A/N: Yes, I realized that the chapter ended with a cliffhanger. I couldn't do it any other way, or 'twould have become too long. Well. Anyway. Back to your regularly scheduled ficcing and cliffhanger resolving. Oh yes. And battleness. And minor character shippiness. Yes.
Disclaimer: *Yawn* Don't own. Wouldn't want to be Warrington, either. His girl is a force to be reckoned with when she's pissed.
~*~
Kevin had given her the necessary information months ago.
Casting Stunning spells on two Death Eaters in rapid succession, Su made her relentless way towards Draco. Of course she'd know who it was... despite the mask that obscured his face, the white-blond hair was unmistakable.
"Malfoy," she called out, her voice gone completely cold and flat. "So pleased that you could make it."
Draco's face, though it was not visible behind the mask, started in recognition. A small, slim Oriental woman, her face much chillier than the last time he'd seen her. She didn't know all; that much was clear.
"I would kill you right now," Su's voice was low and venomous, forced out between clenched teeth, "Except I'd rather wait until after I force the names of your accomplices from between your bloodied lips." But she raised her wand in a grand motion over her head, a curse flying from her lips. "DERUPIO CAPILLUS!"
No time for explanations at present, not when the righteously furious girl was firing spells at him with intent to maim, if not murder. "INSTAURO PELOTUM!" he quickly countered, the two spells cancelling each other out as they met with a bang in the air. "Li, you're wrong..."
"CEPHALARGIA!" she shot another hex at him. "Don't try to deny it, you bastard," her voice held something besides anger, "If it weren't for YOU, he'd not be in a coma."
Her spell nearly hit him, and he abruptly countered it, "Yes... if it weren't for me, he'd be DEAD."
Not impressed, she continued fighting him, the fury in her heart building, overflowing like lava from her chest to her limbs, her eyes terrible as she cast curse after curse at him. She WOULD win, and after she'd forced him to his knees for all the pain he'd caused not to her, and he didn't attack her back, merely countered, and it was confusing and infuriating but dammit, she WOULDN'T cry.
Even as he countered another spell (intended to set fire to his skin) from her, he noticed Millium and Eyonia Dobbs, approaching Su's back, both with wands drawn. Grimacing behind his now-sweaty mask, he hoped that she would believe him and do what he told her to. In an urgent voice loud enough for her to hear, but not for the two advancing Death Eaters, he called out, "Li, when I nod, DUCK... and then you can continue trying to kill me." A Shaking hex from her hit his shoulder, sending him reeling slightly backwards. Swearing slightly to himself, he caught her eye, and as he steadied himself, raised his wand in the air, and gave a nod.
Su wasn't quite sure what, in that moment, made her believe him and duck out of the way, but then he was casting the Killing Curse, the jet of green light leaving his wand zooming past over her head and hitting Millium Dobbs square in the chest.
From the vantage-point of Eyonia Dobbs, Draco Malfoy had cast a sudden Avada Kedavra, intent on killing the little mudblood he was dueling with. But the young woman had ducked out of the way at the last moment, and the spell that had been meant for her... had hit Eyonia's husband instead. The enraged female Death Eater, with a scream of fury, drew a knife from her robes and rushed bodily at Su, who'd whipped around to see Millium fall.
Su leapt out of the blade's path, kicking out a leg in a graceful sweep that tripped the older woman, and within the space of several seconds that seemed infinitely longer than they actually were, Eyonia fell, her face still contorted in rage, upon the sharp point of her own knife. And the blood poured out to stain the snow scarlet, a few drops hitting the toe of Su's shoe.
Draco's voice was wry when he addressed the shell-shocked Su. "Well, Li... you have your revenge. THEY were the ones who suggested his place for use anyway. Had it not been for me, they would have killed him after seeing you there. You should be thanking me."
Su Li merely moved away wordlessly, her face still a mask of shock, and continued on her slightly dazed way, felling Death Eaters (true ones) in her path.
~*~
Angelina Johnson quickly swiped the back of her hand over her damp forehead as she held off the masked man facing her with a combination of spells and quick reflexes. The students were gone... that was important. She'd lost sight of her fellow faculty members, though, with the pandemonium that was Hogsmeade's main street. Last time she'd seen either Solan Montague, Su Li or Yseult Vector had been when the students had been rushed away.
And then a slew of Death Eaters had advanced upon them, separating them further and further apart, and even as reinforcements in the form of Magical Law Enforcement Squad hit wizards and Aurors came streaming into Hogsmeade, she found it impossible to get loose from the Death Eaters who seemed to be blocking her way at every step.
Even as she sent one Death Eater flying through the air with a Banishing Charm, another appeared, his eyes sinister as he opened his mouth to fire a spell.
