I do not own.
Chapter Thirteen: Daughter of the Trickster
A feeling of hatred washed over me, yanking me out of my fitful sleep. Someone was angry, and that someone meant to kill. I scrambled out of the bed, trying to locate where the feeling was coming from. It was distant, but strong. There were more than one.
"Rose!" I whispered furiously.
"What is it?" she asked, instantly awake.
"It's happening. They're here. We have to get the others." Lysander jumped from my bed, and before he hit the ground he had transformed into Will.
"Will?" Rose and I gasped. He ignored our surprise.
"Where are they? How many?" He demanded. I closed my eyes.
"More than five. They're on the grounds, looking for a way in." Will let out a curse. "Alright—grab what you need, hurry! We have to leave." I grabbed my school bag, emptied its contents, tossed in all the money I had, Will's mirror, and some Muggle clothes. I dressed quickly, scarcely noticing that Will was standing not three feet away. I pulled on tennis shoes .
"Go get the others," Will murmured. "I'll be right back." He transformed into Lysander again and left through the window. Alyssa woke with a start.
"Would you guys can it?" She groaned.
"Alyssa, listen to me!" I said quickly.
"What?"
"Hogwarts is under attack. Get your wand out, and go wake up the rest of the house. I'm not kidding, go!"
"Where are you going?" She asked, clamoring down from her top bunk.
"I can't tell you...you can't know anything. It's for your own safety." I added hastily. "Just hurry, would you? Oh, and Alyssa?" She turned, halfway out the door already. "Take care of Roxie." She nodded hastily.
"You go get the boys," I told Rose. She nodded, sprinting down the staircase, while I ran to Lily's room.
"Lils, wake up!" She sat straight up.
"What's happened?" she asked, already searching for clothes.
"They're here. We have to leave." She nodded.
"Come to the common room when you're ready." Will appeared, a small bag slung over one shoulder, his broomstick on the other one. He tossed me my own bag, and spoke in a hushed voice.
"They're in. They don't know we're onto them yet. We need to get out now if we stand any chance."
"But how?" I asked as we made our way to the staircase. It suddenly flattened into a slide, and we tumbled to the ground. He helped me up, the rest of our group was already there, Lily sliding down behind us. The common room was quickly approaching chaos, people shouting, half-dressed, at one another anxiously.
"Remember how Dad and Mum and all them got to the Ministry in their fifth year?" Lily said excitedly.
"They rode Thestrals," Rose snapped, "We don't have any Thestrals on hand right n--"
"Not Thestrals, Hippogriffs!" Lily snapped back.
"Artemis!" I said excitedly. Running up the staircase to the boys' dormitories, I threw open their window and looked to the forest, calling Artemis. I pictured her flying up out of the trees with the rest of the herd, squeezing my eyes shut in concentration. I opened them again, anxiously watching the horizon while feeling with my mind for the intruders. They were inside the school, somewhere on the ground floor. A panic seized me.
"The headmistress, all the teachers, the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, they don't--" at that moment, a wailing sound erupted in the night. More shouts and screams were heard from the common room. I whipped around, looking at the window. Shadowy figures detached themselves from the trees, heading towards the school.
Artemis was there in a few flaps of her great wings. She pulled to the side, hovering, beckoning me to get on. Without a thought, I crawled through the windowsill, landing easily on her back.
"Come on!" I shouted behind me. Will tossed his bag and broom to me before he leaped in cat-form to Arty's back. He crawled in front of me. I nodded, he would take up less room this way.
"Rose, you next!" I shouted. Her eyes were wide with fear as she balanced on the windowsill.
"I can't!"
"We'll catch you, just jump!" I yelled. "Hurry!" She only shook her head. Taking a deep breath, I got on my feet. Leaning over with my arm outstretched, I took Rose's hand and yanked her out into the air. She let out a little shriek before Artemis shifted, catching her. I sat once again, Rose clutching my waist from behind. Artemis dove away, hovering a little ways away so that her father could move up to the window. Lily, Hugo, and Al leaped onto his broad back, then James and Fred on Featherfoot. The rest of the herd spread out around us as we flew to the forest.
