BL 26: Fighting For Freedom

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But when I'm standing in the gallows
I'll be staring at the sky
Because no matter where they take me
Death I will survive

-Somebody to Die For, Hurts

(3rd Person Narration,
Following Blaise Zabini)

"Luna!" Blaise yelled, searching the area which was completely set ablaze for any sign of the blonde haired girl.

"Luna!" He called her name over and over again, leaping and bounding through the rubble and fire.

"Blaise..." He froze, hearing his name being called by a choked, cracking voice.

"Luna?" His head whipped from side to side, frantically trying to glimpse any sign of her. He didn't hear a response. He did, though, hear uncontrollable sobbing. He ran in the direction of the sound until he came face to face with a broken down building.

"Luna?!" He called, his heart beating madly in his chest.

"Blaise." He hurried, stumbling, around to the other side of the fallen structure and stared, hands beginning to shake, at the sight in front of him. Luna lay on the floor crying, Emily wrapped tightly in her arms. Blood was smeared over Luna's neck and jaw and was pooling out of Emily's head. He dropped to his knees and scrambled forward to the pair.

"Luna." He choked out. Her eyes forced themselves open but she could barely see through the tide of tears that continuously formed in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. One of her hands gripped Emily's little sweater and the other stroked her blood soaked hair. Blaise stared at the little girl- her frame looking so tiny and broken in such a large, frightening place. He waited expectantly for her to move and look up at him, smile her toothy smile, say something. He waited and waited and waited but the only sound that reached his ears was the hysterical crying of the lady holding her.

"Its all my fault!" She sobbed, her whole body trembling with sobs. "I reached her late! Blaise, it's my fault!"

"No, it's not!" Blaise said firmly, finally looking away from Emily and to Luna. "It's not your fault. The fault is only of the death eaters. This is NOT your fault!"

Her mouth opened and before she could say anything, a wail escaped her lips. Blaise's throat tightened till it ached and he moved closer to them and lifted Luna off the ground and into his arms, Emily still gripped tightly to her chest.

"I'm sorry, Luna." He whispered, burying his face in her hair. "Im sorry we lost her."

"She was my baby, Blaise!" Luna cried. "She was my little Emily! And they took her away from me! They took my little girl away from me!" Blaise squeezed his eyes shut as tears rolled down his cheeks, his heart breaking for the two girls in his arms.

"They're taking everybody away from me!" She sobbed, clinging onto his shirt. "My family... They were my family and now they're dead! DEAD, BLAISE!"

"We won't let them take away anybody else, Luna." He said, his fingers digging into her sides. "We won't. But for that you need to stay strong for just a bit longer and fight. We need to fight those who did this to us. Those who took our Emily away from us."

"I can't." She shook her head against his shoulder. "I'm too tired. I just- cant."

"Then stay here but stay safe. Because I'm going to go out there and fight. I'm going to go out there and hurt the people who hurt Emily. Who hurt all of us." Blaise pulled her away from him and stated into her tear filled eyes, her broken heart easily visible through them.

"Don't go! I can't lose you too!" She cried, shaking her head.

"Then come with me and fight with me." He said softly, cupping her face. "Because you've been waiting for this moment for as long as I can remember. You've wanted to fight for so long and if you don't fight today, you're going to regret it. Fight with me, Luna."

She stared at him for a few seconds, her chest heaving and shuddering from suppressed sobs. "Okay." She pulled Emily closer to her and kissed her cold, lifeless face. "For Emily and for Aberforth."

"And for us." Blaise said firmly, standing up and holding his hand out.

She lay Emily down on the floor, closed her eyes and whispered- "I'll come back for you" before placing her hand in Blaise's and letting him pull her up. They locked eyes. "For us."

(1st Person Narration,
Hermione Granger)

"Fighting for the light side, are you, son?"

Theo spun around and I quickly shot a stunning spell at the death eater who he was fighting. Harry and I hurried towards Theo, covering him from the behind although there weren't many death eaters where we were just then, as he came face to face with the one person he hated more than anyone else.

"Don't call me son." Theo growled, his wand pointed steadily at Nott Senior.

"I call you what I please. I own you, remember?" Nott said. I gestured for Harry to cover our backs and I turned around to stand by Theo, facing his father. "I must say I'm ashamed of you, boy. Fighting by mudbloods? And the muddiest of them all?"

