Heaven Tastes Sweeter
Chapter Ten
Terry ran with the desperate knowledge that he had at least two Death Eaters following him. The Ravenclaw was worried sick of whatever they were doing to Pansy but, right now, he just couldn't afford to waste anymore energy thinking about it. He had to get away fast.
Suddenly, it occurred to him to look towards his left hand side, at the rocky wall that ran along the coast and then he saw it.
A cave. Small and probably not too deep, but a cave nonetheless. He darted to it fervently hoping that his pursuers had not seen his move.
Terry sat down on the cold rocky floor not caring that its moist was getting the cloak soaking wet.
Then, he saw it, a green light invading the darkness of the night. Terry tried and failed to block the thought that had just formed in his mind for it was just too frightening.
Green light and Death Eaters. It could only mean one thing. The Killing Curse.
"Oh my…" Terry heard himself mutter, then covered his mouth with his left hand horrified both because he was scared of being heard and because of what had probably happened to Pansy.
Terry felt himself being shaken to the core with the selfish notion that it could have been him and the happiness that it hadn't been him made him feel horrible.
The sound of steps approaching the cave interrupted this sickening thought. Terry dropped the stolen wand he was still grasping to use the right hand to cover his left, as if he wanted to be double sure that no sound escaped from his mouth.
The poor Ravenclaw prayed in every single way he knew that the Death Eaters would not see the entry of the cave.
Through the sound of his own heartbeat that filled his ears, he could hear the voices of the two Death Eaters chasing him.
It was too much for him to bear and Terry decided to close his eyes as well, with the same silly conviction that some children have that if you couldn't see them, they wouldn't see you either.
Just as abruptly as they had appeared, both the voices and the steps faded away, probably continuing their pursue somewhere else.
Very slowly, Terry opened his eyes and started breathing almost normally, the sudden air intake making him realise that he had been holding his breath the whole time.
Just as gradually, his brain started functioning again. Terry had two very clear things in mind: Pansy was probably dead and he needed to get back to Hogwarts.
The first thought saddened him surprisingly deeply. Thanks to Pansy's courage, Terry was starting to believe the fact that the Slytherin's famous selfishness was not entirely accurate.
Getting back to Hogwarts looked like another impossible mission. To start with, he had to figure out where he was. Then, he had to find a way to get back to the school. None of this looked easy.
Particularly if you had two or more Death Eaters after you.
Right now, what it seemed the best of the ideas was to stay where he was. Then, he needed to get rid of his disguise.
He took his fake glasses off and removed the make up that had drawn the famous light bolt scar over his eyebrow. He brushed his black hair, using some of the water on the ground to lick it back, just the way he liked to wear it. He didn't have a mirror but he was pretty sure that no one would mistake him for the famous Potter anymore.
Then, he set himself to the task of removing the Gryffindor badge from Harry's cloak, thinking that he wouldn't mind too much anyway.
When he finished that, he took off the red-and-gold tie and dropped both pieces of fabric onto the rocky floor.
Now, with a completely anonymous black cloak covering him he could pass as a simple young man. Or so he hoped.
Just to be safe, the Ravenclaw waited a few more minutes before poking his head out of the cave to do a first, extremely careful inspection.
He could see no one anywhere. Slowly, he stepped outside the cave keeping all his senses alert in case they had prepared some sort of ambush.
Nothing. Not a soul to be seen. Terry, deciding not to push his luck, started running again praying that he would remain alone.
Finally, after a long while running, the footpath ended to give way to a coastal road and, even more importantly, not far ahead, Terry saw a road sign saying:
SCARBOROUGH 1.5 miles
Terry couldn't believe his luck, Hogwarts castle wasn't too far from there and, more importantly, Mallory, one of his classmates and one of his best friends, lived precisely in Scarborough.
Finding Mallory's house wouldn't be any problem, he had spent two weeks there the previous summer.
With this new knowledge fuelling him, Terry made it to his friend's house in no time at all.
He knocked several times and feared that no one was home when, finally someone opened the door.
It was Mallory's mum, with her nightie on, that reminded him that it was sometime in the very early morning.
"Oh dear Terry!! What are you doing here love?" Mallory's mum asked totally astonished.
"Mrs Mallory…I'm sorry for waking you up…I need your help…" Terry said suddenly feeling very embarrassed.
"Of course dear…come on in…I'll make you some tea…you must be freezing…" Mrs Mallory replied still not fully recovered from the shock but doing her best to be understanding.
Once he was settled on the Mallories sofa, and with both Mallory's mum and dad staring at him, he started explaining everything that had happened that night.
"…so, I was wondering if you could help me to get to Hogwarts…you see, I haven't passed my Apparating test yet…" Terry finished saying taking a large gulp of his tea realising how cold he really was.
"Of course…I'll get the broomsticks out…" Mr Mallory said. Thankfully for Terry, both Mr and Mrs Mallory were magic people so they would be able to get to Hogsmeade and therefore to Hogwarts with no problems.
Just over an hour later, Terry was standing in front of Professor Dumbledore.
Mallory's parents had been asked to stay in the school but they had politely declined so they had gone straight back home after asking Terry to give their regards to their son.
Terry was halfway through his explanation when the famous trio of Gryffindors closely followed by Draco Malfoy, came bursting into the room.
"Don't worry…I asked them to come here…" the ancient professor said seeing Terry's surprise.
"Alright then…as I was saying…Pansy and I managed to escape from the castle but…they threw a Freezing Charm at Pansy and…I had to leave her…I…I just don't have words to express how sorry I am…" Terry said shifting his gaze from Dumbledore to look at Draco. Terry noticed that the Slytherin young man was looking even more pale than usual, the dark shadows under his eyes showing he had not slept properly for at least a couple of days.
Terry braced himself psychologically before continuing.
"…then, I hid inside a cave and…well…I…I saw a green light…" he stuttered before dropping his head. For some stupid reason, it was only then that Terry started crying, preventing him from hearing Draco Malfoy mutter his girfriend's name. Then the Slytherin's face, now translucently white, contorted in a pained expression.
Draco suddenly turned round and started running away from the room banging the door closed behind him.
To be continued…
A/N: I'm sorry I didn't keep the deadline I promised…but my laptop totally crashed yesterday and I had to format the hard disk. I'm still in the process of rebuilding the whole thing. Thank goodness I had backed up my files!!
Anyway, I hope I'll be able to post the next chapter in the next two days…
THANK YOU ALL FOR SUPPORTING MY WORK WITH YOUR REVIEWS!!
Yours,
Sanae