I chewed my thumb as I lay against Harry. He wrapped his arms around me, and we watched the fireplace from the living room of the tent. I wished this moment could last forever. Just him and me, his warm body pressed against my back, a blanket wrapped around us.
Except we'd discussed it. At dawn, we'd complete the mission. I would be free, and the Dark Lord would... well, do whatever he was going to do.
As I stared into the fire, I spotted my Harry doll sitting on a table.
I gasped and covered my face.
"What's up?" he asked.
"You found that!" I squeaked.
"It fell out of your bag."
"I can't believe you searched my bag!" I elbowed him.
He doubled over with a groan.
"I had to get the sceptre," he grunted, clutching his side.
"Oh... oops. I'm so sorry!" I turned to face him.
"It's fine." He massaged his side.
"I could..."
"I said I'm—"
"Look, I'm not a weirdo or anything. I... I was mad at you, yeah? I was going to curse the doll. Like that Voodoo stuff."
"Voodoo?" he asked.
"Y-yeah." I nodded.
"I'm sure that Muggle stuff doesn't work." He raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, ha ha ha. Silly me." I grimaced.
Please believe me! Come on!
"All right." He shrugged and sat back.
I lay against him again, playing with his hand and wondering if this could truly be real. It felt as though someone had flipped a switch at midnight. We'd made out for a while. Well, we stopped when the Muggles finished their fireworks. Then we headed back to the tent, chatted, snacked, and decided to wait until dawn.
Yep, sunrise marked the end of this wonderful night.
He kept squeezing my hand, and I sooo didn't want it to end. Even when the sun rose, I didn't say anything. I just wanted to snuggle against him and...
I heard snoring.
I laid my head against his chest and closed my eyes.
I woke to movement. Birds chirped outside. Harry was in the middle of trying to extricate himself from me.
I blinked at him, wondering why he was touching me. In the haze of waking, I'd forgotten.
"HARRY!" I squealed, sitting up.
My head collided with his jaw.
"Ahhh!" We both groaned and clutched our injuries.
I blinked, then remembered.
"Sorrrry!" I groaned.
"It's... fine." He grunted and rubbed his jaw.
I looked at him, then outside. Not only had the sun risen, but it was probably lunchtime.
"Crap!" I jumped to my feet.
"Yeah, we overslept. It's fine. It's not as though we have a time limit." He shrugged.
"You don't, but I do," I snapped.
He did a double take.
I clamped my hands over my mouth.
Girl, what are you doing?! Be nice to him or he'll dump you or something!
"Sorry. It totally just came out." I waved my hands.
"It's all right." He nodded.
Later, Harry packed up the tent while I surveyed the land.
To our left, the forest abruptly ended at a sheer cliff. The previous night, I'd glimpsed a wall of fog far below. To our right, another wall of mist rose beside us, and I could make out Onyx Colossi looming within it.
Maybe a dozen or more.
They stood a few feet away, just... watching.
Creepy. Like, totally creepy. One hundred per cent get me the hell out of here right now creepy.
Behind us stood the dome-like temple we'd emerged from. A path led towards a pair of iron double doors built into the mountainside.
"Think they'll attack the moment we open the door?" I asked, nodding at the colossi.
"Probably not. Besides, we have the sceptre. If it worked once, it'll probably work again." He shrugged.
Oh my! I hadn't realised until just now, but Harry was sooo COOL! Like ice-cool, with an extra helping of ice-cream cool and cherries on top.
Eeeee! I just wanted to kiss him.
Here I was, freaking out over the guardians, while he was casually shrugging it all off. BF's totally getting a kiss later...
Wait.
Wait... what if he had other girls and I was just—
"Earth to Draconia." He waved a hand in front of my face.
"No!" I slapped his hand away.
He looked confused.
"Sorry. Old habits." I took his hand and smiled.
"Ah... yeah." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
Oh, man! I was screwing this up ALREADY!
We walked towards the doors. Now that we were closer, I could see their details. Enchanted engravings snaked and coiled across the surface. In fact, the metal itself seemed liquid. Like living mercury, it ebbed and flowed, its only consistent feature the keyhole in the centre of the double doors.
The ground shook as we approached.
The guardians kept pace with us, a thin veil of mist separating us from them. Their eyeless heads tracked our every movement.
I gripped Harry's hand harder. Dread overtook me, and I wrapped both arms around his arm. My bag trembled.
"Harry, is it too late to turn back?" I asked.
"We can't. We need to do this," he said.
I looked at him. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
All this time, I'd thought he was an idiot. For years, I'd believed him to be a fearless fool who charged into dangerous places without a care for his own well-being.
Now I saw the terror in his eyes.
Unlike me, he wasn't freaking out and wishing he could run away.
"Here's the plan. You use the sceptre. I'll hang back in the treeline. The moment the ring comes off, we run." He removed a brass plate from his bag.
"What's that?" I gasped.
"Nothing. Don't worry about it. Just listen to me." He looked directly at me.
He took my hands. I noticed his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed.
"The moment the ring is off, run. No matter what happens next, you run," he said.
