Willow thought her head was going to explode. Paige fancied her, and she was beginning to realize she had felt the same all along! How had she not noticed? It was so obvious that Paige was trying to tell her, and she was so obviously into her, but she had remained oblivious! Willow wanted to slap herself for being so stupid. There was being ignorant, and there was being an inconceivable level of stupid. Willow was beyond senseless. She couldn't stop glancing at Paige only to see the older girl talking normally with Lee. How was she able to stay so calm after such a big moment? Willow found a warm blush creep into her cheeks as she thought of her first kiss. It was extremely unexpected, but perfect on so many levels.
Willow accidentally gasped out loud when she suddenly realized something: Paige was a girl. She was...not straight? Since when did that happen? Willow recalled the conversation she'd had with Cypress, coming up with the term bisexual. Was that what she was? Did she like guys and girls? Was it just girls? Was she confused? No, she always knew exactly how she was feeling, and her fancying of Paige was as natural and clear as emotions could get. She definitely liked girls. Guys were in the picture in the past, but were they now? Willow's head spun like a top. Why did this have to be such a problem? It shouldn't have mattered, since she didn't consider her love life a huge aspect of her life and all, but it did!
Finally, it took you long enough to figure it out! Cebba cried.
You knew this whole time? Willow asked.
Duh, I'm in your head, I know pretty much everything that goes through your mind. I could have told you last year based on the amount of thoughts you're had about girls that you're into them.
What?! Cebba! You should have said something! That would have spared me a lot of panic!
It's much more fun to watch you suffer. You're pretty comical.
Cebba, I don't want to talk to you for the rest of the evening! Get out of my head!
I can't get out of your head, but whatever. Talk to you later, dork.
Willow sighed frustratedly. Did everyone know more about her than she knew about herself? It certainly seemed that way. Willow glanced at Paige, cheeks warming to an unnaturally high temperature again. She felt like she'd never get the color out of them. Willow hated being helpless to her emotions, and that was exactly what was happening. She couldn't control the never-ending waves of shock, frustration, and shy admiration. Willow wished she could go to sleep and wake up calm again.
She didn't get the chance to sleep, but something distracting quickly shifted her attention. Harry and Ron, who had been hiding in the corner of the room, were quickly exiting the common room. They were definitely up to something. Willow caught up to them on their way out.
"Hey! Where are you going?" she whispered.
Harry nearly jumped out of his skin. "Bloody- ! Willow, what are you doing? You're going to get expelled!"
"It's long overdue! You should be more worried about yourselves!"
"We're going to save my sister, that's what we're doing!" Ron hissed. Willow almost stumbled backwards at the force of his voice. His eyes were even more fiery than the time he'd gotten into a fistfight with Draco. "We think we know where the entrance to the Chamber is, and even though he's a bloody git, Lockhart is going to try and get in there, so we've got to tell him what we know!"
Willow gasped. "You think she's still alive?"
"She's got to be. Ginny's the strongest one in the family," Ron said. "She could punch through a brick wall if she wanted to."
Adrenaline pumped through Willow's veins. How could she be so stupid as to not even consider the fact that Ginny might still be alive? Willow pulled out her star map, quickly tapping the corner and expanding it. A small frame in the top right corner caught her eyes. Willow tapped on it, heart beating like a snare drum in her ears. She sucked in a breath when she saw Ginny's crumpled form on the stone floor, face pale, eyes shut, chest rising and falling with shallower breaths than usual. Ginny was alive, but barely. The surroundings were worrying familiar. When Willow recognized them, she wanted to chuck herself against the wall.
"That's the damn cave thing from my visions!" she nearly shouted. "I should have known it was the Chamber!" At Ron's and Harry's confused glances, Willow explained, "It's the cave thing I told you about after Hermione was petrified." Their expressions cleared, and Willow pressed on. "Ginny's still alive, but something's wrong. She's fading fast. We've got to hurry!"
"Willow, we can't let you go charging down there, too," Harry said. "We need you to stay up here and make sure someone knows what happened to us if..you know...we need help, or- er- don't come back. There's a basilisk down there."
"A basi- Ugh, I'm so stupid!" Willow shouted, clapping a hand to her forehead. "Nevermind that. You get your arses back here by tomorrow morning, or I will personally murder you again, you hear me?" Willow said, her tone much more serious. The boys nodded. Something sparked in her memory, and suddenly, with the force of a bullet, an idea hit Willow. "Oh my God, I know what to do! Remember what Dumbledore said? Hogwarts will always give help to those who ask for it? Well, Hogwarts is Dumbledore! We need him! I have to rescue him from the Ministry right now!"
Harry's eyes widened. "What? No! You'll get expelled for sure! How are you even going to get there?"
"You're not going to like it, but I have to do this, Harry! If there's anything I can do to help Ginny, any small chance to help you guys rescue her, then I have to do it! This is all my fault! I should have recognized the early warning signs in her all year! I should have gone after the monster myself, but I didn't, and this is the only way to make it up. I have to help!"
"Willow, how could this possibly be your fault? You're not the Heir of Slytherin," Ron said.
"That's beside the point! You guys need to go, and fast! I'll get Dumbledore as soon as I possibly can! Go! Save Ginny!"
After one final wary glance back, Harry and Ron took off down the corridor, heading straight for Lockhart's office. Willow transformed into a cat and was about to sprint in the opposite direction when someone picked her up by the stomach. She yowled and shifted back into herself, accidentally crushing the person underneath her.
"What the- Sally! Were you watching me?" Willow exclaimed upon seeing the strawberry blonde.
"Of course I was, and I'm glad I did! You're not going anywhere without some backup!" Sally demanded. Sam sheepishly appeared from behind the Fat Lady's portrait. "We're coming with you to the Ministry whether you like it or not!"
"What? No! I can't let you do that!" Willow said.
"Too late! You'll have to trap us in the common room kicking and screaming to keep us away now," Sam declared. "You may be brave, but you're not skilled enough to defeat trained aurors, Willow. There's strength in numbers."
Willow groaned. "Fine, but the moment one of you gets hurt, I'm putting you far out of harm's way and continuing by myself."
"It's a good thing there's plenty of us to have your back, then," Sally said. She started walking away, motioning for them to come with her. "Hurry up, we've got three common rooms to visit!"
Willow and the Smith twins sprinted to the east wing of Hogwarts. The corridors were deserted. It was odd, the silence that spread over Hogwarts. Willow shuddered as she imagined a suffocating blanket snuffing out all the life in Hogwarts. That was exactly how it felt during their run to the Ravenclaw common room. Even the paintings were silent, subdued by the eerie change in mood and previous panic that spread like a virus throughout the halls. Willow felt even more determination steel her will. She couldn't fail. Hogwarts had to return to normal not only for herself, but for everyone that called it home.
Sam surprisingly answered the riddle before the bronze knocker even finished. Of course, it was a rude, kind of vague answer that technically wasn't right, but it wasn't wrong, either, and they were allowed access into the Ravenclaw common room. A familiar trio of faces perked up at the sight of them and rushed over, three extra ones following them.
"Guys, we've got a major situation," Sally whispered.
They huddled into a group, Willow at the center. "Ginny is still alive, just trapped in the Chamber. Harry and Ron know where the entrance is and they're currently trying to get down there. They're going to need all the help they can get against that basilisk. It's a giant snake that kills people by staring at them, and that's what's been petrifying students. I'll explain it later. Right now, we have to get Dumbledore back from the Ministry of Magic. He's the only one powerful enough to stop the basilisk without getting killed."
"So we need a plan," Lisa concluded. "One that preferably involves us not getting killed."
"She's right," Mandy agreed. "What's the plan?"
Willow bit her lip. "Well...I was just gonna...you know...barge in there, get out as quick as possible, and be done with it, but..."
"For starters, only a small amount of us should go to the Ministry," Sue suggested. "We'll get caught otherwise."
