A/N: Whoo! Chapter 20! Go me! (Yeah, I updated, sorry for the wait! Writer's block sucks!)
Disclaimer: rettoP yrraH now n'tod I. Hah, work that one out!
Dedication: Megan, Faye and Jessica, as well as my friends Silvermoon, Rainbow Dreamer and Lil'Smartass. BTW, Silevrmoon, you're evil! So very, very EEEEVIIILLL!!! Funny, but evil!
Harry Potter and the Crystal of Dreams.
When Harry landed, it was so sudden and heavily that he found himself jolted face-down to the ground. For a dazed moment, he remained there before lifting his head to peer at his surroundings. What he saw made him rise dizzily to his feet.
He appeared to be in a clearing of a Forest- probably the Forbidden Forest. The branches of the trees around were woven so thickly that they allowed no light in; in fact, the only part of the sky that could be seen was the patch of darkening dusk above where he stood.
The broomstick...no, the Portkey...it had rolled from his grap as he had landed and rolled to a gentle halt. Trying to squash down all of his nervousness into a tight ball in the pit of his stomach, he brushed off the leaves and pine needles from his robes and slowly began to turn to look around.
A slight noise, a moan of pain, alerted him to turn faster and he gasped at what he saw.
"Shannon!"
She was slumped against the trunk of one of the trees, half-sitting, half lying. As he ran to kneel beside her, her eyes opened, and he could see a light in them that made her look half-crazed. As he took in everything, he realised that her ankles and wrists were bound on heavy rope, and he tried to tear away the thick knots.
"No!" she hissed, and then he saw the tears which had started to dry on her cheeks. "No! Harry, run back to the school quick! Get out of here!"
She was rushing her words until they tripped up into a barely coherent garble. He shook his head.
"No, I'm getting you out of here!"
Shannon moaned again and let her head flop back so she looked upwards. "You don't understand...he's HERE, Harry!"
Harry was about to reply when a cold voice cut into the backround silence, making him jerk around.
"I couldn't have put it better myself."
Standing there, tall and thin in sweeping black robes, red eyes glowing in a chalky face constructed from nightmares, was Lord Voldemort. The long fingers of his right hand played idly with a long wand and a horrific grin split his lipless mouth, a grin which he directed at the teenagers.
"Welcome, Harry."
"Voldemort." he said, voice filled with hatred and venom as he rose slowly to face the wizard. He made sure that he was slightly in front of Shannon, ready to block any curses against her. Tied up and quite hysterical, there was no way that she could defend herself.
Voldemort laughed, high and cold. "I hope you don't mind my inviting a few more people along?" He clicked his left fingers, and a previously summoned ring of Death Eaters stepped out from the trees. Harry stared around at each cloaked person, each blank white mask. They were trapped.
He made himself look back at Voldemort, now flanked by a cringing Wormtail on the right and his enormous acid-green snake, slithering on his left. Through gritted teeth, he demanded, "What do you want?"
This caused a laugh to ripple around the circle, started by Voldemort, who spoke next.
"Lots of things, Harry Potter. Firstly, you dead."
"Why did you bring her into this?" Harry glanced back briefly at Shannon, now watching the confrontation with wide, fearful eyes.
"Ah, Harry, Harry," Voldemort spoke as if chiding a young child. "It's not polite to speak to your elders like that. Maybe you need a lesson taught to you. Crucio!"
Harry threw himself below the force of the curse, down against Shannon should she get hit. The spell blasted the tree trunk instead, spraying splinters of wood out everywhere. Voldemort tutted as Harry rose once more.
"That wasn't polite, was it Harry? I was only attempting to teach you some manners. It's a very informative lesson which I'm sure Miss Parks here can fill you in on sometime."
Harry drew his wand out immediately. "I'm only going to ask you one more. Why did you do this to her?"
"Well, we couldn't get you here without some bait, could we Harry?" That lipless mouth smirked. "And Miss Parks just happened to walk along to help us out. She learnt some manners, didn't you?"
Harry felt sick at the thought of Shannon under the Cruciatus Curse. She, meanwhile, screamed out, "Burn in hell!"
Voildemort tutted again. "Little girls should be seen and not heard. Wormtail, gag her."
