A/N: For optimum shock potential, reread last chapter's meeting invitees before reading this chapter. Names should give you a clue (hint, hint)
Chapter Six: Betrayal
Dinner that night hadn't turned out to be as somber as Scorpius had expected it to be. He had doubt that even Rose would be able to help them invent – or even modify – such a simple charm into something so complex. But she had come through for them with flying colours, and in the process restored some hope into everyone, who silently felt that they were in way over their heads.
But after the charm had worked they became much more cheerful, and rather than dwelling on the fact that this meal, or the next, could quite possibly be their last, they finally dared to think that perhaps they had a chance after all. In light of this, Scorpius decided to come and have dinner with the Gryffindors, which was unusual for him; he usually spent breakfast and lunch with Albus, but dinner, being a more formal meal, was always passed with his housemates.
There was raucous laughter throughout the feast from their side of the table, and in general the inhabitants of the castle seemed to be in high spirits. When the feast was over, a vast majority of students went out into the grounds, as the weather was a great deal more pleasant than it normally was at this time of night.
Without need for conference, they headed near the lake and flopped down on the grass, sighing happily in relaxation as a cool breeze caressed their pale faces.
"You know, Hogwarts looks so beautiful on nights like this," Lily commented peacefully; Scorpius observed the full moon reflected in her emerald eyes, the way the light played off those pale lips and the shadow that covered half of her face as the grounds began to darken. His stomach did an odd flip-flop as she turned to face him, obviously having noticed he had been staring. He cleared his throat, casually turning his head toward the lake and scratching the back of his neck.
"Hard to believe anyone would-"
Scorpius was about to say 'hard to believe anyone would want to attack it', but he was interrupted by the eruption of a high-pitched whistling that began simultaneously in each of their ears; the alarm. Looking at each other in horror, Albus searched frantically for the map, only to find what seemed like hundreds of black dots appearing in Hogsmeade at once; all four of them leapt to action at once.
"Everyone ready?" asked Albus gravely, to which everyone nodded.
"Wait, the extendables!" Lily exclaimed, reminding them of the pairs of Extendable Ears they had modified to use as a form of battlefield communication. They summoned and distributed them evenly, each attaching one to their ear and placing a couple of spares in their pockets so they could hand them out to people who wanted to help lead the squads.
"I just need to talk to Scorpius for a sec," commented Albus, pulling Scorpius over to the side, the girls eying them quizzically. "Scorpius, slight change in plans. I know everything was already organized, but I want Rose to come with me and Lily to go with you,"
"What? No, Albus, she's going with you-"
"No, listen to me, we have no time to argue. She has to go with you,"
"Why? Albus, if something happened to her when I'm supposed to be looking after her, you'll never be able to forgive me. I'll never be able to forgive me. Rose, however, I won't have to worry about," Scorpius hissed in return.
"Lily can protect herself too. Look, I've tried so many times to help her, but you've got through to her more in one week than I have my entire life,"
"Come on!" yelled Rose impatiently from where the girls were standing.
"What's that got to do with this?" Scorpius questioned angrily, exasperated that they were wasting valuable time.
Albus kept his face blank, replying in a tone as calm as Scorpius' was angry. "It means you're better at protecting her than I ever was. That's why she has to go with you."
Scorpius relented at this, not willing to argue the matter any further when time was a precious commodity they had far too little of. He turned on his heel and joined the girls. "Lily, you're coming with me and Rose is going to go with Albus."
Both girls looked somewhat confused, but they nodded in compliance nonetheless.
"Now, we'll go see if anyone in our year wants to help, thank goodness everyone is out on the lawns…" said Albus, scanning the area quickly to see who they could ask first, chief among them being Mollie and the other friends that had been invited to the meeting. "You and Scorpius go tell Headmaster Cresswell so he can make an announcement."
Everyone nodded at this, then went their separate ways, Albus and Rose to separate groups on the lawn while Scorpius began to run full pelt with Lily following swiftly and wordlessly. In no time they had reached the staircase leading to the Headmaster's office; usually it needed a password, but it was already open. Scorpius didn't like the look of this; had the Ekklesia already got to the Headmaster? He took the steps two steps at a time, stopping dead as he reached the doorway.
"Lily, could guard the bottom of the staircase?" he questioned casually, keeping any emotion that came to him when he saw the terrible sight, out of his voice. He knew full well that no Ekklesia member would be coming back here, because their task had already been done, and Scorpius didn't want Lily to see the result. She had stared death in the eyes far too many times already.
