A/N: And the epic battle commences! The next one will be the last chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters.
Battling With Amaranta
Things only seemed to be worse for Draco. This whole plan Snape had concocted was for him to rescue Amaranta and run somewhere far away, possibly leave the country. Now, he was stuck with his arch nemesis, Harry Potter, and Amaranta had been kidnapped by Dianthe, who whisked her away to torture her no doubt, if she wasn't already dead. He had watched them fly out of the window, and knew that Amaranta would try to use the maze to her advantage. When he got to the center, their special spot, he found it a barren area filled with dead plants and blood. The mermaids looked at him with fear and worry. He prayed to Merlin that they would talk, but that was impossible, even if they were enchanted.
But at least they had a plan.
From what Draco had overheard Snape talking about with Voldemort, Dianthe had some funny business going on in the Forbidden Forest. So to Hogwarts they went. However, according to Harry, they had more business there than saving Amaranta.
"I would really love to help, Draco," Harry said with all seriousness. "But there is something that I must do. If I don't do this, then Amaranta will merely be out of the frying pan and into the fire."
"What frying pan?" Draco asked, confused.
"It's a Muggle expression," Harry sighed at the Malfoy heir's ignorance. "Listen, if I drop everything to go save Amaranta, and don't doubt that I wouldn't, she would be free from Dianthe, yes, but what's to stop Voldemort from killing her afterwards? We need to split up, you save Amaranta, and I'll kill Voldemort."
"How is going to Hogwarts going to kill the Dark Lord?" Draco asked suspiciously.
"None of your business," Harry snapped. "Even if I did tell you, it'd take forever to explain anyway. Just save Amaranta, alright? Or are you so opposed to that idea?"
"Of course not!" Draco said, red-cheeked. It was better this way. He didn't Potter to steal any of the glory, but he had been expecting a row with him over who gets to save her. Was Potter no longer his rival?
So they had split up, and now Draco walked the grounds of Hogwarts Castle in the dark, all alone. He found something odd about the grounds. The sounds his feet were making weren't of those on cool grass, but of hard dirt.
"Lumos!" he whispered and nearly dropped his wand. He was walking on dirt. Not that that was such a terrifying thing, but that the whole entire estate of Hogwarts was completely lifeless. There were no trees, no flowers, and no grass. He looked over towards the Forbidden Forest and saw a large, silhouette. It was a giant tree, he realized. It was humongous now. Dianthe…
Amaranta woke up unable to move. Her eyes half-lidded, she looked around to decipher why. Ashen roots held her steadfast to a tree, begrudging her even an inch of movement. There was a dim light that illuminated the area. She was in a forest, a dark, crowded forest. She looked down at the ground and saw a twisted lump and followed it up to a large, brown wall with strange indentions. No, this wasn't a wall, Amaranta realized. It was the trunk of a tree. A very big tree.
"So you're awake," Dianthe's angelic voice brought Amaranta's attention to her. It was then that Amaranta realized it was the tip of her wand that was the source of the light.
"That's good, I want you to witness this," Dianthe smiled at Amaranta's confusion.
Dianthe lifted her hands above her head, and the ground fell away. Or rather the tree holding Amaranta grew taller and taller, until Amaranta could see leaves on the humongous tree. Soon, they had reached one of the large, flat branches, and the tree stopped growing. Dianthe, who had been riding the tree along with Amaranta, stepped off lightly onto the outstretched branch, and it bent a little under her weight. She flicked her wrist, and Amaranta was dragged along after her. The tree which imprisoned her broke apart from its trunk, and sprouted little legs.
Amaranta was closer inward towards the base of the branch. With the dim lighting, it was hard to tell her surroundings. They had stopped, what Amaranta felt, to be a few paces from the trunk of the massive tree.
"Dubli Lemos!" Dianthe's clear voice cut through the night air.
The tip of the Blommarian's wand glowed brighter, and the light dripped of the wand, to create a small orb that floated around Amaranta's head and then forward, towards the trunk.