Wormtail started to come forward, flinching at his master's voice. A second later, his limbs had snapped to his torso and he had toppled over to the ground. Harry lowered his wand.
"Resourceful, Harry, but not an intelligent move." He laughed icily. "It annoys me enough to propose a duel, but after last year's little incident, I think it would be better for all concerned if I didn't, don't you think? You might both end up the way of Diggory, mightn't you?"
Harry tightened the grip he had on his wand, concentration split between the wizard in front of him and his friend's heavy breathing behind him. "I won't let you."
Voldemort's tone was mocking. "You won't let me? Harry, a great wizard dosen't need to be allowed, as if he were a child. No, a great wizard has his own rules and regulations. What a shame that you won't grow up to know this." Before Harry could even speak or move, Voldemort swung up his wand and yelled out, "CRUCIO!"
Harry's eyes were filled with the blaze of red light rushing his way and then it hit him. All he knew was the pain, even worse, even more intense than he remembered, and the yells that clouded his ears: both his and Shannon's, at seeing him suffering. And then he felt the stabbing and shooting pains leave him, leave him with the horrendous aches in his joints and brain. He forced himself to stagger to his feet, pushing his glasses back on properly.
"I'll make a deal with you, Harry," Voldemort hissed. If Harry wasn't so set against leaving Shannon, they may have been circling. "Give up your life, and she will be spared."
"No!" Shannon whispered behind him, obviously horrified.
"How would I know that you'd keep your word?" Harry flicked his wand sharply. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Voldemort blocked easily. "Come now, Harry. I have honour."
Harry shook his head. "That means nothing to me, because it's a lie."
"Not so, Harry. I don't kill babies." His ruby eyes slid back to Shannon. "Do I, Miss Parks? Of course, you wouldn't be here today if a mistake hadn't been made on your mother, would you?"
Harry dared a glance back. Shannon was trembling slightly, although her expression showed an almost wild anger.
"Don't you dare speak about my mother." she hissed.
The Death Eaters laughed, as did their leader. He shook his head derisively at the teenagers.
"But you've been dreaming about her, haven't you? Just as Harry," Here his gaze switched once more. "Has been dreaming of his. Coincidence?"
"Obviously not." Harry forced out, despite the horrible sense of dread in his stomach. Voldemort cackled and then reached inside his robes to draw out...something. In the gathering dusk, Harry couldn't quite make out what it was from this distance. It looked prismatic, transparent, apart from...something trapped within...
"This, children," Voldemort told them in a voice not unlike a schoolteacher's. "Is the Crystal of Dreams."
Harry strained his eyes, still unable to see the object very clearly. It was large, almost completely filling Voldemort's long hand, and whatever was inside it was swirling and dancing every second. Harry took half a step forward, unwilling to leave his friend, but at the same time wanting, needing, to get a closer look at the Crystal.
"When someone powerful enough channels their magic through it," Voldemort continued, "The Crystal of Dreams can be used for countless possibilities. It feeds off of two of the most powerful sources of energy possesed by humans: knowledge and imagination. I use my knowledge of people's pasts, which I can also gain through use of the Crystal, and my imagination of what they fear most to send them the dreams." He snorted disdainfully. "You could say that I'm doing you all a favour by helping you to face those fears."
The Death Eaters chortled. Voldemort continued with a sigh.
"But I'm sure the ins and outs of what happened in those dreams won't interest you as much as the second deal I'm about to put forward to you." When Harry made no reply, Voldemort asked, "Aren't you in the least bit curious to learn how you can save your friend's life?"
Harry was immediately wary, trying to crush the tiny flicker of hope in the pit of his stomach. "Talk." he bit off.
Voldemort laughed for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Eager, aren't we? Harry, you're going to agree to a duel with me. Win, and nobody shall stop you and Miss Parks escaping back to the school."
"And if I lose?" He spoke each word slowly and carefully.
"If you loose, you'll both die."
So there it was. One chance, and one chance only. Life or death, survival or not. Fight or...submission.
But something here wasn't going to work.
"You seem to be forgetting last year." he sneered.
"Not so, Harry. You see..." There was a note of sadistic amusement in that voice. "This will be a test of reflexes. Now be polite and bow." Voldemort dipped his head mockingly, eyes still on Harry's face, set in hatred. "Come now, boy. You wouldn't want to disgrace you parents, would-"
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
The Dark Lord blocked easily. "I see those mudblood relatives of yours never taught you any manners...no matter...CRUCIO!"
