A/N: I hope you like this chapter. There are some issues in it that I really felt I needed to address. One of the things that I love about combining Twilight with Harry Potter is that I can use the ideas J.K.R. has provided to help develop S.M's characters. Please let me know your thoughts. I'd be glad to hear them. Once again, thank you for all your positive comments. You guys are great!
"What's happening, Edward?"
"Someone called Crabbe is attacking your friends," he growled.
I didn't reply or demand further information. I didn't dare ask how serious it was.
We passed many students on our way to the Room of Requirement: some were carrying snargaluff pods and venemous tentacula; others were supporting their injured comrades, presumably searching for a safe place to take them.
Just as we were nearing the top of the staircase, we saw Sir Cadogan screaming abuse at an oncoming Death Eater.
"You scallywag! You fiend! You cancerous vermin! I'll have you!" the Knight shouted at the enemy, who kept looking over his shoulder to ensure he was not being pursued. This, combined with the distraction of Sir Cadogan, meant that the robed man did not see us heading for him, nor did he hear our approach, for Edward moved soundlessly up the levels.
The Death Eater, having had enough of the taunting voice, which followed him downwards as the knight maintained his chase, spun on his heels to face the source of his frustration, and blasted a spell at the frame the armoured figure was currently occupying.
Sir Cadogan let out a high yelp contrasting heavily to the usual pitch of his voice, and only just managed to hurl himself into the next frame in time before the spell hit the canvas and burst into flames.
"Why, you dog! Come back and fight me like a man! Come back here and take me on, you yellow-bellied coward!"
Sir Cadogan drew his sword, but it was unnecessary. The Death Eater turned and ran. We were little more than three metres away when he noticed us. Due to our hurtling speed, however, our opponent did not have time to raise his wand and aim a curse. Edward soared upwards, barely breaking stride as he ducked for the man's legs and swung him over the railings head first.
As we made the top of the stairs and entered into the corridor, I heard the echo of the Death Eater's screams, along with Sir Cadogan's cries of, "What chivalry! Many thanks, o valiant warrior!"
Then, as we turned onto the corridor where the Room of Requirement was located, my heart dropped and I let out a strangled cry.
The door to the room was open and oozing clouds of thick, inky smoke, whilst a burning light from inside cast a fiery glow against the opposing wall.
"Edward, are they—"
"No," he broke in. "They're heading for the door. They're on brooms and they're almost out … and they have the diadem!"
My heart leapt back up.
"Ron and Hermione are in front. They're going to make it, Bella."
In the very next second a broom came shooting out of the room, impossibly carrying three individuals. Their speed was too great, though, and they couldn't brake in time. The broom smacked into the wall and the riders were thrown against it with a mighty thud, before each of them fell on the hard, cold stone beneath. It was Hermione, Ron, and Goyle
We stood—or, at least, Edward did, whilst I still hung tightly to his neck, squeezing desperately—waiting for Harry to fly through the door and crash as his friends had only moments ago. Then I heard a low frantic scream, which was rapidly increasing in volume, and all of a sudden, another broom was colliding with the wall, this one carrying Harry and Draco Malfoy.
I let out a breath, which I hadn't realised I had been holding, sighing as I watched the door to the room disappear.
"I should have known," I stated, my eyes lingering on Malfoy as Edward let me down and we made our approach.
"C—Crabbe," choked Malfoy, as soon as he could speak. "C—Crabbe."
"He's dead," said Ron harshly.
I stopped abruptly.
Crabbe was dead? Admittedly, I had never liked the boy. He was as much of a bully as the rest of the Slytherins, but I would never have wished death on him.
Harry stood as the ghosts of the Headless Hunt sped past. His eyes trailed after them as they flew off down the corridor and rounded a corner, which was when he caught sight of Edward and I walking towards him and his group.
"Bella?"
"Harry!" I said anxiously. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Have you seen Ginny?"
"No. We were defending the clock tower when we …" I looked at Edward, unsure exactly what to tell my friends. Nobody other than the three of them—or, at least, I presumed so—was supposed to know of the Horcruxes, and I wasn't sure that informing them of Edward's ability was such a good idea for some reason. Would they trust us enough with this to let us help?
