_____________
Media Above: what song should be played at the dancing scene, or on repeat if you want throughout this entire chapter (2:34 is the best part, just saying)
_____________
OH MY GOD THIS COMMENT- IT DID NOT AGE WELL AT ALL I'M SCREAMING AHAHDJDHBHJVGHKS
_____________
Thirty six...counted them myself
_____________
Kitioma Hadlee
The cool air breeze runs through my hair, but not enough to mess it up. My face feels fake with the makeup Ally insisted putting on, even though I know it is only a bit of mascara and highlighter.
The ball is tonight, and everything has been so carefully planned, if it messes up, I'm sure the universe...well, the universe has already show that it hates me, so I'm guessing something will go wrong but whatever.
"Ready?" Ally's voice snaps me out of my thoughts as I play with a loose string on the corner of my deep purple dress.
I don't like how I look. Pale skin. A British accent. Blonde hair. Brown eyes. None of it fits me. Besides, it's been weeks, and I've had to deal with not talking to anyone but the other girls. The teachers don't even know my face. I am invisible, my lips pressed together, the raindrop falling from the sky, exactly like the droplets around her. I'm not different. I am not the girl who popped her bubblegum and made an entrance so many months ago.
Who am I? I should be Kitioma Hadlee, the Gryffindor heir, but instead, I am Trina Nicklebook, a nobody.
I sigh tiredly and take the dose of polyjuice potion that should hold me over until at least midnight, where I...
"Um, we have a problem," I murmur, staring down into the flask, then turn it over. Ally and the other girls stare as the last drop of the potion drips out of the bottle, sizzling quietly on the stone floor.
"You're joking," Jac scowls, ripping the flask from my hand, her black, skin tight dress contrasting with her wavy brown hair, now straightened for the ball. "Seriously? My next batch can only be ready next week!"
"Shit," Ally mutters, and looks at the watch. "We have until exactly midnight to get him up into the astronomy tower. That means he can't see any of us, he'll know what we're doing."
"Wait..." My eyebrows crease together. "We're holding this in memory of the death of me, but won't he know something's up?"
All the girls smile, Ellie and Eboni snickering. "We made sure he was in the common room a couple weeks ago then faked a whole show. I would say it was pretty convincing, people looked pretty concerned. We were discussing where to hide your body, but no one knew we were talking about you except Tom. Then we purposely made eye contact, acted scared, and ran off. He tried chasing, but we lost him pretty quick."
"So he think you two murdered me?" I say with a raised eyebrow. They both nod. "Nice. Anyways, time is ticking, we have," I glance at my watch. "Four hours."
Ellie walks into the room first, her dark green dress making her red hair look like fire. She doesn't attract much attention, though. Luck must be on our side.
"Good luck, Trina," Eboni elbows me, then walks into the ballroom, where moving pictures of my face adorn the walls, the mood lively, but mournful.
Why they hold balls in favor of the dead, I don't know, but it suits us tonight.
"Ready?" Ally asks. I nod, and we walk in together. My dress is simple, a light pink dress with lace spilling down the sides. I absolutely detest pink, but I'm also not pale-skinned, so to hell with the old Kiki and welcome Trina Nicklebook.
My last night of being Trina Nicklebook, hopefully.
What a strange name.
I take in a breath and follow Ally, dressed in a light, pastel blue hue into the ballroom. The crystal decorations shimmer, glinting on the walls. Green adorns the walls, not Slytherin green, but rather the colour of grass. Someone must have told them that my favourite colour is green.
I grin.
I hate that shade of green.
The next few minutes are spent of me hiding in the shadows, watching as people chatter, no dancing being done on the ballroom floor.
Someone slips a paper into my hand. It's Jac, who also is holding out a goblet of something sloshing around in it. I take it, swigging the sweet liquid, reading the paper.
The paper is tinted in the same light green, shimmering into a silver colour when I move the paper even slightly. "What's this?"
