Come the Maëlstrom
Chapter 16
He never knew than the manor had a solarium in it. This was sole part of the house that escaped Narcissa's touch altogether. He had been taking a walk through the grounds in the morning when he noticed the wide glass windows that would undoubtedly catch the sun as it rose and set. It seemed odd that he never noticed something like that in all his years living here. But that didn't matter. He'd found himself gripped by a curiosity and headed back inside to seek out the room. It had taken a good bit of searching, but he'd finally found it, through a hidden passageway tucked just underneath the main staircase on the ground floor beside the portrait of Bastion Malfoy, the founder of the family. Bastion had felt much neglected in his semi-shadowy corner and Lucius had to talk with him for quite a while. It was somewhere into the third hour that Bastion told him about the solarium; it showed up when it wanted to. And it hadn't shown up since his time when he himself had used it, and it was prone to decorating itself unless you did that by wand yourself. Bastion warned him that he didn't know what the room looked like now, but Lucius didn't quite care about that; he was rather pleased by that singular fact that he had found a room not used since the early fifteenth century.
When he walked down the hallway and opened the door, he found that it was completely bare spare for a rickety old shelf on the wall by the door and a lone high backed chair that looked far too uncomfortable with a small reading table set up beside it with a pile of books. The windows were naked and allowed in all the sunlight. The floor was simply carpeted in white that added to the illusion of airiness; tat must have been the room's addition. He leaned against the doorway staring into it. Narcissa always seemed to be haranguing him in his study. He needed another spot to himself in the house. Perhaps this was it. It could use a few leafy plants by the windows, perhaps a potted tree or two. A small bookcase in the wall with a lounge chaise beside it... maybe even, dare he say it, a few throw pillows and blanket in the sunny corner and a magazine rack?
"Yes... this is it." He murmured to himself as he surveyed the room.
He took a step forward but halted as his foot was still in the air. It seemed like a travesty to stay so formal in a room that he was about to craft into his own personal space. He lowered his foot back onto the other side before slipping his shoes off and leaving them outside the door. The sun was warm on his socked feet as he stepped onto the carpet, feeling the thick pile beneath his feet. After a moment, he shrugged out of his robe before folding it neatly and placing it in a corner of the room.
He surveyed the room one last time before he walked over to the chair and dragged it to the middle of the room. He scrutinised it hard before drawing his wand from its side sheath and tapping the chair briskly. It stretched out and shrank closer to the ground, while the hard wood sprouted white spots that swelled up and outwards with stuffing. A few minutes later, a lounge chaise lay there, it's teak finish gleaming pristinely in the sunlight and the cream coloured upholstery glowed with a welcoming light.
Now to take care of that rickety shelf; the thought hadn't even crossed his mind that anything in this manor could be rickety. But even as he raised his wand, he was thinking over transfiguring it. Finally, he lowered his wand and walked up to it. He couldn't even make out a film of dust. Whatever charms had been used on the room were well cast. He prodded it with a finger and received an ominous sounding creak. Well, it could simply sit there on the wall; there was no harm in that. As for the table...
His gaze shifted to the table now as he walked up to it. Eight books sat piled one on top of the other. The titles made vague sense to him; archaic French was not his forte. He picked up the books and inspected the table; inlaid wood with the family crest on it; that was definitely staying.
"Nous n'oublions pas..." he murmured, reading the motto on the curling banner beneath the dragon and the hippogriff whose feet were surrounded by a wreath of laurel.
He snorted and placed the books back down as he examined the room. Firstly there would be a low bookcase right by the wall, the top just reaching the tops of window bottoms and curling around the semicircular width. A dark maple finish would showcase the teak chaise wonderfully. Then the chaise could go somewhere close to one end of it and a potted tree right at the head of it to create a bit of shade for reading. A large fern could go on top at the farthest end of the bookcase. Then the large pillows and blanket could occupy that large space over to his far right. But what colour should the pillows be? Green? That looked too washed out in the bright sun. Burgundy? Much too strong. Yellow? Perhaps muted mustard yellow. Dark green? That could work; the dark green wouldn't look so washed out. The blanket could be a light grey colour and the magazine rack would be of a matte metal finish and perhaps another potted tree for some shade.
