Chapter 101:
It's probably only a couple of dozen yards to the school, but we have to fight our way through angry wizards and Vampires. We talk several humans out of cursing Laurel and Ash and thankfully Laurel and Ash only had to talk sense into one Vampire that came our way.
"I don't… see them…" Carson pants as the Castle finally looms into view.
"Maybe they went inside," notes Lysandra. "The less distractions for Pyrite, the less witnesses, the better he'd feel."
Not to mention no one being there to help, I add silently. Instead I say, "Hang on…" I instruct everyone to "keep watch" or in other words, turn away from me so I can inspect The Marauder's Map. After a few moments of frantic searching, I finally notice Pyrite Onyx and Kingsley Shacklebolt in the Great Hall. I can't find any sign of McGonagall.
"They're in the Great Hall," I say, "Let's move!"
"Shouldn't we make more silver daggers?" Carson mutters as we frantically climb up the front steps and open the heavy doors.
Laurel's eyes widen at Carson's words. "You won't kill him, right?" Laurel pleads. "Pyrite. You're just going to incapacitate him?"
"Laurel!" Ash scolds.
She glares at him. "He's our brother!"
"In-law," Ash finishes.
"Whatever. He's Willow's husband, Jasper and Jade's father."
"No, I'm not going to kill him," I assure her as hold open the door for Laurel, Ash, Lysandra and Carson. "I wouldn't even know how. And not to mention the fact that killing him… well. That'll probably just cause more problems."
I glare at Carson to keep him from saying, "/ could kill him." I can almost hear him say it.
"Uh-oh," Lysandra gasps. She turns my attention back towards the grounds. Vampires, twelve at least, are all headed towards us, most of them carrying makeshift weapons, like huge branches ripped unceremoniously from the trees around the edge of the Forbidden Forrest. "Pyrite must have ordered backup…"
"Go," growls Ash. "We'll hold them off. Try to talk sense into them…"
I nod and hold out my hand. It takes Ash a moment, but he finally realizes we're supposed to shake. His grip hurts my fingers a bit.
Laurel and Ash go back out towards the door and slam it behind them, leaving me, Lyssie, and Carson to stop Pyrite.
We run across the Entrance Hall and skid towards the door that leads to the Great Hall. When we open the door, I want nothing more than to shut it again and get away as far away as possible as quickly as possible. Kingsley shoots spell after spell at Pyrite but they don't do any good. Meanwhile, Pyrite is ripping the house tables and benches apart, throwing heavy object after heavy object at the Minister. Kingsley manages to dodge them all.
Finally, Pyrite grows impatient and he pulls his wand out from his cloak.
Chapter 102:
"EXPELLIARMUS!" I shout at once.
The wand Pyrite stole goes flying through the air.
Pyrite and Kingsley turn to see us standing there. Kingsley is looking proud of us, Pyrite looks furious and slightly shocked.
"You," he says dully. "How are you alive right now?" he asks.
"Magic," I say as I catch Pyrite's wand.
Pyrite glares at me for a split second, then he hurls one of the table legs at Kingsley, catching him across the face. Kingsley crumples to the ground and Pyrite lunges forward.
Carson is at my side in a second, conjuring another silver dagger. Pyrite catches the blade on his shoulder. He screams out several interesting profanities I've never heard before. He shoves Carson hard across the throat. Carson falls over backwards. Pyrite lifts him off his feet and hits him again and Carson goes flying across the room. A sudden crunching noise announces that Carson's wand is broken. Carson whimpers slightly and Lysandra screams.
I gag, the smell of blood suddenly strong in the air. When Carson had been thrown, his dagger had cut into his side. Carson places his hand against his wound for a moment. After a few seconds, he pulls his hand away, examining the blood. "I'm all right…" he groans, sounding anything but all right. "It's a shallow cut." His face is pale though. He tries to sit upright and ends up slumping against the wall.
Lysandra and I hurry forward, shouting stunning spells. I use the wand I took from Pyrite, so that's triple the power. Unfortunately, Pyrite dodges all our efforts. On the plus side, he's distracted from the lunch-like smell of Carson's gash. Another bad side is that Pyrite is now headed towards us.
