Search:

SIYE Time:14:06 on 28th March 2024
SIYE Login: no


That Terrifying Momentum
By Caleb Nova

- Text Size +

Category: Post-OotP, Alternate Universe
Characters:Albus Dumbledore, Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Other, Ron Weasley
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Humor, Romance
Warnings: Disturbing Imagery, Extreme Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Violence
Story is Complete
Rating: R
Reviews: 24
Summary: To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction: or the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts. An AU sixth year.
Hitcount: Story Total: 89323; Chapter Total: 3431







ChapterPrinter
StoryPrinter


24

Of The Essence


21:08


So he had made an assumption, and, as so often happened, he was paying for it. In retrospect it was humorous notion, that, no matter how long he lived, he never seemed to stop making them. Perhaps that was simply human nature.

Kharan had imbibed the potion with three things in mind: one, that trying to destroy the magical elements of the potion might harm the Horcrux in an improper manner, two, that the shape seemed to hint that somebody had to drink the stuff, and three, that he would be immune to the liquid's effects. There was no way of knowing if the first supposition had been correct but he had been partially right on the last two. Drinking the concoction had set things into motion, so it was important in some fashion or the other, and the potion hadn't seriously harmed him.

Unfortunately, he hadn't counted on his body rejecting it in so short a time frame. It wasn't something that he could heal because his body was healing itself. Incapable of absorbing the magically sustained brew, his digestive system was ridding itself of it in the quickest way possible. That, in combination with the tremendous lurch the universe had undergone mere moments before, had laid him low at a very inopportune moment.

It had only been about twenty seconds since Dumbledore and Harry had rushed back to the school and Kharan was already feeling better, at least physically. The shape was locked in a bewildering cyclone, so mentally he was anxious. He really wished he knew what was happening at Hogwarts.

So why didn't he just find out? Whipping out his phone with a hurried motion, Kharan hit the speed dial for Lila. Kharan's anxiety ratcheted up several notches when she didn't answer.

A few seconds after it stopped ringing his phone gave the message alert. Flipping it open, he saw a short text from Lila, probably written in haste. It was in Latin, the usual language for coded phrases. There was nothing cryptic about this message, however.

Mors cibicidae ad portus.

Death Eaters at the gates.

Okay, time to go.

He was slightly shaky climbing to his feet but he could feel his strength returning with every motion. Gathering up his backpack, he hurriedly opened an aperture and flung himself through it.

The unplanned nature of the transfer and the disorienting momentum of the shape resulted in a miscalculation, and while Kharan successfully landed in Hogsmeade he also landed quite literally. The aperture appeared at a point some ten feet above an alleyway he had passed through earlier that night and he dropped with a resounding crash on top of several rubbish bins. Fortunately, he fell feet first and ended up doing more damage to the bins than they did to him.

As he sprinted away from the disturbance his crash had created he began to realise that as bad as the shape had been at the cave, it was much worse near the school.

The moon shone down on the village, sharing its chalk white illumination. Every shadow was inked black on the pale backdrop. Not a single person was in sight. There was an eerie unreality about the scene, especially the stillness. The way the shape was ebbing and then bursting back over the threshold he would have expected a cacophony.

The shape was convulsing and the world was a leaf in a wind storm.

It was difficult moving quickly through such an unsteady traverse — he tripped and barely caught himself. He had to ignore his sixth sense and concentrate on the mundane. The shape was no longer trustworthy, and his eyes and ears would serve him far better. When he looked up into the night sky, the starry expanse revealed the truth of the turbulence.

The Dark Mark hung above the school.

He stared at it, mind racing. Obviously, the Death Eaters had made their move. There wasn't any time for developing possible scenarios, but no matter. He needed a counter-move, not an explanation. Disarray had been inevitable. The path was always just before his feet — if he looked closely, he could find it.

The cobblestones of the street were sharp and hard. They flashed below him and then gave way to grass, whipping against his ankles and crushing beneath his heels in the cool night air.

It wasn't hard to think while running. The action of motion was repetitive and broken only by the bypassing of small obstacles. His earlier thoughts revolved in his head like a helix spiral. The current state of unrest would make things difficult. Complexity was the side effect of an ever-evolving shape. There was no telling what limitations might be imposed on him as the real players in the UO rapidly performed their destinies within the storm.

