{.57. Hogwarts Had Fallen}
Trigger warning: violence, death
Carina and Orion had no idea what was going on when they had been approached by Ron telling them to take a drop of Felix Felicis. He seemed panicked and nervous as if something was going to happen. Carina didn't question him at all but she had immediately ran to find Blaise to tell him — order him — to stay in his common room.
But she wasn't met with Blaise on her way to the slytherin dungeons. she was met with a group of death eaters. She screamed before she turned around and started to run in the other direction shooting a spell whenever she had the opportunity to. There was a nasty bloke that had been throwing a few dodgy hexes towards her and she couldn't help but scowl. She recognised him from some of the pure blood balls.
"Stupefy!" She shouted blasting the man square in the chest
Carina ran straight into a body which wrapped their arms around her and she let out a scream as she thought she'd got caught by a death eater but she couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when Remus was standing there with a small smile looking down at her. She immediately wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly
"Are you alright Carina?" He asked checking her over for for injuries
"Yeah, yeah." She breathed "I'm just really glad to see you, are you?" Remus nodded and shot her a wink before they turned to get into a duelling stance.
She stood back to back with Professor Lupin and couldn't help but worry about almost everyone else, where was Orion? Was Hermione ok? What about Ron? Did Fred and George get here?
"Reducto," she shouted taking another death eater out she managed to send a few shield spells out to protect Moony when she saw Fenrir Greyback heading towards Luna. Carina saw red and could feel the anger rising in her blood. Nobody would ever hurt Carina's precious angel Luna, not for as long as she was alive.
Carina left her position behind Lupin and walked straight towards him with all the anger she could muster in her gaze wand raised.
"Petrificus Totalus!" She shouted "Flipendo!" She shouted again sending Greyback into the wall
She hated Greyback.
"Thanks Carrie. That was very good," she said dusting herself off
"You're welcome, I hate him Luna. he's a dirty pedophile and us girls have to stick together don't we," she spat "are you alright my love?" She asked checking that Luna was alright before Luna nodded and began hugging her tightly
Carina couldn't help but feel slightly overwhelmed at the scenes in front of her. She looked around and there was almost a death eater duelling someone at every corner she looked at. Minnie was being the badass bitch that she was and holding her own, Bill Weasley was fighting off a few death eaters. Ginny had been fighting one of the Carrows. It was so intense and Carina thought she was about to have a panic attack. She took a deep breath in and shut her eyes to calm herself.
After a moment, Carina decided to go and help some of the others that were duelling as Orion said he had to go and find George. She had spotted Draco walking with Professor Snape but she didn't question it as it made sense as Snape was his godfather and she headed towards Alecto Carrow shooting them with a stunning spell in the chest.
Ernie MacMillan had arrived and tried speaking to Potter but was just pushed to the side — carina thought it was so rude and wanted to teach Potter some manners — and Carina ran over to tell them what was what. She didn't think it was fair for them to be kept in the dark
"There's death eaters! You need to put your potters spell club skills into practice now!" She screamed at them before she shot a spell at a death eater that was coming their way
Carina couldn't help but feel anxious. She needed to find Blaise and make sure he was alright, how could she find him amongst all of this though. She had come face to face with Nott Senior and she scowled. He sent a non verbal spell her way but Carina managed to deflect it easily.
The duel went on for a while and Carina was losing stamina, she had never duelled for very long before and she realised that maybe she should have practiced a bit more. She should have at least practiced her cardio because she was bloody exhausted. Carina was hit with a jelly-legs jinx but managed to send a non verbal spell his way before she completely messed up her shield charm and was sent flying back into a wall as Nott Senior cast 'stupefy'.
She hissed in pain as she hit her head but she thought she was dreaming when she saw Nott Senior being sent flying sideways. Neville Longbottom had his hand out for her to take and helped her from the floor.
"Are you alright Rina?" He asked and Carina nodded feeling slightly woozy, Neville held her shoulder to steady her
"My brother, I need to find him," she panicked
"I saw him by the astronomy tower, be safe Rina okay?" Neville asked
Carina pinched his cheeks as a sign of affection before pressing a kiss to his cheek and headed back towards the action. She couldn't see much and was trying to keep as focused as she could on avoiding rogue spells that were being thrown. She noticed that Orion had found George and they were duelling side by side, she saw that Fred was with Bill Weasley. She relaxed knowing they were safe but she needed to find Blaise.
