ERLEBNISSE
(n.) the experiences, positive or negative, that we feel most deeply, and through which we live; not mere experiences, but Experiences
THE REASON WHY HARRY DIDN'T CATCH TESSA WHEN SHE FELL WAS BECAUSE OF THE SHELL. As soon as he saw Alecto, the first thing he could think of was the shell Nikolai had given to him, not Draco's wand that he still had in his pocket. But when the Carrow woman touched her Mark, Harry cried out in pain as he doubled over and dropped the shell.
"NO!" Tessa shouted, scrambling to her feet when she watched the little object roll to where Alecto stood. "DON'T STEP ON IT!"
But of course — Alecto fell for her plan and crushed the seashell under her shoe.
And an enormous serpentine made entirely of water bursted forth from within the shell. Alecto was screaming, tumbling backwards as the force of the snake's attack sent her to the ground. As the water enveloped her whole, the creature breaking out of its shape, the witch was knocked unconscious as she lay unmoving on the ground.
"You okay?" Harry asked worriedly, approaching Tessa as he surveyed her quickly for any injuries. At her assuring nod, he called out, "Luna, where are you? We need to get under the Cloak!"
Just as the two hurried back under the Cloak, Ravenclaws began entering the common room in their nightclothes. They'd obviously woken up from Alecto's scream and the loud noise of the water snake's attack.
They crowded over the unconscious woman, gasping in shock over what could have possibly happened.
"I think she might be dead!" a first year shouted happily.
"Oh, look," Luna whispered. "They're pleased!"
Harry shut his eyes for a moment. "Yeah . . . great . . . "
Tessa jolted in surprise at the sudden rap on the common room door just as every single Ravenclaw held their breath in fear.
The eagle knocker asked, "Where do Vanished objects go?"
"I dunno, do I? Shut it!" Amycus Carrow's voice snarled in response. "Alecto? Alecto? Are you there? Have you got them? Open the door!"
Tessa glanced around to find the Ravenclaws whispering to each other with horrorstruck expressions. She jumped from where she stood hidden at the sudden series of loud bangs of explosion to the door.
"ALECTO!" Amycus was yelling. "If he comes, and we haven't got the Potters — d'you want to go the same way as the Malfoys? ANSWER ME!"
Tessa flinched in worry for the Ravenclaws who began backing away from the door while the younger ones scampered back up the stairs.
Just then, the very familiar voice of Professor McGonagall echoed sharply from the outside. "May I ask what you are doing, Professor Carrow?"
"Trying — to get — through this damned — door! Go and get Flitwick! Get him to open it, now!"
"But isn't your sister in there? Didn't Professor Flitwick let her in earlier this evening, at your urgent request? Perhaps she could open the door for you? Then you needn't wake up half the castle."
"She ain't answering, you old besom! You open it! Garn! Do it, now!"
Tessa scowled murderously at that, her fingers curling into fists. Nobody talks down to McGonagall like that and get away with it.
"Certainly, if you wish it," McGonagall responded coldly.
With another knock to the door, the musical voice asked, "Where do Vanished objects go?"
"Into nonbeing, which is to say, everything."
"Nicely phrased," the eagle door knocker said, and the door swung open.
As soon as Amycus Carrow bursted into the scene, the rest of the Ravenclaws sprinted up the stairs at once and disappeared. When his eyes fell on his unconscious sister, he shouted furiously.
"What've they done, the little whelps? I'll Cruciate the lot of 'em till they tell me who did it — and what's the Dark Lord going to say? We haven't got them, and they've gorn and killed her!"
"She's only Stunned," McGonagall said impatiently after leaning over to inspect Alecto. "She'll be perfectly all right."
"No she bludgering well won't!" Amycus bellowed. "Not after the Dark Lord gets hold of her! She's gorn and sent for him, I felt me Mark burn, and he thinks we've got the Potters!"
"'Got the Potters'?" McGonagall repeated. "What do you mean, 'got the Potters'?"
"He told us the Potters might try and get inside Ravenclaw Tower, and to send for him if we caught them!"
Tessa paled as her stomach dropped to her feet. She shared a thunderstruck look with Harry who seemed just as appalled as she was.
"Why would Harry and Tessa Potter try to get inside Ravenclaw Tower? The Potters belong in my House!"
"We was told he might come in here!" Amycus said. "I dunno why, do I?"
Exhaling sharply through her nose.m, McGonagall straightened herself and glanced around the room carefully. She looked passed where Tessa, Harry, and Luna stood twice.
"We can push it off on the kids. Yeah, that's what we'll do. We'll say Alecto was ambushed by the kids, them kids up there and we'll say they forced her to press her Mark, and that's why he got a false alarm. He can punish them. Couple of kids more or less, what's the difference?"
"Only the difference between truth and lies, courage and cowardice," McGonagall said stiffly, "a difference, in short, which you and your sister seem unable to appreciate. But let me make one thing very clear. You are not going to pass off your many ineptitudes on the students of Hogwarts. I shall not permit it."
Amycus blinked once and stepped forward menacingly. "Excuse me?"
McGonagall stood rooted to her spot, refusing to look away as she kept her stern gaze transfixed at him.
"It's not a case of what you'll permit, Minerva McGonagall. Your time's over. It's us what's in charge here now, and you'll back me up or you'll pay the price."
Then Amycus Carrow spat in her face.
Luna didn't even have time to breathe before Harry pulled the Cloak off himself and Tessa. As Harry raised his wand, Tessa said coldly, "Hey, asshole — you shouldn't have done that."
And when Amycus spun on his heel to face them, Harry shouted, "CRUCIO!"
At once, he was lifted into the air and started writing miserably as he howled and shouted in pain. After what sounded like a bone crunching, he was sent crashing to the floor.
"I see what Bellatrix meant," Harry said casually albeit through gritted teeth, "you need to really mean it."
"Potters!" McGonagall exclaimed, a hand over her heart in surprise. "Potters — you're here! You're both here! What — ? How — ? Potters, that was foolish!"
"He spat at you," Harry reasoned.
"I — that was very — very gallant of you — but don't you realize — ?"
"Yeah, we do," Tessa said reassuringly. "Professor McGonagall, Voldemort's on the way."
"Oh, are we allowed to say the name now?" Luna asked mildly, pulling the Cloak off her as well.
At the sight of a third person appearing out of nowhere, McGonagall cried out and fell backwards into a chair.
"I don't think it makes any difference what we call him," Harry told Luna. "He already knows where we are."
"You must flee," McGonagall whispered. "Now, Potters, as quickly as you two can!"
Tessa shared a look with her brother as she said, "We can't. There's something we need to do. Professor, do you know where the diadem of Ravenclaw is?"
"The d-diadem of Ravenclaw? Of course not — hasn't it been lost for centuries? Potters, it was madness, utter madness, for you two to enter this castle —"
"We had to," Harry insisted. "Professor, there's something hidden here that we're supposed to find, and it could be the diadem — if I could just speak to Professor Flitwick —"
There was a sound nearby and they all looked to see Amycus stirring. Wordlessly, McGonagall rose to her feet and pointed at the Death Eater. Then she said, "Imperio" and controlled the wizard to pick up Alecto's wand and hand both his and his sister's wands over to McGonagall. And without another word, he lay down beside Alecto as McGonagall conjured ropes time bind around the Carrows tightly.
"Potters," McGonagall said again, facing the two of them, "if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named does indeed know that you two are here —"
"Harry!" Tessa exclaimed in worry when he staggered on his feet, clutching onto her shoulder to support himself.
"Potter, are you all right?" McGonagall asked.