There the Headmaster sat slumped over his desk; it only took one look for Scorpius to tell that he wasn't just unconscious. Walking forward a couple of steps for closer inspection, he observed the horrible disfigurement of Cresswell's face. It was clearly not done by a spell, but a potion of a complexity Scorpius wouldn't have dared attempt. He bent over, only to see a pool of blood on the book the Professor had been reading. His death had been caused by massive blood loss, the spell Sectumsempra, not the potion; perhaps that had been their grim calling card, a warning of their ghastly intentions and abilities. Shaking his head gravely, he went to the entrance and closed the door solemnly behind him.
Lily looked up at him with an inquiring look. "Well?"
"We're on our own."
Lily nodded gravely. "Albus," she said into her extendables. He must have replied, because she continued speaking into it. "The Headmaster is dead, what should we do? Okay, we'll meet you out there in a minute."
When she had finished speaking into the extendable, she turned to Scorpius. "Albus is going to make an announcement," she explained, his voice ringing throughout the castle as she finished her sentence. "Come one, we've got to get the Great Hall," she said urgently, heading off again.
"Let's go over the plan again, shall we? They're going to brace the doors and throw a whole heap of Instant Darkness Powder and Decoy Detonators outside to confuse the Ekklesia and keep them out of the castle for as long as possible. Albus, Rose and most of the staff are going to stay outside with squads to hide on either side of the entrance doors, hopefully surround them and keep them out for a while – flank them, as you and Albus said," Lily paused for a second to catch her breath. When she caught it, Scorpius nodded that she was correct and they continued.
"Wait – Albus is talking in my ear. What, Albus? Alright, I suppose we haven't got a choice," Lily spoke, obviously not to him. "Okay, I'll tell him now. Okay, Scorpius, a lot of the fourth years are going to hide around the castle and jinx anyone in non-school robes who runs past. Your friend Elias and my friend Mollie are each going to lead groups to protect other entrances. Professor Traverse is locking the first through to third years in their common rooms, then she's going to come and meet the remaining staff so we can all organize the people inside the Hall who want to fight."
"Wait, did you say the fourth years? They shouldn't be allowed to set foot anywhere near this battle, even if they are only hiding. I suppose they're letting the fifth years fight," Scorpius said, mostly to himself, frowning in concern; it was only the start of the year. The fifth years only had four years of experience under their belts, which in his opinion, was not nearly enough; not even the sixth years should have been allowed, according to him, but unfortunately that was not his decision.
"Lily, wait a second," he said, stopping. He took off his cloak to hand to her. "I want you to have this."
"Thanks, Scorpius, but I'm not cold," Lily replied, slightly bewildered at why he was offering her his clothing at a time like this.
"No, it's not that, it's a shield cloak. I told Albus I'd protect you, and by Merlin I will. I know you want to protest, Lily, I can see it in your eyes, but this is non-negotiable. Just do it," said Scorpius firmly.
"Fine, I'll wear it, but what about you?" Lily questioned, concerned.
He held up his hands and flexed them. "Shield gloves, a new prototype your Uncle was testing. He gave me and Albus both a pair. The cloak's a prototype too, they should work against stronger curses than the old ones. But only if hit the curse hits the material, so if you don't have time to fire a shield make sure it does. Doesn't work on the Unforgivables, though, so be careful, okay?"
Lily nodded, smiling ever so slightly at the concern he quite obviously held for her; she hadn't noticed it before. Was it possible that he didn't think of her as his best friends' manic little sister after all? "I'll be careful. We better get going."
They took the last staircase two, three steps at a time and found a large group of people congregating in the centre of the Hall. Everyone was either looking downward or getting on tiptoes to see what was in the centre. As they joined the group, Lily tapped someone on the shoulder. "What's going on?"
"It's Professor Savage. A flash of light came from somewhere and she just dropped unconscious, and-"
Before the student could finish his sentence, a jet of gold sparks was issued into the air and numerous stunning charms were fired simultaneously into the crowd; one hit Lily's cloak and rebounded, protecting the both of them. Scorpius whirled around, realizing that he had to get Lily out of the circle. I don't understand… how could this happen when the Ekklesia aren't even inside the school yet?
