Cast Away
Chapter 18 ~ The Fall Of A Comrade
Sigma had fled to the Hogwarts grounds after dinner. She had definitely noticed the looks she was getting, from Hermione, Ginny, Cassandra, Maria and Julia, and even from the Slytherin table. Those looks most certainly all said the same thing; I know what you're planning, and it ain't pretty.
She stood on a small grassy slope and screamed at the sky.
'Why do this to me?' Sigma yelled, collapsing into a heap on the grass. Struggling to get up, Sigma found that her legs were bound, and felt so stiff, like they hadn't moved in years. She looked around, slightly confused.
'You're weak, just like I told you that you are,' A cloaked figure emerged from the Forbidden Forest and glided over to where Sigma lay.
'You're the one who chose me for this task,' Sigma growled in reply.
'Obviously I made the wrong choice, if I wanted something done, I should have done it myself,' Voldemort said in a low voice.
'I told you, I can't get the baby, I can't kill them, they know what I'm doing,'
'I don't care about you killing them anymore, I have no further use for you, I can use this baby to find me the Ministerial Gem, seeing as you have failed countless times,' He threatened her.
'Maria's giving up her baby for adoption,' Sigma blurted out.
'Is that so,' He said carelessly. 'Not like she'll get the chance, I won't give her that opportunity,' With those words, he swept across the grounds at lightning speed and into the Entrance Hall.
Sigma could do nothing, her legs were bound helplessly. All she could think of doing was attempting a Projectile Duplicate. This was an extremely dangerous feat, and if she failed, her life would be that of a ghost. However, if it worked, Sigma would be able to make a twin of herself to go into the Castle after Voldemort, leaving her body lifeless.
Sigma focussed all her energy into performing this stunt, and hoped that she would pull it off. She had seen this done professionally by one of Voldemort's followers, but had never attempted it for herself, therefore, she was genuinely shocked when it worked.
If felt as though Sigma had left her body, staring at herself through new eyes, free of all blackness. Now she understood why the others suspected her of being a murder, she looked like the part. Realising this wasn't the time to analyse herself, Sigma turned and sprinted back to the Hogwarts Castle.
~***~
'Maria, don't worry, its barely noticeable,' Julia said, referring to her friends baby. Maria frowned.
'Of course it's noticeable,' She said haughtily. 'Imagine what people will say when they start to notice,'
'No need to worry about that,' A cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows. Maria, Julia and Cassandra screamed, but were quickly hit with a silencing charm, and a body bind. 'Now,' He said, turning to Maria. 'You can give up your baby the easy way, or the hard way,'
Maria looked completely terrified, and instinctively put her arms around her stomach and turned around.
'I take it we'll have to do this the hard way,'
Maria tried to run, but she was hit with a fully body bind spell, and held up by some other unknown spells. She didn't know what to do, not even knowing who this man was. He walked over, muttered a small spell into his wand, and a small bubble appeared on the end of it. Maria started to cry, knowing what was about to happen.
Voldemort plunged his wand with the bubble inside Maria's stomach, which would have caused Maria to have spasm's, had she been able to move her body. When the wand was withdrawn, a small foetus was concealed in the bubble. The body bind was removed from Maria with a wave of his wand, and she tried to scream, but found she was still bound by the silencing charm.
'Thanks for the baby,' He said before once again, turning his wand on Maria. 'Avada Kedavara,'
Maria hit the floor as soon as the green light hit her, fair in the chest. Voldemort cackled before sweeping out of the hallway, and away from Hogwarts.
~***~
Sigma hurried around the castle in her Projectile Duplicate form, desperately seeking Voldemort before he could get to Maria. Where are you? WHERE are you? She thought frantically.
Sigma rushed through hallways, popping her head in and out of classrooms, and through any door incase Maria was behind it. All of a sudden, Sigma came to a halt, staring at the horrifying sight which lay before her.
Maria lay on the floor, dead, with Hermione kneeling beside her, crying. Sigma took a step back, but it was too late, Hermione had seen her.
'You,' She snarled. 'I knew you would do this!'
'I-I didn't,' Sigma stammered. Hermione got to her feet and strode over to Sigma.
'What have you done with the baby? It's been extracted from her,' Hermione growled.
'I don't have any idea what's happened,' Sigma said, taking a quick glance over at Maria. Hermione backed away from her.
'You'll kill me too, you're going to kill us all, Cassandra overheard you talking to someone in the Gryffindor common room a few nights ago, about killing us, and the Ministerial Gem,' Hermione said, realisation finally dawning upon her that Sigma was capable of anything. Sigma took a step forward.
'I didn't do this, I swear, how could I?' She said. Staring into Hermione's eyes, Sigma raised her hand and waved it through the solid wall. Hermione's eyes widened.