But that ended up leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the room. He frowned before he turned back to the wall. It was best to focus on one thing at a time and then work from there. He moved the table off to the side before he rolled up his shirt sleeves and readjusted his grip on his wand. It didn't take him long to conjure what was needed. What took him awhile was arranging it in precisely the manner he wanted. By the time he finally lowered his wand in satisfaction, early afternoon sun was shining in brightly and his stomach was rumbling.
"Bwink." He called as he slipped his wand in his back pocket.
It was a few minutes before the house elf popped into sight. "Master Lucius called?"
"Bring me a sandwich and a bottle of something to drink."
Bwink made a plainly agitated sound. "Master Lucius doesn't have a specific request!" she paused for a moment, her eyes widening. "Master Lucius says he wants something to drink from... from a bottle!" she sounded absolutely scandalised.
"You heard me. Anything will suffice." He said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Bwink gave a painful whimper but disappeared with a small 'pop' sound. Now, he had to attend to the middle of the room. It seemed to mock him with its gaping hole. He narrowed his eyes inspecting the space. That dining room seemed ludicrously large for one person to eat alone in. Or suffer the company of an unwanted wife. He frowned as he started walking in a circle around the spot. Perhaps a small breakfast table and a comfortably cushioned chair –
A short 'pop' sound came. "Master Lucius?"
Lucius held up a hand for silence. Yes, that would probably do nicely. He drew his wand and swished it with a few flicks and a few minutes later a simple chair with grey upholstery appeared, as well as a table with a polished top and sinuous, curling legs. He turned around to find Bwink staring between him and the table with nothing less than complete awe.
"Master Lucius is the greatest wizard!" Bwink said in a tiny voice.
He regarded the house elf for a moment, resisting the urge to move his lips into a smile, and the tray with the simple sandwich and bottle of Butterbeer. "Put it on the table."
Bwink cringed and did just that immediately. "Is Master Lucius needings anything else?"
"Nothing at the moment," Lucius said. "I'll summon you if I require anything immediately. And Bwink."
"Yes Master Lucius?" Bwink asked in a fearful voice.
"No hysterics next time, am I understood?"
"Yes Master Lucius!" Bwink said enthusiastically before she disappeared with a brisk 'pop'.
Lucius sat down at the table, savouring the sound of the silence. He looked at the sandwich for a long moment; he rarely ate them, but he had a favourite. And he was now looking at it: lightly toasted rye bread with a touch of mustard and mayonnaise with lettuce, cucumbers, thinly sliced tomatoes with the slime removed and the requisite two slices of roasted chicken and one of ham. How that house elf found it out, he didn't know but he would be sure to hang on to her.
The sandwich and the Butterbeer were finished off in record time. All that conjuring had worked up his appetite. All he had to do now was select some books from the main library upstairs and bring them. He rose from his seat and the tray disappeared. Bwink was far too efficient for any mere house elf. Shaking his head for a moment, his eyes scanned the bookcase critically before he made his way to the door and slipped his shoes on. It took him awhile to reach the main library and then to shrink down the books and place them in his pockets. That bookcase could hold probably no more than four hundred books and he didn't plan on making more than one trip. The main library was all the way at the opposite side of the manor with the entrance doors on the second floor and required a good twenty minutes of walking. Not that he was the lazy but the sooner he could enjoy this room, the better.
He was walking back to the solarium with his pockets filled to bursting with books when Narcissa finally waylaid him close to the stairs on the second floor. She just slipped from around a corner, already wearing a frown on her face.
"Lucius, it's about time I saw you in..." her eyes flitted down his pockets. "What the hell is that in your pockets?"
"Books," he replied with a shrug.
