Rose felt like she just made the biggest mistake of her life by accepting the task of fighting a raging basilisk alongside the person she despised the most.
Albus was the mastermind behind a series of bad ideas, such as splitting up the group, having a pair go and face a basilisk and another face the leader of the Death Eaters, and last but not least, pairing Rose and Natalia Zabini together. Albus was mad to even suggest these, but Rose couldn't think of a better battle strategy. The odds definitely weren't in their favor. This battle was already shaping up to be a disaster.
Begrudgingly, Rose followed Natalia down the dark second floor corridor, where they managed to get without running into Death Eaters. Panicked screams could still be heard behind them towards the main stairwell, prompting the girls to walk faster. The corridor was much colder than usual, and reeked of sewage water. When Rose took her next step, she heard a splash underneath her feet, and the tops of her shoes were soaked. There was a massive puddle of water on the floor.
"Stop," Natalia said, stopping abruptly and putting her arm out in front of Rose to stop her also. She pointed up towards the ceiling. "Look."
Rose followed her gaze and her eyes widened. A large pipe had been busted open, undoubtably from the basilisk, and was gushing murky water onto the floor, flooding the next half of the corridor. The water level was nearly ankle-high.
Goosebumps appeared on Rose's skin as she stepped forward and let her feet sink in the cold water. She stepped on something, and when she moved her away, she let out a strangled gasp and jumped away. Her eyes followed the human hand she'd just stepped on and found a young girl in tattered Gryffindor robes lying half-submerged in the water on her back, her eyes wide and glazed over. There were puncture marks from fangs across her chest that continued to ooze blood. Rose covered her mouth with her hands to restrict a sob from escaping.
"Just keep going," Natalia said, tugging at Rose's arm. "There's nothing we can do for her now."
Her tone was a bit snappy, but then again, that wasn't new coming from Natalia Zabini. Rose let out a shaky sigh, still disturbed from seeing a little girl's dead body, and followed her, hating every second of this. She did not enjoy being bossed around.
"You know, hostility will get us nowhere," Rose said, breaking the silence.
Natalia snorted. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"I understand you hate me," Rose said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "But don't you think if we at least try to be civil with each other, we'll have a better chance at defeating the basilisk?"
Suddenly, Natalia stopped walking and turned to Rose, then laughed. "You think I hate you? Rose, you're the one who hates me. And don't even think about lying to me."
"Well," Rose began candidly. "Hate is a strong word. But I most certainly don't like you. And I know it's the same likewise."
Natalia raised her hands in an apologetic gesture. "Hey, I get it. We both have our reasons to dislike each other."
"Yeah, mines when you kissed my boyfriend and ruined our relationship," Rose said virulently, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Natalia.
Upon hearing this, Natalia's shoulders slackened and she stared at her feet in a shameful manner. "Ah, yes. That."
"Why'd you do it?" Rose questioned her, letting the anger she felt that day when Natalia kissed Scorpius show.
Natalia was silent for a moment. Then she mumbled, "Lucius made me do it."
"What?" Rose mouth gaped in disbelief.
"Lucius made me do it," Natalia repeated, raising her head and looking Rose straight in the eye. Guilt replaced her usual smug expression, displaying a whole different side of her. "Trust me, as much as I wanted to kiss Scorpius, I didn't want sabotage your relationship with him. But Lucius made me do it to distract you guys from the prophecy. I'm so sorry, Rose."
Rose didn't know what to say. She never dreamed Natalia Zabini would ever apologize to her for anything. Of course Lucius made her kiss Scorpius. It was a horrible yet effective way to divert Rose and Scorpius's focus from the prophecy.
"I guess I can forgive you," Rose finally said, then frowned. "Wait, you wanted to kiss Scorpius?"
Natalia laughed. "Who doesn't? He's Scorpius Malfoy."
Point taken, Rose thought.
Noticing Rose's jealousy, Natalia told her, "Yes, I admit I had real feelings for Scorpius. That wasn't an act. But I can assure you that you're the only one he has eyes for. I'm not blind. I've seen the way he looks at you. Scorpius is in love with you, Rose. And I can tell you still love him too."
Rose felt her face redden, and her mouth gaped open and closed, but no words came out. There was no point in denying it. Sighing in defeat, she whispered, "I do. I really, really do."
Natalia smirked. "Thought so."
Suddenly, a loud crash followed by shouts of alarms jarred the girls' attention. They exchanged fearful glances before Natalia winced, holding her head in pain. Once it stopped, she looked at Rose, her eyes wide with panic.
"It's on the first floor," Natalia said, gulping. "We have to move. Now."
Rose didn't hesitate to start running. She and Natalia turned around and bolted down the corridor, towards the main stairwell that would take them down to the first floor the quickest.