'How can you do that?' She asked.
'I'm really tied up outside on the grounds, I mustered the power to make a Projectile Duplicate of myself,' Sigma explained, but Hermione frowned.
'That still doesn't change you wanting to kill us, you must have sent someone to do your dirty work,' Hermione spat. 'I'm going to get Professor McGonagall,' She turned and sprinted away.
~***~
'This is such a nice night, don't you agree, Weasley?' Draco strode over to her, standing near the Quidditch Pitch. Ginny didn't look at him, she simply nodded.
'What do you want with me, Malfoy, we are no more friends than we were last year, and the year before that, and so on,' Ginny asked finally.
'Well -'
'No, I don't want some cock and bull story, I want the truth for a change,' Ginny ordered. Malfoy sighed heavily.
'Well, it's just that I know how you are treated, you're overlooked by your family, friends, and very undepreciated, it's like that for me as well,' Malfoy said.
'What if I don't believe you? How do you know all that about my life?' She asked.
'I just find these things out, listening to conversations at school, from my father, who never speaks to me directly if he can help it,' He explained.
'That doesn't mean you couldn't be just making this all up, just to get with me or something horrid like that,' Ginny argued.
'Well, I can't make you believe me,' Draco said.
'I know that, but why are you being so nice?'
'Because I understand you, and you understand me, I can see it in your eyes,'
'I guess we understand eachother then,' Ginny said softly, allowing him to put his arm around her waist, resting her head on his shoulder as they watched the stars shine in the night sky. Draco tilted her head up towards his, and was just about to lean in to kiss her when a shrieking voice travelled across the Hogwarts Grounds.
'Ginny!' It was Hermione, rushing frantically at her. 'Ginny!' She screamed more urgently. Ginny and Draco instantly broke apart, looking curiously at Hermione's running form.
'What is it, Hermione?' Ginny asked.
'It's Maria!' Hermione gasped for air. Ginny looked concerned.
'What's Maria? What's happened to her? Is she okay? Is her - er, friend okay?'
Tears began to well in Hermione's eyes, and Ginny knew that everything wasn't alright.
'You have to come with me, right now,' Hermione said hurriedly.
'What's happened?' Ginny asked frantically.
'Maria's been killed! And her friend's been kidnapped,'
Upon those words, Ginny's heart lept up into her throat and she choked, quickly recovering to run to Maria, leaving Draco alone by the Quidditch Pitch.
They both sprinted across the grounds and into the Castle, Hermione leading the way to Maria's body. When they arrived, Cassandra and Julia were mourning over their friend.
'I should never have left her!' Cassandra wailed.
'Shh, it's okay, it isn't your fault,' Julia said comfortingly.
'You left her too! Why did we leave her with that man! We could have done something to prevent this from happening!' Cassandra cried.
'What man?' Hermione asked. Cassandra and Julia looked up from Maria's body.
'The man who killed her and stole her baby,' Julia answered in a small, shaky voice. Where Maria's stomach used to be, there was a bloody hole, and a mess of scrambled insides. Some blood covered the floor and walls of the hallway.
'I told you I didn't do it,' Sigma made her Projectile Duplicate come out where they could all see her. Ginny, who hadn't seen the Projectile Duplicate before, jumped.
'Sigma, your eyes, they aren't black?' She asked curiously.
'That's because this isn't my real body, that's on the Hogwarts Grounds somewhere, bound,' Sigma told her. Ginny looked a small bit worried.
'You had something to do with that man, didn't you? He thought that you couldn't do the job he needed done, so he tied you up and did it himself, didn't he?' Ginny accused. To all of their surprises, Sigma nodded.
'Yep, that's exactly right, the man was Voldemort, and yes, I did go to him when I ran away,' Sigma said. Julia fainted, and Cassandra rose to her full height.
'I knew you would!' She roared. 'And now because of you, my best friend and her baby are gone!'
'Now now, Cassandra, settle down, there isn't anything we can do now,' Hermione said rationally.
'To hell there isn't! I'm going to kill this bitch!' Cassandra screamed, and lunged at Sigma, who didn't move, letting Cassandra fall straight through her and onto the floor.
'How the…?' Ginny said in amazement.
'What's going on?' Cassandra demanded from her position on the floor.
'I'm in a Projectile Duplicate of myself,' Sigma said. 'Meaning I'm like a ghost of myself,' She further explained.
'Well, where's your real body, so I can kill it!' Cassandra roared, standing up.
'That's easy, my real body is on the Hogwarts Grounds, quite helpless and bound,' Sigma said, but before Cassandra could rush off, she continued. 'There would be no point in you going after my body, I'm already dead,'
'Huh?' Ginny said, stunned.
