“We’re trapped,” Arthur said in a flat voice. “There’s no way we can get out of here to safety.”
Celeste was fighting against a rising panic that threatened to paralyze her. There must be something they could do. A message had come saying that there was a big battle at Hogwarts, and Arthur had gone to find out what was happening and whether they could use the cover of the battle to help the children escape. He had even returned with some hope, because he had assumed that all the Death Eaters surrounding the orphanage would join the battle at Hogwarts, but only moments after his return an even larger net had been cast around the place. And now they were trapped.
Arthur was a powerful wizard with many tricks up his sleeve, and so they had tried several things, including various transportation spells, the latest of which had resulted in the arrival of two Death Eaters inside the orphanage. Celeste’s calming spell combined with Arthur’s quick spell-work had ensured everyone’s safety, but now they had two captured Death Eaters and no way of getting out.
Celeste moved aside the curtains and peered out the window again, studying the Death Eaters’ movements. There were far too many of them. Celeste could almost feel Aveline Zabini’s presence out there, and she had a feeling the woman was trying to find a way to help, as if that would make up for her terrible crimes, but they would never get out of here alive. Not without some kind of magical miracle.
“Maybe when the battle actually starts, if it goes badly for them, some of them will start leaving to go to their friends’ aid,” Celeste suggested hopefully.
“I was going to say the same thing,” Arthur said coming up behind her. “But their numbers have increased in the past hour and they seem to be intent on getting us out of here before they join the battle. We’re going to have to be ready to fight and to get as many of the kids as possible to safety…”
Celeste opened her mouth and then closed it quickly. A shadowy movement had caught her eye near the front gates. Someone was walking closer. She squinted through the glass, and held up her hand in an instinctive protective gesture. Through the space between two of the dangling charms she recognized the Death Eater that was approaching.
“Draco,” she breathed.
“Celeste,” Arthur said warningly. “I know you think there’s some good in him, but he’s being sent here for a reason – he’s going to help them kill these children.”
Celeste gulped and closed her eyes. She could feel Draco step through her protective enchantments. She knew for a fact that his presence here, his ability to come and go as he pleased was part of the reason that the orphanage hadn’t been full-on attacked yet. She was also nearly certain that tonight he was being sent to bring an end to the magical resistance in the orphanage.
“I’m going to have to kill him,” Arthur said in a pained, but determined voice.
“I know,” Celeste said, turning away from Arthur’s surprised expression. “There comes a time for everyone to make their choice, no matter how hard it is, and his time is up – mad or no.”
She forced herself to turn back and face Arthur and he nodded at her encouragingly. “Just wait until I leave the room before you kill him,” she said. “I’ll make the Portkeys like you showed me as soon as I get into the other room. I think we’ll be able to get at least the very young children out…”
An urgent knocking could be heard from the door.
Celeste turned and stepped into the hallway to face the lost young man that was about to let himself in. He looked even worse than usual. Much worse. His clothes were torn in places and his hair was oddly disheveled. There was something in his eyes, too, a painful kind of giving up. Celeste realized that the madness had left his eyes now and instead of that frightening emptiness they were now filled to the brim with all the horrific things he had seen and done.
“Celeste,” she closed her eyes, wondering why it was so painful to hear him utter her name. “I was sent here to tell you that your time is up. Your lineage is unknown, but the Dark Lord will give you a chance to prove your worth by becoming a Death Eater. You have strong magic, but it is not strong enough to stand against the might of the Death Eaters.”
Celeste turned away from those defeated eyes. “And what does the Dark Lord want me to do in order to take my place in his ranks – kill a baby?”
“What you need,” Draco pressed on, acknowledging her words only with a new pained tilt in his voice, “is time. If you’re willing to die fighting for these kids – if you’re going to have a chance to save them from dying tonight, you need time. The Death Eaters will catch up with them eventually. All of them.”
