Crash!
"Guard! Guard! This prisoner is trying to escape!" A voice rang through the near empty hallway.
One pair of hurried footsteps rushed toward the door to Emma's cell. The heavy oak wood was pushed inward and a slim man rushed in holding his wand at the ready. The room was empty. The bench had been reduced to a pile of broken wood and there was a mad splash of orange across the floor and wall that ended with an upside down bowl.
Thwack! Thud.
He fell to the floor.
Emma smiled to herself as she fully exited her hiding spot from behind the door holding her sturdy make-shift club that in its previous life had been a bench leg.
"Not so fast little miss." She felt a hard poke through her tank top between her shoulder blades and the club dropped to the floor. A bead of sweat slid from Emma's temple as she raised both of her arms to the ceiling in a non-verbal surrender. "Turn around," ordered a harsh female voice.
Emma slowly spun around to face an unfamiliar looking blonde woman. Emma's face adopted a sheepish smile. The young Gryffindor shrugged. "Sorry, alright. You've caught me. Listen, I can explain every-" Like lightening Emma's hand dropped down and closed on the Death Eaters wand-hand twisting it away from her body. She grabbed the wand and yanked it towards the ground but the Guard refused to let go and was pulled down with it. She saw tiny spurts of teal magic emit from it's tip but hit neither of them.
Emma's knee popped up and connected with the Guards nose resulting in a sickening crunch. The Death Eaters grip on her wand loosened and Emma freed it from her grasp. "Petrificus Totalus," Emma said. She felt her current of magic meet resistance from the will of the wand in her hand but her own magic won out. The Death Eaters limbs stiffened and she fell to the hard stone floor face first next to the first guard.
Emma held her new wand in front of her and stepped out into the dimly lit corridor. Now what, genius? She thought to herself peering down the empty passages. Then Emma remembered that -for the most part- unless a Guard was patrolling back and forth down the hallway all footsteps usually came from the right. Emma turned and started off down the hall only to double back.
"Mind if I borrow this? It's a bit nippy out here," the lioness asked the unconscious guard. Emma chuckled and made fast work of removing his cloak and tying it around herself. "Too bad you two don't have your masks. Oh well, I'll just be leaving now!" She winked at their prone forms, closed the door, and then sped off into the dungeons.
'Great plan Swan, really just dash off into the abyss,' Emma thought as she ducked down a narrow corridor to avoid a singular guard on patrol. She looked around for a staircase leading up. Every hallway was either dark and foreboding or sparsely lit with one or two waning torches. She hadn't seen natural light yet but that didn't matter much; it could be midnight on the surface for all she knew.
Emma's escape was a bit impromptu to be honest. She'd been roused from a fitful slumber when the tray of food was delivered. Emma was ravenous and the spoonful of tomato soup was dangerously close to her open mouth before she remembered to inspect it. Sure enough she had been two peanuts away from hives and anaphylactic shock. That might be an exaggeration but those two assholes were just sitting there on Emma's spoon swimming in tomato soup and innocently tainting her meal. The famished blonde had sighed and flopped herself onto the bench too forcefully on its creaky side. The bench collapsed.
When she fell her limbs flew up clumsily knocking over her bowl. Tomato soup cascaded down the wall. Emma grimaced. She was fairly certain she'd have a small bruise on her left hip from the landing. Then she noticed the sturdy bench leg and improvised.
Winging it seemed to be working so far though. Emma heard footsteps again and extinguished the only lit torch near her with the stolen wand. Whoever was walking by had and unhurried pace so she guessed that no one had been alerted of what she'd done yet.
Emma felt her way along the darkened corner to make a turn.
A turn that brought the lioness face to face, or rather face to mask, with the Warden.
Hogwarts Castle was an imposing sight. Even now after walking it's halls and climbing it's stairs for seven years, Regina was impressed. She pensively ran her tongue along the edge of her teeth as she mentally checked off her to do list. Her trunk was packed and magically, she supposed, waiting for her in the luggage compartment of the train. She had everything she needed in her carry on, muggle clothes for Kings Cross, her current book, and make up bag. Regina turned to the Black Lake and watched as her fellow graduates milled about near the boats that they would sail in across the water to the train.