Harry groaned in pain, blinking for a moment as he said breathlessly, "Time's running out, Voldemort's getting nearer. Professor, we're acting on Dumbledore's orders, we must find what he wanted us to find! But we've got to get the students out while we're searching the castle — it's me and my sister Voldemort wants, but he won't care about killing a few more or less, not now — "
"You're acting on Dumbledore's orders?" McGonagall repeated, eyes shifting from Tessa to Harry before she straightened herself. "We shall secure the school against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named while you search for this — this object."
Tessa hesitated and asked, "Is that possible?"
"I think so, we teachers are rather good at magic, you know. I am sure we will be able to hold him off for a while if we all put our best efforts into it. Of course, something will have to be done about Professor Snape —"
Harry started, "Let me —"
"— and if Hogwarts is about to enter a state of siege, with the Dark Lord at the gates, it would indeed be advisable to take as many innocent people out of the way as possible. With the Floo Network under observation, and Apparition impossible within the grounds —"
"There's a way," Harry intervened again and explained about the secret passageway heading to Hog's Head.
"Potter, we're talking about hundreds of students —"
Tessa nodded. "We know, Professor, but if Voldemort and the Death Eaters are concentrating on the school boundaries they won't be interested in anyone who's Disapparating out of the Hog's Head."
"There's something in that," McGonagall agreed, waving her wand and making the Carrows dangle upside down in the air. "Come. We must alert the other Heads of House. You'd better put that Cloak back on."
McGonagall strode to the door, sending three silver cat Patronuses running out ahead as Tessa, Harry, and Luna all followed after her. They hurried along underneath the Cloak after the professor down several corridors and staircases before coming to a halt.
"Who's there?" McGonagall asked sharply, raising her wand cautiously.
"It is I," a low voice replied as Snape stepped outside from behind an armor with his wand at the ready. "Where are the Carrows?"
"Wherever you told them to be, I expect, Severus."
Snape took another step, eyes sweeping the space behind McGonagall as though he knew Tessa and Harry were right there. "I was under the impression that Alecto had apprehended an intruder."
"Really? And what gave you that impression?"
Snape shifted his left arm where the Dark Mark was tattooed on.
"Oh, but naturally," Professor McGonagall said coldly. "You Death Eaters have your own private means of communication, I forgot."
Snape ignored what she said, eyes still fixed on the space behind her. "I did not know that it was your night to patrol the corridors, Minerva."
McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "You have some objection?"
"I wonder what could have brought you out of your bed at this late hour?"
"I thought I heard a disturbance."
"Really? But all seems calm." Snape stopped looking around as he looked directly at McGonagall. "Have you seen Harry and Tessa Potter, Minerva? Because if you have, I must insist —"
Before Tessa even had time to breathe, McGonagall sliced through the air with her wand — at the same time Snape conjured a Shield Charm around him. It all happened so sudden that the force of the barrier sent McGonagall toppling backwards as a torch flew off the wall.
Tessa reacted quickly, yanking both Harry and Luna behind her as she covered them both from the flames.
The fire played into a circle before forming into a black serpent that McGonagall incarcerated into smoke.
"Minerva!" a voice called out, and Tessa looked past the two professors throwing spells at each other to see Flitwick, Sprout, and Slughorn running toward them.
"No!" Flitwick shouted, raising his wand. "You'll do no more murder at Hogwarts!" His spell sent Snape crashing to the floor as the armor smashed the wall noisily.
But as quickly as it happened, Snape was already on his feet running away with McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout hurrying after. Tessa looked just in time to see them running inside a classroom, followed by McGonagall shouting furiously, "Coward! COWARD!"
"What's happened, what's happened?" Luna asked frantically.
The three ran down the corridor under the Cloak, reaching the classroom to where the professors were standing by a broken window.
"He jumped," McGonagall said as Tessa and Harry pushed out of the Cloak.
"You mean he's dead?" Harry said incredulously as Flitwick and Sprout shrieked in surprise to see them.
"No, he's not dead," McGonagall muttered bitterly. "Unlike Dumbledore, he was still carrying a wand . . . and he seems to have learned a few tricks from his master."
Tessa cocked her head in confusion before looking out the window to see a batlike shape flying.
There were footsteps behind them, and Tessa turned to see Slughorn panting as he reached them. "Harry! Tessa! My dears . . . what a surprise . . . Minerva, do please explain. . . . Severus . . . what . . . ?"
"Our headmaster is taking a short break," McGonagall said, pointing at the smashed window.
"Professor!" Harry shouted, doubling over with his hands over his forehead.
"Harry!" Tessa brought an arm around him to support his weight. She looked up to McGonagall. "Professor, we've got to barricade the school, he's coming now!"
"Very well. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is coming," she told the other professors. "The Potters have work to do in the castle on Dumbledore's orders. We need to put in place every protection of which we are capable while they do what they need to do."
"You realize, of course, that nothing we do will be able to keep out You-Know-Who indefinitely?" Flitwick asked.
"But we can hold him up," Sprout insisted.
"Thank you, Pomona," McGonagall said, the two sharing a nod. "I suggest we establish basic protection around the place, then gather our students and meet in the Great Hall. Most must be evacuated, though if any of those who are over age wish to stay and fight, I think they ought to be given the chance."
"Agreed," Sprout said, scurrying to the door. "I shall meet you in the Great Hall in twenty minutes with my House."
"I can act from here," Flitwick said, tiptoeing to look over the broken window as he pointed his wand outside.
Tessa shared a look with Harry, nodding at him to approach Flitwick.
"Professor," Harry said, "Professor, I'm sorry to interrupt, but this is important. Have you got any idea where the diadem of Ravenclaw is?"
"— Protego Horribilis — the diadem of Ravenclaw? A little extra wisdom never goes amiss, Potter, but I hardly think it would be much use in this situation!"
"Do you know where it is?" Tessa cut in. "Have you ever seen it?"
"Seen it? Nobody has seen it in living memory! Long since lost, Potters!"
"We shall meet you and your Ravenclaws in the Great Hall, Filius!" McGonagall said, beckoning for Harry, Luna, and Tessa to follow after her.
Just as they reached the threshold, Slughorn said, "My word. What a to-do! I'm not at all sure whether this is wise, Minerva. He is bound to find a way in, you know, and anyone who has tried to delay him will be in most grievous peril —"
"I shall expect you and the Slytherins in the Great Hall in twenty minutes, also. If you wish to leave with your students, we shall not stop you. But if any of you attempt to sabotage our resistance or take up arms against us within this castle, then, Horace, we duel to kill."
"Minerva!"
"The time has come for Slytherin House to decide upon its loyal-ties. Go and wake your students, Horace."
Tessa hurried after her brother, walking along stride with them just as they rounded a corner to see Argus Filch.
McGonagall clicked her tongue. "Piertotum — oh, for heaven's sake, Filch, not now —"
"Students out of bed! Students in the corridors!"
"They're supposed to be, you blithering idiot! Now go and do something constructive! Find Peeves!"
"P-Peeves?" Filch stammered.
"Yes, Peeves, you fool, Peeves! Haven't you been complaining about him for a quarter of a century? Go and fetch him, at once!"
Filch was momentarily stunned at that, but limped away at once per her command.
"And now — Piertotum Locomotor!" McGonagall exclaimed loudly as all the statues and suits of armor all over the corridors of the castle roused to wake.
Tessa staggered on her feet, eyes growing wide as she took them all in. "Holy shit," she breathed out.
"Hogwarts is threatened! Man the boundaries, protect us, do your duty to our school!"
And with that said, all the statues began to walk away from them toward the front of the castle with swords and maces.
"Now, Potters," McGonagall said, "you two and Miss Lovegood had better return to your friends and bring them to the Great Hall — I shall rouse the other Gryffindors."
They parted ways, Tessa sprinting down the hall with Harry and Luna back to the Room of Requirement. Just as the three fled down the staircase, they stumbled to a halt upon seeing several more people that weren't there before.