There were many lines rapidly separating from the vertiginous threads and most of them were either incomprehensible or unrelated. However, unique in its cycle one particularly relevant arc caught his mind. It was an ephemeral warning, more of a prompt than a proscription, and not necessarily a possible path for things to come. He couldn't see to the end, but the consequences of disregarding it were obvious enough even without being able to follow the contour to its completion.

He shouldn't enter Hogwarts in his adult form. He hadn't needed the shape to tell him that was a bad idea, but in his hurry he had discarded the subtlety of his integration in favour of having his full powers. Now the faint line had brought him up short. Forced to slow down and consider the matter, he realised that he hadn't thought of the next year, his second possible stay at Hogwarts. The last thing he needed was everyone finding out he was actually an adult. It would raise a huge amount of unanswerable questions and seriously jeopardise his chances of remaining incognito.

He just hoped his meagre teenage abilities would suffice for the night. If not, Lila would have to pick up the slack.

Kharan sprinted off the path and knelt down behind a bush, stripping off his clothes with frantic speed and making the change of age even faster than usual. His backpack contained a set of his teen clothing, a contingency that he was thankful to have planned for. His loose clothes would probably provide enough concealment for his handguns. They had to. There was no way he could depend on his wand for attack or defence. He abandoned his backpack and the clothes where they lay, figuring they were hidden well enough.

The path leading up to the main doors had always been on a mild incline but tonight it felt far steeper than usual. Scott wasn't entirely certain that the way the school seemed to lean towards the lake wasn't the ground itself and not his vantage. Everything was skewed in the gale, but he managed to keep himself on a straight line.

The doors were closed and the night was still when he reached the entrance, but that didn't mean much. The thick stone walls of Hogwarts would contain the noise of any violence. Kneeling on the path in light of the moon, he quickly withdrew his handguns and chambered a round in each of them. His right handgun was loaded with the standard .45 calibre, but he had saved something special for the left. The magazine for that gun held bullets marked with a bright blue stripe, just in case.

Then he stood, took a deep breath, and prepared to rush inside.


7:56


Ginny just didn't understand.

"But why did they go alone? Why can't we help?" she said, frustrated.

"It's something that Dumbledore trusts Harry with… not us." Hermione shook her head. "I wish we weren't left out too, but we're just going to have to wait."

Neville fidgeted in his seat. "Maybe we can't wait… not if Malfoy is going to try something…"

"I know," Hermione said, "but we can't just rush without thinking it through."

"This is bollocks," Ginny muttered. "Why Harry thinks he can run off like this to do something dangerous…"

Hermione frowned, obviously thinking hard. "He seemed more worried about us."

"Of course he would be," Ginny said darkly. "That's Harry. Always worrying about everyone but himself." It was the same thought she had often had before, and it never failed to make her angry.

"Not quite the same this time," Ron commented from his place beside the fire. The four of them were seated in the common room, sitting away from the other students and speaking in low, hurried tones. It had only been minutes after Harry and Dumbledore had left that they had gathered there to discuss the turn of events and Harry's urgent warning.

"No, it wasn't," Hermione agreed. "He wouldn't have given us the Felix and the map if he didn't think the danger was real."

"If the danger was so real then he wouldn't have taken Scott with him," Ginny countered. Harry had always seemed totally convinced of Scott's desire to protect him and his friends, though Ginny certainly had her doubts.

Hermione frowned again. "That's a valid point. Of course, knowing Scott it's entirely possible that neither Harry nor Dumbledore wanted him to come along. Scott only listens when it suits him."

They all sat in silence for a moment before Ginny broke it, saying, "So now what, we just stay here until they get back? We don't know what they're doing so who knows how long it will take."

"Right, we don't," Hermione immediately said, but she avoided meeting Ginny's eyes. Ginny's suspicion that she was being purposefully left in the dark grew exponentially stronger. "We have to do something, though. Harry's counting on us."

Ron stood up decisively. "Let's not waste time, then. We should get Malfoy."

Neville began to rise to follow him, but Hermione swiftly grabbed both their arms and pulled them back down. "Don't rush off! Nobody else needs to know, we'll cause a panic. I checked the map when Harry gave it to me, Malfoy isn't on it which probably means he's already in the Room. So, Ron, Neville and I will go stake out the Room and make sure to stop him when he comes out. Ginny, you use the DA coins to get Luna and anyone else who can help-"

Ginny's anger flared. "Oh, no. You three are not leaving me here by myself to just sit around and worry-"

"Which is good," a voice from behind interrupted, "because none of you are going anywhere, understand?"