"A group of us will stay here, then, and be ready to inform Professor McGonagall of what's happening," Oliver said. "If you guys get in trouble, we need a way for you to contact us for help."
"Good idea, Oliver- Hang on, why are you in the Ravenclaw common room?" Willow asked.
"The Metamorphagus found us after the announcement and dragged us here," Cypress replied nonchalantly. "I didn't want to go back to my common room anyway when it's underground and closer to the Chamber. That's kind of counter-intuitive to send Slytherins back to their dormitories, isn't it? They were just putting us in more danger- "
"Cypress, focus," Mandy interrupted.
Cypress rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll save my commentary for later."
"Okay, so a group of us gets to the Ministry, rescues Dumbledore, and brings him back. The rest of us stay here and prepare ourselves to jump into action if necessary," Padma summed up. Willow nodded. "I volunteer to go to the Ministry. I'm somewhat good at healing magic and have a few potions saved up just in case. I'll stick to the back and get injuries taken care of right away."
"Thank you, Padma," Willow said. "I'm going to the Ministry as well."
"I'll go," Sam volunteered.
"Cypress and I are coming too," Oliver said, earning him an eye roll from the blonde Slytherin.
"I'm going to the Ministry," Sue said.
"Lisa and I should stay here. You too, Sally. We're good at sweet-talking the teachers," Mandy explained, seeing the appalled expression on Sally's face. "If anything goes wrong, I've got these really cool watches that connect to each other. Just wind it up to midnight to let me know something went wrong and help will be on its way."
Willow nodded. "Everyone's accounted for, then. Suit up and get ready. We're in for the fight of our lives."
Padma and Mandy ran off to the dorms to get the potions and watches. Everyone else hovered near the exit in a tight group, worried silence settling over them. Willow cleared her throat when the girls returned.
"I know this is very sudden, so if you want to back out before we go, there's no shame in it. This is scary, life-threatening stuff. You don't have to help me if you don't want to. I'll understand."
Not a soul budged. They all looked at Willow with a steely glint in their eyes, some even smiling encouragingly. Mandy finally voiced what they all seemed to be thinking: "Willow, if we were afraid of danger, we would have put at least a mile between ourselves and you since the day we met you, but we didn't. We're not afraid. We'll stick with you to the burning end if we have to."
Willow let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Oh...that- that means a lot to me, guys. I didn't realize- Merlin, what did I do to deserve you guys?"
"Exist. Now everyone say your goodbyes, because we've got a lot of work to do," Sue said.
Willow blinked away tears. She might never get used to how awesome real friends are, she thought. Everyone hugged each other tight, whispering encouraging messages in each other's ears, trying not to make it sound like the final goodbye. Sally and Sam embraced each other for a good three minutes, threatening to bring each other back to life and kill each other again if one of them died. Mandy and Lisa went over a final strategy wrap-up with Sue and Padma, their voices breaking. Cypress and Oliver gathered closer to Willow to watch the exchanges.
"You do think we'll come back, right?" Oliver squeaked, hand inching towards Cypress's.
"I promise you, Oliver, you guys are all coming back if it's the last thing I do," Willow said.
"Are you sure you're okay to do this, though? You're super sleep deprived, and this is going on twenty hours straight that you've stayed up," Oliver fretted. He squeezed Cypress's hand. "You might not be able to fight as well."
"I'll be fine, Oliver. Just don't stop me from collapsing in bed afterwards."
Cypress laughed. "Peasant. I haven't slept in three days, and I feel fine."
"Yeah, well, you hardly move, and I was actually doing something super active while not sleeping the past four days," Willow argued. "I'm not supposed to be an insomniac. That's your job. Take it back, Cypress."
Cypress smirked. "Nah, I don't feel like it."
The girls and the Smith twins finished up their goodbyes, and Willow saluted them one final time before sneaking unobtrusively out of the Ravenclaw common room. They descended down Ravenclaw tower and sprinted through the corridors until they reached Professor McGonagall's office. As to be expected, she was there, writing a letter to the Weasleys. Willow sucked in a breath as she finished it and began to wrap it up. She quickly rerouted the group to a few broom closets and shut them inside just in time. They watched through a crack in the door as McGonagall slowly trudged to the Owlery to send the letter, her face downcast and grave. Willow's heart rekindled a fire inside her. She had to get Dumbledore back. Professor McGonagall didn't deserve to deal with all of this loss. She was nothing but kind to her students and cared about their safety like they were her own children.
Willow burst out of the closet as soon as possible and found the Floo powder next to McGonagall's fireplace. She decided to go last to keep watch for them. Willow peered into the corridor for the longest time, but Professor McGonagall was long gone. She would take her time sending that owl to the Weasleys. It had to be unimaginably painful to let parents know that one of their children had died while at school. Willow gritted her teeth. If only she could shout to the world that Ginny wasn't dead, that there was still hope! McGonagall was dealing with unnecessary sadness. Willow took a deep breath and reminded herself that she would put an end to it if she would simply succeed in getting Dumbledore back. She ducked back into the office in time to see Oliver disappear in a plume of green flames. It was just Cypress and her left in the room.
"You know, there's this funny saying for when LGBT+ people tell others about their sexuality or gender, and it's called 'coming out of the closet'," Cypress snickered. "Are you trying to throw me back in the closet?"
"Oh, no, I'm slamming the door on my way out," Willow said, smirking. "I forgot to tell you. I apparently fancied this girl for God-knows-how-long, and she had to kiss me as part of a game, and it took that to make me realize I'm bisexual and fancy her. Pretty sad self-discovery story, isn't it? She's liked me for a while too. This is going to be a mess to clean up if I come back."
Cypress raised his eyebrows. "It took you long enough! I was going to have to tell you myself if you took any more time. God!"
He disappeared into the Floo network. Willow stared after him open-mouthed. How did he know? She didn't even have a clue herself until less than an hour ago! "That mierdita!" she whispered.
Willow threw the Floo powder into the fire and said very clearly, "Ministry of Magic!" The fire engulfed her in green flames, and suddenly she was spinning through a dark space, grate after grate racing by until she was pulled by a pair of arms from the Floo network. Willow's stomach flipped as she flew out of a glossy fireplace, spitting out ash. Padma and Sue pulled her to her feet.
"Okay, we're here, but where is here, exactly?" Sam asked.
Willow rubbed soot out of her eyes and took in her surroundings. They were in someone's office. It was very dark and decorated similarly to Borgin and Burkes. Oddly shaped skulls lined the polished black-brick fireplace, a few Slytherin items littered the desk, and a strange painting depicting a gruesome scene was proudly hung on the pitch-black wall. Willow tore her eyes away from the scene. She didn't need anything that would psych her out before the mission. Willow crept around the desk, looking for something that would identify who the room belonged to. Her nostrils flared when she recognized the name on the plaque that sickeningly sat on the center of the desk, shining gold.
"Lucius Malfoy," she hissed.
"Isn't that Draco Malfoy's dad?" Padma said.
"Yes, and he's the one that's put this entire thing into motion," Willow said. "He somehow caused someone to open the Chamber of Secrets back up because he wanted Dumbledore out of Hogwarts. The pig is too blind to understand that ridding the castle of Muggleborns is only going to lead to his own son no longer having a school to go to. Draco isn't the happiest camper right now." Willow tried to open one of the drawers, but it didn't budge. "Damn it. Is there anything around here that says where Dumbledore might be?"
Oliver shuffled a few papers around on top of the desk, then handed one to Willow. "I think this might help us. It says something about moving a high-security prisoner to a holding cell before...a trial?"
Willow scanned the paper. "This has to be him. I have a hunch that this trial isn't going to go Dumbledore's way."
Sue read it from over her shoulder. "It says he's being moved from A2 to F15. What does that mean?"
"The letter probably indicates the floor level, and the number probably means which cell. It's a dungeon sort of thing," Sam said. He looked around, then drew out a paper from a manila folder. "Here, this is the dungeon map. Who knew the Ministry had this many prisoners?"