Kingsley, Remus, Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, Bill and Fleur, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and —
"MUM!" Tessa shouted, burying her face into her mother who gathered her into her arms.
"Harry — Tessa, what's happening?" Remus asked, going over to them.
When Tessa pulled back from her mother's embrace, Catherine stroked her hair and cupped her face. "Are you all right? Hurt?"
Tessa shook her head. "Don't worry, I'm okay."
Harry explained, "Voldemort's on his way, they're barricading the school — Snape's run for it — What are you doing here? How did you know?"
"We sent messages to the rest of Dumbledore's Army," Fred explained. "You couldn't expect everyone to miss the fun, and the D.A. let the Order of the Phoenix know, and it all kind of snowballed."
"What first?" George called out. "What's going on?"
"They're evacuating the younger kids and everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organized," Harry said.
There was a pause before Tessa said, "We're fighting."
And with that — every single person cried out a roar as they made a dash out of the room with their wands held up. They all began to leave until the only ones left were Molly, Ginny, Remus, Catherine, Fred, George, and Fleur.
"You're underage!" Molly shouted at Ginny. "I won't permit it! The boys, yes, but you, you've got to go home!"
"I won't!" Ginny defiantly yanked her arm from her mother's grip. "I'm in Dumbledore's Army —"
"A teenagers' gang!"
"A teenagers' gang that's about to take him on, which no one else has dared to do!" Fred reasoned.
"She's sixteen!" Molly exclaimed. "She's not old enough! What you two were thinking, bringing her with you —"
"Mum's right, Ginny," Bill said gently. "You can't do this. Everyone underage will have to leave, it's only right."
"I can't go home!" Ginny yelled angrily. "My whole family's here, I can't stand waiting there alone and not knowing and —" she met Harry's eyes.
Tessa peeked at her brother shaking his head subtly at Ginny.
"Fine," Ginny said bitterly. "I'll say good-bye now, then, and —"
She was cut off by someone falling out of the tunnel entrance that led back to Hog's Head. Percy shuffled back up to his feet, fixing his lopsided glasses. "Am I too late? Has it started? I only just found out, so I — I —"
For an awkward minute, everyone stared at Percy who seemed utterly stunned at seeing his family in front of him.
The silence was broken by Fleur who suddenly said to Remus, "So — 'ow eez leetle Teddy?"
Remus blinked. "I — oh yes — he's fine! Yes, Tonks is with him — at her mother's —"
Tessa awkwardly shared a glance with Catherine and Harry — the Weasleys were all still staring transfixed at Percy.
"Here, I've got a picture!" Remus shouted without warning, brandishing a photograph of little Teddy with turquoise blue hair waving his tiny fists.
Tessa opened her mouth to coo at her godson when Percy suddenly bellowed at the top of his lungs, "I was a fool! I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a — a —"
"Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron," Fred finished.
"Yes, I was!"
"Well, you can't say fairer than that," Fred said, extending a hand to his brother.
Molly bursted our crying as she yanked Percy into a suffocating hug. He patted her back as he said to his father, "I'm sorry, Dad."
Arthur stood frozen for a second, blinking profusely before he hurried over to embrace Percy.
"What made you see sense, Perce?" George asked.
"It's been coming on for a while," Percy said. "But I had to find a way out and it's not so easy at the Ministry, they're imprisoning traitors all the time. I managed to make contact with Aberforth and he tipped me off ten minutes ago that Hogwarts was going to make a fight of it, so here I am."
"Well, we do look to our prefects to take a lead at times such as these. Now let's get upstairs and fight, or all the good Death Eaters'll be taken."
"So, you're my sister-in-law now?" Percy mused, sharing Fleur's hand as they left the room with Bill and the twins.
"Ginny!" Molly barked at her daughter who'd attempted to sneak out.
"Molly, how about this," Remus offered. "Why doesn't Ginny stay here, then at least she'll be on the scene and know what's going on?"
At the look Remus sent her, Catherine nodded and added, "Yeah, and she won't be in the middle of the fighting!"
Molly hesitated. "I —"
"That's a good idea," Arthur cut in firmly. "Ginny, you stay in this room, you hear me?"
Ginny scowled bitterly at that but nodded once nonetheless.
"Where's Ron?" Tessa asked suddenly. "Where's Hermione?" Her brother also glanced around in confusion.
"They must have gone up to the Great Hall already," Arthur said before he, Molly, Remus, and Catherine all left the room.
"I didn't see them pass us," Harry muttered.
"They said something about a bathroom," Ginny said, "not long after you left."
"A bathroom?" Harry crossed the room to open the door at the side. "You're sure they said bath — ?"
"Harry!" Tessa shouted, sprinting to where Harry had just doubled over, his scar flaring in pain as he saw Voldemort and Nagini looking toward Hogwarts.
ϟ ϟ ϟ ϟ
When they arrived in the Great Hall, it was dark with the students from all four Houses lined up. The school ghosts were all there as well, littered amongst the corners of the room warily. McGonagall stood at the platform before everybody with Firenze and the members of the Order of the Phoenix.
Tessa noticed some students whispering amongst each other and eyeing Catherine who stood between Remus and Kingsley. Her hair was no longer the blonde she'd dyed it the last time she was here — her dark blue-black hair was in full display for everyone to recognize her for who she truly was. Catherine Isolda Valentine Potter.
She met her mother's eyes all the way across the Hall, and her jade green ones softened immediately as she smiled at Tessa.
". . . evacuation will be overseen by Mr. Filch and Madam Pomfrey," McGonagall was saying as Harry pulled Tessa along the walls to avoid attracting too much attention. "Prefects, when I give the word, you will organize your House and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point."
Ernie Macmillan stood up at the Hufflepuff table and shouted, "And what if we want to stay and fight?" This was followed by several applauses who agreed.
"If you are of age, you may stay," McGonagall said.
"What about our things?" a Ravenclaw girl asked loudly.
"Fuck your things," Tessa couldn't help but to mutter under her breath.
"Our trunks, our owls?" another shouted inquisitively.
"We have no time to collect possessions," McGonagall retorted sternly. "The important thing is to get you out of here safely."
"Where's Professor Snape?" someone from Slytherin called out.
"He has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk."
And as soon as McGonagall said that, the Great Hall erupted into a chaos of cheers except for the majority of the Slytherins.
Tessa attempted to look behind her shoulder to find for a familiar Slytherin face, but her brother had continued to pull her along the Gryffindor table in search of Ron and Hermione. Doing so, several people turned to look over at them, creating a break out of several whispers and points of fingers at them.
"We have already placed protection around the castle," Professor McGonagall continued to speak, "but it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. I must ask you, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your prefects —"
Nobody got to hear the rest of McGonagall's orders — a cold, cruel voice had echoed clearly and loudly in the Great Hall, drowning out everyone's terrified screeches. It seemed to come from the walls within.
"I know that you are preparing to fight. Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood."
With that said, silence followed — the kind that was overbearing and seemed even louder than a whisper.
"Give me Harry and Tessa Potter," Voldemort's voice continued, "and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry and Tessa Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry and Tessa Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight."
The voice disappeared, his presence vanished; and a quietness fell over them again — suffocating them. Tessa couldn't breathe, she didn't know what to do as she let her eyes meet with her brother's. She could feel every single person in the Great Hall staring at them at that very moment, but all that matters at that moment was her and Harry. She will not be giving Voldemort her brother no matter the cost.
"But they're there!" a nasally voice screamed, arm outstretched to point at them. Tessa glanced to see Pansy Parkinson. "The Potters are there! Someone grab them!"
Tessa didn't even have the chance to think; nor did Harry have the opportunity to open his mouth. There was a great shuffle of noise and movement, and the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws all rose to their feet and stood protectively in front of Harry and Tessa with their wands drawn out.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, the scene greatly reminding her of Adalene protecting Tessa from the Death Eaters, and choosing to stand by Philip's side when she could have fled the place.
