Heyyy again ! I'm sorry it took me so long to update ! x( I've been so busy with school and everything... :P I also started another fanfic, because I just randomly had the best idea ever and had to write it. ;) Plz check it out, it's with my other story ! :D I did an extra long chapter to make up for my time away though, plz enjoy ! :P
xoxoxo
Ghost
The snow and my spell thankfully cushion our fall, but the breath is still knocked out of me violently as I hit the ground. Loud cracks reverberate through the air, and I briefly wonder what they are, before I feel a searing pain in my stomach, and I realise that the sound was what feels like about five ribs cracking.
"Damn." I mutter, before passing out from the pain.
…...
Scorpius
I get up from the thick, powdery snow with difficulty, my head still pounding and spinning from my fall, and immediately attempt to look around in search of Rose. All I see is thick, blurry white. I can hardly discern the ground from the sky, everything is just a thick haze of white. I blink furiously a few times, and the world slowly comes back into focus.
I see red. Literally, I see a deep red color contrasting with the shockingly white snow. My heart lurches in my chest.
"Rose !" I exclaim, stumbling towards the bright red.
She's lying on her back, her eyes closed and her mouth hanging slightly open, obviously unconscious. I realise with relief that the red was only her hair, which is spreading out like a thick, red blanket on the snow. That doesn't mean I'm not still very worried.
I drop onto my knees in the wet snow beside her, and immediately check her pulse. Thank Merlin, she's still alive.
Feeling slightly calmer, I take out my wand and wave it over her still frame, praying that the spell my father taught me will work. It does : Three spots glow a faint orange through her thick coat, right above her ribs.
"Damnit !" I curse, chewing on my lower lip as I consider what to do. The spell just showed me that three of her ribs are cracked, which is really not good in these conditions.
But really, there's only one thing I can do, if I don't want to risk Rose's life. I raise my wand towards the ski, preparing to send the distress sign.
"Don't you dare Malfoy." A weak voice says from the ground, and I look down to see Rose glaring at me as forcefully as she can in her condition, utterly white.
"I'm not letting you get hurt Rose." I shoot back at her, and her eyes narrow at me, before slowly closing from exhaustion.
"In my cloak." She mumbles, before passing out again, leaving me, once again, completely alone.
"What the hell did you do to Rose you bastard !?" A voice exclaims from behind, and I'm suddenly blasted away from Rose's unconscious body in a blast of red light. I fall back into a snowdrift, and immediately struggle to get back up.
Okay, maybe alone would have been better.
"What the hell Albus !?" I exclaim, climbing to my feet and facing my best friend, my wand clutched tightly in my hand. Al's features contort into an expression or pure fiery, and his eyes narrow hatefully.
"I'm not letting you go near my cousin !" He screams, and then shoots out another blast of red light from his wand. I dodge it clumsily in the thick snow, and it burns my arm as it shoots past me.
I glance at Albus' face again, and immediately realise that something is wrong with him : his eyes are bloodshot and wider than usual, with a slight maniacal glint in them. His hair is even more mussed up than usual, and stuck together in huge, dirty looking clumps. It is painfully obvious that he's under a curse, probably the imperius, but I can't say that I'm an expert on things like that.
I'm going to pay for this later. I think, before pointing my wand directly at my best friend.
"Stupefy !" I exclaim. Thank Merlin rose is unconscious, like that she can't hear how my voice is higher than usual, or the pathetic way it trembles when I pronounce the spell. Way to charm your girlfriend, stunning her cousin.
The curse which controls Al makes him less agile than usual, meaning he can't avoid my spell. The light hits him straight in his chest, and he falls back, his mad eyes even wider than before. A sight of relief pushes through my lips, and I turn back to Rose.
What had she said again ? Oh right, in her cloak. I kneel by her side again, and set about checking all the pockets in her thick, winter cloak, thanking Merlin that she didn't hide whatever it is in her bra or somewhere equally embarrassing.
After a fair deal of patting and searching, I eventually pull out a small vial labeled : George's Ghost for a Day. I groan ; obviously she would count on one of her uncle's pranks to save herself.
Maybe I should just give up now, Rose won't be able to do anything as a ghost, and it would just be too weird to talk to some strange spiritual Weasley. Then again, would I rather a raging mad material Weasley if I don't do what she asked ? Definitely not.
