A/N: Okay, here's chapter 16. Read and please review. I want to have 100 reviews by the time I finish this thing and I'm more than three-fourths of the way there…
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Emerald Flame
Chapter 16
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****Draco's POV****
It took two days after the disappearance of Eliza for the teachers to ban us from going outside after dark. It took three for them to ban us from going outside at all. It took them four to cancel outdoor classes. After the fifth day, they charmed the fireplaces so the Floo Network wasn't connected to them. And then, on the sixth day, the owl deliveries were cancelled. Only a week, and the school was on total lockdown.
It was understandable. After all, Voldemort, the strongest Dark Lord in the history of the wizarding world, had snuck into Hogwarts, the 'safest' place in the wizarding world, then snatched a student right out from under the noses of it's teachers. Eventually, even the teachers stopped really -teaching- their classes and instead left to go to conferences with Dumbledore or just made us sit and read the text books. Harry had stopped coming to class completely. He simply sat in the library all day, looking up spell after spell and counter spell after counter spell. Hermione and I spent most of our time in the Room of Requirement. She asked me about Voldemort mostly. I didn't like it, but I attempted to answer most of her questions. I suppose she passed on the information I told her to Harry so he could look up spells that might help him if he had to fight Voldemort one-on-one again.
The whole school was taught the spell Eliza had come up with. They called it the Hawkings Spell, both after Eliza herself and after the hawk-shaped purple blast of light that went along with it. The students were allowed to practice in the Great Hall after classes when dinner was over. Quite frankly, most of them could have used some work on it. Most of them had never been faced with the Killing Curse, and many of them never thought they would ever be faced with the Curse anyway so they didn't practice at all.
I suppose us Heads should have been harder on them and forced them to practice, but we didn't. We didn't even want to believe that Eliza was gone, but the cold facts kept staring us in the face. She -was- gone, the Dark Lord -was- rising again, and there was very little we could do to stop him. We had lived with this sense of peace for so long…we didn't want it to go away. But all good things must end, and I suppose now was the time for this 'peace' to pass.
Besides, even if they didn't -want- to believe that Voldemort was back, they were forced to on the eleventh day after Eliza's disappearance.
It happened during dinner. I had started sitting with the Gryffindors, and now sat with Hermione and Harry on my left and Ginny on my right. We weren't really eating, just sitting in silence with our heads bowed. Then, suddenly, the doors burst open and all of the tables were somehow thrown backwards until they hit the back wall. The teachers table was thrown back as well, and this caused the teachers and Dumbledore to be pinned between the table and their chairs. Screams of confusion rang out, but they soon turned to screams of fear when fourteen hooded figures walked in through the door. One led the group, while the rest seemed to make a circle, hiding what lay at its center. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and I all stood up and looked at the figures, each of us taking a step back. The doors crashed shut as the last of the hooded people came in and a bubble seemed to flash around the group before it faded. Then that same leader took off his hood. I guess I already knew who it was before he took his hood off, but it seemed like the whole entire Great Hall let out a gasp of one when the Dark Lord showed his face. Harry automatically (and rather stupidly I might add) let out a yell and ran towards Voldemort, being blown backwards by the invisible electrical barrier that protected him.
"Careful Potter," the Dark Lord said smoothly, an evil grin spreading on his face, "You don't want your little girlfriend to get hurt, now would you?"
He turned and motioned to the circle of Deatheaters, who parted and showed a very beaten and bloody Eliza being held up by two of the bigger Deatheaters (Crabbe and Goyle or their fathers, no doubt). They threw her forward and she skidded across the floor to lay in front of the Dark Lord's feet.
"Well," The Dark Lord's evil grin seemed to grow even more, "Hurt more."
Harry growled in fury and got as close to the barrier as he could without being blasted back again. Hermione and I stepped forward to stand next to him while Ginny ran behind us to try and free the teachers.
"Let her go," Harry said coldly, his voice laced with fury.
"Let's wake her up first," Voldemort said calmly, before he went up and kicked her in the ribs. Harry flinched, but Eliza didn't. She shifted slightly and rolled over onto her back, one arm over her stomach and then other laying flat by her side. Voldemort frowned and kicked her again, only harder this time. Eliza shifted again, but still didn't wake up. Voldemort's frown got even deeper, and he kicked her as hard as he could in the side.
