Chapter 34

December

"I don't think this is the right thing to do, Albus," Alice exclaimed. "You can't ask anyone to break into Gringotts, sneak into Bellatrix's vault and cast it on fire! It's pure madness – no one has ever broken into that bank before!"

James and Lily shared a look. I looked up at the Headmaster expectantly. What did he have in mind?

"I am aware of the risks, Alice, yet it is our only choice," Dumbledore said patiently. "Frank and yourself have access to the ancient vaults at the lower level of Gringotts and as much as it saddens me, you must Imperio the goblin accompanying you without anyone noticing -"

Alice shook her head annoyed.

"Even if everything goes smoothly and the Cup is destroyed by Fiendfyre - " Frank interjected, "How will we get out of there Albus?"

"Free the blind dragon and fly out of the bank on its back," I said.

"Are you mental?" Frank and Alice looked at me disbelievingly.

"It can be done," James said quietly.

"But – but Voldemort will know we're hunting Horcruxes!" exclaimed Alice.

"Not necessarily," I said finally catching up. "You will destroy the whole vault which to me sounds more like a blow to Voldermort's funds and not a direct attack at his Horcruxes."

Albus nodded.

"It will anger him," Dumbledore said "And we shall be ready for his counter attack."

"Albus, Minerva said you wanted to see me?" I said entering the Headmaster's office early afternoon on Christmas Eve.

"Yes," Dumbledore said looking up from the thick tome on his desk. "I have something you will be very glad to know I obtained."

"The ring?" I asked excitedly.

Dumbledore nodded silently, his eyes glancing at a golden ring placed between the diary, the locket and the diadem on the middle shelf of a carved wooden cabinet on my left. The faint mark of the Deathly Hallows was etched onto the surface of the stone.

"Is it still a Horcrux?"

"Yes."

My eyes fell onto the old wizard's hands, untainted.

"Have you -?"

"No, my dear," Albus smiled. "I was tempted, yet I could not make the same mistake... twice."

I sat onto the plush armchair facing his desk.

"When are you planning on destroying them?" I asked, glancing at the Horcruxes darkly.

"Soon, I daresay," said Dumbledore calmly. "Frank and Alice will enter Gringotts tomorrow morning and I plan on destroying them at the same time as the Cup will be."

I looked at him wonderingly.

"Although we know from the books Voldemort did not feel the death of his Horcruxes, his present self has not yet divided his soul into eight parts and might feel the demise of his current safeguards," he explained, answering my unspoken question.

I nodded.

"So if he indeed feels something, you think he might just connect it to the Cup getting destroyed?"

"We can only hope," Albus sighed. "Either way, I can feel the end is coming, Jemma."

I hoped he was right.

"Can I go with Frank and Alice?" I asked the Headmaster, already sensing his reply.

"No, I do not believe it advisable in the present situation," he said firmly. "I received knowledge to suggest Voldemort has been enquiring about you and I feel it would be preferable if you laid low for awhile."

"Do you mean I should stay safe and warm inside the castle while the Order is out there risking their lives?" I asked, my hands starting to shake in anger.

"I cannot ask that of you," he said wearily. "I only advise you to be cautious."

"STUPEFY!" Benjy, Dorcas and I yelled simultaneously at a group of masked figures marching toward us.

It was early morning on Christmas Day and a deep blanket of snow was covering the dark service lane in the outskirts of Inverness. We had received news of an attack to a Muggle church which had turned out to be a trap. We knew we were outnumbered and realised too late there was no way out of the lane. It was a dead end. They had thought this well.

"Confringo!"

"Flagellum!"

"Crucio!"

"Incarcero!"

We moved quickly, never staying put in one spot for more than a split second, our wands lashing the air with counter spells of our own. I hit two Death Eaters succesfully, yet there were still too many to handle.

"Protego!" I shouted stepping ahead of my companions, screening them with my body, "Let's get out of here!"

My shield charm was powerful enough to give us enough time to disapparate out of the lane.

Only when we arrived back at Hogwarts, I realised the extent of our injuries. My left leg was bleeding profusely making me feel light-headed, Benjy had burn marks all over his arms and face while Dorcas was clutching her stomach, her complexion as pale as the snow surrounding us. She lost balance and fell on her knees, blood seeping through her clothes tainting the icy blanket on the ground.

