Chapter 22: 21 Part 2
I awoke to a fierce, pounding headache splitting my skull. My eyelids were heavy but I forced them open. I tried to move my limbs; I was bound to the staff table, and I turned my aching neck to see Nikola and his two Death Eater friends staring at the door, where three more of Voldemort's former followers were entering, closing the door behind him-
Nikola turned towards me and I quickly put my head back, trying to make it seem as though I were asleep...too late.
I felt Nikola's grimy fingers touch my face, his fingernails digging into my skin. My eyes flew open of my own accord and I gagged as he lowered his face to mind, foul breath sliding into my nostrils. His beard tickled my nose and I tried not to whimper.
"The sleeper awakes," he breathed, his black, soulless eyes glaring deep into mine. The whites of his eyes were marred with burst blood vessels, and deep purple bags sat in the tender skin below his eyes. "I have a task for you. And you will cooperate, or you will suffer greatly. You will bring back my friends to your world. I know you know how."
"Go to hell," I hissed, and with a force I hardly knew I possessed I slammed my head forward, violently striking his nose with my forehead. With a howl he stumbled backwards, clutching his face as blood spurted out between his fingers.
"Thtupid bith!" He lisped, his eyes rolling with rage as he lurched forward and hit me, hard, across the face. I tasted blood in my mouth and strained against the ropes that bound me, trying to wriggle free. I bit my lip, trying not to yell out. I wouldn't let him have that satisfaction.
"I'll never help you," I snarled, and suddenly the ropes that bound me were gone. Surprised, I rolled off the table, but then the ropes were there again; not all over my body but just on my wrists. I was sitting on the floor, arms stretched out on either side of me, cuffed to the table. Since I couldn't move my arms, I couldn't use any of my powers. I struggled, but there was no way I was moving.
Nikola drew back his boot and it connected with my ribcage. I felt something snap and a wave of pain exploded from my insides; I screamed, straining against my bindings until my arms burned. My vision danced with stars and blurred with tears. My head lolled forward and a tear slipped down my face, slipping onto the crack on the floor.
"Why do you need me?" I whispered, my voice trembling.
"Becauthe I never mathtered the thpell," he lisped angrily, blood still pouring from his face. One of his followers rushed forward, quickly fixing his nose. With a yell the blood flow stopped, and his nose was straight again.
"Nadia could, as well, but she's fighting," he said calmly, clearing the blood off his robes. "And now you will help us."
My breathing was ragged and it echoed loudly across the room. I couldn't ignore the pain on my insides; it made me want to squirm, to somehow escape it, but I knew I couldn't. It was in me, as much as my lungs were.
"No." I grimaced as the pain in my insidens intensified.
"Crucio!" One of the Death Eaters screamed and my whole world erupted in pain. I arched my back and screamed, writhing to try and get away from the red-hot pokers prodding me, the glass shlashing at my skin; salt was pouring into my invisible wounds and if I had to endure another moment of this pain I'd...
The spell released me. It left me panting, hanging limply against my arm restraints on the floor. My eyes were wet and I was dizzy. The ringing in my ears was back, louder than ever.
"I said," Nikola's voice echoed in my ears until twenty Nikolas were letting out a chorus of I said. He stepped in front of me, and his face swam. There were two of him. The whole room spun...
"Your resistance is futile. You-"
Despite myself, I started laughing. "'Your resistance is futile?' Of all the corny villain lines in the world and you're going with that one? Not saying-"
"Silence!" Nikola roared, pointing his wand at me again. "I do not know of what you speak. As I was saying, you and Nadia are not the only means of getting Death Eaters back; I told you earlier I had not mastered that spell. It was because I mastered a different enchantment. I will blast a hole in this realm so powerful we will rip straight through to Hogwarts and we will all be able to leave by jumping through it. So, as you see, using you is only a temporary means until then. There's nothing you can do to stop it." His voice was suddenly soft as he knelt next to me, touching my chin. I could do nothing but hang there. I stared at his feet.