I grit my teeth together as Theo shot a spell towards him which he ducked. Nott laughed mirthlessly. "What, you're in love with her?" Despite the situation, Theo gave me a side glance and we shared a small smile. Nott had no idea how far away from the truth he was.

"Not in love for sure, but the love is there without a doubt." Theo said. "But funny you should ask considering you don't know the meaning of love."

"Love is for the weak." Nott spat. "It's surely made you weak. You disgust me. Just like your mother did!"

"Don't speak about my mother!" Theo yelled, throwing spells in rapid succession at him but the death eater deflected them all. "You let her die!"

"She was weak! And you've taken after her! She didn't deserve to live-"

"Shut up! You don't deserve to live!"

"Will you kill me, Theodore?" Nott asked, his lips curling into a sneer. He shot a spell that would have hit Theo had he not moved in the last moment. "Weak people can't kill. Your mother couldn't kill anybody. Your filthy mother was so weak she couldn't even kill herself!"

I watched as unadulterated rage replaced anger on Theo's expression. I was scared for him but I had enough confidence in him to know that he could do anything he wanted to just then.

"After this is all over, Theo- I will forgive you. I will let you return to this family and I will give you a place somewhere amongst us. When the world belongs to us and all your friends are dead and gone and you're weaker than ever-"

And just like that, he fell. Green light exploding out of his wand at an unnatural speed, Theo's spell hit him square in the chest.

"There was only ever one weak person in our family. And it wasn't my mother or me." Theo spat, staring with burning eyes at the dead man.

I stared at the crumpled heap of death eater robes. It reminded me greatly of the ones who were supposed to die. And it reminded me of those who shouldn't have. It reminded me of Seamus and Calyx. Of Hannah and Angela. Of Aberforth and Padma and Atria. Of the hundreds of mothers and fathers and children who had lost their lives to the war. It made me think back to Dumbledore and Snape and all those who died to give us a better future.

And it made me think of him. The one behind all of this. And it made me want to kill him.

"I want to find Lestrange." Harry and Theo turned to me. I looked up at them. "I want to find Lestrange. I want to kill him." I spoke bluntly.

"We're coming with you." I turned to my right to see Pansy and Draco walking towards us, their eyes focused on Nott's body.

"As are we." Ernie appeared with Neville and Ron.

"This is between Lestrange and the three of us." Draco said. "We won't let you all get hurt in the way."

"We're in as much danger in there as we are out here." Ron said.

"This is our battle as well, Draco." Neville spoke. "We may not have lost as much as you did but that doesn't mean we haven't lost parts of us as well. We're going to fight by you. Whether you want us to or not."

"He's right." Ernie said. "This is our fight as well. We've waited for this for a long time and now that we're finally here, we're not backing out."

We stared at the group around us before looking at each other and then back at them, nodding.

It didn't come as much of a surprise when the journey towards and into Hogwarts had several more people joining us. We didn't argue this time because one, they were right- it was their fight as well- and second, the more the number of us, the better the chances of winning this were.

A few steps into the castle had a swarm of death eaters finding us instantly. But with a majority of their number trying to fight the large number of us outside, we easily outnumbered them two to one.

"My guess is he's at the Headmasters office!" Draco called as we ran forward past the great hall and up the first flight of stairs. It seemed likely. Not only was the headmasters office the strongest structure in the castle but it also provided the best vantage point to watch the whole battle from.

"Avada Kedavra!" A voice called loudly from behind us. Wands drawn, we spun around and I was almost afraid as to what I would see.

"NO!" It was Pansy who had screamed as she ran towards Danny, who had Carsius' fallen body in his arms. "No, no, no!" I pushed past everybody to reach her, my wand- and everybody else's- aimed at the cloaked figure in front of us, who had Hayley locked in his arms, his wand aimed at her neck.

The man raised one of his hands. "Don't start shooting spells yet. I want to talk to my daughters." I noticed Pansy swallowing hard, tears in her eyes as she held her beautician and friend's face in her hands and stared at the trembling form of her sister. The man removed his death eater mask to reveal a long pale face framed with black shoulder length straight hair and piercing eyes.

"How dare you!" Pansy cried, pushing herself to her feet and pointing her wand at the man. "You pathetic excuse for a man! Let Hayley go!"

"Oh, Pansy. How lovely to see you." My lips curled into a disgusted snarl at the greedy look the man had on his face. They were his daughters, for god's sake!

