Please let me know what you think. I know it's depressing (especially for an introduction for my #1 OC) but I worked really hard on this and I would LOVE ANY AND ALL FEEDBACK! I have more stuff with my OCs (please don't hate my babies! They need love, too!) but I don't know if I should post them. Please tell me what you guys think!
LOVE M~
Vanessa Regulus Black raced down the long, deserted hallway on the second floor of Hogwarts. A wand was clutched tightly in her hand. She didn't know if it was hers or not. It could have been hers, but, in the confusion, it could have been mixed up with some other witch or wizard's.
She could feel her heart hammering furiously in her chest as she tore through the corridor. The 18-year-old witch didn't stop for she knew that, if she so much as slowed down, she would be too late. She could already hear the sounds of a fight emanating from around the rapidly approaching corner.
As she drew near, she was able to place the voices of the duelers and Vanessa felt a wild hope flare up inside of her.
Maybe he's not here, she thought. Bellatrix was lying.
Then, a voice that she treasured and loved more than anyone else's met her ears.
As soon as Fred Weasely's voice reached her, Vanessa felt that wild hope extinguish and her world begin to fall apart. She ran faster.
She couldn't understand what the duelers were saying, she could barely hear anything over the sound of her heart thumping in her ribcage and the blood pounding in her ears. But she knew his voice.
She would know it anywhere.
Vanessa turned the corner just as a blast ripped the air from her lungs and sent her flying backwards. As soon as she recovered from her shock, she leaped to her feet.
She could see him, the ghost of his last laugh etched on his face.
"No, no, no, no, no," she whispered as she rushed to his side. "Freddie, please, don't go."
But he was already gone.
As tears blinded her vision, she felt her heart start to shatter.
She cradled his head in her lap, wiping the blood from his face with the sleeve of her sweater.
She wanted to believe that he was just sleeping and that, at any moment, he would open his eyes and smile at her. But she knew that she would never see that gorgeous lopsided grin again.
"Fred," she whispered through her tears, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She gently kissed his forehead.
"Vanessa," George said gently.
The blue-eyed Slytherin looked up at the face of her now dead boyfriend's twin. She hadn't even noticed when he had joined her at Fred's side.
"We should move," George said, his voice cracking with grief as he struggled not to cry. "The Death Eaters could show up at any moment."
Vanessa looked back down at Fred's lifeless face. "We can't just leave him lying here."
"I'll get him," George reassured her. "You just get yourself to the Great Hall."
xXx
Vanessa lingered in the shadows of the Great Hall and surveyed the scene.
So many lives lost and the battle still wasn't over. Vanessa wasn't even sure if it was half over or if it was barely starting at all. So many lives… How many more innocent lives would be lost before the end? Would she live to see the end? Or would she join those whose bodies lay on the floor in neat rows?
But the real question, the one that lay at the top of her list—and everyone else's—was this: Would Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, win? Or would he be washed down the drain?
Vanessa sighed, leaning against a wall for a moment before sinking to the ground and putting her head in her hands.
Oh, Fred, she thought. If only I had been there sooner, I could have saved you…
"But I was too late." She whispered as grief washed over her. A sob worked its way to her throat only to get stuck for a moment before forcing its way out of her lips. Vanessa sat there, not caring if anyone saw her, and cried.
She felt someone gently put their hand on her knee and she jerked it away. She looked up, a scowl etched on her face.
It was none other than Dylan "Hat-Stall" Hall. The Ravenclaw male was crouched in front of her with a sympathetic expression.
"What do you want?" Vanessa demanded.
"I heard about what happened to Fred," he said with sympathy.
Vanessa's eyes narrowed. "Just get away from me," she said coldly.
"Vanessa, I—"
She stood to her feet. "Are you deaf?" she asked, raising her voice. "I said get away from me! I don't want your sympathy! I want my life back!" she shouted, her voice filling the area.
"'Nessa?" Siren Grace Potter took a tentative step towards her best friend.
Vanessa glanced at her friend before running from the room.
xXx
Vanessa dropped to the cold ground of what had once been the neat and orderly Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. The room was in shambles now. Desks were overturned and chairs were broken and papers were all over the floor.
Vanessa laid in the patch of floor that was void of any destruction. The room was dark and the only sound that could be heard was the sound of her soft sobbing.
Suddenly, a scream split the air, making her blood run cold. She bolted to her feet and ran in the direction of the sound. A jolt of fear and adrenaline raced through her for what felt like the millionth time that night. The only thing that she could think of was that the scream had sounded absolutely terrified.
As she raced down the hall, she pulled her wand from the back pocket of her jeans.
She followed the screaming to a corridor not far from the DADA classroom. Vanessa peered cautiously around the corner and felt her heart almost stop.
