Safe and Sound

An orange light was licking up the walls of the room of requirement. It bathed the ceiling in light, making me look up and cock my head in curiosity. Ron came barreling around a corner, screaming that Crabbe had lit the entire place on fire. My mouth dropped open slightly, the connection clicking: Crabbe had foolishly created fiendfyre, a fire that was set upon killing it’s enemies, that was created to chase it’s targets.

“Come on!” Harry screamed. Draco and I latched our hands together, turning and taking off, close on my brother’s heels. Blaise ran easily beside me as we began winding in the room, the heat from the fire bathing our backs as it consumed everything in side.

Rounding a corner we stopped, fumbling as a fiery snake began to charge towards us, diving in and out of the ground. We turned the other way, running as quickly as we could, the fire catching up quickly, making the back of my neck sweat.

We turned three corners before we had to stop again, a great chimera bellowing in the flames as it began to chase after us. The fire was taking on a mind of it’s own, seeking out anything living and breathing, it’s desire to snuff it out too great.

Blaise tripped, causing us to pause and help him back up. I grabbed him by his shirt collar, ripping him up from the ground. Upon turning around, it seemed Blaise’s misstep had allowed Hermione a moment to find three brooms, tossing them to Harry and Ron.

Harry held out his hand to me and I quickly went to his broom with him, Draco hesitating before going with Hermione and Blaise joining Ron, giving him a nod. Harry did not let her get situated, taking off from the ground as quickly as he could, almost losing her.

Looking behind me, I felt my eyes stretch. The entire room was engulfed in heavy flame, every object in it’s path consumed and destroyed. It made my heart leap with terror, to see the orange blaze enclosing around us.

Turning back around was no better. Flames were closing in around the door, and just as the fire began to lick together, Hermione flicked her wand, causing a gap small enough for us to burst through, though not gracefully, for we flew threw, hitting the ground and rolling in front of the door.

My body rocked with the contact of the floor but I was already pushing myself up, looking at Hermione who had rolled right in front of the door. A shape was barreling towards the door in the fire after Harry had tossed the diadem in the flames, and the door wasn’t closing quickly enough, neither was Hermione getting up quickly enough.

A scream began to leave my mouth just as the flames came to her. Then Draco was there, though he had not been a moment before. He appeared out of no where, his black suit blocking her and his wand raised, yelling, “Subsito maximo!”

White blasted from his wand, the flames hitting it and diverting as the last of the door shut, keeping the fire within the room. Hermione was sprawled out behind him, looking up at him in complete shock as I scrambled over to Draco, grabbing his arm that was still raised.

He looked at me in a sort of daze, as if he had just done it without thinking. I place my hands on his face, smiling. “That was brilliant.”

“She’s your friend,” he said breathlessly. Ron was helping Hermione on, staring at Draco in shock. Draco looked over me at Hermione. “And she saved me.”

“Thank you,” Hermione called over my shoulder. I couldn’t see her expression, but I knew her brows would be furrowed, mouth twisted in confusion. “For um, saving my life.”

Draco shrugged. “What do we do now?”

“It’s Potter!”

I turned around at the voice. A group of death eaters descending down on us and things happened too quickly to understand. Harry was standing closest to me and directly in front of the death eaters as they had come running down the hall. Yaxley was at the head of them and he was shouting a curse. I didn’t have to hear it to know what it was.

Before I could process and entire though, I was pulling Harry. I was twisting my body out of Draco’s grip and throwing my brother behind me, because it was a reaction. Time seemed to slow in the last two seconds before the green jet of light came colliding into my back, and two distinct things happened:

1.) I understood that I hadn’t moved my body. The other half of me moved, screaming that this was the only way to fix things. My dual personality had taken over, lashing out so strongly that my body had moved to her will and in front of my brother.

2.) My eyes met Draco’s. He wasn’t able to process anything fast enough, so as the curse hit me, I was able to see his blue eyes, filled with hope for the firs time in years. There was no trace of fear or sadness in that split second as breath left my lungs, as black took over.

Then there was nothing.