Chapter Twenty Six

A/N: Thank you to Slytherin66 and kaykay25 for reviewing the last chapter.

For all the horrors she had overheard during her time at Malfoy Manor, Gabrielle had never experienced anything as terrible as this. The great castle at which she had spent so much of her first year of school was a crumbling ruin, burning with the memory of a thousand curses. All around her, the screams of dying men and women filled the air, a cacophony of pain. It was almost enough to make the girl regret what she had done.

When her mother and father had arrived from France- they had returned shortly after the wedding, the prospect of endless days facing Gabrielle's ghost at the Burrow too much to bear- Gabrielle had played the doting daughter, the rescued child happy to return home to her family. And she was all of those things, of course. But she was more than that now.

The day after they arrived back at Manoir De L'Or, Gabrielle snuck into her father's study, her eyes fixed on the grand fireplace and the jar of powder concealed above it. Her hands tremored as she reached up, the bravery inside her heart quelled a little by the importance of the decision. 'You can do this, Gabrielle. Your friends need you. Fleur needs you.'

And so she threw the powder down in the grate, and emerald flames leapt up around her. She could almost feel her childhood slipping away as her home disappeared from sight, and by the time the flames burned down to embers, she felt a decade older than she ought to.

The first thing she noticed was the smell, the pungent sting of ash lingering in her nostrils long after she stepped out from the fireplace. The whole castle seemed to be aflame, the flickering of flames echoing through the empty hallways, just loud enough to be heard over the distant screams of pain.

'This is war.' she told herself, blindly hoping the fact would offer reassurance.

But the thought was not needed, for the situation she had placed herself in quickly made itself evident, as a hulking great man in a black cloak rounded the corner. All of Gabrielle's instincts told her to run, to take cover and hide until the threat was gone, but she did not. It was a decision she would question many times in the future, never quite understanding what had made her behave in that way, but she never once regretted it.

"Well, what have we here, then?" the Death Eater chuckled, in some sort of thick English accent she did not recognise. "Little girls like you shouldn't be anywhere near a battle."

"I am not a little girl." she answered proudly, though it was a lie.

The man chuckled darkly. "And a little French girl, no less. What are you doing so far from home, then? Couldn't miss a bit of adventure? Looks like a stupid decision to me. No one back home will ever know what happened to you."

"Don't worry." Gabrielle pressed, her eyes blazing with defiance. She blindly fumbled behind her back, searching for the wand she had concealed in her belt. "I will tell zem myself."

This time, the chuckle was a full-blown laugh, as the man retrieved his own wand from beneath his cloak. "I'd like to see that, after I'm done with you."

Throughout her imprisonment at Malfoy Manor, Gabrielle had developed a good instinct for danger, and that instinct served her well when she ducked down to the floor, narrowly avoiding the blast of green sparks that sailed into the wall behind where she had stood. The man's confusion at her speed gave her just enough chance to crawl behind a nearby pillar, before he bombarded her again and again. Smoke rose in the air around her, plaster dust mingling with it to create an almost choking fog. Her shelter would not hold for much longer, and she knew it.

"It's no good hiding." the man taunted, sending a particularly vicious curse in her direction. "I'm going to get you."

Gabrielle closed her eyes, preparing herself for the Death Eater to round the pillar and fire the final curse. But he did not. She heard the footsteps approaching her, but no curse followed them. The young girl opened her eyes a fraction. But it was not a Death Eater stood over her.

"Are you alright?" The voice was familiar, the accent just as foreign as her own at Hogwarts. And sure enough, when a hand reached down to help her up, the boy's smile was just as familiar.

"Seamus." she breathed, a small part of her hoping that she had not forgotten his name, given that it had been so long since she had committed it to memory. So much had changed since last they met; the whole world had turned upside down.

"I thought you were more sensible than this." Seamus commented, his voice more teasing than chastising. "Running blindly into the middle of a battle?"

"I don't think zere is much of a concept of sensible during a war." Gabrielle answered, and the boy chuckled affectionately.

"I suppose you've got a point there." he laughed, as if there was not a battle raging around them. "So, no chance of persuading you to go back home, then?"

"None at all." the girl stated, raising her chin in defiance. "I need to be 'ere, with my sister. With my friends. I am just as much a part of zis war as everyone else. I want to play my part."

"Fighting talk. I like that." Seamus chuckled, pulling her to her feet. He clung to her hand even after his job was done, but neither of them questioned it. "Come on, I'll take you to the Room of Requirement. Fleur might be there. If not, we can think of a way to find her that doesn't involve you nearly being cursed to death."

"Alright." Gabrielle agreed. She knew Seamus' game- he was trying to get her out of the way of danger, not wanting the blood of an innocent child on his hands- but she decided to let it go. Perhaps taking her chance to be safe for a little while would not be so bad after all.

They ducked through corridors, avoiding flying curses and flickering fires as best they could, until they reached a set of heavy wooden doors that seemed to emerge from the wall like ink bleeding through a page. As Gabrielle was ushered inside, she did not think about her sister, or the kindly boy holding her hand. Instead, she thought of the final screams of a hundred warriors echoing around her.

Then the doors closed, and there was silence.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review!