Angel of the Apocalypse
Chapter Five: Hollow's Eve
Gavin's blood went cold the moment he saw that raven fly off. He gathered Ginny up in his arms and apparated out of the roof without a second. He phased through the walls quickly to get back to the common room, praying that no one was there. Much to his relief, no one was there. Everyone was at the Great Hall for dinner.
"Ginny, wake up," he said as he gently shook her. "Wake up." Ginny's eyes fluttered open. Her skin looked paler than his at the moment. And she felt weakened from what happened.
"Where am I?"
"We're in the Common Room. We have to leave. Now."
"What? Put me down. What do you mean we have to leave now?" asked Ginny again as Gavin placed her gently on one of the soft chairs. Her legs felt like jelly and she rubbed her temple.
"A raven saw us. The Horsemen are coming here. If we leave right now, then they might not attack the school," said Gavin in a grave tone.
Ginny swallowed and nodded. She could feel them coming for her. The sound of clunking horseshoes hitting the road just before Hogwarts filled her ears. Gavin looked at her strange. "It's too late. They're already on the grounds," she gasped.
~*~
"Have you seen Ginny?" asked Ron to Hermione who shook her head.
"What happened?" asked Harry with concern.
"She's not here. Neither is he," answered Ron as he looked around the Great Hall. Fred and George were also looking around the library for them because of what Ginny had said earlier. Tonight was the big Hollow's Eve party at the Great Hall. Everyone was gathered there for great food and the school had a carnival that Hermione and the other perfects with the Head Boy and Girl set up. That was why everyone was so busy and didn't notice what happened with Pansy and Ginny on the roof. "I don't know. It looks like everyone's here," said Hermione nervously.
"Wait, there's someone else missing. Where's that annoying Pansy Parkinson? Isn't she usually hanging on Draco?" asked Harry as he looked at Draco who was Pansy-free. Fred and George came back to the Great Hall.
"Did you find her? Or him?" asked Ron.
"No. They must have slipped off somewhere," said Fred with his hands in fists.
"We've got to keep looking," said George. The feast was about to start, and Dumbledore called everyone's attention to have a seat. The group of them reluctantly took a seat, but they looked around the room. All the teachers were present at the head table. Professor Kelly looked around and noticed that Ginny wasn't there. And so was that strange boy who never said anything in her class. What was his name?
"We are gathered here for this special occasion. This year our Perfects, Head Boy, and Girl decided to handle the arrangement for tonight's activities. Let's let them all have a hand," said Dumbledore.
As the Great Hall filled with clapping, the sound of horses came. The doors of the Great Hall burst open and the four horsemen stopped. Everyone gasped. The students thought that it was something that the Perfects came up with. Hermione shook her head when Ron and Harry looked at her. They took out their swords.
"Where is the Angel?" demanded the lead Horseman. Dumbledore took out his wand. The Horsemen drew their swords. The teachers drew their wands ready to battle.
"We do not know who you are talking about," said Dumbledore. "Leave now or face us."
The Horsemen placed their sword tips on the floor and anyone who was near them felt pain shoot through their bodies. People screamed out in pain and horror. Students started to run for cover as the teachers shouted hexes and curses. Some of the students, particularly the seventh years, stood their ground and drew their wands and joined the teachers in the fight.
~*~
Ginny forgot her weakened state the moment she heard the screaming. She looked up at Gavin. "They're here. They've attacked the Great Hall," she whispered.
"Now it is time to go. Don't argue with me," said Gavin as he took her hand to help her up. "PENDRAGON!" he called out.
The little dragon came running to them at once. Ginny ran to her room to grab her cloak. Gavin phased through the walls of the girls' dorm and grabbed her arm. She nodded and they apparated off the grounds. Gavin was wearing his cloaked and changed back to his normal clothes underneath it with a flick of his wrists. They walked forward in the Forbidden Forest. Ginny looked around. She had never been there before. She heard of all the strange things that the forest held. She gripped Gavin's shoulder as she moved with him. Suddenly, she realized how close she was to him. And she remembered something else. It was about what happened on the roof.
