They raced toward the second tunnel, entering it quickly and almost tripping over rocks. There was a dim light ahead through which several silhouettes were visible.
"No guys, don't do this…." Elyse said, the fear showing in her voice.
Heather almost stopped, but Ron pushed her on as she whispered, "Lyse never gets scared."
Harry ran into the room and halted. This was the most odd scene he'd encountered yet that day.
The Secret Students were flying above them, their eyes blood red. All of them had a ball of fire in their hands, poised as though ready to throw them at Elyse and Hermione, both of whom were looking frightened below them.
"What… you guys, what're you doing?" Harry asked as Heather and Ron appeared beside him.
"HARRY, LOOK OUT!" Hermione screamed.
Harry was suddenly pushed to his left by Heather as Riles launched her ball at Harry.
"Riles, what're you thinking?" Ron asked, helping Harry up. "You almost hit Harry!"
Riles smirked. "That was the general idea."
"They're… just… different…." Elyse said shakily.
"It's okay, Lyse," Heather said, walking over to her and putting her arm around her.
Serenity grinned maliciously, and with her red eyes, she looked sinister. "We serve a new master now. I'm only sorry I didn't give my grandfather a chance earlier."
"You're grandfather's a murdering git," Harry said.
Harry dodged another ball of fire.
"Don't talk like that about the Dark Lord," Serenity warned, creating another one in her hand.
"He'll talk how he likes," Heather said.
"Will he?" Crystal asked, tossing her ball at Heather and Elyse. The two moved aside just in time.
"Why…?" Hermione asked. "What changed you?"
"The Dark Lord can do wonders on a person…." Bunny commented.
"But why did you go to him?" Hermione persisted.
"It's just a matter of whatever's being offered," May said slyly. "A share in the world or Neville Longbottom…."
"Oh, please," Elyse said, her voice growing stronger now that Heather was with her. "You honestly believe Voldemort's lies?"
Vikki let out a vehement hiss. "You dare speak his name?"
"In the words of Katie," Elyse said, "dang skippy."
"Than you dare to challenge us?" Uriko asked.
"You block the way out," Hermione said. "We don't have a choice in the matter."
"Bring it on," Amber challenged. "I've been waiting for a good fight."
Elyse and Heather nodded at each other, then flew up into the air.
"Let's go," Elyse said.
"Gladly." Riles tossed a fireball at her, then created another that glowed purple.
Elyse flew higher and the spell went under her, though she flew back down again as Uriko tossed one at her.
"That's cowardly," she commented. "Double-ganging."
"Slytherin." Uriko winked.
Heather kicked the side of a green ball heading toward her. "You know, I really don't like to fight, but with the death of one of my bests, and now this, you just might've changed my mind."
"Oh, good," Amber said. "SO THROW SOMETHING AT ME!"
Hermione walked over to Harry and Ron, the three of them seeming to have been left out.
Harry sighed impatiently. "I can't just sit here! Hermione, where's Katie?"
Hermione pointed near the entrance. "Over there."
"Okay. Take her and you two go to the exit. I'll help Heather and--"
"Harry, forget it," Ron said, shaking his head. "We're staying, too."
"But you guys have to get out of--"
"Don't you tell me what I have or don't have to do," Hermione snapped with a grin on her face. "We're staying with you, get over it."
Harry smiled a little. "Stubborn gits…."
"We get it from you, mate." Ron grinned.
"Well learn how to cast a spell from me, too," Harry said. He pointed his wand at Uriko, who's back was turned and yelled, "Stupefy!"
The spell hit Uriko before she'd turned around, and she fell to the floor, unconscious.
Serenity turned at her apprentice's fall. "So… little Potter wants to play…."
"Wow, you know, you guys sound a lot like Bellatrix Lestrange," Harry said.
Serenity grinned. "My new idol."
"Get a new one," Harry said as both Ron and Hermione shouted the Stunning Spell from her left and right.
"What--?" Serenity fell to the ground.
