On the 1st of May Zarah left Common room so early it was still dark outside. Well, it was was always dark in the dungeons, but as she got higher up the windows showed stars and a waning moon. She was too excited and disturbed by it all at the same time so sleep had been out of question. Finally she had given in and gone to the Library although the meeting with James was still many hours away.
School was desolate. It had been for months, everyone knew it but nobody spoke about it. Many vulnerable students had gone back home and they were lucky because the rumor was that many more had just disappeared. Speculation was that Carrows had disposed of them or turned them into unpleasant sculptures. Somehow, Zarah had a feeling that the truth was much more sinister than that.
She waited by the Library until mistress Prince showed up and lifted the entry restriction. Then she took up the far end of the room, by one of the study tables, and tried to distract herself by reading an essay compilation about Ancient Runes. Slowly her mind went to the space where nothing else except for the written word existed and she felt calm and normal.
When the commotion started it took Zarah a long time to actually pay any attention to it. People were running in the corridor and it could be heard all the way from her seat at the back. When the noise grew so loud it could not be ignored anymore, Zarah went to inspect what was going on and found the school corridors brimming with life. As quiet as they had been this morning, they were full of students and teachers, all hurrying around in every direction. Was there a fire somewhere?
And just as she said that a roaring bang somewhere from above shook the very core of the building. Screams and even more running ensued.
''Quickly, everyone to the Great Hall! Now!'' miss Prince yelled loudly from inside the Library, ushering all the students in it to leave.
''Why? What is going on?'' Zarah tried to talk to her but was pushed out the door by the stream of other kids.
Every teacher on the way said the same thing and it soon became clear that something serious was going on and she stopped fighting the wave of bodies that practically carried her down to the ground floor.
Without any explanations the student body waited impatiently inside the Great Hall. Houses were segregated and everyone, every single person, stood as far away from Slytherins as they could while still remaining inside the Hall.
Zarah's heart and mind was racing. Was this it? Was it finally happening? Whatever had been brewing for the past years was about to boil over and get them all dirty. She couldn't talk with anyone from her house, they were shut down like clams, standing in small groups and shooting angry and frightened glares at anyone who approached. And there was no chance in Helheim anyone else would talk to her. Professors were hurrying around, organising the large tables to be removed as injured bodies were carried inside. Stupefied silence with a hint of horror, that was the flavour of the day.
She searched the small crowd of green ties, trying to find James, but he didn't seem to be among them. Zarah wanted to go look for him but knew she wouldn't be allowed to leave as was evident by a few altercations she had witnessed before with other students. So, she sat down by the wall, descritely finding her wand amongst the folds of her jumper. She prayed there would be no need for it. But, if history had taught her anything, it was that nothing good came from being a Slytherin.
Which soon proved true as McGonagall informed present snakes that they were now excused from the school and shall be escorted to a safe point of retreat. This also didn't come as a surprise. No one bothered to ask if Slytherins wanted to stand for Hogwarts, they just assumed they all were corrupt and couldn't wait to get their treacherous asses out of sight and out of mind.
Joining the roundup she thought furiously if maybe James was still waiting in the Library. Surely not. There was no way anyone could have missed what was going on. So, when the group of Slytherins rounded a corner on the third floor, Zarah cast a concelement on herself and swiftly slipped away from the group, sneaking into the Library. Carefully closing the door, she stood by it for about five minutes, making sure that Filch wouldn't come back. When he didn't, the girl moved further into the library, looking between the bookshelves and rows of tables. She came to the end of the room without finding so much as a soul. James was not here. This perplexed and worried her. However, there was a chance he had gotten out early, before everyone was mobilized. Maybe even his family called him back. Abruptly enough for him not to have time to say, well, anything? Uncertainty and heaviness weighed on Zarah's mind but she couldn't afford to let her mind drift into a bad place, not now.
Instead, she walked over to one of the big windows, overlooking the South side of the castle. Above it the shield was a twinkling and swirling with colors of magic, almost pulsating like a raw nerve. The more she looked at it the more it felt like her own heartbeat, her own soul pulsated against the inside of her being. Like a raw nerve, yes… Blinking away the feeling, she then looked over to the bridge that lead to the school and saw them. All of them. The Death Eaters. The giants. An army of things that wanted to kill them. All of them and wouldn't even break a sweat or blink.
Zarah didn't get scared often. Because most of the time she could rationalize the reason behind why she would be afraid. But this… this was just violence. Violence for the sake of one man. For the sake of Voldemort. For the sake of Potter. It had nothing to do with her and she couldn't do anything to prevent it or change it. And that was what scared her, the complete inability to have any control. The world, the way it was at this particular moment in time, did not care whether she lived or died.
She needed to move, get out of the castle, run away and not look back. Sneaking out of the Library, she slowly moved up towards the sixth floor where Filch had said they were going. Something that Zarah only noticed after it became a niggling feeling at the back of her brain was the fact that all the staircases had stopped moving. All of them. The school stood still. It stood still and watched its children perish.
There was a commotion around the next corner and Zarah stopped, hiding behind a column, waiting, listening. Crushing debris, screams, some curses. It was fight between several people and by the sounds of it didn't seem to be dying down. Finally Zarah dared a quick look around the corner. What she saw was three large backs, clad in black, turned towards her and at least three other people facing them. They could've been teachers or students, the glance was too short to distinguish. Several spells flew all the way to her, hitting the wall and sending pieces of stones flying everywhere. Zarah drew deeper into the hiding place and swore under her breath. She could try to find another route, but was afraid she would get lost. And this was the most direct way to the sixth floor.