* * *
"It looks like he's heading towards the courtyard," Holly said, pointing to Lucius Malfoy's footprints on the Marauder's Map. Then she looked at Albus and placed her hand on his. "Albus, are you sure you want to do this?"
"What else are we going to do, Holly?" Albus said irritably. "We can't let him kill everyone!"
Holly took a step backwards, taken aback by Albus's tone. She'd never seen this side of him before. To be honest, she wasn't sure if she should be impressed by his new authoritative side or afraid of it.
Albus face softened and he grabbed her hand. "Holly, I didn't mean to snap at you..."
"I know," Holly told him, offering him a smile. "I understand."
Instead of replying, Albus leaned down and collided his lips with Holly's, his amount of force taking her by surprise. Nonetheless, she responded swiftly and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him and moving her lips in synch with his. Holly felt her heart rate quicken when Albus hands glided up and down her back. Their passionate kiss went on for a minute or so until they both pulled away at the same time, panting and grinning.
"What was that for?" Holly asked, giggling at her boyfriend's flushed face.
Albus moved a stray piece of hair out of her face, placing another kiss on her forehead. "I just needed to kiss you one last time in case we-"
"No," Holly interrupted him firmly. "Don't say that." She stood on her tippy toes and pressed her lips briefly to his again, pulling away and adding, "We're going to win this battle. You need to have faith in us."
The corner of Albus's mouth lifted slightly. "That's kind of hard when it's three of us against Lucius Malfoy and his Death Eaters, a basilisk, and Salazar Slytherin, who bloody possessed Scorpius's body."
When he put it that way, it did sound like a nearly impossible battle. But Holly held on to her hope.
"Our odds may be slim," she told Albus. "But the heroes always win. Remember?"
"Holly, this isn't some Muggle fairy tale," Albus countered. "This is a real life war."
"You don't think I know that?" Holly inquired. She walked over to the Marauder's Map and skimmed it, pointing out the various footprints. "Do you see the ones that keep disappearing? What do you think is happening to them?"
Albus's face hardened and his jaw clenched. "They're dying."
"Exactly," Holly said, dropping the Marauder's Map. "That is why we need to win. To prevent more footprints from disappearing."
Nodding, Albus pulling his wand out of his pocket, muttering, "Godric, you think you can Apparate us again, this time to the courtyard?"
"Wait, he's the one who Disapparated us out of the Room of Requirement?" Holly asked, intrigued.
Well, Godric is a Founder, Helga said in Holly's head pointedly. Apparating inside Hogwarts is one of our many privileges.
"A life saver, Godric is," Albus said. Then he grabbed Holly's hand tightly, and she braced herself for another Apparation. "Whenever you're ready, Godric."
As soon as Albus finished his sentence, Holly closed her eyes as she felt herself being sucked into an imaginary straw, and a few seconds later, her feet collided roughly into cobblestone. She and Albus were now standing in the archway of the courtyard, watching the horrific scene before them. It greatly resembled the photos from wizard history books of the battlefield from the Second Wizarding War, with flashes of spells shooting in every direction and rubble scattered all over the place. Albus yelped and pulled Holly behind a pillar with him as a spell flew past them, hitting the wall behind them and leaving a hole in it. Her body began trembling as she listened to the amount of screams echoing around the courtyard.
"This is worse than I imagined," Holly whimpered.
"I know," Albus replied. "But we need to find Lucius."
Holly nodded, peering around the pillar and scanning the entire courtyard, searching for a head of bright white hair. There was no sign of the leader of the Death Eaters. She did spot Fenrir Greyback hovering above Professor Flitwick who had fallen on the ground and was clutching his bloody arm. The werewolf reared his arm back to throw a curse at him, making Holly gasp and point her wand at him, shouting, "Stupefy!"
It sent Fenrir Greyback flying across the courtyard, causing Holly to grin with triumph. Professor Flitwick gave her a thankful look as he stood up, and she nodded to him and smiled.
"Nice one," Albus praised her. She gave him a look that said, I know.
"Get away from the courtyard! Get to your common rooms!" a familiar voice shouted to what Holly assumed were some younger students. Her father came running around the corner, his face softening with relief when he spotted her and Albus.
"Thank Merlin you're both alright," her father said, pulling Holly into a hug and pressing a kiss to the top of her head, whilst patting Albus shoulder. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Where's Scorpius and Rose?"
Holly exchanged a look with Albus before replying, "Rose went off with Natalia Zabini to go fight the basilisk, and Scorpius, well, he's..."
"He's possessed by Salazar Slytherin," Albus finished for her.
Holly's father's eyes widened, "How...?"
"No time to explain, Daddy," Holly interrupted him. "We need to find Lucius Malfoy."
