Chapter Twenty-Five is up and ready! And I think I will split it into two chapters.
I read through all of the reviews from the last three chapters, and I have to say, they all surprised me. Honestly, no one thought it was Huntington? Now, I'm not trying to sound cocky or anything, I was just afraid that at this point I had made it so blatantly obvious it was him that it would have been pointless to even have everyone guess their opinions.
I don't know, maybe just because I'm writing the story, I felt as though I made it obvious. Guess not, though, which is welcoming for me!
But anyhoo, here we go!
Chapter Twenty-Five: Evening the Score
Hermione squeezed her eyes shut as the switch was flipped. She could not bear to watch any of this.
In her mind, she flashed to all the people who were no longer alive- Kevin, Jeff, David, General Brownside- and wondered what their last thoughts had been. Had they been scared? Surprised? Had they even known they had died? Would everyone know, when they went to bed this night, that they would never wake up?
She wished she could take it all back. Whatever it was that she had done to get her into this position, she would gladly take it back if it meant this would never happen. The last three years, gone at the snap of the fingers. Would that not be better for everyone? Instead of being subjected now to the destruction of everything they had ever known. They had done nothing to deserve this. They were just trying to stay alive. Was that so high a crime?
She clenched her body, waiting for the blow that was sure to come.
Minutes crept by, one after the other. A long heavy silence accompanied the ticking clock. She cracked open an eye.
Nothing had happened. They were still there.
"What the-?" Huntington flipped the switch back and forth several times, with no visible results showing. He stepped back, jaw clenched, eyes in puzzlement, before he then went around to the back of the machine. Hermione and Ron shared a quick look. Ron reached down for his wand.
"No...NO!"
There was a loud banging sound as Huntington smashed his fist against the back of the Supersonic. He stormed back around and aimed his wand at Ron's heart. Ron backed away from his own wand slowly, hands in the air.
"Where is it?" Huntington demanded, his voice sounding deranged. "WHERE IS IT?"
"Where is what?" Ron asked, his voice slightly shaky from before but slowly regaining himself.
"The battery," came the reply. "The power source. It's the only way this thing works, and it's not here. What did you do with it?"
A warm feeling flowed through Ron's veins as the good news sunk in. Of course. Even with the magical enhancements this thing had received, it was still a machine, made by Muggles. He remembered something McAllen used to tell them: "Muggle machines- hard to build, but easy to break."
"I don't think this has quite sunken in for you yet," snarled Huntington. "Do I look like the kind of person you should be fucking with? I will not hesitate to torture it out of you, or her, if I have to and by God, I'll do it! Now where is my battery?!"
"Right here, asshole."
Huntington turned just as McAllen's fist made contact with his cheek. The force behind the hit sent him spiraling to the floor, hitting his head roughly against the stonework. He looked up just as McAllen stomped three times and smashed the black box-shaped battery under his foot, rendering it to inoperable pieces.
He raised his wand, but right then Ron dived for his wand and fired a Disarming spell that hit Huntington square in the shoulder, knocking him backwards and sending his wand out of arm reach. He rolled as Ron fired another curse, missing him, and then grabbed his wand and fired one back.
During all of this, McAllen ran through the fire, grabbed Hermione's wrist, and yanked her to her feet.
"C'mon, let's get you out of here," he said.
"But Ron-"
"He'll be fine. This is his fight, and he ain't walking away 'til someone dies. You, on the other hand, are better off getting out of here so you don't distract him."
He tugged her towards the door when Huntington, one arm clutching his shoulder, raised his wand and fired a blue-shaped spell in their direction. It passed right between them, missing their heads by inches, but the surprise of it made them jump away from each other. Hermione fell backwards against a veil-
-And fell through it, bringing the curtain down with her through a circle-shaped hole.
"Aw fuck!" McAllen ran over to the hole and looked down. "Shit, shit, shit."
"McAllen! Get out of here! Find her!"