Narcissa seemed a bit surprised to get a straight answer. "Why are your pockets filled with books?" she looked over him once more. "Why aren't you wearing your robes? Are your shirt sleeves rolled up? And for Heaven's sake, why is your wand tucked into you back pocket?"
"I don't know why I didn't see it before..." Lucius mused after a moment of staring at her.
"I beg your pardon?""The remarkable likeness that you bear with a harpy... the shrill voice that's enough to drive any man insane, the predatory manner, the face of a woman but the frail body of a bird... remarkable. Are you quite sure you aren't some sort of halfbreed?"
Narcissa's face contorted slightly. "You're a good one to talk of mixed blood. If anything you're the halfbreed."
"Better a Veela than a harpy," Lucius said smoothly. "Is this all you wished to harangue me with today?"
"No, that is not all," Narcissa ground out as she stalked towards him. "You've been..." she trailed off, looking at him suspiciously. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "You look different."
Lucius rolled his eyes and pushed past her. Narcissa grabbed his arm and spun him around, a malevolent look in her eyes. "It's that little harlot, isn't it?" she hissed.
"'Little harlot'?" Lucius asked with mocking innocence. "Whomever are you referring to dear wife?"
"Snape," Narcissa spat out. "By Hera, I swear if you att –"
At that precise moment, his Dark Mark burned; it burned like an inferno that couldn't be extinguished. He hissed, pressing a hand to his forearm when it first hit him, but his grip lessened as the sensation tapered off. When he looked up, he saw something he wasn't expecting at all. Narcissa was pressing a hand to her lower hip tightly with a pinched expression on her face.
"So... you too have the Dark Mark as well dear wife," he said tightly as he advanced on her. "And just how did you come by it in such an interesting place." It was no small wonder that he didn't know she had it. Only the Dark Lord's mistresses had the Dark Mark emblazoned there and he hadn't slept with her since the night Draco was conceived.
Narcissa took an involuntary step backwards, her expression tight. "Our Lord as summoned us."
Lucius didn't say anything beyond glaring at her for a moment before he pushed past her and walked down the stairs quickly. He didn't even bother to wait and see if she was watching him. He headed back into the solarium and dumped the books out hastily and enlarged them. He gave an absent flick of his wand, arranging the books on the shelves as he reached for his robe. He felt for the inside pocket, the hard cylinder of the vial greeting his touch in the inside pocket and the Death Eater mask in the hidden pouch. He rolled down his shirt sleeves, placed his wand back into its place beside his ribs, shrugged into his robe quickly and did it up as he hurried from the room.
His steps clicked against the polished floors as he stepped into the front foyer. From the second level, he could hear the sounds of Narcissa preparing upstairs. He gave a disparaging snort; the longer she took, the better for him. He lingered for a moment, before recalling just where he had to go and Apparating away.
The spacious foyer was replaced by the gloomy living room of the house by Hogsmeade. The room was crowded with the others who were milling around the room. Sunlight streamed in through the boarded up windows, illuminating the dust that lay thickly on everything and creating a peculiar sort of twilight. Crabbe and Goyle had certainly secured a house and had obviously left it in its original condition. Well, Goyle left it in its original condition; as far as he knew, Crabbe had paid the ultimate price for allowing Valencia to vanish during his watch.
"He wishes to see you," Goyle said quietly as he approached Lucius from behind. "Upstairs, the door at the far end."
He gave curt nod and made his way through the living room and up the creaky stairs. The door was slightly ajar and sunlight streamed out of it, illuminating the dark of the hallway. Odd... Voldemort in sunlight? Brushing that thought aside, he knocked on the door.
"Enter."
Lucius walked into the room, noticing Karakoff standing there close to the Dark Lord looking smug and nervous at the same time. He made a low bow of obeisance. "My Lord..."
"Lucius," Voldemort began after a moment. "Karakoff has told me something quite interesting."
"Has he my Lord?" Lucius glanced at Karakoff for a moment. "If I may be so bold, what was it that he saw exactly?"
"That you managed to enter Hogwarts," Voldemort said after a long moment. "And that not long after your arrival, Dumbledore was up to something; something that took him all day."