"If all the workers are like Lucius, I wouldn't be surprised," Willow said. "They'd arrest someone who supports Muggleborns for 'breathing on them wrong'. It might infect their children or something." She pointed along the map. "Okay, so they're probably going to take him along the shortest route, which leads to the stairs closest to them. He's going down five floors, then over thirteen cells. It looks like Lucius left this place quite recently, judging by the mug of...whatever that is on the corner of his desk. It's still steaming. If we hurry, we might be able to cut them off."
"Hang on, doesn't this sound...too easy?" Cypress pointed out. "I mean, Lucius doesn't sound like the type of guy to just leave all these classified documents on his desk. What if it's a trap?"
Willow's blood ran cold. "You're right. We need to proceed cautiously. No one goes anywhere alone, and at the slightest sign of danger, get out. You guys get back here and leave for Hogwarts as fast as you can."
"What about you? What will you do?" Oliver asked.
"I'll buy you guys some time. The Wizengamot is more likely to go easy on me since I'm a pureblood. You guys would be in false accusations up to your ears. Just bolt as soon as it gets messy."
Sue frowned. "That doesn't sound like a very good plan, Willow. You can't sacrifice yourself that easily."
"I'm not very good at the self-preservation thing. Can't kick the habit." Willow quietly opened the office door, peeking into the hall beyond to check for Ministry workers. This late at night, there were hardly any employees. Not a soul was in sight. Willow grabbed the map and folded it into her pocket. "Come on, we don't have much time. Harry, Ron, and Ginny are depending on us."
Willow led her friends from hallway to hallway, dodging the occasional guard. They found the signage pretty easy to follow. Willow tried to convince herself it was just a coincidence, but what kind of government made it easy to get to its dungeons? Her skin prickled with the thought of getting captured and her friends going down with her. If they failed now, Harry, Ron, and Ginny would die, and everything she knew and loved would be ripped away forever. They couldn't afford to fail.
The temperature decreased as they descended, enough to make the glossy black bricks around them freezing to the touch. Willow gave her robes to Oliver, who drew them tightly around himself, sticking close to her and Cypress. Everyone drew their wands on Willow's command, dreading what would happen if they had to use them. None of them knew any reliable defensive magic. There was the disarming spell, which Cypress and Willow were kind of good at, and a few others that they were all decent with, but in a real fight against expert duelers, what chance did they have? They had to stick to the shadows as long as possible and avoid getting caught.
Willow's breath caught in her throat when she heard the screeching sound of an old door being slammed shut. Her eardrums rattled with the loud sound. Even Cypress, who sometimes struggled to hear because of how loud he listened to music, covered his ears. They were close. Willow enhanced her senses and listened closer. A couple wizards muttered darkly about the stupidity of moving Dumbledore when he was perfectly safe upstairs. So they really had moved him! Willow crept quietly further along, her friends sticking close behind. The guards came into view at the end of the corridor. Willow cursed under her breath. They had the keys to Dumbledore's cell secured tightly around their belts. By the looks of his cell, Dumbledore wasn't going anywhere until they got the keys.
"Okay, we've got a dilemma," Willow breathed. "Those guards have the magic key to get into Dumbledore's cell, and they're obviously not going to give them to us. I'm going to go back up and across floor E and try to jump them on the stairs on the other side. If I never show up, run as fast as you can back to Lucius's office and get to Hogwarts. If I do show up, be ready to disarm them from behind. Cypress, you come with me."
"Got it," Cypress said.
Willow and Cypress left Oliver in charge of hunkering down the rest of the group, then quietly made their way across the dungeon floor above and to the section of stairs where the guards were positioned just below. The absence of multiple guards made Willow worry, but there wasn't anyone being kept in the cells on any of the floors except A and F, and F15 was the only occupied cell on the F floor. It still signaled red flags to her that this was a huge trap. Willow took a deep breath and motioned for Cypress to follow her lead. She silently padded down a few steps. Then, raising her wand and pointing it directly at one of the guards, she whispered, "Expelliarmus!"
The guard was blasted backwards, his wand flying into the air. Willow caught it just as Cypress took out the other guard with the same spell. She stuffed both wands deep within her robes pocket. They approached the two guards, who were groaning and trying to get to their feet. Willow ran up to one of them and kicked him in the head, wincing. He immediately blacked out. Cypress shrugged and threw the other one into the wall, which immediately resulted in the guard slumping to the ground, unconscious. He stole both of their key rings in record time.
"I almost feel bad for them, but I feel worse for my wrists," he said. "Merlin's beard, that guy needs to lose some weight."
"Escape now, talk later!" Willow hissed. She suddenly froze. "Cypress, do you hear that?"
Cypress furrowed his brows. "You know I can't hear anything."
"Exactly my point. It's…far too quiet." Willow paused to send out echolocation. She gasped when the waves only bounced off the walls. "Cypress, they're gone! Our friends are missing!"
Willow sprinted down the corridor, ignoring Dumbledore's quizzical gaze as she blurred past. The corridor was empty. "Cypress, they're in trouble! It's a trap!" Cypress didn't respond. Willow whipped around. "Cypress, did you hear m- "
She choked on her own air, halting mid-sentence. Cypress was incapable of talking at the moment. In fact, all five of her friends were, a group of five sickeningly familiar faces holding wands to their throats and wearing false grins. Cypress was still fighting to kick the guy behind him in the shins, but he was half the weight of the guy, and he was squeezed tighter in his grip until he could barely breathe. Oliver was almost in tears as he tried to get to him. The familiar man holding him yanked him against his chest, laughing as Oliver struggled. Willow growled and whipped her wand out.
"Little kids that play with fire get burned, do they not?" one of the women cackled. Willow's stomach dropped when she recognized her. She felt like she was about to be sick.
"Mum," she breathed.
"Oh, Willow, what did I say about the mumbling and grumbling?" Grace sighed. She lazily sparked fire out of the end of her wand, holding it closer and closer to Sue, who had tears running down her face and struggled to get away. Willow felt her hands warm to a blazing temperature, matching her rage. "See what you made me do, Willow? Look what you've done to your friends! Getting them into trouble, putting them in danger…you've got quite some nerve, coming here like this."
"Shut up! I don't give a damn what you say anymore!" Willow shouted. Her blood boiled. The dungeon floor began to melt under her feet. "Let Sue go! She didn't do anything wrong!"
Alex laughed beside her mum, watching with a maniacal gleam in his eyes as Grace held the fire closer to Sue's face. "Didn't do anything wrong! You're interfering, just like you always do. If you listen, your friends might not get hurt."
"I'm not listening to a thing you say with that snake tongue of yours!" Willow yelled.
Sue cried out in pain as the fire moved closer to her cheek. Grace tutted. "Such a shame to ruin such a pretty face…I'd hate for you to make me do it, Willow…"
Willow's pulse quickened. Her blood froze in her veins. The heat from her body dissipated in the space of a single second. "Stop! Stop it now! I'll do whatever you want! Just don't hurt Sue!"
Lucius Malfoy stepped out of the shadows as Grace and Alex chortled. "I'll take your wand, then. Now."
"Yeah, like I'd willingly give my only defense to you," Willow said acidly. "I don't listen to bigoted idiots like yourself, you slime ball. Go order someone else around."
"I think you've forgotten who's in control of the situation," Lucius said, glancing at Sue, who was now whimpering with the flame close enough to heat her cheeks. Willow wanted to sprint to her mother and annihilate her for torturing Sue, but frustratedly kept herself under control, not wanting to provoke her into burning her friend.
Lucius held out his hand. "Your wand. Now."
