"Always remember the burning embers."
— Taylor Swift
───•~❉᯽❉~•───
(long chapter ahead, grab water!)
chapter 75 - Part 2: the great war
Y/n's Perspective
The harsh tension in the frigid night was stark against the soft glistening snow under my feet, dusting my braided hair and pristine armour as it fell from above.
I clutched my wand tight between my trembling fingers. A feeling that was not from fear, but rather from the fire in my veins, waiting to be unleashed as my gaze pierced the path ahead of me like a sword aimed to kill.
Because I was aiming to kill.
Everyone marched behind me in a line, except Sebastian Sallow who stayed by my side. I could feel everyone looking up as the ancient magic barrier I created gleamed again, signaling Marvolo's attacks.
The barrier was weakening. I could feel it. And I knew exactly where Marvolo would be.
"Miss Gray!" I heard someone call.
I turned around in haste and found Professor Weasley and Professor Hecat marching toward us, a few students following behind. Leander Prewett and Everett Clopton included.
I exchanged looks with Sebastian and the others before stepping forward.
I said, "Professor? You should be defending the other side of the school."
"Oh enough with that, Y/n. You should call me Matilda, dear. We are past that now," she commented. "Besides, we've got enough defense on the other side. Dinah and I will have your back."
Dinah Hecat eyed me with a wicked smile. Despite her age, I knew she was still a damned good duellist. She was our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for a reason.
"Let's stop dawdling here. We've got a battle to win. I expect you all to use what I've taught you to the best of your abilities," she urged.
"I'm ready," said Leander. Everett gave a confident nod in agreement.
I quickly gave every student a look, my eyes narrowing hard on Leander in thanks. He gave me a nod too as a sign of truce.
"Like I said," I began, "just survive."
We picked up our pace and jogged the rest of the way outside of the ancient magic barrier, all of us apparating into the Forbidden Forest where I guided them. Other groups would be defending other parts of Hogwarts by now.
My feet barely touched the ground before I felt the air getting knocked out of my lungs. I saw a flash of red whipped past overhead. Sebastian had saved me from it by knocking me down on the ground.
We'd barely started and I was already breathing hard, and when I looked at him, our noses were practically touching. I felt melting snow seep into the fabric of my gear, but his touch on my back seemed to warm me up to my core.
"Thanks for the save," I breathed.
"At your service," he quickly responded, getting up then helping me off the snow-covered forest floor.
"Everyone watch your backs!" I warned, scanning the scene before me. "Move, now!"
Garreth and Aura shuffled to take cover to the left, while Ominis, Anne, Amit and Imelda took the other side. Poppy, Natsai and Alexander stayed with me and Sebastian in the middle, all of us taking cover behind a tree just before a barrage of spells hit us.
The professors put up a defensive spell, immediately countering the attacks. Other students followed either Leander or Everett.
I could feel Marvolo Gaunt but I couldn't see him from the swarm of dark wizards when I peeked my head to the side, some of whom I recognized from the ball at Gaunt Manor.
Pureblood families. His allies. Their eyes were menacing, snarling and growling at my group.
Lights flashed and popping sounds echoed around us, the tree bark behind me breaking into chips from the forceful spells they threw.
I took one glance at Sebastian beside me, our erratic breathing in sync.
"Ready?" I asked.
He gave me a lopsided grin. "Always."
Like two heartbeats in tandem, we moved away from the tree in opposite directions and attacked.
"Stupify!" I twirled then ducked, casting, "Confringo!" The dark wizard screamed, desperately trying to put out the fire. But I didn't give her a chance as I cast ancient magic as a finishing touch.
Chaos had ensued and it became hard to track of everyone. All I could really feel was Sebastian's presence, even when he moved away from me, thanks to the charm bracelet he gave me.
Popping and crackling sounds surrounded us, making my ears ring. All flashes of colour illuminated the moonlit scene, some curses being thrown.
I had to take cover behind another tree just to avoid the Cruciatus Curse, my heart pounding against my chest.
"Glacius! Diffindo!" I quickly countered, not giving the dark wizard a choice before killing him.