"Just read."
we are gatHered hEre today to mourn the Loss of a dear friend and student, miss kitioma hadlee, a Punctilious girl of many ambitions. according to her friends, Miss hadlee's favouritE colours Are Salmon, Tree-trunk, Red, and Opaque black. Her favourite foods are NoOdles, Meatloaf, and YogurT. Ominous WagEs towaRds her remaining family can be placed at the foot at the great hall steps NO LATER THAN 12:00.
"What kind of colours are those? And I've never had half of those foods," I say, almost choking on my drink, laughing. Jac smiles.
"Who ever wrote that must be an idiot."
I snort, looking over the paper, examining it. Something seems...off. "Wait...wait, wait hold on,"
Jac's eyebrows furrow as I flip over the paper hurriedly, scanning for something.
writer: marlene kadwell
"Oh my God..." My eyes widen when I realize what the message is saying. "Jac, oh my God, Jac, look." I trace each letter carefully. "Give me a pen, hurry."
She brings out her wand, summoning a pen. "Here. Why?"
Help me. Astronomy Tower. No later than 12:00.
I scrawl the letters onto my arm, my eyes narrowing at the message. "Hold up, how did-"
"Every capital letter," I murmur, flipping the message over to make sure I didn't miss anything. Jac snatches the paper from my hand.
"Jesus, Kiki, how did you figure that out?"
I smile. "Because I hate the colour black, it reminds me of my parent's funeral, I'm allergic to meatloaf, and all my remaining family is dead. I don't really like Marlene, but she's trying to tell us something, and if she went through all this trouble to write this out and slip it into the ball plans, then something is wrong."
"Shit, we have to tell this to the other girls," She grabs the paper and starts to head over to Ally, but as I try to follow, the music starts up, and suddenly, everyone seems to be flooding the path I try to walk in with dancing.
Seriously? What kind of Cinderella cliche shit is this? If I was truly dead, I would have hated this. Screw dancing, just have an all-you-can-eat buffet. Give the people what they want! Food!
I glance at the watch on my wrist. 11:20pm.
Shit, have I been on the wall for that long? It only seemed like a couple of minutes, time must have flown by faster than I thought. How am I going to find Tom in this?
Someone grabs my hand. "Care for a dance?" It's a boy I don't recognize. He grins and I roll my eyes.
"Not really, but whatever floats your boat," He takes my hand with a confused smile, spinning me on the dance floor. I never cared for dancing, but this is quite fun, actually.
He spins me off in a switch, and I take someone else's hand. This time, it's a girl, and she laughs at my stunned face. "Take my hand, I don't bite!"
I grin, taking her hand, and we spin in circles like we've been friends for years. And then we're both passed off to different people.
A hand grabs my wrist.
Another rests on my waist.
They feel familiar, and my heart sinks.
"Fancy seeing you here at your own funeral, princess," He smirks into my ear.
"What?" I furrow my eyebrows faking concern.
He grins. "You seriously didn't think your whole polyjuice potion facade would fool me, would you? I'll admit, Ellie and Eboni put on a good show, almost fooled me for a few days. But then I remembered," He holds up a black bracelet.
I gulp.
"Remember these?"
Yes.
He pulls me to his waist, smirking, keeping me from escaping. "I enchanted them the day I made them, to where if you died, they would crumble to dust, as the need would no longer be there for them. But yet, here they are." I try to escape his grip, and this time, he lets me. "See you at midnight."
I run over to the other girls, who are talking in heated whispers. "Kiki?" Ellie says, putting down her drink. "Are you ok? You look like hell..."
"Gee, thanks. No, I'm not ok, Tom knows about our plan. He knew about me. It's all because of a bracelet, if I never..."
Eboni grabs my shoulders as my breathing quickens, the memory of my panic attack resurfacing as the same feelings arise. "Breathe, Kiki. What's going on? What bracelet?"
"Tom is a manipulator," I start off, gulping down the water Jac hands me, taking a seat. "You all know it. You've all been manipulated by him." They all nod. "Well, he manipulated the professors into thinking I was being targeted for my power. They set him in place as a 'protector,' and these bracelets would alert him if I was in any pain or harm of some sort because he would feel it to. And apparently, he charmed it to where it would crumble to dust if I died. Ellie and Eboni, you almost convinced him, but the bracelet never crumbled...so he knew."