Willow begrudgingly gave him her wand as slow as she possibly could, dragging out the situation as long as possible as she attempted to scope out what was going on. Alex and Grace were each holding Oliver and Sue, the latter about to receive high-degree burns. Sam was being held by his own mother in the corner. He was watching Willow intensely, a fire burning in his eyes like a cornered animal. Padma calmly allowed the man behind her, Willow's least favourite grandfather, to keep her pinned to his side. She was obviously not resting, however, her eyes unobtrusively scanning to room as fast as a hummingbird. Willow locked eyes with Cypress, who was being held by Lucius, and he nodded at her. She stole a glance at Grace's positioning behind Sue. She was probably mental for trying this, but then again, so were the people trying to kidnap her friends. Just before she could give her wand to Lucius, Willow suddenly pointed it at her mother and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
Grace flew back like she'd been hit with a cannonball. Her wand flew in the air and Sue fell hard to the ground, hurrying to pick it up. Lucius growled and reached for Willow, but made the mistake of releasing Cypress in the process, who aimed a kick at the back of his leg, throwing Lucius hard onto his knees. Willow threw a punch at Alex's shoulder. Oliver went flying sideways as Alex lunged at her, snarling in pain. Willow dodged his charge and grabbed his arm, instinctively yanking it backwards until she heard a pop, then planting a foot in Alex's back to send him screaming into the floor. Oliver, Cypress, and Willow teamed up to release Padma and Sam, then gathered up Sue and their wands that had flown out of their attackers pockets as fast as they could and sprinted to Dumbledore's cell, forming a circle around Cypress as he attempted to discover which key would open the cell. Willow blasted her grandfather backwards with another terribly performed disarming spell when he tried to attack her. He barely even hit the floor before he was able to get to his feet again. Willow cursed herself for not studying the disarming spell more.
"How dare you!" Grace yowled from the other side of the room. Cypress cursed under his breath as he tried yet another key that didn't work. "How dare you attack your own mother!"
"You're the one that attacked me first, you bi- !"
"Willow, watch out!" Oliver warned.
Just in time, she looked up to see Lucius aiming at spell at them. Willow gasped and threw herself into her friends, bowling them over, saving them from being the receiving end of a blast powerful enough to destroy the walls above them. Stone rained down on their backs, but none of the chunks were large enough to majorly injure them. Willow winced as a sharp piece cut her cheek. Blood dripped onto her lips. She wiped it off on her shirt and shot to her feet, blindly firing a few spells in the direction she saw Lucius last. Unfortunately, he was no longer there.
Willow's head exploded into pain as a fist slammed into the side of it. She was sent spinning into the wall, then fell to the floor, vision fuzzy. She tried to get up, but collapsed back to the floor, red now dripping into her eyes, covering her face in sticky blood. Willow vaguely heard the cries and yelps of her friends as they were forced to their knees against their wills. She felt someone grab her hair and roughly force her to her feet. Willow's legs gave out when she stood up and she fell against her captor, who simply jabbed her hard in the side and painfully twisted her arms backwards to keep her upright. Her vision cleared enough to barely make out Cypress fighting against Lucius.
"Don't touch me!" Cypress snapped.
Lucius regained his hold on him and squeezed his arms even tighter than before. "You will be begging for mercy from the Dark Lord soon enough, Mudblood."
Cypress seethed. "You're going to regret calling me that, douchebag." He managed to get free enough from Lucius that he could kick him in the shin, but it didn't stop Lucius from landing a retaliation blow onto his shoulder blade pressure point. Cypress collapsed to his knees and winced painfully, but didn't give Lucius the satisfaction of seeing his pain as he was secured on the floor. Willow saw that every single one of her friends was back under the control of a Dark witch or wizard. She suddenly realized who was holding her.
"You insolent little traitor!" Grace hissed into her ear. "You'll pay for this. You'll pay for everything you've done to me!"
Willow snorted. "You've got plenty of money. I don't see why you need a cover charge from me to fix your own mistakes."
Grace suddenly yanked the locket from Willow's neck. It burned wherever it touched as it was stolen from her skin, almost as if it were reluctant to leave. Willow gasped as the agony spread like a virus. She felt like something was suddenly missing. A piece of her heart had just been ripped out. Grace smirked at the shocked expression on Willow's face, dangling the locket in front of her.
"I'm sorry, was this important to you?" she mocked. "Well, it's about time you gave it back, you thief! You stole my family heirloom from right under my nose, you snake! You'll never be a real part of this family!"
Willow bit back tears as the picture disappeared from view into her mum's robe pocket, but didn't show it, instead steeling her face. "Good thing, too, because I never wanted to be a part of a gang of murderers, thieves, and traitors in the first place."
Grace slapped Willow across the face, hard. Oliver and Sue gasped while Willow blinked and moved her jaw, hoping it wasn't broken despite the pain blossoming across her cheek. "You need to watch that tongue of yours, Willow. It might get you into trouble one of these days." Grace reached into Willow's robe pocket and drew out a silver piece of metal, smirking as her daughter jumped in panic. "Don't think I didn't learn about this in the last few years. You're not too hard to find information about, Willow."
Grace dropped the star map on the floor. Willow's heart stopped. She tried to say something, but her voice caught in her throat. Grace raised her foot, then brought it down. Willow's mind splintered into as many electrical signals as pieces the map broke into. Cebba began screaming incoherently about how that map had been around for more than a century, it was irreplaceable, Grace deserved to be destroyed, and something about letting her Dark powers flourish for two seconds, just two seconds. Willow refused, simply staring at the broken map, wondering if her mum knew that she had been on it still. Grace kicked away the useless scraps of metal.
"There, isn't that better? No more spying on us, huh, Willow?" Grace grinned disturbingly. "I think the dungeons would be a wonderful finale to this little fiasco." Willow glared as her mother yanked her to her feet, forcing her to stare into her eyes. "You'll wish you were never born when the Dark Lord is through with you- not that you didn't before when you went through that ridiculous depressed phase of yours."
"Trust me, nothing can compare to the satisfaction I'll feel when I can finally put my foot where the sun doesn't shine and kick you all the way to Hell," Willow laughed mirthlessly. She smirked at her mother's outraged expression. "Come on, then, take me to the dungeons. I don't have all night."
The bars shook as Willow threw herself against the cell door. They rattled and creaked with the intensity of her assault, but they wouldn't budge. She shoulder-checked it again, only managing to move it half an inch before it bounced back into position, a bruise already flowering on her shoulder. Willow angrily kicked it with the sole of her foot.
"Damn this stupid magic dungeon!" she cursed, sitting down with a huff.
"You done with your temper tantrum, or are you going to make some more useless noise?" Cypress asked. "It's grating on my eardrums."
Willow scoffed. "As if yours are more sensitive than mine. I can hardly hear anything but ringing right now."
"If you'd listen to music louder, maybe your ears would block out all the annoyances in life, too."
"You walk a dangerously fine line, Cypress."
He rolled his eyes. "I don't walk across the line, I h across it."
"I'm pretty sure Sue's the real dancer here," Willow said, smiling at the memory. Sue's cheeks reddened. Willow's smile turned sad. "I'm sorry I got you stuck down here with me, Sue. It would be a shame if the world never got to see you dance again."
Sue shrugged. "It's okay. Did you turn the clock to midnight?"
Willow nodded, checking the watch to make sure it was still turned to twelve. "Yeah, on the dot. I'm not counting on them to get to us anytime soon, though. There's a lot of arguing to do with McGonagall before anything gets done."
"It just means she cares about us, I guess," Sam said.
"I wish I could say that about another female figure in my life…" Willow grumbled, automatically reaching for her locket and feeling nothing. She frowned darkly as she remembered her mother's gleeful face when she ripped the locket off her neck. Karma would get her eventually, she convinced herself.
"If help doesn't come, what then?" Oliver asked.
"Then we fight tooth and nail to get out of here," Willow replied. "They can't hold us forever. If my mum comes by, I know how to provoke her into a fight. She hates it when I don't shut up about Dad." Willow winced as her back spasmed again. "I hope the fighting doesn't last long, though. My mum deserves a nice lights-out kick to the head anyway."