Harry threw himself to the ground, and the stream of red light smashed into the tree trunk, spraying splinters and bark everywhere. Shannon shrieked.
"Harry, be careful!"
Harry was on his feet immediately. "STUPEFY!"
His enemy dodged again, seemingly exhilirated by the battle. "Is this all that you can do? I must say that I would have expected you to be stronger than this, a much more worthy opponent. But then...you are only a little boy..."
The rage was building, swelling in Harry's chest. He unconciously gripped his wand tighter as he shouted out hex after spell after incantation. Nothing worked. Voldemort blocked or avoided everything with a frustrating ease. The after-effects of the Cruciatus Curse were still fresh enough to slow Harry so much that, as he ducked a shot, he felt his hair stir with the force of the spell. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shannon struggling with the bonds restricting her wrists and ankles.
I'm not sure she can do it, he thought dismally. Those are probably magical ropes...
Suddenly he had an idea.
He dived over towards her with all the reflexes of a Seeker, and pulled her hands upwards.
"Get your wrists apart quick!" he hissed. She obeyed as much as was possible, wide-eyed as he held his wand up. "Slittorous!"
The ropes fell onto her lap, sliced through. Her gaze jerked from his face to Voldemort's as the Dark Lord screamed at his followers.
"STOP HIM!"
"Harry, run!" she told him urgently. Forcing calm enough to keep her voice low, she added, "Get the broom! It's a Portkey, so it should get you b-"
"Stupefy!"
Shannon flung herself over Harry, knocking them both into a roll out of the path of the spell, yelled by someone who could well have been Lucius Malfoy. Almost immediately, she yanked herself up off of him, tearing at the knots around her ankles.
"Run!" she yelled. He got up, but it was into a kneeling position to repeat the spell for the ropes on her ankles. They fell apart, and he yanked her up to her feet.
"Get to the broom, get to the school and tell Dumbledore." he hissed, then shoved her in the direction of the broom. He drew out his wand, firing random hexes and jinxes at the robed people approaching. Noticing her faltering, he shoved her again. "Get out of here!"
Then Voldemort emerged from his Death Eaters, grinning with insane malice. "How noble of you, Harry. Trying to save the girl. But it won't work."
Shannon had been backing away, wondering what she was going to do. How could she just leave Harry here? He didn't stand a chance, and there was no way Dumbledore could save him.
If only I had my wand...she thought. But it's in the dorm...how could I be so stupid? What am I going to...
Voldemort flicked his wand in an almost absent gesture. "Fragora!"
Both teenagers turned as the branch which the spell had hit groaned...tilting at an increasingly crazy angle. Shannon cried out in shock as it crashed to the ground...
Right on the handle of the Portkey.
Harry launched himself at Voldemort. He didn't even consider the foolishness of the idea until he was in mid-air, and that didn't leave much time before he landed hard on top of the Dark Lord (a/n: shuttup, Silvermoon!), knocking him to the ground. In one furious motion, he wrenched the Crystal from those long spider-like fingers and rolled up in a move he'd practiced in a Quidditch session just a few weeks ago. Then he was running, running hard towards the Portkey. Shannon caught on and followed as fast as she could, catching up with him at the broom.
Behind them, Voldemort was screaming. Curses were being fired.
Harry dropped to the ground, squinting in the growing darkness. About five or so inches had been snapped off of the handle. Shannon grabbed his wrist and then the broom. The world span and whirled, and Harry felt himself sucked towards the object.
Then everything stopped.
The pair of them landed hard, and Shannon struggled up almost as soon as they did. Kneeling, her grip tightened on Harry's wrist.
"Harry? Harry!" Her tone was urgent.
He raised his head, scrabbling for his glasses and shoving them back onto his nose. One lense was veined with deep cracks, and his vision was still blurry. "What?"
She was shaking her head. "This isn't Hogwarts."
Those three words brought back awareness with an all too clear abruptness, and he sat up. She was right.
They were still in the forest. Another place, true, but still the forest.
"Oh no..." Harry began to get to his feet, pulling Shannon up with him as he did so and putting the Crystal into his robe pocket. It was then that they heard the whoosh and crack as an incantation hit a tree behind them. That got their attnetion.