"Did you kiss me?" she asked out loud. Gavin didn't say anything because he was trying to cut a path through the Forbidden Forest.
"Are you listening to me?" she asked in an exasperated voice. Her cheeks were red.
"I'm the one who can contain your powers. That's the best way to do it. I have to block your energy with mine," he finally answered.
Ginny could feel her cheeks go redder. They were now on fire. Her first kiss. That was her first kiss, and she wasn't even conscious enough to enjoy it. She couldn't even tell if he was a good kisser or not. She wished her first kiss was with Harry. She now felt angry. "I didn't ask you to kiss me!" she shouted out loud in a bewildered voice. Gavin stopped and sighed.
"Really now. This isn't the time to discuss this, Ginny. We have to get out of here. And fast. You're being trivial. Worrying about little things like that," said Gavin. Ginny looked at him with her jaw wide open like a fish out of water.
"That's it! I'm not walking with you anymore!" she pronounced and walked ahead of him. Whatever. As long as she's walking. I don't care, he thought. Pendragon was on his shoulder.
Several minutes passed before either said a world to each other. "It's dark," said Ginny. "I can't see a thing. The trees are blocking the moon. Oh, no. I'm so stupid. I forgot my wand. How could I do that? What kind of witch am I?"
"Like you need a wand with your powers," snorted Gavin as he held out his palm. A ball of light appeared and showed that they were in the middle of no where. "Don't worry. We'll get out of here soon. None of the creatures here will attack us," he assured her.
"Are you sure about that?" asked Ginny as something came out of the brushes near them. "AAAHA!" she shrieked as she got closer to gave.
It was glowing brightly. It was white. What attacked it was the light that Gavin had created. He smiled. "It's just a unicorn, Ginny. It says that it will guide us out of the forest," he said.
"I don't believe it. I thought that unicorns didn't like males," she said, remembering her lessons from Hagrid's class.
"I'm not exactly human, Ginny. And it knows I am not out to harm it. It also knows I'm here to protect you. A female," he explained.
The unicorn gestured at them to follow it. It's horn lit the rest of the way out of the Forbidden Forest.
~*~
Dumbledore had never seen anything as fierce as the Horsemen. Not in all his over 150 years of life did he thing he would ever see anything like that. How could they possible get passed the grounds. What was this angel they were looking for? And the Horsemen stood perfectly still. There was blood everywhere.
"The Angel has left," said the lead Horseman. The Horsemen turned and left the Great Hall. Everyone was shocked that the attack would stop so quickly. None of them made any move to stop them from leaving.
"It wasn't Voldemort at all," whispered Harry. The entire time his scar didn't even tingle. Snape looked at Dumbledore grimly. This was supposed to be his last night at Hogwarts. He nodded to confirm what Harry said. Professor Kelly looked around her. She had her wand out.
"I cannot say for certain if this was a Dark Art at all," she announced. She had been most worried about Harry. She didn't want anything to happen to him. He was all she had left.
Several students were bleeding. Some of the teachers were seriously injured. They never had a chance had the horsemen continued their attack. "Take account of everyone," ordered Dumbledore.
"What will we do?" asked Professor MoGonagall.
"We have no choice. We must owl all the parents. As soon as all the students are accounted for, everyone is to return to their respective houses," said Dumbledore. "I must go to my office. Report to me as soon as everything is finished."
"Professor McGonagall," said Hermione in a timid voice.
"Yes?" asked McGonagall.
"Ginny and Gavin weren't here the entire time," she said. McGonagall turned pale at that moment.
Snape was taking account of his students as well. "Where's Miss Parkinson?" he asked out loud.
"We didn't see her come back to the dorm," said one of the Slytherin students. Draco Malfoy shrugged his shoulders. Snape looked at McGonagall. "We have to find them," he said. She nodded.
"Everyone go back to your common rooms and do not leave them. All the Perfects are in charge," said Professor McGonagall.