As they stepped backward to the sight of several unconscious students and their frantic friends, he realised on his own. "It was a diversion! They wanted to round us up… Lily, we were right, some of the students are with them. They're in the Ekklesia!" At this, numerous duels erupted as the students in the crowd realised that the attackers were not only within the castle, but within the student body.
"Very good, Malfoy. If only your judgment, and that of your friend, had been so sound earlier," said a malicious, condescending voice. Scorpius didn't recognize the voice, but Lily froze momentarily in realisation. She looked at him for a second, before they both turned around to look at their adversary, who had her arms crossed and a satisfied smirk on her face. Ariadne Twist.
"Ariadne?" exclaimed Lily in shock. "But, I thought that –"
"You thought incorrect, I'm afraid. But don't worry, you're not the only one," replied Ariadne, stepping to the side to deal another emotional blow, this time to Lily's white-blond companion.
"Pandora? But I don't understand-"
"And I was under the mistaken impression you were intelligent. Apparently there are a lot of mistaken impressions going around at the moment," Pandora Bailey replied coolly, looking thoroughly pleased with herself for hiding her true nature. "Now, in saying that, I have no delusions about either of you wishing to join us, so I'm afraid we'll have to kill you."
"Now girls, I'll have none of that,"
Scorpius felt relief seep through him as they were joined by a familiar voice. "Professor Traverse! These girls are part of the Ekklesi-" Scorpius began, stopping when he felt a sharp prod in the back of his neck. "Oh."
"Yes, 'oh'," replied Traverse; Scorpius could practically feel the glee radiating from her.
"'Oh'? Why 'oh?'," asked Lily, fright evident in her eyes; she knew something was wrong, other than having chosen the wrong friends, but wasn't quite sure what.
The look of fear in her eyes sent a shiver down his spine; Scorpius never wanted to see that look again. He looked at her with sorrow, silently reprimanding himself; Albus had entrusted him with her protection, and they had been captured by the enemy before the battle even started. Now they were both going to die, before either had the chance to do any good. What a great bodyguard I was, he thought to himself bitterly. Scorpius sighed. "Traverse is one of them."
"Clever boy, though not clever enough, I'm afraid. Now, girls, we have to unblock that door as soon as possible, which means making short work of these two troublemakers. Bailey, Twist, take Potter. I'll take care of the Head Boy here."
Lily and Scorpius exchanged dark glances, nodding good luck to each other as they prepared to duel.
Scorpius wasted no time in taking the offensive as he directed his wand at Traverse and yelled, "Sectumsempra!"
With a smirk, Traverse yelled, "Protego!" causing the spell to bounce off the shield and hit the roof above their heads. "Well, well, well, what's this I see? Trying to cut me in half, Malfoy? I wouldn't expect such spells to come from you… impressive," said Traverse, sneering, "but not quite good enough. Everte Statum!"
Scorpius was flung into the wall behind him. Thankfully not that far, because with longer distances came more momentum and bigger risk of injury. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled, though the spell went slightly wide as he struggled to regain balance.
"Not exactly your day, is it?" jeered Traverse with a look of satisfaction. "Crucio!"
Scorpius jumped to the side and the spell hit the stone wall, wasting no time replying to the Professor's jeers. "Levicorpus!"
This time she was caught by surprise; she flew up into the air, shrieking as she did. Scorpius smirked, having found her weakness; quite obviously, she was afraid of heights. When she landed, he took advantage of her disorientation and cast the impediment jinx. He took this moment to look over his shoulder to see how Lily was faring in her battle, smiling as he saw her handling them quite well; she was clearly in her element.
Traverse had recovered far quicker than he had anticipated; rather than being on the ground as he had expected, she was on her feet with her wand directed at him. "Sectumsempra!"
"Protego!" he yelled. He barely had time to cast the spell, but the shield had appeared just in time, forcing Traverse to dive to the side to avoid it; Scorpius grinned at the look of surprise on her face at his quick reaction. He smirked as he turned to see Lily still dueling the two fellow students without breaking a sweat or coming anywhere close to being hit.
But the bottom of his stomach dropped in horror as a flash of green light from Pandora soared toward Lily's left ear, missing her by a mere inch; before it had all felt dreamlike, like he had been sailing through the viscous fluid of a pensieve rather than living this surreal event. But that green light snapped him right out of his stupor; either, or both of them, could die tonight. Scorpius couldn't, and wouldn't let that happen. With that thought now seared into his mind, he placed aside his fear and redoubled his efforts, directing his surge of emotion into a stunning charm that finally toppled Traverse.
Scorpius saw a jet of light come toward Lily from a third person, which sent him into a fit of rage; judging by what he had seen thus far, this Ekklesia bunch were nothing special, and if they were to win it would only be by sheer numbers, dirty tactics and cowardice. Despite the gravity of the situation and the ruthlessness of their attackers, no one was going to give up without a fight. Too angry to utter a word, Scorpius ran as hard as he could and barreled into the third hooded figure, knocking him over, and began punching him in the stomach. The boy was outstretching a hand to his wand, which had fallen to the side of them, but by the time he reached it he was too winded to have any effect; a stream of feeble yellow
sparks flew at Scorpius' ear, before Scorpius decided to finish him off with an utterance of 'stupefy'.
He searched for another challenger, staring across the hall before a flicker of movement caught his peripheral vision; the doors to the Entrance Hall had finally been removed of their barricade. A black-hooded crowd was entering, and walking at the front was a familiar face; the last time he had seen it, it had seemed a mere apparition. While it seemed in full physical form, if he had reached out to touch it then, it would have slipped through his hands, but not this time; opposite him stood Harry and Ginny Potter's murderer.
"Lily!" he called, turning around to alert her to the mysterious man's presence; something about him was foreboding. He had an air of authoritarianism that made Scorpius certain that this man was the leader of the Ekklesia. He did not like the idea of dueling him alone, but maybe together he and Lily could make a plan to capture him. To his horror, Lily did not hear his yell, for she was already running full pelt at the smirking figure against which she would surely have no chance. The man was retreating slowly out the doors of the Great Hall as his followers began mingling and dueling the inhabitants of the castle.
"Lily!" he called again, immediately giving chase. Lily was focused on one thing alone, like a merciless lion chasing an antelope across the wild savannah. But there were no boundless plains in front of them, only a wasteland of bloodied fighters. Something about the situation told him that Lily was not the pursuer, but the prey; she was the willingly hunted. The doors were slowly closing of their own accord; he was gaining on her, but she had almost reached the doors-
"Lily, stop! It's a trap, it's a-" Thump!
As soon as she exited the hall, the doors swung rapidly shut and made a sound suspiciously like they were locked, behind her. Uh-oh, she thought to herself, Perhaps I should have waited for Scorpius. She listened for the two squads who were supposed to be guarding the Entrance doors, however she could only hear shouts from a slight distance away, around the corner; the squads had unwittingly been drawn away from the entrance by the Ekklesia.
"If it isn't loony little Lily Potter," came a voice from the darkness. Callixtus stepped forward, into the light of torch brackets burning with Gubraithian fire the Ekklesia had conjured to combat the Instant Darkness Powder. "I hoped I'd be seeing you and your pestilent brothers here tonight, but this is quite good enough. You can join your parents, and I can take care of their only witness, assuming you haven't told anyone else. It would be a shame for me to have to kill them, too."
"So you came here just to kill me?" she asked, her knuckles white as she grasped her wand tightly, ready to strike at a moment's notice. His tone was businesslike, and she doubted he was going to waste too much time talking; she had to be poised.
A booming laugh came from Callixtus, amusement dancing in his eyes. "My dear, you value yourself far too much," he replied, any trace of amusement evaporating as he paused. "You're here only out of convenience. This is more of a 'two birds, one stone' deal. Tonight I take Hogwarts and get rid of the Potter brats… or at least one of them. I figure if anyone is likely to be troublesome, it would be the children of Harry Potter. The Boy-Who-Lived, only to die again. He was a troublesome man. He knew something was going on right off the bat… always looking over the shoulder of our inside woman, didn't trust her from the start..."
"He was a wise man, wiser than you'll ever live to be, assuming you do live. But you already know that… after all, you had to surprise him in his sleep with a whole group of people to defeat him. How do you expect to lead your fighters to victory when you can't even stand up against your greatest threat alone, and awake, let alone in a fair fight?"
Callixtus laughed coldly, not hint of remorse in his voice. "My dear, have you not yet learned that life is not fair? It is a cruel lesson that we all must learn. And you learn yours today. Crucio!"
