Chapter Three:
I screeched as I tumbled through the air, nearly losing my balance on the broom as a curse hit the tail end of it. The icy wind of England nipped at my arms and face as the glasses identical to Harry's flew off, and the danger escalated.
I could no longer see, everything was horribly blurry with Harry's eyesight and I tried hard to make everything come into focus, yet nothing worked. I could barely make out the figures flying close -too close- beside me, and I tilted my broom up, determined to lose who I knew to be Death Eaters.
Out of my peripheral vision, I saw a jet of yellow light blast out of seemingly nowhere, and I went even higher up in order to dodge it. My fingers were already starting to go numb as I gained altitude, my breath coming in short, fast pants as I fought to remain control of my broom while at the same time, still trying to make out where I was, what was happening and what I could do in order to save myself.
One of my pursuers knocked into me quickly, and I hadn't even notice them come up beside me. Before I knew it, I was upside down, my knees locked around the thin wooden handle of my transportation, my numb hands clasped tightly around it as well as my weight caused it to tip down. I began spiraling after just a few moments as I tried to correct myself, my stomach was jolting everytime I spun, and I vomited in the middle of the sky.
For the slightest second, I felt sorry for whoever was underneath me on the ground, but that thought process quickly ended as my broom finally stabilized and I was able to race off, continuing downward and hoping against all hope that the Death Eaters wouldn't follow me so close to the Muggles.
I was dead wrong.
The streets were dark as I flew between houses, scraping them and nearly smashing into one as I tried hard to see with my now-poor eyesight and the darkness that already fully surrounded me.
It was nearly impossible and I knew that I'd need to get back into the air where there were no worries of slamming into something.
All the while, spells were being fired at me, left and right, and I had had more than enough near-death experiences to last myself a lifetime in that short span of a half hour that I'd been flying. Harry's too-long hair whipped around me, stinging my face and eyes as the copy of his overly-large shirt blew in the wind, rising up to expose my boyish chest to the freezing cold air.
I bit my lip painfully as I risked a glance around, hoping to see something -however blurry- that would tell me just where I was and where I needed to go to get safe, but of course, I wasn't that lucky. As far as I could tell, we were flying over a forest, but I didn't know of any forests anywhere near where I was supposed to be headed.
I screamed as a shot landed on me, burning through my shirt and straight into my skin, searing pain ripped through me from my back and in my shock, I jerked the broom and it was then that I lost complete control over it and fell to the ground, into the forest.
I fell into the screams, barely managing to hold back more screams as the branches tore at my clothes, piercing and slashing through my skin before I finally hit the ground with a final thud, my broom lay broken and useless beside me.
Still, no matter how badly and indescribably I hurt, I managed to get to my feet, getting far away from my crash site as I could in fear that the Death Eaters wouldn't just leave me, assuming I was dead and that they would come hunting for me.
I could feel blood oozing from several of my cuts, gashes and scrapes, my head pounded horribly as the dead leaves crunched under my feet, my back was still throbbing with pain and as I walked, I felt the skin stretching and pulling on the wound. What kind of wound it was, I wasn't even sure, but it burned more than nearly anything I'd felt before, reminding me slightly of the Cruciatus Curse.
I staggered along, pausing once in a while to listen for pursuers until I felt my face beginning to stretch, my ragged clothing became even baggier than they were already, and I knew that I'd become my normal self again.
After at least a couple hours of stumbling over roots and branches, I had to stop and rest, I needed to sort myself out and manage my many injuries now that I knew for a fact I wasn't being followed. Besides the burning on my back, I had one rather large gash on the back of my head that still oozed blood, matting my hair around it, several smaller cuts and wounds on my face and arms. My legs for the most part had been protected by pants I wore and my chest was covered in bruises, cuts, scrapes and a large oozing gash along my collar bone.
I whimpered as I touched my back, pulling my sticky shirt away from my skin, feeling it pull the skin with it before I finally gave up, deciding I'd just have to try and apparate straight to the Burrow instead of trying to make my way to Grimmauld place.
With my heart beating loudly in my chest, I closed my eyes and concentrated for all I was worth. Blocking out the pain of my injuries and the fear of being captured, I left with a loud pop and felt the almost-familiar feeling of being tugged through a thin tube nowhere near big enough for my body.
I landed not too far from my destination, slamming into the ground and landing (rather unfortunately) on my back. I bit my lip, barely managing to hold back my scream of absolute agony as my eyes rolled into the back of my head with the effort.