It was like time stopped when she saw the scene in front of her. Her Zio and Uncle Marcello were duelling two death eaters side by side, Carina thought she recognised them to be Avery and Rodolphus Lestrange. She sent two stunning spells their way catching them off guard so her uncles were able to have a breather. They both shot her a thumbs up appreciatively and she grinned at them.
She saw that Blaise was on the floor in the corner duelling Robert Mulciber. Carina sent a spell his way but missed and she tried again and again until he managed to disarm her. His smirk was venomous, thinking he had the upper hand but Carina let out a cackle — she sounded deranged but she didn't care. She didn't need magic to hurt Robert Mulciber like she had wanted to. Nobody hurt Blaise.
She sauntered up to him with as much confidence as possible and swung her fist into his jaw — she had bloody hurt but she didn't care anymore, all she wanted to do was hurt him. He let out a manic laugh and she shoved him backwards. Her eyes became dark. She gestured for Blaise to move out of the way so she could do what she needed to do.
Carina didn't feel in control of her body, all she knew was that she wanted to hurt this man for even thinking about hurting Blaise. She needed to hurt this man because he was nothing but an arsehole to her and her twin, he didn't deserve to be alive.
She got her wand back through a non verbal spell and threw every hex that she knew his way. Her uncles and Blaise watched the scene in fear but somewhat interest, she looked powerful and Carina knew that they were looking because she felt as if all eyes were on her just seeing what she would do next.
It was safe to say that Robert had been kicking her arse in the duel until then and she knew that which is why when he stopped to taunt her she didn't hesitate in her actions. She bent down, she grabbed a brick and smashed it over his head as hard as she possibly could.
"Nobody hurts my brother and gets to live," she spat staring down at him
Carina didn't know what had come over her but she continued to hit Robert Mulciber repeatedly over the head with the brick she had in her hands until she slowly saw the life drain out of his eyes and his head was almost caved in. She was satisfied for a slight moment until she breathed out and shut her eyes and had snapped into reality and realised what had happened.
She dropped the brick and her hands started to shake. She looked up and saw Fred standing there with Blaise and her Uncles.
"What have I done?" She whispered her eyes filling up with tears "blaisey, please don't hate me."
Fred went to wrap his arms around her but she'd already wrapped her arms tightly around his waist choking out a sob. Her family watched on and they hadn't known what to say. Blaise hadn't moved but he slowly stood up and made his way towards Carina slowly.
The curse had taken place and Carina had succumbed to it. She didn't even realise what she was doing which had been the worst part, she felt happy that she was caving Mulciber's skull in for he had made her suffer all them months ago — she liked seeing him suffer.
The group of men had led Carina outside away from the scene, both Blaise and Fred comforting her — Blaise had his hand tightly in hers tracing patterns on her hand and squeezing it three times every so often and Fred had his arm wrapped around her shoulder for reassurance.
Carina gasped when she saw Professor Dumbledore laying there on the ground and she couldn't help but let the tears fall even more. Professor Dumbledore didn't deserve to die. She saw Potter there crying over his body and she truly felt the memories of the past two years creep up on her.
"Sorella, I— I have to go check the baby slytherin's are alright, stay with Fred, Zio and Uncle ok?" He told her, placing a kiss on her forehead "thank you for saving me. I'll forever appreciate this Carrie, I love you more than all the stars in the sky vita mia," he whispered
"I love you more than all the stars in the sky Blaisey," she wrapped her arms tightly around him before left.
Carina was pulled into the hospital wing by her Zio as he needed her to be treated for shock and they needed to check her head injury. She had just killed a person and was still covered in his blood — all her face was covered in blood splatter and her white shirt was now covered in red splots. She had protested obviously as she didn't think she needed to go there but when Marcello had agreed she knew that it was serious.
