BASKERDOPLY!
Chapter 43
Hermione, Ron, Harry, Matt, and The Odds continued to run through the tunnel with Zastrin and Lisa far behind them. Matt was leading the group with Hermione behind him, Harry behind her, and Ron behind them with Bita, Rachelle, and Tiffany at the end.
Suddenly, Matt stopped and pushed himself against the tunnel wall, letting everyone else pass him and running again behind Tiffany so he could make sure everyone was ok.
The group ran faster when they heard Zastrin's maniacal laugh bounce loudly off of the walls. Zastrin would have attacked them if the tunnel had been straight and not bendy.
After a few more minutes of running, the end of the tunnel was finally in sight and the tunnel grew brighter and bend-less. They could almost see the Hogwarts grounds beyond…
Hermione, Ron, and Harry ran faster than The Odds and Matt, so they reached the end much quicker. When Hermione, Ron, and Harry were all out of the tunnel, they turned around and saw that Zastrin and Lisa had just made it around the last bend and were now behind The Odds and Matt in the straight part.
"Hurry up, he's right behind you!" Ron yelled at them.
Rachelle seemed to remember at that moment that she had dangerous powers. She put her hand behind her in the direction of Zastrin and Lisa. Tiffany, knowing what was coming, moved out of the way just as fire shot from Rachelle's hand toward the evil ones.
There was a scream behind them and they knew that Lisa had been hit with fire. Rachelle shot more fire and another yell of pain, coming from a male voice this time, told them that Zastrin had been hurt. Though both enemies had been hit, Rachelle continued shooting fire until she and the rest of The Odds were out of the tunnel.
When they were safely out of the tunnel, they hoped desperately that it would close and miraculously, it did. They noticed that the other students and faculty had gone back inside the castle since the grounds were deserted. The sky was pitch black, but it had been light when they went inside the tree. Everyone looked around at everyone else. All of them were full of scratches, bumps, bruises, ripped clothing, and dirt.
Harry's eyes suddenly grew wide.
"Where's Matt?" he asked.
Sure enough, Matt was nowhere to be seen. Rachelle gasped.
"No," Tiffany said, knowing what Rachelle was thinking. "It wasn't you…he probably just got caught by Zastrin or something…and if he did, Zastrin has no reason to kill him."
Or to keep him alive, she thought to herself, but she'd never say that to Rachelle.
Rachelle remained quiet.
"What should we do?" Harry asked.
"There's nothing we can do," Tiffany said sadly. "I guess we should just go back to the castle, we're probably being missed by now…"
The rest of the group silently agreed and walked towards the castle, feeling like a funeral procession.