"SEREN!" Riles screamed. A fire grew in her eyes and she yelled, "Ennervate! Ennervate!"
Serenity and Uriko's eyes popped open. They stood up, shook their heads, then looked at Harry.
"Back with a vengeance," Serenity whispered.
"Back with an attitude problem," Harry muttered. "Not like that's any different…."
Serenity smirked maliciously. "Potter, you're annoying me. I think it's time we said our goodbyes."
"Yeah, I was thinking that same thing," Harry agreed. He wasn't sure what that sliver of light was beyond the battle and towards the back, but it was opening slowly, as though hoping for the element of surprise.
A swish of a cloak beyond brought new hope.
"That's exactly what I was thinking too…." Uriko said. "See you in the underworld, Potter. Avada Kedavra!"
The spell flew at Harry as all else around them seemed to freeze in an instant, watching the deadly spell as it zoomed toward him.
Harry was suddenly jerked forward and to the sliver of light as words were spoken from it. Harry stopped just in front of the light, facing Albus Dumbledore and the gorgeous day beyond.
"Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed.
"Harry, it's very important--do not get hit with the Killing Curse," Dumbledore warned.
"Professor, it's okay, it won't hurt me--"
"It will from them," Dumbledore said, and with another swish of his purple-with-gold-stars cloak, he had entered the battle, leaving a very confused Harry behind.
"Dumbledore!" Riles hissed as she caught sight of him.
May turned to look at Dumbledore. "I thought we got rid of you at the entrance!"
"I just found another way in, Tom," Dumbledore said.
May hissed.
"Albus, that's May," Elyse said, a confused expression on her face, a yellow ball of flames burning in her hand as she paused her fight with Crystal.
"Of course!" Heather breathed. "Multiple possessions! But… it's so… and he could…?"
Dumbledore waved his wand at Riles as she tried to scurry away unnoticed. She gave a sharp scream as some invisible force hit her. Her red eyes started changing colors in an instant, going from red to blue to green to yellow. She slowly turned to look at Dumbledore and managed to stop screaming in agony to say:
"I'll get you Dumbledore, before I kill Potter; you'll go down first!"
"And I will be here, waiting," Dumbledore said.
Riles gave one last scream and fell to the ground. The other Secret Students gasped, then fell to the ground after her, all of them unconscious.
There was an awkward silence that followed.
"What… just… happened…?" Harry asked.
"Voldemort was controlling them," Dumbledore explained. "He would have already been under large amounts of stress, though he could by all means handle it. By adding as much as I did, however, it drove him over the limit. Unable to hold Riles anymore, he inadvertently also let his hold go on the others."
"We should've seen it earlier," Heather scolded herself.
"Don't blame yourself," Dumbledore said. "It wasn't your fault."
"What happened at the entrance?" Ron asked timidly. "Voldemort said something about thinking he got rid of you there."
Dumbledore smiled. "Voldemort met us at the entrance to the caves. He fled back into the cave after a short battle. We had no choice but to follow--you all were in here. His Death Eaters fired spells from a hidden area that didn't allow us to go forward or retaliate. I left the other professors while I tried to find another way in. I found that door over there. It did sound like Professors McGonagall and Snape and Hagrid didn't make out too well. Shall we attend to them?"
"What about the others?" Elyse asked.
"I'm putting you in charge of getting them back to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said. "Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I will go to see how the others held out."
Elyse and Heather nodded and turned around as Dumbledore turned and opened the door for the three of them. They looked at each other, then walked out into the semi-blinding sunlight. Sunset was possibly two hours away.
"This way," Dumbledore said briskly. He walked to the right and down a hardly-used path around a sharp corner. The trio followed him in silence, one moment walking on lush, green grass, the next stepping on jagged rocks.
"Here we are," Dumbledore said as he reached the cave through which they had first entered. "Be careful, you three."
There was an explosion and a roar that sounded as though it belonged to Hagrid.
"Be very careful…."
Slightly nervous, Harry followed Dumbledore inside.