When Harry Met Susan
(And Peter and Edmund and Lucy and Mr. Tumnus and so on and so forth, you know the rest…)
Summery: Aslan is gone, and so are Susan, Lucy and Pansy. Peter has to take charge of Aslan's army and lead them in the final battle against the White Witch.
Chapter Five – The Battle of Beruna
"She's right. He's gone." Once he glanced inside Aslan's tent, Peter announced gravely.
"Then you must lead us, Peter. There's a whole army out there and it's ready to follow you." Edmund said firmly. It seemed like he was trying to convince himself as well as his brother. Peter held his gaze for a few seconds and then bowed his head.
"I can't."
"Aslan believed you could." Said Edmund quietly, "And so do I." at that both Peter and I looked up in surprise, that was rather unexpected on Edmund's part to except Peter's authority like that. Peter smiled fondly at his young brother when Oreius' voice came low and rambling,
"The witch's army is nearing sire. What are your orders?" Peter shot a quick glance at me, to which I replied with a warm smile. He walked over to the big map that was spread on the table near Oreius.
Around noon time everyone knew exactly where he or she were positioned and what was their job.
The dryad assured us that the girls are safe at the Stone Table with the body of Aslan.
I was sent to scan the enemy forces on my broom. I really enjoyed riding this broom, it was so light and swift and smooth-riding. To me the whole thing looked a lot like a strange game of Quidditch more than a war; I had to battle the witch's "bludgers", though there was no snitch to catch in the end.
When I returned to the rock where Peter and Oreius stood, I saw that Peter was so pale, his skin was almost transparent. Poor Peter, I bet it was the last place he wished to be at the moment, leading Aslan's army at the lion's stead.
"They're coming." I said, "In numbers and weapons far greater than our own." Oreius looked forward determinately and declared,
"Numbers do not win a battle." Peter sighed,
"No, but I bet they help." I couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped my lips, and Oreius gave me a scolding look, but I saw Peter's mouth quirking in a small smile and that was all I really needed.
"Good luck." I said and laid my hand on his mail-clad arm, he nodded slightly and said, without looking at me,
"You too." With that I mounted my broom again and soared back up. I could see that the witch's army has already began to cross the plain, and heard Peter's battle cry,
"For Narnia, and for Aslan!"
The centaurs wanted to provide me with a bow so I could shoot from above, but after a careful consideration we decided to drop the plan, mainly because they made me shoot a couple of arrows to a straw target and, well, let's just say it's a good thing Rhinos' skin is so thick… instead I had a sword, and a knife hidden in my boot. I refused to wear the chain-mail of the warriors as it was far too heavy and constricting, so they adjusted me with thick leather armour.
I flew above the troupes and scanned the air for any flying creatures. All of a sudden a bat-like thing popped in front of me. I halted my broom in mid-air and spun around, where I could see I was actually surrounded by at least six of those creatures. I hastily drew my sword and before the creatures had a chance to realize what was going on, two of them were hurt. The first's head came off clean, the stem of his neck oozing greenish foam and the other got a huge hole in its leathery wing, but the result was the same. Both creatures dropped out of the sky like stones.
Two down, four to go, I thought. I didn't stand a chance catching the others unaware and therefore had to relay on my flying skills. I guessed the creatures were not the brightest things and indeed, a simple duck-roll and hit routine brought down two more. By now, my sword was oozing that green foam as well. It looked rather poisonous. I looked around me for the remaining two, and that split second of disorientation was my downfall. Before I could assess the situation correctly one of those beasts dropped on my head. The weight of the bat and the surprise made me drop the sword, it went spiralling down and I could only hope it won't hurt anyone on our side. I grabbed the creature in my free hand and tried to get it off me. Its claws dug in my armour and reached flesh, in the last moment I reached for the knife in my boot and stabbed blindly up. Luckily I hit his sensitive wing and caused a big rip in the leather. The creature shrieked in agony and plummeted down, he managed to catch himself on my leg and dug his claws deep, I screamed with pain and tried to stab it again. This time the knife went deep in the flesh of its chest and his claws left my leg as he too dropped to the ground.
I was breathing heavily and my vision began to blur from pain. My armour was wet and thick with blood, I had to land fast before losing conscience and falling off so I pointed my broom down and landed heavily between the rocks, my shoulders felt as if they were on fire and my leg as well. I crushed on the ground, panting hard and tried to fight back the nausea and dizziness that enveloped me.
"Harry!" I looked up blearily and saw Parkinson running towards me, her skirt flying behind her, she was holding a sword and swinging it wildly at anything that came near her. She wasn't a skilled swordswoman but her enthusiastic more than made up for her lack of experience as she slashed her way through the enemy forces. It was actually rather comical, and if I wasn't afraid I'd throw up on the spot I would have laughed.
"Harry, are you alright?" she reached me and helped me to my feet. I nodded feebly, unable to speak as the world spun faster around me; I closed my eyes firmly and waited for the spinning to slow down. Then I opened my eyes and looked at her,
"Where have you been?" she snorted dismissively,
"That's not important right now. Can you stand?" I nodded after gingerly moving my weight to my injured leg.
"I lost my sword." I said sadly and she left me for a minute and then returned holding a bloody sword and shoved it in my hands.
"Here!" we moved slowly through the battle field, Parkinson supporting my weight and walking slowly with me. If I was in a better shape I'd probably wonder why she was doing this to help me but right now I was just grateful of her presence.
Parkinson suddenly stop dead on her tracks, I looked up and saw the White Witch standing in front of us, she was holding a sword and her staff and looked murderous,
"YOU!" she exclaimed loudly and turned her staff at us. Without pausing to think I moved in front of Parkinson and swung my sword wildly causing the staff to divert its course, blue fire shot from its tip but hit the rock behind us causing it to explode into tiny fragments. The sheer force of her hatred was overwhelming. Before the witch had time to aim her staff again, a wild cry came from behind her. Parkinson and I looked completely shocked as Edmund brought down his sword with all the force he could muster and broke the witch's staff clean in half. The witch turned her murderous stare at him and without any feel in her eyes stabbed poor Edmund with the broken staff.
"NO!" I heard the agonised cry of Parkinson behind me. The witch turned to us and before either of us could move threw the broken staff, spear-like at us, and since I was standing in front of Parkinson the staff hit me with almighty force. The staff pierced the leather armour and the force of the blow knocked me down on the ground. The world turned black around me, and the last thing I heard was the sobs of Parkinson.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw above me was the worried face of Peter, coming slowly to focus. Above him I could see the clear blue sky and after a few seconds realized I was still in the battle field, and that my head was resting in Peter's lap. I tried to smile at him but he ran his hand over his eyes tiredly, and scold at me,
"You crazy sod! Don't ever frighten me like that again!" I tried to get up, but the world was spinning dangerously again and the darkness covered everything once more.
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes again was a white ceiling. After eliminating the option of dying and arriving to heaven (there weren't enough clouds) I reached to the conclusion I was in the Hospital Wing. I closed my eyes in despair. I was back in Hogwarts and I didn't even get to say goodbye to Peter and the others. This was so unfair; I don't even know how the battle ended.
"Harry," I could still hear Peter's voice floating around me, soft and quiet. I wondered if he was missing me already, when a gentle hand shook me, "Wake up!"
I reluctantly opened my eyes, and to my immense surprise saw Peter's smiling face in front of me. I gingerly reached my hand and poked him, to make sure he was there. He cried,
"Ouch." And I rose as fast as I could and threw my hands around him. He sniggered into my hair. "I take it you're happy to see me?" I pulled back from him with tears in my eyes,
"I thought I was in the Hospital Wing back in Hogwarts and that I didn't even get to say goodbye to you." He laughed, and brushed the hair gently from my face,
"No such luck, I'm afraid. You are still in Narnia." We smiled at each other when the door opened and the others walked in. Lucy, when she saw I was awake ran and jumped over at my bed, flanging her arms wildly around me knocking us both back on the pillows.
"Harry, you're alright!" she cried out happily. She pulled back and sat comfortably on the bed while the others stood around it.
"You missed a great battle!" She exclaimed, and plunged into the story before I had time to slip in a single word, "Susan, Pansy and I followed Aslan the night before and we saw how the White Witch killed him. It was horrible! And then we stayed with his body all night and we cried over him. But then in the morning we were about to leave and then we heard the stone table crack and then Aslan reappeared!" her eyes were shining and she was practically bouncing on my bed.
"And he took us to the witch's house, and the courtyard was full of statues, only they were not real statues but creatures she turned to stone and Aslan blew on them and brought them back to life…" her eyes were as big as saucers and sparkling and I smiled at her, fascinated by her story.
"When we got back to the battle we saw you fall off the sky and Pansy ran over to save you and Edmund broke the witch's staff and she stabbed both of you and then Peter tried to fight her but she was too strong for him and then Aslan came jumping over Peter, and he ate her!" She finished dramatically and somewhat breathlessly.
"Really? Poor Aslan, he must have terrible indigestion…" I said and everyone started to laugh.
"He didn't eat her." Susan said, always the one to pick on irrelevant details, "He just bit her to death." Lucy and I exchanged a glance and shrugged. For all we cared Aslan ate the witch and that was all for the best.
