Bitten:
In Which Battles Are Begun and Friends Are Remembered
The enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall was dark and scattered with stars, and below it the four long House Tables were lined with dishelved students, some in traveling cloaks, others in dressing gowns. Here and there shone pearly white figures of the school ghosts. Every eye, living and dead, was fixed upon Professor McGonagall, who was speaking from the raised platform at the top of the Hall. Behind her stood the remaining teachers and the members of the Order of the Phoenix who had arrived to fight. Many of the students looked petrified. However, as Harry scanned for Ron, Hermoine, and Stephanie, Erin Macmillan stood up at the Hufflepuff table and shouted, "What if we want to stay and fight?" There was a smattering of applause.
"If you are of age, you may stay," said Professor McGonagall. The Slytherins all filed out first, none of the elder vipers staying behind. They were followed by the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor houses. A number of students from Ravenclaw stayed; even more Hufflepuffs and half of the Gryffindor students remained in their seats. After all the students had been put in groups, McGonagall hurried over to Harry who had found Stephanie in the crowd.
"Aren't you supposed to be looking for something?" The new Headmaster hissed at the two.
"What? Oh," said Harry, "oh yeah!"
He had almost forgotten about the Horcux, almost forgotten that the battle was being fought so that he could search for it. A tug on his arm brought him back to the present.
"Let's go," Stephanie said, a bit of worry in her voice. Her eyes looked up at him and he noticed she was biting her lip slightly. He stared at her for a moment before reaching up. His hand cupped her face and he ran his thumb lightly over her bottom lip. He felt her lip tremble beneath his gentle touch. She leaned her face in to his hand.
"Can we not do this now?" She whispered.
He was silent another moment before letting his hand fall back to his side," Right—yeah –" he murmured.
They hurried to where they would find the ghost of Ravenclaw. They talked with the Gray Lady; she revealed that she had stolen the diadem from her mother. Stephanie frowned.
"Where would it be? We don't have time for this!" She said with an exasperated breath.
"He must have hidden it when he asked Dumbledore for a job!" Harry exclaimed, "He had to have hidden it somewhere between Dumbledore's office and the next floor, but where?"
"What about the Room of Requirement?" Stephanie suggested. Harry looked at her and smiled.
"Have I ever told you how smart and amazing you are?"
She blushed, looking down, "You may have mentioned it a few times," she mumbled. The ring on her finger glinted in the dim lighting. He moved his hand slightly and took her smaller hand in to his.
The walk to the Room of Requirement seemed longer than it usually was. People were running all around them, some trying to get to their stations and others trying to get some of their things and evacuate the school building. When they made it to the Room, Ron and Hermoine were already there.
"What took you two so bloody long?" Ron hissed.
"Well, sorry. I tried to find you, but you were nowhere to be found!" Harry retorted quickly. Hermoine sighed and shook her head.
"Can we just find the horcrux and destroy it?" She said a bit irritably.
Stephanie nodded, "We don't have time to waste."
They all agreed on this and quickly opened the Room. Piles upon piles of stuff and things were stacked up all over the room. The towers of things carried on for what seemed like acres of space.
"We're never going to find a little tiara in all this junk!" Ron exclaimed. Hermoine shot Ron a look and he let out a resigned breath, "You know you're all thinkin' it!"
"You're right, we need to split up and search," Hermoine insisted, "Ron and I will take the north end and you and Harry can take the south end."
Stephanie nodded, "All right. That sounds like a plan. C'mon Harry, let's go," she said as she took his hand. His grip tightened around hers as they separated from Ron and Hermoine.
The amount of junk in the room was just ridiculous.
"What are we looking for again?" Stephanie asked as she looked through a pile.
"It should be in a wooden box," Harry called as he sifted through a pile of his own. Stephanie huffed up and continued to search. There was a twisting feeling in her stomach. Why did she feel like they were looking for the wrong thing?
"Trying to get your hands in to our business, Potter?" Resonated a voice that sent a chill down Stephanie's spine. The duo spun around to look at the blonde hair of Draco Malfoy and his cronies.
The years hadn't been kind to Draco. His hair had grown a bit longer but his face was much different. The years had drawn his face down and bags had under his eyes. His eyes had lost their luster and were now a dull grey. Harry stepped in front of Stephanie, to shield her from Draco.
"Look here Malfoy, what you're doing is stupid and wrong. Can't you see that?" He said, trying to reason with the male.
Draco replied with a scoff, "Are you attempting to make me see the error of my ways?" Another lifeless laugh escaped his throat, "Good luck with that Potter." Stephanie was beginning to get sick and tired of Malfoy's attitude.
She stepped out to the side of Harry a bit and glared at the blonde male, "Ever since Riley left, you've become this—"She was cut off abruptly by a wand suddenly pointed at her throat. Draco's eyes were full of a fiery rage.
"If you don't want that pretty face of yours all messed up," he growled, "stop talking."
