Thanks for reading once more and my really nice review- here is my promised chap of action though I need to clear a few things up first
1) Teddy is five years old
2) He's been with Ofelia over a year
I hope that clears some things up
Thanks to:
kurlyhawk2- glad you like it!
blueyblonde,
BookWyrm711,
Norrthstar,
maqiquill9,
Luthien Faye,
Bookwormluver3,
WhatI'veDone,
mudbloodpotter05,
mangagirl,
Florrie- thanks I'll need the luck, I hope you enjoy the chap x
ReadingRed,
Crazy-Physco,
Juliper,
The Lady Reaper of the Shadows,
Su-33,
Mikee,
xRosePetalx,
killing u with umbrellas,
momocolady,
Saint Vegeta,
Gixie,
sakura13,
CelticHeiressFiona,
and
googlibear,
Chapter Twenty Four
The temperature dropped suddenly and Teddy's whole body suddenly stiffened, he turned his head slowly to look to the door and bit down on his lower lip.
'What's wrong?' Hermione asked fearfully.
'She's coming.' was Teddy's simple reply.
Footsteps could be heard outside of the cell increasing in volume as they got closer.
Hermione pushed herself against the cold wall and tried desperately to get her hands to stop shaking, Teddy inched himself away from the frame to stand instead in the shadows cast by the door.
The footsteps were getting closer every second, beads of sweat were forming around her hairline despite the low temperature of her surroundings. Hermione clamped her eyes shut to try and calm her breathing. The footsteps stopped.
Hermione flickered her eyes open to stare in dread at the woman framed in the doorway. It was the woman who had attacked her house, she was barely into her twenties and her cold eyes bored into Hermione's.
'Well well,' she said her voice and manner calm and practised 'what do I have here?'
'I know who you are,' Hermione trembled out trying to match her captors tone.
'I would have expected that with your intelligence you would have worked it out,' she drawled.
'Why am I here?' Hermione demanded her voice shaking but anger was beginning to take a hold 'what do you want from me?'
'What do I want from you?' Ofelia pondered tipping her head to one side as if actually thinking the question over. She walked into the room and over to Hermione, squatting down she made sure her eye level was equal with that of her younger self.
'I want everything you never expected to give.' She sneered finally 'and look at you. A little girl lost in the big bad world, you're going to have to grow up fast if you expect to survive, just like I did. You and I have a lot in common.'
'I'm nothing like you!' Hermione said in horror 'no way am I anything like you.'
Ofelia leaned closer to Hermione making the teenager lean harder into the wall.
'You're mistaken there darling, you're more like me than you could possibly imagine.'
'What do you mean by that?' Hermione choked out.
'If you ever get the chance to see him again you should ask Anton,' Ofelia replied a sadistic smile twisting the corners of her mouth.
She opened her mouth as if to say something else but before she could a voice echoed through into the cell, a familiar voice.
Ofelia straightened up 'it would seem I spoke to soon,' she remarked walking to the door, 'and Teddy,'
The small boy cowed away from her.
'Stop unlocking doors.'
With that she swept from the room.
--
Anton waited. Silence had followed his pronouncement, nothing moved for a very long time in the dark courtyard. Anton was actually on the brink of thinking Ofelia wasn't there when a door creaked open to the left of him on rusty hinges. Anton spun quickly drawing his wand and sword.
Ofelia sauntered slowly through the door a predatory smirk playing on her lips, she was back to being dressed in cold ice blue robes, her blonde hair was scraped back into an elegant coil that hung down her back.
'Well this is a surprise,' she sneered derisively 'though that's actually a lie, I fully expected you to make a pitiful appearance at some point, must be cold for you out here though.'
'You know why I'm here,' Anton said grimly 'where are they?'
'Maybe I should have chosen a less obvious place,' she continued ignoring his question 'but perhaps I subconsciously wanted you to find me.'
'Are you going to answer my question?' Anton snapped impatiently.
'All in good time,' Ofelia replied pulling her own sword from the sheath at her side 'I must say it's a surprise to see you up and about, I had hoped that you were at least severely incapacitated given the amount of work it took to invade your mind, you know it's a real pity that you didn't die.'