I pull Rose's mouth open, and carefully pour all of the liquid in the bottle down her throat.
…...
It's all black. Why is everything so dark ? I can't see anything, just this infinite obscurity. I don't like it, I need color. But what is color ? I can remember the words : Yellow, pink, purple... blond ? Blond was my favorite I think... But I can't remember what they look like, the words are meaningless without the image.
Scorpius. I can remember that word too, but once again, I have no image to go with it. I want the image though. I want to remember Scorpius.
"Rose ! Wake up."
Scorpius ! That's Scorpius' voice, I would recognize it anywhere, even in this black haze. Actually, it's not so black anymore, it's lightening up, slowly becoming more white than black. Maybe I'll be able to see colors soon ! I'll be able to see Scorpius's face !
"Yees !" I exclaim, when shapes begin to form around me. It's all white, with the occasional grey spot. Mountains. I still need to see Scorpius though.
There's a small gasp of surprise from behind me, and I spin around as fast as possible. And fall quite magnificently.
At least... I would have fallen if I hadn't been hovering in mid-air. As it is, I spin around far too many times, and, once I stop, I find myself in a horizontal position, on my back, in the air. It's the strangest sensation ever, to be lying down on nothing. I unwillingly flip myself onto my tummy, and se the strangest thing ever, lying in the snow : Me. My eyes are closed and my face is quite peacefull, though my eyebrows are slightly scrunched up, my red lips and hair contrast spookily with my pale face. I look dead, and it is absolutely terrifying to see myself like that. Even so, I'm actually quite pretty, even if I look like an idiot with my mouth half open...
I maneuver myself so that I'm upright again, and finally manage to make my gaze land on Scorpius. It's so strange to grin when you can't actually feel your muscles stretch or your eyes crinkle. All I know is that I'm happy, so I must be smiling. I'm looking at him from up high now, so that I'm the one looking down on the other for a change. I think my grin widens.
I can remember everything that happened before I woke up, thank Merlin, so I don't have to waste precious time by asking Scorp to explain the situation. There is one thing that I missed out on however.
"Why is Al unconscious?"
Scorpius glances guiltily at my cousin's still form.
"I had to stun him, I think that someone cursed him, because he was completely mad."
"More than usual?" I ask, hoping to lighten the atmosphere, but Scorp just rolls his eyes at me.
"Should we leave him here?"
"We don't have much choice, really." I answer, shrugging my immaterial shoulders, "You can't carry him up the mountain as well as my body."
Scorpius shakes his head, "If we leave him, he'll be eliminated at the very first task. I'm taking him."
"It's your back." I answer, completely indifferent. If my cousin hadn't been such a troll and decided to participate, he would not be in this situation.
The mountain peak is a few meters above us, and I begin to glide up, unwilling to waste anymore time. I have no idea how long I've been unconscious. For all I know, the game could have finished hours ago. Behind me, Scorpius waves his wand towards me and Albus' bodies, and our bodies lift up spookily, still in exactly the same position as they were on the ground. I avert my eyes, kind of spooked out by the strange situation, and lead the way up the mountain.
…...
"Zaza!" I cry in surprise, the moment I reach the top and see my best friend standing completely still in the snow, snowflakes in her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, and her lips slightly blue from the cold. Her eyes are wide open, but seeing nothing, and her hair is yellow, for fear. The yellow hair is the strangest contrast possible with the wight snow and cloudy sky.
Next to her, in the same frozen position, is a boy of about 17 or 18 years old, with short, slightly spiky brown hair and huge brown eyes. He's quite good looking really, but then again, seeing as he's probably one of Violette's, the Beaubatons champion, family members, it's hardly surprising. Those bastards used people as the most important thing again, how evil can they get ? I'd be willing to bet it was Ankher's idea too...
I turn to Scorpius, "How are we going to bring Zaza down ?"
He doesn't acknowledge the fact that I talked, but just keeps looking at the frozen prisoners, and scanning the area around us, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.
"Hello ? Earth to Scorpius?" He just keeps observing the people, and then suddenly walks forwards towards a dark spot in the snow, and kneels down next to it. He pulls at the dark spot, and out comes... a picture frame.