'What?' Hermione blurted out.
'How is that possible?' Ginny questioned.
'This thing I did was an experiment, I have never performed a Projectile Duplicate in my life, and well, to tell you the truth, if failed, and I died,' Sigma told them. 'I'm destined to stay in this form for eternity,'
'Oh…my…' Hermione stammered.
'Two people dead in one night?' Cassandra asked, open mouthed.
'Why would you give up your life to do this experiment?' Ginny asked curiously.
'Well, simple really, I knew what Voldemort was after, and I was the only one who might be able to stop him, unfortunately I was too late, and I didn't stop to realise that I'd killed myself in my rush to come after Maria,' Sigma explained.
'Oh dear,' Cassandra said, clapping her hand over her mouth.
'The question still remains, if you were trying to kill us all, and take Maria's baby, then why try to save her?' Hermione pondered. Sigma's reply was not from her mouth, but from her mind.
I have learnt to accept what I am, a Seer. I was destined to this life by my grandmother, she must have willed me to have these powers, or else I never would have gotten them. My fate was this, I have proven myself worthy of a great afterlife, however, for my wrong-doings, I shall remain on this planet as a lonely spirit for seven centuries.
'Sigma! I don't understand, you're Muggle born, how can your grandmother be a seer without passing some magical blood through to one of your parents?' Ginny asked.
'Well, she isn't really my proper Grandmother, she's my father's mother's sister, making her my great aunt, but it's just easier for her to be my grandmother,' Sigma answered.
'Makes sense,' Hermione said.
'So you're… dead?' Cassandra said in a small voice, still coming to terms with the fact. Sigma nodded.
'I think we should have a memorial service, a proper funeral,' Hermione suggested.
'Good idea,' Ginny agreed.
'There you go, discussing my funeral already,' Sigma said, rather annoyed.
'So, you don't care that you're dead?' Cassandra asked. Sigma looked at her.
'Not really, I'm glad to be free of the life that haunted me,' She replied.
~***~
Two days in the future, Sigma's memorial service was held, and everyone knew about her untimely death, as well as Maria's. The school had decided to have a two in one service for the girl who died protecting her baby, and the girl who died trying to save them both.
Dumbledore was on a small podium, saying a few words about both girls when Sigma's Projectile Duplicate/Ghost appeared beside Ginny.
'Don't cry, Ginny, it was either you or me,' Sigma said softly. 'If I hadn't died that night you know that I would have come after you in my insanity,' Ginny nodded, but the tears continued to stream down her face as she sat in silence listening to Dumbledore's speech.
'… I now ask Ginny Weasley, best friend of Sigma Prudence Orionis to come forth and say a few words,' Dumbledore stepped down and Ginny walked up to the podium. She had been expecting this. Ginny took a deep breath before beginning.
'Many of you do not know how much of a dear friend Sigma was to me over the years, she helped me through a lot of tough times, and was there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on. Now that she is gone, I'm afraid to go back, afraid that the future holds naught but sadness for me,' Ginny paused to wipe a tear away. 'I think you should all know the truth, when Sigma left, she went to Voldemort,' There were some loud murmors through the sea of people. 'She was confused, lost, alone in the world, and was trapped inside herself. All that matters is the end result, she came through, and sacrificed her own life trying to save a life which she knew would be impossible to achieve. This is the attitude that we as a school need to follow in order to achieve our greatest desires, let us remember, Sigma Orionis,'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
HarryzBabe ~ Thank you for your review of my last chapter, after this chapter, I can safely say that Sigma isn't going to attempt any more murders… writing this almost made me cry…
kura52 ~ Cassandra has a big mouth on her, yes. I managed to squeeze in a scene with Draco and Ginny for you in this chapter, even though it was incredibly sad… I hope you liked it, thank you for your review.
Nichole Malfoy ~ Thank you for your review, yes, I agree, I made Leanne a typical Slytherin character. I had some Draco/Ginny in that chapter, not much, but enough. I assure you that in further chapters, there will be much more D/G.
Darcy16 ~ Sorry that this chapter wasn't as long as the last one, but that was the perfect spot to end it, you know? So much happened in this chapter, I actually considered stretching it out over a few chapters, but I decided it would be better all put in one chapter. What did you think?
rose petel ~ Yes, Ginny was being rather understanding, but the realisation that her best friend was trying to kill her hadn't sunk in yet. She was still defending Sigma. Now the truth is out… I hope you liked this chapter, don't worry, it isn't the last.
Kelei ~ I bet you didn't see that coming, lol sorry! I hope you liked the unexpected twist that I added in the story… it made me extremely sad to write… well, thanks for your review, and the compliment, the characters will be back on track hopefully soon.