Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Island Invasion
9/18/05 – 10/7/05
"56!"
"A gazillion!"
"Why don't you try using your brain for once and use a possible number?" Katherine sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Numbers like 32, 53, or something like that?" she demanded hotly as she scowled at the labyrinth wall in front of them. "Stacy, come help us!" Katherine growled in frustration as she shot her friend, who was preoccupied with examining her nails, an annoyed glare. "We've been trapped here for the last five hours and had at least tried at least a gazillion numbers and none of them work!"
"Ha, you said that word too!" Trey shouted triumphantly as he scratched his freckled nose.
"Can you give it a break, Trey?" Aaron sighed exasperatedly, turning his attention away from Harry and Shan, who were urgently whispering to one another in hushed tones. "Would it kill you to just stand aside and let us work peaceably?"
"Okay, what's for lunch?"
"We just had lunch half an hour ago." Harry replied; cutting off Aaron's scathing remark.
"Here's a lollipop – make it last." Shan smirked, tossing a chocolate-flavored lollipop to Trey, who clumsily caught the flying candy in mid-air. "Katherine, can you read us the questionnaire on the wall again?"
"How many dragons (not including the common ones) were in existence before their ultimate annihilation during the Great Dragon-Demon War, which spanned a total of 673 years?" Katherine tiredly complied. She paused for a moment before asking, "Are you sure there's no way to get past this labyrinth wall without the answer?"
"I'm hungry," Trey whimpered as he unwrapped his chocolate lollipop. "I can't even remember how long we've been trapped in this stupid labyrinth. It has been so long that the years, months, days, and hours seem to mesh together!"
"Quit being so dramatic," Aaron snorted, "At most, we've only been in here for six days."
"Why does the Masters test our knowledge is such weird…what was that word again?" Trey groaned as he banged his head repeatedly on the labyrinth walls.
"Ways?" Shan supplied without taking his eyes off his textbook. "Don't hit yourself too hard, you might get a concussion. No one's going to carry you out of this labyrinth if you faint."
"Right, whatever." muttered Trey. "Anyway, what does locking us in a labyrinth filled with questionnaires do?"
"It tests our knowledge." Harry answered with a tried sigh. "All the questions on the labyrinth walls are materials we had covered in class."
"They actually expect us to remember what we studied?" Trey shouted, slightly flabbergasted.
"I think that's the point." Harry snorted, smiling slightly at the astonished look etched on Trey's horrified face. "Aaron, can you check on Trey, I think he's going into mental shock."
"I think its pure genius that the Masters made the answers to these questionnaires the password needed to open the labyrinth doors." Emily whispered softly, before shyly looking away.
"He lives," Aaron grinned when Trey jumped three feet into the air after being poked into the ribs.
"Come on, back to work. This is the last door – if we can unlock it, then we've passed our test." Harry interrupted. "Anyone have any guesses to the answer?"
"100.75?" Stacy suggested with a cute, childish smile.
"How can you get ¾ of a dragon?" Katherine demanded hotly.
"I don't know." whispered Stacy, shrinking slightly under Katherine's glare. "Maybe it's a headless dragon?"
"5?" Amy suggested, smiling lightly as she curled her long, pale fingers into her thin, wispy hair, which was dyed gold, red, black, and brown.
"The number's too small." Harry murmured as he pulled "The History of Dragon Island" out of Shan's bulging knapsack that was filled with various scrolls and textbooks. "I'm positive the number is at least over 3,000."
"Why don't we just start counting?" Aaron suggested. "We'll eventually hit the right number. Who wants to count?"
Trey's hand immediately shot into the air.
"Seeing as we're not getting anywhere, we might as well try what Aaron suggested." Shan agreed, raking his hand through his spiked hair. "Trey, you can start counting from 3,000."
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James slowly closed his eyes and gently wrapped his arms loosely around his wife's petit waist. Burying his nose into Lily's long, red hair, he whispered a muffled, "I love you."
"I know you do." Lily replied softly, stepping out of James' reach. "As much as I like spending time with you, I really have to start making dinner. Don't forget, Sirius, Remus, and Peter are coming over for dinner today."
"Oh yeah," James grinned. "I forgot. Anyway, Dylan and I will be playing Quidditch outside. Tell me when they arrive."
"James Potter, hold it right there!" Lily hissed, stopping James from bolting out of the room by grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. "Dylan's doing his homework right now, don't you dare tempt him with that…that abhorrent game!"