Katheryn and Tink were giddy with excitement, trying to get the other seventh-years to belt out a spirited rendition of the School Song. Daniel was off somewhere reminiscing with his Hufflepuff classmates. He promised he'd meet up with her later. Regina folded one arm across her torso to support her other arm as she rested her chin on a fist. She thumbed her bottom lip and still couldn't shake the feeling like she was forgetting something.
"Hey! Number 42!" A voice called to her, cheerful and unnecessarily loud. Some things never change.
Regina smirked as Emma bounded up the small hill she was standing on, slightly away from the chaos of her fellow graduates, "I think I'm going to petition to retire that number." She said once Emma reached the top.
"You better not or I won't be able to wear it next year." Emma claimed boldly, though Regina knew that half of her confidence was just show.
Regina patted Emma's shoulder, "You'll get Chaser, Emma. You're too stubborn not to." She added in jest.
Emma's jaw dropped in mock offense, "Is that any way to talk to a member of the Winning House?"
"As if I care about something as trivial and childish as the House Cup." The Ravenclaw withdrew her hand from Emma's shoulder and casually checked for any specks of dirt beneath her nails.
Emma tapped a finger to her chin, "Mhmm, remind me, how long has it been since Ravenclaw won? Was it one decade or two? Three? No that can't be right..." Emma smiled when the older girl's eyes widened and all pretense of nonchalance fell away. Regina was a true competitor.
"Gryffindor won on a technicality, practically half of those points were won by that Granger friend of yours and everyone knows she should be in a Ravenclaw!" Regina ended her small tirade with a stomp of her heeled foot on the grassy hill. It had little effect on the jubilant blonde.
"Wow, Regina, you suck at losing." Emma teased and pointed behind her to where her Gryffindor friends were standing with her backpack waiting to climb into the horse-less carriages. "I just bought this healing potion, it's a remedy for Sore-Loser-itis." The blonde patted her arm sympathetically, "I think you might have it. Want me to get the remedy for you?"
"Perhaps you should, I seem to have developed a pain in my ass." Plump red lips pursed together as Regina eyed the blonde, "No wait, it's just you!" She chuckled at her own joke. Emma snorted and covered her mouth with her hand because she didn't make that sound very often and it only served to push her into a fit of giggles. Regina laughed as well. "That wasn't... even that funny!" She said between breaths.
After a moment to compose themselves Emma was the first to speak, "How do you feel?"
The graduate took a moment to consider that question. She felt a lot of things. Nostalgia, definitely. She would miss Hogwarts. This school is where she spent her formative years. Where she met every single important person in her life barring family. Here she'd gone entire weeks without scathing comments from Zelena and months without disapproving stares from her mother. 'Sadness', that was there, but also 'Happiness'. Then there was 'Potential'. Was that even a feeling? She just kept looking at the horizon across the lake and seeing opportunity.
"Free." She said finally.
"Freedom looks good on you." Emma complimented.
The booming magically enhanced voice of Professor McGonagall filled the hillside reaching the ears of every student in the area. "Seventh Years! Seventh Years are to board the boats. All other students make your way to the carriages!"
Regina turned back to Emma and leaned in to fix her collar. "Don't try to palm the Quaffle, your hands aren't big enough yet. You have to scoop and cradle it." As she said this she went through the motions with her hand. Emma nodded and Regina wracked her brain for more advice. "Don't try to run from the Bludgers -that just gets them excited- maneuver them so they're distracted by an easier target. Every Keeper has a favorite hoop and a blind spot, so pay attention. And for Merlin's sake remember to wrap your leg around the staff of the broom when you twist-turn." Regina lightly shoved Emma to emphasize her point.
Emma regained her balance quickly and raised her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay!" she exclaimed.
The graduate jabbed a finger at her young friends shoulder. "Seriously, Emma, you always forget it's the simplest thing and you could fall if you don't do it! Honestly, how have you not grasped the concept of gravity yet?" Regina was all but seething and it was almost comical. Emma watched her take a deep breath and grinned as her older friend's voice lost its edge, "You're not invincible."