Ginny twisted in her chair to see who it was but recognition had already set in before she completed the motion. The voice was familiar, and the flat feminine tones of its accent identified its owner.

Lila Kharan had entered through the portrait with Luna in tow. She was drawing stares from around the common room, due not only to her adult stature and Muggle clothing but also the fact that she was visibly armed. Ginny didn't know anything about the functions of Muggle killing implements, but she still recognised a weapon when she saw one.

"You can't bring those into Hogwarts!" Hermione gasped, staring at the guns.

"Odd. I just did." Lila looked around the room with a bland expression, meeting all the curious gazes that were being sent her way. "Is there somewhere else we can talk?"

"Our room?" Neville suggested, referring to the sixth year boys' dormitory.

"Sounds fine. Everybody up, let's go," Lila ordered.

Ginny resented being told what to do by Scott's sister but everyone else was already moving towards the stairs. She reluctantly left her seat and followed. Lila's presence made it obvious that Scott had taken Harry's misgivings seriously, or at least seriously enough to send someone in his place.

"Okay," Lila said once they were all in the dorm, "what's the situation?"

"Dumbledore and Harry went off to... do something or the other," Ron said, his eyes darting over towards Ginny for a second. She fumed silently in response. "Harry thinks Malfoy might try something while they're gone."

"What have you done about it?"

"We were just discussing that a minute ago…" Hermione said hesitantly.

Lila raised an impatient eyebrow. "Your conclusions being?"

"I — well, we were going to look for him," Hermione stammered, clearly put off balance by the older woman's abrupt manner.

"I need to know what Malfoy is trying to accomplish."

"Nobody knows for sure," Ron supplied. "Scott and Harry have been watching him, they might tell you more if they were around."

Lila frowned. "And none of you thought it might be important to get involved?"

"They took it upon themselves, and at the time we didn't quite believe…" Hermione trailed off as Lila's expression grew more disapproving. "It's all rather complicated," she said defensively.

Lila's lips thinned and she took a deep breath, looking as if she were making an effort to be more tolerant. "Is it now."

"I suppose it might be," Luna said absently. "It's easy to make things complicated if you think hard about them."

Lila looked blankly at the dreamy girl for several long seconds before turning back to Hermione. "Do we know where to find Malfoy?"

"He's been in the Room of Requirement and he's most likely there now." Hermione must have realised that Lila might not know what that was and continued, "It's a room that assumes whatever form you need it to. Harry wasn't ever able to get inside to see what Malfoy was doing in there, though."

"At least we know where to start." Lila turned in a circle, making eye contact with all of them. "Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to go take a look at this Room and make sure nothing's happening there. I need one of you to show me where it is. While we're gone, everybody else needs to sit tight and guard the common room."

"I'll take you," Ginny immediately volunteered before anyone else could speak up. She was not going to lounge around while Harry was out there risking his life yet again. She needed to do something.

"Good, let's go." Lila started moving towards the door. "The rest of you get downstairs and watch the entrance. Try not to alarm the other students, and don't split up. Stay together at all times."

"Is all this really necessary?" Hermione asked as they hurried after Lila, who was taking the stairs two at a time.

"I don't know, and apparently neither do you," Lila said with more than a trace of irritation in her voice. "So until we find out let's all be careful, okay?"

"I mean that Hogwarts is a very large place we need to be patrolling, not staying in here!" Hermione argued.

Lila stopped halfway down the stairs and rounded on Hermione, making her jump. "What will you do if the Death Eaters attack tonight?" Lila asked forcefully, her face close to Hermione's. "Those people will kill you, little miss. Are you ready to fight?"

Everyone froze, startled by the sudden seriousness of Lila's tone.

Hermione's posture was tense but her voice was steady when she replied, "For my friends, yes."

For a long moment Lila stared down at Hermione, and Ginny wondered if Hermione had angered the Kharadjai. But instead of beginning to shout like it appeared she would, Lila instead straightened up and said in a mild voice, "Good, because it appears that's what's required of you."

She turned around and hurried away down the staircase and the group stared after her, exchanging a few bemused glances.

"She's as barmy as Scott is," Ron stated in a tone that verged on appreciative.