"Y/n! You alright?!" Sebastian shouted over to me as he multitasked with dueling two other wizards—one from the Carrow family, the other from the Rosier family.
"Yes, I'm fine, Sebastian!" I assured.
Using my ancient magic, I teleported a few paces closer to Garreth who I saw was being outnumbered. I didn't waste time summoning my blue fire and incinerating the four of them on the spot, fury marring my face.
"Merlin," Garreth breathed, his eyes wide. "It's different seeing that in action."
I shrugged, continuing to battle. I had to cast Protego to keep myself from getting hurt from an offensive spell.
Spell after spell we defended and attacked. I was breathing so hard, but adrenaline kept me upright, even as some attacks finally started hitting me directly. I didn't bother with wiggenweld potions until absolutely necessary. I had to conserve them.
But anxiety was filling my veins as I took a moment to look around my friends.
Garreth took a swig of his wiggenweld, healing the gash on his forehead quickly. Aura, on the other hand, was like me, just taking the hits even if blood ran down her arm and forehead.
Poppy had unleashed Chomping Cabbages to help her as she casted Incendio and Descendo against a group of dark wizards, her forehead glistening with sweat despite the frosty night.
There was fire in her eyes I'd never seen before, it was almost scary. But considering how she grew up in poacher camps, it was barely a surprise.
It was practically storming now, the snow falling harder and harder to the point it was almost covering the blood that splattered around us.
It obscured my vision so much I had to put my arm up just to shield my eyes. And that... that was enough to distract me.
The Incarcerous Spell hit me from behind, thick rope wrapping around my middle and immobilizing my hands. I lost my balance and hit the ground, air getting knocked out of me.
Trauma rightfully flashed in the back of my mind from the night of Starfall Ball, but I squashed it quickly like a bug under my boot.
I snarled at the bitch who cast the spell, groaning as I attempted and failed to get up. The ropes tightened around me even more, making me gasp from the pain.
Morphina Gaunt laughed darkly as her eyes fell on me, twirling her wand in her hand. "Look who it is. Y/n Gray," she tsked. "You could have been a great addition to our family if you'd only obeyed like the good pet you were."
"Is this how you fight? By leaving your opponent defenseless? How cowardly," I taunted.
Morphina snarled and pointed her wand at me, summoning a spell that cut through the skin on my cheek. I felt the hot trickle of blood mixing with sweat down to my neck.
I had a feeling I hit a nerve on her. She wouldn't have hesitated to kill me otherwise. She would've given me something worse than a cut.
Slytherin pride. I've learned long ago to use that to my advantage when it came to anyone from that house.
"What? That all you got? Kill me then. Coward," I snapped this time.
She flashed me her teeth and growled. Before I knew it, she had waved her wand, and the ropes around me were unbound.
But it wasn't Morphina's doing. She was going to do it—to let me fight her fairly.
But it was Sebastian Sallow who had freed me from the ropes, his freckled face and infuriated eyes burning through the falling ice around us.
"Sebastian," I breathed, scrambling to my feet.
I realized now how far we'd gotten from the others, and how many enemies had already fallen. The snowstorm really made it hard to see clearly.
I tried my best to shake off the anxiety of my friends lying dead somewhere. I could barely make out the bodies on the ground and I couldn't help but feel scared that they were hurt.
Stop it. Focus, Y/n.
"Oh, it's your filthy Half-Blood I see." Morphina turned to Sebastian who was slowly moving toward me. "Care for more fun? It was cut short when she rescued you, unfortunately."
"No one..." Sebastian began, his voice dangerously low. "No one gets to hurt my girl and gets to live with it."
Morphina was quick. I saw the change in her eyes, rapid like a flowing stream during a storm. But I'd trained with Sebastian enough times to know he was quicker. And he was.
"Protego!" Sebastian cast, moving in front of me to protect me. "Confringo!"
Morphina hissed as her skin got singed.
I took this time to summon my own ancient magic, but Sebastian twisted his head, and said, "Don't! I've got this, Y/n. Go help the others!"
"But—"
"Now!" he growled.
"No!" I countered, swerving around him to cast ancient magic on Morphina.