"And since you're a 'new girl,' basically, he pieced together that you were yourself..." Ellie finishes, and the rest of the girls groan.
Except Jac. She laughs slightly, munching on her doughnut she snagged from the food table.
"What's so funny?" Ally snaps.
"Oh, well if he knows, that should make everything so much easier. We don't have to drag him up there, and I'll bet Maya and Stephan are coming, too."
Ellie grins. "So we'll be ready, too. Change? It's almost time to go."
So we're just going to ignore the fact that I'm literally terrified that he might kidnap or torture me again? Alright. Ok.
We rush to the outside back hallway, untying various knots fashioned into our dresses, then pull them off, revealing jeans, boots, and whatnot.
Comfortable clothes.
As for me, I have camo cargo pants, a black t-shirt, and combat boots. Sure, I look badass, but do I feel like it?
No.
I feel like I'm about to die.
My eyes shift to my watch.
11:56pm
"We need to go," Eboni voices my thoughts, then we all start to race towards the Astronomy Tower, leaving our dresses in heaps of multicoloured cloth behind us.
I calm my heart rate, pulling out my wand as we near the doors of the Astronomy Tower.
Everything is quiet, and Ally steps forwards.
Something feels off.
"Ally n-"
She is slammed backwards by a shock on the doors, her head hitting the back wall with a sickening crack. She tumbles towards the floor, unconscious, unmoving. Eboni races back towards her, yelling, "Go! I'll take care of her."
Jac yells a spell at the doors and they fly open. We storm into the room, and what a sight to see.
Tens, hundreds of dark figures, hooded cloaks, hovering in the air or leaning on the balconies of the tower. Ellie and Jac both make strangled noises and I realize that two of the black figures are grabbing them by the throats, dragging them backwards. I instantly fly into action, hurling curses at them, making the back figures hiss in pain, releasing both girls.
Many more black figures drag them backwards and start trying to attack me. Something inside me snaps, and I am suddenly seeming inhumane, screaming hexes, curse, the only thing on my being death, kill, murder.
"Stop!"
I turn my wand onto the voice, wasting no time to look to see who it is. Curse after curse is deflected until my wand is shot out of my hand, tumbling to the floor. Three of the hooded demon-like things fly forwards, grabbing me by the arms, wrenching my head back to the point where I cannot move.
"Marlene," I growl through clenched teeth. "We came up here because of your message to help you, and this is how you repay us?"
Her face looks pale, and she looks like she hasn't been eating or sleeping. Good, she deserves none of that. Nasty rotten bitch, she deserves to die in Azkaban, just like Gabriela.
"Kiki, please, I only did it to save my brother-"
"Fuck your brother! He brought me pain and that's it, he's a dirty piece of scum!"
Marlene's wand points at my throat, her hand shaking. Her face looks like it's twisted between anger and fear, flushed and pale at the same time. "Don't talk about Xavier like that."
"Why?" I snarl. "It's true."
"Ladies, please," A velvety smooth voice interrupts us. Marlene's face only pales more, and she drops her wand.
"S-Sam, I didn't mean-"
"Shut it, Kadwell, I don't care."
What a coward.
Sam emerges from the shadows, smirking. "I see you're back, Hadlee."
I glance down at my restrained hands. They are back to my dark brown colour, much to my relief. "So it seems I am," I shoot back.
"Awe, did playing the victim get to much for our darling Kiki?" He mocks, and the shadows laugh. "Shame. I was liking it when you weren't running your mouth."
"Let her go!" I hear Jac yell, only to be muffled, along with the sounds of struggle. Tom turns to face what I assume is her restrained figure.
"Ah, Jac. I trusted you."
"Your mistake," I hear her growl, and I smile despite the situation I'm in. That's the Jac I know. More Gryffindor than Marlene ever was.
"Well then, I guess I can always fix that," Sam smiles without any light in his eyes. In fact, if it is possible, his eyes grow darker. "Avada Kedavra."
My scream and Ellie's mix together, and I struggle to escape the bonds holding me down as the blond boy smirks, the sounds of a body crumpling to the floor echoing in my ears.
