Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Note: This is my very first fanfic. I really hope that you will like it. Reviews are highly appreciated. Thank you!
CHAPTER ONE
"Harry, duck!"
Without looking back, Harry Potter ducked down and before the Deatheater could even cast a deadly spell at The Boy Who Lived, Max beat the Deatheater to it.
"Stupefy!"
The Deatheater was hit and fell into the ground. Max hurriedly run towards Harry and helped him stood up.
"Thanks," he said breathlessly as he looked back at the Deatheater that fell on the ground. Harry looked back at Max and noticed her bleeding arms. "You're hit!"
Max rolled her eyes and grinned at Harry. "It's just a scratch, it's nothing. Come on, we need to evacuate the rest of the people to Hogwarts!"
Harry was about to argue, but Max was already running inside a house and he heard her casted a spell to another Deatheater.
He shook his head and smiled to himself. His list of reasons why he admired the girl just keeps on getting longer every day. Well, Harry thought grinning to himself, he will not be left behind and he ran towards the other house to help his team mates.
Meanwhile, Max, together with the two little girls she rescued a while ago, apparated to Hogwarts. She gently put down the one she held on her waist to the ground as soon as they were inside the school.
Hogwarts became a refuge for those people who are not capable to fight in the war. Professor Dumbledore surrounded the school with a very powerful protecting spell—preventing Deatheaters and even the dementors from entering the premises.
Only the members of the Orders and the people who weren't marked can apparate in and out of the school.
"Are you alright?" she lowered herself to the floor to put herself eye level with the girls. The girls nodded at her as their silent reply. She could see—could feel their fears and Max could not help herself but to hugged them both.
"It's alright. You're safe here, I promise."
She felt them relaxed in her arms. She smiled to herself.
"Max!"
She gently separated herself from the girls and straightened up. She turned around and saw Hermione running towards her, with Ginny at her tail.
Hermione hugged her first before gasping when she noticed Max's bleeding arm. Hermione didn't waste any time. She cleaned and casted a healing spell on Max's wound.
Hermione and Ginny were one of the five students that received an apprenticeship with Madam Pomfey months before the second war started. And now they help Madam Pomfey aid those who are sick and wounded because of the war.
"Please take care of these girls," Max said after she uttered her thanks to Hermione. "I need to get back there."
And before Hermione and Ginny could even say a word, Max apparated back to Shammon Rock, a small wizarding village that is currently under attack by the Deatheaters.
As soon as she felt the ground, she hurriedly walked towards where her other team mates are. She saw Fred and Luna fight off two Deatheaters at the same time and was about to help them when she heard a scream.
She stopped on her tracks. She listened again. And just like in their training, she blocked out all the other noises and only focused on the scream.
To the left!
She immediately ran towards her left barely noticing that she entered the woods. She ran and ran and prayed that she arrived there on time.
There!
She finally saw a woman and a little boy cowered on the ground. The woman put herself between the unmasked Deatheater and her child already accepting her imminent death.
"Avada Ke—"
"Expulso!"
Max's wand produced a burst of bright blue light and it hit the Deatheater before he could even finish his killing curse.
The Deatheater was blown off far away enough from the woman and her child and was slammed into a tree. His body fell limply on the ground.
She walked towards the woman.
"Are you alright?" Max asked, but before the woman could even answer, the little boy escaped from her mother's arms and ran towards the body of the Deatheater.
"Don't—"
A hand stopped her from following the boy. She looked at the woman. "What are you—"
"Father!"
It was from the boy as he shook the lifeless body in front of him.
"Father! Father, wake up!"
Max's eyes widened in shocked.
Oh no…no… no way…
"Mum, father won't wake up! Mum, let's wake him up!"
A sob escaped from Max as she realized what she had done.
She killed a Deatheater…she killed the child's father.
"Please…don't blame yourself," the woman said and smiled sadly at her, tears running from her eyes. "You only did what was right at the moment. You saved us."
The woman tapped her left cheek before she walked towards her crying son.
Tears started to fall from her eyes. Max wanted to apologize, but she knew that an apology won't bring back the life of the little boy's father.
She let them mourned for several minutes before she apparated them to Hogwarts. She first made sure that the woman and her child were aided by the healers before she apparated back.
Instead of apparating back to where her team mates were, she returned to the woods where the lifeless body of the Deatheater was left alone.
She casted a spell and a deep hole in the ground appeared. The hole was deep enough to bury the body of the unnamed Deatheater. She levitated his body and gently placed him inside the hole. She covered it up and conjured a bouquet of flowers using the Orchideous spell; she placed it on the top of the make-shift grave.
She kneeled down and transfigured a small stone into a tomb stone. Using her wand, she engraved words on the tomb stone.
She closed her eyes to pray to whoever is listening from above. At that same moment, a man in a dark hood appeared behind a large tree. He was far away enough for Max to even notice.
Max did not know to whom she is praying to, but still she did. She prayed for everyone. She prayed for those innocent people…for those who lost their lives in the battle; she even prayed for a miracle.
When she was done, Max took a last glance at the grave before standing up and apparating to where her other team mates are.
The man hiding behind the tree finally took a step forward and walked towards the make-shift grave and read the words engraved on the stone.
Here lies a father and a husband; a victim of the war.
He kneeled down and touched some of the petals of the flowers placed on top of the grave. A victim of the war, he read the last five words again.
His wand clenched tightly in his hand as he remembered the fleeting sense of peace he felt as he watched the girl praying on the very ground he was standing on to.
He stood up from kneeling and looked up to the dark sky. He closed his eyes and prayed; he prayed just as how she prayed to whoever is listening from above.
He prayed for her safety.
He prayed for his mother.
He prayed for a miracle.