Blue flames ignited on my palms, summoning it to my wand for precision. I threw my arm out to unleash the flame, which was impossible to block. I'd swerved around Sebastian so Morphina was directly in my line of attack.
Sizzling flames evaporated the snow on the ground in a clean line, aiming straight for the black-haired girl. One blink was all it took.
But when the flames hit, she no longer stood where I'd aimed. Her brother—the other one—had tackled her to the side and saved her.
Mettis Gaunt.
Sebastian and I stood side by side with matching scowls, our lips forming puffs of clouds with every hard breath.
Mettis, with his equally dark hair but grey eyes glared at us. He stood up with his sister, both of whom not even wasting time until they filled the air with sounds of crackling spells again, barely giving us time to dodge.
Sebastian was hit with a curse before toppling down on the ground. He let out a groan, his skin torn at the front of his chest and collarbone.
"Sebastian!" I panicked, sliding next to him on the ground. "Hey, you're alright..."
"You'll pay for that. The both of you!" Mettis warned with a laugh.
I quickly summoned a shield around us I knew would only last a few seconds. But it was enough to block their attacks for a moment.
"I'm fine," Sebastian grunted.
"Shut up." I offered him a wiggenweld potion, then drank one myself to heal my injuries.
We both stood up again as soon as the ancient magic shield dropped, casting a barrage of spells at the Gaunts.
"You think you can defeat us? You are nothing!" Morphina snarled.
Sebastian's face twisted into something even more fiery, and I knew then trouble was brewing.
He stepped forward, unleashing spell after spell in an aggressive manner. Morphina had no choice but to stumble back and deflect his spells, the confidence on her face slowly transforming into panic.
I smirked and eyed Mettis. I knew what Sebastian was doing. He wanted us to separate the two of them while the both of us stayed together in the middle. So, I followed.
"I'm done playing nice," I muttered, summoning my ancient magic.
"Ha! You think a little ancient magic can defeat a Gaunt?" Mettis cast Diffindo but I quickly blocked it.
I clicked my tongue against my teeth. "Actually, I think it can."
I didn't even bother with my wand this time, letting the wildness of the fire coat my skin in a cozy embrace. Behind me, Sebastian kept at his attacks, and while Mettis did the same, I kept blocking and charging up my ancient magic, tapping a bit into the well of the reserve I'd been saving.
I closed my eyes, blocking out everything to the point I could only hear silence. Goosebumps crept up my skin as time slowed, and I could feel the tension in the air...
Dark magic was about to be summoned.
I opened my eyes just in time to see the Gaunts and their wands glow a familiar deadly green, their lips about to hiss the curse.
But Sebastian and I were two heartbeats in one. Two words that rhyme. Two souls that sync and harmonize against all odds from the fates.
I saw a faint green also glow from Sebastian's wand, while all of me was illuminated in a bright blue fire. Together, we poured every emotion into the magic and let it loose.
What happened within a heartbeat seemed to stretch on for an eternity. The magic swirling in the air, reaching for the deadly aim in the night.
Sebastian and I reached for each other as my ancient magic exploded into a blinding light, crouching and huddling down with each other to cover our vision.
A breath... then two...I looked at Sebastian as silence defeaned the environment around us. I could feel his breath on my cheek.
"Are you alright?" he whispered, caressing my wild hair.
I swallowed, nodding and panting.
Slowly, we stood again and looked around us.
There, Morphina and Mettis Gaunt lay unmoving. Dead.
"Sebastian, did you—"
"Yes," he answered in confidence, looking at me with a hard gaze. "I had to do it, Y/n. I had to use the Killing Curse."
"I know, I know," I mumbled softly. "I just want to make sure you're alright. It takes a lot to use it."
He chuckled softly. "Can't be much worse than your own magic, hm?"
I chuckled back, nodding in agreement, but I couldn't ignore the dreadful feeling in my stomach as I looked at the Gaunts' dead bodies. It wasn't because of how Sebastian went about it, nor how I did, but perhaps it was the fact that as awful and as horrible as they were, the Gaunts were still part of Ominis's family.
