WAR STOPPED FOR NOBODY.
Even as Ron cried for his brother, Death Eaters still infiltrated the area.
Even after they had saved their lives, the Slytherins still turned their backs on the Gryffindors—a final image of Ron being ripped away from his brother's corpse burnt into their minds.
For a moment, guilt weighed down heavily on Celestia's mind. But it was the reality of a battle, and this could all finally stop if they ended the battle. There was no doubt they'd run into Harry again eventually, so they could delay killing him until then.
First, they needed to find Pansy, Blaise, Regulus, and Mary again. Then, they could work on minimising the Death Eater forces and killing Nagini. Simplifying it down like that made the tension in her shoulders loosen.
The hallways, particularly this high up, were empty. It wouldn't stay that way very long, if Fred's death was any indication.
Celestia stumbled toward the staircase, and at the sound of footsteps thundering up the stairs, the Elder Wand as instantly in her hand. Her anxiety was instantly cut short when she recognised the familiar faces who were coming up the stairs.
Her uncle led the pack, with Mary, Blaise, and Pansy hot on his heels. They stopped short at the sight of them at the top of the stairs, and Celestia couldn't imagine what they must look like to them. Covered in ash and blood, haggard, eyes-wide with the sight of recent death.
Regulus moved up the final stairs quickly. His hands reached out instantly, and then she felt them on her face and in her hair. It took her a moment to realise what he was doing—that he was wiping away ash and the slowly drying blood from her skin and hair.
"What happened? Are you alright?" he demanded, hands finally settling on her shoulders, eyes briefly darting towards Draco and Theo.
"We're all okay. There was just an incident with a fire." She knew saying anymore was bound to make him worry. "We need to find Nagini."
"Nagini?" inquired Pansy.
"You-Know-Who's snake," clarified Draco. "He takes her everywhere with him."
Mary stepped forward. "Well, he isn't in Hogwarts. He's staying out of the fight, at least for now."
Letting out a sigh, Celestia took a few steps down, knowing they needed to get moving. "I didn't expect anything less from him."
They all trailed after her, following her as she descended down the stairs. She frowned, trying to figure out the best way to broach the next plan of action seeing as they couldn't go straight to Nagini. She had broached the subject previously with everyone but Pansy and Blaise, and they had all tentatively agreed. It was Blaise and Pansy she was concerned about.
She was well aware that they were capable of making their own decisions and taking care of themselves. Still, after being away from them for so long, she couldn't help but want to coddle them. War thrust decisions on people, and she wanted to avoid doing that to them if she could.
Brushing her hand against Theo's as she thought, she wrapped her pinkie around his briefly, needing the anchor. They all pulled out their wands as they reached the next level, hearing the distant sounds of battle, even if the hallways before them were currently empty. They were close to the ground floor, but they still needed to traverse across this entire level just to reach the next set of staircases.
"We need to kill a ton of Death Eaters," announced Celestia, her voice quiet but commanding. "No one from Hogwarts are going to be using Unforgivable Curses, and lesser hexes and jinxes can only hold them off for so long. If we want any chance of dwindling down their forces, that is what we have to do."
She turned around to face Pansy and Blaise. "Of course, you two don't actually have to kill anyone. As long as you can incapacitate them, we can finish the job."
Pansy shook her head. "No, it's fine. We're prepared to help in whatever we can, even if that means killing people."
"Are you sure?" wondered Draco. "It really is fine if you don't."
"We're sure," confirmed Blaise.
Celestia resisted the urge to try and change their mind, smiling softly at them instead. "Okay," she agreed. "It's just, I know you've both never used Unforgivable Curses before, and you don't have to start just because I asked."
"Well, about that. . ." Pansy began.
She shared a look with Blaise, and the smile on Celestia's face froze. The feeling of foreboding crawled over her skin. Blaise gave Pansy an encouraging nod, and Celestia knew—she knew whatever was about to be said, she wouldn't like.
Pansy continued, "The Carrows, after taking over Hogwarts, have been making us—"
There was a blast of noise from the nearby staircase, and as much as it pained Celestia, she knew they couldn't waste any more time hanging around. Yet from the few words Pansy had gotten out, she could guess the rest of what Pansy was going to say.
It infuriated her.
It all infuriated her.
She had thought that out of anywhere in the world, Hogwarts would be where her friends would be safe. Even under Death Eater rule, she had naively convinced herself that they'd be free from harm, and by extension causing harm. Half because she had thought Voldemort wouldn't want to violate the future of the Wizarding World, as he'd expressed admiration for education in the past, but also because she had thought, somehow, that her connection with may also provide protection.
As the distinct sound of another explosion wracked the building, and Pansy's face screwed up in a mixture of pain and guilt, she felt anger flood her. And for once in her life, she did not need to be restrained. There was no better place to be angry than on the battlefield. It ran through her blood, heating her, adding fuel to the fire, unrestrained.
