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Harry Potter and the Hunger Games

Chapter 11

Burn It All

I sit there for a long time, holding Tracy's hand. I know I'm supposed to move away so they can collect the bodies but I can't shake myself from the trance. The fire in my soul burns and buns but my body cant seem to react to it. It's the soft chime of a bell that finally breaks me out of my stupor. A parachute is descending toward me. A gift from a sponsor. The container lands softly beside me and I consider it for a moment. Carefully I open the box to retrieve what's inside. I pull out a single wooden matchstick. I can easily start a fire thanks to the survival training and Tracy's more experienced instruction, but the match is more than that. It's a message. One I'm inclined to listen to. Burn it.

Burn it down. Burn it all. Make them pay! It wasn't the other tributes who had to pay for what they'd done to Nym or Tracy. It was the Capitol. I was going to burn down the arena.

I kiss Tracy's cold dead hand, grab Draco's fallen sword, and then leave the area behind so the bodies can be picked up. Tracy would get home, even if it was in a coffin.

I wait until night falls so I'm sure the bodies are gone and wont be caught in the blaze I'm about to set. I rest, knowing I'll need my energy. I'm not woken until the anthem blares and I see Draco's face in the sky. Draco Malfoy of District One. Hermione Granger of District Three. Tracy Davis of District Seven. And Daphne Greengrass of District Nine. When it ends I'm ready to begin. Sticking the match in my pocket, I turn to the hedge wall. I need to find out where is best to start the fire and I can only do that if I can see the whole arena. Grabbing a fistful of branches I pull myself up, climbing up the hedge with minimal effort. Soon I'm standing at the top of the hedge look over the entire maze. The stone area, the lake, and the ice path are the only part of the arena that are not flammable. The ice path could be a problem, given that it moves. The Gamemakers could send it to put out my fire. That just means I'll have to start in the forrest, where the ice path cannot go. It's an assumption but I'll have to chance it.

My light weight allows me to travel quickly atop the hedges without falling through, so I hop from wall to wall, making my way back to the forest without having to navigate the maze. When I reach the forest I gather firewood, staying clear of the swamp where the wood will be damp. I set up my fire about a meter from a tree, close enough that I can get it to catch but far enough that the Gamemakers think I'm just stupid, not committing arson. I place what's left of my shirt at the base of my pyre, knowing it will be the best starter I can ask for. Lighting the solitary match I set my shirt ablaze. I keep building the fire up and up until I'm sure the Gamemakers know what I'm doing.

Sure enough it starts to rain, but my fire is protected under the tree. It's time to stop building and set it onto the forrest itself. I take one of the longer sticks from the fire and hold it up to the tree's branches. It takes a while and my arm starts to ache but I ignore it. When the branch catches I move to the next one. Soon the entire tree is aflame and the rain can't do much about it. I move to the next tree to do the same but the tree has been wet too thoroughly and wont catch. Shit. I guess I underestimated the Gamemakers. I'm about to give up when the rain ends abruptly, and then trees start bursting into flame left and right.

I scowl. The Gamemakers are taking my idea and making it their own. There's only three tributes left and they're going to force the Games to a close. It's not be the payback I wanted but at the very least I'm making them end their Games in under a week. The fire starts to consume everything and I realize I need to get out or I will burn with the forest. I make my way to the top of a hedge wall and survey the arena. All around the edge of it the fires are starting. They're going to drive us towards the middle. Very well. I start running along the hedges, hopping again from on to the other, this time in the opposite direction, towards the cornucopia.

I've made it half way when I start feeling hot and glance behind me to see the progression of the the flames. They've moved much faster than I expected and are already upon me. I put on a burst of speed but it's no use. The flames lick at my back and feat and soon I'm on fire too. I grit my teeth to stem to pain and keep running but it's become unbearable. I recall the times I've been hurt while time is slowed, I don't feel the pain until after things return to normal. I take a deep breath and concentrate on the feeling of time slowing.

It doesn't work. The skin of my back is blistering from the fire so I unzip my jacket and throw it aside. The flames now licking at my bare back but at least it's not directly on my skin. I've never made time slow in a situation where I wasn't attacking something, so maybe that's the answer. I focus my eyes on the cornucopia ahead and tell myself I'm going to ram it. The pain recedes and I know I've succeeded. Not only am I not feeling the pain anymore but I'm running faster too. I reach the last hedge wall before the central clearing and realize I'm going to have to jump down 15 feet. I don't even hesitate before launching myself forward, towards the cornucopia.

I approach the ground with one leg forward, ready to bend my knee and roll forward. But as my foot touches the grass I realize my leg is at the wrong angle. I skid forward, my knee cracking and my leg bending upward. I manage to wrench it aside so it doesn't end up breaking any further, throw my sword aside so I don't land on it, and tumble face first into the ground.

Time returns to its normal pace and pain returns to me. My back burns badly, my knee is broken and now so is my nose. I can taste the blood running from it down to my chin. I turn over to look around. The entire arena is blazing, fire covering every bit of the hedge walls. This is what I wanted but now it's just another part of the Games. They used my revenge against me and I'm about finished.