"It was a test," Hermione said crossly, looking put out. "Everything with those two always has to be some sort of test."

Luna reached over and patted Hermione on the arm in a congratulatory fashion. "You passed, though."

As soon as they re-emerged into the common room all eyes locked on them again, the rest of the Gryffindors obviously wondering what was going on. Ginny followed Lila towards the exit, glad that she was leaving; she didn't feel like fending off difficult questions from any of her classmates.

Outside in the hallway Hermione suggested that some of them should go to Snape's office as a precaution, but Lila refused to allow the group to separate. "You're all coming with me," she said in a way that brooked no argument. "If you want us to go to Snape's office then we will, but it's one or the other."

"That's not very efficient," Hermione fretted. "What if we miss something?"

"Is there a convenient halfway point?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you can use that little dot map of yours to watch both targets," Lila said, scanning the empty hall with a wary stance. "If we stay halfway between them we'll have a better response time."

Ron immediately shook his head. "Snape's down in the dungeons and the Room's up here."

Lila frowned again. "What's the fastest way down?"

"Staircase near the Astronomy Tower is good way to get to the entrance hall, but it's downstairs, still a bit of a jog." Ron scratched his head. "Could be faster or slower depending on where some of the stairs have moved themselves to."

"You're right, that's not convenient at all." Lila huffed out a short, angry breath. "Fine. Who's a bigger threat, Malfoy or Snape?"

"Snape," Ginny, Ron and Neville said simultaneously. There was little doubt of that. When it came to Malfoy, Ginny felt little but contempt. Snape was another matter entirely. The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was intimately acquainted with the opposite side of his subject, and everyone knew it.

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"He knows more Dark spells than anyone here," Hermione affirmed.

Lila's eyes darted quickly to each of the students in turn, her face intense. She appeared to be making some kind of assessment, though Ginny couldn't be certain exactly what was being assessed. "It seems to me," the woman muttered lowly, "that I've been handed a whole lot of bad options."

Ginny bristled at that. "I can handle myself if it comes to a fight!"

"I wasn't referring to any of you. Can you watch the Room without being seen?"

Hermione glanced over at Ron, he nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, back around the corner, if we're careful."

"You, you, you, and you," Lila said, picking out Hermione, Ron, Luna and Neville with a pointed finger. "Go to the Room. Watch it from around that corner and make sure that nobody sees you. If anything happens, do not engage. Come get me immediately." She turned to Ginny. "Still ready to live dangerously?"

Ginny met the woman's eyes with as much hard confidence as she could muster. "Of course."

"Then lead the way."

Ginny started to do just that, but Hermione caught her sleeve and stopped her. "Wait!" she blurted. When Ginny looked back in confusion, Hermione held out the vial of Felix with a slightly shaky hand. "Take a drop before you go," she said hurriedly.

Ginny pushed the vial back towards Hermione, refusing it. "No, you lot split it. I'm with her, I'll be fine."

On the way downstairs Ginny's thoughts seemed to race ahead of her, a partial vision glimpsed just moments beyond the next bend. Without warning she had been thrust into the middle of something she didn't fully understand, and while it was true that was where she had wanted to be the reality of it was difficult to adapt to. She wished that Harry was with her. Even if he didn't know exactly what to do, he could always be counted on to react. She felt stiff with indecision, beginning to question whether going with Lila had been the right move.

The stairs were almost endless, but their quick steps brought them to the entrance hall faster than she had expected. Lila paused there, surveying the large room. "How secure is this door?" she asked, indicating the main entrance.

Ginny wasn't sure. "It's got loads of protections on it, I think..."

"It won't matter if someone opens it from the inside," Lila said, turning away from the door. "Lead on."

The corridor outside Snape's office was damp even in the dry weather, a subterranean lair well suited to the Dark Arts professor's personality. Ginny supposed he and the rest of the Slytherins enjoyed living underground like the snake that was their traditional symbol, though she didn't understand why. In Gryffindor the students had rooms with a view.

Snape's door was shut as they approached it. Ginny pointed it out and then glanced over towards Lila, wondering if the woman was going to confront the professor directly. But instead of kicking down the door and assaulting Snape as would seemingly befit her personality, Lila passed the office by without comment. She turned at the next corner and then drew back to stand silently up against the wall.

"Now what?" Ginny whispered, feeling that while it was unlikely that Snape could hear her through solid stone it was still better to be careful.