She would've sworn she could feel it, quite literally, boiling. Her hand curled around the dagger at her waist, knuckles white. Her other hand held her wand just as tightly.
Eyes fluttering closed, she drew in an anchoring breath. Even with ire running rampant through her, she couldn't afford to be rash or go on a rampage. Their minimising of the Death Eaters was not meant to be obvious. For as long as Voldemort believed they were on his side, the better. They would cling onto him until all that remained of their presence were claw marks.
Slowly, the burning wrath turned into cold, silent ferocity.
"Alright," said Celestia. "I understand. Do as you wish. We'll be here if you need." She raised a hand to move away a strand of hair that was stuck in the dried blood on her face. "We need to move."
She swept her gaze over them all once, and then turned without waiting for a response. They all moved in tandem, pace faster than earlier. They had spent enough delaying their arrival on the front lines.
A sour taste filled her mouth, and there was a part of her that ached to cause further delay. Or rather, to flee. She had everyone that she cared about standing around her. It would be so easy to abandon Hogwarts and wait out the fight.
But she couldn't. Not when Hogwarts was so brazenly facing their own massacre. Not when the life after the war wouldn't be one worth living.
And at her core, Celestia was selfish.
There would never come another opportunity like the one before her.
The chance to unleash every speck of fury inside of her, and leave it buried beneath a mountain of bodies, once and for all.
She would be a fool not to take it.
She pushed ahead, moving faster. Theo's hand reached down and squeezed her hand firmly once before pulling away. He had undoubtedly felt the turmoil inside of her. She tilted her head up to look at him, smiling at him. It was a well-crafted mask that hid her intentions superbly. It was almost enough to fool him. Almost. Still, he didn't comment.
Soon, they met the battle, long after they'd discussed their plan as they walked.
First came littered bodies, and the blood that was beginning to cover the once-pristine floors. Then it was the stragglers, and the injured—those, still fighting, who had somehow managed to break out from the fray, and the students who had tried to escape but were too wounded to get far.
That was the easy part.
Easy didn't intrigue Celestia.
Twisted as it was, it was when they entered a room that was nearly wall-to-wall with Death Eaters and students fighting that she felt exhilaration flow through her, amplifying her anger.
Their group split apart into groups of two. Blaise and Draco would take out who they could. Mary and Pansy would do the same. Regulus and Theo would gauge who they thought were the strongest and target them—they had also been the ones most adamant about Celestia not being the one to be on their own.
It hadn't taken long to convince them, protective as they may be. The two of them made a strong duo. They both excelled at both brute strength and magic. They had no reservations about using Unforgiveable Curses. Together, even the strongest Death Eaters would be child's play.
Plus, Celestia's role was much more inconspicuous than theirs. She'd kill those she could, if it would go unnoticed, but her main task was to move around the room and monitor those around who the others were killing.
She had to make sure that everyone else remained blended in. If any Death Eaters realised that they were beginning to drop like flies, or caught sight of their duos, it was her job to dispatch them before they could raise an alarm. The amount of Death Eaters severely outnumbered the students. It became more evident as she moved around that this was less of a battle and more of a slaughter.
She was lithe and quick, and those in battle couldn't afford to look away from their fight to see what she was doing as she moved by. They assumed she was a fellow Death Eater, attacking. Or a fellow student, defending.
It was easy to move her blade across their throats from behind or use wordless magic to use the Killing Curse. It led to more students being able to work together. She kept her eyes primed, her first and foremost priority being protecting the others.
Eventually, she found herself moving in an easy pattern. She moved around the room as if she were dancing, gliding past bodies—dead and alive—and sliding into practiced movements: the slide of her blade against the throat, the silent incantation of a spell.
Her gaze was centred on Mary and Pansy when the moment finally came. She wasn't sure what combination of spells they had used before their opponent was felled, but it didn't matter anyways. What mattered was that he'd been working in surprisingly close proximity to another Death Eater, who noticed their collapse mere seconds after it had occurred.
The Death Eater's head spun around, assessing the nearby adversaries. She had moved before the body had even had the chance to slip to the floor. There were too many people between them for her to use the Killing Curse. Slipping past battles, ducking beneath curses, she used the blood on the floor to spur her forward.
She came up behind the Death Eater right when his gaze latched onto Pansy and Mary. Her boot connected with his calf, forcing him down to his knees. As he fell, she dragged her blade against his throat, and he continued his descent until his body collapsed against the floor. The beginning of a startled yell had escaped him, and she slammed her foot down onto his throat before it could rise above the commotion of the room.
Without bothering to gauge Pansy and Mary's reaction, she slipped back into her observance of the room. She could taste it in the air. There was about to be much more death in the room. The Death Eaters, she was sure, were beginning to feel a predator in their midst. They were already beginning to act more antsy.
She used the Killing Curse on a Death Eater as she slipped by, keeping her eyes focus straight ahead—on Draco and Blaise. She made the decision to switch her dagger for her sword. They were openly engaged in battle with another Death Eater. She watched as another nearby Death Eater killed a student and moved to help the other.