"Yes, my Lord. I was at Hogwarts," Lucius began. "However, I was there to speak to Severus. As you know, only parents with an urgent need are allowed into the school."
"Clever. And what did you discover during your trip?"
"Plenty my Lord, more than enough to assure you victory," Lucius resisted the urge to smile as Karakoff's face paled; this obviously wasn't going as the dolt planned. "I have secured you multiple entries into the building, discovered its weak points and learned of the teachers and students likely to be on sentry duty when attack tonight."
"And is there a particular reason as to why you went so early in the morning?" Voldemort asked, sliding Karakoff a look.
"It would hardly do to have students blithering on about seeing me there. It was necessary to arrive early in order to have the discussion with Severus. He told me one of the more underhanded things that Dumbledore was setting up."
Voldemort's eyes narrowed malevolently. "Explain."
"It seems the bothersome old coot set up wards on the entrance; wards that will cause you to lose your strength. Undoubtedly you remember the graveyard, my Lord?"
"...Go on"
"According to Severus, he used Potter's blood to activate the wards. The moment you set foot through them, your strength will be reduced to what it was before the ritual that fully restored you to us."
Voldemort didn't say anything for moment. "I have no doubt the senile coot would do something like that. This proves quite troublesome..."
"Indeed not my Lord," Lucius said reaching into his robe. "Severus also sent along this specifically tailored obstruction potion. It will negate the effects of the wards and leave you free to take the school."
"Hm, once again, he proves his loyalty," Voldemort mused as he held his hand out. Lucius slunk up and placed the vial in his skeletal hand. "It seems your accusations of Lucius switching sides were unfounded Karakoff."
"B-But my Lord! I –" Karakoff began.
"Be silent!" Voldemort snapped as he removed the stopper. "Tonight will be your last chance to prove yourself useful. Afterwards..."
Karakoff nodded his head quickly and slunk away until he was standing beside Lucius. When there was silence, he looked up it find the Dark Lord gulping down the contents of the vial. When he brought it away from his nonexistent lips, a momentary bluish glow suffused his body before it ended.
"The glow is to be expected. It confirms that the potion worked successfully. Severus didn't wish to take any chances with something so important to you, my Lord."
"Severus shall be richly rewarded for this," Voldemort mused as he looked at the empty vial in his hand. "Lucius, it will be a few hours before everyone arrives. Once they do, I want you to explain what shall be done very carefully. I do not want any screw ups this time. This is the night when I finally kill Potter."
Lucius bowed once more. Now he could only trust they had everything ready at Hogwarts.
"Damn it Potter, what the hell are you trying to do!"
"I told you already!"
"I mean now, you imbecile! Do you know what that hex was!"
"Yeah. I also knew you'd definitely avoid it."
Draco pushed a few loose strands of hair from his face. "This is fucking ridiculous! If anything, I should be the one hexing you, not vice versa. I've barely gotten a spell in, let alone a simple little jinx!"
"Hey, I explained everything to you at the beginning. You know, this could be much worse."
Draco didn't say anything beside something that was grumbled far too low for him to hear. Harry laughed as he sat down on the ground. He'd taken Snape's advice and woken up at the crack of dawn. By noon, he had been able to exercise a greater degree of control over his magic. It wasn't as hard as he had thought it would be or as Snape made it out to sound. So he'd gone wandering and decided to grab the first person he saw to help him practice. The first person happened to be Draco. They'd been going at it for awhile with a few breaks sprinkled in.
The blond now plunked himself down beside Harry, breathing heavily with a thin sheen of perspiration on his brow. "Hell, I think you're going to kill every single Death Eater that tries to get into the school single-handedly."
"Thanks but I'm sure you can move your lazy ass and get in a few yourself." Harry panted as he let his head hit the wall. "I think that's enough of a workout."
"I agree... bloody hell, I can't believe you actually used that hex!"
"Admit it; if you were a Death Eater and suddenly lost your bits, wouldn't you kinda be shocked and freak out?"