Angelina had been on the verge of moving forward one moment, then found herself flying backwards, her back hitting the ground with a painful thud, stars appearing in her vision. Struggling, she tried to clamber back up to her feet, even as the Death Eater, cackling malevolently, loomed over her, wand pointed at her head.
Montague, who had been clearing a corybantic group of civilians away from the fray, saw her fall, the masked man who'd cursed her standing over her in twisted triumph. From where he was standing, he had no idea if she were actually alive or...
Things seemed to blur, oddly, in his line of vision as he unceremoniously dropped the arm of the young boy he'd been leading out of harm's way. His nostrils flaring and the handsome face wearing a look of violent aggression that had been put away since he'd left school and such things as House and Quidditch rivalries behind, he made his way forward, cutting a straight, ruthless path through all who stood in his way.
It was almost like the Quidditch games of old, except there was a different target, and it was infinitely more important than putting a Quaffle through a hoop. Physically elbowing and shoving people out of the way even as he hexed every Death Eater in his line of vision, he fought and stormed his way through the crowds.
The Death Eater who'd cursed Angelina had been momentarily distracted when one of his comrades had been hit in the back with a de-boning hex that sent him collapsing to the ground in like a pile of limp noodles tangled in black robes. Moving towards his comrade, Desmond Jugson nearly crashed into Montague.
Before Jugson could react, the younger man had bodily pushed him backward, and as Jugson stumbled, snarling, the former Quidditch player pulled back a fist and hit the Death Eater right in between the two eye-holes on the mask. And even as the older man's eyes began to water in pain, blood spurting from his nose to stain the mask, Montague threw him aside, a Binding hex on his lips rooting the Death Eater to the spot upright and unable to move. And then his path was free.
Bending down and quickly lifting his ex-rival off the ground and into his arms, he frowned somewhat, before breathing an audible sigh of relief when she shifted and opened her eyes... eyes filled, though, with pain. "My leg..."
"We're leaving," Montague told her, breaking into a jog as he made his way towards Quality Quidditch Supplies, "You're safe now... more than I can say for that little shit who hurt you."
"Profanity's not your style," she remarked drolly, looking up into his blue eyes as he unceremoniously grabbed the nearest broom off the rack and straddled it, still holding onto her with one arm and lowering the other to grip the broomstick and steer. Within seconds, they were out of the store, rising into the air. "Neither is theft."
"Neither is friendship, love, blind, consuming rage or bodily breaking Death Eater noses," he retorted, steadily flying towards Hogwarts with her still firmly ensconced against his chest. "But I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures."
Disclaimer: *Yawn* Don't own. Wouldn't want to be Warrington, either. His girl is a force to be reckoned with when she's pissed.
~*~
Kevin had given her the necessary information months ago.
Casting Stunning spells on two Death Eaters in rapid succession, Su made her relentless way towards Draco. Of course she'd know who it was... despite the mask that obscured his face, the white-blond hair was unmistakable.
"Malfoy," she called out, her voice gone completely cold and flat. "So pleased that you could make it."
Draco's face, though it was not visible behind the mask, started in recognition. A small, slim Oriental woman, her face much chillier than the last time he'd seen her. She didn't know all; that much was clear.
"I would kill you right now," Su's voice was low and venomous, forced out between clenched teeth, "Except I'd rather wait until after I force the names of your accomplices from between your bloodied lips." But she raised her wand in a grand motion over her head, a curse flying from her lips. "DERUPIO CAPILLUS!"
No time for explanations at present, not when the righteously furious girl was firing spells at him with intent to maim, if not murder. "INSTAURO PELOTUM!" he quickly countered, the two spells cancelling each other out as they met with a bang in the air. "Li, you're wrong..."
"CEPHALARGIA!" she shot another hex at him. "Don't try to deny it, you bastard," her voice held something besides anger, "If it weren't for YOU, he'd not be in a coma."
Her spell nearly hit him, and he abruptly countered it, "Yes... if it weren't for me, he'd be DEAD."
Not impressed, she continued fighting him, the fury in her heart building, overflowing like lava from her chest to her limbs, her eyes terrible as she cast curse after curse at him. She WOULD win, and after she'd forced him to his knees for all the pain he'd caused not to her, and he didn't attack her back, merely countered, and it was confusing and infuriating but dammit, she WOULDN'T cry.
Even as he countered another spell (intended to set fire to his skin) from her, he noticed Millium and Eyonia Dobbs, approaching Su's back, both with wands drawn. Grimacing behind his now-sweaty mask, he hoped that she would believe him and do what he told her to. In an urgent voice loud enough for her to hear, but not for the two advancing Death Eaters, he called out, "Li, when I nod, DUCK... and then you can continue trying to kill me." A Shaking hex from her hit his shoulder, sending him reeling slightly backwards. Swearing slightly to himself, he caught her eye, and as he steadied himself, raised his wand in the air, and gave a nod.
