Chapter 42: Heading into Battle
The Wanting Comes in Waves by The Decemberists
Elara looked around the small crowd as they gathered in a half circle around them. Every single one of their faces showed signs of neglect and punishment, and the overall emotions thrumming through the room were soaked in desperation and fear. She took a slow breath and reached for Harry's hand, squeezing it tightly as she tried to steady herself. This group was ready for battle, whether or not Harry, Ron, Hermione, and herself was. They were ready to fight and put an end to all of the suffering they had been forced into.
Elara didn't blame them. While living in a tent, or in the woods, or even Shell Cottage, hadn't exactly been a vacation… They had all been through their fair share of horrors… But she remembered the little bit of what Draco had told her about life at Hogwarts this year; the torturings, the abuse, the threats, and she could understand why every single person in this room was terrified, yet determined.
"You said you're looking for something from Ravenclaw?" Ginny spoke up.
"Yeah," Harry said.
"Well what is it?" Blaise asked.
"We erm… We don't know exactly. It'll be small, something important to Rowena Ravenclaw when she was alive."
"You don't know," Draco said, drawing out each word with an edge of irritation to his voice. "You have come here to look for something, and you don't know what you're looking for? Fantastic work, Potter."
"Draco!" Elara hissed in warning.
He rolled his eyes, "Excuse me for having a bit of fucking sense in my head! But how the hell are we supposed to find something if you don't even know what you're looking for?!"
Harry huffed in irritation, "Look I know it's not a lot to go off of-
"That's nothing to go off of, mate." Seamus said, frowning slightly.
"Alright, yeah, it's nothing to go off of!" Ron said, loudly. He was becoming agitated by the second, "Listen you said you'd help, so help us! Does anyone have anything? Any ideas at all?"
"Well… There's the lost Diadem," Luna said.
"Yeah, it's lost Luna, that's kind of the point of the title, isn't it?" Blaise said.
"How long has it been missing?" Harry asked.
"No one knows for sure," Cho said. "It's rumored to have been for centuries."
"Brilliant!" Harry said, exasperated. He jammed his fingers through his hair and stared up at the ceiling, irritation and hopelessness seeping from him.
"I could take you to Ravenclaw Tower, Harry." Luna suggested, "so you can see what the Diadem looks like. Perhaps we will find a clue that has been overlooked while we're there?"
"It's been lost for centuries and you think you'll find something?" Pansy asked, clearly skeptical.
As a small argument broke out amongst the many opinionated teenagers in the gathering, Elara felt a very sudden shift in Harry's demeanor. The slightly irritated edge had turned to cold fury and when she turned to look at him she saw the hand she wasn't holding rubbing at his forehead, his eyes screwed shut and his teeth baring down onto his bottom lip.
"Harry?" Elara whispered, trying to keep her voice so only he could hear it. "Harry, are you okay?"
"He's on the move," Harry rasped out. "We need to figure it out and do something, he's on the move."
"I think you should go with Luna," Elara said. "We don't know what it looks like, so if we can figure out at least that much, maybe we'll have some luck."
"I don't want to leave you here," Harry said.
"I'll be fine. Go with Luna, take the cloak and stay hidden."
Harry nodded and announced his plan to the rest of the room. Luna smiled and took his hand, ushering him toward the door. As they fell through the doorway, Elara heard Luna explaining that it lets out in a different part of the castle every time, so hopefully they would go unfounded.
"You aren't going with him?" Ron asked, his eyebrows pulled up on his forehead.
"No," Elara said. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to go. Really it's risky for him to go, but we're running out of options. He saw him again, he's on the move."
"Oh no," Hermione groaned. "What do we do? If he gets to the castle we'll have to expect battle, won't we? There's no way we're getting out of it."
"Neville!" Ginny said, her voice cutting through the sea of murmurs. "We need to contact the others."
"Aberforth began sending out messages with his Patronus before we left!" Elara said.
"Fantastic! That means we should have-
Neville was cut off as the portrait swung open and a voice rang out from the mantle. "Hello students! Have you missed us?!"
"I know we've been gone for so long!"
"Maybe we can raise a little hell-
"Cause a little havoc!"
Elara spun around on her heel, nearly toppling over as Fred and George jumped down from the mantle, not even bothering to use the ladder against the stone. There was a collective cheer from several others as Ginny and Ron raced toward their brothers and hugged them tightly. Once they had stepped away, the twins pulled Hermione into an embrace and made their way over to Elara.
"No more nearly missing limbs, right?" George asked, smirking.
"No, all my limbs are in working order," Elara laughed, squeezing George tightly.
"Limbs are attached but you rode a dragon out of Gringotts, so I guess we still don't know how to function without the dramatics," Fred said, laughing.
"Shut up!" Elara said, smiling into his chest as he hugged her. "I wasn't the one who came up with that insane idea. You'll have to talk to Hermione about that!"
"Hermione? Our Hermione came up with riding a dragon?!" Fred said, his voice shaking with laughter as he pressed his hand to his chest in shock.
Just as Elara opened her mouth to speak again she heard "Look! There's Professor Lupin!"
