September 3, 1996 -- 1:02 p.m.
"So how's he feeling?" Sadie Roper (Girl 19, Slytherin) asked as she walked over to Susan. "Is he going to be all right?"
Susan Bones (Girl 2, Hufflepuff) nodded, still smiling. "He's going to be just fine. Hungry, though." She turned to Lavender Brown (Girl 4, Gryffindor). "Don't worry. I locked the door."
She nodded. "Yeah." The aroma of the cooking stew drifted under her nose, and her thoughts turned to the little vial in her pocket. They had been certain he wouldn't live through the night, but he had. But if someone in his condition were to suddenly take a turn for the worse, it wouldn't be that suspicious... "I'll be fine." She forced a smile. "I mean, you must have asked him about what happened, right?"
Susan nodded. "He said it was an accident."
Lavender forced herself to nod once. "An accident."
Sally-Anne Perks (Girl 18, Hufflepuff) crossed the room to the front door. "I'm going to bring in Megan for lunch."
"Okay." Susan walked over to the sofa where Su Li (Girl 11, Ravenclaw) was sitting and sat down next to her. Sadie joined them on the floor in front. "I hope he can eat the same stuff as us," Susan said. "I'd hate for him to just get sick or something."
Lavender watched them carefully as she slowly stood up from the table and walked toward the kitchen counter, where there was a stack of dishes for their stew. Trembling, she took the vial out of her pocket, removing the cork with her thumb.
"I still don't see why you wouldn't let me help you remove his clothes," Sadie protested from her space on the floor.
Su raised an eyebrow. "Probably because you would try to grope him or something."
Sadie shrugged, smiling. "Can I help it if I'm a healthy and normal teenage girl?"
Susan laughed. "I'm not so sure about the normal part."
"Hey, Susan," Lavender called from the kitchen. The others turned to her. "Um, maybe we should serve Harry first. Since he needs to build up his strength and all." She tried to keep her hands from trembling as she held the dish. "It looks like the stew's done..."
Susan nodded. "Okay. Oh, and can you grab the first aid kit? It's in that drawer over there. Second one down. There should be some painkillers in there."
Lavender nodded, setting the dish of stew back onto the counter.
The front door opened. Sally-Anne walked back inside with Megan Jones (Girl 10, Hufflepuff), who was carrying the Uzi.
"So Harry's awake, huh?" She walked to the kitchen. "And lunch, too!" She sat the Uzi on the counter.
Lavender ignored the others, trying to calm herself as she opened the first aid kit. Where were the painkillers? Why couldn't the kit be nice and organized like it was supposed to be? Bandages, gauze, cotton swabs... Where were the blasted painkillers?
"Lunch smells delicious," Megan said as she entered the kitchen, sniffing.
Lavender ignored her as she rummaged through the kit. Ah, here are the stupid painkillers! She closed the medical kit, and put it back in the drawer. Not like he would need painkillers anyway.
"Mind if I have a taste?" Megan asked the other girls.
Lavender stood up and turned around to see her put the dish to her mouth. Her eyes widened. No... If she wanted to taste the stew, she should have used a spoon or something... Not that dish... Not the one she had sprinkled with the transparent powder...
The dish clattered to the floor, shattering. Megan began to cough as she fell to her hands and knees. The stew she had just swallowed splattered onto the floor, but was quickly painted over with a splotch of red as she started coughing more violently.
"Megan!"
The other girls rushed over to her as she crashed to the ground and remained perfectly still. Lavender stared on as she backed towards the corner. No...
The other four girls crowded around their fallen comrade. "She's dead..." one of them whispered.
No...
Susan turned to the others. "Do you think it was food poisoning?"
It was a mistake...
Sally-Anne shook her head. "I just tried it not too long ago, and I'm fine. It must... Someone must have..."
It wasn't meant for her...
"...Poison?" Sadie whispered in a hushed tone.
Lavender sank down to the floor, staring wide-eyed at Megan's corpse.
The four girls looked at each other, backing away from one another. With a screech, Su had grabbed the Uzi from the table.
"Which one of you did it?!" she screamed, aiming the gun at the other girls. "Who?!"
"Calm down!" Susan said, reaching for her gun. She stopped as the Uzi was trained on her. "None of us would do something like that!"
Su scoffed. "Last count said twelve left! And now the enemy's finally shown their claws!" She aimed the gun at Sadie. "You were the cook! How do we know that it wasn't you, huh?! The slithering Slytherin baring her fangs at last!"
Sadie shook her head. "I wasn't the only one cooking! Sally-Anne was cooking, too!"
"No!" Sally-Anne shouted. "I could never do such a thing!" She turned to Su, who was aiming the gun at her now. "I wouldn't!"