"And then I took out my fire flower juice and cured all the injured people and Aslan blew on all the ones she turned to stone."
"You cured me." I said and her smile vanished.
"Weeel, not exactly. I healed the wound of the witch's staff but I couldn't heal the scratches on your back and leg." She said sadly, and Peter cut in to explain further.
"It turned out these creatures had poisonous claws, and from some reason Lucy's fire flower didn't work on you. Aslan had to resort to the deep magic to heal you." Before I could say anything Lucy called out,
"They had poisonous blood too. You should have seen it, when you cut off that thing's head its blood went whoosh all over the place and all the soldiers of the witch got terrible burns."
"Really?" she nodded vigorously and I laughed, you can't really beat the enthusiasm of Six years old.
"You're staying for the coronation, right? Please…"I smiled again,
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." I promised her and she launched herself at me once more. Above her head I could see Peter, he was smiling sadly and I knew what he was thinking. We would be leaving after the coronation.
"Lucy, come on, we need to give Harry time to rest. You could see him tomorrow, when he feels better." Susan said firmly without looking directly at me and Lucy reluctantly released me. A small cough made me look to the side at a very red Edmund.
"Hmm, could you, I mean, if it's not too much trouble… hmm, could you please teach me how to fly?" he lifted his eyes shyly at me and saw Susan about to speak from the corner of my eye so I beat her to it,
"Of course." His eyes lit up and he smiled wide, "But I don't know where my broom is," I added gently as to not crush his hope too soon. Instead of answering me he reached forward his hand (which I didn't noticed was clasped behind his back the whole time) and presented me with the broom. It looked slightly dishevelled but on quick inspection looked perfectly whole and ready to be flown.
"Oooh, me too me too!" called Lucy excitedly.
"No Lucy, you are far too young!" called out Susan, I caught her glancing over at Peter for support but he had his head bowed and refused to be dragged into the argument.
"Peter, please, can I? Please, please, please…" Lucy pleaded with her brother and he slowly raised his head.
"We'll talk about it tomorrow, Lu." He promised and she pouted at him. Susan didn't look too happy with the answer either but said nothing. She grabbed Lucy's hand and started moving to the door. Edmund handed me the broom carefully and with a little smile followed his sisters. At the door Susan turned and said,
"Peter?" Peter looked up at her and said in a quiet voice,
"You go; I'll be there in a minute." Needless to say Susan didn't look at all pleased with that answer. She opened the door and ushered her younger siblings out, and then walked out, throwing me a filthy look around her shoulder before closing the door.
Once the door closed Parkinson approached my bed and cautiously sat on the edge.
"You sure gave us all a real scare with that injury of yours." She said, she wasn't looking at me and started to pick at the blanket, "Thank you." I looked at her in surprise,
"What for?"
"You saved my life, the witch was aiming her staff at us and you stepped in front of me and averted the blow." She explained and I smiled.
"It was nothing. You would have done the same." She raised her eyebrow at that and I looked firmly at her. A slow smile spread on her face and she leaned forward,
"Whatever, Harry." I smiled back,
"You're welcome, Pansy." She patted my head fondly, and said in a brisk voice,
"Well, I'll leave you two alone; you must have lots to talk about." I swear, only a Slytherin could make something so simple sound so sly. I couldn't help noticing that Peter was turning steadily red and that Pansy saw that too and her smile grew.
"Go away, vixen." I told her amusedly and she had the cheek to wink at me.
For a few minutes Peter and I sat in silence, each trying to figure out what to say to the other. There was so much we needed to talk about but I didn't really want to talk about any of this, I just wished Peter would hold me and kiss me and that we would never have to part. Eventually I couldn't take the silence anymore,
"When is the coronation?"
"In a week's time, Aslan is still working on finding the remands of the witch's army." A week, I thought, that's a lot of time… I reached and placed my hand on his, hoping he would not recoil. To my delight he grabbed my hand and gingerly lowered himself to the bed, lying next to me.
I put my arms around his neck and my head on his shoulder, he stroked my hair softly and we didn't spoke again for a while.
"Susan doesn't really like me, does she?" I ask in a small voice, not particularly wanting to talk about Susan but even less than that feeling like talking about what we should be talking about.
"On the contrary, she likes you very much." I lifted my head in surprise, if Susan likes me than she sure has a very strange way of showing it. "She's just jealous."
We smiled at each other, in a perfect fairy tale I should have fallen head over heels with Susan and live happily ever after with her. If she was slightly less annoying I might have…
I looked into Peter's gorgeous blue eyes, the light blue was surrounded by beautiful bluish-grey smoke-like rings making his beautiful eyes look darker than they really were and I thought, Susan never really stood a chance. I leaned forward to catch his sweet lips in a kiss, his eyes slowly closed as he gave himself into the kiss and his hand found its way to my waist. I buried my fingers in his hair, trying to mess it up without Peter noticing, this haircut was a little too much for me.