“I liked you better when you didn’t talk!” Celeste turned on Draco angrily. She wanted him to shut up. To stop saying the things she already knew. His eyes were bloodshot. She noticed, up close, that there was a weird ashy sort of dirt on his face.
Arthur was saying something with a desperate sort of voice, his wand pointed squarely at Draco’s chest, but Celeste couldn’t focus on his words. Draco had suddenly grinned. He had a beautiful smile, she realized. She had never seen him smile.
“You might like this, then,” he whispered. He had turned his wand against himself and something strange was happening to his skin. He seemed to be growing taller, too, and his white-blond hair was turning a strange metallic color.
Celeste stepped back in horrified disgust as his face began to morph. It was painfully ugly to watch, but she could not turn away. Arthur was yelling for her to move back, but Celeste was rooted firmly to the spot. Draco’s labored breath was sending an incredible heat towards her. Soon, the ugliness of his half-human form was gone and he was beginning to gain the impressive strength of a majestic animal. Celeste took several steps back so she could see all of him: his tail and his large leathery wings, his claws and large teeth and the intelligent looking eyes of a dragon.
“Merlin!” Arthur yelled from behind her. “He could bring the whole place down with one flick of that tail! Move aside, Celeste!”
But Celeste stepped closer to the large, wolfish snout and placed a hand on his scaly head. The dragon blinked calmly at her. Despite his new frightening proportions she could still see the same hopeless, cornered fear in his eyes. Celeste grinned back at him.
“He’s not going to!” she said to Arthur. “Let’s go, let’s get those kids out, he’s going to give us more time!”
Despite her words she could not tear her eyes away from the majestic creature as he folded his wings and slithered out – and slightly enlarged – the doorway and took flight outside. The wings beat a powerful rhythm as he swooped again and again over the ranks of the Death Eaters and breathed fire down over their heads.
…
They had known she was coming. He had seen her face, bloodshot eyes and determined expression, in that mirror, but seeing her now was different. Blaise took a few short steps forward, fighting to keep himself calm. Theo pushed past him and hugged Ginny. Blaise wanted to hold Ginny in his arms like Theo was doing now, but he could not deny to himself that he also wanted to tell her ‘I told you so.’
Ginny pushed Theo away before he could begin fussing over her scratches and upturned a small bag onto the wet grass. Books tumbled out. Tens of them. Books from Hogwarts.
“You were right,” Ginny said. “Going out there, fighting with the Muggles. It was useless in the grand scheme of things. Terrible chess move. But I was right too. I found these in Hogwarts. You’d better find what you need in there quick, because I don’t think Zacharias Smith is going to be able to protect this tunnel for much longer.”
Blaise followed the direction of her shrugging arm movements back towards the strange tunnel she had come through. Their little healing house, the Muggle house they had spent months cleaning and preparing, was now connected to a fierce battlefield. It was insanity. Everything he and Theo had dreamed of and worked for was about to crumble before their eyes. Bellatrix Lestrange might come out of that tunnel at any moment, or a werewolf, or Draco.
Blaise shook his head and sat down on the floor beside the books. His heart was racing, and not just with fear for the quiet little world of healing he was trying to build here. His heart beat an excited rhythm; it beat in agreement with Ginny’s crazy, wild world. He sat there, on the edge of both, and handled the treasures she had brought him with less care than he would have liked. He had to find the right protective enchantments. He had to make this bridge between his world and Ginny’s world a success.
Zacharias Smith stumbled through the tunnel soon after with a badly injured girl in his arms.
“Zacharias, you fool, is there anyone guarding the other side of the tunnel?” Theo yelled.
“Yes!” the Hufflepuff shouted. “Now help me with this patient!”
“Stop!” Theo said, “Set her down here, before you make it worse! You can’t get her all the way inside without hurting her.”
Smith set her down on the wet grass and Theo bent over her to examine her injuries. That left Ginny to protect this place alone. Blaise bent over the book, trying to push everything else away from his mind and focus… when the wizard is desirous of producing a calming atmosphere for the- Blaise slammed the book down and picked up another. If only there were a way of searching these books without having to manually flip and read through the pages.