"They're still here!" Shannon was starting to verge on hysteria again, which was something Harry knew he had to keep her from.
"We're going to run." he said.
They glanced at each other and then tore off in the direction away from the Death Eaters.
Harry could hear, far off, Voldemort speaking to his snake in Parseltongue in between firing spells and barking out orders. His breath was tearing at his throat and lungs, and he was sure that the spells were getting closer all the time.
Shannon, however, wasn't as fast as Harry. She had shorter legs and wasn't really in shape anyway. But she didn't want to call out in case that made him stop for her.
"Impedimenta!"
"Stupefy!"
"Fragora! Fragora! FRAGORA!"
There was a horrible crash and Shannon screamed.
Harry spun around instantly to see Shannon sprawled on the forest floor, face twisting in pain. He ran back up to her and offered his free hand.
"Come on! We have to run!"
"Get out of here now!" she hissed. "I...I can't move."
Harry didn't ever know why he didn't see the fallen branch beforehand, but that was how it was. One of the curses had caused it to snap off, falling to trap Shannon's right foot underneath. He saw this as he moved around and began to tug at it in a futile attempt to shift it.
Shannon let out a choked cry of pain mixed with fear. "Harry, run! Get going!"
Harry said nothing in reply, but pointed his wand at the log and cast the banishing charm which blast it backwards, away from Shannon to shatter on its bumpy route back into the path of the nearing Death Eaters. Without even thinking, Harry hoisted Shannon up, her arm around his shoulders and his around her waist, half carrying her as he set off. Tears of pain were running down her face, mingling with those already dried there. She was asking him why he didn't just let her stay where she was. He still had the Crystal. He needed to run.
Then Harry had a sudden idea.
He spun round fast, whirling his wand up in the air and thinking of the Quidditch victory against Slytherin that Gryffindor had had just last week.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
He saw the brilliant silvery stag burst from his wand and then ran back the way he had been headed. Of course, the Patronus wouldn't have an effect on the Death Eaters, but hopefully it would startle them long enough for him to regain some advantage.
It seemed to work. He heard shouts of surprise from behind him as he blundered on through the trees. And eventually, he caught sight of a sliver past all the woodland. He ran on towards it as though it were a lifeline, and it grew larger, larger...
And then they were out of the Forbidden Forest, speeding across the lawns by the lake. Harry was being driven now only by pure adrenaline, his muscles screaming in pain. By the time they had passed the lake and were about halfway up to the school, he had slowed to a stagger, and it was only a few more metres before Shannon groaned.
Straining his ears as he carried on, he decided that there really was no noise behind them or around them except for that that they made. Glancing over his shoulder, he was sure that there were no followers, and he stopped, heaving Shannon down onto the ground, where she fell back into a lying position. Her eyes were half closed and she looked as though she was dropping off to sleep.
"Lumos." He muttered, aiming the wand at her injured foot. Even in the poor light from the end of the stick, he could see the dark blood staining her trainer and the cuff of her jean leg. Well, he thought, there's only one way to see what state her foot's in...
He made to take of her trainer, but she made a unexpected movement, as thought to sit right up. "No. Don't."
He looked up. "Shan, I have to see what's happened. I swear I'll try not to hurt you."
She shook her head drowsily. "Doesn't hurt."
"What?"
"Doesn't hurt. But I think that my shoe's the only thing holding it all together." The awareness was dimming in her eyes even as she said this. "Just get me to the hospital...wing..." She flopped back onto the ground.
Harry stared at her for a second, horrified, before standing again and heaving her into his arms. It wasn't easy- Shannon was a lot heavier than she looked- but he managed to finally get up the steps and into the school. From here to the hospital wing was just a blur of corridors and steps to Harry in his weakening state.
Madam Pomfrey was folding blankets when the door burst open to reveal a dishevelled Harry with an unconscious girl in his arms. She gasped and dropped the blanket as Harry heaved the girl onto the nearest bed.
"She...she's hurt..." was all he got out before he collapsed too.
*****
PHEW! Finally! I am SO, SO, SO SORRY about the wait, but I've had writer's block for ages! I'm typing this on Christmas Day, so feel honoured! (I just feel ill, how lousy is that!) Please consider it my Christmas present to all you brilliant reviewers out there, and please review! I am a review junkie!