"You don't have to fight for us, Willow," Padma said. "There's always another way to get out of here."
Willow blew a strand of hair out of her face. She took her hairband off her wrist and began putting it into a ponytail, remembering how her mum yanked her to her feet with it. "You're right. I always jump to the fighting method. Is there any way you can think of that might help us escape?"
Padma tipped her head to the side, then glanced at her healing potions. "They only managed to find half of my potions when they disarmed me. I might have enough ingredients here that if someone mixed the right ones together, it would create an acidic substance that would burn through these bars."
"I'll do it, destruction is my specialty!" Cypress chirped, excitedly going through the potions. "Give me a minute to figure this out."
"In the meantime, what should we do after we escape?" Sue said. "Dumbledore is still trapped."
"Well, for starters, we need to get our wands and the keys back," Sam said. "Without those, we're doomed. Dumbledore doesn't get free, we get blasted off the face of the Earth."
"So…split up or stick together to get the wands back?" Oliver wondered.
"Definitely stick together. I'm not letting you guys out of my sight from now on," Willow said quickly. She gently touched Sue's face, causing her hands to glow and begin absorbing some of the heat. "I'm so sorry about what my mum did to you, Sue. It's all my fault. I led us straight into a trap when we knew it was going to happen."
Sue shrugged, feeling her cheek as Willow withdrew her hand. "It's okay. She didn't seriously burn me, so no harm done. You have to wonder what went wrong that she turned out like that, though. She doesn't seem like the type of person to naturally love torturing children."
"Yeah, I wonder…" Willow trailed off, swallowing her memories before they could overtake her. "So, to recap, we escape, free Dumbledore, get our wands back, and bust our butts to get back to Hogwarts as soon as possible." Willow's heart skipped a beat. "The longer we take here, the longer Harry and Ron have to wait for help at Hogwarts."
"How much longer, Cypress?" Sam asked.
Cypress swore as he accidentally burned a hole through his robe. "Only a few more minutes, tops."
Sue nodded. "That's good. Thanks for using your healing magic on me, Willow, by the way. It feels like I only got slightly sunburnt now."
"I'm glad," Willow said. She glanced at her regular watch. "God, I forgot how long I've been up. It's over twenty-hour hours now. I'm definitely collapsing into bed when I get back to my dormitory."
"You should close your eyes for a minute, Willow," Padma suggested. "Save your energy for what comes next. We might be in for a long fight if we get caught."
"Please don't pass out on us. You'll hurt yourself even more," Oliver pleaded.
"Don't worry, with the massive amount of adrenaline in my system, I won't be able to even get drowsy for at least three hours," Willow reassured them.
"Um, I know this is kind of pessimistic, but…last thoughts before the battle, anyone?" Sam questioned. "I know, we're probably not going to die, but just in case, what's on everyone's mind?"
"The Hogwarts library," Sue murmured.
"The murals in the Ravenclaw common room," Padma dreamily said.
"Cherry pie with the older Hufflepuffs," Oliver said, a ghost of a smile touching his face. "They promised to teach me how to bake with magic next year. I hope I get the chance."
"My own little Potions corner, where everything's labeled and I actually know what's going into what," Cypress grumbled, nearly smashing a vial of brown liquid in frustration.
Willow laughed. "Sorry to shatter the melancholy mood, but I'm kind of pissed that I might die tonight. I literally just figured out that someone fancies me and I'm actually bisexual! If I die, I won't get to freak out over how adorable some of the girls are in our year- not that I wasn't doing that already, but this time it would be a conscious feeling. Also, isn't it kind of rude not to respond to someone when they tell you they fancy you?"
"Um…yeah, I'm pretty sure it is, but what's bisexual?" Sam asked.
"Oh, I fancy both boys and girls. Apparently, it takes a lot for me to figure out what the heck my emotions are trying to say to me."
Sam raised his eyebrows. "It took you that long to figure this out? Wow, you're worse than me."
"Figure what out?"
"Pretty much everything." Cypress rubbed his hands together and didn't give Willow a chance to respond before saying, "Alright, I've got Super-Powerful Acid and Why-Would-You-Make-This Acid. Which one should I use?"
"Both?" Oliver said.
"Both it is!" Cypress exclaimed. He looked both ways down the dungeon to make sure no one was lurking, then uncorked two dark liquids and dumped them all over the bars of their cell. They sizzled and hissed and ate away at the metal, leaving a big enough gap in the now malleable bars for them to fit through. One of the acids stopped, but the other decided to pick up speed and disintegrated the entire cell door as it traveled downwards. They watched with raised eyebrows as it destroyed the floor and slowly began to descend into the Earth, only stopping when it reached a thick stone brick and ran out of substance.
"Huh, I didn't expect that to happen," Cypress said. Shrugging, he stepped through the bars of their cell and helped Oliver out. "Come on, you guys don't have to stay here all night and stare at my masterpiece."
The group shook themselves out of their trance and escaped the cell, quietly sticking to the shadows as they surveyed the area. Willow cursed under her breath at the sight of the two men blocking their escape.
"Stupid Alex the Arsehole and Grandpa Fawley the F- sorry, Fricking Idiot are ruining my life yet again," she whispered. "We've got to take them out, but it has to be silent."
"Allow me," Padma breathed. Willow nodded, and Padma stepped forward, raising her wand and whispering, "Petrificus Totalus!" twice in rapid succession. Willow and Cypress sprinted out to catch the two men before they could noisily fall to the floor. Personally, Willow would have loved to see Alex fall on his face and break his nose, but they couldn't afford to make any noise. Alex and Grandpa Fawley glared at her with a mixture of shock and fury. Willow smirked and rolled Alex to the side of the corridor, face-down into the floor. Cypress stole the keys off Grandpa Fawley and tossed them to Sue.
"Why didn't we send Padma to take out the guards before?" Sam questioned. "This would have been so much easier!"
Willow shrugged. "I didn't know she was this skilled with the full body-bind curse. We should have all come as a unit. Well, we know more for next time- not that there should be a next time, but you know what I mean."
Oliver nodded. "I hope there isn't a next time."
The lock clicked as Sue turned the key. Dumbledore stared at them with an odd twinkle in his eyes, Fawkes perched on his shoulder. Willow sighed with relief and rush over. Dumbledore didn't have a scratch on him. His wand was strangely still beside him in the cell. Willow wondered why that was, but figured that it all came as part of Dumbledore's peculiarities.
"I was wondering when you'd stop by, Willow Guerrero," he said. "Professor McGonagall owes me a firewhisky."
Willow's mouth dropped open. "Professor, you bet on how long it would take me to rescue you?"
"Ah, I don't call it betting, but enjoying the thrill of a win over a lively drink," Dumbledore said. "There is no real betting between Hogwarts staff, you see, only the enjoyment of winnings."
"We can argue this later. For now, let's get moving before we get caught," Sam said. "He can apparate once we get out of the dungeon area. The spells fade after the A level."
The group hightailed it out of the dungeons, moving quickly and quietly to the main level of the Ministry. They paused when they heard voices at the top of the stairs. Thankfully, it was just a late-night work session between coworkers finishing up. The witch and wizard apparated away within minutes, and they were clear to leave. Fawkes vanished the moment the spells faded. Dumbledore didn't even bat an eye, but soon disapparated to Hogwarts as well.
"Great, now we're all alone again," Sam grumbled.
"Not yet, we're not. We've gotten Dumbledore back to Hogwarts, but we still have to get back, too. Come on, let's hurry up and get to the fireplace before anyone can catch us."
They'd taken all of two steps towards Lucius's office when a high-pitched screeching noise ruptured Willow's eardrums. An alarm had been sounded! The Ministry knew they were there! Willow was pulled to her feet by Oliver, and despite the pain in her ears, she sprinted forward with her friends, making a beeline for Lucius's office. They skidded to a stop far before his office, however, and stared in horror at what faced them.