"So...you're going to get all the Death Eaters to Hogwarts by creating some sort of portal?" I raised my head, glaring at him. "That's ridiculous, I never saw that spell in the book-gahh!" I let out a half-gasp, half-scream as his fist came back and connected with the side of my face.
"Do-not-mock-me," he spit, face right next to mine. Fury was evident in every feature of his face...my shoulders slumped. How was I to win, tied up and without my wand, or any power? They would just keep beating me until I died and if they did, it wouldn't matter anyway because soon a whole horde of Death Eaters would be coming to Hogwarts.
The most I could do was delay it. That was good enough for me.
"No matter what you do," I started, and my voice betrayed me by trembling. "I'm going to refuse you. You can't get me to bring your Death Eaters to Hogwarts. You're a raving mental-"
"Ah, there you three are!" Nikola announced, clapping his hands together as three new Death Eaters walked into the room. "The travellers! Ready to become living again?" He was beaming, positively glowing with hapiness.
"Slight flaw in your plan, sir," I said as sarcastically as I could. I had found a way to sit so that the pain in my ribs was lessened greatly, but the rest of my body still hummed with pain. "I refused to help you."
"No matter," Nikola said, shrugging lightly. "There are other ways. Each of you, take hold of her arms. Now..."
His fist was swinging toward me again, and the room faded to black.
When I opened my eyes, I was once again in the Room of Requirement.
But this time, Stefan and I were not alone.
Not only the three Death Eaters that had somehow managed to travel with me were laying unconscious to the right, but three others were in the corner, face-down and also unconscious. The transfer from that world to this one after so long must have been exhausting...
I quickly travelled back, concentrating on a different part of Hogwarts, any part, other than the Great Hall-
I opened my eyes and let out a moan of relief. I was standing in an empty corridor, but I could hear the fighting going on around the corner. I started to sprint, trying to ignore the pain in my midsection. It's just cramps, I lied to myself. Just think of it as cramps.
"Tonks!" I screamed, running through a duel between a Death Eater and a man wearing muggle clothes. I dove to the ground near Teddy's mother, where she was laying face-down in the rubble. I shook her shoulder, but there was no response. Heart in my throat I flipped her over, putting my fingers to her neck and feeling for a pulse...
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
I let out a sigh of relief, shaking her harder.
"Tonks!" I yelled, curses flying over my head. "You need to wake up! Teddy needs his mother, I've got to bring you back! Come on!" I pleaded, taking my wand out. "Ennervate!"
Her eyes fluttered open and she shot up to a sitting position with a gasp, hands flailing as she searched for her wand.
"Here," I said, putting it in her hand. She looked at me with wide eyes, not remembering me for the first moment. Then her eyes flooded with recognition.
"Roxanne!" She blurted, both her hair and eyes completely black. "Let's go!" She grabbed my hand and we were up and fighting. I whirled to meet a Death Eater who was tall and thick-set; he was leering angrily as I blocked spell after spell.
"Let's see some offense than, or is blocking the only thing you know how to do?" He crowed, backing me up. "That won't work forever, dearie-"
My foot slipped on a stone that had been blasted out of the wall; I went sprawling, landing hard on my stomach. I let out a scream of pain as I landed on the ribs I'd injured earlier, and my eyes watered.
"Now I've got you," the Death Eater leered, but he got no chance to say another word because suddenly he was lifted through the air, flipping head over heels until he slammed into the ground on the other side of the room. A tall, handsome man stepped over me, looking out at the Death Eater with a half-smile on his face before glancing down at me with deep brown eyes. Whoa. He looked about thirty, but he sure was...
"Hello there," he smiled down at me, giving me a hand and pulling me up. "Dennis Creevey, at your service."
"Hi," I smiled stupidly, but then groaned, clutching my ribs.
"Ah, have you got some broken bones in there? Let me at it, they're my specialty." I reluctantly took my hands away and he pointed his wand at my stomach, muttering a spell under his breath.
"Ah!" I yelped in surprise as something clicked inside me; suddenly I felt a whole lot better. "Thank you!" I gasped, but the man-Dennis-was already off and fighting another Death Eater.