Amaranta gave a terrified, little gasp when she finally could discern her surroundings. In the trunk of the tree, was a young boy, his face cold and a little blue. His eyes were closed, as if he were asleep. His skin was so white that his veins shown through, but his hair was a dark black.
"J-Jake!" Amaranta cried, tears streaming down her face.
"Yes," Dianthe hissed evilly. "This is the reason I have not killed you yet." She walked towards the cold body, and caressed the boy's cheek lovingly. "I plan to bring back this boy. He is a lifeless body right now, but once he eats your heart, he'll live, and he'll live forever, with me!" She turned her glowing green eyes towards her prisoner. "Using old Blommarian arts and Dark Magic, I am about to perform the impossible. Bringing the dead back to the living realm. Your stupid tree was only able to recreate the body, but your heart will bring back his soul. Heh, funny, he always did want your heart."
Amaranta wasn't laughing. She did not find this funny at all. Something egged at her from the back of her mind. Something Dianthe said…
The golden haired girl noticed her prisoner's confusion and answered her unasked question. "Why, Amaranta, I'm sure she'd be hurt that you didn't recognize her. After all, wasn't this your favorite tree?"
Something in her brain clicked. Like one of the cogwheels fell into place, and now the gears of her head were turning rapidly.
"The Mother Tree," Amaranta breathed. "You bastard! The mother tree!"
Dianthe laughed, but this only angered Amaranta further. This tree was the one link she had to her past. It had taught her everything about Blommarians, about who she was. It had, in effect, been her mother, like it was the mother of the Forbidden Forest.
Amaranta let out a howl of rage and struggled against her bonds. The tree slackened a little, but she was still unable to claw at the golden-haired beauty like she wanted to.
"It's no use, Amaranta," Dianthe smirked. "Your emotions are too muddled. Your mixture of righteous anger, sorrow, and fear are nothing compared to my pure hatred. Now, I was contemplating how to kill you, after all, I have waited so many years for my revenge, and I have decided, why not have you die for the very reason that I hate you?"
She flicked her wand at the dead body, and it began to move out of the trunk. It opened its eyes to reveal lifeless, blank orbs. The naked body moved slowly towards her.
Amaranta had never felt so disgusted in her life. Dianthe had turned Jake into an Inferius. He was going to kill her. The man she had loved — no, thought she loved — was going to kill her, and she could do nothing about it. Through tear-stained eyes, Amaranta looked at the tip of the blade that Dianthe had conjured for him. It was drawing steadily closer.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"
A burst of yellow light hit the side of the Jake Inferius and sent him reeling over the edge of the branch and cascading down through the leaves. Amaranta flung her head around to see Draco, wand out, and hovering on a broomstick. She had never felt happier in her life. Good thing too, because the tree holding her went limp, and fell over like a dead log.
Dianthe sighed lazily as she watched the Jake Inferius get scratched and broken by the branches below. "I'd rather you not damage my future husband," Dianthe said to Draco. "It'll take even longer for me to bring him to life if I have to regrow bones for him."
Draco ignored her comment and flew straight towards Amaranta.
"Are you alright, Amaranta?" he said frantically, cradling her face in his hands. "Are you hurt anywhere? She didn't touch you at all, did she?"
Amaranta didn't answer his questions, only smiled and placed a hand around his fingers. She was so glad to see him. She thought she was going to die. It would have been such a shame to die, and not see him one last time. The thought reminded her that she had been stabbed in the stomach, not too long ago. She looked down and lifted her shirt, but there was no sign of a wound. Blood stained her clothes, but there wasn't even a scar. Dianthe must have healed her. It would have been bad if she died too early she supposed.
While the two lovebirds were gazing into each others eyes, Dianthe made quick work of levitating her Inferius back onto the branch, and straightening his now crooked back forcefully. She had not calculated Draco coming to Amaranta's rescue. She figured the girl would be dead by then. Oh well. She could kill him too, she supposed. After all, if he died before Amaranta, she was sure the other Blommarian would be devastated in her last few moments alive.