"Woah, all right, all right, don't blow your fuse, dear." James smirked and slipped out of the room after Lily released her grip on his shirt. "I won't make Dylan play Quidditch."
Lily smiled softly as she followed James out of their bedroom.
"I'll just teach him how to set dungbombs." James muttered under his breath.
"JAMES PHILIP POTTER!" Lily roared, overhearing James mutterings.
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"1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957…" Trey counted tiredly. "Can someone else count now? My throat hurts and my stomach's growling."
"I don't think this is working." Katherine hysterically interrupted. "We could really be stranded here for the rest of our lives! There's not enough food and water to last us forever – the Masters only packed us enough food for seven days (of course, they took into account Trey's bottomless stomach)."
"4,902?" Amy guessed.
"I guess we can just start guessing numbers again." Harry sighed. "I can't believe I don't know this answer. I'm positive I studied it before."
"Same here," Shan agreed. "It's at the tip of my mind…"
"7834?" Crystal grumbled as she flicked her long, wavy, black hair over her left shoulder. "This isn't working." she muttered when the wall remained unmoving. "Emily, you're smart, can't you remember anything?"
"Sorry Crystal," murmured Emily, "I really don't know."
"9245." Lance tried.
"Strawberry-banana shortcake and vanilla flavored triple scoop ice-cream sprinkled with red heart sprinkles!" Trey shouted as his mouth watered slightly at the thought.
"Excuse me," Katherine, who was at the end of her patience, snapped. "But I have to remind you that food is not a number!"
"So, it was a worthy try." Trey shrugged.
"Idiots! I'm surrounded by idiots!" Katherine hissed as her eyes blazed furiously.
Harry and Shan narrowed their eyes slightly, but decided not to comment.
"Trey, come over here and quit bothering the girls." Aaron sighed as he kneaded his temple.
"Fine, fine, don't ask for my help." Trey muttered loudly with a small pout. "I bet the answer to the stupid question is some obscene number like…5,093,628,173." Trey huffed as he seated himself next to Aaron.
Katherine's mouth dropped open when the labyrinth wall slowly shifted aside to reveal the exit.
"Trey," Aaron whispered as he draped his arm across the red-head's shoulder, "you're a genius."
"Right," Trey agreed, "what did I say?"
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"I'll go get Dylan. You four start eating without us." Lily smiled after setting various dishes of food onto the table. "No food fights." she deadpanned when she noticed the maniacal glint in Sirius' twinkling eyes.
Sirius shot Lily a hurt look that Lily promptly ignored with a hard glare. "All right, all right!" grumbled Sirius, holding up in hands in peace. "Take away all the fun in my life, why don't you, old grouch!"
Lily snorted softly and waltzed out of the room after shooting James a look that promised pain if anything happened to her beloved kitchen. When Lily was out of earshot, Sirius immediately grabbed a fistful of green beans and threw it at James, who quickly ducked under the table.
"Stop it," Remus hissed, pulling out his wand. "Padfoot, sit down before I decide to hex you."
"You're no fun, Moony!" Sirius pouted as James slowly reemerged from below the table.
James quickly cleared the mess that Sirius caused with a flick of his wand just before Lily reentered the kitchen with Dylan in tow. Lily paused for a brief moment at the doorway and carefully looked around the kitchen to evaluate the damage caused by the infamous Marauders. When she finally gave them a satisfied nod, James slowly released a pent of breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.
"Hey Prongs," Remus coughed, trying to break the uncomfortable silence, "when's Dylan going to start Hogwarts?"
"You don't know?" Sirius asked with feigned shock. "He's your godson and you don't know? How can you not know? Are you sure you don't know? I mean, how…"
"Padfoot, shut up." Remus sighed, shaking his head slightly.
"Dylan's going to Hogwarts when the next term begins." Lily smiled proudly with a small hint of sadness. "If Harry…" she whispered, "he would be…sorry."
"Mum, are you okay?" Dylan asked softly.
"I'm fine, sweetie." Lily assured.
"Hey, guess who's going to teach at Hogwarts?" Sirius grinned, breaking the silence. Remus immediately paled and tried to look inconspicuous when James quirked an eyebrow in interest.
"They changed teachers?" Lily inquired, slightly interested.
"Well, Minnie's still teaching Transfiguration and Flitwick is still teaching Charms." Sirius replied. "Of course, we can't forget that Snivellus is teaching Potions – I don't see why anyone would want to hire that slime ball, he'd probably poison all the kids on the first day of school."
"Sirius," Lily admonished in a warning tone.
"It's true!" Sirius protested. "Anyway," he quickly continued, "Hagrid's taking over the Care of Magical Creatures class."
"Oh," Lily whispered, "not that I mind Hagrid teaching or anything - he's nice and all, but…is he safe?" she nervously asked, casting a worried glance towards Dylan, who was obliviously smashing the peas into the mashed potato.
"Albus trusts him." Sirius grinned. "Come on, Hagrid's harmless!"
"Yes…but…"
"Who else is teaching?" Remus quickly asked, trying to avoid a confrontation between Lily and Sirius.
"Well, of course there's you, who's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and Trelawney, who's taking over Divination." Sirius answered nonchalantly before scooping a spoonful of clam chowder soup into his mouth.
"That's nice," James absent-mindedly answered.
Lily stopped eating and quirked an eyebrow. When James continued to eat quietly, Lily shrugged off James's lack of response as a once in a lifetime miracle. Turning to face Remus, she happily congratulated him for getting the DADA position.
"He's taking it pretty well." Sirius muttered.
Everyone ate dinner in relative silence for the next three minutes before James's head suddenly shot up with a bewildered look etched on his face. "What did you say?" he demanded, looking at Remus as if he had suddenly morphed into Snape. "Tell me I did not just hear you say that you were teaching!"
"Actually, Moony didn't say anything. I said it…about five minutes ago." Sirius grinned before rapping his knuckles on James's forehead. "Anybody home in that empty skull of yours?"
James swatted Sirius's hand from his forehead and glared at Remus. "We promised that we would never teach!" whined James, pouting slightly.
"Oh grow up," Lily cried, "Teaching is an honorable position. I'm considering it myself."
"NO!" shouted James, quickly jumping up.
"Why not?" asked Lily, giving James a frigid glare.
"Who's going to cook and clean?" he grinned.
Lily rolled her eyes and snorted, "We have house elves for a reason, James." she slowly answered. "I cook because I feel like it, not because I need to."
"But…I thought you liked being a nurse!"
"I do – I never said I was going to quit my job. I just said I might consider teaching as a job if Professor Flitwick retires."
"Oh," James muttered glumly.
"Who's Trelawney?" Peter asked suddenly asked, speaking up for the first time since dinner began.
"Huh?" asked Sirius with a bewildered look. "Hey, Pete, when did you get here?"
"I came here with you guys!" cried Peter, slightly hurt that his best friends had forgotten him.
"Sorry Peter," Remus apologized. "You were just so quiet that we forgot you were even here."
"It's okay," Peter sadly assured. "So, who's Trelawney?"
"TRELAWNEY?" shouted James, leaping out of his seat. "That old scumbag isn't teaching at Hogwarts, is she?"
"Have you been listening to me at all, Prongs?" Sirius demanded, placing his hand over his heart as if he had been shot. "I can't believe my best friend wasn't paying attention to me!"
"Get over yourself, Sirius." Lily snapped, though there was a lingering smile on her lips.
"So what's this about Trelawney?" James demanded, sitting back in his chair again.
"She's going to teach Divination next year." Remus calmly answered while helping himself to some roast beef. "Professor Dumbledore thought that Divination was a good course to have in the curriculum."
"But…but…TRELAWNEY?" huffed James. "Is Dumbledore insane?"
"Yeah, remember that time when she subbed for Grubby-Plank in Care of Magical Creatures?" Sirius grinned, forking a large piece of sausage. "She was a total lunatic and she almost got herself swallowed alive by the flobberworm."
"That isn't humanly possible, Sirius." Remus deadpanned.
"With her, it is." James snorted. "Anyway, remember what she started ranting about during class?"
"Would I ever forget?" Sirius grinned, "She predicted that Smith was going to be run over by an old lady! Then she said that the apocalypse was going to take place soon because some star was aligned with another star. Guess she wasn't too accurate because it has been four years and we're still here. Not to mention the fact that Smith has yet to be run over by an old lady."
"Yeah, she was ridiculous!" Peter piped in.
"You weren't even in the class." James stonily replied.
"Oh…oh yeah." squeaked Peter, retuning to his dinner.
"Anyway, remember the predictions she made about us?" Sirius laughed. "She was insane!"
"No kidding." James agreed before recounting the incident. "It all started when Sirius began shouting, 'the grim…the grim'."
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Trelawney grabbed Alice's shoulders with both hands and whispered in a low voice, "I see the grim in your eyes, dear child." With a small sniff, she closed her eyes and turned her head away. "So young…so very young…Poor child, the grim has marked you. There is no escape – accept your fate."
