DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING JK ROWLING OR ALPHAVILLE DOES!
CHAPTER FOUR
Two months passed. Besides an incident where Malfoy came sneaking up behind Beth and scared her so bad that she crouched, trembling, underneath the desk (which got Malfoy a week of detention), Beth was becoming more comfortable with people other than Ron, Harry, Hermione, Dumbledore, and Snape. Ron and Beth had progressed to occasionally holding hands in the corridors and absolutely glowing at all times. Beth had regained some color, and though five out of seven nights she still woke up screaming, she was getting better about waking up and calming down. She smiled way more (most of which were in no little way related to Ron) and she was eating a little more than the two pieces of bread she was eating when she had first returned.
Hermione had been caught in the library with Fred and had let the cat out of the bag that they had been secretly together ever since before Beth had gone to Azkaban. Fred and George had gone to her for a certain spell for a wand that twisted itself into several consecutive knots and one day Fred had expressed interest in her. She had reciprocated that interest, and ever since then, they spent time together in the library discussing the hazards of gags and laughing at the stupid ones.
Harry had told Ginny how he felt about her when they celebrated the success of their matchmaking of Beth and Ron. Ginny gladly accepted those feelings and returned her own, which were of the same nature.
The news about the Muggle-wizard army was now widespread. There were rumors of the army growing larger and rumors that Dumbledore knew the exact date of the attack somehow, but there was nothing concrete at the moment to be worried about. They continued simply being extra careful.
Things were going wonderfully. One day Dumbledore stopped them in the hallway.
"I believe Hagrid wanted to see you," he said, smirking as he caught a little cheesy grin that passed from Beth to Ron and back. "You should go ahead and go now," he said.
"All right," Hermione said.
"We will," Harry said, and they set off to Hagrid's hut. They soon arrived and Hermione knocked on his door.
"Hello, Hagrid!" she said as he opened it.
"Hello, there," Hagrid said. "Come on to the table and sit yerselves down. I've made tea and sandwiches," he said as he led them to the table.
"These are real good, Hagrid," Ron said after a few moments of gobbling down a few sandwiches.
"Yeah," Beth said. "I remember my dad made the best sandwiches, too," she said sweetly with that sad smile once again making an appearance on her face. Everyone looked around with a slightly awkward feeling.
"Memories…is funny things," Hagrid finally said. "Even when you remember the good ones, they still make you sad."
"So I have a question," Ron said to Hagrid,
"Go on," Hagrid said a bit nervously.
"Last week, Malfoy had tried to go into the girls' dorms to play a prank on Hermione and Beth, and the stairs turned into a slide and he couldn't get up them," Ron explained. "But when Harry and I have ever gone there, we get in just fine. Why is that?"
Hagrid was visibly relieved. "Well, yeh must've always gone in with good intentions for the girl you were coming ter see. Either that, or you were returning Miss Beth to her bed." Harry and Ron turned to smile at Beth, who smiled sheepishly back.
"So, Hagrid, have you heard anything new about the building army?" Hermione asked.
"Well, er, let's see here," Hagrid said, stuttering over his words. "I heard they got them humans with, er, those gunny-thingies, like that one that that fool Dursley pointed at me the day I first met yeh, Harry, do you remember that?"
"Yeah, I remember, Hagrid. And yeah, we've heard that, too," Harry said suspiciously.
Beth was starting to get suspicious, too. "So, Hagrid, Dumbledore said you wanted to see us. Was there something specific you needed?" she asked, concerned.
"Oh, I almost forgot to show yeh!" Hagrid said excitedly. "Come over here!" He led them over to a tank in the darkest corner of the room. "Look at this grindylow I found in the Black Lake," he said as they looked at it. "It's quite a peculiar shade of blue, isn't it? It seems just fine, though. Seems normal, just a weird color," he said as he stared lovingly at it.
"That's very nice, Hagrid," they all said as they looked at each other, wondering what was going on.
"We should get back. We have a big test to study for," Beth said as they started toward the door.
In a flash, Hagrid had put himself between them and the door. "No, no, I'm sure yeh could stay just a bit longer," he said unconvincingly. "Yeh don't really want ter study, do yeh?" he asked hopefully.
"Hagrid, what…" Harry started to say, but before he could finish, the unmistakable sound of a machine gun filled the hut.
"What is that?"Beth shrieked as she nearly crawled back to the table.
"It's a machine gun. Almost like a wand that casts the Avada Kedavra spell many, many times in a row. Hagrid, you knew! You knew the army was coming today, didn't you?" Harry demanded.
"Dumbledore knew," Hagrid admitted. "He asked me ter keep yeh here until it was all over. Now, just come and sit and eat."
They were all livid. Hagrid was aware of this.