"Hey," Sebastian whispered, turning me to face him as he read my mind, "it's not worth it thinking like that. Ominis does not care for them. He doesn't consider them family, remember? You've got a good heart, my love. But forget about that, okay? They've tried to kill us multiple times. They hurt Ominis too."
He was right. Of course. I was being ridiculous with my morals.
I opened my mouth to speak again but a piercing scream in the night interrupted my words.
Natty.
Sebastian and I exchanged looks then broke into a sprint toward the direction of the scream, hopping over fallen branches and swerving around bodies on the ground. I almost slipped from the ice but I quickly maintained my balance and kept moving, heart daring to jump out of my chest.
"Natty! Where are you?!" I screamed, frantically looking around the snowy haze.
Sebastian called out her name, searching our surroundings that was suspiciously quiet. We must have been separated from everyone from the chaos of it all.
"Y/n! Sebastian! Help, please, over here!" Natty called back.
Sebastian reached her before I did as he was closer by a few more paces. By the time I reached them, I couldn't help but let out a little gasp at the bloody scene.
Alexander Graves laid on the ground, his head on Natty's lap. Blood was quickly pooling out of his injured side, his armour completely torn to expose shredded skin. He was grunting in pain, his face pale.
Natty was shaking, reassuring him it would be fine. I'd never heard her voice break this much before.
I noticed a dark wizard's body had been thrown to the side, completely dead. Must have been Natty's doing.
"Fuck..." I breathed out, crouching beside Alex's fallen form and quickly riffling through my potion pouch for a wiggenweld.
"N-no, a wiggenweld potion does nothing! It was some sort of curse that hit him, Y/n! I don't know what to do, he's losing too much blood!" she panicked.
I didn't bother answering her. I quickly took Alex's hand, which made him wince, and summoned my healing ancient magic. I closed my eyes and concentrated.
"Y/n be careful," Sebastian warned under his breath.
"It'll be fine. I've mastered it," I reassured him.
I opened my eyes again when I felt the magic flowing out of my skin and transferring to Alex's. His skin began to knit itself together until the severe bleeding stopped.
We all collectively released a sign of relief when Alex opened his eyes, coughing a little and groaning.
"Ow... well, that hurt," he joked, wincing as he sat up.
"You fucking idiot," Natty breathed, but a smile broke across her lips.
I shook my head at the quick turn of emotion between the two, a smirk creeping up my own lips. Sebastian offered me his hand to help me get off the ground.
It wasn't long before we heard more shuffling movements nearing us. I turned around and found Anne with Ominis, then my face quickly fell when I saw who was behind her. Garreth was carrying a barely conscious Aura, and her armour was also covered in too much blood. Poppy, Imelda and Amit followed behind not too long after, though Imelda wasn't looking too good.
I was about to jog over to them and use my healing ancient magic, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw who else was with my friends.
"No way..." I breathed, about to cry. "Alden! Theo!"
I sprinted and met my brothers halfway, throwing my arms around the both of them to the point I knocked them back a little. I squeezed them hard, their embrace tightening around me.
"What the hell are you two doing here?! And what about Mum?" I asked, detaching myself from them.
Theo chuckled. "Good to see you too, sister"
Alden smirked, answering for me. "Mum's inside Hogwarts helping in the Great Hall."
"We came as soon as we heard what Marvolo was planning. It's still useful to have our name, you know? Use it to our advantage to find out what's happening around the Wizarding World," Theo explained.
"The battle was already happening by the time we made it. We found out a little too late." Alden was panting hard still, blood trickling down his forehead.
None of us were looking too good. Exhaustion and blood marked our skin.
Garreth cleared his throat. "In case you're all forgetting, we should go."
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Where are the professors?" Sebastian added.
Ominis stepped up to explain. "They gave us an opening to get out of there. They're still defending us, delaying Marvolo."
"Others have already gone back to Hogwarts, but we wanted to find you all first," informed Imelda.
"W-what? What do you mean?" I asked again.
"He made his allies retreat, Y/n. He's about to unleash some dark magic soon," Ominis added. "We need to leave. Now."
I fisted my hands beside me, my eyes narrowing in the direction my friends came from.
"If there's anyone who can stop him, it's me," I said through gritted teeth, then sprinting down the direction I was eyeing.
