Elleyne lay in frightened silence, her hand slipping through Gilderoy's tousled hair to land at her side. Her body tensed from her position on the floor, and Gilderoy's heartbeat was loud in her ears, though not loud enough to drown out the noise of the approaching danger.
Daringly, Elleyne thought she recognized a couple of the voices below them. They were getting closer, she could hear them searching in various places, climbing, climbing the stairs, the same stairs that had made her dizzy to the point of vomiting. It didn't seem to be slowing their pursuers down one bit.
It must take a while for them to search the whole mansion, she thought desperately. By chance they might never find us after all. But she knew her hopes were wooden, and in that moment she was intensely glad for the man next to her. As long as she wasn't alone, Elleyne felt she could face jail. Even if it was a few years in Azkaban.
She had no idea how many people had come into the house in the first place, but she got the impression that there were a lot of them, and that they were slowly dispersing on different levels, searching tirelessly everywhere they could. Soon only a few pairs of feet could be heard, right under them, some solitary voices speaking, and Elleyne felt Gilderoy's body tense silently as she realized she could hear them perfectly clear now.
"Why…they're right under us," she thought. And then the footsteps stopped, and she knew they were faced the split in the passageways…knew that their eyes were piercing the darkness only seconds in front of where she and Gilderoy lay.
The voices of the men—two men and a woman were speaking. Gilderoy grasped Elleyne tightly, and Elleyne curled into him. They curled into each other, as if they could disappear that way. The voices were speaking, and still they heard.
"You two go that way," a commanding man's voice said.
"You sure they haven't got them already below?"
"No, that would be Roderick tripping over himself."
Elleyne held her breath, for she recognized the voice of the man in charge. Brodyn.
And then the time was up. Footsteps, shaking the dust-coated floor they were lying on, began to sound. Gilderoy shifted, and raised himself into a standing position. Elleyne stared up at him, uncomprehending, pleading him not to do anything. She wanted to tell him it was all her fault, and that he should let them return him to the Hospital, not to get into trouble over her.
Gilderoy reached down and lifted Elleyne to her feet. Before she could utter a word, he had shoved her roughly into a door to the left of them, a door she had not noticed before, and closed it firmly. Elleyne lay in the still darkness of the next room, not knowing what to do. Her instincts kept her from pounding on the door, and her throat felt dry.
Just let them take you, she thought fearfully, let them take you. Roy, now is not the time to be brave.
Her lips still tasted like his. And in the darkness, Elleyne waited.
Outside in the hall, Gilderoy turned, his back against the door, and waited. He didn't have long to wait. His newly rejuvenated mind raced madly inside himself, as he saw them approach him. A man and a woman. Both professionally dressed as members of the St. Mungo's staff. Both wielding wands, which they immediately lowered upon seeing him.
Gilderoy stepped forward to meet them, not allowing himself to dwell on what he was about to do.
"Mr. Lockhart." The man smiled at him in a way that was most sickening and condescending. "I know this might be frightening for you…"
Gilderoy wasn't listening as Brodyn continued to talk. His stuffed his hands into his pockets, all too conscious of the fact that he was sweating.
Don't be a coward, stop them, stop them.
HOW?!
Gilderoy's hand came across something hard and wooden, and he stopped fidgeting. Elleyne's wand. A shaky smile came across his face.
Brodyn was still speaking.
"…Now, if you'll just go with Janice here," he indicated the woman, who smiled falsely. "I'm just going to check around back there…is that a picture?"
Brodyn started forward, and his eyes came across the door behind which Elleyne was hidden.
"Move aside."
"No."
"Move—
The next thing Gilderoy did, he did quickly, and without thinking. All that was in his mind was Elleyne's face, and as Brodyn's arm gripped his own, he felt his father's hand across his face, and Elleyne's wand was out and pointing straight at the startled man, and when he spoke next, his voice was passionate and indicative of a resurgence of memory, and though he hardly knew what he was doing, Gilderoy did what he could do best. He felt the force tingling along his wand arm; it was going to be enormous, and there was nothing he could do to stop it if he had wanted to.
"OBLIVIATE!"