"Thank you, Miss Parkinson," McGonagall said in a clipped voice. "You will leave the Hall first with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your House could follow."
Tessa peeked through the Ravenclaws in front of her to watch all the Slytherins get up and leave the Hall. Every single one of them except —
With a whimpering exhale, Tessa pushed through the crowd as she hurried to the Slytherin table. "You fucking heathen," she breathed out, barreling straight into his arms.
Theo chuckled, embracing her tightly as he lifted her off her feet for a moment and setting her back down. "Hello, daredevil — I missed you, too."
Tessa pulled back, eyes searching his as she whispered, "Where's Draco? I haven't seen him anywhere."
He frowned, shaking his head apologetically. "I haven't seen much of him lately. After Easter, everything seemed to be sort of a blur and he's barely around."
Before Tessa could reply to that, McGonagall had shouted, "Ravenclaws, follow on!"
Eventually, all the tables emptied until all that were left was Theo the only Slytherin, a quarter of the older Ravenclaws, a little more of the Hufflepuffs, and about half of the Gryffindors.
"Absolutely not, Creevey, go!" McGonagall exclaimed. "And you, Peakes!"
"The Weasleys are over there," Theo said, tugging Tessa over to the Gryffindor table with Harry who followed after them.
"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Harry started.
"Haven't you found — ?" Arthur began to say, but was cut off by Kingsley who approached the platform to speak to everyone else who stayed behind to fight.
"We've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast! A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers — Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor — where they'll have a good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus, Catherine, Arthur, and I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organize defense of the entrances of the passageways into the school —"
"Sounds like a job for us," Fred called out, gesturing at himself and George.
"I can come with," Theo piped up to the twins who grinned at him.
Kingsley nodded at the three of them in agreement. "All right, leaders up here and we'll divide up the troops!"
"Potters,"McGonagall said, hurrying over to the two of them. "Aren't you supposed to be looking for something?"
"What? Oh," Harry said with a jump, "oh yeah!"
"Bollocks, I nearly forgot about that," Tessa added, running a hand across her hair in a stressful manner.
"Then go, you two, go!"
"Right — yeah —" Harry rose to his feet and tugged Tessa along with him as they both fled the Great Hall.
"I'm going to be real with you," Tessa said as they came to a stop in an empty passage. "I have no fucking clue where to start."
Harry sat down on the plinth of a statue and pulled out the Marauder's Map to find for Ron or Hermione — but neither appeared. "Honestly, me neither," he admitted, storing the map away and shutting his eyes. "Unless . . . "
Tessa whipped around to face him. "Unless is good. Anything sounds good — what did you have in mind?"
Harry's eyes were open now, his eyebrows furrowed as he narrated his thoughts to her. "He thought we'd go to the Ravenclaw Tower, why else would he make Alecto wait there for us?"
Tessa nodded, urging him to go on.
"But the only thing connecting to Ravenclaw would be the diadem . . . but how is that possible when he's a Slytherin? How did he manage to use the diadem and elude generations upon generations of Ravenclaw? Nobody else could have told him nor had seen it in living memory."
Just as he said that — the two froze.
"Harry," Tessa started, "have I ever told you how much of a genius you are?"
"No, not really."
"Well, now I am — come on let's go!"
The two leapt to their feet and sprinted down the hallway, pushing past the crowd of students in the marble stairs. They found a familiar ghost floating across the entrance hall, and Harry leaned over the staircase to shout, "Nick! NICK! I need to talk to you!"
"Excuse us, coming through!" Tessa managed to yell over the racket as she and Harry raced down the stairs and skidded to a stop before Nearly Headless Nick.
"Harry! Tessa! My dears!"
"Nick, you've got to help us," Harry said panting. "Who's the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?"
He seemed slightly affronted by the question, but said, "The Gray Lady, of course; but if it is ghostly services you require — ?"
Tessa shook her head. "It's got to be her — d'you know where she is?"
"Let's see. . . " Nick peered over the students still making to leave. "That's her over there, the young woman with the long hair."
Tessa whirled around and followed Nick's line of sight to see a tall ghost who raised her eyebrows at her and Harry before floating through a wall and away from them.
"Hey, wait!" Harry shouted as they ran after her. "Come back!"
"Please!" Tessa cried out, and nearly sighed loudly in relief when she saw the ghost stop.
She was beautiful with waist-length hair, her features haughty and aristocratic.
"You're the Gray Lady?" Harry asked.
She nodded.
"The ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?"
"That is correct," she said stiffly.
"Please," Harry went on. "We need some help. We need to know anything you can tell us about the lost diadem."
She smiled coldly and turned to leave. "I am afraid that I cannot help you."
"No, please — wait!" Tessa blurted out upon realizing it was only a quarter to midnight.
The Gray Lady halted once more to listen.
"This is urgent," Harry said. "If that diadem's at Hogwarts, I've got to find it, fast."
"You are hardly the first student to covet the diadem," she said. "Generations of students have badgered me —"
"This isn't about trying to get better marks! It's about Voldemort — defeating Voldemort — or aren't you interested in that?"
The Gray Lady rounded on them, nostrils flaring slightly as she said, "Of course I — how dare you suggest — ?"
"Well, help us, then!"
"It — it is not a question of — ! My mother's diadem —"
Harry and Tessa glanced at each other and repeated, "Your mother's?"
"When I lived, I was Helena Ravenclaw."
"You're her daughter?" Harry said bewilderedly. "But then, you must know what happened to it!"
"While the diadem bestows wisdom," Helena said, "I doubt that it would greatly increase your chances of defeating the wizard who calls himself Lord —"
"We're not interested in wearing it!" Tessa cried out frustratedly. "Listen — I have the blood of the dragon himself inside of me, I could care less about a diadem to make me wise and everything. We don't have time to explain, but if you care about Hogwarts, and if you want to see Voldemort finished, you've got to tell us anything you know about the diadem!"
There was a pause that followed — a kind of buzzing stillness that rang out in the hallway after Tessa's outburst.
Then Helena suddenly spoke in a very low and quiet voice, "I stole the diadem from my mother."
Harry was stunned. "You — you did what?"
"I stole the diadem," Helena repeated in a whisper. "I sought to make myself cleverer, more important than my mother. I ran away with it."
Tessa shared another glance with Harry, neither saying anything as they let the ghost continue her confession.
"My mother, they say, never admitted that the diadem was gone, but pretended that she had it still. She concealed her loss, my dreadful betrayal, even from the other founders of Hogwarts.
"Then my mother fell ill — fatally ill. In spite of my perfidy, she was desperate to see me one more time. She sent a man who had long loved me, though I spurned his advances, to find me. She knew that he would not rest until he had done so.
"He tracked me to the forest where I was hiding. When I refused to return with him, he became violent. The Baron was always a hot-tempered man. Furious at my refusal, jealous of my freedom, he stabbed me."
Tessa stumbles a step backwards, her jaw dropping as she said, "The Baron? You mean — ?"
"The Bloody Baron, yes," Helena shifted her cloak aside to reveal a dark wound on her pale chest. "When he saw what he had done, he was overcome with remorse. He took the weapon that had claimed my life, and used it to kill himself. All these centuries later, he wears his chains as an act of penitence . . . as he should."
"And . . . and the diadem?" Harry asked.
"It remained where I had hidden it when I heard the Baron blundering through the forest toward me. Concealed inside a hollow tree."
"A hollow tree? What tree? Where was this?"
"A forest in Albania. A lonely place I thought was far beyond my mother's reach."
"Albania," Tessa murmured with a thoughtful frown. "You've already told someone this story, haven't you? Another student?"
Helena's eyes fluttered shut as she nodded. "I had . . . no idea . . . He was . . . flattering. He seemed to . . . to understand — to sympathize . . ."