Some students stood petrified, clinging fearfully to every word Trelawney was muttering. They moaned, groaned, and shrieked in fear as Trelawney continued to shout 'the grim, the grim – it comes near'. However, a majority of the students, mainly Sirius and James, rolled their eyes and dismissed the old goon as a lunatic who had hit her head one to many times when she was a child.
While Trelawney was busy reading another student's future, Sirius lightly tapped James's shoulder to get his friend's attention before mimicking in a low, mysterious voice, "It's the grim, the grim, child!" To prove his point, Sirius quickly grabbed a hold of both of James's shoulders and violently shook him back and forth while shouting, "It comes! The grim! Poor child, your life is over – It's the apocalypse!"
Catching onto his friend's game, James quickly dropped to his knees and covered his face. "NO! The grim, the grim – it comes! I am doomed! We're all doomed! It the GRIM! Run for your lives!"
The class erupted into laughter as Trelawney glowered at both James and Sirius, who were laughing hysterically on the ground. Turning up her nose, Trelawney stated in a clipped, disdainful voice, "I see you two do not have the sight – not many do. It's a gift bestowed to few. We can't all be gifted."
"Yeah, right, you lunatic." snorted Sirius under his breath. Raising his voice, Sirius grinned, "Since you possess 'the sight' tell me my future. If it comes true, I'll kiss Snape in front of a large crowd and proclaim my 'love' for him."
James grinned and added, "I'll even marry Snape if you can predict my future!"
Severus Snape, who was standing a little ways away from Sirius and James, scrunched his nose in disgust and whispered something to his fellow Slytherins. The Slytherins snickered lightly as Snape straightened his back and crossed his arms across his chest.
"But," Sirius continued, prodding James lightly in the ribs, "if your predictions don't come true, then you'll have to proclaim yourself a lunatic and a fraud in front of the whole school!"
A pregnant pause followed as Trelawney stared unseeingly into space. When Sirius was about to proclaim her as a fraud by default, Trelawney finally snapped out of her musings and poked him in the chest. Sirius retaliated by stepping backwards and massaging his abused body.
"A time will come when you will lose your most precious love to your worst enemy. Your love will betray you and cling to your enemy! She will betray the light and become one in body with darkness! Your love will despise your very existence and proclaim herself a lover of darkness! She will be the grim! The grim is near! The grim comes! The apocalypse is here!" Trelawney shouted while poking Sirius in the chest again for good measure.
"Lunatic, that one." muttered Sirius as Trelawney began to rant and rave again. "My most precious love?" scoffed Sirius. "Hah, I love myself!" he proclaimed proudly. "I love me and I will always love me!"
"I knew you were vain," James began slowly. "But that's just plain creepy."
"And you!" shouted Trelawney, stepping towards James so they were on a hair's breath apart. James immediately stumbled backwards with a disgusted look etched on his face.
"I think she's hitting on you, mate!" Sirius laughed, clutching his stomach. "You two almost kissed!"
"Shut up!" hissed James, flushing slightly from anger and embarrassment.
"Your child will befriend darkness!" Trelawney ranted. "He will consider darkness his brother – his best friend. He will come to love the grim and the darkness! He will have one foot in light and the other in darkness! Torn between love and duty – friendship and promises – what will he choose? The grim and darkness approaches! The apocalypse is near! The grim! The grim!"
James gave Trelawney a blank look before bursting out into laughter. "That's crap!" he laughed. "You're lunatic that should be locked in St. Mungo's! Come on Sirius, let's go raid the kitchen. I'm sure everyone knows what a fraud the old goon is already." With sparing Trelawney another glance, James happily trudged back to the castle with Sirius laughing and chattering beside him.
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Sirius fell out of his seat and laughed hysterically as James finished his story. Remus rolled his eyes as Peter gave everyone a weak smile and attempted to laugh along with Sirius and James. After the laughter died down (which took about two minutes for Sirius), James turned to Lily to gauge her reaction to the story.
He frowned when he noticed the far-away look in Lily's eyes. Gently grasping her ice-cold hand, James softly asked, "Are you all right, dear?"
"Yeah," Lily weakly replied. "Well, we know how wrong she was in prediction, right?" she smiled sadly, trying unsuccessfully to inconspicuously wipe the tears from her moist, emerald-green eyes. "Sirius still only loves himself and well, Harry's…Harry's..." Lily sobbed softly as she looked up to keep the tears from falling.
"Lily," James whispered softly, pulling his wife into a loving embrace. "Everything is going to be all right. You still have Dylan and me. Trelawney is just a crazy fraud, don't believe anything she says."
