Remember Me

Harry could not hold back a cry of pain as the curse hit him again. It was worse than ever before, as if fire was raging up and down his body, burning it and filling him with agony. He became vaguely aware that he was screaming, and still the curse thundered on.

And then suddenly, it was over, and he was lying panting on the floor, his body still shuddering from the recent Cruciatus curse. Harry opened his eyes and stared up into the snake-like face of Voldemort, who looked at Harry with a slight smile of his lipless mouth.

Harry couldn’t find the strength to move. His body ached from the many Cruciatus curses that he had had to endure, and his skin was covered in cuts, which dripped blood sickeningly.

“Ready to tell me yet, Harry Potter?” Voldemort whispered, bending over Harry. He moved his wand over in his long fingers, caressing the wood.

Harry didn’t answer, pressing his mouth shut. He would not tell Voldemort the prophecy, never. The prophecy, Dumbledore had told him, would be dangerous in Voldemort’s hands. Then Voldemort would know the truth, and his power would grow. He would find out the way to kill Harry.

Voldemort’s scarlet eyes darkened and narrowed in rage at Harry’s silence. He raised his wand and Harry braced himself for the pain that was surely coming.

The red light hit him and he arched his back in pain. He was on fire, surely, his skin was being burnt, and white-hot knives were pressing themselves against his flesh…

The force of the spell flung him across the length of the room and he hit the wall with a loud crack. Pain exploded in the back of his head, and he could feel a warm liquid trickling down his neck.

He yelled again, squeezing his eyes tight. He had to get through this, he could, he had to.
But he felt another cut rip its way down his arm and every cell of his body ached terribly.
The pain carried on, and Harry thought it would never stop.

*

Nothing could have prepared them for this. Hogwarts was destroyed, the marble staircase cracked, jagged edges causing people to slip and slide. Portraits on the wall were screaming in terror, in some cases their canvases ripped or lying broken on the floor. The torches in brackets that lit the corridor were blazing brightly. In some cases, they were being flown around the room as weapons.

Everywhere, people were fighting, running, yelling. Spells were everywhere, ricocheting off the walls, hitting people in the chest, exploding into lights as they clashed in mid-air. Cassandra could see pyjama-clad students and hooded Death Eaters fighting. Some people were lying on the floor. Puddles of blood lay shivering around the Entrance Hall.

Cassandra hesitated for a second, and then hurtled into the midst of the battle. Ron, Hermione and Dean ran after, their wands swiping through the air as they sent Stunners towards the Death Eaters. Some fell, but others cast a Shield Charm so they were forced to dodge their own spell, which was quickly followed by another jinx that rebounded off a wall and hit Cormac McLaggen, who fell to the floor.

Cassandra leapt over him, ducking and throwing her arms over her head as a red jet of light flew her way and only narrowly missed it. She saw Lavender Brown duelling Rudolphus Lestrange, who was snarling slightly, his face lined in concentration as he screamed curses at the girl.

“Cassandra?” yelled Lavender, catching sight of her and lowering her wand in shock. “What are you doing-“

“Protego!” Cassandra screamed, pointing her wand in front of Lavender and dragging her out the way as a Killing Curse forced its way through the shield. Lavender missed death by inches.

“Idiot!” screamed Cassandra, pushing Lavender’s wand into her hand and pushing her away. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Lavender blinked, looking slightly dazed, still looking at the spot where the Killing Curse had been.

“Look,” said Cassandra crouching down and pulling Lavender with her. “They will kill you if you don’t keep your bloody eyes open! Go! Fight!”

She pushed Lavender away and straightened up again. She sent another Stunner to a tall broad Death Eater, who, not seeing her, toppled over and fell unconscious onto the floor. Cassandra then saw Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones over by the window. Hannah was lying on the floor, eyes half shut so only a strip of white eyeball showed. She was moaning faintly and Susan knelt next to her, sending spells towards Thorfinn Rowle who was grinning with yellow teeth as he Disarmed Susan with a single spell.

“Petrificus Totalus!” screamed Cassandra, pointing her wand at the Death Eater who whirled round and sent a curse at her without hesitation. Cassandra darted to the side, flicking her wand to Stun the Death Eater, who had already sent another jinx at her. The spells collided in mid-air, one hitting the window which smashed into a waterfall of glass and one hitting Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy Professor, who was running past with her wand aloft. Together, the professor and Cassandra sent as Stunning Spell at Rowle, who flowed faintly red and was lifted off his feet by the force of the combined spells.

Cassandra didn’t spare the Death Eater a glance as he crumpled to the floor. “Susan!” she said, dropping to her knees too. “Is Hannah alright?”

Susan was looking at her friend with worry in her eyes. “I don’t know!” she wailed. “He hit her with this spell; I don’t know what it was!”

“Enervate,” said Cassandra, pointing her wand at Hannah, but she didn’t wake up. “Enervate!”

Susan shook her head, her eyes panicked. Cassandra saw tears in her eyes.

“She’ll be okay,” she said. “I swear, she’ll be-“

But she broke off as she saw Dolohov advancing on them, and she quickly gripped her wand tightly running towards him and they started to duel.

Cassandra quickly found that she was facing spells that she had no idea what they would do or how to block them. They were of a power she had no idea of, and had to resort to darting around to avoid being hit by them. Dolohov’s face twisted up, but he seemed to be enjoying the sport.