However, Dianthe calculated as she watched her two enemies bask in each other's presence, now that Amaranta is free, she will be able to fight back. I can only hope on her hesitation with Jake to kill her. I'll need to take care of Draco myself.
Without warning, Dianthe flicked her wrist, and the wood beneath Draco became like quick sand, and his feet slowly sunk through. The couple broke out of their dreamy reunion and were now frantic.
"I don't think so," Amaranta growled and Draco then rose back to the surface of the branch.
Dianthe frowned. Draco's presence was giving Amaranta hope, and clearing her feelings. She needed to muck up Amaranta's mind so that she would be unable to fight back probably. Time to late out the guilt.
"So, who will you choose, Amaranta?" Dianthe's angelic voice was cold and stingy. "The old fling or the new fling? Jake requires a Blommarian heart to live, but it doesn't have to be yours. You could kill me and use my heart to bring your old boyfriend back to life, but I'm sure Dracy-poo wouldn't like that very much."
Amaranta frowned, but Dianthe knew that somewhere, deep in the back of her mind, she was seriously considering it.
"You could have Jake back, you know," Dianthe smiled, glancing at her Inferius. "It could be you who lived with him forever. If you are going to steal a boy from me, you should at least keep him."
"But I —" Amaranta began.
"Oh, but you think you're going to live with Dracy-poo forever?" Dianthe laughed. "And you thought that you knew more about Blommarians? A Blommarian and Wizard couple has never been formed before. We are just too different. We are two separate creatures, meant to marry within our own species. Sure, we may be as much human as any other anthropomorphic creatures, but our hearts are that of a plant. We cannot understand each other.
"Of course, you're a goody-two-shoes, and will believe that love can conquer anything, but stop first, and use that dusty old brain of yours. The Heart Flower doesn't cause one to be immortal. No, it has an enzyme in it that triggers a reaction within the body, causing it to stop growing. For us, we stop growing around the age of six, but for a human, it is the moment they eat that fruit. So, Amaranta, you plan on living with Draco for the rest of your life, but how do you think he'll feel as he grows older, wrinkled, and starts decaying, while you remain as beautiful and young as you are now? Even after he dies of old age, you will continue to live on forever, and then you both will suffer, wondering why you even bothered to start this silly thing you two call a relationship. What's the point in developing a deep bond with someone, if they'll just die ahead of you. The one who will suffer is not Draco, but you who will be left alone."
Dianthe eyed Amaranta's reaction. Thought out her whole speech, the young Blommarian grew steadily calmer and more solemn. She was understanding Dianthe's point of view.
"Of course, it would be so nice if you and your partner could live on together forever, wouldn't it? With Jake, as soon as he's revived, he will live on forever as well. You could be together until the end of Time."
"But of course, you're not just going to let Amaranta feed your heart to him, will you?" said Draco coldly. "It doesn't matter that she's not human! I don't care! I still love her!"
"But does she love you?" Dianthe smiled wryly. "When has Amaranta every returned one of your endearments, or ever treated you as more than a friend? She may not even love you for that. You were the only person who didn't treat her like slime, so of course she'd become attached to you, but her heart lies somewhere else, doesn't it, Amaranta? Your heart lies with Jake, here." She caressed the Inferius' face. "You did die for him, after all. I'm sure you'd still be willing to do so."
Draco closed his mouth and looked at Amaranta. She had a blank look on her face, but her eyebrows were furrowed. She had remained completely silent this whole time.
"You were unable to save Jake then, but you could save him now," Dianthe continued with a smile. "He could live again, if you wished. Isn't it sad, that his bright life was ended so abruptly by your simple mistake. It is your fault, after all, that he is dead right now. You were completely aware of my feelings. You knew how I would react to this. You wanted to destroy our friendship. You wanted to keep Jake all to yourself. You were selfish then, as you are now. Jake could live again. He could be happy, and even be close to immortal if you would just die for him. You've lived long enough, haven't you? And you killed him, so the least you could do was give your life in exchange for his. He will thank you for it. Will you be so selfish as to not give your heart to Jake, which he so desires?"
