It was one thing to say they'd stop Grant, but quite another to do so. Tia and Kerry stood in front of the doors to the library, unable to make themselves move further. He was obviously too confused to take the lead, and she was busy struggling with her sense of self-preservation.
Tia had been lying to Grant about not remembering things from her childhood. She could spend hours reliving the fear, running from place to place, clinging to her mother, hiding with Kerry. She remembered threats and curses and fights, but mostly she remembered her father. Before and after he joined with Voldemort. She could sit and think about it forever, but she didn't.
It would be a waste of time. Everyone had stories, and if you told yours, well, it was guaranteed there was someone else out there who could top it. Someone who'd seen more death, felt more pain, lost more loved ones. There was always another story waiting. What was the point? Everyone knew what it had been like.
It was over. It was over six years ago. They were just students now, in a world without Voldemort. Waiting to see what it should be like. And then people like Grant tried to bring it all back.
"How dare he. How dare he!" Tia whispered. Still, what could she do about it? If Grant Seldon, whoever he was, decided to make some plot with his dark wizard father…that was the Ministry's problem. Not hers. She shouldn't get involved. Turning to Kerry, she was about to suggest they just forget about it and leave, but he cut her off.
"You're right," he said. "We can't let him do this. We can't even let him try."
Tia was surprised at the vehemence in his voice. She'd never seen him look so determined, either. Still, why shouldn't he be angry? He remembered too. She felt a little embarrassed for wanting to leave. Turning to Kerry, she nodded, but couldn't help wondering what line of events had forced this on her. Oh yeah, a stupid Gryffindor so concerned that he might be found out that he gave himself away in the process. She could hear Grant in the library, still searching for the book. "Idiot." Tia whispered. "I may have to stop him just to get back at him for doing this to me."
Before the irony of that statement could penetrate, however, the doors to the library slammed open, and Grant ran out, clutching the book. He brushed past Tia and Kerry before they realized what was happening, and ran on down the hall. Glancing at each other, they pushed all second thoughts away and tore after him.
The Gryffindor was fast, however, and when he realized someone was chasing him he sped up even more. They kept to his heels, however, until they rounded a corner into the hallway of the broom closet. There he turned to face them. "You again! I thought I warned you to leave us alone!"
Tia shrugged, too out of breath to reply. She reached for her wand, but Grant dodged inside the room. Dashing to the door, she saw him grab a broomstick from inside the door and disappear down a hidden tunnel that had appeared from behind a bookshelf.
She knew she'd never catch him flying. It was over so easily…unless. She ran back down the hall to the closet. Flinging it open, she found the same floating broom that had been there several days previous. A broom left in a closet couldn't be very good, but, seeing no other options, she jumped on. Kerry stared at her.
"You're not going to…." he started, staring at the small, dark space.
"Come on! He's getting away!" Tia snapped. Kerry shuddered, but he pulled himself onto the broom behind her. "Hold on." Tia warned, and shot into the room and down the passage.
Tia hated Quidditch, but no one said you had to like Quidditch to know how to fly. Her broomstick dodged along a passage barely big enough for such sport. She assumed it was big enough all the way out or Grant would never have flown down in the first place. She just hoped he didn't hop off the broomstick someplace and leave her to crash into a suddenly narrowed tunnel.
No such accident occurred, however, and before she knew it she flew out of the passage and found herself dodging tree branches. She was in the dark forest. Rising above the trees, she looked around quickly. Behind her, she felt Kerry loosen his grip long enough to do the same.
"Down there!" he said suddenly, pointing. Tia followed his hand and saw a disturbance in the trees below that had to be Grant. She dove toward it, nearly losing Kerry in the process. Straightening her broom just behind Grant's she pulled out her wand and sent a stream of magical rocks pelting towards him, but he dodged them all easily, and even sent one racing back towards them with a flick of his wand. "Stupid Quidditch player," Tia muttered.
Suddenly Kerry's wand was leveled alongside hers. She was surprised, she hadn't expected him to do much more than try to stay on the broom. "Arboreus obsticalum!" he shouted, and the trees just in front of Grant leaned together, branches interlacing.