"Dorcas!" I screamed, sensing she was losing consciousness. "Please, hang in there!"

Benjy cast a levitating spell on Dorcas and we carried her swiftly up the frozen path towards the castle.

My leg was hurting like hell and I could see Benjy was struggling too. The hardest part was to climb the endless amount of stairs up to the Infirmary after entering the castle. Madam Pomfrey was up sipping eggnog when we barged into the Infirmary, bleeding and scorched, Dorcas floating in mid-air, her head slumped on one side.

"She's lost a lot of blood," I said to Madam Pomfrey while helping Dorcas onto one of the beds.

"It looks to me she was hit with the Flagellum," Benjy piped in concerned.

Pomfrey nodded in silence, unbuttoning Dorcas's blouse to have a better look at the wound.

"She'll be fine," she finally said, "Some Dittany and a glass of Blood Replenishing Potion will do. Dorcas was lucky not to get the full force of the spell. That would have been trickier to fix."

Benjy and I grabbed a bottle of Dittany and sat on the adjacent bed while Pomfrey attended to Dorcas.

"Don't put too much of that on burns, Benjy," Pomfrey said looking up at him, "One drop will be enough." Then her eyes fell on the nasty gash on my leg and sighed.

"That needs to be cleaned first then three drops will fix it dear," she said looking at me.

I nodded and stood up with a wince. I limped towards the sink and grabbed a clean towel from the shelves.

"What has happened here?" Minerva McGonagall entered the Infirmary with a Hufflepuff student in tow. Said student was looking rather grim, his face covered in painful red and green pimples. His eyes fell first on Dorcas, laying still on bloodied sheets, then Benjy, who resembled a chimney sweeper with singed hair and finally me, sitting near the sink with a ruined towel in my hands.

"We were ambushed in Inverness," Benjy said, "We apparated here 'cause it was closest. Dorcas was hit with a Flagellum."

"It was a trap?" Minerva questioned him.

"That's what it looked like," replied Benjy. "The church was fine, no attack there."

"They weren't trying to kill us," I said slowly.

"Well, lucky for you to say," Benjy said to me with a grin. "I thought I was about to turn into a pig on a spit!"

I chuckled. "Really, they could have easily used the AK on all three of us but didn't," I continued.

"Perhaps they felt magnanimous," Benjy said sarcastically. "It is Christmas after all."

Minerva shook her head exasperated and pushed the kid towards one of the empty bed. The Hufflepuff looked at us with round big eyes, almost awestruck.

We were the resistance, the famed underground group fighting against Voldermort. He would have had a field day telling his friends what he had witnessed when back in his dormitory.

"When will this ever end?" Minerva asked to no one in particular, staring at the window, the first light of dawn streaking the night sky.

It was New Year's Eve and I was entirely, helplessly drunk.

I had promised Lily and James I would stop by their house that night but every time I tried to leave the Three Broomsticks I ordered one more pint of mead instead.

It was my first time back to the pub in almost two weeks. After my conversation with James, my mind had felt clearer. Frank and Alice succeeding at Gringotts, Dumbledore destroying all the remaining Horcruxes – it all had seemed some sort of a victory.

My thoughts were foggy and the loud cheers and drunken chatter surrounding me were making me feel sick – or maybe it was the unknown quantity of alcohol in my body.

At one point I was sure there were three Rosmertas behind the counter. All three of them laughing at something the group of young wizards on my left were saying.

I got off the stool and wobbled to the restroom where I couldn't even reach the closest toilet cubicle and threw up all over the porcelain sinks.

I felt immediately better yet thoroughly disgusted at myself. My mind was still strangely foggy.

While washing my face with icy cold water I glanced at my pale reflection in the small mirror above the sink and shuddered.

Something wasn't right yet I couldn't pin point what, as if my strands of thought were slipping away like water.

"Idiot", I remember muttering to myself.

I left the restroom with the idea of leaving the pub. Yet the idea got lost as soon as I re-entered the room full of wizards and witches. I still have a vague memory of brushing past an older lot of wizards who asked if I was feeling OK. Then a tall dark haired man placed his hands around my waist and pushed me into a quite corner.

