Chapter 38

Priori Incantatem

KIARA

Wormy approached me, and I scrambled to my feet, unable to find my feet, to support my own weight before the ropes were untied. Wormy raised his new silver hand, pulled out the wad of material that gagged me and then, with one swipe, cut through the bonds that had me tied to the gravestone.

There was a split second, perhaps, when I might have considered running for it, but my injured leg shook under me as I stood on the overgrown grave, as the Love Destroyers closed ranks, forming a tighter circle around Zira and I, so that the gaps where the missing Love Destroyers should have stood were filled. Wormy then thrust my wand roughly into my hand without looking at me. Then Wormy returned to his place in the circle of watching Love Destroyers.

"You have been taught to duel, Kiara Pride-Lander?" said Zira softly, her red eyes glinting through the darkness.

At these words I remembered, as though from a former life, the Duelling Club at Dragon Mort I had attended briefly in my second year ... all I had learnt there was the Disarming spell, "Expelliarmus" ... and I then wondered, what use would it be, even if I could, to have deprive Zira of her wand, when she was surrounded by her Love Destroyers, outnumbered by at least thirty to one? I had never learnt anything that could possibly have prepared me for that back then. I knew I was facing the thing against which Grumpy had always warned ... the unblockable Avada Kedavra curse - and Zira was right - my parents were not there to defend and die for me ... I was quite unprotected ...

"We bow to each other, Kiara," said Zira, bending a little, but keeping her snake-face upturned towards mine. "Come, the niceties must be observed ... Crighton would like you to show manners ... bow to death, Kiara ..."

The Love Destroyers were laughing again. Zira's lipless mouth was smiling. I did not bow. I was not going to let Zira play with me before she killed me ... I was not going to give her that satisfaction ...

"I said, bow," Zira said, raising her wand - and I felt my spine curve as though a huge, invisible hand was bending me ruthlessly forwards, and the Love Destroyers laughed harder than ever.

"Very good," said Zira softly, and as she raised her wand, the pressure bearing down upon me lifted too. "And now you face me, like a woman ... straight-backed and proud, the way I will have your parents when I come to kill them ...

"And now - we duel."

Zira raised her wand, and before I could do anything to defend myself, before I could even move, I had been hit again by the Cruciatus Curse. The pain was so intense, so all-consuming, that I no longer knew where I was ... it felt like white-hot knives were piercing every inch of my skin, and I thought that my head was surely going to burst with the pain; I was screaming more loudly than I had ever screamed before -

And then it stopped. I rolled over and scrambled to my feet; I was shaking as uncontrollably as Wormy had done when his hand had been cut off; I staggered sideways into the wall of watching Love Destroyers, and they pushed me away, back towards Zira.

"A little break," said Zira, the slit-like nostrils dilating with excitement, "a little pause ... that hurt, didn't it, Kiara? You don't want me to do that again, do you?"

I didn't answer. I thought I was going to die like Georgia at that moment, and that those pitiless red eyes told me so ... I was going to die, and there was nothing I could do about it ... but I wasn't going to play along. I wasn't going to obey Zira ... I wasn't going to beg ...

"I asked you whether you want me to do that again?" said Zira softly. "Answer me! Imperio!"

And I felt, for the third time in my life, the sensation that my mind had been wiped of all thought ... ah, its was bliss, not to think, it was as though I was floating, dreaming ... just answer "no" ... say "no" ... just answer "no" ...

I will not, said a stronger voice, in the back of my head, I won't answer ...

Just answer "no" ...

I won't do it, I won't say it ...

Just answer "no" ...

"I WON'T!"

And these words burst from my mouth; they echoed through the graveyard, and the dream state was lifted as suddenly as though cold water had been thrown over me - back rushed the aches that the Cruciatus Curse had left all over my body - back rushed the realisation of where I was, and what I was facing ...

"You won't?" said Zira quietly, and the Love Destroyers were not laughing now. "You won't say "no"? Kiara, obedience is a virture I need to teach you before you die ... perhaps another little dose of pain?"

Zira raised her wand, but this time I was ready; with the reflexes born of my Quidditch training, I flung myself sideways onto the ground; I rolled behind the marble headstone of Zira's mother, and I heard it crack as the curse missed me.

"We are not playing hide-and-seek, Kiara," said Zira's soft, cold voice, drawing nearer, as the Love Destroyers laughed. "You cannot hide from me. "Does this mean you are tired of our duel? Does this mean that you would prefer me to finish it now, Kiara. Come out, Kiara ... come out and play, then ... it will be quick ... it might even be painless ... I would not know ... I have never died ..."