Ron fired another curse at Huntington, who deflected it at McAllen, who barely dodged it as it struck the wall inches from his head. He fell backwards and scrambled out of the room.
Huntington wiped a small trickle of blood from his mouth from where a piece of exploded wall had hit him. He sneered at Ron.
"Just you and me now," he said. "This should be fun."
"Last chance to give this up," Ron said. "Your plan is shot. You're not getting out of this. You can still come quietly."
"Or else what?"
Ron grinned.
"Or else I use my extensive interrogation training to really mess you up."
Huntington laughed.
"Who are you kidding?" he asked. "We both learned from the same master. Everything you know, I know just as well, only I know it better because I've applied it to my life. So what makes you think a whiner who is trapped in self-loathing will be able to-"
"Crucio."
He fell backwards, twitching and jerking, saliva shooting from his mouth. He moved as though someone had thrust a power line onto his chest. He rolled and hit the wall and then yelled out.
"Crucia."
Ron lowered his wand. Huntington stopped twitching and lay panting and heaving. He slowly brought himself back to his knees and faced his opponent. His mouth twisted into a half-grin despite his pain. Without hesitation, without remorse. He underestimated him.
"Point taken..." he grunted, pushing himself back onto his feet.
"So are we done warming up?" Ron asked, also grinning."I'm ready if you are."
No more begging. No more holding back. No more being at the mercy of these brothers. This night, he would finish what he had started years ago. One way or another, Cameron Huntington, the lost Cunningham brother, was not leaving this castle alive. It was time the legacy was put to rest for good.
Huntington raised his own wand.
"Let's play, then."
-----
"Oof!"
Hermione burst through an empty portrait and fell right into a chair, which along with her collided into a desk. Pain shot through her arm as she felt it bang against the hard wood. She lay there for a moment, catching her breath and waiting for the pain to subside.
A secret passageway. Seven years of exploring every nook and cranny of this place and there was one secret she still had no idea about. And what a way to discover it, being blown backwards by a surprise spell. Harry would probably have loved the irony there. She could have done without it.
She slowly picked herself back up, rubbing her sore arm. What floor was she on? She looked around, but this was one room she had never been in. It looked like an office; not Dumbledore's, nowhere as big, but whose? It was too dark to tell. She wish she still had her wand, it would have been well put to use here.
She opened the door and felt her way around. It was so dark she could barely see three feet in front of her. But as she stumbled over some unknown lump, the thunder outside flashed for a brief moment, illuminating the room and revealing the rows upon rows of long shelves, and then she knew where she was. How she had not seen it, even in the dark, when she had been in so many times before.
She was in the library.
It figured she would have ended up there, of all places. The office must have been Madam Pince's. How had she never known of a secret passage to the library? She would have thought that would have been the first thing she would have picked up on. That would have made school so much better, although the sliding and crashing part would have needed some work.
She walked past the aisles of books. If her memory served her correctly, the entrance should be somewhere up ahead and to the left...she cut down through an aisle, thinking it would get her there faster.
She stopped. On one of the long tables was...something, she could not make out what it was. It was like a big lump, but it did not look like a cluttered pile of books, the curves did not look right. She stepped forward and stopped again when she felt something under her foot.
She reached down and pulled back with a wand. She sighed in relief. Now she could get some light in here.
"Lumos," she whispered.
The light lit up the end of the wand, illuminating the surrounding area and revealing the lump on the table.
Hermione was barely able to contain her scream.
It was Loiselle. But not the animated, lively Loiselle she had seen several hours ago. He looked like he had been put through the Muggle meat grinder. His chest was imploded, his ribs were sticking out through his sides, and his arms and legs were torn apart. Blood was flowing rivers off the table and onto the floor. His eyes, hollow and bleak, were staring at her but not really staring at her, staring past her. His mouth was partly open, a look of surprise that had not quite finished before his death.
