Please review/critique, this is my first HP story. I'm revamping it from where I left off in 2008. Thank you!
The wind whipped against her face, tangling her long mahogany hair, and turning her face flush. She really did not like this, not one bit. The leader of The American Chapter of the Order, Adam, had assigned her and twelve other witches and wizards to this mission. They had arrived in Britain three weeks prior, using that time to brew their new "miracle" potion. They knew something was coming, and they finally received the fire call today. He Who Must Not Be Named and his followers had attacked Hogwarts. Her heart thudded against her ribs, and a chill unrelated to the harsh wind crept down her spine. They had attacked a school. What monsters. She tilted her broom upwards, pulling herself alongside Adam.
"Is that it?" She squinted, seeing lights off in the distance, some steady like ambient lights, and other flashes that could only be spells and curses. Adam nodded, his grizzled face looking even more taught than usual. She saw his nearly undetectable nod and leaned forward, pushing her broom and her body to move, just move a bit faster. She needed to get there as soon as she could.
As they approached, the lights got brighter and soon they could hear cracking from the spells, crashing stones falling from the castle, shouts and cries from the wounded. The later made her stomach do a sick flip, and she swallowed a lump in her throat. They were almost there. Soon she could help.
A red flash sent her spiraling to the left, the curse grazing her shoulder. Pain ripped through her where it had made contact with her, feeling like fire. She gasped and muttered a spell quickly. She felt a comforting warmth cover her shoulder instead, the wound wasn't large and the bandaging spell would hold for a few hours. Her eyes darted to the origin of the flash and she spotted a fall hooded figure splayed across the ground. Adam hovered over him. He must have dispatched him while she dove. She nodded and followed him as he took off toward the castle. Their main goal was to deliver the potion to the injured below. Once that was over, they could focus on beating the Death Eaters back.
The potion was a newly developed one, made by the very brilliant, but not well known Charles Renalda. It had not been tested on humans, but it was designed to bring the recently dead back to life. It was truthfully, simply, an amped up healing potion. It brought back the recently dead, and also saved those on deaths door. In testing, the potion had only been effective if administered within 3 hours of death. Even then, it would only do so much to heal the individual, it would have to be backed up by intensive medical care thereafter. Lane had no clue how it worked, her potion skills were mediocre at best, but she had total faith in her team and their abilities.
They landed safely, albeit bloody and bruised, but overall, well. A plump woman bustled toward them and enveloped Adam in a brief hug. They exchanged a few words and she led them inside the courtyard. One by one they dropped off, bending down to help as they passed the dead and injured. All around her, people were crying out in agony, from injuries, or the loss of a loved one. At the front of the Great Hall, a tall, stern looking witch tapped her wand against a pedestal and pointed her wand to her throat, clearing it before making an announcement.
"We are now passing around a potion. It is believed to bring back the dead. Please, if you would like it to be used on your loved one, let the Wizards or Witches with the potion know when they pass you." The remaining witches and wizards from their group separated, and began distributing potions. Lane felt her arm jerk, and turned to find a small red headed girl leading her to a large group comprised of more red heads. They surrounded yet another ginger haired man. He was coated in blood, and if he was still breathing, it was too shallow for her to detect.
"Okay, I need someone to lift his head a bit for me." Immediately a man who, despite the fact that he wasn't covered in blood as well, she realized was the other mans twin lifted the boys head. "Thank you." She poured the potion down his throat, and they all waited with baited breath. Slowly, his skin started to loose the grey tint, and his eyes began to flutter. Lane felt her heart flutter with joy. The potion worked so quickly!
"Fred! Can you hear me?" A woman, who must have been his mother choked out the question, her voice half raspy.
"Five more minutes Mum, I feel like I've been hit by a brick." He slowly opened his eyes, a smirk forming on his face. Lane got up silently, and went to the next dead body, unnoticed by the overjoyed family.
~.~.~.~
She felt like the walking dead. She had started administering potions twelve hours ago, and hadn't slept since twelve hours before that. Sagging against a stone wall, she closed her eyes. She hadn't simply doled out potions, she had helped clear rubble to free trapped people and she had taken down at least a half dozen hiding Death Eaters. Her head started to droop when she felt she was being watched. Glancing up, she smiled wearily at the ginger girl from before who was holding a steaming mug towards her.
"Thank you. You have no idea how much I need this right now." The redhead smiled and crouched down across from her.
"I should be thanking you. My family is so grateful to you." Tears brimmed in her bright eyes. Behind her, Lane spotted a familiar head of frizzy, curly hair approaching. The redhead turned to follow her gaze. "Hermione! I'm so glad you're alright!" Lane stood, not even bothering to brush the dust off of her clothes and embraced Hermione.
"Yes, I'm so glad you're both unharmed." Hermione pulled back and held her at arms length. "When did you arrive? I thought you were still in America!"
"Three weeks past, we received a tip and came over to begin preparing the potions. I'm so glad they worked, Charles didn't have time to complete human testing. He was so-" Down the hall from them a figure darted around the corner, catching all three of guard. It was a boy, who must have been a first year. His wide eyes locked onto them and he ran straight to the red head, choking out a sob.
"Ginny, Hermione, you have to help. They're back there and they have my friends." Lane was already headed the way the boy had come, and Hermione nodded swiftly to Ginny and followed swiftly.
~.~.~.~
Lane and Hermione stalked down the hallway. They didn't want to alert the Death Eaters of their presence until the last possible moment. They reached an open doorway and Lane peeked her head in slowly. Inside, two hooded figures, one tall and broad, the other squat and broad stood with their wands raised, pointing at two writhing figures at their feet. The tall figures shoulders shook with what Lane only assumed in horror was laughter. All tactical thought left her head and she charged, not even feeling Hermiones hand try to hold her back, or the hiss of "Wait!" She thrust her wand forward, and the tall Death Eater hit the stone wall with a sickening crack and sunk to the floor. The squat figure turned on his heels, much faster than Lane would have ever expected for someone with his build. She narrowly ducked the curse he flung at her, and Hermione shouted a disarming spell from the doorway. Unfortunately he somehow anticipated this as well, quickly countering it.
What both women had failed to do in the heat of the moment was scan the room. They had assumed that "they" were the two individuals they first saw. They didn't account for the third Death Eater who had stood directly inside the door, until it was too late. An electric purple bolt struck Lane in the back and they then realized their error. Pain erupted from the spot in her back where the curse connected, and radiated out to her limbs. She dropped to her knees, somehow throwing a stunning spell at the last second, and the squat Death Eater dropped before her as she crumpled likewise. Hermione engaged the third, her face fierce and teeth clenched. Lane was oblivious to this however, now fully collapsed on the floor. Her muscles began to seize and quake. The last thing she heard before the world went dark was the thump of a body hitting the stone and she could only hope that it was the Death Eater and not Hermione.