Disclaimer: rettoP yrraH now n'tod I. Hah, work that one out!
Dedication: Megan, Faye and Jessica, as well as my friends Silvermoon, Rainbow Dreamer and Lil'Smartass. BTW, Silevrmoon, you're evil! So very, very EEEEVIIILLL!!! Funny, but evil!
Harry Potter and the Crystal of Dreams.
When Harry landed, it was so sudden and heavily that he found himself jolted face-down to the ground. For a dazed moment, he remained there before lifting his head to peer at his surroundings. What he saw made him rise dizzily to his feet.
He appeared to be in a clearing of a Forest- probably the Forbidden Forest. The branches of the trees around were woven so thickly that they allowed no light in; in fact, the only part of the sky that could be seen was the patch of darkening dusk above where he stood.
The broomstick...no, the Portkey...it had rolled from his grap as he had landed and rolled to a gentle halt. Trying to squash down all of his nervousness into a tight ball in the pit of his stomach, he brushed off the leaves and pine needles from his robes and slowly began to turn to look around.
A slight noise, a moan of pain, alerted him to turn faster and he gasped at what he saw.
"Shannon!"
She was slumped against the trunk of one of the trees, half-sitting, half lying. As he ran to kneel beside her, her eyes opened, and he could see a light in them that made her look half-crazed. As he took in everything, he realised that her ankles and wrists were bound on heavy rope, and he tried to tear away the thick knots.
"No!" she hissed, and then he saw the tears which had started to dry on her cheeks. "No! Harry, run back to the school quick! Get out of here!"
She was rushing her words until they tripped up into a barely coherent garble. He shook his head.
"No, I'm getting you out of here!"
Shannon moaned again and let her head flop back so she looked upwards. "You don't understand...he's HERE, Harry!"
Harry was about to reply when a cold voice cut into the backround silence, making him jerk around.
"I couldn't have put it better myself."
Standing there, tall and thin in sweeping black robes, red eyes glowing in a chalky face constructed from nightmares, was Lord Voldemort. The long fingers of his right hand played idly with a long wand and a horrific grin split his lipless mouth, a grin which he directed at the teenagers.
"Welcome, Harry."
"Voldemort." he said, voice filled with hatred and venom as he rose slowly to face the wizard. He made sure that he was slightly in front of Shannon, ready to block any curses against her. Tied up and quite hysterical, there was no way that she could defend herself.
Voldemort laughed, high and cold. "I hope you don't mind my inviting a few more people along?" He clicked his left fingers, and a previously summoned ring of Death Eaters stepped out from the trees. Harry stared around at each cloaked person, each blank white mask. They were trapped.
He made himself look back at Voldemort, now flanked by a cringing Wormtail on the right and his enormous acid-green snake, slithering on his left. Through gritted teeth, he demanded, "What do you want?"
This caused a laugh to ripple around the circle, started by Voldemort, who spoke next.
"Lots of things, Harry Potter. Firstly, you dead."
"Why did you bring her into this?" Harry glanced back briefly at Shannon, now watching the confrontation with wide, fearful eyes.
"Ah, Harry, Harry," Voldemort spoke as if chiding a young child. "It's not polite to speak to your elders like that. Maybe you need a lesson taught to you. Crucio!"
Harry threw himself below the force of the curse, down against Shannon should she get hit. The spell blasted the tree trunk instead, spraying splinters of wood out everywhere. Voldemort tutted as Harry rose once more.
"That wasn't polite, was it Harry? I was only attempting to teach you some manners. It's a very informative lesson which I'm sure Miss Parks here can fill you in on sometime."
Harry drew his wand out immediately. "I'm only going to ask you one more. Why did you do this to her?"
"Well, we couldn't get you here without some bait, could we Harry?" That lipless mouth smirked. "And Miss Parks just happened to walk along to help us out. She learnt some manners, didn't you?"
Harry felt sick at the thought of Shannon under the Cruciatus Curse. She, meanwhile, screamed out, "Burn in hell!"
Voildemort tutted again. "Little girls should be seen and not heard. Wormtail, gag her."
Wormtail started to come forward, flinching at his master's voice. A second later, his limbs had snapped to his torso and he had toppled over to the ground. Harry lowered his wand.
