"Ebony run" before I could reply Neville took hold of my wrist as we broke out into a sprint. I could hear the cries of Death Eaters behind us; curses being sent our way. We knew that this was going to happen but we didn't expect it to happen while we were on the bridge. we should've left as soon as the first spell hit the barrier.
We saw our friends hollering our names in a panic, I could see Ginny and Luna's faces filled with worry, Seamus and Dean waving us to go faster with their hands.
That's when I realized, if we made it back than Hogwarts won't stand a chance. There were way too many Death Eaters, more than students and teachers at Hogwarts who were fighting. So, at the last minute I ripped my wrist from Neville's as I slowed down to a jog. He turned and looked at me, confused as to what I was doing.
"Ebony what are you doing? Come on before they catch up!" I only smiled before pointing my wand at one of the bombs; his eyes widened.
"Ebony no-"
"Incendio!" fire shot out from my wand and managed to hit one of the matches. I started running but Neville was already far ahead of me. Not long after the bomb went off, it started setting off the others. I heard cries of terror from all around me as the bridge rumbled from underneath us. Neville had just made it to the other side, now encouraging me to run faster. But even if I did I didn't think I was going to make it.
One more bomb went off and that was it, I heard the wood crack and looked behind me, seeing the beginning of the bridge tip downwards; bringing the last remaining Death Eaters down with them. I felt the adrenaline run threw my veins as I made a last attempt to jump once the bridge caught up with me. Feeling the wood cave from under me I manage to grab onto one of the ropes that used to hold a part of the structure before I fell with the rest of the Death Eaters. I noticed that some of them were smart enough to aparate to the other side, others weren't so lucky.
I heard a crack and realized that I needed to get out of here before I did fall. I gripped the rope and used some wood that was still attached to the rock and began to climb my way up. I could hear my friends screaming my name, but I was so out of breath that I couldn't reply; I needed to save my energy.
Finally, I lifted my hand and felt flat ground. Having a small amount of adrenaline left in me I hoisted myself up and threw my body onto the other side. I was exhausted to say the least; and before long my friends were all circling me, helping me to my feet.
"Don't scare us like that Eb we thought you died!" I hugged Ginny, Seamus, Luna and Dean before laughing to myself. I almost had died didn't I? it's such a surreal thing; you think that you have so many years left to live and then an incident like this happens to you that really opens your eyes to reality that yeah ; we really could die at any moment.
"Come on, we've got a war to win" trying to change the subject; only for a spell to wiz past my head. We turned and saw five Death Eaters facing us; all with menacing grins on their faces.
"Oh hello" I said before raising my wand as well,
"Suplify!"
"Avada Kadavra!"
"protecto!"
"Reducto!"
"Diffingo!"
"Expelliarmus!"one by one all of the Death Eaters dropped to the floor in front of us. It made me realize how grateful we were that Harry was able to teach us defensive spells back in fifth year.
"I have to go find your brothers Gin, make sure to stick together, you're stronger when you're a team" they nodded and I ran off towards the castle. But not before noticing Neville grabbing onto Luna's hand. Once I got there I saw that the war was in full motion, people were already scattered across the grounds; and I hated to see how many of them were students. At the corner of my eye I saw someone hunched over a person; a man that seemed to be eating a students neck. I quickly hexed him and sent him across the room where he fell unconscious. Looking closer I covered my mouth before I could gasp; there in front of me seemed to be a first year who didn't make it to the ROR in time. Thoughts flashed before me as I thought of what his parents must be thinking by now, do they think he's safe? What are they goint to think when they try to come and take him home? I don't even want to think about the death list that's going to be written and said after this.
I saw that the young boy's eyes were still open, blue and dull with no life left in them. I wish I knew his name; he seemed to be in Slytherin just like I was but I don't remember seeing him in the common room, in the halls or in the Great hall. I leaned over and closed them with my index and middle finger. I really hope he didn't feel too much pain before he died.
I ran through the main entrance and immediately ducked from a spell that was thrown towards me. Turning I saw Lucius Malfoy glaring at me with cold eyes; his wife standing next to him with her wand raised as well.