"Well, you weren't the first person Riddle wormed things out of," Harry muttered. "He could be charming when he wanted."
Tessa rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, trying to think about what Helena had just confessed when Harry suddenly shouted.
"— the night he asked for a job!"
Helena seemed rather confused as well. "I beg your pardon?"
"He hid the diadem in the castle, the night he asked Dumbledore to let him teach!"
Tessa gasped, snapping her fingers. "Yes, you're right! He must've hidden the diadem on his way up to, or down from, Dumbledore's office!"
"But it was still worth trying to get the job," Harry continued, "then he might've got the chance to nick Gryffindor's sword as well."
The two turned back to Helena and said in unison, "Thank you, thanks!"
And with that, the two sprinted down the hallway again with only five minutes left until midnight. They had just turned a corner when the window to their left broke through with a deafening crash. Tessa screamed, feeling Harry yank her aside as a body flew into the opposite wall.
"Hagrid!" Harry yelled when Fang jumped on them and barked noisily.
"Harry — Tessa, yer here! Yer here!" Hagrid leaned down and pulled both of them into a hug before running back to the window. "Good boy, Grawpy! I'll see yer in a moment, there's a good lad!"
Tessa looked out as well into the darkness and saw several bursts of light followed by a scream from the distance. She glanced at her watch to see it was midnight, and she cursed under her breath.
"Blimey, you two," Hagrid said, "this is it, eh? Time ter fight?"
"Hagrid, where have you come from?" Tessa asked.
"Heard You-Know-Who from up in our cave. Voice carried, didn' it? 'Yeh got till midnight ter gimme the Potters.' Knew yeh mus' be here, knew what mus' be happenin'. Get down, Fang. So we come ter join in, me an' Grawpy an' Fang. Smashed our way through the boundary by the forest, Grawpy was carryin' us, Fang an' me. Told him ter let me down at the castle, so he shoved me through the window, bless him. Not exac'ly what I meant, bu' — where's Ron an' Hermione?"
"That," Harry said, "is a really good question. Come on."
They continued running down the corridor, and Tessa tried not to think of the footsteps and shouts and flashes going on outside. She tried not to get distracted at the moment by her friends and family outside fighting against the Death Eaters.
Where was Draco?
She could still feel him — it was like another cord tied around her own. Another beat that matched her own heart's, a melody that sang in symphony with her own. He was close, yet so far away.
"Where're we goin'?" Hagrid huffed, keeping up with them.
"I dunno exactly," Harry said, "but Ron and Hermione must be around here somewhere . . ."
They continued to sprint past several secret passageways whose entrances were guarded, until they came upon Aberforth Dumbledore blocking the corridor ahead with his own wand held up as well.
"Potters! I've had hundreds of kids thundering through my pub!"
"I know, we're evacuating," Tessa said, "Voldemort's —"
"— attacking because they haven't handed you two over, yeah, I'm not deaf, the whole of Hogsmeade heard him. And it never occurred to any of you to keep a few Slytherins hostage? There are kids of Death Eaters you've just sent to safety. Wouldn't it have been a bit smarter to keep 'em here?"
Tessa shrugged. "One of them stayed willingly — he's my best friend."
"It wouldn't stop Voldemort," Harry added, "and your brother would never have done it."
Aberforth grunted at that before running the opposite direction to join the fight.
"It's the truth," Harry muttered to Tessa before they continued running again.
"WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THE TWO OF YOU!" Tessa bellowed at the top of her lungs when she finally caught sight of Ron and Hermione. Their arms were full of dirty yellow objects with a broomstick tucked under Ron's arm.
"Where the hell have you been?" Harry shouted.
"Chamber of Secrets," Ron replied.
"Chamber — what?"
"It was Ron, all Ron's idea!" Hermione said breathlessly. "Wasn't it absolutely brilliant? There we were, after you left, and I said to Ron, even if we find the other one, how are we going to get rid of it? We still hadn't got rid of the cup! And then he thought of it! The basilisk!"
Tessa blinked. "What the — ?"
"Something to get rid of Horcruxes," Ron explained briefly, and they looked to see their arms filled with basilisk fangs.
"But how did you get in there?" Harry asked dumbly. "You need to speak Parseltongue!"
"He did!" Hermione said. "Show him, Ron!"
Ron made a strange hissing noise. "It's what you did to open the locket," he told Harry. "I had to have a few goes to get it right, but we got there in the end."
"He was amazing. Amazing!"
"So . . ." Tessa started. "So . . ."
"So we're another Horcrux down," Ron said, brandishing the damaged Hufflepuff Cup. "Hermione stabbed it. Thought she should. She hasn't had the pleasure yet."
"Genius!" Harry exclaimed.
"It was nothing," he said humbly.
Tessa beamed, hooking an arm around his neck. "That was brilliant!"
Ron smiled, trying to wave it off. "So what's new with you?"
At that precise moment, there was a loud explosion somewhere atop and they heard a scream from upstairs.
"We know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it is," Harry explained swiftly. "He hid it exactly where I hid my old Potions book, where everyone's been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on."
They hurried back to the Room of Requirement that was empty except for three women: Ginny, Tonks, and Neville's grandmother.
"Ah, Potters," the old woman said upon seeing them. "You can tell us what's going on."
"Is everyone okay?" Ginny and Tonks asked together.
" 'S far as we know," Harry said. "Are there still people in the passage to the Hog's Head?"
"I was the last to come through," Mrs. Longbottom said. "I sealed it, I think it unwise to leave it open now Aberforth has left his pub. Have you seen my grandson?"
"He's fighting," Tessa said.
"Naturally. Excuse me, I must go and assist him." With that, she walked out of the room and vanished.
"Tonks," Tessa greeted her with a swift hug. "I thought you were supposed to be with Teddy at your mother's?"
"I couldn't stand not knowing —" Tonks made a face and shook her head of the thought. "She'll look after him — have you seen Remus?"
Harry nodded. "He and Aunt Cathy were planning to lead a group of fighters into the grounds —"
Tonks ran out of the room before Harry could even finish talking.
"Ginny," Harry added, "I'm sorry, but we need you to leave too. Just for a bit. Then you can come back in."
Ginny beamed happily and sprinted out of the room at once after Tonks.
"And then you can come back in!" he shouted after her. "You've got to come back in!"
"Hang on a moment!" Ron cut in sharply. "We've forgotten someone!"
"Who?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"The house-elves, they'll all be down in the kitchen, won't they?"
"You mean we ought to get them fighting?" Tessa asked.
"No," Ron said, "I mean we should tell them to get out. We don't want any more Dobbies, do we? We can't order them to die for us —"
The basilisk fangs clattered out of Hermione's arms as she reached up and pressed her lips onto Ron's. He dropped everything he was carrying to hold Hermione close to him, kissing her back just as passionately with his arms wounding around her waist.
Of course — this elicited two very different responses from the Potter siblings.
"Is this the moment?" Harry asked weakly.
Tessa was clapping fervently. "FINALLY! AFTER SEVEN YEARS! I've been waiting for this moment since the first day we met on the Hogwarts Express and I said that I could feel the love."
Harry glanced at the heavens as though begging for help before shouting, "OI! There's a war going on here!"
Ron and Hermione broke apart as he said, "I know, mate, so it's now or never, isn't it?"
"Never mind that, what about the Horcrux?" Harry asked. "D'you think you could just — just hold it in until we've got the diadem?"
"Yeah — right — sorry —" Ron said as he and Hermione swiftly gathered the fangs into their arms again.
They left the room and into the ashen and ruined corridors before turning and hurrying back into the Room of Requirement that changed its inside to an entirely different place. It was silent inside — the place as large as a cathedral with towering objects that made everything looked like a city.
"And he never realized anyone could get in?" Ron asked, his voice echoing.