"Resourceful, Harry, but not an intelligent move." He laughed icily. "It annoys me enough to propose a duel, but after last year's little incident, I think it would be better for all concerned if I didn't, don't you think? You might both end up the way of Diggory, mightn't you?"
Harry tightened the grip he had on his wand, concentration split between the wizard in front of him and his friend's heavy breathing behind him. "I won't let you."
Voldemort's tone was mocking. "You won't let me? Harry, a great wizard dosen't need to be allowed, as if he were a child. No, a great wizard has his own rules and regulations. What a shame that you won't grow up to know this." Before Harry could even speak or move, Voldemort swung up his wand and yelled out, "CRUCIO!"
Harry's eyes were filled with the blaze of red light rushing his way and then it hit him. All he knew was the pain, even worse, even more intense than he remembered, and the yells that clouded his ears: both his and Shannon's, at seeing him suffering. And then he felt the stabbing and shooting pains leave him, leave him with the horrendous aches in his joints and brain. He forced himself to stagger to his feet, pushing his glasses back on properly.
"I'll make a deal with you, Harry," Voldemort hissed. If Harry wasn't so set against leaving Shannon, they may have been circling. "Give up your life, and she will be spared."
"No!" Shannon whispered behind him, obviously horrified.
"How would I know that you'd keep your word?" Harry flicked his wand sharply. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Voldemort blocked easily. "Come now, Harry. I have honour."
Harry shook his head. "That means nothing to me, because it's a lie."
"Not so, Harry. I don't kill babies." His ruby eyes slid back to Shannon. "Do I, Miss Parks? Of course, you wouldn't be here today if a mistake hadn't been made on your mother, would you?"
Harry dared a glance back. Shannon was trembling slightly, although her expression showed an almost wild anger.
"Don't you dare speak about my mother." she hissed.
The Death Eaters laughed, as did their leader. He shook his head derisively at the teenagers.
"But you've been dreaming about her, haven't you? Just as Harry," Here his gaze switched once more. "Has been dreaming of his. Coincidence?"
"Obviously not." Harry forced out, despite the horrible sense of dread in his stomach. Voldemort cackled and then reached inside his robes to draw out...something. In the gathering dusk, Harry couldn't quite make out what it was from this distance. It looked prismatic, transparent, apart from...something trapped within...
"This, children," Voldemort told them in a voice not unlike a schoolteacher's. "Is the Crystal of Dreams."
Harry strained his eyes, still unable to see the object very clearly. It was large, almost completely filling Voldemort's long hand, and whatever was inside it was swirling and dancing every second. Harry took half a step forward, unwilling to leave his friend, but at the same time wanting, needing, to get a closer look at the Crystal.
"When someone powerful enough channels their magic through it," Voldemort continued, "The Crystal of Dreams can be used for countless possibilities. It feeds off of two of the most powerful sources of energy possesed by humans: knowledge and imagination. I use my knowledge of people's pasts, which I can also gain through use of the Crystal, and my imagination of what they fear most to send them the dreams." He snorted disdainfully. "You could say that I'm doing you all a favour by helping you to face those fears."
The Death Eaters chortled. Voldemort continued with a sigh.
"But I'm sure the ins and outs of what happened in those dreams won't interest you as much as the second deal I'm about to put forward to you." When Harry made no reply, Voldemort asked, "Aren't you in the least bit curious to learn how you can save your friend's life?"
Harry was immediately wary, trying to crush the tiny flicker of hope in the pit of his stomach. "Talk." he bit off.
Voldemort laughed for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Eager, aren't we? Harry, you're going to agree to a duel with me. Win, and nobody shall stop you and Miss Parks escaping back to the school."
"And if I lose?" He spoke each word slowly and carefully.
"If you loose, you'll both die."
So there it was. One chance, and one chance only. Life or death, survival or not. Fight or...submission.
But something here wasn't going to work.
"You seem to be forgetting last year." he sneered.
"Not so, Harry. You see..." There was a note of sadistic amusement in that voice. "This will be a test of reflexes. Now be polite and bow." Voldemort dipped his head mockingly, eyes still on Harry's face, set in hatred. "Come now, boy. You wouldn't want to disgrace you parents, would-"
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
The Dark Lord blocked easily. "I see those mudblood relatives of yours never taught you any manners...no matter...CRUCIO!"
