The Last Fight

A few mornings after I had met Slughorn, I found two envelops on the table addressed to Cedric and myself. The green ink meant that they were undoubtedly from Hogwarts. I ripped into mine just as Cedric was walking in, freshly showered and dressed for the day.

“N.E.W.T. results,” I said, tossing him his letter. I scanned over mine, my gut twisting slightly.

History of Magic – O
Charms – O
Transfiguration – E
Arithmancy – A
Potions – E
Herbology – O
Care of Magical Creatures – E
Defense Against the Dark Arts – O
Astronomy – A

I couldn’t help but swell up a little bit with pride. My studying had actually paid off. Certainly, I had neglected Arithmancy, and my Astronomy grade was doomed to be mediocre, but all the scores I needed to become an Auror were there. Even, somehow, my Transfiguration grade.

Cedric and I swapped papers. I scanned down his grades, a solid line of O’s and E’s. He had taken two less classes than me, but still, what a git.

“Hey, look, you got an E in Transfiguration!” he exclaimed, grinning at me.

“Yeah, I reckon I could get into Auror training if I wanted.” We swapped back. “And you could get in wherever you wanted with those grades.”

He grinned again sheepishly before kissing me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, keeping him close for a few more seconds. We broke apart and I stared into his grey eyes.

“What?” he asked, letting out a small chuckle.

“I just love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I let him untangle himself from me to go get ready while I made us a quick breakfast of eggs and toast. I smiled to myself, practically glowing from the longest moment of interaction we’ve had in the past few weeks. We were both far too busy to act like a proper couple, and it had honestly been bringing my mood down.
Beyond never seeing Cedric, I was annoyed by my dreams. They were, well… normal. Like how my dreams used to be before Lance developed his weird, “I’m going to break into your mind” antics. Not that I had a problem with getting decent sleep (when I got sleep), but it was just… unsettling. I had the sneaking suspicion that Lance was going to attempt to do… well, something. I really had no idea what he wanted.

-

As summer wore on, I started seeing more and more Hogwarts students in Flourish and Blotts, stocking up on their school books. It was almost surreal, being on the other side of the counter after seven years of being just like all these other students. I got dirty looks from Mr. Blotts a number of times for stopping to chat with people I knew.

One day when term was only two weeks from starting, Molly brought the brood plus reinforcements to Diagon Alley. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hyden, Launa and Ginny were all in the shop at once, trying to talk to me and find their books at the same time. I finally gave up and took their lists to find their books while they followed me around. Mr. Blotts eyed them warily, but didn’t say a word while he rung up some Ancient Runes books for an excitable third-year.

“Harry, Ron, here are your books,” I said, handing them each a stack of heavy spellbooks. “Mr. Blotts will have to ring you up.”

“Thanks Jen, I’ll stop by again later,” said Harry, and he and Ron went to pay.

Hermione’s, of course, was the biggest stack of the lot. I helped her carry books up to the counter, and those were just her required books. Mr. Blotts’ jaw dropped a little when she added at least four more books to the stack. “I need to spend my early birthday money on something,” she told me when I raised my eyebrows.

Launa (accompanied by a still-gloomy Tonks) was the last one out of there. I found her, of course, in the Potions section, which I had organized only yesterday. She was flipping longingly through Lackadaisey’s Guide to the 13 Most Powerful Brews.

“I can’t get it,” she told me sadly as she returned the book to it’s proper place.

“Why not? Dad won’t let you?”

“No.” She ran her fingers absentmindedly down the lovely dark green cover. “We cannot afford it. We ‘ave just enough to get my books for zis year.”

‘Ouch,’ I winced in my mind. “What’s in this one that you want?”

“It ‘as a recipe for Felix Felicis, among ozer tings.”

“Well, we can always dream, can’t we?” She just nodded, and withdrew her hand. “Let’s ring them up then.”

Launa was right. Remus had given her just enough to pay for her school supplies. She left for the apothecary, her books under her arm and her dusty blonde hair glinting in the summer sun.

I went back and picked up the potions book, checking the price and then my pockets. Assuming I got my employee discount, I could get it and have a few Sickles to spare. I’d have to go to Gringotts after work.

“Well, it’s never too early to start Christmas shopping,” I said to myself, and went to go buy the book.

-

Harry did indeed stop back later in the day, looking extremely troubled. I frowned immediately and pulled him into the life-deprived History section.

“What’s wrong?” I asked in a hushed voice. I glanced around, making sure Mr. Blotts was still manning the counter. “Talk fast.”

“Jen, I think… I think Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater.”

“What?”

“He—Well, in Madame Malkins, he freaked out when she touched his left robe sleeve—”

“Harry—”

“And—” he pressed on, “he went into Knockturn Alley. I sort of, er, followed him. He went into that shop I accidentally popped into second year, Borgin and Burkes. He started harassing Borgin about fixing something, and then showed him something on his arm that really scared Borgin.”

Harry looked at me anxiously. I sighed. “Harry, I dunno, I mean… maybe.”

“Could you… look into it? Please?”

“Potter? I need you to find me four copies of Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration,” Mr. Blotts called from the other side of the store.

“Coming Mr. Blotts! Harry, I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee anything,” I continued at a lower volume. “Lance? That wasn’t a big surprise. But Draco? I have a hard time believing Narcissa would allow it, let alone that he would have the guts to do it.”

Harry looked frustrated, but he didn’t say anything until I walked him to the door. “Will you send me an owl if you find anything?”

“Of course I will. And you’ll probably be seeing me sooner than you think,” I assured him, and he left.