"Well hello Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy; I'm sorry we have to meet like this" they didn't say anything; but Mr. Malfoy quickly muttered a spell towards me and before I could protect myself I felt a wound open up across my arm all the way up to my elbow. I yelled out in pain as I gripped my arm; gritting my teeth.
"You've caused too much bad influence on my son. I don't even care who your father is Ms.Riddle" I narrowed my eyes as I looked up at him,
"Well it seems I have the same thought towards you Mr. Malfoy" he raised a brow,
"I think you're a terrible father, forcing Draco to the dark side with you. I don't even think your wife wants this; you've sucked them all into this mess and I will never forgive you for that; and I don't think they will either. Your son has always wanted to make you proud; you have no idea how much influence you have on him. You may think that what you're doing is right but it's not, this is killing your son Mr. Malfoy. If you have any heart left in you; if you really love your son than you would put a stop to all of this." He gritted his teeth as he sent another spell towards me but I deflected it; funny how his wife wasn't helping him in the fight. They could've easily taken me if they both fought against me. That just adds to my point that she really doesn't want to be in this mess with him.
"Diffindo" long jagged cuts danced across my body as I cried out in pain; dropping my wand in the process. Before I could go fishing for it I was suddenly thrown in the air and against a column that had fallen not long before.
"Confringo" that's what he used; I tried getting up but a pain in my side caused me to crumple back to the ground. Looking to my right I saw my wand a few feet from me; if only there was a way to cause a distraction so that I could get to my wand. I heard footsteps and looked up, seeing Mr and Mrs. Makfoy staring down at me; both of their wands pointing towards me.
"Any last words Ms.Riddle" I glared; spitting out blood as it shot right next to his feet.
"Yeah I hope you go rot in hell" he narrowed his eyes and lifted his wand; putting it against my forehead.
"Avada-"
"Stuplify!" Mr. Malfoy's eyes widened and next thing I knew he flew across the room and landed on the first step at the beginning of the stairway. I looked over and saw Draco, with his wand up, pointing it towards his father.
"Draco?" both his mother and I asked, this seemed to snap him from his gaze as his eyes locked with mine before he ran over; dropping to his knees beside me.
"Oh my god Ebony are you okay? I can't believe my father did this to you" his mother was watching us from a far; with a curious look on her face.
"Well I think this sums up how he feels about me" I laughed lightly but it soon turned to a wince as I grabbed my side. My wand was given to me by Draco as he began to mend my minor wounds. I knew I would have to be checked out after this but until then this was good enough.
"Draco" we both looked over and saw his father beginning to get up off the ground. He looked really angry now,
"Father" was his only reply, lifting his wand up just in case he needed it. I did the same.
"Draco what are you doing? You're tarnishing our family name" I scoffed,
"Don't you mean yourself?" all that I got back was a curse that Draco quickly deflected. He stood up and for once held the same glare as his father did.
"Don't you dare curse my friend, you have no right. And I'm sick and tired of following your orders; I don't want to be a part of this anymore!" then, taking a shard of glass that was beside him he quickly lifted up his arm where his dark mark was and made two slash marks across the tattoo. He winced but smiled when you couldn't distinguish the mark anymore. His father yelled with rage while his mother gasped in shock; I quickly muttered a healing charm so that he wasn't in pain anymore. Although there would be two scars left behind I know he didn't mind.
"I'm ending this now" I got up off the ground but was pushed aside as another spell almost hit me. So we're doing non-verbal spells now? Okay. I pointed my wand towards him but Draco lowered it,
"No, he's mine" I only nodded before looking towards his mom; she immediately lifted her wand and shot a spell towards me. I easily deflected it though and understood that this confirmed my case; she really didn't want this. I decided to end this fight quickly by doing a body binding spell on her; I couldn't kill her. I knew how much she meant to Draco, and besides I don't think I could really use the killings curse on a person anyway.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" her arms straightened and went to her sides and her legs shot together. She dropped her wand and I grabbed it before it could roll away. I looked and saw that Draco was having trouble; I knew he didn't want me involved but I couldn't just see my best friend suffer like this. So I pointed my wand at him as Draco and I both threw spells towards him.