"I'm afraid I can't say the same." Pansy spat.

"Oh, don't lie to yourself, darling." He said, stepping forward. "You love seeing me."

"Don't come any closer or I swear I'll kill you!" She cried. If she didn't, I surely would. And judging the others' expressions, so would they.

"Are you sure you don't want me any closer?" He asked, a frightening grin on his face that made my stomach churn.

"Stay away from her!" It was Blaise who stepped forward from beside Pansy. "And for shit's sake, let Hayley go!"

"Blaise! How's your mother? And Theodore, your's?" Both Theo and Blaise as well as Draco growled as they moved closer to him. They would've killed him by now if the man didn't have his wand pointed at Hayley. He had already killed Carsius, he wouldn't hesitate to kill one more of us. Not even if it was his daughter.

"I'm sure you already realized that I had a hand in Bloodlust, Pansy." He said, moving closer.

"Don't come closer!" Draco snarled and though the man looked amused and raised his eyebrows, he stopped.

"Young Hayley got lucky! It was supposed to be her." He looked down at the younger Parkinson sister and the younger girl broke down crying and whimpered "Please don't hurt me."

'It was supposed to be her.' The words chilled me to the bone. This was supposed to be their father...

"You disgust me." Pansy screamed.

"Your sister was always rather fun, Pansy. Maybe it was because she was young-" I wanted to throw up. I was ready to. "She was innocent. But you were a fighter. I didn't know who I enjoyed-"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" It was two voices that shouted this at once and none of them from our group. The green jets of light struck what looked like a bubble around the Parkinson patriarch before breaking through the shield and hitting him. As he collapsed to the floor, two figures turned the corner from behind him.

Lucius and Narcissa stepped out of the sides as Ron moved forward and pulled Hayley up and she ran towards Pansy at full speed.

"You will never hurt our girls ever again." Narcissa said, her voice filled with emotion as she took Lucius' hand and stared at the dead man.

Hayley hugged Pansy tightly for a few moments before the elder daughter righted herself and kissed Carsius's forehead. "I wont let them win." She whispered before standing up straight and walking, determined, back towards the front of the group.

The next twelve minutes were a complete blur. For the most of it, we were running up stairs and down corridors and during the final five of those twelve minutes, a large army of death eaters appeared from nowhere and a battle ensued. Our side forced a few of us to go forward while they fought and we would've done so immediately had Evvie not been badly hit by a Sectumsempra. Draco stopped midway through running with us and stood there in the middle of the corridor, staring between us and Evvie.

"Draco, go!" Charley yelled, already by Evvie's side. "You have a job to do, go!" But Draco couldn't move. He was frozen on the spot, staring wide eyed as Evvie lay in an increasing pool of blood. He was about to move towards her when Ernie grabbed his arm from behind.

"Malfoy, just go!" Harry said as the fight went on. "We can handle this! Just go!"

"Ernie!" Charley called when Draco moved forward towards Evvie. Ernie nodded and pulled Draco back further towards us.

"Come on, Draco!" He said. When Draco began pushing Ernie away, Charley locked eyes with me and I hurried forward and forced Draco to look down at me by grabbing his face.

"Draco! Look at me! We have a job to do! Charley is here with Evvie, isn't he? There is nothing you can do for her. They can handle it here. We need to get to Lestrange or this will never end, Draco! Please! You have to trust me and come with me! There is nothing you can do here. Everything you can do lies elsewhere." He stood panting for a second, looking torn, before looking down at me and then nodding. I took his arm and with a final glance back at Charley and Evvie, I pulled him away from the battle and towards where Pansy and Ernie were.

"Ernie, why-"

"I'm coming with you, don't argue." He said before I could finish my sentence. I didn't argue. Nor did the others. This wasn't the time to argue.

There were no more interruptions and no more death eaters coming after us all the way till the headmasters office. We found that odd but nobody said anything. There was no time to go back and get more people, nor was this the time to back out. We would face whatever he had in store for us. And we would win.

"Ready?" I whispered, a foot on the open staircase in front of the office. That was another thing. Why would Lestrange leave the staircase open? Why would there be easy entrance to his quarters now that we were sure it WAS his quarters as told by Lucius and Narcissa? Something about this just didn't seem right. At all.

"Something isn't right." Pansy said as we headed up the stairs, wands drawn and covering each other's backs.