'Felly I didn't know you cared so much,' Anton drawled sarcastically 'maybe this time I'll be more helpful to your evil plans, what's next? World Domination? Though can I suggest you take some time to work on your personality?'
'Oh fuck off!' she spat before screaming 'CRUCIO!'
The spell hurtled towards Anton with deadly intent, lifting his sword he deflected the spell to send it smashing into the wall of the ancient building which collapsed some of the old brickwork.
'Engorgio!' Anton cried quickly following with 'Impedimenta!'
She blocked them both successively sneering 'are those the best you've got?'
'Sectumsempra!' Anton roared releasing the curse.
Ofelia managed to block the main force of the spell but it grazed the side of her left arm drawing blood in a thin streak,
'Duro!' she cast, Anton sidestepped the spell easily, it flew past him narrowly missing Kingsley who was moving stealthily past the fight only just avoiding being turned to stone.
'Deprimo! Confringo!' Anton returned along with a blast of fire from the tip of his sword.
Ofelia ducked the Deprimo barely and summoned a thick shield against the Confringo, she threw a jet of water to meet the fire and shot another Crucio from her wand.
'Levicorpus!' Anton released 'Obscuro!'
'Is this what we're going to do for the rest of the night?' Ofelia snarled repelling both of the spells with shields once more.
'Well if you can't cope now…' Anton let it hang.
Ofelia glared and threw Crucio at him again, Anton summoned his own shield and let it absorb the impact.
'Well as much as this is fun,' Anton announced caustically 'I'm still waiting on an answer.'
--
Hermione uncurled herself from the floor and stood up, shouting and cursing leaked into the cell and Teddy let out a small shiver and shuffled nervously from foot to foot.
'Teddy how far can you move?'
'I can't go outside the front door, and I can't go into the main room.' He answered his eyes widening 'but if I go anymore I'll be ported straight to…'
Hermione held her hand out to Teddy and he slipped his own nervously in.
'Do you know how far I can go?' she asked
Teddy shook his head fearfully,
'Well I suppose we'll just have to find out then,' Hermione said tears springing to her eyes but she smiled down at the small boy regardless 'Lets get going then.'
Screams of curses echoed through to the cell that they stood in, and Hermione felt her heart leap slightly in fear. She didn't have her wand on her and she couldn't do wandless magic, she squeezed Teddy's hand tightly and ventured through the open cell door.
'How did you open the door?' she asked her curiosity getting the better of her, for she had spent a long amount of time herself pounding at the lock.
'I clicked my fingers and it opened,' Teddy answered looking at her as if this was an obvious fact 'A'ton showed me how.'
A roar of anger boomed loudly and Hermione darted from the cell pulling Teddy with her, outside the door was a thin hall, it filled the stereotype of a place of darkness. Beads of water trickled slowly down the green stone walls landing with a repetitive drip as they hit the floor which was at least a centimetre deep with water. One candle was all that had been spared to light the walkway and its glow was barely enough to help them see clearly.
They ran down the corridor, Hermione trusting Teddy to lead the way from the dungeons. The sounds of fighting were coming from a distance away so they treaded carefully to avoid making to much noise for fear of drawing attention on themselves.
--
Sirius and Lupin stood next to each other shooting off spells left and right, around them about half of the Order members on the mission were close by involved in their own battles with about ten or fifteen dark wizards. The other half of the group had gone in the opposite direction on entering the building.
'CONFUNDO!' Sirius yelled hitting the one closest to him who in turn took on a very dazed expression.
'DEFODIO!' a dark witch screamed, a deep gouge whipped into Sirius's shoulder and he gave a roar of pain.
'EVANESCO!' Lupin blasted the witch who immediately vanished from sight.
'I can't believe you just did that,' Sirius said gasped holding his shoulder with his hand while stupefying another. 'I didn't think that that could work on people.'
'Neither did I' Lupin admitted quickly as he sent an Expulso at a close assailant 'but as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.'
Sirius leapt out of the way of the killing curse and grinned, 'sometimes Moony you remind me a hell of a lot of Prongs!'