"Going somewhere?" Molly growled.
Lucius, Grace, and Mrs. Smith stood facing them down, blocking the way to Lucius's office. Willow balled up her fists in rage. Of course they wouldn't get time to get their wands. Her luck was definitely showing its true colours.
"We'll make this quick," Lucius said. "Come quietly and explain what you did with Dumbledore, or face the consequences."
"You don't get to tell me how long time-out is," Cypress retorted. "Consequences are something you might want to consider before dyeing your hair the wrong colour."
Willow's mum laughed as Lucius's lip curled into a snarl. "I should have known Willow's friends would have sharp tongues, too. Don't worry, Lucius, the truth may hurt, but the pain of defying the Dark Lord hurts worse."
"What do you mean? Are you talking about Voldemort?" Oliver asked, voice shaking.
"Your pathetic little scheme didn't work, of course," Molly scoffed. Sam stared down his mum with a raging fire in his eyes. "Dumbledore can't stop what's happening in the Chamber now. Your stupid little friends will die down there, and the Dark Lord will rise again. But your fag brain must not be able to process that, can it?"
Oliver's eyes went wide like he'd been shot, his mouth dropping open. He stumbled backwards, then collapsed to the floor, violently shaking, barely managing to look up at Molly with terror in his eyes. Molly smirked at his feebleness. Willow furrowed her brow. What just happened? What had Molly called Oliver?
"How dare you call him that!" Cypress roared, launching himself at Molly. Everyone froze in shock. Cypress knocked the wand out of her hand and viciously punched her in the face. Molly's nose broke with a sickening snap! She screamed as blood poured down her face, soaking into her robes. Lucius suddenly snapped out of his trance and fired a spell at Cypress, slamming him into the floor, then throwing him across the room. Willow gasped, but Cypress simply grabbed Molly's wand and faced up with Lucius.
"So Oliver needs a big strong boyfriend to protect him? How disgustingly pathetic," Lucius spat.
"So you need a big strong Dark wizard to take care of all your problems and make you feel powerful by bullying young children? Even more pathetic," Cypress retorted. "And no, Oliver does not need someone to stand up for him. He could kick your arse in the dark without a wand and with only his left hand, and he's right handed."
"You insolent little- "
"Lucius! Are you going to stand here and bicker, or are you going to present the Dark Lord with at least something from the last twelve years?"
"You can only claim four of those, last I checked," Lucius seethed.
Grace rolled her eyes. "And I've done twice as much as you in a third of the time. Now, let's get something done, for once." She pointed her wand directly at Willow. "Flipendo!"
All of a sudden, Willow found herself flipping backwards through the air, then slamming into the ground. Her left arm cracked and exploded into pain. She groaned and rolled over, feeling a little queasy. Her arm throbbed with its own heartbeat. She wished it would stop pumping blood so fast and just go numb.
"Wow, is that all it takes to get rid of a Guerrero? What a shame," Grace tutted. She got Lucius's and Molly's attention. "You take the fags, you take your son and that Asian girl, I've got this princess over here."
Willow's heart beat faster. Adrenaline flooded into her system, dulling her pain, spiking her energy, and settling her stomach. She heard something rattle as she slowly rose to her feet and suddenly remembered that she still had the guards' wands in her pocket.
"Sam! Padma! Catch!" she shouted, throwing them each a wand.
"You had these the whole time and didn't use them to magic us out of the dungeon?!" Sam exclaimed. "I'm going to kill you when we get back, Willow!"
"You can kill me all you want then! For now- get down!"
Willow's warning came just in time. Each of the three adults cast a spell simultaneously, exploding the wall behind them. Willow's friends dove onto the floor and covered their heads. Cement and stone rained down on them like a hailstorm of bricks. Willow received a few more cuts to her back, but thankfully remained unscathed. She sprang to her feet around the same time everyone else did to find their opponents closing in.
"Fight in pairs! Whatever happens, just get back to Hogwarts, but don't die trying!" Willow ordered.
The battle began. Padma joined Willow against her mother. Grace sent a wave of flame at them, but Padma repelled it with a burst of water. She dodged a flying chunk of brick and redirected it towards Lucius, who unfortunately skipped out of the way just in time, also missing a spell from Cypress. Why was it that the evil wizards had better luck? Padma attempted to use the full-body bind curse, but Grace threw herself to the floor just in time. Willow suddenly had an idea.
"Padma, are you up for something mental?" she questioned.
"Only if it won't hurt anyone, yes!" Padma exclaimed, preparing a spell for Grace as she rose to her feet.
"Cover me, and don't let my mum see me!" Willow shouted.
Padma nodded and fired off another spell at Grace, which ricocheted oddly. The wand wasn't reacting well to its new user. Willow had to act fast if she didn't want Padma to get injured. She inconspicuously stepped into the shadows, transformed into a black cat, and crept towards her mother. Her gut wrenched when she saw Sam get thrown back by his mother's spell, but she kept her focus. Grace didn't even notice her padding near when she was three feet away. Before she could overthink her actions, Willow shape-shifted into a demiguise, turned invisible, and launched herself at her mum.
Grace's scream caused everyone nearby to screech to a halt. She gripped her arm, which was mysteriously cut deeply by a paw full of razor-sharp claws. Grace's eyes were wild as she glanced around, trying to see her attacker, but she didn't get the chance. Willow wound up and threw her fist into the back of her mum's head as hard as she could.
The combined strength of her demiguise form, her own muscles, and her hatred for her mum was enough to knock her out cold. Grace's eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Willow jumped up and down, accidentally emitting a few primate sounds. Her heart froze when Lucius and Molly paused to narrow their eyes in her direction, then she remembered she was invisible, then panicked again because her powers were draining her so fast. Sam and Cypress thankfully fired more offensive spells at the adults to return their attention to the fight. Padma's head was on the swivel, obviously looking for Willow, so she reversed her invisibility. Her form flickered, though, and Willow suddenly found herself on two feet again, but it wasn't long before she collapsed, barely catching herself before she face planted. Padma rushed to her side.
"Your powers aren't going to help you very much tonight. You haven't slept enough to recharge your energy. Don't use them again unless we're in an emergency."
Willow felt her eyelids trying to close. The room blurred in and out. She suddenly shook her head, clearing her vision. "Okay, but doesn't fighting former Death Eaters constitute an emergency?"
"It's good to see your sarcasm is still here," Padma said, smiling. She handed Willow the guard's wand. "You're definitely awake enough to help. I'll take care of your mum. Go help the others."
Willow nodded, allowing Padma to help her to her feet. She stumbled when Padma darted off to secure Grace, but eventually regained her balance, rubbing her eyes to remove all signs of sleep from them. Yes, she was exhausted, and yes, her body was attempting to shut down already, but she had to make it. She had to stay strong. Willow shoved her powers as far down as she could and ran to Oliver and Cypress's side, who were currently being blasted across the room.
"Oliver! Cypress!" she yelped, removing rubble from around them. "Can you hear me? Are you okay?"
"Perfect, aside from the fact that this idiot ruined my hair," Cypress grumbled. He glanced at Oliver, expression darkening, then faced back in Lucius's direction, stone-faced. "Willow, I've got a douchebag to take care of. Make sure Oliver remembers who I am."
Willow saluted him. "Tell Lucius his hair is too long for him. He'll love that."
Cypress smirked, jumping out of the rubble and running at Lucius. Willow watched him launch a violent spell in his direction, then returned her attention to Oliver, who was just beginning to stir. He mumbled something about "Cypress" and "Sorry I didn't say anything," then snapped awake. Willow grabbed his arm to stop him from jumping up.
"Hang on, how many fingers am I holding up?" she said.
"I'm not very good at math, but your left hand, your right pointer finger, and your right middle finger. Good enough?"
Willow rolled her eyes. "That would be seven, Oliver, but yes, let's go get Cypress."