Then, remembrance of my deal with Melody slammed into my mind with full force, making me gasp aloud. What time was it? I was supposed to tell her I was alright by three! I checked my watch, but the hands weren't moving. I let out a stream of colorful language before quickly travelling back to the room of requirement, blinking, disoriented. There were more Death Eaters now; I counted nine.
I shook my wrist around, but the watch still wasn't working.
"Reparo!" I hissed at the face, but only succeeded in causing a small explosion within the clockwork; a spark and a small puff of smoke were the only signs of movement I got.
"Oh, bloody-"
"Roxanne!" I turned towards the shouting, and my eyes widened. That voice-
"It's Aunt Ginny! Let us in, Roxanne, Melody told us everything-"
Oh, no.
"Roxanne, open the door this instant or you'll be grounded until you die!" Now my mother was shrieking at me and I stood quickly, making my way to the door-less wall.
"Hello?" I called, pressing my ear against the wall. There was a lot of commotion, like my whole family was out there.
"Roxanne!" About twenty people shouted, and then I heard a scuffle. "We're going to get Kingsley if you don't open up!" That was Harry's voice.
I closed my eyes, making sure the Room wouldn't let anyone out or in. Once I was sure the magic of the room would hold, I responded to my family.
"Don't worry, I'm fine," I called back. "I'm sorry, I've got to go..." I ran back to the middle of the room, and immediately the sounds of battle surrounded me again.
Except...this time I was in the Great Hall.
"Fred!" I called out as I saw him run past me, jumping over a table and spinning in mid-air to shoot a spell at the Death Eater pursuing him. Tonks surprised her opponent by kicking him in the gut, making him double over as she stupefied him. Then she ran to help Dennis, who was battling the other two Death Eaters on his own.
I ran towards the front of the room where Nikola was chanting and flinging his wand arm every so often; a glowing wall of magic pulsed in front of him, sparking and growing a little every time he moved his wand.
"Nikola!" I screamed, but before I could run at him one of the Death Eaters blasted the ground at me feet and I went sliding across the floor, smashing my shoulder against the table that I hit. I stumbled to my feet, shoulder throbbing, and ran beside Fred; together we Stupefied the Death Eater.
"Roxanne, go back to Hogwarts, do you hear me?" Fred was yelling over the shouts and spells; he grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. "You've got to go back, do you know what Nikola's doing up there? He's making something to let the Death Eaters get through to Hogwarts and you've got to stop him, got to see if you can close it off from the other side-"
"What about you and Tonks? Can't I bring you back first?" I yelled but Fred was already pushing at me, shooting spells over his head at the Death Eater behind him.
"Go!" He yelled, whirling around to give his full attention to the tall man. "Trust me, Roxanne!"
"Weasley!" I opened my eyes to see Nadia was sprinting at me; she turned to the left to look at her brother, who was also running toward me. "You make sure she doesn't stop Father, I'll help him!" She shouted and Stefan made no acknowledgement of her order, only increased his speed. The last thing I felt before waking up in the Room of Requirement was his ramming into me.
I gasped and thrashed, thinking we had still hit the floor together; but he was sitting in front of me, eyes open.
I jumped to my feet, breathing hard, wand pointed at him. "Don't even think about it!" I demanded.
"I'm sorry, I've got to stop you-"
"Stupefy!" I shrieked, but he ducked, the spell firing harmlessly over his head. On the floor, one of the Death Eaters stirred. I dropped my wand in pure shock, and suddenly Stefan was there in front of me, backing me up until my back hit the wall with his wand at my throat, face lowered so he could look me in the eye.
"Not a word," he hissed, and I swallowed loudly. "Not a word. For once in your life, Roxanne, don't talk. Look over there." He jerked his head over his right shoulder and I followed where he motioned, eyes widening at the sight in front of me. The wall Nikola was constructing was here as well, glowing iridescent and shimmering. I tentatively stuck my hand through it, waving it around, but only a slight vibrating sensation accompanied it. I pulled my hand back quickly.