Suddenly, it hit him. If he modified the Four Point spell so that it found an idea and not a geographical direction… he would need to combine it with some kind of charm… that thing Slughorn had taught them in potions might work well…
Blaise raised his wand and took a deep breath, hoping that this experimental charm did not result in the combustion of his book. He hesitated for a moment. The Death Eaters began to spill through the tunnel. There was no time for hesitation. “Point Me!”
“Take this!” Theo’s voice rose through the haze of words and spells that flowed through Blaise’s mind. “Keep applying the pressure. Use the- Stupefy! Diffindo! Arascendo!”
Blaise smiled. That last was of his own invention.
“Use the salve on her arm. Don’t let it get into your mouth of eyes – or hers!”
“Ok, Nott, I’ve got the salve on, what now?”
“Stupefy! Wingardium- idiot! Good one, Ginny! Some fever spells might do good, do you-”
“Yes, I know some fever spells, Slytherin!” Smith muttered bad-naturedly.
But his voice and Theo’s and even Ginny’s powerful voice faded as Blaise became more and more interested in what he was reading. He was close. This was it. He felt the effect of the modified Four Point spell wearing out as the pages stopped turning. He let his hand fall on the right page. Even as more Death Eaters spilled in through the tunnel, screaming and shouting and laughing, Blaise’s mind began to work at top speed. He stood up, pulling the book up with him, and began to try different flourishes of his wand. He was close. He knew he was close. This spell was powerful enough to protect this place from evil intent while allowing the injured and sick to come and go freely through Ginny’s tunnels. If only he could perfect it, add the right touches…
…
Ernie was running like a madman through the battlefield that Hogwarts had become, trying to find someone who would know what to do. Arthur’s urgent message had not come for him, it had been for Fred, but Fred’s body had been lying there, lifeless and motionless under the rubble, and only Ernie had heard the contents of the urgent call for help. Even while the Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts with this terrible strength they still had enough people to surround and attack a Muggle orphanage full of little kids. His stomach twisted into a knot as he sidestepped another dead body with a familiar face. A stunner just missed him by an inch.
“Professor!” he shouted, seeing McGonagall. “I need he-”
He froze as she expertly dodged a nasty-looking spell and sent one of her own back. Ernie ran closer. “Professor, I need help. They’re attacking a Muggle orphanage, Arthur Weasley sent-”
“Careful, MacMillan, you’re not on your guard tonight! Go find Lupin! He knows another few safe house and he knows the girl at the Orphana- Stupefy! Go, go, and don’t get yourself killed!”
Ernie ran off without turning back. He helped fighters here and there, but he was set on finding Lupin now. When he found him at last he was lying, face-up and dead on the grass, his wife close beside him. Ernie’s stomach churned and he looked away. He looked around in despair. The world was ending. No one would be left to help those poor little kids and the Dead Eaters would have no mercy, no more games of pretend after this battle.
…
“Salvio Hexia!” Ginny yelled, running around and around the grounds of the Healing Academy. “Protego Totalum!”
The injured Muggles from Cambridge were still coming in through the transportation tunnel she had made under the large Oak and Ginny was watching carefully in case any Death Eaters came through with them. She saw Hannah half-carrying a Muggle woman that was almost twice her size. “Wingardium Leviosa!” Ginny said instinctively, wondering how Hannah could live without the spells and charms she had grown up with.
She didn’t wonder about the why. The state the world was in now forced everyone to reexamine their lives and make new decisions.
Finally, the last of the Muggles was through and the beautiful Muggle nurse nodded towards Ginny in thanks. Ginny nodded back and waited until Malaika was back out through the tunnel before sealing it. She recast the protective enchantments as she walked around to the front of the building.
“Is everything alright?” she asked Blaise, who was looking hassled. Injured wizards and witches were still stumbling through the portal from Hogwarts.
