A/N: sorry for the slightly unpolished chapter, but I felt like I need to update this sometime, since I meant to do this last week. please enjoy.
If she hadn't stopped to dawdle in front of the mirror after washing her hands, Parvati knew that she wouldn't be in this mess.
Pansy was blocking the doorway, preventing Parvati from leaving, not that Parvati felt much like leaving. Anger was surging through her, and it was taking all of her willpower to prevent her from taking out her wand and cursing Pansy all the way to St. Mungo's
"I said, Where's that slut you call your best friend," said Pansy speaking very deliberately, grinning at Parvati nastily, the three girls behind her giggling. "Don't make me repeat myself again."
Parvati forced a smile onto her face, though she was sure it didn't fool anyone. "She's probably waiting for me in Divination."
"You're still taking lessons from Trelawney, the stupid little fraud?" asked Pansy, the mocking grin on still on her face. "" Oh, Are you all right? you look like your stomach hurts.
"I'm fine," said Parvati tightly. She knew that Pansy was trying to get her to do something stupid, and she refused to let it work. "And I'm taking Divination with Frenize this year, something you would know if you had been managed to get a decent score on your O.W.L."
"Oh, my score was fine, thank you," said Pansy, but Parvati saw how her eyes narrowed slightly and knew she had scored a point, albeit a minor one. "And I would never take lessons from a half-breed," she added suddenly.
"I am, and I'm going to be late if I don't leave right now," said Parvati angrily, pushing past Pansy.
"How's your sister doing?" yelled Pansy, as Parvati hurried down the hall. "I heard that she was sleeping the Amycus, trying to get her grades back up. Is that true?"
Parvati halted in her tracks. The anger that started when Pansy had insulted Lavender, Firenze and Professor Trelawney blew up. Her breathing unsteady, she plunged a hand into her robes, grabbed her wand, and whirled about, yelling "STUPIFY!"
Parvati got Pansy before any of her gang could react, her body collapsing limply to the floor, her face frozen in shock. The other three girls froze for a moment, giving Parvati enough time to hit Millicent Bulstrode, whose limbs snapped to her body, and she fell to the floor with a loud crash.
But now the other two girls had realized what was going on. One dived through the bathroom door Pansy was still holding open with her body, and the other sent a curse toward Parvati, who quickly sidestepped it. Parvati retaliated by sending another full body bind toward the girl, who ducked as it soared over her head.
The other girl leaned out of the room, only her head and arm showing, yelling "Impedimenta!"
Parvati only just managed to shout "Protego" in time for it to bounce off, hitting the first girl, who was a little too slow this time. The curse hit her right in the chest, and Parvati could see her struggling against the curse, glaring at Parvati spitefully.
Parvati felt like she was doing pretty well – only one left out of four—when she heard a loud BANG behind her. Fast as she was, she had only turned halfway around when ropes caught her around the ankles, wrists, and mouth. With a curse muffled by the gag, she overbalanced and fell to the floor headfirst, wincing as her cheek struck the hard stone floor. Her wand clattered out of her hands, and, after a moment of searching with her hands, she determined that it was out of reach.
"What's going on here?" said Alecto Carrow's voice. "I'm in the middle of a class, and you interrupt me?"
"It was her," said one of the Pansy's gang, presumably the only one left who could still talk. "She ambushed us just as we were leaving."
"Another witless girl attacking you, eh?" said Alecto, her footsteps coming closer. "They never learn, eh?"
Parvati felt hands drag her upright, dragging her so that she could sit upright against the wall. Alecto 's lumpy face was right in front of her, a smile playing around her mouth that Parvati knew meant bad news for her.
"Patil, right?" asked Alecto, picking up Parvati's wand. "You're in trouble now, aren't you? attacking for no reason."
Parvati didn't bother to respond, doubting that even if she had been able to speak, that anything she said would be make a difference at this point. Instead, she tested the bindings on her wrists, as Alecto walked to where Pansy and Millicent where still laying on the floor. The knots were tight, and she doubted that she would be able to get them off anytime soon.
By turning her head, Parvati was able to watch as Alecto pointed her wand, first at Pansy's limp body, then at Millicent's rigid one. two flashes of light later, and both of them climbed to their feet, looking mad.
Alecto walked back over to where Parvati was restrained, her squat her form seeming much taller than usual. Without a word, Alecto used her wand to cut the robes. Parvati flinched as her carless aim of the spell nicked her skin slightly, but refused to give Alecto the satisfaction of uttering any noise. Alecto seemed to take no notice, hoisting her to her feet and dragging her back to the Muggle Studies classroom.
Parvati followed Alecto, knowing that Lavender would already be missing her in Divination. Parvati anxiously spun the bracelet she wore on her wrist in circles, an action made awkward by the ropes on her wrists, as Alecto quickened her pace, seemingly eager to reach their destination.
In what seemed like mere seconds, They had reached the door to the Alecto's classroom. Alecto barged in, scaring the thirty or so third years that were copying something from the blackboard.