Quidditch player or not, Grant didn't quite pull up in time. The front of his broom hit a jumble of branches and stuck, while the rider's momentum sent him flying forward into the tree with a crash. He fell through the leaves and hit the ground hard. Picking himself up, he found himself face to face with two hostile wands and one broomstick.
"Give it up, Seldon." Tia said. "You're outnumbered."
"You think so?" Grant stood up the rest of the way. "I think you missed a couple. Multam sum." He whipped his wand around in a circle, and suddenly shadowy figure rose from the ground. Solidifying, they became exact copies of Grant, and raced towards them.
"Kerry! Keep track of him!" Tia yelled.
"What…? Wait, I lost him!" Kerry turned, frantically, trying to tell the difference between the actual and the clones. "I can't…look out!" He crashed into Tia, flinging them both to the ground as about a thousand fireballs shot over their heads.
"Hang on!" Tia said, rolling away from a second shower, this time of rocks. "They're just illusions! Illusions can't cast real magic! It shouldn't hurt us!"
"You want to stand still and find out which one is real?" Kerry shouted back.
"Point…" Tia leapt to her feet and swung her wand in a wide arc. "Finite illusio!" Several of the pseudo-Grants disappeared, but even more appeared in their place. How much power did this guy have? "There's too many! We'd have to get them all at once!"
Kerry nodded. "I have it! Stay close to me or…" He raised his hand and suddenly a loud explosion drowned out the rest of his words. A ball of white light sprouted from the tip of his wand and expanded outward, gaining speed and brightness until it crashed into the surrounding illusions. There was a second explosion and all the illusions disappeared without a trace. The light faded, leaving only Grant lying unconscious on the forest floor. Tia blinked.
"Thank goodness that's over," Kerry said, lowering his arm.
"Er…that was…." Tia cleared her throat. "I mean, nice trick, where'd you learn it?"
"Honestly, Tia, don't you ever pay attention in Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Kerry shook his head and wandered over to check on Grant.
"Ah well, that is….why should I? It's depressing. All that talk about pain and death and what if Voldemort came back…"
"You shouldn't say that name here, girl." A voice came from the trees. "You never know what you might call up." Tia turned. A cloaked figure was emerging from the trees. "Then again, it's too late now, isn't it?" He pushed back his hood, revealing an almost familiar face.
"You must be Grant's father." Tia said.
"Very observant." Seldon nodded. "You must be Raven's daughter," His gaze fell on Kerry, who was clutching the book he'd retrieved from Grant's robes. "And company." He sounded amused.
"Kerry, get out of here." Tia said. She wished there was some way to say it without being obvious, but she had a feeling Seldon wasn't going to stand around and talk for long.
She was right. Kerry had just reached the broomstick and started to rise when Seldon raised his wand and sent a bolt of lightning straight at him, knocking him from the broom and back to the ground. Electricity crackled around him once, and he lay still. Tia took two steps towards him and stopped as Seldon turned back to her, wand still raised.
"His family always was one for running, weren't they." Seldon mused, still smiling. "Always leaving others to do the real fighting. What do you say? Would you like to try? Your mother would approve, I'm sure."
Tia's grip tightened around her wand, trying to stop her hands from shaking. She couldn't run, she knew. She'd never make it. They were only students, there was no way they could stand up to a fully-fledged dark wizard like this….and Kerry was already… "My mother would send you to Azkaban in pieces," she snapped, her mouth taking up when her brain left off, as usual.
"A shame she isn't here, then. I suppose she's looking after your father? I hear he might be able to eat solid food within a month…"
"What do you know about it! You…." Tia checked her words and channeled the energy through her wand instead. "Incensor!" she yelled, and a stream of fire burst from the tip and shot towards Seldon. With a shout he sent a wave of water to douse it, but the beam cut through the spell with a hiss of steam and enveloped him in smoke and flames. A high pitched scream followed Tia as she turned and ran to help Kerry, but it switched abruptly to a hoarse chanting. She didn't recognize the curse, but suddenly a wave of pain threw her off her feet. Rolling, she found herself against a tree. Gripping the bark, she had just pulled herself upright when the second wave flung her back again. She slid to the ground, unable to do anything but scream as the third curse came rolling towards her. The world went red around her, then grey, then gradually, thankfully, faded to black.
The problem with black, however, is that eventually you have to wake up again.