“I don’t know, Ginny. We just killed a couple of Death Eaters that tried coming through the Hogwarts Portal. The problem is that I can’t close it because things are getting really bad at Hogwarts.”
“Did Zach talk to Madame Pomfrey?” Ginny asked.
“Yeah,” Blaise said, “And she’s been sending us the people who need rest and sleep and the people who need more involved healing. If we could all focus on the healing we’d be able to keep up, but with the Death Eaters coming along every few minutes we just can’t do that.”
“I’m going to go through and get some help,” Ginny decided. “Ernie was good at healing spells and I know Colin Creevy was good at learning new spells – he can help us keep up the protective enchantments you’ve made up.”
Blaise shook his head. “Colin’s dead, Ginny.”
Ginny stopped dead and looked back at Blaise’s serious face. She took a deep breath and bowed her head against this blow. She wondered how many of her friends would die before the night was up.
“I’ll find someone,” she choked out, walking briskly through the transportation tunnel.
She knew that it could be hours before she was able to return. The battle at Hogwarts was so chaotic that as soon as she stepped out through the tunnel she was surrounded by flying rocks and fire and screaming. Ginny was ready.
She dodged spells and shot back quick spells of her own; stunners and leg-locker curses and stinging hexes. She confused the Death Eaters with Blaise’s inventive new spells. She was so quick she caught most of her opponents by surprise.
Something hit her in the shoulder and it stung a little, but Ginny kept going. The Great Hall was within sight now. A large boulder came flying in through the windows. Ginny ran as quickly as her feet could carry her and pushed a tall boy out of the way. They went tumbling over each other across the corridor. Ginny was still shooting hexes and curses as she fought to get back up.
“Ginny!” It was Ernie. Ginny pulled him into a safer alcove to talk.
“Ernie,” she said quickly, holding her hand up in a quieting gesture. “We need your help. We’re taking some of the patients to a safe place for healing, and we’ve got some Muggle patients too, but there aren’t enough of us.”
“Slow down,” Ernie said, “Who’s us and where is this place?”
“Blaise and Theo and I – Zach’s helping too. Let’s go, we don’t have time!”
Ernie nodded and followed her. It was a testament to the seriousness of the situation that Ernie made no comment or objection to working with two Slytherins who should be dead and the one Hufflepuff that he hadn’t spoken to in months. Ginny led the way to the Great Hall. “We’ll take some patients back with us,” she explained. “And we need someone else to help keep up the protective enchantments around the place.”
She had to slow down in the Great Hall. Her eyes scanned the place carefully, looking for Madam Pomfrey. The injured were lying strewn across the ground and Madam Pomfrey’s helpers were tending to them. Suddenly, the most frightening noise Ginny had ever heard penetrated through the chaos. It was her mother’s voice; not shouting or scolding, not giving directions or instructions. Molly Weasley was mourning. She was breathing bloody fire and rage.
Ginny found herself running. She fell to her knees in the midst of her brothers. Hands were touching her back. Voices acknowledged her. Nothing penetrated her senses except for Fred’s still face.
…
Hours later Ginny found herself being addressed by Charlie. His voice floated to her across seven seas and through the solid walls that were threatening to cave in on her.
“Ginny!” Charlie said roughly. “I need you to listen. I need your help. Ernie said you were taking him to a safe place where you’re healing people. We need you to show us how to get there. Madam Pomfrey needs all the help she can get and we have Muggle kids trapped in an Orphanage.”
Ginny was forced back to the present with an unpleasant jolt. She must have been gone hours. Blaise and Theo could be…
“Hasn’t anyone come through?” she said, panic in her voice.
“No, Ginny, Madame Pomfrey was expecting Zach ages ago, but he hasn’t come.”
Ginny jumped to her feet. She paused to allow herself one last look at Fred’s body, where George was still crying like a wounded animal. “Hurry!” she said, leading the way.
Charlie and Ernie supported an injured third year between them and followed her. She turned around occasionally to cast protective charms on them or to send a hex or curse the way of a Death Eater. Finally, they were standing before the tunnel, three Death Eaters hard on their backs. It was still open.