Panting for breath, I managed to roll over and push myself up onto my hands and knees, squeezing my eyes closed tight. The grass underneath me seemed to stab into my palms as I simply stayed there for several moments, trying to ignore the pain, needing to catch my breath, and I hoped I hadn't managed to also splinch myself as I apparated. I blinked my eyes back open and looked around, seeing the welcome -none blurry- sight of the Burrow no more than one hundred yards away.
Grunting, I got onto my feet and began stumbling my way to where I now called 'home'.
People stood inside, huddled around windows and looking out, I smiled in near-ecstacy as I saw Fred looking more worried than the others, and I wondered if I was the last one back or not. After making it through the overgrown grass, the others inside finally noticed me and seemed to all run to the door, converging on me.
"What were the very first words I said to you?" Fred asked as they all stopped a few feet short from where I stood. I breathed heavily as my eyesight seemed to blur a bit before quickly righting itself and I thought back to our first encounter, knowing I had to be one hundred percent correct in order for them to know that it was honestly me and not an imposter..
I looked at my boyfriend for a moment, wondering vaguely where his other half was before beginning to really think back.. The day when Hogwarts had been filled with students being sorted...
-
"Brave for sure, and loyal beyond belief. But cunning and smart, a fast learner. Not shy at all, this is the hardest time placing someone I've had since Harry Potter. You would do well in Ravenclaw, Slytherin, or Gryffindor. This is very hard indeed.” The hat was quiet for approximately one minute, before it shouted. "GRYFFINDOR!”
One table that was decked in red and gold began to cheer, so I walked over to them, sitting in the first empty seat I came across. I looked over towards Snape, to see what he thought of the house I was put in. By the scowl on his face he wasn't happy at all, my shoulders seemed to fall as my mood plummeted.
Not that I cared what he thought.
"Hi, Lillith, we're Fred and George", two red headed boys that sat next to me said. They were practically identical, but if you looked closely, you could see that one's face was slightly longer than the others, and his hair was slightly shorter than his brothers, just by a fraction, but enough for me to tell the difference. I pulled out my pad, and began to write.
[Hello. Which is which?] I put the paper in the closest one's hand.
"I'm Fred.” He answered, which left the other one with the longer face to be George. "Can you talk?” He questioned, looking curious. I shook my head no, and waited for the insults to come.
"Ah, well. Fred and I will talk for you. He's quite the blabber!” George said, smiling reassuringly. We three continued to ‘talk’, until it was time to head up to our dorms. The prefect that we were all following went up to a picture with a very obese lady on it, and said the password.
Great, just another complication to work through, I thought to myself. Everyone climbed into the hole that appeared after the painting that swung open. The girls went to their side, while the boys went to the opposite.
Fred and George ruffled my hair, and laughed before running off.
-
"Hi Lillith, we're Fred and George," I managed to mutter through my cracked and bloody lips as my vision blurred slightly once more. It took a second longer to correct itself, but Fred was already enveloping me in his arms, causing me to groan as he touched the largest and most painful injury, the burn-like one that the Death Eater had caused.
"I'm sorry, I thought I'd lost you.."
Mrs. Weasley came up to me before directing Fred to help me inside and I was grateful beyond belief for his help, because I felt like I could pass out at any given moment. After I'd made it inside, I noticed George lying on a couch, presumeably asleep as I was placed carefully on a chair opposite the redhead.
I looked around, noticing Hagrid and the real Harry were already there, Ron, Hermione, Fluer, Bill, the twins, the large man I knew as Kingsley from when Mad-Eye had placed him with Hermione while teaming us up but.. where was Mad-Eye and Mundungus?
I looked at Fred once more, smiling and happy, just to see his face before finally closing my eyes and deciding I could rest. I was safe now..
[[A/N: So I've decided to begin writing this book for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and excluding the first chapter (which was written october 24/25), I have 2913 words out of 50,000 written and 47, 087 words left to write by the end of November >.< I started 5 days late, unfortunately, so I have to write at LEAST 1,812 words a day in order to finish on time :/ (technically I also wrote Maybe Next Time (a naughty one-shot for all who is interested >////<) as well, which brings me to over 4000 words written, but meh.) Anyways, so be expecting TONS of updates on this story this month (no promises, but i'll try). Tell me what you think, PLEASE. Did I do the Death Eater scene all right? Peace and Love, iJay]]