Su wasn't quite sure what, in that moment, made her believe him and duck out of the way, but then he was casting the Killing Curse, the jet of green light leaving his wand zooming past over her head and hitting Millium Dobbs square in the chest.
From the vantage-point of Eyonia Dobbs, Draco Malfoy had cast a sudden Avada Kedavra, intent on killing the little mudblood he was dueling with. But the young woman had ducked out of the way at the last moment, and the spell that had been meant for her... had hit Eyonia's husband instead. The enraged female Death Eater, with a scream of fury, drew a knife from her robes and rushed bodily at Su, who'd whipped around to see Millium fall.
Su leapt out of the blade's path, kicking out a leg in a graceful sweep that tripped the older woman, and within the space of several seconds that seemed infinitely longer than they actually were, Eyonia fell, her face still contorted in rage, upon the sharp point of her own knife. And the blood poured out to stain the snow scarlet, a few drops hitting the toe of Su's shoe.
Draco's voice was wry when he addressed the shell-shocked Su. "Well, Li... you have your revenge. THEY were the ones who suggested his place for use anyway. Had it not been for me, they would have killed him after seeing you there. You should be thanking me."
Su Li merely moved away wordlessly, her face still a mask of shock, and continued on her slightly dazed way, felling Death Eaters (true ones) in her path.
~*~
Angelina Johnson quickly swiped the back of her hand over her damp forehead as she held off the masked man facing her with a combination of spells and quick reflexes. The students were gone... that was important. She'd lost sight of her fellow faculty members, though, with the pandemonium that was Hogsmeade's main street. Last time she'd seen either Solan Montague, Su Li or Yseult Vector had been when the students had been rushed away.
And then a slew of Death Eaters had advanced upon them, separating them further and further apart, and even as reinforcements in the form of Magical Law Enforcement Squad hit wizards and Aurors came streaming into Hogsmeade, she found it impossible to get loose from the Death Eaters who seemed to be blocking her way at every step.
Even as she sent one Death Eater flying through the air with a Banishing Charm, another appeared, his eyes sinister as he opened his mouth to fire a spell.
Angelina had been on the verge of moving forward one moment, then found herself flying backwards, her back hitting the ground with a painful thud, stars appearing in her vision. Struggling, she tried to clamber back up to her feet, even as the Death Eater, cackling malevolently, loomed over her, wand pointed at her head.
Montague, who had been clearing a corybantic group of civilians away from the fray, saw her fall, the masked man who'd cursed her standing over her in twisted triumph. From where he was standing, he had no idea if she were actually alive or...
Things seemed to blur, oddly, in his line of vision as he unceremoniously dropped the arm of the young boy he'd been leading out of harm's way. His nostrils flaring and the handsome face wearing a look of violent aggression that had been put away since he'd left school and such things as House and Quidditch rivalries behind, he made his way forward, cutting a straight, ruthless path through all who stood in his way.
It was almost like the Quidditch games of old, except there was a different target, and it was infinitely more important than putting a Quaffle through a hoop. Physically elbowing and shoving people out of the way even as he hexed every Death Eater in his line of vision, he fought and stormed his way through the crowds.
The Death Eater who'd cursed Angelina had been momentarily distracted when one of his comrades had been hit in the back with a de-boning hex that sent him collapsing to the ground in like a pile of limp noodles tangled in black robes. Moving towards his comrade, Desmond Jugson nearly crashed into Montague.
Before Jugson could react, the younger man had bodily pushed him backward, and as Jugson stumbled, snarling, the former Quidditch player pulled back a fist and hit the Death Eater right in between the two eye-holes on the mask. And even as the older man's eyes began to water in pain, blood spurting from his nose to stain the mask, Montague threw him aside, a Binding hex on his lips rooting the Death Eater to the spot upright and unable to move. And then his path was free.
Bending down and quickly lifting his ex-rival off the ground and into his arms, he frowned somewhat, before breathing an audible sigh of relief when she shifted and opened her eyes... eyes filled, though, with pain. "My leg..."
"We're leaving," Montague told her, breaking into a jog as he made his way towards Quality Quidditch Supplies, "You're safe now... more than I can say for that little shit who hurt you."
"Profanity's not your style," she remarked drolly, looking up into his blue eyes as he unceremoniously grabbed the nearest broom off the rack and straddled it, still holding onto her with one arm and lowering the other to grip the broomstick and steer. Within seconds, they were out of the store, rising into the air. "Neither is theft."
"Neither is friendship, love, blind, consuming rage or bodily breaking Death Eater noses," he retorted, steadily flying towards Hogwarts with her still firmly ensconced against his chest. "But I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures."