Uff, finally an other chapter. I've taken so long 'cause I wanted to write a chapter about how people see this war, but I just couldn't write it. So I only added one scene to the last chapter. The first scene in this chapter is kinda important to me. I've been playing this scene in my mind ever since I knew that Elisha would be Voldemort's Heiress and I wrote it down more than a month ago.
hosecrazy13: I'm always happy to hear, that people like my story ;-) and I'm even more happy when I see that they read it carefully… Thanks for pointing out the little mistake in chapter 18, I've corrected it.
Star and Lightning
30th Chapter - Revelations and Flight
Kingsley Shaklebolt sat on his desk waiting for his voluntary class of Defence Against the Dark Arts. His facial expression was hardened and he was sitting stiffly. The war took its toll on everybody. Slowly, the room was filling with students. Most of them came to his classes because they thought that it might help them and in order to take their minds off the current problems. The wards were still flickering and everybody's nerves were strained.
When everybody was seated and the whispering had ceased, he lept off his desk and announced: "We'll do something different today, no duelling for a change. I've found a boggart in the dungeons and I think, we should do them again. You faced one in your third year, right? So, everybody in here should know how to fight a boggart. Miss Granger, please."
Hermione's hand had been the first one in the air and she answered the way she always did, like she was reading it from a book: "Boggarts take the form of one's greatest fear. In order to confuse and in the end defeat them, one has to think of something that makes the boggart funny while saying Riddikullus."
"Very well, take five points for Gryffindor. It's always important to know what you fear. That's why I want to do this with you today." He looked around and noticed that Miss Potter seemed a bit pale. "Miss Potter, do you think you'll manage it?"
As she nodded reluctantly, he called the students to the front and led the boggart free. One by one, each student faced the boggart. Their fears had changed. There were less spiders and snakes and banshees but more dead people than there had been in their third year. The students had matured as had their fears. Kingsley watched intensly and wrote down the fear and the way of defeating it of every single student. Then it was Elisha Potter's turn.
What he saw, shocked him only slightly: Harry Potter, covered with blood. But what he heard, really did. With a husky voice, the boggart-Harry accused her: "You betrayed me. I trusted you and you betrayed me."
Elisha had gone completely pale and taken one step backwards. She seemed unable to react. Then the boggart changed its shape. It grew taller and its eyes became snake-like, red slits. Harry gasped and Kingsley froze. Lord Voldemort stood in front of them, laughing madly.
He barked: "The world is mine! Finally mine!" The he looked directly at Elisha who was taking more steps backwards, eyes wide in fear. "And you helped me. You helped me take over the world. I'm proud of you, my Heiress!" More insane laughter.
Then the boggart changed its shape again. Harry Potter saying "You betrayed me!". Sophie Ginnet "You killed me!". Hermione Granger "Traitor!". A muggle woman "Murderer!" Elisha stood with her back at the wall, eyes tightly shut and tears streaming down her face. The boggart changed even faster. All, one could see, were blood-covered faces screaming insults.
By now, Elisha was whimpering and crying: "No! Make it stop!" She sobbed and whispered again and again: "Make it stop."
As he had overcome his shock, Kingsley took one step forward and banished the boggart. The room was deadly silent except for Elisha's occasional sobs and her whispering: "What did I do? What did I do?"
Harry walked carefully towards her and tried to touch her shoulder but Serena dashed forward and hissed threateningly. This brought Elisha out of her daze and she looked around wildly, like a trapped animal. Suddenly, she took a black gem out of a pocket and threw it at Harry who caught it. She hissed something in parseltongue and Harry's eyes widened in understanding. Then she turned around and ran through the door, her snake right behind her. Harry dashed behind her but the door closed on its own and was locked.
Elisha was running, running in no particular direction. She was just running away. Serena was curled around her waist. She ran through the deserted corridors of Hogwarts, knocked some first-years over, sprinted through the front doors of Hogwarts and towards the Forbidden Forrest. When she crossed the wards, she felt a tingle on her back. She stumbled through the Forbidden Forrest not realizing or not caring that the spiny underwood tore her robes and that her knees and hands were soon bleeding from falling on the rocky ground.
Only when her legs collapsed underneath her and she fell on the ground nose-first, did she turn on her brain again. Slowly, she craddled her robes and moved into a sitting position. She leaned against a tree and looked up. Although it was midday, it was gloomy and dusky beneath the tree-tops. There was no sound except for her own, puffing breath. When the whole extent of what had just happened dawned on her, tears formed in her eyes yet again.
"What shall I do now?" she quietly asked Serena.
"You are in quite a mess." The petit snake hissed back and made herself comfortable in Elisha's lap.
Elisha laughed a hollow laugh. "Yeah, quite a mess. Harry and everyone else know who I really am. By now, Harry will have figured it out. I can't go back to Hogwarts, that's impossible. Not after… after this. But I can't go to Voldemort either.." She stopped mid-sentence
"Yeah, he will not be very happy, that your greatest fear is he winning this war and Harry dying."
"No, probably not." She stopped talking and pulled her knees to her chin.
"We shouldn't stay here. We're running from both sides, now." Serena hissed urgently as Elisha closed her eyes for a moment.
"But where should we go?" Despair was clearly audible in her voice.
"Out of the forrest. There are too many dark creatures in here."
"Fine. And then?" she replied sarcastically. "Standing on the street and calling 'Hi Voldi! Hi Dumbi! Here I am'?" Suddenly, tears flooded her face and she sobbed: "It's hopeless. I've completely messed up."
"Elisha!" Serena hissed angrily. "Listen to me! You can disguise yourself. You are good at it, no one will recognise you. You know how to survive on the street. And then you help your brother win this war." Elisha stared and Serena continued. "Prepare yourself to fight Voldemort. You have the advantage that you know his way of fighting."
"But why…" Elisha interrupted her. "why should I fight against Voldemort at all?"
"Because there's a good chance that he will kill Harry, your brother who you obviously fear to die. And didn't he threaten to kill you if he had reason to doubt your loyalty? He definitely has reason to doubt you now. We can take care of Harry and Dumbledore later, they won't kill you, but Voldemort is a question of survival."
She let her words sink in, then she continued: "Come on, get up. Let's get out of this gloomy forest."
"I don't know the way." Elisha protested weakly.
"Are you a witch or not? Certainely, there is a spell that shows directions."
So, Elisha got up and limped straight on, Serena babbling all the time in order to keep her walking. Fortunately, all dark creatures seemed to have abandoned the parts of the forest they crossed and left them unharmed.