Susan took a step forward. "Just calm yourself and put the gun down!" The gun aimed at her again.
"And how do we know this wasn't your plan all along? Act like the perfect little leader so you could kill us all? Looks like your plan has failed!"
Lavender opened her mouth, trying to explain, but no words came out. She had to tell them so nothing worse would happen. She had to say something!
Sally-Anne dashed for the table with the weapons, reaching for the Glock 9mm on it. Before she could reach it, gunshots fired rapidly, and she crashed to the ground.
"You killed her..." Susan whispered. She turned around to face Su. "What did you do?"
Su glared at her. "You saw her reach for the gun. Because she was guilty."
"You reached for a gun, too!" Sadie shrieked. "Susan, do something!"
Susan watched Su carefully as the girl aimed the Uzi toward Sadie. She herself reached for her Browning tucked in her skirt. She didn't want to shoot the other girl. Maybe if she just injured her. Maybe got her arm or leg or something.
Before she could quite reach her gun, Su fired at her, propelling her backwards in a spray of blood. She fell to the ground, and Sadie dashed to the table for one of the guns. The Uzi fired again, and she fell to the floor.
Lavender whimpered as the gun aimed at her now. She still couldn't speak.
"What about you? Are you any different?"
There was a gunshot, and a hole appeared in the side of Su's forehead. Lavender turned her head slightly to see Sadie, painfully sitting up and holding the Glock.
The Uzi fired again as Su fell to the ground. Blood sprayed across the room as bullets ripped through Sadie's body.
The gunfire finally ceased, and there was silence. Lavender trembled as she looked over at the corpses of five of her classmates.
7 students remaining
September 3 -- 1:07 p.m.
When Harry Potter (Boy 15, Gryffindor) had heard a dish shatter onto the floor, he figured that one of the girls must have been clumsy and dropped it. But soon he could hear the muffled sound of the girls arguing loudly, and got up out of bed. Walking barefoot across the cold floor, he went to the door and tried the doorknob. Although it turned just fine, as he tried to push open the door, something prevented it from opening. Through the small gap, he could see a wooden plank set across it, preventing him from leaving.
He tried to slam the door a few times against the plank, hoping that he could somehow knock it aside, but it wouldn't budge. Sighing, he gave up and was about to walk back to bed when he heard the rattling of gunshots, followed by screaming. His eyes widened, and he turned to the door again, trying once more to move the plank. Still nothing.
Taking a few steps back, he tried tackling the door, even though it made him hurt all over. He was sure that he was bleeding again, too, due to the wetness he felt around his bandages. Keeping himself steady, he kicked the door, but still it wouldn't move.
The gunshots continued as he went back to the bed, pulling it closer to the door. Once one end was right in front of the door, he went around to the other end. Summoning all of his strength, he gave it a mighty push. He could hear the plank splinter on the other side. Another push, and the door swung open. Not caring how much it hurt, he crawled over the bed to the open door, climbing outside.
"No..." The bodies of five of his classmates were sprawled out in the kitchen space, covered with blood and bulletholes. One of them had rather disfigured splotches all over her skin. He took a few steps forward.
"Stay away!"
He looked to the corner of the kitchen, where Lavender was shakily standing up. He took another step forward, and she ran past the corpses of her friends and up the staircase next to the kitchen.
"Lavender, wait!" He stumbled forward to the staircase. "What happened here?" She didn't answer, so he followed.
Lavender was rather surprised at how strong the wind felt from the top of the lighthouse. She had managed to crawl through the narrow space the lens protruded out from, and was inching her way around the narrow balcony, holding on to the railing for dear life while the wind pushed at her. It was like it wanted her to fall to her death to the ground below. But if she could find the stairs that would lead her down to safety, she could get away. At least, she thought there were stairs that led down. She had never really looked at the lighthouse's exterior.
Dimly, she could hear Harry ascend the staircase, shouting something. She had to get away. She inched around, looking down at the beach below. And now the roads were coming into view. There were a couple of vehicles down there. Huh. But where were the stupid stairs? The forest, which was still smoldering from the explosion the night before. She hadn't seen the damage, but the others had told her about it. And once again rounding out to the sea below. There weren't any stairs!
She would have to jump. Carefully, she climbed between the wide spacing of the railing, making sure not to make any sudden moves lest she lose her grip and fall. Slowly... Carefully... She took a moment to reorient herself, then started inching her way around the lighthouse again. The beach would probably be the best place to jump down to. Why did progress have to be so slow?
"Lavender!" Harry called from her right.
