Britney and her friends had me. They knew they had me dead to rights. Tied up like this.
"It wasn't easy, figuring it out... How to catch you, how to put you down... Even if I could beat you in a duel, you were still a vampire. You could easily still kill me with your bare hands. But then it came to me; I could have a monster kill a monster."
"Britney, wait, let's talk this through, you do not have to do this."
"You're a timebomb, you know that?! I saw you, I saw what you did in to those students! You're not doing that to anyone else ever again, you hear me? I won't let you!"
"This is a misunderstanding, Britney, let me explain..."
"No! No more lies, no more deception. You die tonight, monster. For the good of us all, the sooner I put you down, the better."
"I am not your enemy, Britney. I am not your enemy!"
"All of you monsters are the enemy! And when I graduate? I am going to become an Auror and I am going to make it my mission to put you all down. Bring him out!"
A massive spider, legs each the length of a person, crept out of the shadows. Hairy and clacking, all of their eyes glistening in the moonlight, but the spider moved strangely. Like it was bewitched, almost as if... As if someone had put it under the Imperius curse.
"Britney, what have you done...?"
"Like her? This is Audbjorg. One of Aragog's horrid children. I saw Aragog's corpse outside of Hagrid's little hovel, nasty and shrivelled up. I knew it also reproduced." Britney smiled.
"This... This is madness."
"What is madness is that Dumbledore let you into the school in the first place! While everyone was ogling Potter and his exploits you snuck in and no one even blinked! I will restore order, I will set things straight. No more monsters among us."
"I'm a person! I'm a person, I have a mind and a consciousness and feelings and friends and you want to murder me! Do you even understand what's happening? You're not some fearless monster hunter, Britney, you're a person attempting murder! And worse yet, that spider has a name and a mind and you're forcing her to kill me! Don't do this, Britney!"
"Don't beg. Go out with some dignity. It's the least one of your kind can do." Britney spat. I think I knew then, that I wasn't going to make any headway. Not with her, not tonight. I glared at her, and I only had one more thing to say.
"My kind? Funny, from where I stand you're the only monster here."
"Take that back." Britney said, anger flashing across her face, clearly bothered by my jab and I saw it. I took a chance, I went in, I knew I could cut through her if I pressed the issue.
"You might look like a girl, you might talk like a girl, you might even fool everyone else but you're the real monster. A heartless, unempathetic, murderous viper. You only hate me because I'm everything you hate about yourself." I said, giving her a knowing look.
But then there was something else in her eyes.
I knew immediately I'd made a mistake because the quiet, cold rage that swept across Britney's entire being changed the air of the entire situation.
Then she did it. Almost on instinct, almost as if she'd wanted to do it for so long. She pointed her wand at my leg.
"Bombarda!" Britney screamed, and my calf exploded into little pieces of muscle and tissue and bone chips.
I shrieked for almost a minute straight, the pain was so unbearable. Blood pooled around the leg she blew off, and I stared at her, tears in my eyes, blubbering. One of Britney's friend's, the tall one, turned around and puked immediately. I keeled over on the ground, snivelling, tears down my face.
This was not how this was supposed to go.
"Brit... This is a bit much." One of Britney's friends said.
"Yeah, Britney... I think this is going too far." Said another.
"Alice, your mother was killed by a werewolf and Jess, a dragon burnt your brother to a crisp. She's just another one of them. A monster waiting to take someone we love." Britney said.
"We didn't sign up for this. Dumbledore must have let her in for a reason, Brit." Alice said.
"You're both too deep now. We see this through, together. Red and gold, remember? Gryffindors stick together."
"Brit..." Alice frowned.
"I know, but..." Jess looked away.
"If you'd rather keep your hands clean, I won't force you to do anything. But... Stay with me? I don't... I don't want to do this alone."
"I... Fine, okay. Just... Do it quick, Brit. It's the humane thing to do." Alice said.
"Please just... Hurry." Jess said.
"Time's up." Britney said, and pointed her wand at Audbjorg.
Audbjorg started to meander over to me, still crying on the ground. I went quiet as she neared, and I could see in her eyes that she didn't particularly know what she was doing. I thought to myself that, if I survived this, I'd make sure to come back, to come talk to Audbjorg. Maybe we could be friends, the two of us. But the reality of the situation was starting to sink in. I was alone, starting death in the face.
And no one was coming to save me.
I was going to die and no one was going to care. When I was turned, someone sat me down and told me of the horrors of immortality. They told me about Nicholas Flamell, and how he outlived all his friends and loved ones, how the long life he lived meant that he'd built up more trauma than any mind was ever meant to take. Like him, I wanted the chance to decide when I was going to die.
But there I was, lying in a puddle of my own blood, crying, about to be killed.
"Stupefy! Stupefy!" Came a shrill voice and the spell hit Britney so hard it swept her off her feet and smacked her into the back of a tree. Britney collapsed into a little pile at the base. Alice and Jess took out their wands, standing ready. The second spell hit Audbjorg and flung her back some, but nowhere near as much, considering her size. Audbjorg tucked into a little ball and rolled as she hit the ground.
Her senses coming to her, Audbjorg scuttled up into a tree and then was out of sight.
"Expelliarmus!" The shrill voice said again, but Jess blocked it. She was clearly more experienced a duelist than her attacker, and gestured for Alice to come around. They stood back to back, covering each other's blind spots. Now they were ready, eyes darting around the area.
It seemed my saviour had run out of options. The girls would eventually spot whoever cast the spell.
Then two red envelopes flew towards them.
Howlers.
They lifted their wands and shouted "Incendio" when, at the same time, the shrill voice shouted "Incarcero!" and ropes wrapped around them and tied them together.
Then he showed up, my saviour.
"Colin McIntyre, at your service." He said, smiling a wide silly grin.
"Colin, oh, my God, I have never been so happy to see anyone ever." I said, this time, tears of happiness flowing down my face.
"Well, I owed you one. Ebony, your leg..."
"Don't worry about me, I'll be okay."
"I mean, if you say so. Let me get these... Ahem.. Alohamora!" Colin said, and the padlocks around the silver chains on my body all unlocked at once.
"So... What do we do about them...?"
"I could take care of these welps." A voice said.
"Audbjorg? Is that you?" I yelled into the trees.
"They... Violated my mind. Me. A daughter of the forest. Heir of the great Aragog. This demands... Retribution..."
"Don't! Don't hurt them, please!" I asked.
"Why? Why shouldn't I?"
"Kill a student, and the ministry will want you and your clan dead, Audbjorg!"
"Then we'll eat the ministry too!"
"There's too many of them... One monster to another, Audbjorg, please!"
"You consider yourself a monster, yet you show compassion to these... Vermin. Perhaps we are alike, but were I in your position, I'd remove two legs for the one they took." Audbjorg's voice rang out.
"Even if it meant they might come hunt us both?" I asked.
"I do not fear them as you do. But I see your point. Tell Hagrid he owes me a feast."
"Thank you, thank you." I said.
"You are lucky it is not my father you're talking to, he would not have been so understanding." She said, and after we heard some scuttling, Audbjorg disappeared into the trees.
"I hate spiders." Colin said.
"Don't let her hear you say that." I smiled. I looked down at my leg, and it was already starting to regrow. Colin offered me a hand, and helped me to my feet.
Now we had to decidewhat to do with Britney and her friends.