--
'Avada Kedavra!' Ofelia cursed at Anton.
Anton conjured a wall of marble in front of him which cracked with the power of the curse, vanishing it he twirled his wand and stared at his former friend.
'You're staining your soul,' he warned lightly.
'Leave me to worry about things like that,' Ofelia retorted 'you just concentrate on how you're going to get out of here alive.'
'I think I'll apparate out,' Anton smirked 'Teddy always liked side-long apparition.'
'You're so bloody confident you're going to get him back,' Ofelia mocked 'for all you know I might have killed him seconds before you arrived.'
A sliver of reservation crept into Anton's heart 'I don't believe you.'
'That's your prerogative,' she countered sweetly 'but I'm the only one to know the exact truth.'
'Tarantallegra!' Harry shot in anger and frustration
--
Hermione and Teddy crept up the crumbling steps at the end of the hall, none of the combating seemed to be near to them, they still tried to be as quiet as possible.
'It's this way,' Teddy whispered tugging at Hermione hand 'but we won't be able to get away.'
'We just have to get out into the open and near the Order,' Hermione comforted him 'they'll know what to do.'
At the top of the steps was a wider corridor with a few more lighted torches, barred windows allowed flashes of spells to illuminate part of the hallway, more than one was green.
Hermione felt the breath catch in her throat and she pulled Teddy quickly towards a door at the opposite end.
--
Moody roared with anger and shot of two consecutive curses quickly felling two less experienced dark wizards.
'Think you can attack old Mad-Eye do you!' he yelled at the remaining wizards 'come and let me have a piece of you!'
Kingsley was positioned with his back to Moody covering the rear, he couldn't help enjoy the surge of adrenalin that coursed through him. This was why he'd become an Auror.
'Obscuro!' he cast, the spell hit an unfortunate witch who panicking at her blindfolded state ran straight into a wall, she fell to the floor dazed and Kingsley finished her off with a simple stupefy.
--
'You're sick,' Anton spat as another spell ricocheted off of his shield.
'Sticks and stones,' she replied 'and this fight isn't half as interesting as I expected it to be.'
'Sorry to disappoint,' Anton retorted 'though I did meant to ask you something?'
'And what would that be?' Ofelia snarled.
'Fate mentioned a punishment,' Anton said evenly 'what was it?'
'As if I'd tell you,' Ofelia seethed furiously blasting a sheet of sharp ice shards at him.'
Anton melted them instantly 'Oh I get it,' he smiled 'you haven't been punished yet.'
'Shut up,' Ofelia reacted throwing more icy water at Anton.
'Did I touch a nerve there?' Anton said as if speaking to a small child 'are you trapped in the dark on this one.'
Ofelia howled in obvious fury and lashed a formidable curse at her former friend who had to leap out of the way to avoid it.
'I suppose you were hoping I'd forgotten that itsy bitsy fear,' Anton sang antagonising the Water Elemental further.
'AVADA KEDAVRA!' Ofelia bellowed.
'You were right,' Anton remarked 'this fight isn't half as interesting as I expected it to be either.'
--
Hermione and Teddy ran down another corridor, Teddy was almost flying off of his feet with the force that Hermione was pulling him, he could tell by her face that she was scared, but then again so was he. He didn't know why he had ended up here, he could vaguely remember the blurry faces of Anton and Rhoan's trusted friends, the ones they always went to fight with. He missed them, both of them, Anton was his safety net but Rhoan was like a big kid.
'Which way now?' Hermione asked her voice frantic.
'If you want to go to the main hallway you go down here then you go towards the old picture and up the stairs.' Teddy answered breathing hard.
Hermione didn't stop she kept going, as they reached the end of the corridor there was a split corridor, one side had an old statue the other had an old picture, Hermione ran down it holding on to Teddy.
A spell suddenly burst out in front of them, Hermione yanked Teddy to the side of the corridor and into a small shadowed alcove.
Panting could be heard, someone was getting closer to where they were, Hermione whimpered and hugged Teddy to her.