"We wait here until something happens." Lila's lips quirked slightly at Ginny's disappointed expression. "Maybe you should have brought a book or something."

Ginny leaned against the cold stone and fought her impatience, reminding herself that this had been what she had wanted, after all.


21:19


The front gates were locked and covered with a seething mass of enchantments, but Scott figured there wasn't any harm in breaking them. The Death Eaters were obviously already inside the castle.

Then again, what if they could be reinforced from the front? Yet another risk. Scott clenched his fists in indecision for a moment. Taking a chance, he opened an aperture and hoped that the whirling shape hadn't completely impaired his accuracy.

The portal opened in the entrance hall as intended, but lower than it should have been. Half the aperture extended into the floor and Scott had to crawl through to enter, but it had worked regardless.

The high-ceilinged room was deserted, but faint sounds were echoing down from the stairwell leading to the corridors under the Astronomy Tower. Mapping out a rough idea of what was transpiring required several leaps of logic that Scott made as he rushed towards the stairs. The struggle was occurring in the upper levels, which meant that either the Death Eaters were working their way up from the ground floor and had been intercepted, or that Harry and Dumbledore had entered another way. The Astronomy Tower was the best place to land if they had approached by air, though Scott wasn't sure how they would have managed that.

He was getting close, the three flights of stairs to the corridor flashing past. The detonations of spells were becoming clearer, and at several points he was sure he had heard the crack of gunfire. He thumbed the hammers on his handguns. The shape still wasn't telling him much of anything, but if Harry had died he was sure he'd know that much.

He burst out of the doorway and raised his weapons, ready for anything.

What he got was total chaos.

The hallway was choked with dust. Spells ricocheted off the walls and floor, blowing holes and cutting gouges in the stone. It was obvious that, unlike the spells he had previously encountered during his class work, these were designed to incapacitate or kill. He stepped quickly to the left to avoid a stray curse.

Two figures cloaked in black became clearer in the dust as he edged forward. They had their backs to him and were trading spells with unseen opponents at the other end of the hall. Scott crouched and raised his weapons, but hesitated. The combatants were difficult to separate in the confusion. He had to avoid causing any friendly fire. He needed to be sure who he was shooting at.

Luckily, the identities of the two persons were revealed in the next several seconds. With a crackle, a deadly-looking spell shot out of the darkness towards the combatants. The robed figure on the left managed to cast a shield in time to block it, but the spell exploded against the barrier with a brilliant flash. In that brief moment of blinding light, Scott spotted a familiar head of bubblegum pink hair at the opposite side of the corridor, and it became clear that the two fighters in front of him were Death Eaters — and they were targeting Tonks.

It was not sporting to shoot a man in the back, but Scott wasn't feeling very genteel. He tucked his left gun beneath his right shoulder, freeing both his hands for use with the other weapon.

His first shots were fired in a rapid staccato that caught the first Death Eater in the back with an upwards alternating pattern — one, two, three, four. The .45 calibre round was the baseball bat of bullets, sacrificing penetration in favour of a hard hit. The last rounds impacted at the man's shoulders and the back of his head respectively, but the previous two had already slammed home through the vitals behind his lower spine and his momentum was unalterable at that point. The Death Eater toppled over backwards as his knees gave out.

The second Death Eater only managed a half-turn before Scott shot him three times, once in the right arm and twice in the chest. The man was knocked into the wall and cracked his head against the stone, slumping downwards into a limp approximation of a sitting position. Scott didn't know if he was dead or not, but didn't bother to check. He had to keep moving.

He turned the corner and was confronted with a hallway in even worse condition than the adjoining one. A shot rang out from around the next corner, giving him a good starting point in the search for his Primes. It had to be Lil, the crack of her pistol was distinctive. Scott hoped that she had the situation in hand.

He kept low and hugged the wall, using the dust and darkness as cover. He had to locate his Primes before he got totally involved in the fight, it was crucial that they be preserved. To his immediate right, McGonagall suddenly emerged from the dust, locked in combat with a Death Eater who was retreating under her onslaught. The Death Eater backed up within Scott's reach and he paused long enough to drop the invader with a vicious pistol whip to the kneecap. The man howled and fell to the floor; one of McGonagall's spells struck him in the chest and he went limp.

"Kharan!" McGonagall gasped, spotting him. "What on earth do you think you're doing?"