"Only one way to find out." Draco muttered and on three, he pushed open the large oak doors and we entered quickly, our wands pointed steadily in front of us.

It was almost a movie-moment. Lestrange was standing right there in front of us, leaning casually against the large oak desk behind which Headmaster Dumbledore once sat. He had his wand in his hand and was twirling it between his fingers.

"Expelliarmus." And just like that, our wands were in his other hands. We should have seen it coming, we should have been ready. But we weren't. And I could've slapped myself for letting this happen.

At least we had wandless magic on our side... right?

"I'm glad you found your way here. Did you have a comfortable journey?" He grinned, smirking at us. I could hear the others panting furiously and I imagine I was no different.

"Look out the window, Lestrange." Draco spat. "Our side is winning." I glanced out the large window to my right and I saw that Draco was right. The large gruesome dark mark floating in the sky was fading into the background.

"Forget the battle outside. I was hoping you would come here. Away from all that fighting and here, to me." He walked towards the window and peered outside. I looked at Draco and Pansy and Ernie and they looked about as confused as me. As soon as Lestrange turned back around, though, we masked our confusion.

"All this-" He gestured outside the window "-will be over soon. But we will not be there to witness it. Not me. Not any of you. Because today, what didn't happen at Bloodlust is going to happen here. In this very room- right in front of me."

"They'll come back to kill you, Lestrange." Pansy said.

"Oh, I don't plan on surviving this, Pansy dear. Didn't I tell you? I won't be there to witness the end of the battle. We will be gone long before it ends." He smirked again. "I am going to die- that's inevitable. But I'm going to make my death worth it. I'm going to take you down with me."

He raised his hands in the air, palms facing us. "The dark side will fall. But so will you. You will not win. You will never win. You will never be free." With that, he flicked his wand in our direction and I knew instantly that he had locked the room. The telltale signs of the magic trapping us into the room were obvious. We all felt it.

And then he closed his eyes and began speaking. It was an incantation. I had no idea what it was though. Which only proved one thing which we already were sure of- it was definitely not a good thing.

"Draco?" I heard Pansy say and I turned to my right to see Draco's eyebrows furrowing together. "What's going on?"

"I- I think I recognise the spell." He squeezed his eyes together, trying to recall why the incantation sounded familiar.

Lestrange, by now, was rising steadily off the ground. Things around him were beginning to fly violently around him and a purple ball of visible magic began forming around him. What in the name of Merlin was going on?

"Draco?!" Pansy sounded frantic and I could understand why. I shifted closer to the others and stared as the magic around Lestrange grew more violent and fierce- the purple ball growing more solid and stronger.

"No." My head whipped towards Draco in time to see his eyes fly open. The sudden panic and fear in his eyes were hard to miss.

(3rd Person Narration
Following Charley Avons)

"Come on, Evvie. Hang in there." Charley said, holding Evvie's face in his hands as Luna tried desperately to heal her stomach wounds. Most of the death eaters had been taken down and Charley had carried Evvie over to a side and he and Luna had been desperately trying to reduce the blood leaking out of her stomach for the past few minutes. It felt like an eternity.

"Tell Draco that-"

"No, ssh." Charley hushed her, shaking his head. "You can tell him yourself. You're going to be fine."

"Charley-" But she never got to complete her sentence. All of a sudden, the floor above them exploded and the light side just about managed to throw up a shield in time to protect them from the heavy shower of rubble and stone that fell upon them. The looked up, wands held above their heads, to see the two floors above them exploding and finally, the highest floor in their side of the castle exploded with an enormous ball of flame. It took them a few moments to realize that the highest floor was that of the Headmaster's office.

CLIFFYYY sorry guysss. I love you all but somethings have to be done. There's just two more chapters now- it's so close to being over :O I can't believe it!

For TRTL readers by the way: I know I haven't updated in MONTHS and Im so sorry about that but I am currently working on the newest chapter and I shall be hopefully done soon! It'll be up as soon as I finish and edit it!

Next thing, thank you all so so much for your reviews! The number went up more than it was the last time so thank you- Selene, UndercoverFan, Jackie, Girl in the rain , Lady in Red, greendiamond123 , Embers and Flame and the guests of course!

I can't offer you guys a promo for Chapter 27 and neither can I tell you what it's called because it would ruin things for you and you really don't want that :P

Please please please review!

Until next time,

FeltonLewis x