The doors had swung shut just in time for Scorpius to crash straight into them, knocking the wind out of him. Scorpius gasped for breath, pounding on the doors with a clenched fist. 'Alohamora', he rasped, but he could barely breathe, let alone cast a spell. He looked desperately around the Hall for someone to help him, but he could barely see for the swirling mass of people and the brightly coloured spells rocketing around, as though they were at some sinister kind of dance. Finally, out of the chaos he noticed Albus, emerging from a corridor, with two or three members of his squad and Rose.
Although he was steadily gaining his breath, he knew they wouldn't be able to hear him if he yelled, and in his moment of panic he had forgotten all about the extendables. Instead, he non-verbally cast loud pink fireworks into the air, the gigantic crack managing to garner attention from Rose, who he waved to emphatically. By the time they had sprinted across the Hall, he had got his voice back. "It's Lily," he explained frantically, "she followed the leader into a trap, the doors swung shut before I could reach them." Now that they were here, perhaps there would be a fighting chance to help Lily; he knew that every second she was alone with the man, her chances of coming out unhurt decreased. He just prayed that they weren't too late…
Lily had to spin to the side quite rapidly to dodge the curse hurtling toward her, almost losing her balance in the process. Pointing her wand at the attacker, and cried, "Petrificus Totalus!"
"Protego," Callixtus called out, the spell bouncing off his shield. "Is that the best you can throw at me? If that's the only kind of spell you know, you're going to be child's play to defeat,"
"I don't know what child you're talking out, but I certainly refuse to be beaten by you. Everte Statum! Conjunctiva!"
Callixtus sidestepped the first curse and ducked the second. "You sure fight like one, you haven't yet come close to hitting me with a decent curse," he jeered, his sneering face as cold and hard as his tone. "Tell me, you're not actually planning to leave these grounds alive tonight, are you?"
Lily decided to ignore his taunting and just focus on fighting as hard as she could. "Stupefy! Impedimenta! Diffindo!"
Callixtus laughed in his deep, booming voice, a smile of victory on his face as he ducked the first curse. He was clearly about to stop and resume his jeering, but his arrogance came at a price; the second curse hit him square in the chest as he straightened up. His inability to move quickly caused the third spell to hit, a small but deep cut appearing on his right cheek. However he unfroze momentarily, the smirk returning to his features. "I haven't fired a single curse on you and you're already losing. How pathetic,"
Lily was growing increasingly frustrated with her lack of success; he was dodging and deflecting all of her curses, and if this was the standard of his defence, she wanted to make sure he was disarmed before he decided to go on the offence. "Oppungo!"
Callixtus didn't even flinch as a flock of birds began flying toward him, chirping noisily with obvious aggressiveness. He calmly directed his wand at them and cried, "Incendio!"
Lily had to duck to avoid being singed as the inferno came toward her, cursing herself for not thinking to cast the flame-freezing charm; all her birds had disappeared when they were engulfed in the flames. Lily was beginning to feel hopeless; nothing had worked so far and all the more complex jinxes she had learned about from her father had vanished from her mind under the pressure. "Stupef-"
"Expelliarmus!" bellowed Callixtus, Lily's wand flying over her shoulder before she had a chance to cast a defensive spell. Now I have no way of getting out of this, she thought to herself hopelessly, a lump rising in her throat. I wanted to avenge my parents, and now I'll be joining them instead. They'd be so disappointed in me… The back of her eyes pricked, but she was not going to give Callixtus the satisfaction of letting him see her cry. She would face her death nobly, just as her father had done so many years ago.
"Lily, Lily, Lily, I'm so very disappointed in you. I expected so much more. But I'm afraid I have no more time to waste. I have to go and direct my army, you understand. Farewell, Lily Potter. Avada-'
Preview:
"People like me? Look at you! You're just some nutter in a mask trying to kill a few teenagers, yet you call me pathetic?"
--
Scorpius ran straight to Lily, dropping to his knees next to her, hoping it wasn't too late. Oh god, I'm too late. She's gone, she's dead, he thought to himself. Scorpius held her still, pale form to his rapid-beating heart, gently kissing her forehead. Scorpius tried to hold back the tears that were forming, but he couldn't seem to control himself. "I'm so sorry, Lily. I thought I could - but I wasn't good enough - to protect… I'm so sorry Lily… I - I love you."
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. Ask for permission if you want to use anyone you don't recognise, though I doubt you'd want to.
Author's Note: Perhaps the poll was wrong about this story being a good idea. If no one's reading it there's not much of an incentive to keep going... if I can improve anything please tell me. Otherwise, if people aren't enjoying it, I'll just discontinue the fic...