It took her a few moments to calm herself down from the image. She turned around and squeezed her eyes shut, but the image was burned in her memory, and a sight like that was not easy to forget. She shuddered and moved away from the mess.
She had to get out of here. Now.
-----
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Expelliarmus!"
"Crucio!"
"Reducto!"
"Deviggio!"
Ron ducked as the blue-colored spell shot past his head and exploded the chandelier above them. The glass and sparks rained down around them as he stood back up to face Huntington.
The murderer grinned. One of Ron's Reductor Spells had hit him square in the mouth, knocking out one of his bottom teeth, and his teeth were covered in blood that drooled out onto the floor. In the sparking light, it only made him look more deranged.
Ron aimed his wand and fired a Disarming Spell that knocked the wand out of Huntington's hand. With a yell, the maniac rushed him and tackled him to the ground. Ron's wand flew out and landed in front of the door to the machine.
Huntington punched him twice in the face, and then grabbed his shirt, lifted him up, and then slammed him back down. He then repeated it again and again, throwing a punch in until Ron grabbed his fist and twisted it, then punched him off with his other fist.
The red-head then jumped on him and punched his straight in the face. There was a loud crack! as Huntington's nose broke. Blood shot out from both nostrils, and he cried out in pain. Ron ignored it, punching him twice more in the same spot before Huntington grabbed his fist and head butted him off.
Ron fell backwards, groaning and clutching his forehead, but had no time to try and collect his thoughts before the murderer was upon him, one hand enclosing around his throat, the other reaching for his jaw and yanking it down. Ron tried to force him off, but the strength was too much for him. He tried kicking against him, to no avail. He bit down on one of Huntington's fingers, bit as hard and as fierce as he could until he could feel something tear.
There was a gut-turning rip noise and a salty taste in Ron's mouth that was soon followed by Huntington screaming. He fell backwards and held his hand up,allowing Ron to see the damage. He had bitten the tip of Huntington's index finger almost off, hanging by some skin and the remainder of the bone. The killer had a pained, horrified expression on his face that soon turned into anger.
He got up and ran at him again, but Ron met him halfway and slammed head-first into his gut, knocking him backwards. Again they rolled, clawing at each other, punching when they could and deflecting when they could not. They slammed into the wall, and Ron kicked Huntington off him and reached up for a brick to help himself up.
shunk!
Ron cried out in pain as Huntington unearthed a knife from his sleeve and impaled his left hand to the wall. He gritted his teeth together and tried not to look at the blood that was seeping from the wound to the ground.
"Yeesh," Huntington said, looking at the wound, then back at Ron with a smirk. "You might want to get that looked at, brother."
He punched him in the gut, causing Ron to double over in double the pain. Then he calmly went over to pick up his wand.
Grunting painfully, Ron yanked at the knife as hard as he could until it finally let loose. His hand was already feeling numb as he examined the deep cut, but he tried to shrug it off. He ran at him, picking up a thin wood pillar from the debris caused by their spellwork.
Huntington had just reached for his wand when Ron smashed the pillar against his back, knocking him back to the ground. He kicked him in the gut, kicked his wand away, and went for his own. He grabbed it and aimed it at his rival.
"Okay," he panted, "I think we're done."
"I think we're still going," came the reply.
Huntington reached out to his wand. Almost instantly it flew across the floor into his open palm. His fingers closed around it as he brought it back up at Ron.
Ron barely had time to move his head before the blue-colored spell was fired at him. It exploded off one of the beams and rained the debris down on him. He winced as he felt the splinters rain down on his back.
He picked himself back up only to find that Huntington was gone. He looked around. Where the hell did he go? Did he flee, right in the middle of a fight? No...Cunningham never ran from a challenge. Huntington would not do so now; not with his identity and plans laid out in the open for all of them to see.
"Roooooon..."
His ears perked up. He could hear his voice...but where was he?
"Rooooooon...follow the voice, Ronnie boy. Follow the voice."