Charlie and Ernie leapt in before her. Ginny covered their escape. She used Sectumsempra on one of the Death Eaters and almost threw up at the sight of his torn, drained body. Dodging a purple hex she sent a barrage of the most random spells at the two remaining Death Eaters. Someone yelled out in rage nearby. It was a male voice, an angry, somewhat frightening male voice.
Ginny stepped backward into the mouth of the magical tunnel. She could feel the powerful spells pulling at her already, but she held her ground. She would do as much damage as she could before retreating or sealing off the tunnel. They needed a passage to Hogwarts and she knew she did not have the energy to make another one.
The yelling became louder and louder until finally, Neville Longbottom appeared at the end of the corridor. Between the two of them Ginny and Neville finished the remaining Death Eaters off quickly.
“Neville,” Ginny said. “We need someone to guard this tunnel and help the injured people through.”
Neville nodded without question, placing himself squarely in the mouth of the tunnel. Ginny turned and ran through the dizzying portal.
Blaise’s face was drawn. He was disheveled and dirty. He seemed to be swaying with the wind. His wand cast an eerie glow on his face that made him look like a wraith. She stepped closer and his face relaxed. He let his wand hand fall to his side and gripped her arm with his other arm. “You’re all right,” he breathed.
“Course I am,” Ginny said. “Go inside and get some rest.”
“No,” Blaise said stubbornly, “Charlie and your father are rounding up the kids from the Orphanage. He said they had sent them all over the place by Portkey. Three kids died. Some of them are still stuck in the Orphanage, surrounded by Death Eaters.”
Ginny took a deep breath, savoring the momentary stillness. She let herself lean closer and took in another deep breath, gripping the front of Blaise’s robes.
“Go,” he said. “Help them. They’ll need you.”
Ginny had a sudden, insane urge to grin from ear to ear. Instead she pulled out her wand and ran towards the hilltop. The large boulder would do. She pointed her wand at it. She could feel Blaise’s supportive presence behind her and in the distance Neville’s voice as he helped someone through the Hogwarts tunnel. Ginny carefully drew the shape in the air, saying the incantation loudly and clearly.
“Aperire Onerariis Cuniculum!”
The boulder’s surface began to morph and swirl. Slowly, it was becoming transparent until finally a tunnel across space was opened before them. Ginny heard Blaise’s sharp intake of breath as he looked through the tunnel into the eyes of his mirror image. Ginny stepped forward, her wand still held out before her and shook her head.
“Celeste!” someone said. “They’ve come for us, they’re here to help!”
The words brought Ginny out of her shock and she was able to discern that the face was not exactly identical to Blaise’s. It was the face of a young woman. More prone to smile, Ginny thought. She knew Blaise would not be able to speak so she forced herself to form words.
“It’s all right!” she yelled, stepping into the tunnel. “You can come through. We’ve got Healers and protective spells and everything. The kids’ll be safe.”
She said it with much more conviction than she felt. There were so many kids running around that Ginny doubted they’d be able to control them. Well, that wasn’t her problem. She took the final step through the tunnel and felt the world spin for just a moment before it righted itself. It took her head a while longer to adjust, especially since the room she stepped into was in chaos.
The orphanage was literally falling apart under the attacks of the Death Eaters. She had not made the tunnel a moment too soon. Noise and debris and spells were flying around them in every direction.
Ginny began herding children through the tunnel and several of the women from the orphanage began to do the same; all except for the young woman, Celeste, who was standing as if transfixed, staring through the portal at Blaise.
A little girl was cowering in a corner screaming and clutching her head. Ginny could not see any visible injuries; the girl seemed more afraid than anything else. She was trapped behind several large wooden beams that had fallen from the roof. Ginny leapt over the wooden beams and grabbed the girl’s hand, but even as she led her to safety she could feel an alien paralysis stealing into her. The protective spells she fired were very weak and her limbs were relaxing in spite of herself, in spite of her beating heart.