"She was supposed to be here. She was supposed to be going back to the Room of Requirement."
"Blimey, d'you reckon it'll still work after that fire?" asked Ron, but he, too, got to his feet, rubbing his chest and began looking left and right.
Then I noticed something hanging from Harry's arm. It took me a second to realise that it was an ancient, discoloured tiara. My pulse quickened as I saw it and recalled Edward's statement. In my excitement, I ran closer to the trio and blurted out the words without thinking.
"You got the Horcrux!" I squealed, my smile dropping instantly as I took in their astonished expressions. I heard Edward suck in a sharp breath, and I froze.
For a second, there was absolute silence, but it was broken by Hermione.
"Bella, how do you know it's a Horcrux? How could you possibly know that?" she whispered.
I glanced briefly at Edward and considered my reply. The only thing we could really tell them was the truth. There was no other explanation for how we could have acquired such information. I gave Edward an apologetic look before addressing the group.
"We didn't find out until we got here. We were in the Room of Requirement ... and, well … Edward can … read … minds." There eyes went wide, but then I saw the first indicators of doubt creep on to their faces. Furrows appeared between their eyes and they looked at each other uncertainly. Evidently, we'd have to convince them.
"He told me that that was what you were looking for, but none of us knew what a Horcrux was, so I … I asked the Room to give me a book explaining what they were … and it gave me Secrets of the Darkest Art."
Hermione gasped, but Ron and Harry still looked unconvinced.
"How do we know you're not working for him? How do we know you're not after the Horcrux so you can—"
"Ron!" I shouted offended. "Are you actually mad? You've known me for seven years! You know I'd never—"
"You could have been Imperiused! He knows we're destroying Horcruxes! He could have told you stuff and sent you to—"
"Ron," Edward said calmly, stepping forwards to look him in the eye, "If Bella had been placed under a spell to get the Horcrux, why would she have waited until now to come and get it? If Voldermort had sent her to retrieve the diadem, she would have known its location before entering the castle."
"I think Edward's telling the truth, Ron," Hermione said. "What he's saying makes sense."
"Are you willing to risk it?" Ron asked, though I distinctly saw some flicker of belief flash through his eyes.
"If I wanted to take the Horcrux from you, I could," Edward told him simply. "All we want to do is help you destroy it … and then you'll be free to go after the snake … Look, if you don't believe I can read minds, I'll prove it.
"Ron, when you first went back into the room, you and Hermione kissed. And you were absolutely ecstatic, because you've wanted to do it ever since she punched Malfoy in your third year."
"Alright, fine I—"
"And you love how cute she looks when she scrunches her nose when she's angry …"
"Ok, I—"
"And you think it's adorable how she bounces off to the library whenever she gets an—"
"I believe you! I believe you, ok? Now, will you please stop trying to convince me?" Ron's ears had turned scarlet. Hermione was blushing profusely and was trying to suppress a grin, though she failed miserably.
It wasn't Edward's normal practice to divulge other people's thoughts; he believed in allowing them as much privacy as he could offer, even though his talent made that difficult for him. I suspected that, on this occasion, Ron's embarrassment was exactly the emotion Edward had purposefully been playing on. Revealing so many personal details had obviously forced Ron into quick acceptance. He was probably scared of the lengths Edward would go to to persuade him. Clearly, Edward sometimes played dirty, too.
I smiled.
"Absolutely," said Edward, in answer to Ron's plea. "Now, how are we going to destroy the diadem? Where did you put the Basilisk fangs, Hermione?"
"I—I … took them into the Room with me," she answered, clearly shocked at the extent of Edward's knowledge.
I groaned. "Well then how are we going to get rid of the remaining Horcruxes now that we have no fangs to do it with?"
Now it was Hermione's turn to groan. Her head fell into her palms as she spoke, her voice low and muffled as a result. "We should have left the diadem in the room."
"What good would that have done us?" said Harry, annoyed. "We kinda need it to destroy it, Hermione."
"No, you don't get it Harry," she went on. "We should have let it drop into the flames. That was Fiendfyre back there—cursed fire—it's one of the substances that destroy Horcruxes, but I would never, ever have dared use it, it's so dangerous."