"He thought he was the only one," Harry said. "Too bad for him I've had to hide stuff in my time . . . this way, I think it's down here."
Tessa walked past the Vanishing Cabinet she'd watched Draco mend all of last year, and she faltered for a moment as a melancholic smile touched her lips.
"Accio Diadem!" Hermione cried out, but nothing happened.
"Let's split up," Tessa suggested. "Look for a stone bust of an old man wearing a wig and a tiara!"
Harry nodded. "It's standing on a cupboard and it's definitely somewhere near here."
Tessa and Harry walked together as Ron and Hermione went the other way. The pair walked along the junk of hundreds of old students, the twists and turns resembling a labyrinth. Then suddenly, Harry reached up and grabbed Tessa's elbow to stop her.
"Right there," he said, nodding at the old cupboard with a stone warlock at the top wearing a dusty wig and a discolored tiara.
"Can you reach it?" Tessa asked as Harry stood on his tiptoes. "Maybe if you carry me, I can be able to — "
"Braveheart?"
Tessa stopped breathing.
The world froze around her as time seemed to have no meaning all of a sudden.
Every single fiber in her body exploded into a chaos of joy, pain, and complete and utter longing like she's never felt before. There was absolutely nothing in this universe that could describe the way she's feeling right now. Nothing that could make her fathom the pain inside her chest — the way her insides melted and caved in on her.
Very slowly, Tessa turned around — and if she wasn't already breathless, then she wouldn't have known what oxygen even was by now.
Draco Malfoy — her fiancé and her mate — stood there before her. Porcelain hair disheveled, silver eyes haunted with shadows of the people that have hurt him, his face gaunt and thinner than when she'd last seen him.
Just like that — her knees gave out on her as Tessa crumpled to the ground, bursting into tears like a child. She wept, unable to contain the way her heart ached so terribly for him.
And when he knelt right before her, his strong arms encasing around her as he held her against him without the intention of letting go — Tessa was home.
"Draco," she cried, tears wetting his shirt as she clung onto him, her body shaking.
"I know," he merely whispered, holding her against him with one arm as he cradled the back of her head with his other hand. "Don't worry, I got you," he said, lips pressing into her hair as his own body seemed to tremble. "It's okay now."
Tessa pulled back for a moment to look him in the eyes, sniffing as she asked, "What — what happened? After that day in your house. Where were you?"
Draco was cupping her face, thumbs stroking her cheekbones when he suddenly seemed to remember something from what she'd said. He whipped around at once as he said, "Don't — "
"Hold it, Potter," Crabbe sneered, wand directed at Harry as Goyle kept his own at Tessa.
"Crabbe — Goyle," Draco started, rising to his feet as he held Tessa's hand firmly in his, pushing her behind him protectively. He stood right beside Harry, both men facing the other Slytherins. "You need to listen to me," he said in a voice that attempted to assert command and no room for defiance.
"Malfoy," Harry breezily greeted.
"Potter," Draco said right back. "I see you have my wand."
"Winners-keepers," Harry replied, glancing down at the wand at Draco's side. "Who's lent you theirs?"
"My mother," Draco said before facing the two again.
"We're gonna be rewarded," Crabbe said in a soft, gleeful voice. "We 'ung back, Potters. We decided not to go. Decided to bring you two to 'im."
"Stand down, Crabbe," Draco cut in sharply, glaring at him as his fingers tightened around Tessa's. "That was not the plan."
"So how did you get in here?" Harry asked suddenly.
Draco glanced at him questioningly, the two meeting eyes. At once — Tessa understood what Harry was trying to do, and she tugged Draco's arm to get his attention. When he looked at her, she told him without words, Distraction.
A barest hint of a smirk ghosted on Draco's lips before he said loudly to Harry, "I virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things all last year. I know how to get in."
"We was hiding in the corridor outside," Goyle grunted, his wand still pointed at Tessa to which Draco snarled at. "We can do Disslusion Charms now! And then you turned up right in front of us and said you was looking for a die-dum! What's a die-dum?"
"Harry — Tessa?" Ron asked from somewhere to their right. "Are you talking to someone?"
Without warning, Crabbe pointed his wand at the fifty-foot tower of junk and shouted, "Descendo!" The entire thing crashed into the ground where Ron supposedly stood.
"NO!" Tessa shouted as she heard Hermione scream from somewhere at the side.
"STOP!" Draco roared furiously. "Don't make me draw my wand against you!"
"What's that matter?" Crabbe scoffed. "It's the Potters the Dark Lord wants."
"I said no," Draco cut in harshly, trying to push Tessa further backward away from Crabbe.
Crabbe inhaled and barked out, "Who cares what you think? I don't take your orders no more, Draco. You an' your dad are finished."
"Harry?" Ron shouted from the other side. "Tessa? What's going on?"
"Harry? Tessa?" Crabbe mocked. "What's going — no, Potter! Crucio !"
Harry had tried to grab the tiara as Crabbe's curse hit the stone bust. The diadem flew into the air and disappeared amidst the mountains of rubbish.
"STOP!" Draco shouted. "This wasn't part of the plan! We come in, take the diadem, and you two leave me to finish the rest of it. Both Potters were to stay alive — "
"So? I'm not killing them, am I?" Crabbe yelled. "But if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants Harry Potter dead anyway, what's the diff — ?"
A scarlet streak shot through the air, missing Crabbe by an inch as Hermione ran behind him.
"It's that Mudblood!" Crabbe shouted. "Avada Kedavra!"
"Mione, no!" Tessa shouted, moving past Draco as she sent a Stunning Spell at Crabbe who jumped out of the way and knocked Draco's wand out of his hand, sending it rolling under the rubbish pile.
Chaos ensued as spells were casted toward one another.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted as Goyle's wand soared out of his hand and into the tower of junk behind him.
Tessa turned to Harry. "Look for it while I go and help R —"
"TESSA!" Hermione screamed from somewhere to the side. Tessa was momentarily stunned for a second — she couldn't find the right reaction upon seeing behemoth flames beginning to swallow the place whole.
"Like it hot, scum?" Crabbe yelled loudly at them.
"Aguamenti!" Harry tried, but the stream of water evaporated in the air at once. "RUN!"
Tessa reached over to help Draco carry Goyle. "Tessa, go!" he said, picking him up and hurrying after them. "I'm right behind you — go!"
Tessa obeyed and pelted after Harry, Ron, and Hermione as she scanned the room for an escape route. The flames were everywhere — coming to life in forms of dragons and chimeras that seemed to chase them.
"DRACO!" Tessa screamed when the fire circled around the four of them — Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle vanishing from sight.
"What can we do?" Hermione screamed over the roars of the fire. "What can we do?"
"I'm going in," Tessa said, making to step into the flames when Ron yanked her back in place.
"Here!" Harry picked up three broomsticks from the closest pile of junk and handed them each to Tessa and Ron. Hermione got onto it behind Ron as Tessa soared into the air at once, unbothered by the flames trying to reach her.
"Tessa!" Ron shouted at her as she tried to circle the place.
"I'm not leaving without him!" Tessa called back as she and Harry searched. Dread started to fill her as her stomach dropped in a horrible feeling. There's no fucking way she was leaving Draco to die in here.
"Harry, let's get out, let's get out!" Ron tried again. "It's — too — dangerous — !"
"Tessa, there!" Harry shouted, pointing at the distance.
She whipped her head to follow his line of sight — and she saw them at once. Draco was perching on a tower of desks, still holding onto the unconscious Goyle. Before even thinking about it, Tessa dived into the fire as the flames swallowed her whole but left her unscathed.
"Tessa," Draco started, coughing as he tried to stand up on the wobbly pile of desks.
"Hurry, get on the broom," came Harry's voice as he swooped right next to her. He helped Draco lift Goyle onto his broomstick before flying away.