The rest of the day, I was consumed with thoughts about Voldemort and Death Eaters and the Malfoys. Was Harry right, and Draco was now a Death Eater too? If so, why had Narcissa let him join up, let alone Voldemort himself? And why hadn’t there been any attacks lately? Not that that was bad, but it was like Voldemort was holding back, waiting for a bigger opportunity. And that was bad.

I left the shop that night a little after nine and started walking to my flat, keeping a hand near my wand at all times. My test date had been pushed back to early next week, so I was still shuffling through Muggle London just to get back to my flat. But the lack of people around me and the dimming streetlights sent chills down my back. I glanced behind me to see someone following me, and they were gaining. I picked up my pace, trying not to appear panicked. About a block later, I found the open door to a warehouse and slipped inside. The figure followed.

‘Alright, this is what I get for having a few weeks of peace,’ I thought grimly, hiding behind a huge wooden shipping crate. I pulled out my wand and steeled my nerves, ready to fight.

“Jeeeennifer?”

My stomach dropped and I didn’t breathe for a moment. Dammit. That sickly voice had finally found me. I wondered briefly if I could possibly Apparate out of this, even without my license.

I heard the warehouse door rattle close. “Jennifer, you can’t hide forever. The only way out is closed up,” Lance’s voice called, full of sick glee. I started moving as stealthily as I could away from his voice and drew my wand as I went.

“Boo.”

I hadn’t watched my back. I whipped around and saw Lance with his wand pointed at me.

“Stup—”

“Expelliarmus!”

My wand flew into his hand, and I turned and ran. I just wanted to get away.

“Locomotor Mortis!”

My legs snapped together and I fell to the floor. Miraculously, I wasn’t bleeding—for once. I opened my mouth to scream, but Lance’s hand clapped over it.

“Shh, shh, shh.” He swished his wand, causing crates to come smashing down and trapping us in. “If you don’t try anything, I’ll take the curse off you.” He was crouched over me, one knee pinning my wand arm, a hand holding down my left elbow, and his other hand pointing his wand to my face. My own wand was tauntingly out of my reach.

“What the hell do you want?” I spat, my eyes flickering between his face and my wand. If I got even an inch of relief from his knee, I could stretch and grab my wand…

“I want to talk,” he said, shifting his weight so he could trap my left arm with his other knee.

“You never want to just talk, Lance.”

“Are you going to run?” he asked, scooping up my wand and placing it in his cloak. Running would be pretty pointless as long as he hand my wand, and besides, there wasn’t anywhere to run to. How was I this stupid?

I made the mistake of looking into his cold eyes, and a dull pain struck my head. “No,” I winced, shutting my eyes tight. The pain persisted to through my brain.

“Good.” Lance smirked, his expression wild. “I have a proposition for you.”

“Proposition?”

He popped his neck, taking deep breaths. His eye twitched and he grinned this twisted little smile. “Jennifer, I… I love you. And I-I know that it’s been rough between us recently—”

It took a lot to suppress a snort, even in this position.

“—but I know how I can fix this.”

“What’s that?” I asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Jennifer, we both know that every day, the Dark Lord gains more and more strength. Harry may have defeated him before, but it was a fluke—”

“You call what happened in the graveyard a fluke?!” I asked angrily. “How dare you—”

“He hasn’t defeated Lord Voldemort since the night your parents died—all he’s done is escape and delay.”

My mouth gaped uselessly, my breathing sharp in my chest as I struggled to take in breath from all of his weight on my chest.

“This doesn’t mean the Dark Lord can’t be stopped.”

“Yeah? What do you suggest, sending a tank after him?”

“No, Jennifer,” Lance sighed, a bit exasperated. Apparently he wasn’t in the mood for Muggle humor. Shame. “I can stop him.”

“You… want to stop… Voldemort?” I asked slowly. This was completely absurd, even for Lance. Someone must have Imperiused him or this was a Polyjuice Potion imposter.

“But I need your help, Jennifer.” Lance’s expression was completely serious. There wasn’t even a trace of that Malfoy smirk on his face.

“Me—wha… ?” I was at a complete loss for words.

“Think about it, Jennifer. I can provide you with money, security, and power. If you come with me, think of all the power you could obtain. You could lead the world. No one you cared about would ever die. You and I, we would destroy Lord Voldemort, and we would rule the wizarding world, side by side.”

“I—no, Lance, you’re crazy. Neither one of us has enough power to defeat Lord Bloody Voldemort.”

“But together we do. I’m close to him, I can learn his weak—”

“No one is close to him. And besides, why wouldn’t you ask someone like Sarlanda? She’s easily five times the better witch.”

“Because I love you, don’t you get it?” His face was slowly turning pink from his frustration. “I will destroy him, if that’s what you want. I will demolish legions for you. All you have to do is say the word and it’ll be done. Just come with me, and we can take on the world.”

I felt his weight shift off of my chest downwards, and I thought maybe he was going to let me go, or say something, but instead, he was pinning my wrists to the ground and kissing me.

I’d never been kissed by Lance like this before. Most the time, he was rough, hurting me but expecting me to like it. But this time, it was, almost—curse me for this—pleasant. He was so overcome by emotions that all he could do to express himself was to kiss me, and I wasn’t sure if I was kissing him back or not. A sort of floating feeling took over my stomach, and it made me feel… confused. But I was too scared to consider trying to struggle, and with my legs cursed together, there wasn’t much I could do.

When we finally broke apart, panting, he whispered, “Think on it,” in my ear, and I felt him more away from me. I heard a clatter and opened my eyes. Lance was gone, my wand was on the floor, my legs could function again, the crates were all perfectly stacked again, and the warehouse door was open.

Like he had never even been there.