Lina

A flash of green light.
Her mother screaming.
Her father’s deep voice telling his daughter to run.
But she was frozen to the spot. She couldn’t move. She could barely breathe as she watched her father be tortured with Crucio curse after Crucio curse. Her mother had tried to shield her husband from the curses but failed. The small child could not fight as she watched them die.

The man— the monster— turned to her and she ran without a second thought.
She thought she was of no importance. She thought they wouldn’t come after her. It had just been her parents he had wanted. She didn’t matter. But she was wrong. The little girl had an ability that the monster coveted.

Gripping her wand tightly, she ran through the dark streets; her footsteps echoed up and down the lonely roads. She had to get away. But she couldn’t.

Tall men in dark robes and scary masks trapped her in an alley. The eleven year-old couldn’t fight them off. She was knocked out and every time she awoke there after it was only to pain.

The men, who she eventually learned were followers of the monster that killed her parents, took to torturing her every time she awoke. It was their goal, she assumed, to beat her into submission. But she would never obey the monster that took her life away from her.

Eventually, she managed to escape. Using her gift, she formed herself into looking exactly like one of the men. She was able to flee the prison she was held in.

The months passed and she managed to always hide away using her gift. But she was afraid. Constantly. She feared being found. She had no one. No one would protect her.

She was alone and afraid and tired of running. She wanted her parents back.

She was covered in dirt and smelled horrible. She hadn’t managed to find a place to shower that week. Cowering in the alley next to the Three Broomsticks, she missed her parents more then ever.

“Lina?”
Her heart stopped. She hadn’t heard her name spoken aloud in months.
“Lina.” She looked up at the sound of her name. Before her stood an older man with a long white beard.

“Come with me, Lina.” he said kindly, extending his hand out to the girl. For some reason, she trusted him.

That was how Lina found herself at Hogwarts. She was sorted in Gryffindor and began to hone her magical skill. One day, she swore, she would fight the monster who had done this to her.

Lina passed through her first three years quietly. She shied away from the others in her year, afraid to get close to them. She didn’t want to tell them what had happened to her. She was ashamed. She had let her parents die. All she had done was run away.

But in her fourth year, she found a way to learn to fight. She was going to get her revenge. She heard about the club from the whispered conversation from a pair of students in the library. No one ever noticed her when she was around. Lina never minded.

It was on one particularly cold visit to Hogsmeade that the first meeting took place. Lina stuck in unnoticed into the dingy bar. She pushed her way through the group of students until she could see the three people who stood before them all.

Hermione Granger stood next to Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. All three were fellow Gryffindors. But Harry Potter stood out among them. Lina, although she had never spoken to the boy before felt a connection to him. A strong one. He talked about what it felt like to face the monster—only Harry called him Voldemort. The name made Lina shudder.

When the meeting ended, Lina signed her name like everyone else. Then, she went back to Hogwarts and waited anxiously for news of the first meeting.

ooo
Dumbledore’s Army.
They had a name.

For the first lesson, Lina watched with trembling limbs as Harry discussed the importance of the Disarming Charm in order to quell some who believed the spell useless.

Lina partnered with the clumsy Neville Longbottom; she was so nervous as Harry stopped to watch the pair work. But, to her great delight, she performed the charm perfectly.

“Good.” Harry nodded at her and she felt her heart swell in pride.

ooo

After that first meeting, Lina anxiously waited for her coin to tell her when the next meeting was. She desperately wanted to learn. And she wanted to impress Harry with her skill.

At the next lesson, they were practicing the Impediment Jinx; Lina paired yet again with Neville. The boy was quiet, comfortingly so.

As Neville fumbled with his wand, Lina watched Harry walk around the large room out of the corner of her eye. Because she was foolishly not paying attention, Lina was suddenly hit with the full force of Neville’s jinx. It knocked her backwards and propelled her almost all the way across the room where she landed hard on her back.

Groaning, she moved a hand to cradle the back of her head.

“Oh god, I’ve killed her!” Neville said fearfully.

She started laughing, “You didn’t kill me, Neville.”

“You alright?”

Lina’s eyes fell upon the person she could feel standing over her.
Her breath died in her throat.

“Y-yes. Yeah, I’m fine.” she smiled as she shakily got to her feet. “I’m fine. Just a bump. I should’ve been paying attention.”

“You sure? I can—”

“No, no. I’m fine.” she swore as she tried to walk away from Harry to save herself from further embarrassment.