"Out," Alecto barked, and the third years all quickly stuffed their work inside their bags, and scurried out, seeming not at all sorry to leave.
Alecto shoved her into a chair, making the chair skid a few inches with the violence of the moment. Without bothering to look at her, Alecto walked out, slamming the door behind her. Parvati waited a good five seconds, before reaching up and ribbing the gag out of her mouth.
"That's better," she told the empty room, before going to work on the ropes keeping her wrists together. These proved much tougher; after a solid five minutes of working at the knots with her teeth, she tried sawing it against the rough edge of the desk. After another five minutes of this, she gave up, knowing that it wouldn't have done much good to be free of the bindings without her wand anyway.
Alecto walked in, less than a minute after Parvati had given up working on the ropes., floating a large case in front of her. Parvati knew instantly what would be in the case.
"A boggart," said Alecto to Parvati, apparently thinking that she didn't know what was inside it. With a wave of her wand, the case flew through the air and came to rest on the desk. Another wave, and the ropes holding Parvati's wrists together fell to the floor in pieces.
Rubbing her wrists, Parvati stood up and turned to look at Alecto. To her surprise, the door was already closed, and was partway through sealing itself with a noise like a lemon being squished.
Parvati stood up, thinking. She could still hear Professor Lupin's voice in her mind. 'I would like all of you to take a moment to think what scares you the most…' Parvati shivered as any number of horrible things came to mind, an effect she was sure had been reinforced by being forced to live in the castle this year.
The first thing that came to her mind was a mummy, the same mummy that had appeared to her in her third year, and a memory of a vacation in Egypt, where a mummy had come to life in one of the pyramids they had been in, and grabbed Padma by the hair. At once, an image far worse came to mind, one of Padma, lying on a blood strewn floor, clearly dead.
Parvati reached for her wand, forgetting in her terror that she didn't have it, and that the scene in front of her was fake, a mere image caused by an overworked imagination.
Breath, she told herself, closing her eyes. Just breathe. You can't be scared, you where put in Gryffindor. When she opened her eyes, she could still imagine Padma lying there, and Parvati wondered if Alecto was doing this on purpose. Maybe she knew how horrible the wait felt?
She can go to hell, thought Parvati determinedly, straightening up. Barely hesitating, she marched to the desk, undid the latch, and threw it open.
Parvati felt it before she saw it. She remembered two years ago when Hagrid had led them onto the forbidden forest, deeper then she had ever wanted to go, and showed them the thestrals. She had never forgotten the flesh from the cow had disappeared into thin air or the cold feeling when they had passed close to her.
The same feeling was coming from the packing case now, and Parvati backed up so fast that she smacked into a desk behind her. Rubbing her leg where it had hit, she watched fearfully as head, and then the legs climbed slowly out of the case.
It was exactly as Parvati had pictured them. The book had described them as skeletal creatures, and Parvati saw as emerged from the case completely, that the book had understated it. The threstral barely had any skin on it, and she could see the white of bones showing through in several places. The head was covered in spiky black fur, with blood slowly dripping from it.. However, it wasn't until Parvati looked into the eyes that she stepped back, repelled by what she saw.
The eyes were bright red, with slits where the pupils should have gone. And behind those eyes lay the promise of misery, of horror and fear and anguish and a dozen other things that Parvati couldn't name.
Backpedaling as fast as she could, she gasped in pain as she slammed into the same desk she had hit a minute earlier, whirling around at the noise it made as it scrapped backwards a few inches. Parvati could feel her heart racing as she looked around wildly for a second, searching for what had hit her. Realizing after a moment that it was just the desk, she jumped at a noise the threstral made. She turned as fast as was humanly possible, all too aware that the thestral could be right behind her.
The threstral was ignoring her, bent over something- A body? laying on the floor that Parvati was quite sure hadn't been there a moment before. It wasn't until the thestral lifted its head that Parvati was able to get a clear look at what it
It was now clearly a body, a very familiar body. Parvati couldn't see the head, but she recognized the hair, the hands that were so like her own. Only the absence of the dull gold bangle on the right hand revealed the truth: it wasn't Parvati's body, it was Padma's.
Parvati drew back, feeling as though she had been struck. She had expected this, (how could she not?) but seeing her sister lying like this, beyond any help that Parvati knew she could provide, was far worse then she could ever imagine.
Too horrorstruck to do anything, Parvati watched, frozen, as the thestral gazed at her for a moment, then, reached its long, bony neck down toward Padma's body, reaching for the hand that Parvati could see.
Parvati shrieked, as the thestral gripped the hand with its teeth, and ripped a long strip of skin from it. Parvati's stomach turned as the skin ripped off, making a wet, sloppy sound as it came off. Parvati only managed to look a instant longer, before she couldn't bear it anymore, and fell to her knees, puking onto the ground.