As soon as she entered the hospital wing, she let go of Fred's arms so she could run into the safety of Orion who wasted no time to wrap his arms tightly around her as he lifted her up from the floor slightly. Orion was glad to know that she was safe. He had been terrified for her when he heard that Robert Mulciber was part of the death eaters that had infiltrated the castle.
"You're safe little one, I love you. I love you," he constantly repeated in a whisper
She was ushered towards a bed when she saw Bill Weasley laying down with scratches from Greyback and her heart broke as she realised Fred had stayed with her instead of being with Bill to protect him. Neville, who had saved her, was in the hospital wing but was told he'd make a full recovery. Carina couldn't help but pull her legs to her chest and sob into them.
Carina hadn't been listening to the conversation that was taking place in the bed opposite until she heard Moony shout out in shock as he hadn't believed Dumbledore was dead.
"How did he die?" whispered Tonks. "How did it happen?"
Carina didn't want to hear the details. She cuddled into Fred who had sat next to her on the bed for comfort.
"Snape killed him," said Potter. "I was there, I saw it. We arrived back on the Astronomy Tower because that's where the Mark was ... Dumbledore was ill, he was weak, but I think he realised it was a trap when we heard footsteps running up the stairs. He immobilised me, I couldn't do anything, I was under the Invisibility Cloak – and then Malfoy came through the door and Disarmed him –"
Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth, and Ron groaned. Luna's mouth trembled. Carina didn't believe that Draco could do this he wouldn't. She kept sobbing into her hands and tried to get the blood off of her hands.
"– more Death Eaters arrived – and then Snape – and Snape did it. The Avada Kedavra." Potter couldn't go on but he found the courage to look at Carina and scowl
"But I bet you knew didn't you! Helping him with his task all year probably!" Potter spat and Carina let out a hoarse chuckle as she looked up from her hand
"Draco is my family Potter, you'd ought to not mess with me today," she warned
"You're not even denying it!" He spat
"Of course I'm bloody denying it! Draco has been my family since I was a child, I'm sorry if I'm slightly more understanding towards his circumstances! He has no choice! He's been forced into this! Coerced! He's a scared child who was threatened with his family's life, with his life, if he didn't do what was asked of him!" Carina ranted tears spilling down her cheeks "leave him the fuck alone, he's my brother and I will always defend him as such!" she roared,
"Let's not turn on each other—" Moony started — he didn't like to see the two children who could have potentially been brought up like siblings argue — but was cut off quite abruptly
"You know Malfoy mentioned you when he was up there. Voldemort has heard about your dark curse, wanted to recruit you but Malfoy and Nott took the mark so you would be protected, sounds like you and Malfoy are a bit more than just friends—"
"Watch it—" Fred started pointing a finger at him
"That's enough," Leonardo spoke firmly and Marcello nodded
"What dark curse?" Ginny had asked
"It's nobodies business but I have a dark curse that was put on me by a death eater when I was a baby. This means I have the urge to kill and cause death, so don't bloody test me today Potter or it won't be you-know-who that kills the boy who lived," she threatened "I have never been involved in whatever has happened tonight. I cared for my brothers in his time of need, I'll never turn my back on my brothers," carina spat wiping her eyes
"Well little one, I for one wholeheartedly believe you're telling the truth. She's friends with me isn't she? I'm a muggle and she wouldn't put me at risk!" Orion told everyone throwing Carina a cheeky wink in the process
It wasn't long before Minnie walked in and she was all flustered as she learnt the new information that Snape was in fact dodgy.
"Snape," repeated Minnie faintly, falling into the chair. "We all wondered ... but he trusted ... always ... Snape ... I can't believe it ..."
"Snape was a highly accomplished Occlumens," said Moony, his voice uncharacteristically harsh. "We always knew that."
"But Dumbledore swore he was on our side!" whispered Tonks. "I always thought Dumbledore must know something about Snape that we didn't ..."
"He always hinted that he had an iron-clad reason for trusting Snape," muttered Minnie, now dabbing at the corners of her leaking eyes with a tartan-edged handkerchief. "I mean ... with Snape's history ... of course people were bound to wonder ... but Dumbledore told me explicitly that Snape's repentance was absolutely genuine ... wouldn't hear a word against him!"