In the frame, a picture with a happy, smiling family is proudly displayed. A man with twinkling blue eyes and a wide smile has one arm casually slung over a pretty blond lady's shoulders. The lady is smiling fondly at a small blond girl of about eleven by her side ; the girl is grinning as she pinches a younger boy's cheeks, who tries to pull away, though he's also laughing. In the background, you can just make out a cozy looking living room complete with a roaring fire. The picture seems worn out, with faded colors and small scratches marring it.
For some reason, despite the fact that the scene is a happy one, looking at the picture makes me feel slightly sad, almost nostalgic.
"Arla." Scorpius says quietly, looking at the picture strangely, and I don't understand at first. Then I look at the picture again, and recognize the small girl for her bright blue eyes and blond, slightly wavy hair, to be Arla Dyrdal. Other than that, the two Arlas look nothing alike. While the Arla in the picture is full of childlike innocence and joy, with a lively sparkle in her eyes which shows how much she adores life, the one that I've vaguely known for the last few months is curvy and slightly provocative, with playful mannerisms but almost dead eyes, as if her soul had been stolen away. Not that I'd ever noticed this before, but compared to the girl in the picture, the difference between the two is painfully obvious.
"What... what happened to her ?" I ask in a whisper, and I know that Scorp understands, because he shrugs lowly and shakes his head to indicate that he doesn't know. His eyes don't leave the picture, but I'm not jealous, I know that he's feeling the same nostalgia as me for this joyful girl surrounded by family.
Finally, Scorpius carefully puts the picture back in the snow, where we had found it, and turns to me.
"There's nothing for us."
"Huh?" I answer dumbly, having no idea what he's talking about.
"Our most special thing isn't here."He clarifies, at which I look pointedly at Zaza, once I understand. "No, she's Al's Rose, we don't have anything for us."
I think my ghostlike eyes widen at this realization, "But... but that's not possible, they must have made a mistake !" I exclaim, frantically looking around. Scorpius is right, lined up there's Violette's, Al's and Arla's object or person, but for me and Scorpius there's nothing.
"I bet it's that bastard Ankhel !" I exclaim, rounding on Scorpius, feeling absolutely furious at the situation.
"You know we're being filmed Rose?"
"As if I care !" I shout, raising my ghostlike arms into the air and soaring up as high as I can get. Once up high, I scan the mountain and everything around us, if only in search of something to take my mind off my own problems. I suddenly spot a head of blond hair soaring up the mountain, and recognize Arla.
I go back down towards Scorpius, and tell him the news, if only to change the subject from our own trouble.
A few seconds later, the Durmstrang champion emerges from the side of the mountain and grins at us playfully, though the ever constant sadness in her eyes is painfully obvious after having seen the picture.
"Heyyy guys !" She exclaims, still hovering in mid-air without a broom or anything else to assist her. I remember my uncles telling me about there adventures in the war, and realize with a shiver that she's using the same spell as Voldemort used to fly.
"How are you doing that?" I demand, slightly too harshly probably, but she just grins at me even wider.
"Secrets of the trade." She answers, tapping the end of her nose, "Was that dragon you two by any chance? And why are you a ghost?"
"Secrets of the trade." I reply wryly, and then smile at her, "Well... not really, but now's not the time to explain."
"I am so waiting on that story."
"You could just ask the thousand people watching us otherwise."
"Duh, but I prefer first-hand accounts." She says with a wink, and I think my ghosty self smiles again.
"Anyway, how about we keep going with this competition?"
"You're on rival !" She replies with a laugh, bounding towards where Zaza and the french guy are. Once there, she looks around confusedly, and then her gaze lands on the worn picture.
"Oh no..." She mutters, grabbing the picture hurriedly and staring at it, paling noticeably. She then hugs it to her chest and glances at me and Scorp, who are both staring at her.
"Se... see you 'round I guess." She mutters, her good mood completely evaporated. She then waves her wand and begins her trip back down the mountain, in the same way as the darkest wizard of all time. She can't leave fast enough however, and me and Scorpius both see the tears running down her face.
Duh duh duh duh ! What's up with Arla ? A dark past ? A broken heart ?... And what is Rose and Scorp's most special thing ? I guess you'll just have to wait and see... ;) Thx for ur reviews in my last chapter, they made me very happy ! Plz review again, like that I'll update doubly quick ! :) Plz plz plz plz plz plz plz revieeeeew ! x) :'(
Luv y'all. ;P
xoxoxoxo
DarkChocaholic