I nodded.
I removed the sceptre from my bag. It began to shake. I had to grip it with both hands, and soon it was dragging me towards the door.
My boots ploughed through the snow.
I squealed as the rod slipped through my fingers. I fell, landing hard on my butt.
There came a clang as the sceptre slammed into the keyhole.
The liquid metal rotated around it, first forming a spiral, then transforming into a series of concentric rings covered in ancient text. The writing shone, bathing us in green light.
A series of clanks followed. One by one, the rings of text faded until the outermost ring went dark. The metal solidified.
The door opened, and the sceptre fell.
"Aaaaaahhhhh!"
A ghostly sigh drifted from the entrance.
Greenish smog washed over us. Beyond the open doors, a stone passage led deep into the earth.
"Aahhhhh!" Harry clutched his forehead.
"What is it?" I reached for him.
Then I saw something moving inside my glove.
I pulled it off.
The ring had transformed into a spider.
It rolled across the floor.
"He's coming!" Harry pointed at the sky.
A swirling mass of shadow shot across it.
No. Two... three... ten...
Thirteen!
Thirteen Death Eaters were flying towards us.
"Hide! He sees you!" Harry clutched his scar as he ran for the cover of the trees.
The spider-ring shone deep purple, firing a beam into the sky. The ray struck an invisible barrier. The barrier rippled, then shattered like glass.
The Onyx Colossi unleashed unearthly screams.
Pillars of smoke slammed into the ground around me.
I was still sitting there as the mist swirled about Lord FREAKING Voldemort!
Death Eaters clad in black robes and white skull masks appeared all around me.
Among them stood my father.
I would have recognised his hair and build anywhere.
He glanced at me, then towards the forest.
I scrambled to my feet and ran towards Harry.
Then I spotted the brass plate lying in the snow.
I saw my reflection.
No. Not mine.
That criminal. Something Black.
People were looking right at me!
I ran towards the treeline. In my panic, I collided with Harry, and we both crashed into the snow.
"What did you do?" I gasped.
"Insurance," he said.
"At last, the Hollow Kin..." Voldemort began, then stopped.
The Dark Lord whipped around and spotted the disk. His eyes fell on me, then Harry.
Oh no!
NO, NO, NO, NO!
THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!
"Expelliarmus!" Harry aimed his wand at me.
My wand flew from its holster and landed nearby.
I blinked at him.
Then realisation struck.
Staggering to my feet, I summoned my wand into my hand and fired a barrage of spells at him. Harry ran for cover behind a tree.
Meanwhile, chaos erupted behind us.
The brass plate exploded into green mist. Sirius Black emerged from it, along with who I guessed was the rest of the Order of the Phoenix. They unleashed spells of every colour.
The Death Eaters conjured shields and returned fire.
Voldemort thrust out his wand and unleashed a brilliant beam at an Order member.
The man literally exploded.
Eeew.
A Death Eater transformed into a werewolf and slammed into another Order member. Then Professor Lupin transformed into a freaking werewolf and tackled the Death Eater lycanthrope.
The wolves exchanged blows, claw for claw and fang for fang.
Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed one pinning the other, only for the fight to reverse, with the other wolf ending up on top. Seconds later, they switched again.
"Avada Ked—" Voldemort raised his wand, but something red shot across the sky.
A phoenix descended into the heart of the battle.
Yeah. A FREAKING FIREBIRD.
How? Why?
The bird practically nose-dived into the fight before exploding into flames.
And then Dumbledore stood there.
The FREAKING HEADMASTER had just appeared!
What the hell was happening?!
Dumbledore thrust out his wand and unleashed a beam. Voldemort countered with a beam of his own.
Flickering light illuminated the battlefield. Magic met magic. The clash sounded like rolling thunder, accompanied by the stench of sulphur.
The light hurt my eyes.
Both combatants' faces contorted as they poured everything they had into their spells.
The magical contact finally broke. Both men stopped firing and staggered backwards.
A battle raged around them, but the Dark Lord and the Headmaster ignored it as they paced, each sizing up the other.
Voldemort whipped his wand, unleashing a flurry of spells. Shining motes shot towards Dumbledore, who summoned a protective shell around himself.
Each mote summoned a thunderbolt from the sky when it struck the Headmaster's shield. The barrier rippled under the assault.
Dumbledore held out his wand, and a glowing whip wrapped around a tree.
He literally ripped the tree out of the ground and swung it at Voldemort.
The Dark Lord summoned a shield, and the wood splintered against it.
The two men continued exchanging blows.
All the while, I just watched.
"Come on." Harry tapped my shoulder.
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" I narrowed my eyes at him.
He stepped back, looking confused. He glanced away, then his expression hardened and he turned to run.
He sprinted towards the cave.
What the hell was he doing?!
I stood there, pacing on the spot. Then I saw him pick up the sceptre as the door slowly began to close.
"No, no, no!" I squealed and ran after him.
The door was almost shut when I squeezed through the opening.
I fell into the passage and glimpsed Harry's back as he ran into the mist.
"Nooo!" I howled.