It was then that Draco knew where Dianthe was getting at. She was brainwashing Amaranta into believing that it was her duty to die for the Inferius. And from the look on Amaranta's face, she was believing it.
"No!" he shouted, not really knowing what to say, just knowing that he wanted to stop the hypnotic lull of Dianthe's voice. "It's not your fault, Amaranta! It's not your fault that this chick went psycho and flipped out over a bit of jealousy! She just couldn't handle not getting one guy, when she was so able to get the rest!"
Dianthe glared at Draco. He had said all of that out of spite, but maybe he had been right.
"Bringing Jake back now, won't make him happy," Draco continued. "He'll be waking up to an unknown world, with you dead! How do you think he'll feel about that?"
A spark of hope glittered in Amaranta's eyes. It disgusted Dianthe.
"He'll be glad that Amaranta died for him!" Dianthe spat. "It's her fault he died, after all. She wasn't able to protect him —!"
"Yeah, form you!" Draco snapped back. "You seem to be leaving out the teensy little fact that it was you who flipped out and killed everyone! You were just jealous of Amaranta! But of course, she is thousands of times prettier than you!"
"You little urchin!" Dianthe roared in fury. "It's not my fault! I loved him! And she — she —" The blonde pointed an accusing finger at the still silent Amaranta "—she stole him form me! She knew, oh yes, she knew, I told her, I told her that I loved him, and oh, no, she just had to steal him from me! She hated me! She was envious of my perfection. She just wanted to take something from me! And she didn't even love him! She's a thieving, dirty, little —"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" Draco warned in an intense voice, wand pointed daringly at Dianthe.
"What? Or you'll kill me?" Dianthe laughed. "Go ahead and try —"
"YOU'RE WRONG!" Dianthe's maniacal smile dropped from her face as both stared at Amaranta, who had made the sudden outburst.
"What?" Dianthe asked stupidly.
"You're wrong, I did love him," Amaranta said, a determined look on her face. "But not like that. I loved him like a brother, and I was too foolish back then, to discern it from the true love between a man and a woman. I will admit, part of me was jealous that you were so pretty, and it did boost my ego that I could get a guy you couldn't. However, I didn't stab him through the chest! You're the one who flipped out and killed everyone!
Blood was rushing towards Amaranta's cheeks as she continued. Her talk was becoming more and more passionate. She felt like she was on the brink of a new discovery. Like she was about to find the cure to cancer or global warming.
"And it's because Jake died like that that I don't want him to come back to life! He has eternal peace now, so why would I bring him back into this cruel world? He wouldn't be happy knowing that he took someone's life, even if it was yours! Jake hated lying and stealing, so there's no way he'd be happy with someone else's life.
"And Even if Draco were to die before me, I wouldn't care! I'd kill myself to be with him, because…because I love him!"
It was then, that Amaranta made the discovery, she found the cure. It had seemed so simple, and so funny, that she laughed out loud, clutching her sides. Draco stared at her in bewilderment, a happy flush across his face, and Dianthe looked positively appalled.
Why hadn't she noticed it before? It all seemed so simple to her now. She had been making everything so complicated for herself with the whole betrayal and guilt, but it all seemed so simple now. So simple she felt retarded for not realizing it sooner. Of course she loved Draco, because he was the only one who didn't treat her like slime. He saw her in her worst possible moments and still wanted to be with her forever. And she wanted to be with him too. And sure, they couldn't live in this world together, but who the hell would want to live here forever anyway? She could with for eternity in heaven. She would see Jake there as well, and hand him a high-five, and she would tell him the truth, straight to his face, because he liked the truth, and wouldn't be please if she had lied to him. The thought of it all left her exhilarated.
In fact, Amaranta was still so jazzed up about her latest epiphany that she ran over to where Draco gaped at her and pulled his face towards her in a kiss. The young Malfoy just stared at her in wander, although he was very happy that Amaranta realized she loved him back, though not so happy as to the place and time of her realization. Sitting in a giant tree with a psychotic babe and her pet zombie about to kill you, while who knows what was going on down below at Hogwarts occurred, was not exactly the setting for a romantic climax.