Her father's eyes widened even more, if that was possible. "You mean to tell me that you and Albus are going to go fight Lucius Malfoy, just the two of you? Holly, that's insanely dangerous."
"I think you're underestimating your own daughter, Longbottom."
Holly's face paled at the man standing behind her father. She had to admit, he had impeccable timing.
"Malfoy, get away from them," Holly's father said in a warning tone, pointing his wand threateningly at Lucius.
"Daddy, we can handle him," Holly told him, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Listen to your daughter, Longbottom," Lucius said, pulling out his own wand. "This fight does not involve you." Before Holly could block it, Lucius pointed his wand at her father and hissed, "Stupefy!"
Holly cried out when her father was thrown backwards into the wall with a sickening thud. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Holly went to go check on him, but stopped herself and faced Lucius, anger bubbling up inside her as she pointed her wand at him.
"Everte Statum!" she shouted.
"Expelliarmus," Lucius retaliated smugly, knocking Holly's wand out of her hand. Unfortunately for him, this didn't faze her by the slightest.
Without looking at it, Holly held out her arm towards her wand, causing it to fly into her hand. Lucius's eyes widened momentarily, but set his face back into a hard scowl. Pointing his wand at her, he nonverbally sent a wall of fire towards her, but she waved her hand and deflected it with ease. Albus joined in, throwing silent curses at Lucius as well. Soon, it was an intense battle between the three, nonverbally throwing curses and hexes at one another.
"I'm impressed," Lucius said, throwing multiple spells at once. "I will admit, you two have grown more powerful. But it won't be enough."
Holly quickly grew tired, and so did Albus. He let his guard down for a second, which allowed Lucius to throw a curse at him, hitting his arm and leaving a deep gash in it. This distracted Holly, and she was hit as well, sending her flying backwards. She landed hard on her side, gasping painfully as she heard a sickening crack. Lucius grinned wickedly and approached her, his wand aimed and ready to kill her. Albus threw a hex at him, but Lucius waved his hand and sent a binding spell at him, tying him with invisible ropes and making him fall motionless to the ground.
"I'll kill you first, and watch the Potter boy suffer," Lucius sneered, leaning down and jabbing Holly's throat with his wand. "You're just as pathetic and useless as your father."
Holly closed her eyes, trying to prevent her tears from escaping. She attempted to move, but Lucius had his foot pressed on top of her leg. Was this really how she would die? Her eyes fell upon Albus, who struggled desperately with his invisible bonds. She wanted him to be the last thing she ever saw.
Lucius brought his wand up and pointed it to her chest, and Holly let her tears escape as she kept her gaze locked on Albus, who was screaming. "Avada-"
"Crucio!"
Holly gasped as Lucius let out a gut-wrenching cry, falling to his knees and collapsing on his stomach. He lay on the ground, twisting and writhing in pain. Albus had somehow broken the binding spell that had been casted on him and ran to Holly's side, helping her up. She clutched her broken ribs as her eyes landed on the person who saved her life.
"Scor?" Albus asked in disbelief. "Is it really you?"
Scorpius shook his head, and out came Salazar Slytherin's voice. "Scorpius will not be returning anytime soon."
Holly and Albus exchanged uneasy glances. Then Holly asked, "Why did you save us?"
Salazar- or Scorpius- stared at her with a blank expression. "Because I wanted to be the one to kill the both of you." He then walked over to Lucius Malfoy, who was still whimpering in pain, and pointed his wand down at him.
"Only one of us can bask in the glory when we finally rid the wizarding world of Muggleborns," Salazar said to Lucius. "And that person can only be me. Avada Kedavra."
Holly watched as the life vanished from Lucius Malfoy's eyes, and his body fell to the ground before them. Fear bubbled in her chest as she looked at Salazar, who displayed no sign of emotion on his face after he'd just murdered in cold blood. He'd just killed Lucius like he was a defenseless insect, and Holly knew she and Albus were next on his killing agenda.
"I am terribly sorry that I must do this," Salazar said, pointing his wand at them. "But I cannot succeed with you two in my way."
"Scorpius!" Albus called out. "I know you're in there, mate! Fight his control!"
"Scorpius is powerless against my control, you imbecile," Salazar sneered. "Goodbye, reincarnates. Avada-"
Holly and Albus are either experts at avoiding death, or the universe is working in their favor. Helga took control of Holly's body, which she didn't mind so much, and grabbed Albus's hand at light speed. In an instant, they Disapparated before the killing curse could hit them.
~ ~ ~
Phew! Thank Merlin for Helga Hufflepuff!
I'm pretty sure this is my longest chapter yet, but I'm really glad of how it turned out!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Remember to vote, comment, and possibly share! Stay tuned for another update on Tuesday! Love you guys lots! *infinite kissy faces*