"We'll discuss it later, professor!" Scott shouted back to her, sprinting further down the corridor.

The amount of spells coming from the turn to his right made it obvious that was where the majority of Death Eaters were. Sliding on his stomach to lay behind some rubble, he poked his head out into the intersection and looked both ways.

Immediately ahead of him was the entrance to the Astronomy Tower spiral stairs. To his left he spotted the blond head of Lila further down the hall, where she was leaning out of a doorway and returning fire. To his right a squad of Death Eaters had taken cover behind sections of collapsed ceiling and were lighting the hallway with incessant offensive spells. The open intersection between the two opposing forces was littered with wreckage and a number of corpses. The cluster of crumpled bodies in black robes near the left side of the juncture made it clear where Lila had done her work.

It was a stand-off. The only clear light in the battle zone was from the spells and the sparse moonbeams coming in through the shattered windows. The thick dust further obscured vision. Scott pushed himself back out of the line of fire and withdrew his phone, dialling Lila.

This time, she answered it. "I just saw you."

"Lil, where are the Primes?"

"With me." She paused for a second and Scott heard gunfire through the phone and from the hallway. "I got Ginny, Luna, Neville, Ron and Hermione over here, and a bunch of other people too."

"But where's Harry and Dumbledore?" Scott asked urgently.

"They must be in the tower. Just before you got here some of the Death Eaters went up-"

"Suppress those bastards across from you, then, I'm going up," Scott interrupted her. He leapt to his feet and ran to stand against the opposite wall. "Count of three." He ejected the magazine of his right gun and reloaded.

"Kharan!" It was McGonagall again, striding towards him with her hair askew and robes covered in dust. "What's going on? Who are you talking to?"

Lila must have heard her over the phone. "Is that the professor lady? She got separated during the retreat, I thought she was dead."

"She looks okay," Scott said, ignoring McGonagall. "Count of three, Lil. One, two, three-"

Scott crouched and leaned out around the corner and began to shoot indiscriminately as Lila released a blistering barrage of fire from down the hallway, expending the magazine in her SMG. A volley of spells followed close behind the bullets, the others down the hallway with Lila apparently joining in.

The Death Eaters quailed under the torrent, returning badly aimed shots half-heartedly from behind their positions. A few of them reacted to being struck and clutched damaged appendages while one luckless Death Eater caught a bullet in the head and crashed lifeless to the floor.

The light of the violent surge had briefly illuminated things and Scott was surprised by the number of Death Eaters holding off Lila and her allies. He counted at least eight, and the casualties spread around suggested a sizeable force had entered Hogwarts.

"Cease fire!" he barked into his phone, then he pocketed it and tensed himself to sprint across the open space., drawing his left gun again.

"SNAPE'S UP THERE!" Lila shouted down the hall as he started to run.

There wasn't much time to consider it. He was already moving, head low and legs pumping as he rushed the stairs. The Death Eaters didn't have time to get a clear shot on him.

He ascended no more than five steps before he hit something that he hadn't seen, a wall of magic blocking the stairwell. Because he had been running his left arm had been slightly extended and the tip of the pistol in that hand entered the field. With a painful jolt his arm went numb and was flung backwards; he barely caught himself from tumbling out into the hallway. His left handgun flew out of his slack fingers and clattered down the steps.

Angry more at himself than at the magic, he lashed out and destroyed the barrier. He didn't bother braving the open hall to retrieve his second gun; the one he still had would suffice, and within the staircase it was too close quarters to bring the Blue rounds into play. The remaining steps flew underneath him and then he was at the top, the door to the parapet within sight.

The door was slightly ajar, and, feeling that the element of surprise would be useful, Scott didn't slow down and kicked it open, stepping out onto the parapet with weapon raised and eyes darting for targets.

He came face to face with Severus Snape.

Scott almost laughed. Of course. Of course it would be Snape, damn him. Goddamn the man. All that time wasted, all those days spent wondering whether a pre-emptive strike against Snape wouldn't be out of order. All those months of relying on third party information to make decisions, of counting on Dumbledore to know what he was doing. Months of feeling like there was more Scott should have been doing.

Well, now he knew. And he also knew what he was going to do about it.

Snape was even paler than usual and had his wand in one fist and Malfoy's sleeve in the other. It was obvious he had been about to exit through the door Scott had just come through. A cadre of Death Eaters was close behind him, all of them reacting to Scott's presence by backing away with wands pointed.