"So you see," Amaranta breathed heavily once she broke her lips away from Draco's, turning to face Dianthe, "I can't let you continue what you are doing, and I can't let you live either, because you're going to try and destroy my source of happiness."
Dianthe closed her open mouth and frowned dangerously. "So you intend to fight me? Fine! It would be boring if you died so easily anyway!"
Dianthe pointed her wand at Amaranta, but Draco had already yelled out "Protego!" A glowing blue shield reflected whatever curse Dianthe had thrown at Amaranta and it hit one of the spindly twigs, shattering it on contact.
Still smiling, Amaranta waved her hand, and one of the thinner branches, snatched Dianthe's wand out of her hand and snapped it in two. Little golden sparks fizzled out, but then died away.
"Uh-un," Amaranta shook her finger, like a mother scolding a child. "We're going to do battle like the Blommarians were are! No magic getting in our way!"
"You're going to regret this!" Dianthe smiled evilly. "I don't need that stupid wand! I am so powerful, that I can do wandless magic! Voldemort himself couldn't kill me without my wand! As long as I believe you won't kill me, you can't!"
"But you don't seriously believe I can't kill you," Amaranta countered. "You know that I'm going to kill you! That was the whole reason you even bothered on trying to get your revenge on me. You wanted to die, and you wanted me to kill you. You know this to be true!"
"That's preposterous!" Dianthe snorted. "It is I that shall kill you not the other way around!"
Dianthe waved her hands and the whole ground, or rather, the tree, shook. Wood from all corners of the tree, shot daggers straight for Amaranta, Draco lifted his wand, about to perform a Protection spell, but Dianthe glared at him. "Oh no, you don't," she growled, ad suddenly the Jake Inferius tackled Draco onto his back, wrestling the wand from his hand. "No annoying interruptions. I'm going to kill her this time, once and for all!"
However, Draco had nothing to worry about. The long, sharp, arms of wood stopped about a meter away from Amaranta, as if she had some glass bubble around her. The branches then turned and instead, shot their sharp, pointed edges at Dianthe. The girl glared at the branches confidently, but they only slowed down. Realizing, in the nick of time, that Amaranta's will was going to hold out against hers, she dodged towards the right, right off the edge of the branch.
Amaranta jumped after her, confident that she could mold the tree to catch her. Dianthe must have thought so as well, because she looked completely cal as she fell, face first, through the foliage. As she had expected, Dianthe was cushioned by a lovely bed of leaves, and Amaranta landed safely onto one of the muscular arms of the tree, not too far off.
A battle between Blommarians is a strangely bloodless one. They spent the first half hour simply tossing back pieces of wood at each other. Each time the knobby fingers of the tree would get close, they'd suddenly veer off towards the other Blommarian, simply to be rebounded back.
Dianthe was getting sick of this. She was getting annoyed. Amaranta was supposed to be weaker than her! Even with her wandless magic, and her Blommarian powers, her opponent was still blocking all of her attacks without even the aid of her wand! Was her sudden love for Draco as strong as her hate for the girl?
Of course not, Dianthe mused. I have thrown away all my other emotions, so that I could only feel hatred and malice. There's no way that Amaranta, with her entire array of emotions can defeat me, who can only feel a single emotion.
She smirked as an idea struck her. Maybe she could use her other emotions. After all, there was a certain tree that Amaranta knew she couldn't control, no matter how strong her love was.
Grinning broadly, Dianthe leapt down even closer to the ground, her gorgeous golden hair whipping behind her like a tail. Amaranta jumped after her, a Dianthe knew she would.
Just before hitting the ground, Dianthe grew little white wings along her ankles, from her wandless magic, and flew lithely along the ground, dodging the tall, dark trees of the Forbidden Forest.
Dianthe didn't know how Amaranta spared herself the terrors of meeting solid ground at high speeds, but when she stopped and turned around, she found Amaranta running after her. Amaranta's smiled dropped slightly when she realized where they were, but then it picked up its brightness again.
"Good, she said, looking at the Whomping Willow, "now I can kill all of you."