“Everyone, get back to work.” Harry said. “Lina?”

“Hm?” she asked shakily.

“Nice Impediment Jinx. I saw it before.” Harry smiled at her.

“Oh…thanks.” she bit her lip and hurried on her way.

ooo

“Hey Lina.”

Lina looked up from her essay, startled. Her heart jumped when she saw Harry taking the seat across from her.

“H-hi Harry.” she stuttered out quietly.

“I wanted to talk to you…outside of the meetings.”

“Okay? What about?” she asked as she lay down her quill.

“I just…I er—I remember during the meeting in Hogs Head that you…I was talking about what it was like…that night in the graveyard and I got the feeling—” Harry sighed. “Maybe I was just imagining things, but I got the feeling that you knew what I was talking about. I don’t know, I just—”

“He killed my parents.” she blurted out. “In front of me.”

“I’m sorry—”

“Don’t.” she insisted. “I don’t deserve your sympathy. I watched it happen, I couldn’t do anything—”

“It wasn’t your place to do anything.”

“It was! I should’ve protected them. I should’ve tried to save them!”

“You couldn’t.”

“You don’t know that.” she said quietly as her heart raced with the thoughts of her failure to save her parents. “You don’t—”

“I’ve seen you at the meetings. I know your skill. I know that you would’ve saved them if you could have.”

She met his green eyes as she stuttered out a thank you.

After a moment of silence, she spoke, “I believe you about V-V- Vol— You-Know-Who.”

Harry smiled slightly in a self-mocking sort of way. “Really? Because most people around here think I’m a nutter.”

“Why would you lie about something like that?” she said softly. “After what he’s done, you wouldn’t lie about that. People are just afraid. They don’t want him to be back because they remember what he did before. So they’re blaming you.”

ooo

“I think you’d look smashing with pink hair!”

“Shut up, Harry.” she said as she walked with him down the corridor.

The year was well into March by then and the pair was the last to leave the Room of Requirements.

“Fine…red and gold hair. Come on,” he said nudging her lightly with his shoulder, “show some House spirit.”

She laughed. “Fine.”
Lina made the change.

Harry laughed. “Beautiful.”

Lina blushed and looked away.

“Great job today, with the Patronous charm, by the way.”

She bit her lip to hide her smile. “Thanks Harry.”

ooo

“Sirius!” Harry called out painfully. “Sirius!”

Lina’s heart was breaking as she watched Harry stand hopelessly in front of the veil.
Suddenly, he moved forward toward the swaying drapery.

“Harry, don’t!” she yelled and began to move toward him. Luckily, a brown-haired man stopped him.

Reaching Harry, Lina had no clue what to say to the hurting boy.

“Harry—” was all she could get out before the boy took off running after Bellatrix.

“Harry!” she yelled as she chased after him.

She found them dueling in the atrium of the Ministry.

“Crucio!” Bellatrix yelled.

Suddenly Lina was no longer in the atrium. She was no longer with her friends or with Harry.

She was eleven again; she was watching her parents die. Lina was watching her father be tortured with Crucio curse after Crucio curse. Lina saw her parents die in her mind; she relived the memory and watched as her mother stood in front of her father to protect him.

Without even thinking, she ran in front of Harry; the curse hit her directly in the chest.
Pain filled her every sense; every sense was prickling and burning beyond all measure.
She could not keep conscious any longer and allowed the darkness to consume her.

|||||

“Lina?”

“Lina?”

Slowly, the girl opened her eyes. She was met with the ceiling of the Hospital Wing. Her memories washed over her; she sat up frantically.

“Where’s Harry?” Her gaze fell on the boy as he sat in a chair next to her bed.

“Harry, are you alright? Is everyone okay? I’m sorry about Sirius. What happened?”
she was speaking fast and worriedly.

“Lina, shh.” Harry said as he sat down.

“Harry…” she whispered as she reached out and ran a hand down the side of his face to make sure he was actually before her.

“What you did was stupid.” he said.

“Harry—”

“You could have died!”

“You could have too!”

“Why did you—”

“She yelled the curse and I flashed back to my dad being tortured. And my mom stood in front of him. So I did too.”

“You—”

“I had to Harry.”

“Lina, I’m just—I was worried.”

“Why?”

“Because I care about you.”

Lina laughed incredulously. “You care about me?”

“Lina.” Harry said quietly as he took her hand. “I care about you.”

As he leaned in to kiss her, Lina’s heart raced and she knew she cared about him too.