Sebastian tried to clutch my wrist before I got away. "Y/n!" he called, sprinting after me when he failed to stop me. "Wait!"
I kept going and going, until eventually I saw shadows and forms in the haze, halting me in my tracks. Panting hard, I glared at the form I knew very well to be Marvolo Gaunt.
He smirked at me, slowly turning his head in my direction. Lights were flashing but not hitting him. I squinted to see better, but I couldn't through the storm.
Sebastian reached me not too long after, startling me a little. "Y/n, we need to head back, come on!"
"No! I can defeat him, Sebastian. Once and for all. He's right there!" I pointed.
The raging snowstorm fell harder as if it heard my cry of anger. The warming spell was beginning to wear off, and I could start to feel the stinging cold little by little.
"Professor Weasley and Professor Hecat are giving us time to go back to Hogwarts. Inside the barrier you put. It's safe in there, we need to go! And our friends are practically dying, Y/n. They will need you to heal them," he convinced.
"Fuck," I murmured.
I turned around one more time and tried to watch the scene ahead. Darkness seemed to be thicker now, floating in the air and up into the cloudy sky. One could almost forget it was Christmas Day, midnight having only passed a few hours ago.
My heart immediately dropped when I realized what Marvolo was trying to do. I could detect it with my ancient magic, and he had used that before. The shadows would cut through any magic. Such dark magic could not be avoided unless it was with my own ancient magic.
No wonder he made his allies retreat ... it might kill everything.
"We have to go, now!" I said.
Within a few seconds, we reached where everyone else was. Sebastian encouraged everyone to hurry up.
"Apparate as close as you can to Hogwarts, then run! Inside the ancient barrier. NOW!" I instructed.
Sebastian helped Garreth with Aura for he was getting exhausted. Then immediately, all of us apparated away.
I was concerned with Professor Weasley and Hecat, but I knew they'd run when they could.
Marvolo was too damn powerful and quick because when our feet touched the ground near Hogwarts, darkness, and shadow already loomed on the horizon like a storm, running in dark threads toward us.
"What the hell is that?!" Poppy asked.
"No time to ask, RUN!" Imelda answered.
We were only a few feet away from the chipping barrier, but it felt like oceans away. We couldn't have run any faster, our exhaustion getting overridden with adrenaline.
The last few paces, we threw ourselves inside the barrier. If we hadn't, the dark magic would have caught us all.
I turned around while I was still on the ground, watching the dark tendrils coat the dome I'd magicked around the school. It wasn't going to hold very long.
We took the nearest Floo Flame this time around and teleported to the Great Hall. Nurse Blainey immediately saw our arrival and tended to the ones worst wounded.
The Great Hall was roaring with students and some professors who were already back from the battle, Samantha and Constance helping tend to the injured. Professor Weasley and Hecat made it too, making me relieved.
I made eye contact with my mum across the hall. She picked up her skirts and jogged over to me and my brothers.
"Y/n! Oh, my dear, Y/n!" Mum embraced me, catching me off guard.
I hesitated a little, feeling a little weird considering everything that had happened in the past year. I always had a wavering view of whether or not she truly loved me as a daughter. Yet, intuition told me she truly did.
I hugged her bag, her familiar scent comforting me like I was a little kid again.
"I've missed you, mum," I confessed.
She cupped my cheeks when we untangled from each other. "I've missed you too, my daughter." She smiled at me with silver lines in her eyes. "Now, now. There's more to be done. I believe you're needed," she nodded in Garreth's direction, who watched as Sebastian laid Aura down on an empty cot. Garreth crouched down quickly, stroking her strawberry blonde hair.
I nodded reluctantly, then gave my brothers another hug before separating from them.
"Garreth..." I murmured when I reached him.
"She's fine... she will be... when Nurse Blainey gets to her, she'll be fine," he answered, voice weak.
"I can heal her. Don't worry." I didn't hesitate to do the same thing I did with Alex. "Tell me what happened."
Garreth explained to me how Aura jumped in front of him to take a Cruciatus Curse as I healed her. She'd lost consciousness, and her heart slowed down, but with my ancient magic, I could feel her energy coming back.