"Hey beauty," he said softly to my ear. " What are you doing all alone on New Year's Eve?" His stubble rubbing against my neck before placing his mouth to my skin.

"Drinking a bit too much," I giggled, all feelings of caution gone. He was tall and handsome and I was too drunk to think clearly.

"Don't we all," he smiled, his face just a few inches from mine.

He was uncomfortably close and although my gut was telling me to run as fast as I could, my body was inexplicably enjoying the situation. He reminded me a bit too much of Sirius.

And there was a part of me that wanted him to be. Badly.

"Jemma wake the hell up!" shouted that part of my consciousness that was still sober enough to realise what I was getting into.

"I – I – sorry but I can't," I stuttered trying to wiggle myself out of his grasp.

"Yes, you can," he breathed before pinning me to the wall and kissing me with force.

It was not right. None of it. I tried to push him off but he wouldn't budge, one of his hands now in my hair, was holding my head firm, the other was behind my lower back keeping me unwillingly pressed to his body.

No one seemed to notice the struggle in the midst of the clock ticking midnight.

"Let – me – go!" I shouted. My voice drowned by the cheers around us.

"Are you worried Black might hear about this, Mudblood?" he laughed at me.

I froze. He knew who I was.

"Bastard!" I yelled, drowsiness all gone. I grabbed my wand furiously. "Protego!" I shouted.

The force of the magical shield made him fly towards the group of old wizards.

"Bitch!" he said furiously, sending a Cruciatus Curse back at me.

I nearly avoided it and run for my life through the crowd of witches and wizards that only then had realised something wasn't right. I was almost at the door when two cloaked, masked men appeared in front of me, their wands held high.

"Where do you think you're going, Mudblood?" one of the two said.

At the sight of the Death Eaters the crowd had instantly quietened and was quickly moving away from the door, towards the back of the pub.

The second Death Eater looked past my shoulders and shouted "We've got her, Avery!"

No, you effing don't. Not yet.

I moved to the side, my back to the long wooden bar counter. My wand pointed at the two new comers and with the corner of my eyes I followed the tall, dark-haired Death Eater emerge from the terrified crowd.

The masked Death Eater who had first spoken laughed at Avery.

"You should work on your Imperius, mate," he said.

Avery scowled at him then looked at me with pure loathing.

I smirked at him, realising all of a sudden why I had felt so out of it.

"Oh, was I under the Imperius?" I asked nonplussed. "I thought I'd just had too many drinks."

"Bitch!" he shouted again lashing his wand at me.

"Expelliarmus!" I thought quickly and his wand flew out of his hand and into the crowd.

'Reducto!" I shouted without a second thought towards the door and the two masked Death Eaters before they could retaliate.

The sound was deafening and the wooden door was blasted off its hinges. Both Death Eaters were screaming on the floor, covered in blood, gushing wounds all over their bodies.

Run.

With my ears ringing from the blast and my heart hammering I run out of the pub as fast as I could. I knew the wizard called Avery was following behind.

"Crucio!" he shouted angrily. I felt the curse hitting my upper back and fell to the ground screaming.

He got closer and grabbed my hair, forcing me to look up. The pain was so intense I did not even realise he had stepped on my hand and stolen my wand. He lifted the curse and stared at me, his handsome face cold and calculating.

"I will torture you until you beg for death, Mudblood."

"Not if I can avoid it, Avery," I replied, my voice shaking.

He laughed at me. "You have no chance. When I'm done with you I will take you to the Dark Lord."

I smiled.

"What does Voldemort want from me?" I asked sounding braver than I felt.

"An address."

"I'm not the Secret Keeper."

"We all know that. But Black is."

"And?"

"He wouldn't want his precious Mudblood to be tortured or killed in front of him, don't you think?"

"Sirius would never reveal the secret!" I shouted at him. But the thought lingered in my mind and I wondered – would he give up the address if they threatened to kill me? Had he ever acted rationally around me? Would he betray James to save me?

There was no chance I could even let that happen – although seeing Sirius again...

"Come on, get up, Mudblood," he said suddenly, lifting me up. And turned on the spot.