The Gryffindor briefly thought about defending herself or making another joke but instead she shook her head and her grin spread wider, reaching her eyes. Emma wrapped her arms around Regina and pulled her in for a hug that she didn't even have to stand on her toes to achieve.
"I'm going to miss you too," Emma whispered into dark locks.
"Expelliarmus!" Emma shouted as she sprinted and dove behind a suit of armor. She heard the Warden shield herself from the disarming spell with a Portego. Then before Emma could react with another spell her own physical shield of an empty suit of armor was blasted apart by the Warden's Reducto. Emma used her arm to block any shrapnel from hitting her face but none of it hit her. The loud clangs of metal hitting stone at a dozen different angles propelled her to her feet.
Emma leveled the wand at the Warden who was already in a perfect dueling stance. "Stupefy!" Emma yelled as the Warden simultaneously commanded, "Avis!"
Three black birds materialized and flew out of the Wardens wand as red light zoomed out of Emma's stolen one. Two of the birds took the bulk of Emma's spell and fell stunned to the floor. The third avian creature continued on its path and began pecking at Emma's head. The blonde swatted at it and backed up against the wall.
Every time Emma tried to point her wand at the bird it pecked at her hand or flapped it's wings in her face obscuring her vision. Emma ducked around it and flung the Death Eater cloak she was wearing over it. She bundled it up in the black material and quickly ripped the cloak's ties from around her neck.
The Warden pointed her wand at the ground near Emma's feet. Emma noticed too late that there was a gauntlet that had ended up there from the previously dismantled armor. "Oppungo!" The gauntlet sprung to life and grabbed for Emma's ankle.
A swift kick sent the disembodied metal hand skidding across the floor. Emma pointed her wand at the blazing torch above the Warden and shouted "Descendo!" The torch dropped down from it's stand.
Quick as a whip, the Warden countered it's downward spiral with an Aguamenti. A stream of water burst from her wand it doused the flames of the torch as well as pushed it away from her. Emma made a split second decision and tackled her captor. They fell to the floor, hard.
They rolled across the cobblestones. Emma ended up on top. She pried at the mask and was met with a sharp elbow to the nose.
"Levicorpus," The Warden growled. Emma felt her ankle being yanked up by an invisible force. It was disorienting for a moment but the blonde had spent much time hanging upside down performing risky stunts on her broomsticks.
Emma grabbed the now empty torch stand to steady herself and yelled, "Stupefy!" This time the Warden couldn't shield herself without dropping the Levicorpus charm and it hit her right in the chest.
Emma's fall was cushioned by the unconscious Warden.
There was the sound of glass breaking and a strange wet feeling on her arm. Emma looked down at the shattered remains of a small vial and a teal substance coating her forearm.
"Ew." It smelled gross, like sweaty feet and worn leather. The sound of boots on the ground a distance away and muffled panicked shouts was all it took for Emma to lift herself off the Death Eater and scramble to stand upright.
The familiar smell of old boots wafted up from her arm and Emma looked down at the limb a second time. "No way," she mumbled, examining the sticky potion more closely. Emma swiped a finger to collect a few drops and taste tested it. Mint chocolate chip. "No fucking way," she swore louder this time. Why? What are the odds that she would be carrying a potion that would heal someone from an allergic reaction half an hour after I get served soup that would give me an allergic reaction?
Emma turned back to the sleeping heap of Warden on the floor. Curiosity won the war and she knelt down in front of her captor. Her interrogator. The Death Eater she'd just dueled.
The footsteps were getting closer. She really didn't have time for this but she had such a compelling feeling.
Her fingers absorbed the chill from the metal edge of the mask. Emma swallowed, her heart was racing and it wasn't merely because she'd had the duel of her life just moments ago. "Okay enough suspense, who the fuck are you?" Her words fell on deaf ears.
She unmasked the Warden.
"There she is! How did you get out?" A gruff, manly voice berated Emma from somewhere close but she didn't care because this was all obviously a dream. This was not happening. "What did you do to the Warden?" He asked urgently. Again Emma didn't answer, she didn't even look up, she couldn't take her eyes off of that face. That undeniably recognizable face. There were hands pulling at her, pulling her away from...
"Regina?"