All the students disperse without another word because everyone was too afraid to say anything. Even the Slytherin knew that whatever happened was more powerful than anything they could have imagined.
Moira volunteered to go for the missing Gryffindor. Her instincts told her that something was wrong with they didn't show up for the feast. "Don't go by yourself, Moira," said Snape as he caught up with her.
"I can handle myself, Severus," said Moira in a firm voice.
"There you go again. Acting like one of them. Over confident. I'm going with you," he said.
"Do you mean like a Gryffindor?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.
"No. Like a Potter," he said with a sigh. "Besides, I'm missing one of my students." They took off and the ghosts even joined the swept through the castle. Filch came up to them after a half hour of searching the castle.
"Did you find them?" asked Moira with mounting concern.
"Not all of 'em. Mrs. Norris found Parkinson," he said in a grim voice. Severus and Moira looked at each other and followed Filch to one of the highest roof tops of the castle. There, they found Pansy Parkinson lying in a pool of her own blood. Moira immediately came towards her. "Mr. Filch, go and get Madame Pomfrey," she said as she felt for a pulse. She looked at her and saw that there didn't seem to be any injuries on her body, but why was there so much blood? Her eyes were blinking as if she were dreaming and was in REM sleep. "She's alive," she said as she looked at Serevus. He pulled out his wand and used a levitating spell and moved her away from the blood.
Moira pulled off her cloak and placed it on the poor girl. Madame Pomfrey finally came and looked the girl over. Pansy opened her eyes at the moment. "What happened? I was here…it hurts. There are cuts all over me. My skin," she whispered.
"There aren't any cuts on your body, dear," said Madame Pomfrey.
"Then how do you explain the blood?" asked Severus. She looked at the blood and shuddered slightly.
"I can't," whispered Madame Pomfrey.
~*~
Gavin and Ginny were now outside of the Forbidden Forest. The unicorn stayed where it was once they reached the border. "What do we do now?" asked Ginny. Gavin looked around him. "I don't know where they are now. Can you sense them?" he asked her.
"I don't know how I did it before. How can I do something I don't know how to do in the first place?" she whispered.
He looked around him and saw that the moon was bright in the sky. "We can't just stand here. We have to keep moving," he said.
"Even if we don't know where we're going."
"If we stand still, they'll be able to find us much more quickly."
At that moment he did the strangest thing yet, he flung Pendragon into the air. The little dragon was almost asleep on Gavin's warm shoulders and was startled to be thrown like that. He landed flat on his face in the dirt. Gavin sighed, "Stupid. You know that you have to transform."
"That was horrible. Just because we're in trouble doesn't mean that you have to take it out on poor Pendragon," she said as she walked towards Pendragon to pick him up.
Pendragon transformed into his normal form at that moment, surprising Ginny who fell on her butt. He was magnificent. He looked fierce and noble at the same time. Wings had grown out of his back. Ginny could tell under the moonlight that inner part of his wings were violet while the outside was black. His little claws were now huge talons while his fangs showed up more. His nostrils flared as he blew a great blue fire ball at Gavin. "GAVIN!" she screamed in horror.
It was unnecessary because Gavin was all right. He stood there with his arms folded over his chest with an annoyed look on his face. "Stupid dragon. How many times are you going to do that before you realize it doesn't work on me?" he asked it. The dragon gave him growl.
"Pendragon?" asked Ginny in shaking voice. The little dragon. Where was the little, cute dragon? The large dragon looked her and came down to her level. His great head tried to snuggle up to her like he usually did in his smaller form. "It is you. I'm so glad," she said with a happy sigh as she rubbed the space between his eyes. He gave kind of a purr like sound.
"I don't believe this. Now that you two have been reintroduced, can we now move on?" asked Gavin in an annoyed tone. Ginny and Pendragon both looked at him with annoyed looks back.
"Wait, are we supposed to ride him?" asked Ginny in surprise.
"Of course, haven't you ridden a dragon before? I know that there are dragons in this world," said Gavin in a matter-of-fact tone.