She swiftly turned to him, losing her balance as she did so. She screamed, gripping the railing tightly as she lost her foothold. Her eyes widened as she realized that her grip was loosening. Her palms were sweaty, and the wind was howling around her, making things worse. Her right hand fell to the side, and she could feel her left hand start to slip as well...
Something grabbed her hand just as she started to fall. She looked up at Harry, who was holding onto her hand, grimacing in pain. The fact that he was injured only registered in her mind for a second before fear overtook her.
"Let me go!" she screamed, trying to twist away from him. "Let me go!"
"Don't move!" he called back. "You'll end up falling if you do!"
She continued to thrash. "I won't let you kill me, like you killed Zacharias!" Harry almost lost his grip on her. "It was supposed to be you! You were supposed to eat the poisoned food! It was supposed to be you!"
So that's what happened. He tried to tighten his grip on her, but the blood dripping down his arm was making his hold rather slippery. As it was, he could barely hang on to the balcony with his injured left hand.
Something started to pry his fingers loose. He looked down to see that Lavender had reached around with her other hand, and was trying to pull free.
"No! Don't!" He tried to tighten his grip.
Lavender looked at him. "It should have been you." She pried his fingers loose. He felt the weight pulling at him vanish as she fell to the rocks below. She landed at an awkward angle, a pool of red blood forming around her head.
"No..."
He stared down at her, his right arm still dangling over the side.
6 students remaining
September 3 -- 1:22 p.m.
Blaise Zabini (Boy 20, Slytherin) leaned against the truck, looking toward the lighthouse with a frown on his face as he smoked a cigarette. Gunshots had been fired there less than twenty minutes ago, and they were situated far too close. He looked to Hermione Granger (Girl 8, Gryffindor). "So will it start?" he asked.
She stepped back from the open hood. "I can't find anything wrong with it, so it should start. You want me to start her up?"
He shook his head, exhaling some smoke. "Not yet." He looked back to the lighthouse. "Whoever's in there would hear it start up, and might come out shooting before we could leave."
Hermione shrugged as she lowered the hood. "Maybe. But we'd be able to get away." She smirked. "I doubt anyone could outrun me when I'm behind the wheel."
Blaise chuckled. "I don't doubt that. You damn near killed me last time you were driving."
Hermione laughed, then walked to the driver's side door. She reached for the handle, and then froze. "How many of us are left?" Her companion turned to her, and she gestured to the lighthouse. "I'm not going to be so foolishly optimistic to believe that no one died. Someone must have. Maybe more than one. I wonder..."
Blaise closed his eyes. "Things are really getting close to the end game." He clenched his fists, frowning. "Damn..."
Hermione nodded, opening the door. Just as she was about to climb inside to investigate the interior, the lighthouse door opened, and a figure emerged. "Blaise. Someone's coming," she whispered, ducking down ever so slightly to hide herself from view while keeping watch over the figure.
"I see him," Blaise said, standing perfectly still. From where he was, he was unable to hide behind the truck, so had to make due with staying still and hoping that he wouldn't be noticed.
Hermione nodded silently, trying to figure out who the person who just left the lighthouse was. From what she could see, he was a male with dark hair. Going through the student list in her mind, her eyes widened. "It's Harry..." she said. Sure enough, the sunlight reflected off of his glasses as he looked around.
"Holy crap, it is," Blaise said, amazed. "What're the odds?"
Hermione reached into the truck and honked the horn. "Harry!" she shouted as she stepped around to the hood, standing up as tall as she could so he could see her. He turned around to face them.
Blaise shook his head. "You're gonna get us killed," he said, smiling. "Over here!" he called out to him, waving as Harry approached.
"How-- What are you guys doing here?" Harry asked as he joined them. He winced in pain as Hermione ran around the truck and hugged him. "Ow! Not so tight!"
"Huh?" She stepped back, releasing him. She looked him over and gasped. "You're hurt!"
Harry nodded. "So I've noticed."
Blaise walked up to him, smiling warmly. "You look like hell."
Harry laughed. "Feel like hell, too." His face grew more serious. "We should get out of here. Someone will have heard us."
Hermione nodded sheepishly. "Honking the horn probably wasn't the best idea." She paused. "What happened back there? We heard gunfire."
Harry's face turned solemn. "There was a group of girls hiding out there. One of them had seen what happened with Zacharias and tried to poison me. She ended up poisoning one of the other girls by mistake. They ended up turning on one another." He looked down at the heavy pack he was carrying in his uninjured hand. Before he had left the lighthouse, he had collected the girls' guns, and put his shirt and shoes back on. He left his robes behind, though, as bloodied as they were. "So... What did I miss?" he asked, looking back up at them and setting the pack on the ground.