She helped him to his feet and they managed to fight their way to Cypress's side, having to throw themselves to the floor several times to avoid raging, spitting spells and greenish-blue flames. Cypress was cradling his arm by the time they got to him.
"Looks like we've got matching bruises now, don't we?" he said, pointing between Willow's and his left arms. "Madam Pomfrey is going to kill us."
"We're going to get killed first if we don't duck!" Willow shouted, wrapping an arm around Cypress and Oliver and throwing them to the ground with her, the heat of a fireball passing so close that it singed the hair off her arms. Willow frustratedly got to her feet and helped the boys.
"Merlin's beard, where the heck did he learn all of this Dark mag- !"
Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream cut through the fight. Willow's eardrums nearly ruptured. She didn't fall to her knees as she normally did, however. This time, her gut twisted into a knot of fear. She recognized that scream. Willow gasped and covered her mouth when she saw a figure writhing on the floor in pain, blood pooling at her side. It was Sue, and the situation wasn't looking good. At that rate of blood loss, she could bleed out in minutes. Willow's adrenaline spiked even higher than before. She nudged Cypress.
"You've got good aim, right?"
Cypress rolled his eyes. "You've known me how long?"
"Trust me, it's been long enough, but disarm Molly on the count of three! It's time to stop this magical fighting before one of us gets killed!"
"A fist fight? You've got to be kidding me!"
"Do you have any better ideas?" Willow asked. "Sue is dying!"
Cypress groaned. "You wouldn't approve of my methods, so no. Let's just save the dance-fighter."
Willow pointedly stared at Cypress, then took aim at where Lucius was slowly rising to his feet across the room. "Wand at the ready! One…two…three!"
"Expelliarmus!"
Lucius's and Molly's wands shot out of their hands. Willow and Cypress each caught them, then stomped on them underfoot until they broke in half, their cores the only things holding them together. Lucius and Molly growled at the two of them.
"I see how it is now! Take us out while we're at a disadvantage, will you? You'd never win in a fair fight!" Molly screeched.
"You think this was a fair fight? We're literally half your age!" Sam shot back.
"You want a fair fight? Fine!" Willow angrily threw her wand aside. "Let's end this fair and square! No wands, just fist against fist!" Willow assumed a more mocking tone and facial expression. "Oh, wait, that's not fair, isn't it? Only Muggles fight with such 'unsophisticated' and 'brutish' ways, right?" Willow scoffed. "The Muggle way is much more dignified and fair than any magical way you can come up with! Abusive parents versus their children is never going to be fair anyway!"
"How dare you!" Molly snarled. "You filthy blood traitor and your spouting off nonsense! You've brainwashed my son and daughter into your ridiculous Muggle ways, and now you're building an entire army against us!"
Cypress snorted. "Army? You realize that's a compliment, right? You just completely admitted that we're kicking your arse with ease."
Lucius fumed. "Mudbloods," he muttered.
Willow rolled up her sleeves. "I dare you to say that word again. I fricking dare you."
Oliver and Cypress raised their eyebrows. Lucius and Willow locked eyes, glaring daggers. With a final battle cry, the second years charged the two adults. Willow managed to get a clean shot at Lucius's face, which resulted in his lip busting open. She hoped that would teach him to ever use such a dirty word again. Oliver backed her up while Cypress flew at Molly from behind. Willow stole a quick glance at Sue to find Padma sprinting to her side, already sorting through potions. She desperately hoped Padma could buy her enough time to fight their way out.
Lucius and Molly unfortunately turned out to be very good fighters. Willow went in sorely underestimating their abilities and soon sustained a bruised rib, a bloody knuckle, and several scrapes from the floor. Oliver also turned out to be very good backup, not allowing Lucius to get any blow in while Willow was recovering. He managed to escape the majority of the blows. Sam and Cypress were holding their own as well across the room, somehow forcing Molly back towards a nearby railing overlooking a cavernous space in the middle of the Ministry. Lucius threw an elbow at Willow and drew her attention back to the present fight.
Oliver suddenly blocked a scathing punch from Lucius and stumbled backwards. Willow felt her mind drifting as she barely managed to dance around Lucius's quick sets of strikes. Exhaustion was setting in quickly. Sweat dripped into her eyes, her leg muscles were on fire, and her chest began to burn with that familiar blocked feeling that exercise-induced asthma brought on. Her adrenaline wasn't doing enough anymore. Staying up so many hours was taking its toll. Oliver somehow jumped in to tackle Lucius away from Willow at the last second, but it wasn't going to last much longer. She couldn't hang on.
All of a sudden, a glint of metal shone as Lucius snatched something dark and small off the floor. The scraping sound of metal on metal grated against her eardrums. Willow's mind sparked into a series of electrical signals. They were warning signs! She instinctively jumped backwards, eyes widening as a blade passed within inches of her stomach. Lucius had a knife! She accidentally wondered where it came from when he flew at her, swinging the weapon in a wide arc. Willow darted to the side, nearly running into Oliver, then shot to the other side, avoiding yet another dagger strike. She stumbled to one knee and scraped together enough strength to dodge Lucius for a third time. Oliver caught her eye. She suddenly realized the situation was only going to escalate if she didn't get rid of Lucius's advantage.
"Oliver, tell them all I'm sorry, and Cypress and Seamus can blow stuff up at my funeral!" she cried.
Before Oliver could say anything, Willow sized up Lucius's next move, tensed her muscles, and unexpectedly pounced forward- straight into the dagger. Pain exploded into her abdomen. Willow screamed and fell to her knees, hands firmly on the hilt. Lucius stumbled backwards in shock. Through bleary eyes, Willow thought she saw something strange in the Death Eater's eyes, something almost like…regret? Horror? Whatever it was, she followed through on her mental plan and lashed out at Lucius, kicking him in the head hard enough to bring him down. He wheezed and rolled onto his side, staring at Willow with a mixture of terror and…a tinge of sadness?
She tightened her grip on the dagger in her stomach, coughing blood as she did so. Willow felt like she was going to throw up, but whatever happened, she had promised to get her friends home, and if this was how she had to do it, then she would take the risk. She was about to yank out the dagger when Draco's face suddenly flashed in her mind's eye. Willow's heart sank. She realized she couldn't injure one of her friend's dads as horribly as she planned. Raising her fist, Willow instead threw the hardest punch she'd ever thrown into Lucius's temple. He was knocked out cold in less than half a second.
Willow coughed up more blood and sank to the floor, struggling to breathe. At least she'd finished her mission. Willow pulled in as deep of breaths as she could manage, in for eight counts, out for eight counts, doing her best not to hitch the airflow in between the waves of pain it caused her. She dry heaved, then returned to her breathing practices.
"Willow!" Oliver shrieked. He slid to his knees beside her, bright green eyes clouding. "No, no, no, why do you always do this? Don't die!"
Willow coughed, producing more blood spatters on her arm. "I'm not dying yet, Oliver. Go help Sam and Cypress."
"But- but- you're bleeding to death!" he stammered. Tears streamed down his face. "Please don't die, please don't die, please don't die! I can't have more people die in my life!"
Willow smiled sadly. "I know, which is why I'm not going anywhere yet. I've got my powers, right? Go get Sam and Cypress. Molly is strong, even for the two of them."
Oliver bit his lower lip, then reluctantly nodded. "Okay, but promise me you'll live?"
"I'm hanging onto life like it's all I've got left."
Oliver wasn't fully convinced, the evidence in the worry etched on his face, but he finally broke away from Willow's side, running to go help Sam and Cypress. Willow painfully shifted herself to watch. Sam and Cypress apparently hadn't been doing well. They were both sustaining heavy injuries, Sam sporting a black eye, and Cypress a limp. Oliver did his best to help, but Molly was far too enraged, far too skilled, and far too cracked to be stopped. Sam was thrown into the wall and fell unconscious, Cypress disabled soon after when his bad leg received a sharp blow from Molly. She faced the last one standing- Oliver.