"Yeah, she's a fraud and her prophecies are lies…then what about the prophecy about Harry and Dylan?" Lily demanded, pulling herself out of James's arm. "We believed that stupid prophecy about Harry and Dylan! The prophecy probably isn't each true! We lost our son because of that stupid prophecy! I lost Harry! I should never have believed Dumbledore or the prophecy…"
"We all made a mistake, Lily. We are all at fault." Remus whispered as Dylan stopped eating. Dylan pushed his seat back and slowly walked over to Lily and wrapped his arm around his mother.
Looking down at her son, Lily gently threaded her fingers into Dylan's silky, red hair and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. "I love you Dylan…I love both you and Harry. I just wished I could have told him that." she sobbed as James slipped his arms around Lily's waist, pulled his family into his embrace.
Remus, Sirius, and Peter stopped eating and kindly evacuated the kitchen to give the family some privacy. Sirius shook his head disapprovingly at Peter when Peter tried to eavesdrop on the family conversation. Remus quickly closed the kitchen door with a soft click and proceeded to usher his friends into the living room.
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"Hey, where is everyone?" Trey asked indignantly as they looked around the empty room. "Where's the reception party! Aren't the Masters going to congratulate us for getting out of the labyrinth alive and in one piece?"
Aaron rolled his eyes and kicked the door leading to the underground labyrinth shut after everyone was safely assembled in the empty room. As soon as the door closed, the doorway disappeared, leaving the room completely barren except for the door on the opposite side of the wall that led to the main castle.
"Let's go. I need a shower!" Amy moaned.
"We all do." Crystal snorted. "Especially pretty boy here." she smirked, ruffling Jason's short, curly, blond hair.
Jason retaliated by snarling loudly and slapping Crystal's hand away. Emily giggled softly, but immediately quieted when Jason shot her a murderous glare. Crossing his arms across his chest, Jason arrogantly held his head up high and tried to glare down at Emily, which failed, because Emily proved to be a good three inches taller than him.
"We'll go find the Masters first." Harry stated as Lance opened the door leading to the main castle corridor.
Once everyone was successfully assembled in the wide corridors, Aaron gave the signal for the others to follow him. Harry shook his head good-naturedly as Shan rolled his eyes heavenwards.
Arriving at the Front Hall, Aaron was about to pull open the grand doors when Harry gripped his arm and slowly shook his head. Before Aaron could ask any questions, Harry signaled for silence by placing a finger to his lips. Confusion swept through the students when Harry motioned for everyone to back away from the grand doors.
Everyone looked around wildly, expecting to be attacked as Harry motioned for Shan, Katherine, and Stacy to step forward. Seeing that Stacy was about to start firing questions, Harry quickly shook his head and wrote in the air, "Danger."
Understanding, followed by more confusion, swept through the students as Harry signaled for his fellow Protectors to place shield charms on everyone. Once everyone was shielded to the best of Protector's abilities, Harry wrote in the air, "Listen - Outside."
Everyone strained their ears and after a few seconds, like Harry said, they could hear several voices arguing with one another beyond the grand doors.
Shan, slightly confused, asked in sign language, "Why are we so quiet? It could just be the Masters."
Replying in sign language, Harry answered, "The auras are unfamiliar. Plus, they're trying to take off the castle wards. We're going to have to hold them off – the Masters are too far away to come to our aid – I can't sense the Masters from here."
"All right then, it's up to us." Crystal signed.
"Warriors in the front!" signed Aaron and Lance in unison. Crystal, Jason, Amy (though reluctantly), emerged from the crowd and placed themselves in the very front of the line.
"Healers hide and be prepared to heal the wounded." signed Shan, motioning to Trey and Emily. The duo nodded their head and slipped into the shadows.
"Protectors in front of the warriors." signed Harry, causing Aaron and Lance to shoot him curious glances. "Raise the shields." he motioned before signing to the warriors. "Hide yourselves and be prepared to hex everyone that comes in when we open the doors."
A small smile crept onto Lance's face as he nodded his head in consent. The warriors quickly scattered and hid themselves from view as Harry placed himself in the very front of the line with Shan, Katherine, and Stacy flanking his sides.
Putting his hand into the air, Harry signaled a count down – when he reached one; he ruthlessly blasted the door open. He paused for a brief moment to see if the intruders were truly invaders or just another test from the Masters.