Dianthe smiled, not even noticing the twig that lodged into the knot at the base of the tree that caused it to remain calm. Waving her arms a if she were swimming, the Whomping Willow bent to its master's will. As if she were controlling water instead of a tree, the arms of the tree extended towards Amaranta, who leapt out of the way, and pounded into the ground, creating a wide crater. Dirt trickled off the fists of the Whomping Willow as it raised its branches, poised for another attack.
Amaranta ran around, dodging the constant barrages of the tree's mighty fists. She never slackened her pace, and the gears of her head were spinning so fast now, that she feared the mechanism that was her brain would overheat and crash. She had to think of a way to fight her off. She couldn't control the Whomping Willow and, as Amaranta noticed, it was the only source of vegetation for miles. The Mother Tree had probably sucked up all the nutrition from the earth to create Jake's lifeless body.
Amaranta's eyes flashed to the black rose that sat comfortably in Dianthe's breast pocket, the one she had carried around with her everywhere, and probably used to stab Amaranta in the chest. She had a plant which she carried around too…
Mr. Bamboo! Amaranta nearly stopped dead in her tracks with the realization. It was still up in her dorm room, hopefully not wilting away. She had touched her plant since she'd walked up the Astronomy Tower steps to find her adoptive father falling out of the window, dead, over six months ago. It was her only hope right now.
Just barely dodging the Whomping Willow's next attack, Amaranta cried out to her bamboo plant with as much feeling as she could. Her plant was so far away, and probably not even still alive. She imagined the bamboo sitting on her nightstand in the Slytherin dungeons suddenly spring to life, its long stalks grow and snake into the ground, coming towards them through the ground.
Hurry! She thought, her sides were burning with every breath. Dianthe was getting impatient and the Whomping Willow's attacks were becoming fiercer and more frequent. She couldn't run forever.
But then she felt it, the familiar sense of hope and warmth she always got from her favorite plant. Her bamboo plant was near now, underneath them in he ground, awaiting her orders. Amaranta readied herself, she would need a quick, smooth motion to do this. The element of surprise was essential, otherwise Dianthe would bend the bamboo plant to her will.
Stopping suddenly, Amaranta looked straight at Dianthe. "KILL!"
Dianthe had about a nanosecond to react before about five separate stalks of bamboo shot straight through her body, one in each of her legs, another in her side, one in her right shoulder, and the other straight through her chest. Crimson blood gushed out from her body and painted her body its beautiful color. The Whomping Willow stopped only a foot away from the back of Amaranta's head, and recoiled back to its normal size.
Amaranta was breathing like there was never enough air in the world. Shakily, she walked towards Dianthe, who was only still standing because the bamboo held her up. She looked at Amaranta, her face contorted in the midst of probably about to holler out in pain, but something stopped her, however her eyes showed more than her face ever could. Amaranta nearly fell over; she had never felt such extreme malevolence before, and all of it was directed at her.
But then the eyes as her soul, what little of it, though it was, was beginning to part from her, towards its reserved spot in hell for committing a moral crime. But just before she died, her body was enveloped in a green glow, as was the Whomping Willow. But as soon as it came the glow died down, however Dianthe's eyes were sparkling their beautiful emerald once again, but this time they weren't filled with hatred, it was something else. Maybe the tears were the reason Amaranta couldn't discern what emotion Dianthe felt at that moment.
"Ama…ran…" she choked out, her voice strained.
"Yes?" Amaranta whispered. The world felt quiet and empty all of a sudden.
"I'm sorry," she smiled weakly, a fresh stroke of blood dripping down her chin.
"Yeah, me too," Amaranta choked out and realized that she had been crying. She was no longer talking to the mass of evil that possessed her friend's body, but the emotions she had cast off, the friend that she knew, the week, easily-frightened, naïve and innocent Dianthe that she had treated like a little sister. "We were the best of friends, weren't we?"
Dianthe's smile widened, but she was still crying. Amaranta had to admit, Dianthe really was a perfect creature, so pretty.