"Well it's too late to do anything about it now," Ron sighed heavily. He punched a fist into his hand and growled. "If only we had the bloody sword! Evil, little Goblin!"
"The Sword of Gryffindor? Why would that work? If you can break Horcruxes apart through strength, why not let Edward—"
"The Sword of Gryffindor is tipped with Basilisk venom," interrupted Hermione, "which only has one cure. You need to damage the Horcrux so badly that it wouldn't be able to magically repair itse—"
"Wait! Phoenix tears are the only cure, right?" I said, excitedly, my words blurring together as I considered my sudden idea. "What about other types of venom? What about the types of venom that have no cure?"
My eyes flew to Edward and I saw understanding flash in his own.
"Vampire venom," he whispered. "My venom."
"Of course!" Hermione shouted, elated, running up to Harry and snatching the Horcrux from his grasp. "Of course! I can't believe I didn't remember! It never even occurred to me that you could help us."
"Are you kidding me?" Ron asked. "We went all the way down into the Chamber of Secrets when we could have just asked him to open up?"
Hermione ignored him and thrust the diadem into Edward's hands. She stepped back immediately and waited, elation colouring her features.
"What do I—"
"Just bite it," said Harry.
Edward looked at me, before inhaling deeply and snapping his eyes to the silver tiara in his hands. As he brought it up to his mouth and took another steadying breath, his golden eyes seemed to harden and fill with resolve. He gave one last glance in my direction, before plunging his sparkling white teeth into the centre stone, wincing as a horrid and tarry substance squirting over his upper lip and into his mouth.
His eyes squeezed shut and he clutched diadem tighter. His body trembled as he held the Horcrux to his mouth, ensuring that as much of his venom was injected as possible. Then, as he withdrew his teeth, he let out a cry of pain, the wail transforming into a vicious snarl of hate as he violently snapped the thing in half. He fell to the floor and I ran to his side, terrified that he had been hurt in some way by the fragment of Voldemort's evil soul. A distant and haunting wail seemed to echo through the corridor, and both of us shuddered visibly at the sound.
"Edward," I murmured, holding his face in my unsteady hands, "are you alright?"
His eyes were pressed firmly shut, and remained so for the next few seconds as he sucked in deep, calming breaths.
"That was … excruciating," he whispered finally, before twisting his head and spitting a mouthful of dark, bloody liquid onto the floor. "When it touched my tongue, I saw things. I saw people dying—lots of people. I saw how he killed them, and felt the thrill it gave him each time he did it. And the blood—it tasted … evil."
"I think that must have been because it wasn't actually blood you were tasting," Harry interjected.
"I agree. It wasn't blood, but his essence," said Hermione, who looked understandably disgusted by the idea of having to undergo such an experience. "It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that you received that sensation upon biting the diadem. Voldemort is pure evil; his essence would reflect that."
"At least now we know the truth," Edward continued, turning his head so that he could look directly into my eyes, and vice-versa. The pain I saw there was unmistakable. "Venom destroys souls."
"That's right!" Hermione beamed before I had the chance to respond, not understanding the meaning behind Edward's words. "Now all we have to do is get to Nagini! With your help, Edward, we'll finally be able to end it!"
Edward smiled at her, but I clearly saw the anguish he concealed behind it. It hurt me to know that he was suffering, but there wasn't enough time to convince him of the truth at present—our first priority was the snake. The sooner we reached it, the sooner we'd be able to end the god-awful war. Until that time, the students and teachers of Hogwarts would continue to risk their lives, and some would inevitably lose them in the process. The sooner we killed Nagini, the less grief we would all have to suffer when the war finally came to an end.
Edward stood and pulled me carefully up by my arms, and we immediately took off back down the corridor with Harry, Ron and Hermione at our sides. I promised myself, though, as we travelled towards our target, away from the two Slytherins, both of who remained slumped against the castle wall, that as soon as the last piece of Voldemort's soul was destroyed—the one that resided within him—I would show Edward that he was nothing like the monster that had willingly mangled his most precious possession.