Stephanie flinched, but refused to back down, "Draco you need to realize that acting out like this isn't going to bring Riley back." She saw his throat bob as he swallowed hard, "I know you're just trying to become stronger so you can protect her and keep her close to you, but—"
"Just shut up!" The Slytherin screamed. Harry slowly moved his hand towards his wand and Draco moved his wand to point at Harry, "Don't even think about moving!" The grey eyed boy was shaking with rage. Neither Goyle nor Crabbe had ever seen Draco so upset over something.
"She really admired you," she continued, "wanted to show everyone how great of a guy you were."
"Quiet!" His wand turned back to Stephanie.
"You wouldn't believe how excited and nervous she had been when you had asked her to the Yule Ball. She asked me how to use make-up, and how to do hair, and what kind of dress do you wear—"Harry saw his opportunity and grabbed the wand that was formerly Draco's from his back pocket.
"Expelleramus!" He shouted. Draco's mother's wand flew from Draco's hands. His eyes went from anger, to shock, to fear.
"Harry! Harry, we found the box!" Hermoine's voice yelled from over the piles of stuff. Harry and Stephanie looked to Draco, who stood frozen to his spot, then bolted in the direction of Hermoine's voice. Crabbe stepped up.
"Don't think you can just walk out of here alive!" He yelled. He raised his wand and pointed it at the retreating duo, "Fiendfyre!"
An inferno leapt from the tip of Crabbe's wand. It engulfed everything in its path as it raced towards Harry, Stephanie, Ron, and Hermoine. The blaze changed shape as it chased the foursome through the twisting towers of junk. To escape the fire, Draco, Goyle, and Crabbe quickly climbed the highest stack. The fire quickly devoured everything in the room. The foursome hit a dead end and turned to see the blaze upon them. Its shape changed between a chimaera, raptor, viper, and dragon as it rushed towards them.
"There's no way out! The door's on the other side of the room!" Ron shouted over the raging inferno.
"Water spells aren't effective against the flames at all!" Hermoine hissed as she tried to extinguish the flames nearest them. Harry and Stephanie looked around.
Pointing to a stack, Stephanie exclaimed, "Look!" Everyone turned their eyes to the pile and grins spread across their faces. Four broomsticks lay against the stack just waiting to be used.
The foursome zoomed over the flames, racing towards the exit. They were flying over a stack when Hermoine spotted two figures climbing over the stack.
"Look! It's Draco and Goyle!" She yelled. Surely enough, the two were climbing as quickly as they could to get away from the flames.
"Where's Crabbe?" Stephanie asked frantically. She looked sideways to Harry and he shook his head. Her throat tightened a bit. Even if she hadn't been friends with the Slytherin, loathed him even, she didn't think he deserved to die by being burned to death.
"Serves them right!" Ron said. He grinned at Harry and then frowned as he saw the look in the boy's eyes, "Don't tell me you're planning on saving them?"
"We can't just leave them here!"
"Like bloody hell we can't!"
Harry sighed and looked at Stephanie who nodded. The two swooped down and reached out. Harry grabbed on to Goyle's wrist easily and pulled him up on to the broom. However, Stephanie missed his outstretched hand by the littlest amount. The missing threw his balance off and he toppled backwards, losing his grip on the pile. He started to fall down towards the flames. There was nothing he could do; he was going to die here. His hands were out in front of him as he fell down. His eyes roamed over the glinting silver bird that wrapped up his middle finger.
"Riley," he whispered. He'd already lost Crabbe to the fire and now he was going to die without being able to see Riley again. Was what Stephanie had said right? Was he just trying to stir up enough dust to make her come back? He swallowed hard and closed his eyes. If he focused hard enough, it was like she was there with him.
Her lips stretched slightly as she smiled at him.
"What have you been up to while I was gone? You seem to have caused quite a lot of trouble," she chided. Her voice; it was so good to hear her voice again. The vibrant sound was like silver bells and made warmth spread across Draco's skin. Those pale blue eyes twinkled at him as she smiled. In his mind, her hair had grown longer and given her an added element of elegance.
"Will you promise to be good from now on?" She asked her voice low and gentle. She wasn't reprimanding him at all, or admonishing him for what he'd done. Her hands were warm and soft as they cupped his cheek. The light scent of fruit and crème came from her skin.
"Thank you for not forgetting," she whispered.
Draco opened his eyes. His head felt like it was being hammered in to by nails. He felt like he was going to throw up. He looked around and saw that he was on a broom flying above the smoldering Room of Requirement. But who was flying the broom? A scent wafted up and hit his nose. It didn't smell like burning flesh, or disintegrating matter, but it was more like raspberries and vanilla. He chest tightened and he forced his eyes to focus. The person flying the broom was wearing a black travelling cape and had long, silvery blonde hair. The emerald eye of a snake glinted up from a finger on handle of the broomstick.
A/N: Hey! Sorry for such the wait! I've just been so busy with school and now I finally got a chance to just sit down and write. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and I wish for everyone to be safe while doing their Black Friday shopping tonight! I'm going to be at a JC Penny's around four a.m. tonight in the DFW area! Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews and I hope you will continue to enjoy the story. This one is unfortunately going to be coming to a close pretty soon, so stick around for the heartwarming, heartbreaking, dramatic finale of Bitten.