Cedric stumbles out of the flaming labyrinth, liming and burning. He's shouting something at me but I can't make it out. As he gets closer I think I make out the word "spider" but I can't be sure. And it's confirmed because an enormous spider crashes through the burning hedge behind Cedric. Cursing, I crawl over to my discarded sword and pick it up. I struggle onto my good leg and prepare to fight off the spider. Cedric finally stops next to me and spins quickly to face the spider as well. He's managed to get ahold of a spear somehow and stand ready to fight. In no time the spider is upon us and time slows for me. I swipe my sword, this one heavy like the one in the training room, towards one of it's legs, while Cedric jabs his spear at the spider's face. By now I'm used to being near invincible when time is distorted, so it comes as a surprise when the Spider's legs moves out of the way of my strike. I lose my careful footing as my swing overbalances me, and fall on my back. The spider lunges down and snatches up my injured leg in its jaws.

I scream in pain, feeling the spider's pincers tear into my ankle as well as the weight of my entire body pulling on my broken knee. Cedric manages to dash under me and the spider, and stabs his spear into the spider's underbelly. It shrieks and lets go of my leg. I crumple to the ground in a heap and barely roll away from one of the spider's legs that crashes down where my head had been. I snatch up my dropped sword again and swipe at the leg. This time it hits. I limp forward to slash off the next leg. The spider starts to teeter, and Cedric is still underneath, jabbing his spear into it repeatedly.

"Get out of there!" I warn him. He pulls his spear out and rolls out from under the spider. I remove another of its legs and it falls down, unable to support itself. Cedric raises his spear up and throws it into the spider's face. It shriek in pain and fury but isn't dead yet. I hobble towards its face, raise my sword overhead, and bring it crashing down onto the spider's head. It finally silences and stops moving. Cedric remains standing but I can't. I fall back onto my behind, and both of us stay silent for a moment other than for our heavy breathing. Finally Cedric speaks.

"I can't kill you, you know that right?"

My brow furrows.

"Why is that?" Why should he have any trouble killing me? I know he took out at least one person in the bloodbath, and he scored a 10 like I did. He's also standing whereas I'm on the ground. He sighs defeatedly.

"Because you're her brother. I just… I couldn't do that."

For the first time ever I realize that Cedric is a truly good person. His heart has survived the arena, and just maybe he could survive the Capitol. I couldn't get Nym back home, but she was doomed the moment her name came out of the bowl. Tracy might have been able to make it, especially with her Johanna to help her through, but I failed her. Cedric might be the last of us worth saving. Ginny crosses my mind for a moment but I dismiss her.

"I'll do it then," I tell him. He looks at me confused until I take up my sword again, pointing it at my own chest. He stumbles towards me, trying to stop me. I'm about to do it when an arrow flies right through where Cedric was previously standing. We both turn in the direction the arrow came from and another arrow thuds into his hip. He yells in pain, falling to his knees unable to stand. I stand as carefully as possible, trying to find the shooter. Standing on top of the cornucopia is Ginny, another arrow already drawn and pointing once more at Cedric. It flies and impacts him right in the chest. He lets out a final grunt and a cannon fires. He falls forward, the arrow snapping under his weight.

Ginny had killed Cedric. The last person I might have been able to save. And she'd killed Nym. Whether Nym was better off dead or victorious was not the point. She killed my sister. Ginny would not be leaving the arena. I step forward, barely noticing my broken knee anymore. It was probably on its way to healing already anyway. My sword drops from my hand and I can't quite comprehend why for a moment. Then I notice. Time has slowed again and I'm not in control anymore. This time I don't care. As long as my body's instincts end with Ginny dead, I don't care what I use. She nocks another arrow, this one pointed at me. It flies straight enough but I side step it easily. She's not the best shot but she can kill well enough, as long as it's not me she's trying to hit. She fires another and then another. I dodge both, and now I'm almost at the cornucopia.

She shakily pulls out her last arrow, draws it back aiming carefully.

"Stop, Harry!" She shouts, her voice trembling. "Please! I'm your friend. Don't kill me," she begs me. It's a strange thing to say to someone you've been trying to shoot for the last minute. But even if I wanted to I can't stop now. I'm no longer in control and I don't feel any desire to take it back. Seeing I'm not stopping she lets fly her last arrow, right at my face. My hand shoots up to snatch the arrow right out of the air before it can touch me. Ginny lets out a desperate sob, seeing me still standing and holding her last arrow. I twirl it around and hold it up over my shoulder. I pull back slightly and then throw it like a javelin. I didn't know that was even possible but somehow my body knew how to do it. The arrow hit Ginny in the shoulder and with a squeak she slips and falls off the side of the cornucopia. She lands hard and wails as the arrow is pushed deeper into her shoulder.

I take my time walking over to her and she tries to drag herself away with one arm. My hand reaches out and flips her over onto her back. I grab her wrists and pin them to the ground under my knees. She's sobbing hysterically now, and thrashing her legs, trying to throw me off. My fingers come around her neck and start to squeeze. She lets out a shrill scream before I close off her windpipe. It feels like forever but it's probably only a couple of minutes before he thrashing slows and then ceases. And the the cannon booms.

"The winner of the 69th Hunger Game! Harry Potter!" comes the announcement, and still my fingers don't go of her neck. The dark blue sky fades away, revealing a sunrise glinting off the shiny golden surface of the cornucopia. I lift my gaze and find my reflection. And there I see it. Just like in my dream, the green eyes I received from my mother are now crimson red. My fingers finally loosen from Ginny's neck and my face tilts up into the sky as I let out a maniacal laugh.

Thanks for reading.