Blaise shrugged, tossing his finished cigarette to the side. "Not much. After we got split up, we went to the store--" He stopped abruptly and looked to Hermione, whose face had clouded over with sorrow.
"We... Found Ron there," she said shakily. "Hannah had shot him."
Harry's face turned pale. He had known that his friend had died, but hadn't known how, or who had killed him.
"He..." Tears were streaming down Hermione's face now. "He died in my arms..." she finished in a small voice.
Harry nodded, and gave her a half hug with his uninjured arm. She returned the hug, careful not to hurt him by holding on too tight. After a few minutes, she pulled away.
"I got her, though," she whispered, her voice bitter.
Harry looked at her, stunned. Before he could say anything, Blaise interrupted.
"Anyway, I'm glad you're alright." He placed his hand behind his head. "Well, besides being injured and all."
Harry nodded. "Yeah." He glanced down at the pack. "We should probably get out of here. Neville might show up."
Hermione followed his eyes to the pack, which was considerably bulkier than it had been before they had separated. "What's in there?" she asked.
"Huh? Oh." He bent down and unzipped it. "I figured that these might come in useful. I feel kinda bad, having taken both of the guns with me when we split before." He started removing the guns he had found at the lighthouse, along with the boxes of bullets that went with them. He had no idea which gun took which bullets, though.
Blaise crouched down to investigate. "Well, we're certainly well armed now, aren't we?"
Harry nodded. "It seems... I don't know. Wrong." There was a pause. "Are we going to turn out the same way? Paranoid enough to turn on each other? I don't think there are too many of us left."
Blaise stood up. "I have a plan." The others looked to him. "I don't want to say any more, but I think--" He touched his collar and paused, choosing his words carefully. "Hasn't it ever bothered you? Why they make us do these things? It's not a deterrent, because hardly anyone knows about the program unless it happened to someone they knew or they'd done their research. So why, then?"
Neither Harry nor Hermione could answer, although his questions did give them cause to think.
After a long silence, Hermione spoke up. "They... It's not a secret. Not really. People do know about it, even if they don't talk about it. The information's out there, if anyone wants to bother looking up international law." She looked over to Blaise. "It's to breed fear and mistrust, isn't it?" He nodded. "Everyone was getting over the after effects of the first war against V-Voldemort, and were starting to trust one another again. But that meant that people would be thinking more rationally, so..." She continued, her voice barely more than a whisper. "It's so people won't think for themselves and come together to overthrow the government."
Blaise nodded. "Pretty much. And to keep people's attentions away from all the other corruption and whatnot by giving them something major to object to." He smirked. "So you can just imagine how much they hate it when we don't play by their rules and end up trusting one another."
"But..." Harry began. "But if there can be only one survivor, how can anyone trust anyone?"
Blaise chuckled. "I told you. Every system has its flaws." He touched his collar again. "Even this one."
Hermione's eyes widened with realization. He had mentioned something like that earlier... Could it be...? Did Blaise know how to remove the collars? She looked to Harry, who also seemed to have gotten the hint.
Blaise smiled. "So... Anyone up for some lunch?"
6 students remaining
Question & Answer Session #3
1-Will we ever learn about what happened to Percy?
Not in the course of the story. The earliest opportunity to mention his fate would be in the final chapter, but I just couldn't make it flow well with the rest of the chapter. For the record, though, the Dragons (Charlie's group of survivors and other anti-Ministry insurrectionists) break him out of prison and he ends up a fugitive. Someday I'll write a side-story about it, but I've got other stories I want to finish first.
2-Will we see Charlie?
Yep. In the final chapter.
3-Is Blaise evil?
No. He tries to do the right thing. He might not have always understood why, but he's beginning to understand.
4-According to the prophecy in OotP, isn't Voldemort the only one who can kill Harry (and vice versa)?
Only J.K. Rowling really knows for sure. But since no names were actually named in the actual prophecy, I'm using a looser interpretation. It will be addressed in Chapter 23.
5-Is there a way off the island?
Yes, Blaise knows how to escape. A better question is: Do they manage to do so? (I'm not answering that, by the way. You'll find out in Chapter 23, which should be posted on Wednesday the 28th.)
6-Have you read Lord of the Flies?
I think it was assigned back when I was in school, but I can't remember if I actually read it or just skimmed through it. Since I can't remember much about it I suppose I skimmed through. Or maybe it was just because it was a really long time ago. For an idea of just how long, ten years ago I would have been in 8th grade. I feel really old now.
7-Is Montgomery Blaise's father?
Ah, the question that I've so been hoping someone would ask. Yes, he is. It's never outright stated in the context of the story, but it is strongly implied.
The last time I did a Q&A session was in Chapter 8. I'm so lazy...