I crouched behind the headstone, and I knew the end had come. There was no hope ... no hope to be had. And as I heard Zira draw nearer still, I knew one thing only, and it was beyond fear or reason - I was not going to die crouching there like a child playing hide-and-seek, I was not going to die kneeling at Zira's feet ... I was going to die upright like some of the many wizards who had faced Zira before me, and I was going to die trying to defend myself, even if no defence was possible ...

Before Zira could stick her snake-like face around the headstone, I had stood up ... I gripped my wand tightly in my hand, thrust it out in front of me, and threw myself around the headstone, facing Zira.

Zira was ready. As I shouted "Expelliarmus!", Zira cried, "Avada Kedavra!"

And just as fat had favoured Zira, fate then favoured me; for what happened next, neither of us expected to happen, and I was grateful for it, because it's one of the reasons I am still alive today. You see, my dear readers, a jet of green light shot out of Zira's wand just as a jet of red light blasted from mine - they met in mid-air - and suddenly, my wand was vibrating as though an electric charge was surging through it; I couldn't have released it even if I'd wanted to - and a narrow beam of light connected our wands, neither red nor green light, but bright, deep gold - and as I followed the beam with my astonished gaze, I saw that Zira's long white fingers, too, were gripping a wand that was shaking and vibrating.

And then - nothing could have prepared me for it - I felt my feet lift from the ground. Zira and I were both being raised into the air, our wands still connected by that thread of shimmering golden light. We were gliding away from the tombstone of Zira's mother, and we then came to rest on a patch of ground that was clear and free of graves ... The Love Destroyers were shouting, they were asking Zira for instructions; they were closing in, re-forming the circle around Zira and I, the snake slithering at their heels, some of them drawing their wands -

The golden thread connecting mine and Zira's wands splintered: though the wands remained connected, a thousand more offshoots arced high over Zira and I, criss-crossing all around us, until we were enclosed in a golden, dome-shaped web, a cage of light, beyond which the Love Destroyers circled like jackals, their cries strangely muffled ...

"Do nothing!" Zira shrieked to the Love Destroyers, and I saw her red eyes wide with astonishment at what was happening, saw her fight to break the thread of light that still connected her wand with mine; I held onto my wand more tightly, with both hands, and the golden thread remained unbroken. "Do nothing unless I command you!" Zira shouted to the Love Destroyers.

And then an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air ... it was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around Zira and I. It was a sound I recognised, though I had only heard it once before this point in my life ... the phoenix song ...

To me, it was the sound of hope ... the most beautiful and welcome thing I have ever heard in my life ... I felt as though the song was inside me instead of just around me ... it was the sound I connected with Crighton, and it was almost as though a friend was speaking in my ear ...

Don't break the connection.

I know, I told the music, I know I mustn't ... but no sooner had I thought it, than the thing became much harder to do. My wand began to vibrate more powerfully than ever ... and now the beam between Zira and I changed, too ... it was as though large beams of light were sliding up and down the thread connecting our wands - I felt my wand give a shudder under my hand, as the light beads began to slide slowly and steadily my way ... the direction of the beam's movement was now towards me, from Zira, and I felt my wand shudder angrily ...

As the nearest beam of light moved nearer to my wand tip, the wood beneath my fingers grew so hot I feared it would burst into flame. The closer that beam moved, the harder my wand vibrated; I was sure my wand would not survive contact with it; it felt as though it was about to shatter under my fingers -

I concentrated every last particle of my mind upon forcing the bead backwards towards Zira, my ears full of phoenix song, my eyes furious, fixated ... and slowly, very slowly, the beads quivered to a halt, and then, just as slowly, they began to move the other way ... and it was Zira's wand that was vibrating extra-hard now ... Zira who looked astonished, and almost fearful ...

One of the beads of light was quivering, inches from the tip of Zira's wand. I didn't understand why I was doing it, didn't know what it might achieve ... but I concentrated never as I have done before or since, on forcing that bead of light right back into Zira's wand ... and slowly ... very slowly ... it moved along the golden thread ... it trembled for a moment ... and then it connected ...

At once, Zira's wand began to emit echoing screams of pain ... then - Zira's red eyes widened with shock - a dense, smoky hand flew out of the tip of it and vanished ... the ghost of the hand she had made Wormy ... more shouts of pain ... and then something much longer began to blossom from Zira's wand tip, a great, greyish something that looked as though it was made of the solidest, dense smoke ... it was a head ... then chest and arms ... the torso of Georgia Diggs.

If ever I might have released my wand from shock, it would have been then, but instinct kept me clutching my wand tightly, so that the thread of golden light remained unbroken, even though the thick grey ghost of Georgia Diggs (was it a ghost? It looked so solid) emerged in its entirety from the end of Zira's wand, as though it was squeezing itself out of a very narrow tunnel ... and this shade of Georgia stood up, and looked up and down the golden thread of light, and spoke.