Their little sob fest was interrupted by a terrible scream, coming from underneath the now normal willow tree. Both girls turned their heads to look, then looked back at each other. Using what little strength she had left, Dianthe grabbed Amaranta's hand and said, "Take my heart…he needs…your help…"
Amaranta felt a new rush of tears burn her eyes. There was no way she could refuse a request like that; it would dishonor the sacrifice she was trying to make. "Ok," she sobbed. "I'll see to it, that you get a proper burial, I know that you wouldn't want to be cremated."
But Dianthe was unable to respond, for she closed her eyes and breathed no more.
Draco came up to find Amaranta, elbow deep in blood, holding a large, golden fruit. She looked at him with tear-stained, beautiful eyes, her lower lip trembling. Maybe now wasn't a good time to tell her that he had burned the Inferius to d — well, nonexistence.
"Amaranta," his voice broke the trance.
"We have to save him," Amaranta said like she had just woken up from a nightmare. She got up, and ran towards the opening at the base of the still willow tree's roots, carrying the fruit, her hands still dripping blood.
Draco had no idea who she meant, but followed her down the steps and into the Shrieking Shack. He was horrified at the scene he found, Harry, Ron, and Hermoine were leaning over Snape's quivering body. For a second, Amaranta remained rooted to her spot. This was the man who had killed her Albus…But she quickly pushed that thought to the back of her mind.
"No!" Amaranta shrieked and dove towards the old Potions Master. "Don't die on me, you idiot!"
Harry and the others stared at them in horror and shock. Harry was holding a vial full of some silver vapor.
Frantic, Amaranta held the fruit above Snape's mouth, squeezing its golden juices down, however, some of the blood one her hands dropped into his mouth as well. "Swallow it! Now!"
Snape made the motion to swallow, with a sickening gulp. Amaranta didn't feel that that was enough. She tore little bits from the fruit and shoved it down the professor's mouth.
"Stop that!" Draco sounded frightened. "Do you want to choke him?"
"I don't care as long as it gets into his stomach!" Amaranta shouted back at him, her eyes wide in her frenzy.
"Stop…it…egh," Snape's voice was raspy and muffled by the fruit in his mouth. "You…fool…" He swallowed the pieces of fruit in his mouth.
More tears fell down Amaranta's face and she looked like she wanted to collapse with the relief she felt.
"Oh, thank goodness," Hermoine breathed.
"How do you feel?" Draco asked, slightly shaken.
"How do…you think...I feel?" Snape still managed to snap.
Amaranta managed a slight giggle, but tears were still streaming down her cheeks. Suddenly, a cold voice reverberated through the walls. "You have fought valiantly," said Voldemort's voice. "Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is wasted.
"Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured.
"I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."
Ron and Hermoine shook their heads, but Draco and Amaranta looked curiously at Harry. They had no idea that an all-out war had been going on while they were fighting Dianthe.
"Don't listen to him," said Ron.
"It'll be alright," said Hermoine wildly. "Let's — let's get back to the castle, if he's gone to the forest, we'll need to think of a new plan —"
"Harry," Snape's quiet voice seemed to ring out.
"Yes, sir?" Harry answered automatically, looking at the frail man lying on the ground.
"Make sure…she sees it too," he said, looking at Amaranta.
Harry nodded.
"What about you?" Amaranta asked. "We can't just leave you here!"
"Yes, you can," Snape ordered, his old snap coming back. "And you'll do so! The Dark Lord…thinks I'm dead…no one will come here…"
Amaranta didn't look pleased with that answer, but before she could say anything, Draco pulled her up by the arm.
"Do as he says, Amaranta," Draco said, his once wild voice now calm. "Soon, he'll be able to heal himself, and he'll be as good as new," he looked at Snape," but it's probably best that you remain here, even if you are able to walk. You won't be accepted on either side, now."
Snape nodded curtly.
"Come on," Hermoine said to all of them, heading towards the door. "We can't dawdle here. Let's go."
Amaranta gave one last glance at the man she had hated, maybe she still hated him, and then let Draco drag her out of the Shrieking Shack.