A wizard she didn't recognise stumbled towards them, he was almost bent double in pain, he wasn't an Order member which left only dark wizard. He groped desperately at the wall to try and keep himself upright, letting out a groan of agony, his hand fell away from the wall leaving a dark handprint behind. Lurching forward once more his legs failed beneath him and he fell with a clatter to the floor, sucking in a rattling breath his eyes flickered sideways and spotted Hermione and Teddy, he reached out with one hand to the terrified children.
'Help m…' he gasped, his eyes rolled shut and his body collapsed completely to the floor.
Hermione let out a small sob before clapping her hand over her mouth to block the sound, Teddy clung fearfully to her.
Tentatively edging towards the fallen wizard Hermione spotted a wand, gathering up her nerve she darted forwards and grabbed it before pointing it at the man, her arm was shaking but she felt more in control with a wand even if it wasn't her own.
They both stared at the wizard as if waiting for him to wake up, finally accepting he was definitely dead, Hermione squeezed Teddy's hand and started heading up the corridor slowly, not sure whether the wizards assailant had been dark or light.
--
Sirius, Lupin and the others from their group surveyed the wreckage of their fight, luckily none of them had been killed, though it had been a close call at more than one point. Some were injured however, Tonks had a makeshift bandage wrapped round her head, it was so padded she looked like she was wearing a turban. Sirius's gash wasn't too bad so he was ignoring it.
The dark wizards and witches they had been fighting certainly hadn't fared well, they were nearly all unconscious or not breathing, a couple were so consumed by the pain they were in that they paid no attention to the light wizards, they just ushered small moans at irregular intervals.
'Does anyone feel they aren't well enough to continue?' Lupin asked.
'Not a chance Remus,' Tonks shook her head furiously to either side, the edge of the bandage swung wildly. She stopped seconds later obviously realising that what she was doing wasn't helping the condition of her head.
'Right then lets keep going,' Lupin nodded 'does anyone know if Anton's still fighting Ofelia?'
A witch went to window and peered out 'they're still fighting,' she relayed 'and talking at the same time.'
'Well as long as she's distracted it makes our jobs easier,' Sirius announced 'lets keep looking.'
The group started off again their wands were raised and their eyes flickering constantly to the shadows.
--
Ofelia summoned as much water as possible and channelled it in a huge burst at Anton, Anton on seeing it hurtle towards him threw himself to the floor and conjured flames to protect himself, Ofelia who was slightly weakened by this took the opportunity and ran for the building.
Anton jumped up boiling any stray droplets off his clothes, seething in anger he ran after the fleeing traitor.
--
Hermione and Teddy were pressed against a rotten door, in front of them a dark witch with straggly hair and a manic glint to her eye advanced on them.
'I'm not afraid fight you!' she screamed her nerves finally shredding as she brandished the foreign wand in front of her and Teddy.
The witch kept walking forwards 'a little girl doesn't scare me,' she scoffed 'put down the wand, you'll only make things difficult for yourself.'
'I'm warning you!' Hermione announced trying to inject confidence into her voice.
The witch raised her own wand,
Hermione could see the curse forming on her lips before she even said it, the crucio curse.
'STUPEFY!' Hermione hollered before the witch could speak.
The spell burst from the wand like a volcano, it impacted powerfully into the witch knocking her at least three metres down the hall, the spell's force also backfired slightly, it collided with the two of them and hurled them backwards.
They smashed into the soft rotten wood of the door, it fractured and split under the pressure, Hermione barely had time to register clean outside air before the chain on her ankle activated and she and Teddy were whisked away.
--
Ofelia reached the centre of the main hall when Hermione and Teddy appeared, her mouth split into a smile.
Almost instantly the doors on either end of the hall were thrown open and the two groups of Order members ran in. they stopped in shock when they saw Hermione and Teddy and recognised the surroundings.
Seconds later Anton hurtled through the door Ofelia had entered by. His face lost any colour it had,
Teddy and Hermione were in front of him, hanging in a cage. The same cage he and Rhoan had found Gia.
--
Hope you liked it Luv SpikyStar- another cliffhanger how did you guess. x x