Chapter XX: Stand Off
"I don't know how!" Theodore shouted back.
"It's your spell, release him."
"No, I did not put the spell on him; he willingly joined us."
"Liar! Release him!"
"I swear, I did not enchant him in any way."
"Then who did? Someone must have. He's not fighting or moving… Who could have gotten to him before you?"
"There are many of us," Theodore replied. "Any one of them could have enchanted Harry… However, if he touched one of the Mudblood letters…"
"You mean those threats? You sent them?"
"I created them, yes, with my sister's help. All this time… Voldemort has been using my sister's body. Why couldn't he have just used me? I would have gladly shared him within me, to feel his power…"
"I don't know, nor do I really care. We don't have much time! If it was one of your letters that enchanted Harry, then only you can undo it. What spell did you use on the letters? What spell?!"
Theodore muttered to himself. "He did it."
"What did you say?"
"I said He did it," Theodore shouted. "Voldemort told me to create them. I merely followed his plans, I merely did what I was told, I merely knew so little, if—"
"You must remember the enchantment! Think, Theodore, quickly, before it is too late!"
Theodore stared off at Harry who now stood palely in front of Minerva. His eyes glistened, reflecting off her half moon spectacles. There was no fear in him left, just a fragile shell easily broken. But the words to the spell! Theodore could not remember. It was so long ago, ages to him, although weeks in reality. He had heard a voice while sitting at Minerva's desk the day before Hogwarts opened.
"McGonagall, I am pleased that you have made it this far… Now, we must complete our plans," a voice echoed out of nowhere to Theodore. Little did he know that Voldemort was waiting for Minerva and had assumed that she was under his control already. Voldemort's sense had grown weak as of late and so he could only sense someone by their blood. Unfortunately, Minerva and Theodore were brother and sister and so their blood was all too similar.
Theodore spun his chair about and twisted himself as to find out where the voice came from. However, after concluding that the voice was in his own head, he stood up and hovered behind the curtains, playing with draped red and burgundy silk.
"How should I complete them, Sir?" Theodore said to himself.
He responded, "Follow the guides I have placed out three, and do little to interfere with she; When all is complete and all is done, You know who to bring, the One."
"The One… The One who… The boy who lived?"
But there was no voice to riddle back this time. Theodore was alone. There was a knocking at the door and afraid that some teacher had returned early, he rushed behind the curtains and wrapped them around tightly. He waited until he heard footsteps leaving in the opposite direction. Slowly, he emerged and tiptoed to the doorway.
He pushed the doors with a heavy heave and as they creaked, Theodore sighed to himself. To his relief, no person stood there. Instead, however, a golden-feathered pen lay still on the ground. As he reached toward it, the pen itself hovered and shook eye level with Theodore.
"What in blazens is this?" he asked as he attempted to snatch the pen from the air. His hand shivered and missed each time, the pen darting from his reach. Finally, he gave up and turned his back to the feathered pen.
Just as he did so, the pen struck the back of his head with full force, oozing a gold metallic liquid into his head. As it did so, Theodore lost all sight. A vision glowed before him a gleaming white light. The words were so clear to him, the enchantment so simple.
"Ab'rum'pe Nunc!"
A flash of blue engulfed Harry. Snape disappeared from Theodore's sight, as did his sister. Everything was sparkling blue, like a distant ocean untainted by human sin. Such a richness that for a second, Theodore thought he was marooned on some island overlooking the Pacific West, a mirage of azure paradise.
Theodore fell. A body smacked into his own, thrown from an unknown force. He had tumbled backward into a wall and felt a surging pain below his beltline. As he tried to lift the body off of him, he realized the delicateness of the body's fair skin. Obviously, it was not Snape as he had assumed at first it was.
"Minerva?" he asked.
Her gray eyes stared back like two marbles gleaming. She smirked her left side, leaving the right paralyzed. One dimple creased near her wrinkles as she tried to speak.
"Gryffindor Twenty-Two, Slytherin Thirty, Seeker Spots the Snitch," she mumbled before closing her mouth and eyes.
"Minerva? What does that mean?" Theodore asked but she was unconscious. As he held his sister in his arms, he spotted a limp boy being held in another figure's arms.
"Mister Potter?" Snape asked, trying to revive the boy. "Harry, are you alive? Answer me," he said in a much more serious tone. When Harry did not reply, however, Snape yelled, "Potter, you're late for class! Detention!"
Harry twitched. His left eyebrow rose, and suddenly, with a jerk of the body, he flew forward. He shifted his eyes toward Snape's smiling face, a distant departure from his usual frown. The rest of the room was a blur, half of his vision misty in a bluish white haze.
"Where am I?" Harry faintly asked.
"You're safe."
"Where's Kimberly? Ron? Hermione?"
"As for your friends, their fate is more serious… I'm afraid they may joined the others outside."
"So?" Harry asked, unaware that the raging battle has begun.
"Darkness has clouded Hogwarts… Even with the McGonagall's released from Voldemort's grip, He cannot be truly defeated. Potter, I want you to stay here. I will go and check up on your little friends."
"Are you crazy?" Harry screamed and jumped to his feet. A startled Snape quivered his lip slightly. "I have been through more hell than imaginable, and you don't want me to help you?"
"You're weak. I just thought that with all this and your apparent lack of memory that you would prefer to—"
"Prefer this," Harry said and lifted his hand. He shoved Snape backward. Then, without saying a word to Theodore or Professor McGonagall, he hurried off toward the Gryffindor Tower. He hoped his friends, Ron and Hermione, were still there and ready to greet him.
As he ventured toward the room, Harry noticed the hallway was in a bit of a jumble. Paintings tilted sideways and archways seemed to have chipped taken out, as if a large force had rushed through them recently. Harry approached the doors and noticed one was open all the way. He peeped his head into it and caught a glimpse of red hair.
"Ron!" Harry yelled and rushed into the room.
However, a girl turned around. "Harry!" she shouted.
"Ginny," Harry said. "Where's Ron?"
"He's been missing like you. I think she had something to do with it," Ginny said and pointed to a napping girl on the couch. He immediately recognized it as Kimberly.
"She's all right! Thank goodness."
"Harry, you shouldn't be worried about her! She tried to kill us all."
"Who, Kimberly?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"Yes, her. She's not as innocent as she looks… Anyway, I'm worried about Hermione. She's been away with the older year wizards for such a long time."
"Where did they go?"
"Out there."
Ginny pointed at the black window. Slowly, Harry walked toward it and looked through the smoggy glass. Down below he witnessed a field littered with a pile of Giants. They looked like a pyramid. Beside them were Centaurs, always charging toward some being underneath. They were not throwing weapons or stones at the being. Instead, from the movement of their mouths, they were yelling at it.
"I don't see Hermione or R," Harry said. However, he stopped himself and felt a pulsating rhythm bursting from his heart. He recognized Hagrid's back off in the distant. There were two figures, so small from Harry's view that he could not confirm that it was his friends. However, he did not need to see his friends to know it was them. Something inside of him screamed that they were in danger. And he listened to that scream and answered with yell,
"Get me my broom!"