When one of them shouted the Killing Curse, Harry quickly shouted, "Duck," followed by, "Retreat!" The Protectors quickly melted back into the Front Hall, tricking the invaders into following them inside. Once all ten of the intruders, who were wearing black cloaks and white masks, were lured into the Hall, Aaron and Lance quickly slammed the front doors shut.
The intruders barely had time to realize they had been tricked before hexes were being shot from all sides. "Permission to use the Killing Curse!" shouted Harry over the chaos.
"Killing Curse?" sneered one of the cloaked men. "Little kids like you will never be able…"
"Avada Kedavra!" Aaron shouted, watching with satisfaction as the green jet of light hit its mark.
"1 down, 9 to go!" shouted Lance, grinning maniacally.
The ten cloaked intruders tensed in surprised before ruthlessly firing a stream of unforgivable curses at the students, who easily dodged the curses and returned the curses with equal vigor.
"Crucio!" shouted Crystal, holding one of the cloaked men under the curse with her right hand while throwing hexes at the other intruders with her free hand.
"Imperio!" a short, chubby man shouted, pointing his wand at Crystal, who was oblivious to the danger.
"Contego," Harry shouted, deflecting the curse from its course. "Avada Kedavra!" he hissed, sending the Killing Curse towards the whimpering man. "2 down!" he announced before adding, "Crystal, finish off your opponent and pay more attention to your surroundings!"
"Yes sir!" Crystal shouted in reply. "Avada Kedavra!" A soft thump followed before she shouted, "3 down!"
By the end of the hour, many students were huffing tiredly (some of which were wounded) and the two remaining invaders were almost near hysterics in an attempt to find an exit.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Harry asked coldly, stepping protectively in front of his classmates. Shan, Trey, and Aaron immediately moved to stand beside him to give him moral support.
"W-We are D-Death Eaters, the most loyal s-servants to the D-Dark Lord!" one of them stuttered in reply. "H-He'll annihilate all of you!"
"Avada Kedavra." Harry and Aaron shouted simultaneously, watching indifferently as the two Death Eaters dropped to the ground.
Silence ensued as Harry checked everyone's injuries to see if they were life-threatening. Once he was satisfied that everyone was not in any life-death situations, he quickly motioned for Emily and Trey to tend to the more severely wounded.
While Trey and Emily (who was shaking uncontrollably) were quietly bandaging the wounded, several students were loudly sobbing from both fear and relief.
"I-I killed someone." Amy sobbed, near hysterics as she stared at the lifeless bodies.
"They're dead…" Emily whispered as the full magnitude of the situation finally dawned on her. "There a-are d-dead people!" she whispered just before she fainted into oblivion.
"We don't have time," Harry interrupted, shocking his peers, "if I'm correct in my assumptions, there should be a battle taking place in the training fields. I think the Masters might be there. Plus, no matter what they might say, I know the Masters are going to need our help. Emily, Amy, Stacy, and anyone else who can't take the sight of death can stay here."
"We're going," Aaron stated, speaking for Trey and Shan as well as for himself. "Friends forever – through thick and thin."
Harry nodded his head with an air of indifference; however, the sparkle in his eyes spoke volumes of his gratitude for his best friends' decision. Turning his attention to the others, he watched slightly surprised when Lance (who had a wounded leg), Crystal, and Katherine nodded their heads.
"You can't leave me out of the fun," Lance grinned, "plus, I have to uphold the Warrior Pride!"
"Agreed," Crystal echoed.
"All right, enough." interrupted Katherine. "This isn't time for an emotional breakdown – we have to save our Masters!"
"We will go, but Lance will stay." Harry stated, dubiously eyeing his peer's bleeding leg. "He'll only slow us down and get in the way." Harry truthfully replied, leaving no room for argument before taking the initiative by flinging the grand doors open.
"Don't go!" Amy shouted. "You might die! It's dangerous!"
"I'd rather die valiantly rather than live a life of a coward." Lance replied disdainfully. Turning to face Harry, he added, "I'm going whether you like it or not. You're not my leader…at least, not yet."
Seeing the determined glint in Lance's eyes, Harry finally consented to allow him to tag along.
Realizing that everyone was looking at him expectantly for the 'go' signal, Harry quickly focused his attention back to the important thing at hand. With a small nod towards his comrades, Harry gave the signal to 'go' by flicking his wrist forward. Without bothering to see if his peers understood or even saw his silent command, Harry quickly raced down the mile-long, dirt-beaten path that led to the training fields – hoping against hope that he wasn't too late.
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TBC
I'm so sorry it took so long – this chapter went through a lot of revision.