All except one, a hulking grey-haired man who took a step closer. He reeked of blood and stale sweat, reason enough for Scott to spare him a glance. Judging by the sharp state of the man's ragged nails, filed down teeth and predatory stance, he engaged in combat of the closest kind. That was reason enough for Scott to move the man, or whatever he was, to the top of the threat list, but he kept his gun trained on Snape regardless. The Death Eaters were following the professor's lead. If he moved to attack, they all would.

Dumbledore and Harry were nowhere in sight. That could be a good or bad sign.

"Why, Snape," Scott said mildly, breaking the short silence. His thoughts had been so rapid that it seemed like he had been holding the gun on the professor for some time, when in fact it had been no more than a couple seconds. "Whatever are you doing here?"

He casually scanned the parapet as if he was looking at the Death Eaters. Harry had still been carrying his Invisibility Cloak so it was possible that he and Dumbledore were simply hiding. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the huddled shape of Harry, but he wasn't moving. He was careful not to look directly at the spot. He didn't understand it, but there was a fading thread of a spell linked to Harry, the energy rapidly dissipating. What spell would that be?

It wasn't like Harry not to strike when given the chance. Dumbledore might have stopped him, except Dumbledore wasn't there... He was gone.

The Headmaster wouldn't have willingly left Harry. Scott had a sinking feeling as he began to assimilate what was most likely the truth.

Well. One more reason to kill Snape. Not that Scott needed another one.

Harry was still alive — that was the most important thing. No doubt it was Dumbledore who was responsible for that. Scott realised that the thin remnants of the spell on Harry had to be what kept him frozen in place.

"Everybody stay right where you are," Scott said loudly, turning his head towards Harry and emphasising the first word in a desperate attempt to get him to stay put. Harry shifted under his Cloak and sat up, but didn't go any further than that.

"Kharan," Snape said, his voice dead of all inflection and his eyes hollow, "get out of my way."

Scott looked coldly back at him. "You really think you're going to leave here alive?"

Snape's gaze briefly darted to the barrel of Scott's gun — it was obvious he knew exactly what it was. "You don't know what you're doing, Kharan. You're in over your head."

"Look at me," Scott said. He raised his arms slightly, pointing his weapon at Snape's forehead. "Look me in the eye, and tell me I don't know how to use this."

"What's that he's got, anyway?" one of the Death Eaters said in a wheezy voice. "He don't even got a wand. Do 'im, Snape, and let's be off!"

"Move, Amycus, and you'll be the first to die," Snape told the man, never taking his eyes off of Scott.

"You catch on quicker than I expected," Scott said. "But really, who'd miss him?"

"He'll be like the other children," the hulking, grey haired man growled. "They never have a taste for blood… Let me have him, Snape…"

"No time for a meal, Greyback, we've got to get out now!" the sole woman Death Eater screeched.

"You're outnumbered, Kharan," Snape said softly, ignoring his comrades. "Kill me and one of them will get you anyway. Stand aside."

Scott smiled. "You say that like I should care."

With a swift, sudden movement one of the Death Eaters grabbed Malfoy's shoulder and shoved him in front of Snape. There the Death Eater held him, a human shield for the traitorous professor. Malfoy's eyes focused on the gun barrel that was now pointed towards him and he paled even further, his legs visibly trembling.

"What are you doing?" Snape snarled at his compatriot, looking away from Scott for the first time.

"He's one of Dumbledore's," the large man shot back. "He won't kill the boy."

Now that, Scott thought darkly, was an interesting delusion. "Why?" he asked.

Then he pulled the trigger.

Reviews 24
ChapterPrinter
StoryPrinter




../back
‘! Go To Top ‘!

Sink Into Your Eyes is hosted by Grey Media Internet Services. HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related characters are trademarks of Warner Bros. TM & © 2001-2006. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions on this site are those made by the owners. All stories(fanfiction) are owned by the author and are subject to copyright law under transformative use. Authors on this site take no compensation for their works. This site © 2003-2006 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Special thanks to: Aredhel, Kaz, Michelle, and Jeco for all the hard work on SIYE 1.0 and to Marta for the wonderful artwork.
Featured Artwork © 2003-2006 by Yethro.
Design and code © 2006 by SteveD3(AdminQ)
Additional coding © 2008 by melkior and Bear