I searched for the intruders again. There was one on the grounds, he was gazing up at us, trying to discern if the animals were a threat. He obviously hadn't seen us climb on. Artemis, understanding my concern, chirped to a tawny-colored hippogriff flying not far from us. He cocked his head, looking to Buckbeak, who chirped as well. Taking this as an order, he broke off from the group, spiraling down toward the lone intruder. I heard a howl of pain, and then silence. I didn't turn back to look as we spiraled to the safety of the forest. The animals landed surprisingly softly—like apples falling from trees.
"Okay!" I shouted, hopping off of Artemis. The rest followed suit.
"If you have a broom, ride that. Al and Rose..." Artemis interfered with my thoughts, pushing her own ideas into my head. "...okay, Albus, on that black hippogriff—his name's Ravenwing; Rose, you're on Featherfoot. The two proud animals bowed to allow their riders on. Artemis chirped to her father, who screeched to the rest of the herd. The rest of them took off, swooping back towards the school.
"Where are we going?" Albus called, looking suspiciously at his mount. Will looked at me, eyebrows raised. I gulped. We needed somewhere where we could regroup—gather supplies, make a plan—an idea flooded into my head.
"Follow us!" I called as Artemis took off through the trees. Featherfoot and Ravenwing followed suit. Lily, James, Fred, Hugo and Will hovered behind on their brooms. We rode in the cover of the trees until I could no longer feel the intruders' murderous thoughts. Then, we rose above the treetops where we could move faster. Arty and I headed the group, Ravenwing and Featherfoot flanking us about ten meters back. Fred and Will were between them, with Hugo, Lily, and James fanning out behind them. After a while, Will drew forward on his broom until he was close enough to talk to me.
"Where are we going?" He repeated Al's question.
"Diagon Alley." I told him, "to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes." A smile flitted across his face.
"I see." We looked at each other for a moment.
"Evey, I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
"For dragging all of you into this." I rolled my eyes.
"If I recall correctly, I was caught up in this by some prophecy. Not by you." He bit his lip.
"If I wasn't around, then there would be no prophecy." I looked at him furiously.
"Scorpius Hyperion Willhelm Malfoy, if you ever so much as hint that my world would be better off without you again, I swear I'll slap you." He looked startled. "We're in this together, we have always been in this together, and don't you ever say otherwise again. Alright?" He blinked.
"Alright." He murmured. I gave him a small smile, and he returned it before falling back behind us.
Diagon Alley was mostly dark as we winged above it. The only lights came from the Leaky Cauldron and a few other pubs along the street. Artemis landed softly in the narrow alley behind Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. I went around the front, pressing my wand to the fifth spot on the back of a ceramic toad doorstop. It belched out a key, attached to its long, pink tongue. I unlocked the door and let the toad slurp the key up again. I maneuvered around the displays, feeling my way to the store-room. I opened the side entrance, usually used for deliveries, big enough to allow three hippogriffs to rest, unseen. Shutting the door firmly, I flipped on the light. Shelves and boxes full of ingredients lined the storeroom. We arranged the boxes to allow the hippogriffs more room.
"We can hide here for a few hours, but we need to move soon. Will, any ideas?" He frowned.
"I...I'm not certain where we should attack. They don't have one headquarters—they have several."
"So it wouldn't do any good to attack one of those—the rest would just retaliate." Albus said. I shuddered at the word 'attack.' Will took a seat on a box next to me.
"It's like that fairy-tale...cut off one head, and three more grow," James said.
"There's only one head we'd have to cut off, in order to ruin everything for them," I murmured. They all looked at me strangely. Will had a strange look of hurt mixed with acceptance in his eyes.
"What?" I demanded, then it dawned on me. "Oh, you thought I meant—Merlin, not Will! I meant the snake!" There were sighs of relief. "You seriously thought—?" I turned to Will.
"After that speech you gave me before? No." He laced his fingers with mine. "That snake...it's...going to be a lot harder to kill than me. It's heavily guarded, in this little cage. It doesn't make any sound, at least, not that anyone can hear but a Parselmouth." He shuddered. "It screams." He added, almost in a whisper.
"You've seen it before?" Fred asked. He nodded. "Then you know where it is?"
"Yeah."
"Where?" Lily asked excitedly.
"Close."
"How close?" James chimed in.
"The Leaky Cauldron."