"No big strong boyfriend to protect you now, huh?" Molly taunted. "You're a disgusting fag! You'll never be anything more!"
Oliver's face reddened. "How did you know that? Who told you?"
"You'd be surprised how unfaithful family can be," Molly said acidly, her lip curling as she cast a glance in her son's direction.
Willow suddenly realized Oliver's face wasn't red with embarrassment, but anger. Pure anger. Livid anger. She gasped. Willow had never seen Oliver actually mad before. She'd heard of what happened when students pissed off Hufflepuffs, but never before had she actually witnessed it. Oliver's fists balled up until they were white-knuckled. He speed-walked over to where the guards' wands had been cast aside and picked them up, throwing one to Molly and keeping one for himself, leveling it at Molly with a steely glint in his emerald eyes.
"You can hurt me, you can call me horrible names, you can even try to imprison me, but no one ever, ever gets to hurt my friends like you've hurt them!" he shouted. "How dare you carelessly abuse your son and daughter? How dare you turn your back on family! Mine might not be perfect, but that doesn't matter! Everyone deserves a loving family, and if you can't understand that, then you don't deserve to have Sam or Sally in your life! They are the most caring, expressive, funny, mischievous, beautiful human beings anyone could ask for! You're the most disgusting person in the world if you can't see that!"
Molly growled. "You come here, attack me, and now insult my parenting? You deserve what's coming for you, fag!"
"Call me by my name," Oliver said, his voice at a deadly soft decibel. "It's Oliver Rivers. I'm proud of who I am, I'm proud of who my friends are, and I'm proud to be the one that kicks your arse!"
Oliver fired a spell at Molly. Her eyebrows shot up at its intensity. She countered, but didn't even get time to prepare for the next one as Oliver mercilessly shot wave after wave of jinx, hex, curse, and charm at her. Molly became more and more frayed as Oliver pushed her increasingly close to the ledge. She suddenly was forced to drop her wand and grip the balcony with white knuckles.
"Please, don't kill me!" she begged. "I thought I was doing what was best for my son! I was just trying to be a good mum for my children!"
"If you wanted to be a good mum, you should have thought twice about laying a finger on Sam and Sally years ago. You should have thought twice about leaving them to their own devices after their dad's death. You should have thought twice about ever hurting them in front of me!"
Oliver dropped his wand and backhanded Molly across the face, then planted a kick in her chest, sending her flying backwards over the rail. Willow heard her scream all the way to the next floor, then abrupt silence. Oliver muttered something about "…not dead, good…" and turned away from the ledge, taking a few deep breaths. He helped Cypress to his feet, and together they managed to drag Sam over to Padma, who was still taking care of Sue, also unconscious by that point. Then, Oliver rushed to Willow's side once again.
"How are you doing? Are you still breathing okay? Has the bleeding stopped? Does anything feel excessively wrong?"
"Other than a knife in my gut? Everything's just peachy," Willow said, smiling. She lifted a heavy arm to touch Oliver's cheek. "I'm so proud of you! Look at you, all grown up and taking down bad guys like a pro."
Oliver shrugged. "She hurt my friends, especially Sam and Sally. I did what I had to do without killing her." His eyes clouded. "A broken rib won't kill her, right?"
Willow laughed, though it hurt and rattled her chest. "If breaking a rib kills a person, then I've died three times already. No, you did amazing, Oliver. You're such an angel. I knew you had courage lurking beneath the surface."
Oliver gently hugged Willow. "You're the brave one. I would never have made it this far without you. Thanks for taking that hit for me first year and never letting me go after that."
"I'd take all the hits if it meant you got to live another day. You're a better person than I could ever hope to be. More selfless, more courageous, but most importantly, more caring. You value human life more than anything in this world, and I hope to one day love humanity as much as you."
Oliver blushed deeply. "Aw, I'm not that amazing…"
"Sure you are! I wouldn't be using extra oxygen to tell you otherwise right now!" Willow chuckled. "By the way, what was that weird word Molly was calling you? I didn't like it."
Oliver's eyes widened. "Uh…I'll explain that later. Right now, we need to get back to Hogwarts, and fast!"
Willow gasped. "Sue!" She painfully rose to her feet, stumbled a little into Oliver, and collapsed at Sue's side. Padma had stemmed much of the bleeding, but there was still a massive red stain on her stomach. "We've got to get her back to Hogwarts, now! Sam too! Oliver, go grab our wands! I overheard the guards saying they put them in the 'Keeper's' room, which I guess is a dungeonkeeper or something. Whatever it is, go grab them, and meet us in Lucius's office as soon as possible!"
Oliver nodded, running off at a fast clip. Padma, Cypress, and Willow teamed up to carefully maneuver Sam and Sue around the rubble and into Lucius's office. The knife was growing ever more painful in her stomach, but the longer she kept it in, the more her powers cemented her internal organs and skin back together. If she took it out, she risked bleeding out, excessive pain, and slowing their escape. Padma soothingly talked through each footstep with Willow, succeeding in keeping her calm despite the agony. Oliver met them at Lucius's office in a matter of minutes. They took turns going through the Floo network, Padma carrying Sue, Oliver carrying Sam, and Cypress and Willow volunteering to go first and last, respectively. Finally, after spitting one last time on Lucius's desk, she shouted, "Hogwarts!" and was engulfed in beautiful green flames.
Professor McGonagall looked liable to faint when they appeared in her office. She was clutching her chest and breathing heavily in shock.
"What- how the Devil did you- where have you been? You could have been killed!" she cried.
"I'm sorry, Professor, I promise, you can take all the house points away from Gryffindor and scold me to death later, but right now, Sue is dying, Sam is unconscious, Cypress probably broke something, Oliver and Padma deserve student of the year awards, and I feel like my internal organs are collapsing. We need to see Madam Pomfrey right away."
Professor McGonagall stared straight into Willow's eyes. "You are surely going to be thouroughly questioned for your actions in the near future, but for now, make your way to the hospital wing as quickly as possible, please. I have Ginny Weasley's parents to meet soon."
As her friends swept out the door, Willow suddenly remembered that Ginny wasn't dead and was about to shout it to McGonagall, but Padma pulled her along, reminding her that the longer she waited for treatment, the faster the knife would impale her body further. Willow reluctantly followed along, the pain in her stomach mounting. They swiftly made their way through the corridors. Madam Pomfrey nearly had a heart attack when they burst through her doors.
"Merlin's beard, it never ends!" she cried. "What happened? Who needs immediate attention?"
"Sue does!" Oliver exclaimed.
Madam Pomfrey set to work on Sue right away while the rest helped move Sam onto a bed. She made quite a few remarks on how well done the applications of the potions were to Sue's body. Padma blushed a little, but still watched over Sue, face in a rare expression change. Willow had never seen her so devastated. Guilt swarmed her system, but she swallowed it the best she could for the time being.
"Alright, she'll be fine with a few days' rest," Madam Pomfrey declared. Everyone sighed with relief. "Who's next? I've got petrified victims to revive!"
Sam was swiftly taken care of, then Cypress, at Willow's request. She apparently did a very good job of hiding the knife in her gut. While Madam Pomfrey was finishing up with Cypress's leg, the doors suddenly burst open again, this time to admit a trio of familiar faces. Mandy and Lisa covered their mouths with their hands and rushed to Sue's side, horrified at the wound scouring her robes, then asked in very unintelligible English whether everyone else was okay. The third person had Willow's attention, however. Paige was staring open-mouthed at the six battle-scarred second years. Willow stumbled towards her, so exhausted that she collapsed into Paige's arms.
"What- how- I don't even want to know," she stuttered. Willow found her face being cupped in Paige's hands. "You better live, okay? Understand? You better live, because I'm not finished with you yet, Willow Guerrero."
Exhaustion began creeping in, slowly shutting Willow's eyelids, but she smiled despite the brokenness around her. "Trust me, I'm not finished with you, either. I've got loads to tell you."