"Yeah. Sure Boot taught that one in DA but... you attempted to hex me with it. Me!" Draco snapped angrily. "I should hex you until you look like a bloody chicken!"
Harry snorted and shoved Draco lightly. "Sure, you talk big."
Draco bristled at that and Harry laughed even more. When the classroom door was opened, they both looked up to find Ginny peering around the door, shock written all over her face. Harry looked at her questioningly and cleared his throat. That seemed to shock her to senses.
"Er, Hermione is looking for you," Ginny said. "Last place I saw her was in a classroom on the second floor."
"Just like Granger to be bloody inconvenient," Draco snorted. "She wants us to walk all the way down from the seventh floor to the second."
"Be nice," Harry replied absently. "I'll head down now. She seemed kind of put out that I didn't talk to her yesterday night."
Ginny nodded her head. "Want me to come with you? Damage control is always a good thing."
"Sure," Harry said wryly. "Merlin knows that I'm gonna need. You coming?" he looked at Draco.
"I suppose I could tag along to watch the show," the blond shrugged as he rose.
Harry snickered as Ginny gawked at the Slytherin in disbelief. Harry rose and then patted her on the shoulder when he walked over to her side. She looked up at him with a start before she shook her head and left the room. Harry fell in step beside her with Draco trailing behind.
"Harry," Ginny asked hesitantly as they started down the stairs. "Do you think this is it? The end of it all?"
"I don't know, Gin," Harry said after a long moment. "I hope so." He said, even though that worried feeling came back in the pit of his stomach.
"And... you'll make it through this right?" she glanced at him hesitantly.
Harry looked at her, and smiled, even though he felt horrible about it. "You bet. How does ice cream at Fortescue's sound?"
"Yeah," Ginny said in a shaky voice and an unsure smile. "That sounds good."
"Then –" he broke off as Draco suddenly grabbed his arm. "What is..."
Draco had yanked him abruptly to a window. That was all he needed to do. The sun was setting and he could make out the fluttering black shapes in the sky, illuminated perfectly against the crimson sky and the bright green sign of Morsmorde over Hogsmeade. Dementors; the Dementors were coming to Hogwarts. He looked over at Draco's whose expression was grim and gaunt. Ginny had come back and looked out the window. Her face was a pasty white and her eyes wide.
"Harry..." she began hoarsely.
The rest of her words were drowned out by the sound of a siren filling the hallways. It seemed that students and teachers streamed out from every single door. Everything had been finalised earlier on in the day already; where certain students would go, which teacher or senior student would lead them, who they'd be fighting with. The ones who simply couldn't fight had been weeded out and send to the infirmary to assist Madame Pomfrey and Snape. Harry pushed his way through the crowd, followed by Ginny and Draco. In the midst of all the students scrambling to get to their places, he spied Ron's red hair.
"Oi! Ron!" he bellowed.
"Harry!" Ron managed to hear him over the commotion and struggle his way over. "Oh good, you got Gin! Come on, Gin, 'Mione's waiting for us by the third floor windows! We gotta go now! Move it!"
"Remember, ice cream at Fortescue's!" Ginny yelled back as Ron dragged her away.
Draco tugged on Harry's arm and motioned with his head. Right, they were with the group of advanced students, holding down the line by the main doors. This time, the fight would be on their territory. Things had changed since some of those Death Eaters had attended Hogwarts and they intended to make the most of that. All the portraits' occupants had long fled, probably to somewhere deep inside the castle that would see little or no fighting.
"And people say, I'm horrible," Draco snorted as they shoved their way through the chaotic swirl. "You just lied right to her face."
"What would you have me say? I'm going to face Voldemort and I probably won't live to see tomorrow?" Harry suggested. "Better to leave her with some hope than no hope at all."
"Oh, a little white lie. Are all you Gryffindors so sentimental?"
"Horribly," Harry said wryly as he made his way to the main stairs down to the front foyer. He could see Moody, standing in front of the nervous looking students. The ones who had been in the previous battle looked grim, their expressions tight and their wands clutched tightly, like they could only be pried away by a jinx from cold dead hands. He pressed his way down until he was standing beside Moody.
"Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter reporting, Sir!" Harry said smartly with a small salute.
"Glad to see you can be humorous about this," Moody growled, as he sized up Draco. "All right, you two got the left flank. I've got Finnegan and Patil on the right."
Harry leaned over to see Seamus and Parvati looking ashen and a bit sick, but otherwise determined. He motioned with his head and he and Draco went to the front of the left flank. Very few of the students around him looked prepared for this. They looked like they wanted to wet their pants. It seemed that all of the faces looked that way. Harry glanced at Draco before he turned around.
"All of you listen!" he called suddenly. It was very easy to hear his voice in the nervous calm. "They've tried this once and what did we do?"
A half-hearted reply came. He scowled. "What did we do!" He roared.
"Kicked their butts!" came the loud reply.
"And what are we going to do again?"
"Kick their butts!" it was much louder this time
"Do what?"
"Kick their butts! Kick their butts!"
The furious chant was started and Harry could have sworn he heard it move along, probably up to the second floor and beyond.
"You've certainly got charisma." Draco yelled at Harry to be heard over the chant.
Harry grinned as he looked back at the crowd; they didn't look so scared now. He glanced over at Moody to see the ex-Auror snort but there was an approving gleam in his eye. The chant had just started to die down with the first ominous bang came against the doors. Every single pair of eyes fixed on the barred wood. Another bang came, and the doors creaked slightly. It sounded like something was throwing itself against the doors in a frenzy. It came a few more times before there was a loud silence.
Then the loudest bang came that made the doors crash wide open. The Dementors swarmed in, circling in the air before descending. A bright silver explosion came from the raised wands and a mass of various Patronuses crashed into the creatures, causing a keening wail to fill the foyer and break any glass present. Then in came the Death Eaters right on their heels.
"Come the maëlstrom..." Harry murmured before he charged down with the swell of enraged students and teachers.
Draco had mentioned the DA once in passing during summer vacation after fifth year. He said it was nothing more than some silly little Defence club that Harry had been running along with Granger and Weasley. Naturally Draco had decided to not join when they made it available in sixth year for that simple petty reason.
But here he was fighting tooth and nail with students to carve a path to Harry for the Dark Lord, with Karakoff by his side. It had been going like this for what seemed like forever now. And it seemed for every spell, curse, hex or jinx that hit the students their strength seemed to double, as if they were feeding off the frenetic energy of the battle. Neither side showed any sign of tiring and bodies already lay scattered on the ground, some dead, others... who knew.
The Dark Lord was right behind them, cursing whichever student happened to come in his way with something painful. He'd seen a few kids go down with various painful afflictions. It seemed that he was saving the honour of his only Avada Kedavra for the battle all for Harry. But even as he watched the Dark Lord, he could see the subtle signs of him tiring. But, being the stubborn megalomaniac that he was, the thought would be dismissed as foolish and he would press on, making the potion spread through his body even faster.
"There..." Voldemort hissed in triumph.
Lucius looked away from hexing a student with something to see what had caught the Dark Lord's attention. There, up on the landing of the main stairs, Harry was fighting off at least four Death Eaters, with Draco by his side.
"My Lord!" Karakoff cried as the Dark Lord set off towards Harry, viciously hexing anyone who got in his way.
Thankfully the Dark Lord has his back to them, so he simply aimed a hex and Karakoff and watched as he crumpled to the ground. He started after the Dark Lord, but suddenly found that a large block of students now stood in his way. He snarled and jinxed each one of them as fast as he could. But for every one that fell, it seemed that another one popped up. His progress was slow and he was only halfway to the staircase when the Dark Lord was reaching the top.