Slowly, the room began to fill with members of The Order of the Phoenix. Bill and Fleur came behind Lupin, Kingsely Shacklebolt, Dedalus Diggle… A few unfamiliar faces came through as well, Elara assumed they were allies that had graduated before her time at Hogwarts. She took a moment to collect herself when she saw Katie Bell appear, her stomach churning uncomfortably at the memories of her many blunders over the last two years. Mr and Mrs Weasley were the last out of the portrait and Mrs Weasley greeted Ron with a sob as she held him tightly, kissing his face repeatedly. Once she had checked him over and remarked on how thin he had gotten, she moved on to Hermione, allowing Mr Weasley time to greet his son.
Elara stood by, watching the family with misty eyes as she felt the presence of Draco next to her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling him into his side.
"We can't feel bad for them, El. You know that don't you?"
"I know," she said. "I just wish things could be different. We're going to fight against them tonight, you realize? If he comes here, if he brings all of the Death Eaters here, we have to fight against them."
Draco cleared his throat and nodded. Soon, she felt Blaise on her other side, resting his arm around her back pressing a kiss into her hair.
"If we have to fight against them, it will be a duel to the death." Draco said, matter of factly. She craned her neck to look up at him, her stomach twisting uncomfortably at the thought of it. "You know as well as I do, our family is not coming out of this unscathed, Ellie. And if it comes down to you or him, I'll do what needs to be done."
Elara's chest filled with dread with every second that ticked past. She suddenly found herself feeling panicked and wishing above all else that Harry would come back soon, that he would find a lead to the Diadem and they could get the hell out of the castle before anything happened.
Draco and Blaise both stepped away from her, walking toward Ginny as she beckoned Draco over to meet her parents. Bill shook Draco's hand and Fleur leaned in to peck each of his cheeks. Elara was pulled from the scene as Hermione and Ron stepped into her line of sight, practically vibrating with anxious energy.
"I have an idea," Ron said.
"Okay…"
"It's actually quite brilliant!" Hermione laughed.
"Are you going to tell me or should I be guessing?" Elara asked.
"No, of course.. Right. Well, the Chamber of Secrets," Ron said, as if that explained everything.
"The Chamber of Secrets…?" Elara repeated, her brows pulling together. "I don't…"
"Oh! Obviously, you wouldn't know- I forgot you weren't here!" Hermione said, smacking her palm to her forehead. "Second year we-
"No, I know what the Chamber of Secrets is!" Elara clarified, "I'm just not sure why you're bringing it up."
"Well, the basilisk Harry killed is still down there, presumably," Ron said. "At least, I haven't seen anyone bring up a giant snake carcass. So if it's down there I'm guessin' it's teeth are down there too."
"Basilisk fangs?" Elara asked, comprehension dawning on her. "Oh my god, that's… Ron, that's brilliant! Do you know how to get in?"
"Yeah, I know where to go. I've got to speak Parstletongue though so hopefully what I've picked up from Harry in his sleep talk is enough." Ron said.
Elara gave a sharp nod, "Are you going now?"
"I think it'd be best we slip out before anyone notices," Hermione answered. "Tell Harry when he returns, would you?"
"Of course," Elara said. She surged forward and wrapped her arms around Hermione's neck taking a sharp breath when she felt her friend tighten her arms around her. "Be careful."
"You too," Hermione said.
Elara stepped away to give Ron a hug as well and watched as they snuck out of the Room of Requirement, no person paying them mind.
It felt like an eternity before Harry finally returned and the look on his face and the urgent air about him forced her to realize that no matter how much hope she had been holding that a full on battle wasn't going to take place tonight, she was wrong. He spotted her immediately and he pushed past the throng of people that had gathered in his absence, giving a few handshakes and head nods as he made his way over.
"Any luck?" Elara asked.
"Snape is gone," Harry said "Fled the castle, the Carrows are held up-for now, anyway. McGonagall wants to evacuate."
"What about the Diadem?"
"Well, it's lost, isn't it?" Harry said, a bit of an exasperation on the end of his tone that led her to believe he was feeling just on this side of desperate. "It wasn't as if I thought I'd find it in the common room, but- wait. Where's Ron and Hermione?"
"Went to find Basilisk fangs."
Harry's brow pulled together and his forehead creased in confusion, "What?"
Elara shrugged, "They went to the Chamber of Secrets to find a Basilisk fang."
"Oh, brilliant!" Harry said, "but why are you..?"
"Waiting on you, obviously."
Elara was awarded with a grateful smile and peck to the cheek. Harry opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the sound of Ginny's voice floating over to them in furious tones.
"I am not staying here while everyone I care about goes and fights!"
"Ginny, please!" Mrs Weasley begged, "You're a child and I will not-
"I am not a child! I've spent the entire year helping here, building this!"
"Gin," Draco said, stepping away from where he stood with Blaise and slowly approaching the small cluster of redheads. "Maybe you should-
"Shut up," Ginny snapped. "You of all people don't get to tell me to stay out of it!"