Cassandra danced out of the way again to avoid a purple spell, but her foot slipped on a stray wand that was lying unclaimed on the ground. Her own wand flew out of her hands and the room was so full of dust she couldn’t see it. Her hands scrabbled desperately over the floor, as she kept glancing backwards, rolling over sometimes to avoid yet another spell.
As she looked behind her yet again, her hands flying over the floor for her wand, she saw Dolohov’s face looming over her. He raised his wand, and she heard the word that started the Killing Curse. She instinctively ducked, curling up into a ball.

“Avada-“

“Stupefy!”

Dolohov fell immediately to the floor, his eyes closing. Neville stood there, his wand pointed at Dolohov’s back. He had a deep gash in his cheek, which was oozing blood. He was covered in grime and sweat.

“Neville,” gasped Cassandra as he reached out a hand to help her up. “You’re amazing, I love you.”

“You’re here?” he said, his eyes wide. “I thought you’d lost your memory?”

“Yeah, long story, do you really think this is the right time to talk about it?" she replied, pulling him down to avoid a ball of fire that suddenly flew over their heads. “Have you seen Harry?”

“He’s here too?”

“Neville, don’t you know what’s going on?” screamed Cassandra. “Voldemort’s here!”

From the way his face suddenly turned white, it was clear he didn’t.

But before he had time to say anything, a jinx hit him in the back and he screamed in pain. Cassandra whirled around, trying to find the Death Eater that had hit Neville with it, but another hooded figure was suddenly bearing down on her. Unlike the other Death Eaters, he didn’t wear a mask, and, coughing slightly, Cassandra looked up into his face, and saw his strangely-blank eyes.

She gasped in recognition. It was as if someone had put a Body-Bind curse on her, as she seemed strangely frozen where she was, unable to move as the man moved towards her.

“John,” she murmured. Debbie’s husband, the man who had been put under the Imperius Curse but Lucius Malfoy, and the person Cassandra thought of as he dad. Then louder, “John!”

He didn’t not seem to recognise her, didn’t even seem to recognise his own name.

“John!” Cassandra yelled loudly now.

He drew back his wand and shot a Stunning Spell at her, she was forced to cast a quick Shield Charm to avoid it.

“John!” She could not believe it, she was numb with shock and horror. To see John, dressed in Death Eater robes, advancing on her with his wand out. To know that he saw her as the enemy and she had to count him as the enemy too.

“John, please, it’s me!”

John cast another jinx and Cassandra darted to the right.

“Don’t be an idiot, please, look at me, it’s me, it’s Cass!”

She was sobbing now, yet hardly realising she was doing it. She hated seeing him like this, hated seeing what Malfoy had done to him.

“Please!”

Padma Patil came charging up, thinking Cassandra was screaming for help and shot a Body-Bind Curse at John. Cassandra turned to face her.

“What the hell were you thinking?” she yelled, blinking tears out of her eyes as Padma pulled her away.

Padma frowned. “And what the hell were you thinking, not fighting back?” She looked at Cassandra, her eyebrows tightening. “Oh yeah, I got your wand back,” she said, tossing it to Cassandra. “It is yours, right?”

Cassandra felt the familiar oak and nodded dumbly.

Padma ran off to duel someone else, but Cassandra stayed there, numb. That had been John…the first time she had seen him in months…that had been John and he was suddenly dangerous.

She coughed again from the dust that filled the air, stumbling on without any sense of purpose. All around her, there was destruction. She didn’t know what to do.

She saw a tall figure in the distance that filled her with foreboding. Bellatrix Lestrange had entered the battle. Her wand flashed through the air. As Cassandra watched, she saw a jet of green light fly from Bellatrix’s wand and hit a man who had his back to her. He fell to the ground, his eyes open and glassy. He was dead. Bellatrix walked on without a single glance, unfeeling and uncaring about the man she had just killed.

And Cassandra was filled with a burning hot rage, such as she had never known before. It roared through her body, and then she was running through the battle, fighting as she had never fought before.

Her wand flashed and danced through the air, sending jinxes and curses after Death Eaters. She vaguely felt her body getting injured badly, cuts and gashed appear on her arms and face, but the only thing she really registered that her shoes were slippery with blood on the floor and that students were gasping and shuddering for breath, hurt and weak on the floor. She only saw the Death Eaters and the spells she cast.

“Cass!” yelled a voice, and she saw Ron. He was standing by the doors of the Great Hall. “He’s in here!”

She knew what he meant immediately; running towards him she pointed her wand at the large double doors and together they shouted, “Alohomora!”

The door burst open to reveal Voldemort, standing tall and proud, with a cruel, cold fire in his eyes. His wand was pointed at a dark haired boy who lay at his feet, whose body was twitching and jerking as if in great pain. Voldemort cast another curse again, and Harry let out a scream of pain.

Both Ron and Cassandra dashed into the room. Ron raced towards Harry, firing Stunning Spells at Draco Malfoy, who stood watching Harry with a frightened expression on his face. Cassandra, however, ran towards Voldemort, who hadn’t noticed they were in the Great Hall yet, his attention focused on Harry.

Cassandra ran to Voldemort and punched him hard on the head.