Witch Hunters

It had been hours since Lilly and Harry had heard from Liam, and they were beginning to worry. It wasn’t usually Liam’s way to keep secrets from them, and that made Lilly all the more worried. She knew that something was up, but she just didn’t know it was.

She and Harry were sitting in the inn, which was lit only by a candle in the center of the room. Darkness had approached much more quickly than either of them had expected, and they were hoping Liam would be back before the sun fell.

“Do you think we should go look for him?” Harry asked, looking up at Lilly from the pages of his tattered book. He had been writing for well over an hour and that was the first thing he’d spoken since he started. Lilly was happy that he had finally said something, because she wasn’t as good at occupying herself as he was.

Lilly bit her lip tightly, looking back at Harry. She knew that Liam would be mad if they went after him and Harry probably knew that too. Liam wasn’t the type to want a knight in shining armor to come to his rescue, especially if that night came in the form of Harry and Lilly.

Of course, what he wanted and what he needed weren’t always the same, and Lilly knew they had to go looking for him, whether he’d be mad at them or not. He could be hurt or captured, and even as strong as he was, he couldn’t always get himself out of the messes he made.

“We should,” Lilly said quickly, nodding her head as she stood up from the wooden chair beneath her. Harry made the same movements, and then walked across the room to grab he and Lilly’s things. They didn’t know what they were going to get into, but it would be better if they had too many things than not enough.

After Harry had given Lilly her axe and strapped his satchel over his shoulder, the two of them began walking out of the inn and towards the woods, with only a vague idea of where they were heading. They were both just hoping they’d find some sort of clue to Liam’s whereabouts along the way.

They had only just barely made it into the woods when Harry stopped dead in his tracks, causing Lilly to crash head first into his back.

“What is it?”

“I thought I heard something,” Harry said, flicking his eyes up to the tops of the trees and all around them.

Lilly hadn’t heard anything herself, but she perked her ears up and tried to listen for remnants of whatever it was that Harry heard. No more sounds came, though, aside from both of their breathing, and they brushed it off.

Harry still stayed stationary though, and Lilly wondered what it was that kept him from moving. Was he scared when Liam wasn’t there? Lilly knew she wasn’t as good with an axe as Liam, but surely she could defend the both of them well enough. Harry wasn’t a fighter, after all.

Just as Lilly was about to ask Harry why he wasn’t moving, he turned around, looking her dead in the eyes, and told her to duck. She didn’t have a chance to ask why before she heard the cackling of a witch, and Harry tackled her to the ground, lying firmly on top of her.

“Don’t make a sound,” he whispered into her ear, still lying on top of her to shield her from the danger above. Lilly obeyed him, even slowing down her breathing so it was quieter, and closed her eyes as tightly as she could. She’d never been frightened by a witch before – startled, maybe, but never frightened. This time, she was more terrified of the witch than she’d ever been of anything, and she couldn’t figure out why.

Was it because Liam wasn’t there to back it up? Was it because she didn’t trust herself to be strong when he wasn’t around?

Harry sensed her panicking beneath him, and even though he had even less clue what to do than she did, he knew he had to try to be strong. He’d never practiced with an axe before, but he’d seen Liam do it a thousand times and he’d taken more notes on the topic than he could count. He wouldn’t be nearly as good as Liam or even half as good as Lilly, but she couldn’t do it alone and he knew that.

“Where’s your axe?” he whispered into her ear, shuffling a bit so he hovered above her.

Lilly’s throat was suddenly tightening in panic, and no matter what she did, she couldn’t force herself to speak. All she could do was pull it from her side and hold it out to him. She wasn’t thinking well enough to question what Harry was going to do with it, but if she was, she would’ve stopped him, because Harry had no idea what he was doing.

Before Lilly could put all the pieces together, Harry had stood up and was wielding the axe in his hand the same way Liam did, with two hands on the handle and at his side.

The cackling of the witch came again, and Lilly heard the sound of a broom rustling through the trees. She was more terrified than she’d ever been, as she watched Harry pull the axe to his side, but he seemed so calm. He had his feet planted firmly on the ground, ready to take down whatever force was against them, even though he’d never done anything like it before.

He didn’t care that he was putting himself in danger, because Lilly needed him and all he wanted was to keep her safe. He’d never been able to do that before, but he had faith that he could do it now.

If there was anything that Harry understood about witches, it was that you had to have a plan, and making plans was one thing he was very good at. It only took him a few seconds to survey the area and come up with a plan of attack, loosely based off of one he’d been writing in his book for weeks.

The witch swooped down, just like he had expected, and he made a few calculating dives to dodge it. A cackle came from overhead as the witch thought she was getting the better of him, but it was all going according to Harry’s plan.

This time, when she swooped down, Harry did the opposite of what he had done before. He jumped as high into the air as he could, swinging the axe in a downward motion, and coming straight down on her head.

When he came back down to the ground, with the two separated parts of the witch on either side of him, he let out a deep breath and pressed his hands to the ground to hold himself up.

Lilly still laid on the ground, her eyes wide in shock at what Harry had done, because it was the last thing she had ever expected from him. She couldn’t believe he’d put his life on the line, knowing full well that he’d never fought a wish before, just because she couldn’t get ahold of herself.

As soon as Harry caught his breath, he raced over to Lilly, running his hands over her face while he checked her body for any cuts or scrapes.

“I’m okay,” Lilly said, shaking her head as she sat up.

“Just let me check. You could still be in shock.”

Lilly chuckled, shaking her head again, because if anyone could be hurt it was Harry. He was the one that had stood up when she wasn’t able to, and it was very likely that he was the one in shock.

“What about you?” Lilly asked, pointing to a large scrape on Harry’s elbow. “Let me look at you.”

“Oh, that’s nothing,” Harry said quickly, pulling a cream out of his now dust covered satchel. He put a little bit of the cream over his cut before checking over Lilly once more. Lilly couldn’t help but smile at him, because he was still so worried about her. Even though Liam was always the strong one, Harry was always the one who picked up the pieces after and made sure everyone was okay. It was a nice balance and something that Lilly admired so much in him.

After Harry insisted on making sure she was okay for the third time, Lilly finally stood up, shaking her head at him. “I’m fine, but we need to go find Liam.”