"What are you trying to do?" I hissed, weighing mentally wether or not to spit in his face. "Traitor."
"I'm not a traitor, if I were a traitor then I'd be on your side. Don't you see, Roxanne? This is all I've ever known," he pleaded, but I kept my face emotionless, stone-cold.
"I don't know what you expect me to do," I said coldly. "Now get out of my way."
"Roxanne," he pleaded again, and his wand dipped, lowering from my throat until it rested against my collarbone.
"Roxanne, this is your Headmaster," Kinglsey's deep voice sounded on the other side of the door. We both jumped, and I took the moment of Stefan's distraction to grab my wand. "If you don't open the room immediately, I will come in myself. I'm not bluffing. As Headmaster I can do these things, you know."
Stefan looked back towards me, doing a double take as he saw the wand in my hand.
"Wha-"
"I hope you'll regret this someday," I whispered.
In the next moment, three things happened at once.
Firstly, I stupefied Stefan. He slumped to the ground and I knelt down to push him over to the wall, out of the way. Even though he was a lying, traitorous rat, feelings didn't disappear over the course of a few hours...I just couldn't reconcile the image of Stefan, my Stefan, with Stefan Nikola.
The next thing that happened was the opening of the Room of Requirement. Kingsley appeared suddenly as the wall grew translucent, and a crowd of people followed behind him, the wall opening for them and solidifying behind their group once more. My family; all of them.
And lastly...
"Noooo!" I screamed, because at that moment, just as my family began to realize what was happening, why there were all sorts of bodies lying around them, waves of light began to course through the room, the very walls shaking with power. I shielded Stefan from the bits of rock raining down from the walls; I covered my eyes against the light, squinting at the center of the room-
I was forced to squeeze my eyes shut, turning my head from the center of the room. Sparks shot out from the center, and I could still see the light, even behind closed eyelids.
As quickly as it started, it stopped.
I turned tentatively towards the hole in the center of the room. It was just...there. A huge gap, like a window, leading straight to the Great Hall...I stood shakily to my feet, and James, who was closest to me, ran over and grabbed my arm.
"Bloody hell," he whispered hoarsely as a figure appeared through the hole in the middle of the room, stepping through cautiously.
The moment his feet touched the ground, pandemonium erupted as more Death Eaters pushed their way through and my family whipped out their wands.
Screaming filled the air, whirling bodies and flying wands and jets of light. I dodged through it all, elbowing and blasting a path, jumping up and through the portal.
I stepped into the Great Hall, just like going through a doorway.
"I've done it!" Nikola was on his knees, muttering to himself as a steady stream of people continued to shove their way out behind him. "I've really done it!"
"You-you-arghhh!" I screamed, running up to Nikola and shoving him, hard. He stumbled forward, but caught himself with his hands before landing on his stomach. He whipped his head around, snarling like a vicious animal.
"Okay, time to go," I said quickly, turning on my heel and sprinting as fast as I could out of the Great Hall, spells flying over my head.
"Fred?" I yelled, stepping out into the corridors...the fight had travelled here, it appeared. Death Eaters and former Hogwarts students duelled, yelling and fighting as hard as they could. But it was clear the Death Eaters were winning.
I whipped my head to the other side, scanning from Fred; even now, the fight was diminishing, because all the Death Eaters wanted to do was run, get out back into the real world. I sprinted up and down the corridors, all the while calling for my uncle-
I heard screaming in one of the hallways and stopped, running toward the noise. A Death Eater blew past me, knocking hard into my shoulder without giving me a second glance. I ran forward, breathing hard to see the body he'd left behind on the floor, sprawled out and eagle-spread, red hair flayed out underneath her-
"Rose!" I screamed, sliding and scraping on my knees until I reached my cousin, taking her head onto my lap. "Rose, tell me you're awake!" I pleaded and a small groan escaped her lips; her eyelids fluttered, and I almost cried with relief.
"Roxanne?" She said weakly. "Did I...beat him?"
"He ran away crying," I half-laughed, half-sobbed as I helped my cousin sit up.