Ginny's jaw dropped again. She had been doing that a lot lately, but this was a real surprise. How many lectures about dragons did she hear from Charlie that dragons were dangerous and untamable? "No. We don't. Our dragons are too dangerous to do that," she said.
"Oh. I didn't know that. Honestly, you humans do things a lot harder than you should," he said as he walked up to Pendragon who graciously lowered himself to be mounted for his master. As soon as Gavin was on he held out his hand to Ginny, she looked at him like he had his head missing. "Trust me," he said with his steady eyes looking at him.
She reached out and took his hand. The sound of the horsemen coming made Gavin grab her immediately. They were riding Pendragon like a horse. Gavin was the one at the front steering, leaving Ginny no choice but to wrap her arms around his waist. She closed her eyes as she heard the sound of wind being made by Pendragon's wings. His lower legs pushed off and in a moment they were in the air.
The horsemen caught up with them. One of them was an archer and fired flaming arrows at them. Gavin held out his palm and shield them as Pendragon made his ascent into the night sky.
~*~
After several frantic hours of searching, Moira couldn't find Ginny or Gavin. She must have torn through almost every room in the castle looking for them. Serevus left to help Madame Pomfrey with Pansy. The girl was downright hysterical. She was muttering something about her skin getting cut, when there wasn't a single mark on her body to testify to that. He had to brew a powerful sleep draught to get her sleep because Madame Pomfrey had run out. She had to get help from him to treat the students because the staff was everywhere.
The infirmary was filled with so many people that the neighboring classrooms had to be opened up to take up the extra slack. Professor McGonagall had to set up several of the teachers to defend the castle in case anyone would attack. There was concern with the shape Hogwarts was in that Voldemort could attack.
"Professor Kelly, have you found Miss Weasley or Mister Skyler?" asked Professor McGonagall when she caught up to the beautiful, younger woman.
"No, they've disappeared into thin air," said Moira grimly. "I've set up wards at all the entrances of the castle. And all the secret passages as well." She knew about the secret passages of Hogwarts. James told her about them when he was doing his part on the Marauder's Map.
"You should get some rest," said Professor McGonagall.
"Are you? I don't think anyone will be able to sleep tonight. Especially Professor Dumbledore," said Moira.
"I have to go and tell Ginny's brothers that we can't find her, and then I have to tell Professor Dumbledore to send word to Gavin's parents as well," said Professor McGonagall.
"I can go to Professor Dumbledore for you," said Moira.
"Very well," said Professor McGonagall with a nod as she went off.
Moira went all the way up to Professor Dumbledore's office and said the password to the gargoyle, "Licorice Wand." She found Professor Dumbledore all ready working on how to inform the parents about what happened in Hogwarts along with an emergency note to the Ministry of Magic.
"What's going on, Moira?" asked Professor Dumbledore as he offered her a kind smile despite everything that was going on.
"The wards have been put in place and everyone's being patched up in the infirmary. We found Pansy Parkinson, but she's in an awful state. We found her on the roof, but we can't find Virginia Weasley or Gavin Skyler. Professor McGonagall has gone to tell her brothers, and I'm here to tell you that Gavin's parents or guardians need to be informed," reported Moira.
Professor Dumbledore looked at her grimly. "That's what I've been trying to look into, Moira. I can't find any records of Gavin Skyler. They've vanished. It's like he's never existed here," he said.
AN: How's that for action packed? Is it intriguing? I'm tried just writing it. A lot has happened here. And I even threw in some humor for you guys. Whew. Ginny and Gavin are now on the run and it only took me five chapters to get here. Woohoo. More to come soon. I wanted to make this very anime like with my own special twists. I would call Pendragon your standard anime mascot. Almost every fantasy anime has one of those. And another thing, I this story better than Runaway Fox. I know that people out there are suckers for a romantic story, but I do like a little mystery and intrigue in my story. ^_~ rin-chan
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot of this story, Gavin Skyler, Moira Kelly, and of course, Pendragon. Everything else belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.