“What are you doing, girl?” someone yelled.
Ginny had never heard that woman’s voice before, but the firm tone was so familiar. Her head whipped around and she saw a middle aged woman dressed in very tattered, but clearly very expensive robes shaking Celeste. “Stop it! Stop it now!”
Celeste ignored the woman completely, not breaking eye contact with Blaise for even a second. “Are you my brother?” she asked. “Are you Blaise?”
“Yes, of course he is, now stop doing that calming enchantment and move before we’re all killed!”
The woman tried pushing Celeste through the tunnel, but Celeste suddenly snapped back into action. “I can’t go yet,” she said, helping get the children through the tunnel, but staying firmly within the orphanage.
When the last child was safely through the tunnel, Ginny paused to breathe. She looked from the middle aged woman to Celeste and back again. A cool hand slipped into Ginny’s and she looked up to find Blaise standing beside her. She realized that he was using her for support. His wand arm had fallen idly to his side.
“You weren’t lying,” Blaise whispered in a voice so low Ginny had to strain to hear him. “I knew you weren’t lying, but I thought, sometimes I convinced myself that you were just saying it so I wouldn’t be afraid anymore.”
The middle aged woman took in a deep slow breath and closed her eyes. “It wouldn’t have worked if it hadn’t been true. I could never lie to you, Blaise.”
“But you did,” he said. “You lied to me all my life; you told me you were my mother!”
“But I am not. I am Aveline Zabini: witch, murderer, thief, liar, but never mother. And you… you are Blaise and this,” she picked up the girl’s hand and the girl shrank back with a look of revulsion on her face. “This is your sister Celeste. I left her behind when I took you from this orphanage, because I was afraid of what she would become under my influence.”
Blaise’s hand tightened around Ginny’s as if he was hanging on for dear life. Ginny did not look up to study his expression; she was too busy studying the lines of Aveline Zabini’s face. Aveline turned and began to walk away. “Goodbye, son.” She whispered.
Ginny felt a sudden emptiness as Blaise’s hand flew out of hers. He turned Aveline Zabini around roughly by her shoulders and hugged her tightly. Ginny’s eyes met Celeste’s, but she could not read the expression in them.
Aveline pushed Blaise away mumbling something about Slytherin house and weakness. Blaise pulled the girl who so resembled him – his sister – into a quick hug. “Come on,” he said loudly, his arms still around Celeste’s. “We’ve got to get back and seal the tunnel befo-”
“I can’t,” Celeste said in a panic, and Ginny’s heart leapt inexplicably. “Draco!”
“Wh-what?”
Celeste pulled herself out of Blaise’s arms and began to run to the front door. “Draco and Mr. Weasley’s son – we can’t leave them here!”
Ginny made to follow, wondering which of her brothers was facing death now, but she was interrupted by a deafening, earth-shaking crash. Fire erupted a meter in front of Celeste and she stepped back in shock. Out of the flames came the long, scaly neck of a dragon. Blaise pulled his sister back and they both fell over on the ground, but Celeste was laughing. It sounded to Ginny like relief.
The gigantic beast was shrinking and writhing. Its tail destroyed what remained of a large cabinet, taking most of the wall with it too. Finally, it had shrunk to a human sized pile of robes, revealing the form of Charlie Weasley behind it. “Charlie!” Ginny yelled.
Charlie’s face was full of the adrenaline of battle and the excitement of a young boy who has been given his first broomstick. He pulled the shuddering pile of rags to its feet. Ginny watched in shock as her brother and Draco Malfoy walked through the transport tunnel with their arms around each other’s shoulders – Draco’s arm still quite scaly. Aveline and Celeste and Blaise ran after them and Ginny came last, walking backwards and muttering the counter enchantment that would remove the tunnel. No spell could remove the memory of what she had just seen from her mind. From the first time her eyes met Celeste’s to that final insane image of Charlie and Draco with their arms on each other’s shoulders, she would never forget any of it.