I sighed when I saw colour returning to her blood-smeared skin. "Give her a few minutes to recover, Garreth. But she should be okay now."
There were tears in his eyes he refused to let go of. He surged forward and embraced me quickly before kissing the top of my hair in that usual brotherly gesture of his.
"Thank you, Y/n. Thank you," he breathed.
I smiled and squeezed his arm before getting up and urging Sebastian to walk with me.
"You're still alright?" Sebastian asked once we were out of earshot from Garreth.
"I'm tired, but I'll be fine."
"You should be conserving your ancient magic, Y/n." He took my hands and cupped my face with the other.
"I have more than enough of it. I'm only tapping into the surface." I looked up at him and gave him a fleeting kiss. "I'll be fine. I need to help heal more people."
Anne suddenly came to stand beside us, her face pale. "Hey, where's Ominis?"
Sebastian blinked. "He was just with us."
I looked around, scanning the room for him. "I don't see him. But how could that be? He was just with us. He ran inside with us!"
But now that I looked back through the chaos and panic of it all as we tried to outrun Marvolo's magic...I couldn't recall Ominis being there.
Anne shook her head and quickly weaved around people, her eyes wide.
"Ominis?! Ominis, where are you?" She came to a stop in front of some Hufflepuff and Slytherin students. "Have you seen Ominis?" They shook their head. "Fuck! Uh... Ominis? Omi—"
"Calm down, Anne. I'm right here. I got held up by a stupid wizard on the way here."
Sebastian and I both turned to the entrance of the Great Hall quickly, then laughed in relief. Ominis was holding his injured arm, but he didn't look too bad for wear.
Anne cried out a little and rushed over to him as relief washed over her face. She threw her arms around his neck and without hesitating, she locked her lips on his. Ominis looked a little surprised, but quickly responded to the kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her flush against him.
My mouth fell open but I immediately closed it. Sebastian, though, not so much, gaping at his sister and best friend snogging.
I acted quickly, clutching his shirt and turning him away from the view.
Laughing a little, I said, "Give them their moment. She might have thought Ominis was dead."
"Er...right, right. Okay." Sebastian cleared his throat, face flushed from embarrassment. "Not that I'm surprised, but I am surprised."
I rolled my eyes and smiled teasingly at him.
Sebastian stuck by my side as I tended to other people who were badly injured. I took priority with Imelda and Amit who looked horrible. Nurse Blainey patched up the others. I had to be smart with my magic because as much as I've mastered it, overusing it would exhaust me too much.
Andrew Larson was the last one I had to tend to.
"There, feel better?" I asked him.
Andrew gave me a grateful smile, stretching his back that had taken the most hit earlier. "Much better. Thanks, Y/n. You really are special, aren't you?"
I rolled my eyes with a smile at his shameless flirting right in front of my boyfriend. Sebastian crossed his arms behind me, and I knew he was trying his best not to give an attitude back.
"You know, I'm right here?" Sebastian told Andrew.
Nevermind. He could not hold back his attitude.
Andrew just smirked.
I sighed. "Rest for a bit, Andrew. I'll see you later."
I got up and walked away with Sebastian. He purposefully threw one arm across my shoulder as we walked together.
"Your jealousy is showing," I chuckled.
"What? Can you blame me? Can't help it, I—"
A screech echoed in the night, startling all of us. The Great Hall quieted down within a second as a Hufflepuff girl clutched at her head tightly, whimpering and screaming.
I was about to run to her but then stopped, as another student screamed. Then grunts sounded, and painful groans, some only falling down to their knees silently. Everywhere around me, one by one, phantom pain seemed to reach them.
Sebastian fell down on his knees next.
"Sebastian!" I kneeled beside him, clutching his head. "What's wrong? What's happening?"
Sweat beaded down his forehead, wincing from the pain.
"I-I...I don't know, Y/n... but it hurts... Merlin, it hurts!" Sebastian shut his eyes tightly, making me worried to death.
I took notice of everyone around me and observed. That was when I noticed not everyone was experiencing it.
Ominis stood perfectly fine, comforting Anne who was in as much pain as Sebastian. Garreth Weasley and Aura were fine, even Imelda and Alexander. But the others...