"Come on," Tessa said, waiting for Draco to clamber behind her, holding tight before she sped away from the flames again.
She prayed and prayed that the door would still be open right where they last saw it — and Merlin must've heard her because as soon as she saw the small door she dived for it. She crashed into the wall opposite the corridor outside, tumbling off the broom with Draco who groaned in pain and tried to break her fall.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Goyle were all there as well. The door to the Room of Requirement was gone — it was though it'd never been there in the first place.
"Crabbe," Tessa wheezed, feeling a bump on her head.
"He's dead," Ron mumbled bluntly.
There was a short pause before Tessa suddenly turned to Draco, eyes roving around to inspect him. "Are you okay? Are you burnt anywhere? Let me see — "
"Braveheart, I'm okay," he said with a breathy chuckle, taking her hands in his as he pulled her in for an embrace. "We both are."
"Thank you, we're doing fine as well," Ron piped up sarcastically as Draco rolled his eyes and pulled away from Tessa.
A sudden loud bang echoed throughout the castle, reverberating the ground as screams pierced through the air. The battle was still going on, and they all scrambled to their feet.
"Where's Ginny?" Harry said sharply. "She was here. She was supposed to be going back into the Room of Requirement."
"Blimey, d'you reckon it'll still work after that fire?" Ron asked. "Shall we split up and look — ?"
"No," Hermione said. "Let's stick together. I say we go — Harry, what's that on your arm?"
"What? Oh yeah —" Harry revealed the diadem on his wrist that was blackened with soot.
"What's that?" Tessa murmured, looking closer at what looked like tar leaking from the diadem. Suddenly it vibrated before breaking apart in Harry's hands as a scream echoed from it.
"It must have been Fiendfyre!" Hermione said.
"Sorry?"
"Fiendfyre — cursed fire — it's one of the substances that destroy Horcruxes, but I would never, ever have dared use it, it's so dangerous — how did Crabbe know how to — ?"
"Must've learned from the Carrows," Draco muttered, walking over to check on Goyle.
"Shame he wasn't concentrating when they mentioned how to stop it, really," Ron tutted. "If he hadn't tried to kill us all, I'd be quite sorry he was dead."
"But don't you realize?" Hermione whispered. "This means, if we can just get the snake —"
She was cut off by shouts of duelings that filled the corridor they were at. Death Eaters were inside, and Fred and Percy were fighting against them. Tessa lurched forward at once to help, sending a spell toward one of them whose hood fell off his head.
"Hello, Minister!" Percy bellowed, casting a jinx at Thicknesse. "Did I mention I'm resigning?"
"You're joking, Perce!" Fred shouted with a laugh, glancing at his brother over his shoulder. "You actually are joking, Perce. I don't think I've heard you joke since you were —"
Somebody screamed as everything exploded into chaos and fire. Tessa was laying flat on her back when she opened her eyes again. Ash and cinder floated in the air, her body seared in pain as she tried to push herself off the ground. The side of the castle was blown apart, and she stood there for a moment in disorientation.
Her head was bleeding, people were screaming, and someone — someone was shouting brokenly in desperation.
If only the ringing in her ear would disappear already, maybe she'd hear what and who it was.
Tessa blinked as the world came into focus again and the high-pitched shrill vanished. Draco and Goyle were nowhere to be seen, they must've been thrown backward from the force of the explosion. Harry was struggling to get up to his feet, and Hermione had just stood up.
When Tessa's eyes fell on the three Weasleys grouped together — everything tumbled down once again.
Pain and agony ripped her insides to pieces as disbelief swallowed her whole. She was shouting — screaming at the top of her lungs as she stumbled onto his side, grabbing onto his shirt in hopes to get him to wake again.
This was a nightmare that drowned her — she had to wake up now.
There was no way — absolutely no way that this was happening right now.
"Please, please, please," she was blubbering over the tears that slipped down her cheeks and spilled over her mouth. "No," she was moaning in agony utter despair. "Not you too," she was crying desperately as she cradled his head on her lap.
But there was nothing she could do to rid the fact that Fred Weasley was dead.
It was unfair how neither of them even had time to pause and mourn over what had just happened — more spells flew in from the darkness toward them.
"GET DOWN!" a familiar voice shouted as a body was thrown to cover Tessa who was nearly blasted by a curse.
Tessa sniffed, wiping away the tears with the back of her hand as she stared wide-eyed at him. "What are you doing here?"
Sebastian Elliott tugged her to her feet. "No time to explain, let's go!"
Then his eyes fell on Fred who laid unmoving on the ground, and he faltered.
Harry shouted over the chaos, "Percy, come on, we've got to move!"
Percy shook his head, body still covering Fred's protectively. Tessa wanted to break down and cry, but she knew she had to go on and finish this fight for him.
"Percy!" Ron tried to grab his older brother's shoulder. "Percy, you can't do anything for him! We're going to —"
Hermione suddenly screamed, and Tessa turned to see one of Aragog's children joining the fight. They casted spells at the monstrous spider, sending it thrown backward into the darkness.
"It brought friends!" Harry called out to Sebastian.
Sebastian made a strangled noise at the back of his throat. "Why are you looking at me? I'm a frog, what do you expect me to do against those?"
"Let's move, NOW!" Harry said after Tessa sent a Blasting Curse against one of the Death Eaters. They helped Fred's body in a niche where an armor stood earlier.
"ROOKWOOD!" Percy cried out in pain and fury mixed as he took off running toward the Death Eater.
Sebastian faced them. "Nikolai gave you three seashells — do you still have it?"
"We used the last one to clear the door of the Room of Requirement from fire earlier," Harry said, glancing at Tessa who didn't know they'd used it earlier.
Sebastian nodded absentmindedly. "Okay, I have to go out there to help."
Tessa nodded as he turned and sprinted into the darkness to join the fight.
"Harry — Tessa, in here!" Hermione screamed from somewhere ahead. She was trying to hold Ron and keep him from running after Percy. "Listen to me — LISTEN, RON !"
"I wanna help — I wanna kill Death Eaters —"
"Ron, we're the only ones who can end it! Please — Ron — we need the snake, we've got to kill the snake! We will fight! We'll have to, to reach the snake! But let's not lose sight now of what we're supposed to be d-doing! We're the only ones who can end it!"
Tessa felt a stab of pain and grief hit her chest, and she had to take a minute to regain composure and stop crying again.
Hermione faced Harry. "You need to find out where Voldemort is, because he'll have the snake with him, won't he? Do it, Harry — look inside him!"
Tessa watched her brother close his eyes in concentration, eyebrows knitting together as his face contorted in pain. She waited for a few minutes before he gasped, eyes flying open as he breathed raggedly.
"Where is he?" she demanded, a feeling of anger and retribution surging throughout her. She wanted to make him pay for what he'd caused on Fred — on everyone she's ever loved.
Harry blinked profusely. "He's in the Shrieking Shack. The snake's with him, it's got some sort of magical protection around it. He's just sent Lucius Malfoy to find Snape."
"Voldemort's sitting in the Shrieking Shack?" Hermione shouted lividly. "He's not — he's not even fighting?"
"He doesn't think he needs to fight. He thinks Tessa and I are going to go to him."
"But why?"
"He knows I'm after Horcruxes — he's keeping Nagini close beside him — obviously I'm going to have to go to him to get near the thing —"
"Right," Ron said. "So you can't go, that's what he wants, what he's expecting. You stay here and look after Hermione, and I'll go and get it —"
Harry cut in, "You three stay here, I'll go under the Cloak and I'll be back as soon as I —"
"No," Hermione said, "it makes much more sense if I take the Cloak and —"
"Wait a second," Ron suddenly intervened, eyes filled with fear as he said, "Where the bloody hell did Tessa go?"
None of them even noticed when she'd disappeared amidst their argument.