Not wanting to leave Carson, but not knowing what else to do, Lysandra and I scurry out of the Great Hall and out into the Entrance Hall. We scramble up the staircase that leads to the first floor, Pyrite right at our heels. We get about halfway up when Pyrite throws himself forward, clutching Lysandra's robes. She shrieks and points her wand, "INCENDIO!"
Pyrite is engulfed in flames, he thrashes and loses his balance. He tumbles down the stairs. I raise the two wands and shout "Stupefy!" Pyrite lands in a heap in the Entrance Hall, still smoldering and completely unable to move.
"We're awesome," says Lysandra, her voice full of disbelief. After a slight pause where we get over our shock, we remember Carson and we start to bolt back down the stairs just at the Entrance doors burst open. The Hall floods with Vampires and Humans, the battle still raging on. One Vampire breaks free of the crowd and sees Pyrite lying on the floor. It's not Laurel or Ash. But their father… Cypress.
Cypress screams in rage and runs up to us on the stairs. He starts yelling in some language I don't understand and before I have time to act, he lifts me up by the shirt and throws me against the stairs.
Hard.
That last thing I'm aware of Lysandra's scream.
Chapter 103:
Laurel pushes her way through the crowd, begging everyone to stop fighting. "Please. Don't do this!" She sounded pathetic even to herself. She had been relieved when she spotted her father a little way up ahead, but he had vanished as suddenly as he appeared.
"Father!" she calls, but her voice is drowned out in the din. She can't find her father, or Ash. She takes deep breaths, trying to keep calm and think clearly. She breaks free of the madness in time to see her father up ahead. He's standing halfway up an elegant stair case. He's holding up the boy, Ross, by the front of his shirt. Ross' head flails about and his legs dangle uselessly over the stairs. His girlfriend is up there, too. Lysandra. She's screaming and trying desperately to stop Cypress but her efforts are pointless.
Ross is already unconscious. But Cypress doesn't seem satisfied. He raises his fist and punches Ross in the face, breaking the boy's nose. Blood pours down Ross' face, but Cypress doesn't seem to notice. He shifts, his hands moving from Ross's robes to Ross' neck and Laurel suddenly realizes what her father is going to do.
NO!
She runs up the stairs screaming, "STOP! STOP!" She dashes forward in seconds, grabbing her father's elbows. "Don't! PLEASE! FATHER!"
Laurel's screams are so intense, everyone in the Entrance Hall stops fighting and turns their attention to the staircase.
Her father doesn't hear her. He lets Ross drop and Ross' head hits the stairs with a sickening crack. He picks up Ross by the collar, intending to drop him again. Another blow like that will surely kill him.
"FATHER! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Laurel lets out a sob. "Daddy…"
Cypress goes completely still. He blinks several times, looking from Ross to Laurel. He takes a deep breath. And suddenly, he looks extremely confused. Laurel realizes that whatever spell Pyrite had put on her father was now broken. "What happened?" he whispers. He looks horrified with himself. "Why? How…? Laurel, what are you doing here?"
"Pyrite was using magic to control you," Laurel explains. "He stole a wand from a human. I had to stop him before…" Laurel wipes tears from her eyes. "I failed, though."
"No you didn't," Cypress mummers. "You stopped me from doing something terrible. You saved this boy's life. And probably this girl's too."
He gestures to Lysandra who already fell to her knees trying to tend to Ross.
Cypress turned to the crowd at the bottom of the stairs. "War doesn't solve anything. Especially one that has been handled this way.
"I fear there will always be mistrust between our races, but there are steps we can take to improve our relations. My first suggestion is that will all remain here and face the Ministry. We must take responsibilities for our actions, even those of us my son-in-law had to bewitch. I am confident that Kingsley Shacklebolt will see to it that we are dealt with fairly.
"If we leave now and don't take responsibility for our actions, it'll lead to more mistrust and more violence. We cannot afford anymore of either.
"I will remain here and accept whatever my sentence might be. I hope that you will seriously consider doing so as well. If you run now and chose to save your own skin, know that you will only convince humans that we are the terrible creatures so many of them believe us to be. If you leave now… we may never be able to settle the difference between our races."
Cypress sighs and stands there, tall and impressive.
Laurel turns to the crowd, hoping her father's words made an impact on the Vampires. And on the humans as well.