"You could've just poked me or something…" Eliza muttered, opening one eye before she stretched and folded her arms behind her head She closed the one eye she had open and began to tap her feet to a song going through her head. I had seen her use this same technique to block pain before. She locked herself inside her head and cranked up the volume. Voldemort scowled down at her for a brief moment before turning his attention back to Harry. His trademark evil grin spread across his face and he crossed his arms.
"As you might have noticed, Harry," He said, the smirk never leaving his fact, "I have found your weakness."
Harry growled slightly and crossed his arms over his chest, forcing himself to keep calm.
"And that is?" Harry said coldly.
"Love," Voldemort's grin got bigger, "You have let yourself love."
"I'll kill you," Harry snapped, his eyes flashing.
"I'd like to see you try," Voldemort replied calmly.
"He'd kick your ass."
All eyes turned to Eliza, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground.
"What?" Voldemort said coldly, taking a few steps towards her. Eliza looked up at him with a completely calm expression on his face.
"I said he'd kick your ass," She said, her voice just as calm as her expression.
"And why do you say that?" Voldemort growled.
"Well," Eliza smiled, "If he can kick your ass when he's a baby, then he can most likely kick your ass when he's seventeen."
Voldemort looked at her with a disbelieving look on his face for a moment before he reared back and kicked her in the jaw, sending her skidding backwards in our direction. I knew from personal experience that that was the one thing you NEVER brought up in front of Voldemort. EVER. He had killed people over it. His -own- people. I was surprised all Eliza got was a kick.
Surprisingly, Eliza started to laugh. As she did so, blood poured out of her mouth and ran down the front of her tattered shirt. She forced herself up into a sitting position and a sick grin spread across her face.
"That the best you got?" She asked, the grin getting wider.
Fire flashed in the Dark Lord's eyes and he pulled out his wand, leveling it straight at Eliza.
"'S that supposed to scare me?" Eliza laughed, "You poor pathetic thing. Can't even kill a mere child…"
Voldemort's eyes widened and his face twisted into one of fury. Then, suddenly, he let out a yell and screamed the only two words that all witches and wizards feared:
"Avada Kedavra!"
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A/N: And there's my nice little cliffy. There will only be two or three more chapters (didn't I say that a few chapters ago? I mean it this time!) So anyway…review please! Like I said, I want 100...
****
Emerald Flame
Chapter 16
****
****Draco's POV****
It took two days after the disappearance of Eliza for the teachers to ban us from going outside after dark. It took three for them to ban us from going outside at all. It took them four to cancel outdoor classes. After the fifth day, they charmed the fireplaces so the Floo Network wasn't connected to them. And then, on the sixth day, the owl deliveries were cancelled. Only a week, and the school was on total lockdown.
It was understandable. After all, Voldemort, the strongest Dark Lord in the history of the wizarding world, had snuck into Hogwarts, the 'safest' place in the wizarding world, then snatched a student right out from under the noses of it's teachers. Eventually, even the teachers stopped really -teaching- their classes and instead left to go to conferences with Dumbledore or just made us sit and read the text books. Harry had stopped coming to class completely. He simply sat in the library all day, looking up spell after spell and counter spell after counter spell. Hermione and I spent most of our time in the Room of Requirement. She asked me about Voldemort mostly. I didn't like it, but I attempted to answer most of her questions. I suppose she passed on the information I told her to Harry so he could look up spells that might help him if he had to fight Voldemort one-on-one again.
The whole school was taught the spell Eliza had come up with. They called it the Hawkings Spell, both after Eliza herself and after the hawk-shaped purple blast of light that went along with it. The students were allowed to practice in the Great Hall after classes when dinner was over. Quite frankly, most of them could have used some work on it. Most of them had never been faced with the Killing Curse, and many of them never thought they would ever be faced with the Curse anyway so they didn't practice at all.
I suppose us Heads should have been harder on them and forced them to practice, but we didn't. We didn't even want to believe that Eliza was gone, but the cold facts kept staring us in the face. She -was- gone, the Dark Lord -was- rising again, and there was very little we could do to stop him. We had lived with this sense of peace for so long…we didn't want it to go away. But all good things must end, and I suppose now was the time for this 'peace' to pass.
Besides, even if they didn't -want- to believe that Voldemort was back, they were forced to on the eleventh day after Eliza's disappearance.