"Hagrid, we can sit and eat when we're dead, which might happen sooner rather than later if they find us in here!" Hermione exclaimed. "We need to be helping them out there!" she said as she heard a scream and rushed out of the hut. The others followed her in a hurry to find the entire Muggle-wizard army stretched between them and the castle. They were all astounded and horrified.
"How are we going to get back?" Ron asked.
"How'd they all get 'ere like this?" said Hagrid in horrified amazement.
"I don't know, but it looks like the only way to avoid them is if I fly you all over," Beth said, a glint of determination in her eye.
"How?" asked Hermione. "You can't carry us all."
"Not all at once," said Beth, "but I can if I carry you one at a time." She unfurled her wings, and Hagrid's eyes became filled with wonder.
"I think she's right," Hagrid agreed.
Beth nodded. "I'll take each of you over, and then you can go help Madam Pomfrey. I'm sure she'll need it. Then I'll meet you there after I carry the last one over."
"I'll stay back," Hagrid said. "I'll be more help to 'em by stayin' outta this."
"Alright." Beth nodded again. "You three'd better figure out what order you'll go in now, so there won't be more time wasted than is necessary."
It was finally agreed upon that, since Hermione was the only girl besides Beth, she should go first. Next would be Harry, as Ron, with some bitterness, pointed out that the world's savior from Lord Voldemort was more than likely more needed on the other side than he. He would be going over last.
Beth picked up Hermione around the middle and Harry and Ron watched as she soared upward until she reached a point where the Muggles' guns wouldn't reach her. Then she flew off towards the other side.
Harry and Ron nervously glanced around as they waited for Beth to come back, and Hagrid kept muttering, "Yep, they'll be just fine, she'll be back in just a minute, yep, she will…" to himself. What must've taken only minutes seemed to take hours. Finally she came into sight and landed, a little out of breath but otherwise completely fine.
"Hermione got in just fine. Now come on, Harry, we can't waste time," she said as she motioned him over. Beth grabbed Harry around the middle just as she had Hermione and Harry watched as Ron and Hagrid got smaller and smaller until they were gone.
"You all right, Beth?" Harry asked midflight.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, but Harry knew she was scared, even though he was facing the ground, from the tone of her voice and the way she was slightly shaking.
Suddenly Harry saw the stairs into the castle. Beth started to lower him down and soon had placed him carefully on the steps.
"Hurry to Madam Pomfrey's, Harry, go!" Beth said as she turned around to take flight again.
"Thanks!" Harry yelled as he ran down the corridor. He soon reached the Infirmary, where Hermione and Madam Pomfrey were rushing to the aid of the few but seriously wounded patients. Hermione hurried Harry over to a patient in need, and soon his mind was anywhere but on the time it would take for Beth to get there.
Suddenly the doors slammed open and Harry saw Ron carrying Beth, her head slumped and her limp wings dragging the floor.
"Help, somebody, help!" Ron cried out, and Harry and Hermione hurried over to them. They grabbed her out of Ron's arms and took her to a bed where Madam Pomfrey was waiting. Harry looked down at his hands and noticed that the blood on them was from two gaping wounds: one on Beth's left wing and the other on her back. That one was dangerously close to her heart. Hermione's frantic voice suddenly shook him out of his daze.
"Ron, what happened?" Hermione fairly shouted at him.
Ron was sitting on an empty bed with his head in his hands. "She looked exhausted when she got to Hagrid's, and she flew a little too low on the return trip. All of a sudden we heard two shots from below, and Beth tipped us upside down, so she would get the shots instead of me. I felt them hit her, and she let out this sort of moan. She barely made it to the stairs. I carried her in from there. She'll be alright, won't she?" Ron asked as Madam Pomfrey walked over.
"I'm afraid not," she said mournfully. "Her avian blood prevents me from doing more than taking out the Muggle bullets. She'll bleed herself to death, I'm afraid. I'm so sorry." Just then another patient cried out and she hurried across the room.
"No," Ron said quietly, dumbstruck. They looked over at her, lying so peacefully in the bed, and Hermione started sobbing. Silent tears ran down Harry's face. "No!" Ron said more forcefully as he ran over to Beth's side. Harry and Hermione followed to the opposite side of the bed and were careful not to bump her damaged wing. Ron took her face in his hands and shouted, "I will not let you die!" but just as he finished, Beth stopped breathing. Through teary eyes, Harry saw Ron's face fall as he gathered Beth in his arms and sobbed, "You can't die, Beth, you just can't. There's so much I haven't told you, and so much you haven't done!" And Ron started naming off all the things they hadn't done together, all while sobbing and rocking her back and forth in his arms. Harry started sobbing and Hermione's wailings caught a new wind as Ron finally ended his ramblings by saying,"…and…I love you," and cradled her tighter to himself. All of a sudden the words to the old Muggle song that she had loved came into Harry's head again:
Forever young
I want to be
Forever young
Do you really want to live forever,
Forever, and ever…