"Oooh," she moaned, all the blood rushing out of her face. "That hurt a bit...come on, let's go...all the fighting's...out there," she mumbled.
"How did you get in here?" I grunted, slinging her arm over my shoulder and helping her hop toward the portal in the Great Hall.
"Through that-that-thing," she gestured. "I thought I saw...Tonks. But it was a Death Eater pretending to be her...how do they do that?" Her voice was thick.
"I dunno," I let out a bitter laugh.
"Roxanne, I really have no clue what's going on," she laughed loopily, and I wondered if she'd hit her head.
"Yeah, me either," I said, slightly hysterically as I increased our pace. "Come on Rosie, let's just get you back..."
We jumped down to the floor in the Room of Requirement, stumbling and landing in a heap. Rose let out a small moan and I pulled my arm from under her back, slapping her cheek.
"Come on!" I yelled. "You've got to stay awake, stay awake-" but then a dull numbness began to spread from the back of my skull...I felt very sleepy...that I had been hit with a spell was the last thing I thought before my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I slumped over, unconscious, next to my cousin.
I slowly opened my eyes, blurry jets of light arcing over my head. People were shouting things...it was all so loud, and fuzzy...it was as though I was hearing them through a thick wall. I blinked a few more times, but it did nothing to improve my vision. I propped myself up on my elbows and looking around groggily. Where was I again? Oh yes, the big battle. Before I could stand, an excruciating pain rupped through my arm and I was pinned to the floor again, screaming and writhing as I saw a tall, dark form above me stepping hard on my upper arm. It was Nadia, and she was grinding all of her weight onto that one point. I could feel bones snapping, and I couldn't do anything without using my arm to twist around. I just screamed, tears of agony running down my cheeks.
"That's for everything you've done this year to set us back on our plan, blood traitor," she hissed, and spit in my face. I didn't even care; my eyes were overflowing with tears, my body shaking with sobs. I was sure my arm was broken; I couldn't move it, and from the point where she'd stepped on, bolts of pain ran through my entire left side.
I just lay there. For how long, I didn't know. My breathing was shallow and I fought off unconsciousness; as if in a dream I heard my Uncle Percy's voice above me, yelling frantically at his daughter to go, get out of here and get herself safe. Molly was shouting back, telling her father she was of age and she wanted to fight, and even if she did want to leave it wasn't as if she could. You tell 'em, Molly, I wanted to say, but I found that whenever I tried to speak only groans escaped my mouth./
I closed my eyes and must have fallen asleep, because when I opened them again Molly and Percy were gone; now I saw Al and Nadia duelling grimly, she on the offensive and he blocking every one of her curse. Tears were pouring out of his eyes and I hated Nadia with everything I had for doing this to my cousin. She bared her teeth at him and swung at him with her arm, surprising him into dropping his wand. She pointed her own wand at his throat and I saw him look her straight in the eye, struggling to keep his face impassive, his chin raised. Nadia opened her mouth like she was going to hex him, and then closed it. Al was whispering something to her, leaning forward and speaking in her ear...her expression was changing. Her face crumpled and she spun away, but not before fixing Al with the most miserable expression filled with longing that I would ever see in my entire life. If I didn't know any better, I would have said she'd mouthed I'm sorry before she spun away. Al stared after her numbly.
Almost not of my own will I found myself stumbling to my feet. I ached all over; despite that Dennis had healed my ribs earlier, it felt like they were splitting open all over again, not to mention my arm, my head...there wasn't an inch on my body that didn't feel like a troll was whaling on it with a spiked, flaming club.
"Everyone listen!" I screamed thickly, stumbling. There was two of everything...no, three...I jumped up on the lip of the portal so I could see everyone. No one seemed to be paying any attention, why was that?
"OI!" I screamed, vision going black for a moment with the effort. "I DIDN'T WANT ANY OF THIS TO HAPPEN!" I screamed, swaying like I was drunk. "I DIDN'T WANT ANY OF YOU TO GET HURT-"
And then the room began to shake furiously, and I tumbled out of my perch on the floor of the Great Hall and would have fallen facefirst onto the ground if it hadn't been for...Stefan.
