I will not allow that to happen again."
"You have no right to gatekeep me like this, you're a death eater—"
"I did it for you!" He yelled at her. "I became a death eater to protect you, to make sure that you never end up dead ever again."
"Who made that promise? Voldemort?" She scoffed.
"No," he replied. "Dumbledore did."
Finley paused, shocked as she stared at Sebastian. He looked too serious to be joking about something such as this, the way he stared right back at her without fail of being intimidated. It would explain a few things she's learned in the year, but it didn't suffice the excuse. She didn't ask to be protected, it wasn't her who needed protection.
"You're a fool, Sebastian Thorns."
Taking off the thick red cloth that covered the damned box, the dust that started to gather formed a puff of smoke the moment he took it off. He didn't want to admit it but he was weak, his body still slightly cold due to the lack of blood in his system, his hands still shaky as he had just woken up. His heart pounded, a little too loud for his liking.
He could hear his heart pound, his breath grow ragged as he stared at the now-fixed vanishing cabinet. "So this is it?"
He turns behind him to see Theo looking as tense as he was followed by Pansy and his two large buddies, Vincent and Gregory. The four of them were all nervous about what was going to appear from the cabinet, all four who've had a hand in fixing it.
"Pansy, you should go," Draco advised her, seeing the anxious look in her eyes as she bit onto her fingernails. "You don't need to be here."
"But—"
"Neither do you three," Draco turns to Theo and the two larger boys. Taking in all his remaining courage to send his friends away and have him take the burden of what he was tasked to do next. "Get out of here."
"As if we would leave you," Theo scoffed looking more worried than he had been before. "We're not cowards to flee, we're staying here."
Draco sighed, turning to both Pansy and the two boys. "If you leave now, they'll never know."
"But Draco," Pansy starts, her voice cracking into a nervous sob. It was clear how this stressed her, she had never thought that her life would turn into this. "We can't just—"
"It's okay," he softly smiles at her assuringly. Walking up to her and patted her shoulder, having his action tell her that it was okay to run away while they still had time. This wasn't a goodbye for sure, but it felt like it. "Now go."
And with that Pansy cried, hugging Draco before running away, leaving the four boys to await the death eater cavalry. He sighed, hearing the cabinet's locks start to get undone.
"You still have time before that thing opens," he tells his friends.
"We've stood by you for years, Malfoy," Vincent turns to him with a determined look on his face. "This is no different than any other day."
"Yeah," Gregory nods.
"Here they are," Theo informs them, hearing the cabinet open slowly, causing all 4 of them to freeze. The clanking from the door sent shivers up his spine, hearing his creek open revealing a pale hand holding a wand followed by a curly mess of hair. And soon at least 5 more people joined them from the cabinet. All in black robes, three of whom wore the death eater masks, one had a nasty scar on his face that contained slight wolf features. And a familiar face that Draco knew all too well.
"Nephew!" Bellatrix fussed, arms wide open she smiled revealing yellow rotting teeth followed by a cackle. "So nice of you to allow us in here after so many, many years."
He remained silent, so did his friends, jaws clenched at the sight of 5 death eaters in the room. His aunt marveling in the room they had just entered, Greyback snarled at Vincent and Gregory, while Theo eyed two of the masked death eaters.
"You have been such a good boy to Auntie Bella," Bellatrix cooed, holding up his face resisting the urge to turn away from his aunt's rancid breath.
"Now shall we finish what you started?" His aunt laughed before pulling him, his friends were being pulled as well. His heart dropped to his stomach knowing that it was time. It was time for him to kill Dumbledore.
Might publish the last chapter over the weekend. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Love,
Rayah.