"REDUCTO!"
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" ironically he was hit with both spells and went flying. We couldn't tell if he was unconscious or not because of the body binding spell. So, we both took a step forward and he was indeed still awake; and if looks could kill we wouldn't be standing here anymore. I turned towards Draco and hugged him tight; that was the first real duel that we had against some Death Eaters; and they just so happened to be his parents.
"I promised you Draco that I would stick by you through it all; no matter what your father would say or do. And I'm so proud of you for standing up for yourself." He hugged me back tighter before letting go, he wanted to go get Pansy and Blaise but I told him that I was going to look for Fred and George; he smirked and wiggled his brows at me. I rolled my eyes and shoved him away from me,
"Now is not the time to be teasing me Draco there's literally a war going on" he still laughed,
"I'm going to find Pansy and Blaise, meet us in the Great Hall after this thing is over" I nodded and he suddenly hugged me once more.
"Don't get yourself killed okay?" I nodded,
"You too" he both squeezed each other for support before letting go; I watched as he ran up the stairs and turned a corner before looking down at his parents. First, I went over to his mom; I saw her eyes watch my every move. I knelled down and reached behind me; taking her wand out from my back pocket; I watched her eyes widen as I softly placed her wand in her boot before looking her in the eyes.
"I know you're good; I know you never wanted this; I think love blinded you from what was right. I'm giving you your wand because I know you'll do good with it." she blinked at me and I could tell that she was shocked,
"After this war is over; take Draco away from this; away from all of this negative activity that's been going on in his life for years. Start fresh again, rather it be with or without Mr. Malfoy. Take care of him Mrs. Malfoy, you both are all that each other has left" I got back up after softly patting her shoulder; she looked up at me and I softly smiled.
"Good luck" and I turned but then I stopped and turned back to her; her eyes were still looking at me.
"Oh and for the love of Merlin let him date Pansy Parkinson, you'll love her just as much as he does." With that in her mind I walked over to Mr. Malfoy and saw his wand lying beside him; he glared at me when he noticed that I was coming near him. With the heel of my boot I put all of my weight on his wand and crushed it in two.
"I don't know what to think of you Mr. Malfoy, what does it feel like knowing that you've ruined your loved ones lives. Does it feel good? Do you feel like you have power over them? Trust me it would bring me joy if I was able to punch you so hard in your face that you wouldn't be able to recover from it. But I won't" this time his eyes held confusion; they were still cold but after years of knowing Draco I could easily read his dads facial expression.
"I won't because I know it would hurt Draco; no matter what shitty stuff you made him do he still loves you; I can see it. That's why he couldn't use the killings curse on you. He loves you so much Mr. Malfoy that it truly hurts me that you would force him into this; he's 17 for god's sake! Who in their right mind would do that to their son? Were you scared? Were you scared that you were failing Voldemort so you decided to bring your son into this? To try and bring power to your family? Well guess what, when Voldemort dies today the only thing people are going to know Draco for is that his parents fought on with Voldemort; that him and his parents are Death Eaters; do you know how much that's going to hurt him in the future when he tries to find a place to live? a job? other friends to call his own?. Really think to yourself how much you love them because this? Oh, this is going to take a long time to mend back together, if it ever does" his glare never left but it seemed to soften a bit; I only hoped that I had knocked some sense into him.
"Oh and one more thing" I watched his brows raise a bit and I knew the spell was wearing off.
"The name is Ebony Reed, not Riddle. I don't take after his name and I never will; you'll soon learn that I'm nothing like my father Mr. Malfoy" with that I muttered the body binding curse to him once more before leaving; I know it will take him a while before he truly knows what he did wrong. Plus, I don't want him doing anything that he could potentially regret in the future. Running up the stairs a new thought had hit me,
How was I going to be able to find the twins in this mess?