Harry threw himself to the ground, and the stream of red light smashed into the tree trunk, spraying splinters and bark everywhere. Shannon shrieked.
"Harry, be careful!"
Harry was on his feet immediately. "STUPEFY!"
His enemy dodged again, seemingly exhilirated by the battle. "Is this all that you can do? I must say that I would have expected you to be stronger than this, a much more worthy opponent. But then...you are only a little boy..."
The rage was building, swelling in Harry's chest. He unconciously gripped his wand tighter as he shouted out hex after spell after incantation. Nothing worked. Voldemort blocked or avoided everything with a frustrating ease. The after-effects of the Cruciatus Curse were still fresh enough to slow Harry so much that, as he ducked a shot, he felt his hair stir with the force of the spell. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shannon struggling with the bonds restricting her wrists and ankles.
I'm not sure she can do it, he thought dismally. Those are probably magical ropes...
Suddenly he had an idea.
He dived over towards her with all the reflexes of a Seeker, and pulled her hands upwards.
"Get your wrists apart quick!" he hissed. She obeyed as much as was possible, wide-eyed as he held his wand up. "Slittorous!"
The ropes fell onto her lap, sliced through. Her gaze jerked from his face to Voldemort's as the Dark Lord screamed at his followers.
"STOP HIM!"
"Harry, run!" she told him urgently. Forcing calm enough to keep her voice low, she added, "Get the broom! It's a Portkey, so it should get you b-"
"Stupefy!"
Shannon flung herself over Harry, knocking them both into a roll out of the path of the spell, yelled by someone who could well have been Lucius Malfoy. Almost immediately, she yanked herself up off of him, tearing at the knots around her ankles.
"Run!" she yelled. He got up, but it was into a kneeling position to repeat the spell for the ropes on her ankles. They fell apart, and he yanked her up to her feet.
"Get to the broom, get to the school and tell Dumbledore." he hissed, then shoved her in the direction of the broom. He drew out his wand, firing random hexes and jinxes at the robed people approaching. Noticing her faltering, he shoved her again. "Get out of here!"
Then Voldemort emerged from his Death Eaters, grinning with insane malice. "How noble of you, Harry. Trying to save the girl. But it won't work."
Shannon had been backing away, wondering what she was going to do. How could she just leave Harry here? He didn't stand a chance, and there was no way Dumbledore could save him.
If only I had my wand...she thought. But it's in the dorm...how could I be so stupid? What am I going to...
Voldemort flicked his wand in an almost absent gesture. "Fragora!"
Both teenagers turned as the branch which the spell had hit groaned...tilting at an increasingly crazy angle. Shannon cried out in shock as it crashed to the ground...
Right on the handle of the Portkey.
Harry launched himself at Voldemort. He didn't even consider the foolishness of the idea until he was in mid-air, and that didn't leave much time before he landed hard on top of the Dark Lord (a/n: shuttup, Silvermoon!), knocking him to the ground. In one furious motion, he wrenched the Crystal from those long spider-like fingers and rolled up in a move he'd practiced in a Quidditch session just a few weeks ago. Then he was running, running hard towards the Portkey. Shannon caught on and followed as fast as she could, catching up with him at the broom.
Behind them, Voldemort was screaming. Curses were being fired.
Harry dropped to the ground, squinting in the growing darkness. About five or so inches had been snapped off of the handle. Shannon grabbed his wrist and then the broom. The world span and whirled, and Harry felt himself sucked towards the object.
Then everything stopped.
The pair of them landed hard, and Shannon struggled up almost as soon as they did. Kneeling, her grip tightened on Harry's wrist.
"Harry? Harry!" Her tone was urgent.
He raised his head, scrabbling for his glasses and shoving them back onto his nose. One lense was veined with deep cracks, and his vision was still blurry. "What?"
She was shaking her head. "This isn't Hogwarts."
Those three words brought back awareness with an all too clear abruptness, and he sat up. She was right.
They were still in the forest. Another place, true, but still the forest.
"Oh no..." Harry began to get to his feet, pulling Shannon up with him as he did so and putting the Crystal into his robe pocket. It was then that they heard the whoosh and crack as an incantation hit a tree behind them. That got their attnetion.