ϟ ϟ ϟ ϟ
The Shrieking Shack.
While her friends and family were fighting, Voldemort was sitting his ass and looking pretty in the Shrieking Shack.
Absolute rage and fury like no other filled Tessa — she was livid to the point that her body was trembling as a fiery sense of purpose seemed to enveloped her and begged her to just let go.
All she saw was red as she crossed the field. She didn't even know where she was going, all she knew was that the beast inside her seemed to lead her to where she needed to go.
She found him across the field subduing a Snatcher — the one who'd slapped her from last time. Dankworth was convulsing on the ground with poison flooding his system by the time Sebastian was done with him.
For a moment — their eyes met; turquoise and hazel clashing amidst the chasm of the world. Silence rang in their ears as the battle melted away from their visions and the screams seemed to mute for a second.
Tessa said nothing as she took in the desolation on Sebastian's face. The war was taking lives — too many lives, and they had to do something about it. Something not one could do with normal magic.
And when Sebastian raised a finger — Tessa understood that this was the moment where everything turns to dust. This was what she was meant to do — the reason why he's been telling her to save her powers all along.
With a shaky breath, Tessa raised her chin in a defiant manner. Her eyes looked to where the Whomping Willow stood, and she spoke in a voice in which she knew Voldemort would be able to hear.
"My name is Teressa Camille Valentine Potter, daughter of Catherine Valentine and James Potter." She was panting slightly, her body trembling with the need to let the beast inside rip out of her skin.
"My name is Tessa Potter, direct descendant of the Great Sorceress Cecily Pendragon herself, risen from the ashes like a phoenix of chaos and destruction." She reached up and grabbed hold of the necklace her grandparents gave her a few years ago, feeling it thrum in her palm.
"My name is Tessa Potter, blood of the dragon with fire running down my veins." She felt her body grow hotter, her nerves firing up as though she were a dying star's last breath — ready to shine through one last time.
"My name is Tessa Potter, and I will fight for my people and for everyone who's suffered under your hand." The Great Sorceress Cecily had already told her everything she needed to know to be able to help with this war. It just took her this moment to realize what she meant.
"My name is Tessa Potter, and I am not afraid of you."
And when she closed her eyes, she called for the dragon inside of her — summoning it in a language only she would know of.
When you speak to him as kin, Cecily had said, he must obey your will.
And with every fiber of Merlin magic she had in her, Tessa opened her eyes again as she shouted, "O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!"
For a second — nothing happened. All had stilled as though the world come to a pause.
And then everything exploded.
Out from within her bursted a snarling beast of fire and talons and wings.
A monster so vicious and lethal had shattered the earth as its roar shook the castle and alerted everyone of what had just arrived.
She was fire, she was claws, she was lashing teeth — Tessa was a dragon that unfolded her wings and set forth incarcerating Death Eaters that stood her way.
I am coming, she thought. For every single one of them who hurt my brother, my mother, my family, and my friends. For the ones who have brought nightmares into the one I love and is clinging onto a shred of hope to keep his sanity. For what they did to Draco, I will become their nightmare.
With another deafening roar that reverberated the mountains, Tessa set off into the sky as she burned her enemies to ashes.
ϟ ϟ ϟ ϟ
Draco woke up with a startling jolt — his heart racing madly in his chest as though someone had just shocked him to wake. He coughed, wincing terribly at the pain that shot up his head.
He didn't know where he was, darkness enveloped him. Pushing rubble out of his way, he looked over to see Goyle was still unconscious a few feet from him, but breathing.
A wild and deafening roar filled the air, and Draco stopped breathing for a second.
Something — there was something about that sound that seemed to draw him towards it.
Without even thinking about it, he rose to his feet at once, ignoring the pain coursing throughout his body as he stumbled through the grass in the field where the battle was still ongoing. Fire singed through the grass and the Death Eaters that stood as plumes of smoke hung in the air.
Blinking, Draco looked up and saw a magnificent dragon molded entirely by flames of gold.
And right away, he knew who that was.
His legs were like solid bands, staying rooted to where he stood as he watched the beast continue annihilating the Death Eaters one by one, being careful not to harm anyone on their side.
Draco saw it before he heard it — the flash of green light that streaked across the air in immense speed as it hit the dragon whose back was facing the caster. He was shouting, his body searing in excruciating pain that forced his legs to move as he ran.
Fire bursted into the sky like an explosion of fireworks as a vehement roar swallowed the place whole. Slowly, the flames of gold dissipated into the air as she fell from the sky. There was nothing graceful with how she landed, a horrible crash came through the trees of the Forbidden Forest as her body shattered the branches.
Draco was no longer breathing, he no longer made sense — all he knew was that he had to get there in time to save her. He had to save her.
There was a small clearing on where she lay, her body unmoving on the grass that seemed to cling onto her clothes. She didn't so much as stir when Draco arrived, knees slamming to the earth as he reached for her.
Cuts and scrapes covered her arms and face, blood seemed to be everywhere on her clothes and body — it sent Draco into overdrive as he felt himself go hysterical and mad at the sight.
"Tessa," he whispered, his voice breaking as panic and urgency seeped into him. His fingers curled into the fabric of her shirt as he gently pulled her onto his lap. Tears splattered onto her face, and Draco has to everything in his will not to wipe it off and accidentally hurt her even more with all the wounds. "Braveheart?" his voice was so soft he himself could barely hear it.
And then she coughed once, face contorting in agony as her eyes weakly opened.
Draco let out a noise, stroking the hair away from her face as he reached to hold her hands. "Baby, can you hear me? Please — please stay with me, okay?" More tears fell on her face. "I promise you'll be okay. Just don't go back to sleep — "
"Draco Malfoy," she whispered, coughing as blood trickled down the side of her mouth. Tessa smiled softly, eyes struggling to open as she reached a hand up to cup his face. "I love you — from today until the end — and I wish you to know — that you have been — the last dream of my soul."
Draco was breathing raggedly, body trembling as his eyes searched hers. "Tessa, stay with me. Tessa — "
And her hand slipped off his face and fell limp on her side as her eyes finally closed shut.
"No," Draco blurted out and picked up her blood-covered hand again to hold it against his face. "Please — Tessa, please don't — don't leave me. Please don't go there. Don't go somewhere I can't follow."
She didn't move. She didn't give him any response that indicated she could hear him.
Draco cried out miserably as his insides felt as though someone had ripped him to shreds. "Please don't do this to me." He leaned down and kissed her through salty tears. "I love you — please come back to me." Draco was crying, drawing her close to kiss her again as he held her broken body against his. "You promised — we promised to go together."
But as much as Draco begged and begged to whoever might be listening, it was no use — Tessa Potter was dead.
-the end-
JUST KIDDING!
A/N
A moment of silence for our angels.
Okay so this chapter had A LOT that happened. What are your thoughts on this!!! What do you expect will happen in the next chapter? Let me know what you think!
NEVER HAVE I EVER (Tessa, Draco, and Theo edition)
Never have I ever been in trouble with a professor because of another's fault
Draco and Tessa take a shot.
Never have I ever wanted to kiss the hell out of my soulmate so badly
Draco and Tessa take a shot.
Never have I ever talked to someone with my eyes only
Draco and Tessa take a shot.
Never have I ever lied to make myself look good in front of my crush
Draco and Theo take a shot.
Tessa takes a sip of her tea.
Never have I ever attacked my sister's boyfriend
Nobody takes a shot.
Harry: *is quaking from afar
Never have I ever played Cupid
Theo takes a shot.
Tessa secretly takes a shot.
Never have I ever composed a song to my crush
Theo takes a shot.
Never have I ever done Muggle dueling
Draco and Tessa take a shot.
Theo: HEATHENS.
Never have I ever cheated during exams
Tessa and Theo take a shot.