Not Jac. Not her. No- she's not dead. Not her. My breathing quickens, but I force myself to calm down. Five seconds, Kiki. You get five seconds to grieve.
One.
Her body.
Two.
Her scream.
Three.
Her fire.
Four.
Her laugh.
Five.
Her death.
Even Marlene looks terrified as I turn my eyes back to Sam, looking him up and down with a cold scowl. I don't say a word, I don't think of Ellie's muffled sobs, I only stare at him. He stares back, but his smirk slowly turns into a frown when I don't back down.
My green eyes bore into his own like knives, cutting him down, shred by shred until all that's left is a memory of what used to be.
"Monster."
And then I press my lips together, refusing to let a single other remark let through. My anger builds, and I can feel I'm about to snap again. My muscles flex around the claws holding them down.
A ragged, harsh scream shatters the air, making the black, hooded figures flinch away from me and for Marlene to quickly move away from what's coming. I don't even grab my wand, I just stalk forwards, somehow every curse being deflected from my body. I reach Sam, who looks terrified, and grab him by his throat, slamming him into the railing. My fingernails dig into his throat, choking him.
I want him to suffer.
I want to throw him off of the railing.
I want him to die like Jac, but in a much more painful way.
"Kitioma Hadlee."
I freeze at the voice.
"Let go of Sam."
A hand grabs my own, yanking me away from Sam. My anger stays, but my strength ebbs away.
"Why?" I growl. "Why do I need to let go of him? Why can't I just kill him? He would do nothing for you to keep him here, Tom. Nothing."
Tom's face remains expressionless. "This isn't you."
"How the hell do you know what is truly me or not? You don't even care about me! You said it yourself, I'm only there for your needs and then I'll die at your hands."
"Stop."
Sam is gasping on the ground, his neck bleeding from fingernail marks I made. Good. He should suffer.
"What's going on? Do reveal your evil pl-"
Sam stumbles forwards, his wand pointed at me. "You bitch."
"Oh. How nice, he's back," I mutter, and bring out my own wand, which somehow has appeared in my pocket. Convenient. "Do I look like a female dog to you, nasty little cock-sucking elbow shit troll."
Tom raises his eyebrows at my incredibly unique insult, then flicks his wand, making mine fly into his hand. He starts to say something, but Sam points his own wand at Tom.
"You. I hate you, little fucker. You made me join under your control, and look where I am. You ruined my life all for this stupid little hoe."
Tom's jaw clenches, and I can see his anger behind his expertly-woven mask. "Care to say that again, Miller?"
"Fuck you," He spits, and where I expect Tom to pull a choke-you-on-a-wall, instead pulls a long sigh.
"Tsk. You never learn, do you, Miller? I gave you so many chances. Can't you see what she's done? With her, we will rule the world. But not with you."
He flicks his wrist, muttering what I expect to be the killing curse, and Sam flies over the railing, his body contorted into twisted positions.
I back away slowly from Tom, but he turns his wand onto me. "You're not going anywhere, Hadlee."
"Oh?"
"You may have scared away my dementors, but you will not run away today. This is where it ends."
"Really now?"
"Stop talking, you're being an insolent little brat. Now I need your blood, and you're going to give it to me."
"Um..." I shift awkwardly. "Hate to break it to you, Riddle boy, but...no."
His wand presses against my throat, but only stays there for a few seconds. Instead, he turns it onto Ellie, who is being held by the remaining 'dementors'.
"Do it, or I'll kill her."
He won't.
"Oh Hadlee, I will."
I can't feel a thing when he sends the third killing curse I've heard that day onto Ellie's shivering body, and when she collapses onto the floor, my own legs seem to buckle.
No. No, don't. Stand up. You need to live. Live for Jac. For Ellie. For Ally. I can feel in my heart that Ally didn't make it, that the wounds were to big, and Eboni has probably been captured.
So what am I left with?
No wand.
No allies.
Marlene, huddled in a corner.
Tom, who has my wand.
Maya and Stephan, who you see are huddled in a corner, watching.
The dementors, who await Tom's commands.
I'm out of options. It's death or possible life, but Tom wins.
So...what the hell do I choose?
_____________