He watched in trepidation as the Death Eaters scattered, leaving Harry and Draco against the sinister skeletal man. He found himself praying that Draco didn't do anything stupid. That vague hope was dashed once Draco raised his wand and fired something. The Dark Lord laughed before raising his wand and sending a jet of green light. Draco's body contorted and then crumpled to the ground, a horrified expression on Harry's face. Lucius started hexing, cursing and jinxing anyone that dared to get in his way now. Whoever stood between him and his son's body was going to pay dearly. He didn't let himself dwell on that fact but channelled his rage into his wand, making his attacks all the more potent.
When a bright tendril of light crackled through the air, it caused the battle to lull for a moment. More of them came, almost everyone stopped to look up at the landing where it came from. Harry was bathed in a reddish-black glow, tendrils of it snapping off to whip through the air. Harry's magic had made itself visible. This couldn't possibly get any worse. The Dark Lord seemed especially pleased and raised his wand, uttering the two words that produced the same jet of green coloured light. Harry's wand rose in an instant, the brunette obviously saying the same thing.
The two jets of green light fused together and changed into an orange string with pulsing beads of light. They seemed to be coming from the Dark Lord's end, but slowly, they were pushed back and, just like in the graveyard, shades began to pour fourth from the Dark Lord's wand. He'd managed to make his way close enough to see and thankfully the first one that came out wasn't Draco's. So his son was still alive somehow.
So many shades poured out now, all swirling around Harry and his magic. It seemed to pulse even brighter with each one that came. And as each one came out, The Dark Lord looked more and more panicked. Harry's face contorted with concentration, causing the beads of light to speed up in pace. The Dark Lord's hand started trembling badly, and then suddenly, a large sphere of light shot from Harry's wand, down the string of light and entered the Dark Lord's wand.
Nothing happened for a moment and then a loud explosion with a cloud of orange came with a pained cry as it engulfed Harry and the Dark Lord.
"Avada Kedavra!"
A bright green flash came from inside the cloud accompanied by a cracking sound. Almost immediately on the heels of that, came a burst of white light followed by a peculiar wail.
"Oblivisci anima!"
The cloud of orange and white swelled even more with from a yellow light and a thin high wail that evaporated into nothing and left only the sound of Harry screaming. After a few minutes, that too abruptly ended, and the cloud still lingered around. Though it was dissipating by the Death Eaters fleeing past it and some students that were chasing them down; now a hunt began and Lucius was hard pressed to make it up the remaining stairs. But he managed to make it somehow, and the cloud had dissipated enough to reveal the scene before his eyes.
The Dark Lord, lay contorted on the ground, his body frozen in death throes, a horrified expression on his flat face. Draco lay sprawled on the ground, something ivory white and sharp protruding through his skin. Harry had collapsed on top of Draco and a small puddle of blood was forming beneath the two of them. It looked like Draco was just breathing... but Harry... Harry looked dead.
"Harry?" he said in a faint hoarse voice, lost in the swirling press of enraged students. His own voice sounded small and lost as if it had suddenly been set adrift in a strange place. It didn't sound like his voice at all.
Then something hit him in the back and he toppled to the ground. His spine and ribs felt like they were attempting to yank themselves from his body and trot off. He writhed on the ground as a shadow fell over him, laughing. He managed to open his eyes to find a redhead standing over him.
"Lucius Malfoy...scum of the Earth..." the bitter laugh belonged to Ginny Weasley. It looked like she was bleeding from a gash over her eye and her right arm hung limply by her side. "Hurts, doesn't it?"
Her wand was still pointed at him and she turned it. She had somehow managed to increase the pain. He bit his lip, unwilling to give her the satisfaction of hearing his scream of pain. Salazar, was it ever going to stop?
"It hurts, doesn't it you bastard?" she spat venomously. "You killed so many and now..." she broke off in a choked voice. "You should suffer; you deserve every last bit of it. I should torture you so you know what it's like. But I don't think I will. I'll leave you to suffer from the Ministry."
She dropped her wand but the pain still didn't subside in his back. He continued to writhe on the ground, in a futile attempt to make it stop. Ginny gave one final bitter laugh before she hit him with a spell and he found himself in the blissful relief of unconsciousness.