He was taunting him. Son of a bitch..., he thought to himself.
"Hurry up, Ronnie boy. Clock's ticking..."
He hurried after the voice, the rational part of his brain telling him it was most likely a trap, but the irrational part wanted the chance to finally put this to rest once and for all.
-----
McAllen kicked the door down and vaulted down the stairs. He had absolutely no idea where Hermione had ended up, but was hoping that she knew and that she would make her way out of here. After he got her to the hut, he would run upstairs and get back to help.
He still could not believe it was Huntington. He had played pool with the guy right before he had left for his vacation, and had a couple drinks with him, and at no point did any homicidal tendencies emerge from that friendly, somewhat naïve exterior he had always emitted. How the hell was anyone supposed to pick a killer out of that mess of happiness?
He somehow sprinted down seven floors worth of stairs in under five minutes, an all-time record for him on any sprinting run. He hit the bottom floor and headed for the door when he suddenly slipped and fell on his back.
"Ow...son of a..." he lifted his hands off the floor to rub his head, and then stopped.
His hand was red.
"What the-?" he looked up, and immediately found himself throwing up all over the floor. Rodyle's body was still hanging from the chandelier, her head looking up towards a sky that for her was no longer there. The blood had been dripping down steadily until it had created a large puddle.
He vomited all that was in him and then looked up again, horrified. Jesus...if that was what happened to her, he did not even want to know about the other guys. And what of Ron, that was the bigger question. Huntington did this all on his own; what was to say he could not take Ron down too?
Sitting there in the blood puddle, McAllen came up with two options- do what Ron asked, find Hermione, and get the hell out and wait for the British Aurors to show up, or to go back up there and help in the fight. He had his orders, but how could he leave a fellow Auror behind to die? He was a self-thinker, but even he had a conscience.
Screw it. Hermione must know how to get out of there, and right now, Ron needed him. He pushed himself off the floor and scampered back up the way he had just come.
-----
Something was different, Hermione realized as she wandered the corridor. She should have known her way to the main hall by now, but the hallways were not as familiar as they had once been. She could not figure out what exactly it was, but this was not the same Hogwarts she had walked for seven years.
Could Huntington have done something? Warped parts of the castle so that they were different? That was extremely powerful magic, but if Voldemort had been so obsessed with becoming the most powerful wizard, why not this deranged man?
She turned down another hallway and found it reached a dead end. Before turning, however, she frowned and squinted. Something was at the end of the hall, sticking out of the wall. Something shiny. What was-
A hand clasped her back. She jumped, turned around, and screamed.
The man was incredibly burned, from the top of his bald, peeling scalp to his torn feet. His clothes were almost all torn off and his face was a twisted mess of flesh and fire. He smiled a smile that could have been a sneer.
"It's not safe here," he said in a gruff, hard voice that was older than he was. "Come with me. I'll lead you out."
"You...you're...are you...?"
"As a doornail." His jaw was clenched; she could see the structure beneath the skin and gave a shudder. "Name's Mathew. I fought with Ron during the war."
"What?" Her eyes widened. "You were in his-?"
"I was the only other who tried to fight it." Mathew extended his hand. "We need to get you out of here. The Auror's are on their way. I can take you to them."
Hermione looked past him down the hall. She had her exit, but...
"Ron-" she said.
"He's got it under control. He can finish this. You would just get in the way. Come on."
She looked back at him, into his sunken, hollow eyes. The eyes of someone who had seen a hard lifetime, and an even harder afterlife.
"Trust me," he growled. "Ron trusts me. And I'd never let a friend down."
She took his hand. She trusted him, even though she did not fully understand why.
He led her out and away from the hallway, down the second hall to the stairway, ignoring the two lone, bloodstained swords that were sticking out of the wall at the end of the hall.
Next chapter- The Final FINAL Battle.
Stay tuned, review, and see ya soon!