The sound of her vomit hitting the floor didn't quite manage to disguise the noise the thestral was making as it chewed, pointed teeth making short work of the skin. The sound alone made her sick, and she had barely finished puking the first time, when she felt it coming up again.
This time, the sound of her retching was so loud that it almost managed to hide the noise the thestral was making, though enough of it got through that Parvati had no doubt what it was doing.
Grasping the desk she had hit earlier, she forced herself up, forcing herself to glare at the thestral, which promptly ignored her and reached down to take another strip of her sister. Screaming with rage, Parvati grabbed a chair and threw it at the thestral.
The thestral merely stepped to one side, kicking over Padma's limp body as it did so. Parvati almost puked again, and it was only with extreme force of will that she managed not to.
Padma was barely recognizable, her white skull showing through on one side. Screaming incoherently, Parvati seized another chair and threw it at the thestral, her eyes never leaving what was left of her sister's face. The chair clattered against the wall uselessly. Parvati grabbed the desk and tossed as hard as she could against toward the thestral, grunting with the effort.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Parvati yelled, grabbing another desk as the first one missed. "STOP TOUCHING HER!"
She threw the second desk, and though lighter than expected, it was too bulky for her to manage it, and it flew harmlessly into the teacher's desk, making the house elf that had just appeared there jump. With a startled look at her, the elf, disappeared with a loud crack hidden by the sound of the chair Parvati had just tossed at it.
"STOP IT. STOP IT," Parvati screeched, grabbing a chair and switching tactics, instead running up and bashing it against the thestral who acted like nothing was happening. "DON'T YOU DARE THOUCH HER AGAIN YOU BASTERD!"
Parvati hit the thestral with the chair again and again. For what felt like a hour, she just stood there, lifting the chair over and over, before giving up, her arms shaking with the effort she had expended. Standing, there, trembling with rage and helplessness, She watched as the thestral reached down and tore off the last of Padma's face, leaving nothing but a grinning white skull, with only a few small bloody chunks clinging on to it. Parvati gagged at the noise, hating the thestral for doing this, hating Alecto for doing this too her, hating Pansy for causing this, and hating herself for not being able to stop this.
Parvati felt hot tears she had tried to deny well up, the feeling of helplessness only increasing. She looked around for some way out of this mess, some escape to end this. When she turned back to the thestral, another body had appeared, the blond hair spilling out in front of the face revealing who it was instantly to Parvati.
Anger surged through Parvati, and with another screamed, she resumed her attempts to stop the thestral, to find some way for it to leave Lavender alone. Screaming once more, She picked up everything that she could lift, tossing it all, refusing to acknowledge what was happening to her best friend. Minutes seem to pass, and at last, when everything in the room had landed in a pile, and Parvati's voice was almost gone, when her whole body was trembling, she looked at Lavender.
Her friend's face was almost gone, and the thestral, with a snort, moved her body toward Padma's so that the two bodies… the two skeletons… were touching, like some morbid hug of dying friends. Finally accepting that she could do nothing to stop this, Parvati slumped down to the floor, defeated.
"Please…" she begged, looking up from where the skeletal remains of her sister and her best friend lie. "Just stop. I can't"
The thestral regarded her for a moment, before reaching its long, nightmarish head down toward the bodies. Parvati watched it, tears thankfully blurring her vision, so that she couldn't make out the details of what it was doing.
There was a small, mocking knock on the door, and someone opened the door. Parvati glimpsed around, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. Alecto stood above her, taking in the carnage that Parvati had caused. With a simple wave of her wand, she accomplished what Parvati had been trying to do since this nightmare began. The thestral, Padma, and Lavender all disappeared in front of Paravti's eyes, gone so fast that she could still see afterimages of them in front of her.
"Are you going to stop fighting in the corridors?" asked Alecto, waving her wand so that all the desks and chairs flew back into their spots, before turning to face Parvati, the usual lumpy grin in place.
"yes," mumbled Parvati hoarsely, getting to her feet. She couldn't meet Alecto's eye, but she could tell by her tone that she was leering.
"Don't let me catch you again."
"Right," said Parvati, taking her wand from Alecto 's outstretched hand.
"You can go," said Alecto, just now noticing the puke, and vanishing it with her wand.
Parvati set off immediately, twirling the bracelet on her wrist rapidly, taking some small comfort in the familiar sensation of the metal on her skin. Ginny and Neville needed to be told how bad this was. They had to stop it. They had to destroy the boggart before anyone else was subjected to it.
Parvati stopped at a window, peering out into the misty grounds. It might have been her imagination, but she thought that she saw a shadow fly out of the forest. Only slightly surprised to find that she was shivering again, Parvati quickly turned away from the window, knowing that she would never forget what she had seen.
It was too similar to what her future might hold for her to forget.
A/N: I think I'm going to make the chapters differ a little more, since the last three chapters have all been about people losing family members. realistic, but it needs to be switched up a little.
As always, if you have any ideas, or any criticisms for me, either leave a review, or if you don't want to do that, PM me.