What felt like five minutes later the fighting was still in full swing. Zarah again peaked around the column, seeing now only two backs towards her and three other students. But by looks of it the kids were being backed into a corner. The two Death Eaters were forcing them to retreat. Leaning back, she quickly weighed her options. She could wait until it was over, but there was a possibility that the Death Eaters would then come this way and find her. There was only that much a concealment spell would do for her. Or she could join the fight. Leaning her flushed face against the cold stone wall, she prayed to Morgana, to Merlin, to the school itself. Deep down she knew what she had to do, what she needed to do.
Wand in hand, halfway through casting a stunner, Zarah rounded the corner and sent the hex straight into the back of the guy on the left. He folded like a paper fan, hitting the floor head first. The other one turned around, its mask showing nothing but white smoothness. Zarah dared a look at the people pressed against the wall. They were students, two were bleeding. She raised her wand again, preparing to cast another stunning spell, when without a word a green flash was shot her way. Her body reacted before her mind could analyze the situation, dropping to the floor and rolling sideways. Before trying to get up, she cast a stunner but it was easily deflected. Not waiting, she rolled again and got on her feet, sending a disarming jinx which was also deflected.
One of the students tried to join in by casting a complicated web above his head, but the Death Eater saw it coming and sent the young wizard tumbling into the wall. There was a loud crack of bones breaking. This was not a fair fight. This was not training. She was going to die if she didn't do something right now. Waving and pointing, Zarah continued casting stunners as she slowly moved closer to the man. The other two students tried to join in but were swiftly disarmed and cursed, one had a anti-air jinx put around his head. Seeing him gasp and clutch his throat, Zarah took her attention away from her opponent to cast a counterspell. It was all it took for the Death Eater to hit her with an Expelliarmus. Staggering back a little, the girl saw the wand leave her hand and fly into the air. Without even thinking, she ran forward, yelling ''NO!'' and reaching for it. The white wand froze mid air, allowing Zarah's open palm to close around it. Immediately she formed another seal and as soon as her feet hit the floor she sent a crushing orange blast right into the chest of the enemy. Finally not having time to deflect that, he was lifted of the ground and thrown into the wall with so much force that it caved in the stone. As it was mostly magic's doing, the man himself was only immobilized and not yet harmed.
Stopping her momentum, Zarah exhaled rapidly, doubling over. The spell had taken so much so suddenly that it made her dizzy. But, at least, the curse had taken. Ironically, Carrow would have been proud to know she had learned this one in the Dark Arts class only a few months ago. A wicked smirk formed on her face as she straightened to take in the situation. The boy who was suffocating looked fine, sitting on the floor and panting. The girl next to him held her bleeding upper arm but otherwise looked fine. It turned out there were two more students behind them, lying on the floor. And the one that had hit the wall. He did not look so good, blood pooling under his head. Shit.
A movement caught her peripheral vision, bringing the Death Eater back into focus. He was struggling against the weight of the spell, moving when he shouldn't have been able to. Had she cast it wrong? Maybe she just didn't have enough power to do it properly. But, while Zarah was analyzing her misgivings, the bastard had gotten his wand hand free.
''Watch out!'' the girl on the floor yelled, momentarily dragging Zarah's attention away from the problem at hand. When her head whipped back she saw his wand raised and mouth snarling open in ''Ava-...''. She was quicker this time, drawing her wand all the way back and whipping it forward with so much force and intention as if she was throwing a knife.
''Basti Annilis!'' and with the whiplash of the movement, several fat, short arrows made of light and energy materialized from thin air and flew straight into the body of the man, cutting him halfway through his curse. Final arrow shot through his eye but a kill shot like that was not necessary as two others had already stopped his heart and pierced jugular. The sound of them making impact traveled to her ears almost a second later. Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
Zarah didn't lower her arm or blink. She needed to make sure he was dead and wouldn't miraculously come back and kill them all. A minute later, with much steadier hand, she cast a Levicorpus and flew him right out of the nearest window. Only when she heard that his body had hit the ground, did Zarah lean back from the windowsill and exhale. Her gaze fell on the group of kids who started to gather themselves up from the floor. They were watching her warely and Zarah got a distinct feeling that now that the main threat was out of the way she might very soon be perceived as one. Her gaze slipped down to her green Slytherin knot peeking out from underneath the jumper. Right. This was how it was, aftertall.
She got out of the corridor as fast as she could, leaving the injured or possibly even dead behind. But it wasn't her problem, not anymore. She didn't let her wand go, feeling it throbbing in the aftermath of such magic used. And her mind fought against itself, falling into the pit of rage at herself one moment, self pity next and loathing after that. She had killed someone. Maybe not in cold blood, maybe in self defence but nonetheless, a murder was a murder no matter how you dressed it up. But she had to get out first…
Her thoughts were interrupted by a omnipresent voice. The Dark Lord spoke, who else could it be? From the very first syllable Zarah had bile crawling up her throat and violent shivers shook her tired body. He demanded for Potter to be handed over. So it was true. All this was between Voldemort and that Potter kid. All the rumours, crazy speculations, insane guesses now sounded truer than any text book.
Among fear and frantic panic the anger was coming back. Every bit of magical blood spilled was a waste? What a load of fucking bullshit that was. She gripped her wand desperately and stood up from sitting against the corridor wall. An hour to get out of here. This was not her fight, she didn't want it to be. She had nothing to fight for, nothing to protect, not to gain. It might even be that she will be prosecuted for partaking in the fight as it was.
Yes, getting out and away. For the first time in her school life and probably the only time in Filch's entire existence, someone was hoping, nay praying, that the scrawny old man would appear around the next corner.
TBC