"I'd love to know what Snape told him to convince him," said Tonks.
"I know," said Potter, and they all turned to stare at him. "Snape passed Voldemort the information that made Voldemort hunt down my mum and dad. Then Snape told Dumbledore he hadn't realised what he was doing, he was really sorry he'd done it, sorry that they were dead."
"And Dumbledore believed that?" said Remus incredulously. "Dumbledore believed Snape was sorry James was dead? Snape hated James ..."
"And he didn't think my mother was worth a damn, either," said Potter, "because she was Muggle-born ... "Mudblood", he called her ..."
Nobody asked how Potter knew this. Carina had assumed he had seen it in a pensieve but all of them seemed to be lost in horrified shock, trying to digest the monstrous truth of what had happened.
"This is all my fault," said Minnie suddenly. She looked disorientated, twisting her wet handkerchief in her hands. "My fault. I sent Filius to fetch Snape tonight, I actually sent for him to come and help us! If I hadn't alerted Snape to what was going on, he might never have joined forces with the Death Eaters. I don't think he knew they were there before Filius told him, I don't think he knew they were coming."
"It isn't your fault, Minerva," said Remus firmly. "We all wanted more help, we were glad to think Snape was on his way ..."
"Yeah Minnie, you were a badass out there. Snape is the slimy git," carina told her agreeing with Moony. Minnie gave a small smile to the girl who reminded her so much of her father and diverted her attention back to the conversation
"So when he arrived at the fight, he joined in on the Death Eaters' side?" asked Potter who seemed to want to know the details of Snape's betrayal as much as Carina
"I don't know exactly how it happened," said Minnie distractedly. "It's all so confusing ... Dumbledore had told us that he would be leaving the school for a few hours and that we were to patrol the corridors just in case ... Remus, Bill, Nymphadora, Marcello and Leonardo were to join us with Fred and George as a possibility of coming later... and so we patrolled. All seemed quiet. Every secret passageway out of the school was covered. We knew nobody could fly in. There were powerful enchantments on every entrance into the castle. I still don't know how the Death Eaters can possibly have entered ..."
"I do," said Potter, and he explained, briefly, about the pair of Vanishing Cabinets and the magical pathway they formed. "So they got in through the Room of Requirement."
Almost against his will he glanced from Ron to Hermione, both of whom looked devastated.
"I messed up, Harry," said Ron bleakly. "We did like you told us: we checked the Marauder's Map and we couldn't see Malfoy on it, so we thought he must be in the Room of Requirement, so me, Ginny and Neville went to keep watch on it but we ran into Carina and Orion on the way so we thought we'd tell them to keep safe but when we got there ... Malfoy got past us"
Carina zoned out as she couldn't bare to listen to anyone say bad things about Draco any further. Fred noticed this and kissed her cheeks as a reassurance he was still there. Leonardo squeezed her hand every so often too, making sure she was grounded but she couldn't think. As soon as she diverted her attention from conversations she could only think about the fact that she killed a man.
"Why are you covered in blood?" She heard a voice ask her and she felt her hands start to tremble
"She saw someone get hit with a curse and went to help them," Orion said quickly as he noticed the girls distressed look
Leonardo grabbed Carina's hand and excused them from the room for a moment. He had noticed Carina looked distant and wanted to see what was going on through her head.
"Dolcezza, talk to me," he said softly
"I killed someone, I actually caved their skull in because I was that angry— I — I liked it," she cried choking on a sob
"It's not you that liked it luce de miei occhi, it was the dark part of you, the dark magic. You weren't yourself," Leonardo cooed rocking her back and forth
"I still hurt someone Zio I can't—" Carina couldn't breathe and she started to panic.
Leonardo tried his best to calm her down but it was only when she felt two arms wrapped tightly around her back with a reassuring voice did she feel any better. Fred Weasley was slowly becoming an anchor to her emotions and in these dark times she didn't know whether she liked that or not.
Carina Bella Zabini had made her first kill when she was of age, she would do anything to protect her brothers and she prove that to herself today.
***
I am so bad at writing action scenes oops.
There's only one chapter left of this act! I hope you enjoyed this please let me know what you think!
Until next time
Rhi xx