"Hold on, Kiara," it said.

Its voice was distant and echoing. I looked at Zira ... her wide, red eyes were still shocked ... she had no more expected this than I had ... and, very dimly, I heard the frightened yells of the Love Destroyers, prowling around the edges of the golden dome ...

More screams of pain from the wand ... and then something else emerged from its tip ... the dense shadow of a second head, quickly followed by arms and a torso ... an old woman I had once seen in a dream was pushing herself out of the end of the wand just as Georgia had done ... and her ghost, or her shadow, or whatever it was, fell next to Georgia's, and surveyed Zira and I, and the golden web, and the connected wands, with mild surprise, leaning on her walking stick ...

"She was a real witch, then?" the old woman said, her eyes on Zira. "Killed me, that one did ... you fight her, girl ..."

But already, yet another head was emerging ... and this head, grey as a smoky statue, was a man's ... my arms were shaking as I fought to keep my wand still, as I saw him drop to the ground and straighten up like the others, staring ...

The shadow of Bernard Jenkins surveyed the battle before him with wide eyes.

"Don't let go, now!" he cried, and his voice echoed like Georgia's, as though from very far away. "Don't let her get you, Kiara - don't let go!"

He and the other two shadowy figures began to pace around the inner walls of the golden web, while the Love Destroyers flitted around the outside of it ... and Zira's dead victims - not just these three, but others, too, witches, wizards and Muggles alike, that I had never seen before in my life - whispered as they circled we duellers, whispering words of encouragement to me, and hissed words I couldn't hear to Zira.

And then another head was emerging from the tip of Zira's wand ... the smoky shadow of a broad man with a mane of long, ruly hair fell to the ground as the others had done, straightened up, and looked at me ... and even though I had only seen him once, I knew exactly who he was ... his face was slightly rounder than my father's was, and his eyes slightly smaller ... but he was my grandfather Mufasa (now, I bet many of you are wondering just how on Earth he came out of the tip of Zira's wand, when Zira wasn't old enough to own a wand when my grandfather was alive, aren't you? Well, I'm afraid you're going to have to wait until book seven to find out why that was). Grandfather Mufasa then walked close to me, and spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Zira, her face livid with fear as her victims prowled around her, could not hear ...

"When the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments ... but we will give you time ... you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Dragon Mort ... do you understand, Kiara?" Grandfather Mufasa whispered urgently in his deep, powerful voice.

"Yes," I gasped, as I struggled to keep a hold on my wand, which slipped and slid beneath my fingers.

"Kiara ..." whispered the figure of Georgia, "take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my parents ..."

"I will," I said, my face screwed up with the effort of holding the wand.

"You are my son's daughter," Grandfather Mufasa said, his smoky eyes beaming with pride. "Now, do it now ... be ready to run ... do it now ..."

"NOW!" I yelled; I didn't think I could have held on for another moment anyway - I pulled my wand upwards with an almighty wrench, and the golden thread broke; the cage of light vanished, the phoenix song dies - but the shadowy figures of Zira's victims did not disappear - they were closing in upon Zira, shielding me from her gaze -

And I ran as I had never run before, knocking two stunned Love Destroyers aside as I passed; I zig-zagged behind headstones, feeling their curses following me, hearing them hit the headstones - I was dodging curses and graves, pelting towards Georgia's body, no longer aware of the pain in my leg, my whole being concentrated on what I had to do -

"Stun her!" I heard Zira scream.

Ten feet from Georgia, I dived behind a marble angel to avoid the jets of red light and I saw the tip of its wing shatter as the spells hit it. Gripping my wand more tightly, I dashed out from behind the angel -

"Impedimenta!" I bellowed, pointing my wand wildly over my shoulder at the Love Destroyers running at me.

From a muffled yell, I thought I had stopped at least one of them, but I didn't stop to look around; I jumped over the Cup and dived as I heard more wand blasts behind me; more jets of light flew over my head as I fell, stretching out my hand to grab Georgia's arm -

"Stand aside! I will kill her! She is mine!" shrieked Zira.

My hand had closed on Georgia's wrist; one tombstone stood between Zira and I, but Georgia was too heavy to carry, and the Cup was just out of reach -

Zira's red eyes flamed in the darkness. I saw her mouth curl into a smile, saw her raise her wand.

"Accio!" I yelled, pointing my wand at the Triwizard Cup.

It flew into the air, and soared towards me - I caught it by the handle -

I heard Zira's scream of fury at the same moment as I felt the jerk behind my navel that meant the Portkey had worked - it was speeding me away in a whirl of wind and colour, Georgia along with me ... we were going back ...