She took a head-on approach when she reached them. Silently casting an Arrow-Shooting Spell, an arrow exploded from the point of her wand, piercing through the side of the Death Eater. It hit them with enough force that the Death Eater's body was forced to spin away from Draco and Blaise and face her instead.
Leaping forward, she landed atop of the Death Eater. Both hands around her sword, she rammed it into their sternum. Cutting through skin, flesh, bone, and organs, she dragged her sword down their body with ease—splitting them open down to their guts.
Blood, more than she had ever seen before, jetted out of the body. Her face came away half painted in the blood. She turned to find Draco, Blaise, and the Death Eater they had been battling frozen.
Taking advantage of their stupefaction, she threw a kick that collided with the Death Eaters stomach. When they doubled over, she swung her sword forward and cut off their head. It rolled a couple feet until it landed before Draco's feet. Both boys looked like they were about to be physically ill.
She didn't spare them a glance, either. By her calculations, there were still about ten Death Eaters left. It would be easy to cut through them now. Regulus and Theo would both attack more openly, too, because she had. There was no need now to play sly. They just had to make sure no Death Eater left the room alive.
The few students that had remained to continue fighting with the Death Eaters after being given the upper hand gave her a wide berth. Half of the remaining Death Eaters turned to take her on. The other half were caught up with the combined force of Regulus, Theo, Mary, and Pansy's attacks. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Blaise and Draco move to aid them. They were more secure than ever that Celestia could handle herself.
One of the Death Eaters, a lower grunt that she did not recognise, muttered out her name.
She smiled.
It was nice to know she had a reputation that preceded her.
It was even better to know she was about to prove it.
Without opening her mouth or raising her wand, the person who had spoken out her name, collapsed to the floor. In the shock of their fallen comrade, she killed too more the same way. That left two.
She had trained ruthlessly with Theo and Regulus the past couple weeks. She had made them use their full force against her. The first few sessions had ended with her blood splattering the ground—and a barrage of apologies from the boys, even though she had been the one to encourage it. She could easily go toe-to-toe with them if it was one-on-one, but together they were a force to be reckoned with. It was why she had forced them to work together.
All that training had been for a moment like this.
The two remaining Death Eaters were by no means strong. They paled significantly in comparison to Regulus and Theo. Alas, there were still two of them which provided some challenge.
Both sent curses her way, and she used both her sword and Protego to defend herself. It annoyed her that she couldn't just immediately jump into the offensive, but she wasn't so impatient that she couldn't wait until the opportunity presented itself to attack. She anticipated the moment that one of them to slip up and give her an opening, eyes hungrily seeking it out.
It wasn't all that surprising that the opportunity came in the form of Theo. He didn't simply offer her the chance to strike but created it for her. He jammed his knife into the back of one of the Death Eaters, and as they gurgled on blood, he snapped their neck.
The death of a comrade was always a cause for distraction. She had proved it mere minutes ago, and Theo proved it again now. She jumped forward as the remaining Death Eaters gaze swung to watch the other collapse.
Their eyes had only strayed for a second, but a second was all she needed.
By the time their gaze had returned, her sword was sliding easily through their stomach and out their back. She kicked the Death Eater onto their back and dug her sword deeper. A blood-curdling scream pierced the air for a few glorious seconds before she took pity and kicked his brains in.
Surveying the room found it devoid of anyone still alive, except for the group she'd entered with. Nearly all the corpses littering the floor were Death Eaters, but there was still a significant number of bodies that belonged to students. Unfortunate, but they had done what they could to minimise casualties. And they had done well.
Celestia breathed heavily. Her chest heaved with the force of her breaths, and she used the back of her wrist to wipe away blood dripping down onto her eyelids. Each breath was quick and sharp, her body still primed with adrenaline.
It wasn't until she took a second scan around the room and confirmed that everyone was dead, including the poor sod at her feet whose blood was dripping onto her boots, that her breathing began to even out.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, drawing in slow and deep breaths. The angle of her head put a momentary stop to the uncomfortable feeling of blood running down her face. She was aware that all of her friends were looking at her now. Theo's gaze in particular burned.
"Shit," she said on an exhale. "How many moretimes do you think we'll have to do that?"
AUTHORS NOTE
hello!! i am back!! i'll try and keep this author's note short, as i'm sure you're all tired of my super long, rambling notes about my life!
i finally finished all my exams and graduated earlier this month, so i've been working on this (and future chapters) with the majority of my spare time. i know this chapter is fairly short, but i really wanted to get something out for you all in thanks for bearing with me over the past two months.
thank you all for your continued support! i wish i could respond to every comment just so you all knew how much i appreciate it.
before i go, i just wanted to let you know that this chapter (like all my previous chapters) is unedited but that you may receive a notification sometime later this week/next that it has been updated as edits will be applied then.
that's all for now! if you have any questions, as always, feel free to ask. take care of yourself, and (of course!) stay hydrated!
yours,
beth.