"What-what're you doing?" I slurred, trying to focus my eyes on him. I could barely concentrate on anything but the pain, but I registered that he was cradling me in his arms, one hand under my back and one hand under my legs. "Why-why're you-" I trailed off, not able to find the words. What was I saying, again?
The room continued to shake violently and the next moment I was sitting alone on the floor, Stefan nowhere to be seen. Had I imagined the whole thing? I toppled over onto my side, crying out. Thankfully I hadn't landed on my bad arm. Everyone who wasn't already on the ground was knocked to the floor, and screams came from cowering people as the room continued to shudder. The worst thing was, I knew most of those screams. I had grown up with them. The yells of my family, mingled with the surprised exclamations of the Death Eaters. The fighting ceased.
"The portal's closing!" Nikola yelled and although I wouldn't have been able to sit up if I tried, I saw someone began to rise. He stumbled, putting his arms out to steady himself; everyone watched as Uncle Harry began to slowly levitate unconscious Death Eaters, pushing them back into the portal and rolling them back, far backwards. One after another, slowly, agonizingly slowly, and still the shaking continued. It was though a giant, invisible hand was pushing the whole room down, and Harry alone was immune.
The portal began to shrink slightly, rumbling and spitting out bits of flame. The shaking stopped, and it was if everyone had been electrocuted; they flew to their feet in an even more rabid frenzy than before. I put down my foot and tried to set my weight on it, struggling to rise to my feet. One of the Death Eaters was reaching through the portal through his friends, trying to reach them before the portal closed-
Over all the commotion, a single, clear noise sounded. A single clap. Kingsley's clap. The air grew silent as every one of the Death Eaters vanished; my head swivelled to the portal and there they were, trapped inside-
A massive cheer swept through the room. Percy and Audrey were hugging, James and Al sobbing with happiness, Ginny yelling at them both to never, ever follow them into danger like that ever again-
But no one noticed Kingsley, straining and sweating, struggling to keep the Death Eaters in, like stopping the waters of a dam from flooding out. Possible, but only for a short while.
Nikola was at the front of the Death Eaters, pounding furiously on the portal; it was like a glass pane seperating them from the rest of us and as we watched, it slowly began to crack.
"NO!" A shrill scream sounded from behind us and Dom raced forward, jumping into the air just as the dam broke, and the Death Eaters would have come stumbling out...
Instead, Dom flew into the air and stayed there, suspended, arms flung out to either side of her and head back and she screamed soundlessly. Some force seemed to be connecting her body to the portal, keeping it closed-
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Teddy, kneeling before one of the corners of the entrance to the realm, touching his hand to the clear barrier that seemed to be separating us.
On the other side was his mother Tonks, tears running down her face as she put her hand up to the same spot his was in, mouthing the words I love you. Teddy, I'm so proud of you-
"Fred!" I screamed, but no one heard me. Dom's body began to light up and so did the portal, beginning to glow blindingly-
"FRED!" I screamed again, stumbling forward-
A pair of arms caught me and I fell into them, sobbing. "Dad!" I cried. "Fred, it's Fred, we've got to get him-"
"Fred's in there?!"
"Yes, yes!" I sobbed, straining against his arms. "THat's why I did this all in the first place!"
"Let him go Roxie, it's what he'd want-if we opened it now all the rest of them would escape." I turned to my father in horror, how could he be so cold-hearted? But in the growing light I saw tears pouring down his face, his mouth twisting in pain. He was losing his brother for the second time.
And the light grew brighter and brighter until I had to squint; until I could only see the outline of Dom's body, still suspended in the air, outlined against the portal-
And her last words floated over us, words that I would never forget, not until my dying day-
"I told you I'd make it up to you."
And in one more blinding flash of light, the portal disappeared, taking everyone with it. Even Nikola. And when I blinked the light out of my eyes, and everything was back to normal, Dom lay on the floor, not moving.