"I just think that maybe it would be best that you not get yourself killed!"
"But it's okay for you?" Ginny asked, rounding to face Draco head on while her parents and brothers (as well as a few other Order members) looked on, watching the pair as their anger began to eat into their words. "You've been actively planning your own suicide with this for months and you're going to tell me I can't fight? Because I might get killed? Really?!"
"I have not been planning to get myself killed!" Draco countered, "I've simply accepted that if it has to be that way, then I will do what is necessary to keep you and Ellie safe."
Mr Weasley's eyes went wide with surprise and Ginny nearly screamed in frustration. Elara and Harry stepped closer to the scene, as Fleur and Remus tried to pull attention away from them with talk of Teddy and brandishing pictures of the tiny boy about. It was at that moment, just as Elara had decided that the need to diffuse the situation was becoming urgent, as Mrs Weasley's understanding of Ginny and Draco's relationship settled over her, that the portrait opened again, banging lousy against the stone wall.
"Hi. I er- I'm not too late, am I?"
"Percy?" Mr Weasley said on the end of a breath.
"Hi, dad."
Mrs Weasley let out a great sob as Percy climbed from the mantle and crossed the room, allowing his mother to sweep him into a rib-crushing hug, wetting the front of her robes with her tears. Fred and George began laying in on him, but their tone of voice suggested it was all in good fun and Percy seemed to take it as such.
Draco pulled his eyes away from the scene, Elara could feel the shift in his mood from aggravation at Ginny to a hurt filled solemn realization that they would not get the family reunion with happy tears and crushing hugs. He approached Elara where she stood, next to Harry and reached a hand out, wrapping her fingers in his with a squeeze before letting it fall back to her side.
"What now, Potter?"
The Great Hall was darker than Elara had ever seen it before. The usual floating candles were there, unlit, not allowing any warmth into the hall to fool them on the severity of the situation at hand. Professor McGonagall stood tall at the front of the hall, barking orders out to other Professors and ushering the Prefects together to explain what they should be doing. The room was heavy with terrified confusion, many of the younger students crying as they asked about their material items and their pets. Older students afraid, but determined, talking amongst themselves as they began to gather their courage and prepare to fight.
Harry's hand wrapped around Elara's and he dragged her along the tables that lined the hall, making their way to the front of the crowded room to talk with the Professor's and figure out the best course of action. She didn't need her abilities to know that his heart was pounding violently in his chest, working hard to disperse the adrenaline he was feeling. He seemed to calm, minimally, as a solid plan for evacuation had been announced and Professors Sprout, Slughorn, and Flitwick moved to their perspective houses to collect the students that wished to leave.
Elara felt it before she heard it- a dizzying shock through her brain as white-hot fury ripped through her insides and enveloped her every thought. Harry's knees buckled beside her, causing her to stumble forward and then a high pitched scream pierced through the air, effectively silencing everyone in the hall. Elara could feel the intense fear of the young girl who had dropped to the ground, covering her ears and sobbing through her screams.
Harry gripped Elara's hand and looked at her, his eyes wide as his opposite hand shot up to his scar, pressing his fingertips hard into the thin, pink flesh of his forehead. Pain tore through him and stumbled to the side, pulling Elara with him. Her head began to pulse as the screams of the girl intensified and were echoed by a few others that began to drop, holding their heads in their hands.
An almost manic wrath cut into Elara's mind. Fear gripped her, drowning every fiber of her being and lighting her insides on fire as she began to search the hall frantically for Draco. He spotted her, dragging Blaise behind him, he made his way closer as he gripped his left arm, his face screwed up in agony.
"It's him," Harry ground out, hunched over now and sweating as he took in heaving breaths, trying to keep himself upright.
"I know that you are preparing to fight," An all-too-familiar, cold voice rang out over the grounds, infecting their minds and demanding to be heard. "Your efforts are futile, you cannot fight me. I do not wish to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts, I do not want to spill magical blood."
Lord Voldemort's voice paused and the silence that hung in the air was stifling. It pressed in on Elara from all sides, smothering the thought of any peace that may have been lingering in the hall from days past. Elara looked at Harry, eyes wide and full of her own terror- not everyone else's. She couldn't explain how she knew it, but she knew what was coming next, and as the rest of the words began to flow through the Great Hall at a shrill pitch that decimated her ability to focus on anything else, she gripped his hand.
"Give me Harry Potter and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you shall be rewarded."
There was another pause that felt as if it would stretch into forever, weighted tension that held so thick in the air the drop of a quill would be heard.
"You have until midnight."
.
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a/n: i'm baaaaaccckkkkk. Sorry for such a long hiatus on this story, guys! So I had my wisdom teeth removed at the end of october and then two weeks later, I got Covid. I was super sick for a few weeks and then the holidays happened and y'all, I'm so sorry. I love you, and I hope this chapter helps to ease the irritation of my lack of posting on this story.
We're getting very close to the end. Bare with me as the next few chapters may take some time to write. IM NOT READY *sob*
Okay, I love you all, thank you so much for being patient with me.
xo
mimi