Fenrir Greyback had a young Hufflepuff backed against a wall and it was clear that his intentions were far from good.
Vanessa took a deep breath before running into the corridor, wand aimed at the werewolf's unguarded and unsuspecting back.
"Stupefy!" she said, crying out the first spell that came to her mind.
Greyback stumbled sideways, giving the Hufflepuff a small opening.
"Run!" Vanessa yelled at the terrified girl.
As the girl took off down the hall, Vanessa turned to follow and then several things happened very quickly.
Greyback snarled loudly and Vanessa whirled back around just in time to see a head of long red hair into her line of sight.
"NO!"
Siren threw herself in between the werewolf and her friend and was instantly caught by her neck.
"SIREN!" Vanessa screamed as the eldest child of James and Lily was slowly lifted off the ground.
The 18-year-old made no sound as her neck was slowly squeezed tighter and tighter. However, tears coursed wild paths as they poured from her green eyes.
Vanessa stood, frozen in shock as she watched her best friend being slowly choked to death.
Greyback snarled and, as if he were suddenly bored, squeezed as tight as he could, effectively snapping Siren's small neck.
"NO!" Vanessa screamed as the monster dropped the red-haired Slytherin on the ground, her long locks pooling out like blood.
At that moment, Samantha Sommers and Leah Lupin came racing into the corridor. Greyback turned his attention to the other two witches.
Samantha stared horrified and wide-eyed at the carnage before her as Leah began to tremble with rage. The 17-year-old Slytherin had her wand out in a matter of seconds and, aiming at Greyback started shouting a spell.
Without looking to see what the spell's effect was, Vanessa and Samantha scrambled to where Siren laid.
Vanessa instantly knew that she had died instantly. But she couldn't believe that it was all real.
Siren Grace Potter—Vanessa's best friend since that first day in Diagon Alley and quite possibly the nicest Slytherin in the history of Hogwarts—was dead.
A list of lost loved ones shot through Vanessa's head: Dad. Julianna. Aunt Tonks. Professor Lupin. Fred. And now Siren.
The world begin to blur and she couldn't hold back her tears. Her world was crashing around her. Everything and everyone was being ripped mercilessly from her grasp no matter how hard she held on. Her life was falling to pieces. She was losing everything.
What more did she have to lose? And would she lose them, too?
Vanessa looked up as a blood-chilling noise pierced the air. A dark red, fire-like essence was now enveloping Greyback and the strong smell of burning flesh filled the air and mingled with the smell of death that loomed over Hogwarts.
Samantha gagged as the smell got stronger. Vanessa squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears to try and block out the image that was attempting to embed itself in her mind and the screams that assaulted her eats.
Abruptly, the screaming ended. The smell, however, still remained.
Vanessa opened her eyes and uncovered her ears. Greyback was gone, the only thing that verified him ever being there was the charred markings on the ground.
Leah still had her wand aimed at the spot where Greyback had been. Her eyes were wide and her chest rose and fell rapidly as she tried to catch her breath. After a long, silent moment, Leah dropped her arm to her side. She looked at her friends.
"Leah? Are you alright?" Samantha asked slowly.
Leah nodded before sinking to the ground, unconscious.
Samantha left Vanessa and checked to make sure the younger girl was still breathing.
"She's fine," Samantha said. "She's just unconscious. I don't think her body could handle that much adrenaline."
Vanessa said nothing as she looked at Siren. Two more of the people she loved most were gone and both in a single night. And it was her fault. She hadn't been there to save Fred because she had hesitated. And she might have well killed her best friend with her own hands because of her stupidity.
Footsteps reached the two girls ears and Samantha instinctively reached for her wand. Their eyes locked onto the corner from which the noise was coming from. Vanessa didn't move. She didn't care anymore. What was her life worth without the ones she loved? In her mind, death would be better than life at the moment.
The footsteps were getting louder and Samantha's hand trembled as she held her wand ready.
A moment later, another one of their fellow Slytherin friends—Magenta Prince—came around the corner.
"Oh, thank Merlin that I found you girls. I was afraid that—" Her voice caught when she saw the state of her friends. "Merlin…" she breathed. Tears filled her dark eyes. "What happened? Why her?"
A nearby explosion shook the ground.
"We can't stay here," Samantha said. "Magenta, help me carry Leah back to the Great Hall."
"What about Siren?" Vanessa asked.
Magenta and Samantha exchanged glances.
"Vanessa, she's gone. There's nothing we can do."
"We're not going to leave her here!" Vanessa exclaimed.
"I got her." Dylan rounded the corner, startling the girls with his silent approach. He carefully picked up the lifeless girl.
Vanessa silently followed the group to the Great Hall, feeling dead despite the fact she was still alive.
END CHAPTER!