It happened during dinner. I had started sitting with the Gryffindors, and now sat with Hermione and Harry on my left and Ginny on my right. We weren't really eating, just sitting in silence with our heads bowed. Then, suddenly, the doors burst open and all of the tables were somehow thrown backwards until they hit the back wall. The teachers table was thrown back as well, and this caused the teachers and Dumbledore to be pinned between the table and their chairs. Screams of confusion rang out, but they soon turned to screams of fear when fourteen hooded figures walked in through the door. One led the group, while the rest seemed to make a circle, hiding what lay at its center. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and I all stood up and looked at the figures, each of us taking a step back. The doors crashed shut as the last of the hooded people came in and a bubble seemed to flash around the group before it faded. Then that same leader took off his hood. I guess I already knew who it was before he took his hood off, but it seemed like the whole entire Great Hall let out a gasp of one when the Dark Lord showed his face. Harry automatically (and rather stupidly I might add) let out a yell and ran towards Voldemort, being blown backwards by the invisible electrical barrier that protected him.
"Careful Potter," the Dark Lord said smoothly, an evil grin spreading on his face, "You don't want your little girlfriend to get hurt, now would you?"
He turned and motioned to the circle of Deatheaters, who parted and showed a very beaten and bloody Eliza being held up by two of the bigger Deatheaters (Crabbe and Goyle or their fathers, no doubt). They threw her forward and she skidded across the floor to lay in front of the Dark Lord's feet.
"Well," The Dark Lord's evil grin seemed to grow even more, "Hurt more."
Harry growled in fury and got as close to the barrier as he could without being blasted back again. Hermione and I stepped forward to stand next to him while Ginny ran behind us to try and free the teachers.
"Let her go," Harry said coldly, his voice laced with fury.
"Let's wake her up first," Voldemort said calmly, before he went up and kicked her in the ribs. Harry flinched, but Eliza didn't. She shifted slightly and rolled over onto her back, one arm over her stomach and then other laying flat by her side. Voldemort frowned and kicked her again, only harder this time. Eliza shifted again, but still didn't wake up. Voldemort's frown got even deeper, and he kicked her as hard as he could in the side.
"You could've just poked me or something…" Eliza muttered, opening one eye before she stretched and folded her arms behind her head She closed the one eye she had open and began to tap her feet to a song going through her head. I had seen her use this same technique to block pain before. She locked herself inside her head and cranked up the volume. Voldemort scowled down at her for a brief moment before turning his attention back to Harry. His trademark evil grin spread across his face and he crossed his arms.
"As you might have noticed, Harry," He said, the smirk never leaving his fact, "I have found your weakness."
Harry growled slightly and crossed his arms over his chest, forcing himself to keep calm.
"And that is?" Harry said coldly.
"Love," Voldemort's grin got bigger, "You have let yourself love."
"I'll kill you," Harry snapped, his eyes flashing.
"I'd like to see you try," Voldemort replied calmly.
"He'd kick your ass."
All eyes turned to Eliza, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground.
"What?" Voldemort said coldly, taking a few steps towards her. Eliza looked up at him with a completely calm expression on his face.
"I said he'd kick your ass," She said, her voice just as calm as her expression.
"And why do you say that?" Voldemort growled.
"Well," Eliza smiled, "If he can kick your ass when he's a baby, then he can most likely kick your ass when he's seventeen."
Voldemort looked at her with a disbelieving look on his face for a moment before he reared back and kicked her in the jaw, sending her skidding backwards in our direction. I knew from personal experience that that was the one thing you NEVER brought up in front of Voldemort. EVER. He had killed people over it. His -own- people. I was surprised all Eliza got was a kick.
Surprisingly, Eliza started to laugh. As she did so, blood poured out of her mouth and ran down the front of her tattered shirt. She forced herself up into a sitting position and a sick grin spread across her face.
"That the best you got?" She asked, the grin getting wider.
Fire flashed in the Dark Lord's eyes and he pulled out his wand, leveling it straight at Eliza.
"'S that supposed to scare me?" Eliza laughed, "You poor pathetic thing. Can't even kill a mere child…"
Voldemort's eyes widened and his face twisted into one of fury. Then, suddenly, he let out a yell and screamed the only two words that all witches and wizards feared:
"Avada Kedavra!"
****
A/N: And there's my nice little cliffy. There will only be two or three more chapters (didn't I say that a few chapters ago? I mean it this time!) So anyway…review please! Like I said, I want 100...