"They're still here!" Shannon was starting to verge on hysteria again, which was something Harry knew he had to keep her from.
"We're going to run." he said.
They glanced at each other and then tore off in the direction away from the Death Eaters.
Harry could hear, far off, Voldemort speaking to his snake in Parseltongue in between firing spells and barking out orders. His breath was tearing at his throat and lungs, and he was sure that the spells were getting closer all the time.
Shannon, however, wasn't as fast as Harry. She had shorter legs and wasn't really in shape anyway. But she didn't want to call out in case that made him stop for her.
"Impedimenta!"
"Stupefy!"
"Fragora! Fragora! FRAGORA!"
There was a horrible crash and Shannon screamed.
Harry spun around instantly to see Shannon sprawled on the forest floor, face twisting in pain. He ran back up to her and offered his free hand.
"Come on! We have to run!"
"Get out of here now!" she hissed. "I...I can't move."
Harry didn't ever know why he didn't see the fallen branch beforehand, but that was how it was. One of the curses had caused it to snap off, falling to trap Shannon's right foot underneath. He saw this as he moved around and began to tug at it in a futile attempt to shift it.
Shannon let out a choked cry of pain mixed with fear. "Harry, run! Get going!"
Harry said nothing in reply, but pointed his wand at the log and cast the banishing charm which blast it backwards, away from Shannon to shatter on its bumpy route back into the path of the nearing Death Eaters. Without even thinking, Harry hoisted Shannon up, her arm around his shoulders and his around her waist, half carrying her as he set off. Tears of pain were running down her face, mingling with those already dried there. She was asking him why he didn't just let her stay where she was. He still had the Crystal. He needed to run.
Then Harry had a sudden idea.
He spun round fast, whirling his wand up in the air and thinking of the Quidditch victory against Slytherin that Gryffindor had had just last week.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
He saw the brilliant silvery stag burst from his wand and then ran back the way he had been headed. Of course, the Patronus wouldn't have an effect on the Death Eaters, but hopefully it would startle them long enough for him to regain some advantage.
It seemed to work. He heard shouts of surprise from behind him as he blundered on through the trees. And eventually, he caught sight of a sliver past all the woodland. He ran on towards it as though it were a lifeline, and it grew larger, larger...
And then they were out of the Forbidden Forest, speeding across the lawns by the lake. Harry was being driven now only by pure adrenaline, his muscles screaming in pain. By the time they had passed the lake and were about halfway up to the school, he had slowed to a stagger, and it was only a few more metres before Shannon groaned.
Straining his ears as he carried on, he decided that there really was no noise behind them or around them except for that that they made. Glancing over his shoulder, he was sure that there were no followers, and he stopped, heaving Shannon down onto the ground, where she fell back into a lying position. Her eyes were half closed and she looked as though she was dropping off to sleep.
"Lumos." He muttered, aiming the wand at her injured foot. Even in the poor light from the end of the stick, he could see the dark blood staining her trainer and the cuff of her jean leg. Well, he thought, there's only one way to see what state her foot's in...
He made to take of her trainer, but she made a unexpected movement, as thought to sit right up. "No. Don't."
He looked up. "Shan, I have to see what's happened. I swear I'll try not to hurt you."
She shook her head drowsily. "Doesn't hurt."
"What?"
"Doesn't hurt. But I think that my shoe's the only thing holding it all together." The awareness was dimming in her eyes even as she said this. "Just get me to the hospital...wing..." She flopped back onto the ground.
Harry stared at her for a second, horrified, before standing again and heaving her into his arms. It wasn't easy- Shannon was a lot heavier than she looked- but he managed to finally get up the steps and into the school. From here to the hospital wing was just a blur of corridors and steps to Harry in his weakening state.
Madam Pomfrey was folding blankets when the door burst open to reveal a dishevelled Harry with an unconscious girl in his arms. She gasped and dropped the blanket as Harry heaved the girl onto the nearest bed.
"She...she's hurt..." was all he got out before he collapsed too.
*****
PHEW! Finally! I am SO, SO, SO SORRY about the wait, but I've had writer's block for ages! I'm typing this on Christmas Day, so feel honoured! (I just feel ill, how lousy is that!) Please consider it my Christmas present to all you brilliant reviewers out there, and please review! I am a review junkie!