Now or Never
And it's no one's fault
There's no black and white
Only you and me
On this endless night
And as the hours run away
With another life
Oh, darling can't you see
It's now or never
It's now or never
Jenny
9/2/10
10:26 a.m.
I instantly got the feeling of being in a deep depressing well. I realized that I had gone right into a courtroom. Two Dementors brought in a poor, tiny woman. Her face was completely bloodless, and mine felt about the same as the Dementors in the room stood motionless, like dangerous Grim Reapers. Looking up, I saw three people behind a balustrade. One was an enormously fat woman, she looked like a sick, twisted toad. Beside her was a truly evil looking man, with his face in a constant scowl. Third, a elderly witch with wispy hair looked like she was about to faint. I suddenly had my suspicions that the witch was Hermione. If Harry and Ron were here, and Harry came down this way…it only made sense.
The fat woman was oozing infuriating injustice as she started to haggle this poor woman who I realized must be a Muggle Born. Only when the woman who I finally recognized as Umbridge leaned forward did my brain, slightly numbed from the Dementors, suddenly snap to life. A shiny tiny locket fell from her bosom to dangle into space, and the wispy witch stiffened. That had to be Hermione. I jumped when Umbridge was suddenly Stunned, the man following. As soon as Umbridge was Stunned, the Dementors started to glide back in to the center, where I was standing stupidly besides the poor woman. It felt like my blood was turning to ice as they swept closer. Unhappy memories raced through my head when the Dementors realized there were two beings in the middle of the floor.
Greyback suddenly advanced, and his teeth sinking into my shoulder sent ice cold needles in me, making me shudder and gasp. His teeth were numbing the bite site, but the deep dark coldness from the bite was trying to freeze over my brain. No matter how hard I fought back, its icy cold grasp was painfully tight, restraining. His teeth came out, nicking the edges with new coldness until the shocking cold erupted in my side, and the two cold beings combined, pushing with incredible pressure and force on my brain, trying to kill it, take it over…
My frantic search across the counter for a weapon of any kind to get Greyback off of me felt like a race for life. I wanted to scream and cry, it felt like I would never get there, like it was useless. My hand was trembling on the counter, and everything I touched that wasn't a weapon seemed to speed up the coldness. The feeling like I was going to die was overwhelming-
It was suddenly gone. The dungeon-like courtroom was warm and filled with light from a beautiful and huge stag, and I dimly recognized that it was a Patronus. Chains clinked as Hermione and Harry, with their locket, helped the poor woman up. I blinked, when I realized that I had curled into a defensive little ball on the floor. I stood up quickly and followed them out, lightly brushing against Harry as we started away from the courtroom door, and he swore, making Hermione and the Muggle Borns he was essentially saving look confused. "Jenny! How the hell did you get down here?" He hissed.
"What?" Hermione gasped, but Harry didn't answer her. He was glaring around, and I remembered how sensitive he was about Dementors. No wonder he didn't want me down here. Oops.
"That doesn't matter. What matters is that you need to find-"
"Reg!" The woman from the courtroom screamed, and threw herself into Ron's arms as he stumbled down the steps. He quickly got her off and addressed Harry.
"We need to leave, the Ministry knows intruders are here, something about a hole in Umbridge's door-"
"Shit," I breathed, the eye in my bag seemed like it was burning, a mark of pure shame. I was trying to help my friends, and I was only getting them in trouble. Ron and Hermione had jumped at the sound of my voice. Shaking it off, I pulled on Harry's sleeve, and when the part I was pinching disappeared, Hermione gasped. "You need to move, move, move." I insisted, and with a slight push, they started off again.
"H-how?" Hermione spluttered finally as the crowd of people crowded into lifts. I stood beside her and put a hand gently on her shoulder. "Oh, Disillusionment Charm. Oh, Jenny, I'm sorry we had to leave so suddenly without saying goodbye, but it was the only way, I swear. How are you?" She said this all very fast. Wondering how she knew the Charm I was under, I replied:
"Hermione, take deep breaths, I'm fine. I'm actually on a mission I'm so well. But my new mission is to make sure you three get out of here, and that you don't come back. It's dangerous enough that I'm here, for you it's even worse." I said firmly, and as the lift doors opened, I realized that what I had just said might be impossible. Wizards were dashing through the Atrium, sealing exits.
"STOP!" Harry thundered, his new voice almost magnified, echoing through the hall. All the wizards stopped, but I darted forward anyway, pulling up off to the side, ready to take the wizards out as the unwisely converged together as Harry stalked forward, using Runcorn's intimidating frame to his advantage. Harry blustered against the main wizard that stepped forward…and then…the real Reg stepped out of a lift, running towards his wife. The wizard next to me looked like he was dawning on some kind of comprehension as Ron swore loudly. The real Reg looked incredibly confused.
"Seal the exit! SEAL IT!" The man from the courtroom burst out of a lift. I saw the balding wizard who had been sealing exits raise his wand, aiming for Harry. Instantly, I jumped and spun, kicking the wand out of his hand, then rolling through his confused legs and chopping the back of his neck, making him drop. Harry, Ron and Hermione dashed for the open fireplaces, Muggle Borns following as the man from the courtroom raised his wand, his brutish face full of determination, he knew what was happening. He lifted his wand, about to cast a spell to kill my friends. I seized the man's wand from the ground and threw it like a sword, then chasing after it to make sure this man never cast a spell at them again. It hit his forehead with a dull thud, splitting, and he fell to his knees, looking desperately confused. "What? What?" He repeated, sounding struck dumb. Looking down, I noticed that it looked like I was starting to not be so invisible. Wavy pieces of my shirt were starting to lightly color the air, streaking it.
Cursing silently, I moved swiftly over and took his hair, then brought his head down as I brought my knee up. The crunch that followed was far too satisfying as I dashed out of the Atrium and into a lift. Luckily, everyone's attention was now on the bleeding man I had just inflicted heavy pain on, and the lift taking off with no one in it was not noticed. I dashed down the hallway to Mr. Weasley's office to find him nervously staring at a file, his eyes not really reading the page. I shut the door and he leapt up, throwing down his file. "Mr. Weasley," I gasped, panting from my mad dash for safety, in case I had been followed. "Our trio was here in the Ministry, I just helped them get out." I spoke in code, just in case, and Mr. Weasley slowly sat down again, looking shocked. Then he put his forehead in his hand, thinking. "But I picked up the things you wanted," I spoke in code again, and quieter this time. "And you are being followed, tracked, by the Ministry. You can't come in to work from our 'home' anymore." I said even more quietly, and Mr. Weasley sighed, lifting his head as I sat lightly on the edge of his desk.
"We're nowhere near being done with the work day, but going home now would be suspicious. I don't want you picking up anymore of my things, I want you to stay here, alright?" He almost whispered, picking up his file again.
"You should renew your charm. I'm starting to waver." I said, and it was true. It seemed like my fighting and furious dash from the Atrium to his office had made the charm start to become wavier. As Mr. Weasley picked up his wand, I heard footsteps coming. Instantly, I jumped, landing in his lap, making him start, but then rolled down his legs in a little ball, against his shins, under the desk. Two pairs of feet stepped into Mr. Weasley's office…