When we pulled apart Peter whispered in my ear,
"You are truly one of a kind,"
"Me? How about you?" he opened his eyes at me,
"Me?" I smiled and ran my thumb on his swollen, red lower lip,
"How many people do you know that have been knighted by Aslan himself?" His cheeks were turning pink and he lowered his eyes. He was absolutely adorable when embarrassed.
I reached for him again, I don't know what it was but I just couldn't get enough of him. A soft knock on the door made us both jump. I cursed Susan under my breath thinking she had returned to make sure that Peter wouldn't stay with me for too long, when the door opened a crack and female fawn peered around it apologetically. Peter smiled and said,
"She's here to examine you, so behave." He slid off the bed gracefully and tried to look as nonchalant as possible. The little fawn entered the room and went over to the counter in the corner busying herself with little bowls and pieces of cloth, her back turned to us. I gave her a quick glance and then grabbed Peter's hand before he could leave,
"When can I see you again?" he leaned forward and said a low voice so only I could hear,
"My room is three doors down the hall, to your right. If you feel up for it later." A soft rustle was heard behind us and Peter straightened up, "I'll see you later, take care." He said a little stiffly and left the room. I lay back on the pillows and smiled.
The next morning I woke up in Peter's arms. They were warm and soft around me and my face was buried in his shoulder. I opened my eyes and smiled lazily. I softly nuzzled Peter and felt him shiver in his sleep. Turning to my back I gazed out the window at the beautiful view outside, I could see the seashore curving and golden sand, behind it were mountains, or maybe hills- their shape was more rounded than towering.
I suddenly remembered I promised Edmund and Lucy I'd teach them to fly. I sighed, the last thing I wanted right now was to leave Peter but I did promise and if I knew anything about Lucy I was pretty sure she would come bursting in and looking for me in no time. Regrettably I reached for his arm and tried to lift it from my waist; he shifted a little and then wrapped his arm more tightly around me,
"Don't go…" he pleaded with a voice thick with sleep,
"I have too, I promised Ed and Lucy I'd teach them to fly and she's bound to come and look for me soon." At this Peter jumped up, wide-eyed and his hair tussled (now that was much better!)
"Lucy!" he exclaimed and jumped out of bed and started to look for his clothes, "Harry! Get up! You have to get changed and go back to your room before Lucy comes in!"
I smiled at his agitation, but he had a point. The last thing I needed right now was awkward questions from Lucy.
As I didn't really have any change of clothes in Peter's room since I snack out of the healing room last night in my nightshirt I made my way cautiously back to my room.
Sure enough, I hardly had time to close the door behind me when a loud knock came. I opened it to reveal a very excited Lucy and Edmund, eagerly bouncing on their toes. They both looked crestfallen to see me still in my nightshirt and I sniggered,
"Go wake Peter while I get ready." I said and they both turned and ran down the hall, their feet knocking on the floor making noise like an entire regiment marching.
"Bloody hell! Will you be quiet?" Pansy's angry voice was heard from the room next to me. I laughed and closed the door.
We stood in the grassy courtyard while I explained the basics of broom riding. First I took Ed for a spin with me and then let him ride the broom on its own, making sure he stayed close to the ground- I didn't need any more troubles with Susan. To my surprise Ed turned out to be quite a flyer and he soon got his confidence up and started to fly more daringly.
When it was Lucy's turn she nearly fell over with excitement, but she quickly recovered and tried to follow Ed's example, the problem was she was a little clumsy and the broom jerked and she was tossed on the grass. When we ran over to her we found her rolling on the grass laughing with mirth. We could do little more than join her.
I picked up the broom and walked over to Peter offering it to him,
"Wanna have a go?"
"Peter's scared of heights." We looked around and saw Susan approaching us with a nasty smile. Peter turned crimson almost immediately while his young siblings sniggered,
"I'm not scared!" he exclaimed, before I could do or say anything Susan yanked the broom from my reach and handed it to Peter,
"Prove it!" Peter looked at her with narrowed eyes and for several moments they just glared at each other with contempt. Lucy, Ed and I exchanged weary glances and I noticed that the kids looked almost exasperated, apparently it wasn't the first time Peter and Susan were butting heads. At long last Peter simply turned and left the courtyard marching fast. Susan huffed and threw down the broom before stalking away in the opposite direction. Lucy, Ed and I looked at them and then at each other, the kids shrugged and walked off together back to the castle chatting, leaving me alone with my broom. For a minute there I was actually glad I never had any siblings.