"Marvolo..." I murmured, knowing damn well this was his doing.
He was using his dark magic to target Mudbloods and Half-Bloods. He knew I would see it. He knew it would lure me out.
My lips thinned as I felt my body vibrate with a thousand-degree fury from hell. I caressed my lover's cheek and left soothing circles on his skin.
"You'll be okay, Sebastian. I'll save everyone. I'll save you," I promised him.
Detaching myself from him, I got up and began my stroll towards death. But I was going to make sure it wasn't my damned death I'd bring here.
Sebastian weakly clutched my wrist, his face still twisted in pain. "N-no, you c-can't go, Y/n. Not without me."
I gently took his hand off my skin and kissed it, then kissed him too.
"I'll be back before you know it," I spoke fast because I could also feel the ancient barrier beginning to fall. I had a minute at most before shadows would consume all of us.
I could feel my friends also eyeing me as I began walking out, the screams and groans still echoing in the hall.
"Y/n! NO! Come back, please..." Sebastian protested, but he was too weak to get up.
"Y/n, what are you doing?" Ominis asked as I passed him, not letting go of Anne.
Garreth added, "You can't do this alone, Y/n!"
I ignored them all because I knew it would be too hard to leave if I turned back.
"Y/n! No, wait!" Sebastian's voice sounded again.
Theo, Alden, and my mum saw what was going on and even tried to stop me.
But I'd already touched the Floo Flame and left the Great Hall.
With my heart pounding against my chest and ferocity with a little madness in my blood, I dashed to the breaking barrier. I could see pieces of it falling and fizzling into nothing in the air, letting some of the shadows creep into the safe haven we'd created at Hogwarts.
I kept my wand in my pocket, and summoned blue flames on my palms, beginning to tap into my well reserve of my most powerful ancient magic. I let the embers cover me from head to toe.
"Y/n! Stop!"
I heard my name again.
Sebastian.
I could still hear the pain in his voice, and I'd bet anything it was slowing him down from catching up to me. How he even managed to move from the excruciating pain he was in, I had no clue.
Then again...
Love and desire were an entirely new currency of fuel to make someone do otherworldly things.
I halted, but only for a second to turn around with a soft smile to say, "I love you, Sebastian Sallow."
I didn't pause any longer and made my to Marvolo. Sebastian screamed my name, struggling and stumbling to keep up, but I kept going.
As soon as I stepped at the edge of the barrier, it shattered. A gust of icy wind whipped past my body covered in blue flame, shadows and dark magic ready to consume me and everything I'd come to love.
But I was ready for it.
At last, I let go of the ancient magic I've kept locked inside of me since my time at Azkaban. The surge of power was so great, that it was dizzying but satisfying. Everything I had been suppressing, I could finally let go.
Silver-blue flames flowed out to my left and right, towering above the trees and into the skies. It crawled across the grounds, encircling Hogwarts to protect it. The snow underneath it sizzled, and before the storm could even touch the fire, it evaporated into nothing, transforming the shadowy landscape into a foggy one.
The blazing fire was thick, impossible to pass without getting burned alive. It licked up into the air and I was almost sure it could touch clouds.
It fought against Marvolo's shadows. Since my body was covered in the same kind of ancient flames, I could not be touched by the shadows either.
And at least I knew Sebastian was safe behind these flames I'd conjured.
I summoned my emotions into the great magic I'd unleashed, my driving force—anger, sorrow, love.
I barricaded everyone away from this fight. From me. From Marvolo Gaunt. And from whatever else was lurking here in the night.
This was my own battle to fight. This was mine to face. Mine to start and end. My poison to drink all alone. Mine to cure.
At last, Marvolo materialized out of the shadows he summoned, eyeing me with a smirk. Tendrils of dark magic swirled around him.
"Y/n," he greeted, voice gravelly and low.
"Marvolo," I answered back.
───•~❉᯽❉~•───
Thank you for 50k reads!!! THIS IS CRAZY! I love you all, thank you for the support 💙 *screech noises like the Ravenclaw eagle* 🦅
Part 3 coming very soon.