42: Portkeys
RIDDLE HOUSE, FOURTH EARTH
Crouch lay the two books on the table next to their seven brothers. "Here's the one they don't know about," he said, tapping the second. "If we all have a plan in place…"
"We shall go," Voldemort confirmed. "Portus."
HOGWARTS, FOURTH EARTH
Twilight, Harry, Luna, and Ginny had spent most of the night camping out in the Incendiary Ballroom.
"Maybe they aren't going to even show up," Ginny said after the first hour.
"We can't chance that," Harry pointed out.
Time soon saw the four of them sitting on the ground. As the three humans were sitting with their backs to the wall, their heads slumped, and they nearly slept.
Twilight remained vigilant, her worry growing as the hours passed. Then, suddenly, it came to fruition.
Three figures materialized. The one in the center held a book. The other two each had a hand on his shoulder.
"IT'S THEM!" Twilight cried. She, Harry, Luna, and Ginny sprang to attention, drawing their wands. Then Twilight yelped, doing a double take as she realized who she was facing, the woman to the left. "Tr…Trixie?"
"TWILIGHT?" Trixie replied. "What are YOU doing here?"
"What am I doing here? What are YOU doing with…THEM?"
"Miss Lulamoon," the central figure—Maxim Horvath himself—said, dropping the book to the floor, "has joined our cause."
"Careful!" Harry warned Twilight. "That's Fenrir Greyback, and…" He stared down Horvath.
"Don't waste your time trying to place me," Horvath spat. "We've never met. But I still know who you are…Harry Potter." He raised a sapphire-topped cane around which were wrapped multiple dragon-shaped rings. "And I fully intend to finish what Voldemort began."
Harry and Ginny both pointed their wands at him. "EXPELLIARMUS!"
Horvath shook his head, keeping his grip on his cane. "Perhaps that would work on a lesser conduit." He struck the ground with the cane, and a burst of fire rocketed toward Harry and Ginny.
Fenrir, grinning madly, leapt for Luna. She took off running to the other side of the ballroom.
"This can't be!" Twilight sputtered. "Trixie…how could you?"
"The Death Eaters have power, which is something Trixie has always needed more than she had!" Trixie argued. "Trixie is sorry she has to do this to you, Twilight Sparkle, but you stand in Trixie's way!"
She cast a hex; Twilight easily blocked it with the Shield charm: "Protego!" Again and again, Trixie cast her spells; Twilight blocked them.
Harry quickly cast a cooling wind at the ball of flame, trying to shield Ginny with his body at the same time. His spell cleared a radius around the two; fire encircled them.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Horvath barked at Trixie. "KILL HER!"
"Trixie does not want to…to…to defeat her without a true challenge!" Trixie answered.
"And I don't want to hurt you either," Twilight replied.
"Then kill the others," Horvath told Trixie.
"Trixie…Trixie shall!" She was obviously nervous. She raised her wand shakily, pointing it at the ring of fire. "A…ava…avada—"
"STUPEFY!"
Twilight's Stunning spell paralyzed Trixie, and the Equestrian fell to the floor. Twilight's eyes watered. "Trixie," she muttered.
She didn't have long to mourn, as Luna was calling out, "Flipendo…FLIPENDO!" Twilight looked up to see Fenrir dodging the Knockback jinx on his way to Luna, presumably to bite her, to turn her into a werewolf…or perhaps worse, perhaps to kill her…
"NO!" Twilight screamed. "IMPERIO!"
Fenrir froze in his tracks.
Don't kill her, Twilight told him. Turn around and leave her alone.
And Fenrir did, walking in a daze toward the Portkey.
Harry and Ginny carved their way out of the inferno with a Glacius charm, only for Horvath to raise bolts of white plasma within his hands and fire them. Neither Harry nor Ginny could put up a Protego charm in time, and both were hit, thrown against the wall and falling to the floor.
"You are much weaker than they say," Horvath mocked. "And don't even think about it—"
He turned in time to stop Luna from drawing her wand; one jinx from him, and she froze, entirely paralyzed.
Don't touch the Portkey, Twilight told Fenrir. You need to get Trixie and the other one to touch the Portkey.
Fenrir looked at her and nodded. He started for Trixie's prone body.
"What's with him?" Ginny asked Harry as the pair got to their feet.
"I don't know," Harry admitted. "He's got some kind of power I don't understand—"
Horvath charged another white plasma bolt within his hands, readying it to fire at Harry and Ginny. He let it loose.
Twilight intercepted, casting pure energy, her own plasma, through her wand. It struck Horvath's, causing both bolts to slow down, combatting. In the end, Horvath's was whittled down, and only a little of it struck Twilight; she staggered from the shockwave.
"STUPEFY!" Harry and Ginny tried, but Horvath put up a shield, deflecting both Stuns. Twilight again felt the connection making sense. The rings around the cane…probably meaningful. They didn't look like they were part of the cane originally. What if, just what if, they were conduits? What if the reason this wizard was so strong was because he was working with the combined forces of multiple people?
"Don't back down!" Twilight yelled at Harry and Ginny. It was time for her to unleash her new potential, as frightened as she was of it.
"Do you think," Horvath mocked, "that you can truly stand against me?" He raised his cane again.
Twilight focused on her amulet, calling upon the power within, the power that had been instilled in her soul when her soul had been transferred. She suddenly felt a rush wash over her, a rush of power. For a moment, all was dark. Then her body was bathed in light, and her clothing changed. Upon her hooves were four leather shoes with elaborate buckles in the front and heels in the back. Knee-high black stockings traveled up each leg. A royal blue collared button-down shirt, sleeveless, appeared on her chest, the train traveling down the length of her back and the front hem flouncing over the tops of her legs. Over this shirt appeared a black velvet suit jacket, buttoned at the front with two gold shimmering buttons; a similar gold was used in the insignia over her left chest, made up of an entwined "T" and "S." Over all this, cinched around her human waist, there was a belt made of gold. Starting at the midsection of her horse half and flouncing over her rear was a plaid miniskirt, royal blue and black, stopping far above her back knees. Around her neck appeared a gossamer blue scarf, and her hair was pulled back over her left ear by a navy blue bow. Finally, her eyes were lined with a silver eyeshadow that glittered brightly.
But none of this was of any interest to her as much as the object that appeared in her hand: a staff of gold, tall enough that when she gripped the top of the pole in her hands, the bottom tapped the floor. It was topped with a great six-pointed star, somewhere between purple and pink, made of crystal and surrounded by a loop of the same color to keep it steady—a reflection of Twilight's Cutie Mark.
Horvath only saw a flash of light, then Twilight dressed in her new clothing. He wasn't sure what to make of it at all. Thinking nothing of a mere change of outfits, he channeled a blast of winter wind through his cane, sending a hail of snow at Twilight, Harry, and Ginny, enough to freeze them over completely.
"INCENDIO!" Twilight cried, striking the ground with her staff. An enormous column of fire erupted between herself and Horvath, melting the winter wind.
Taken aback, Horvath was unsure what to do next. He tried to redirect the fire right back at Twilight, to immolate her in the flames she herself had conjured.
Remembering Harry and Ginny's Glacius charm, Twilight called that out next: "GLACIUS!" The heart of the fire was overtaken by a spinning ball of white, a snowball that exploded and destroyed the flames.
"No," Horvath muttered.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" Twilight cried, and the cane with all its rings was blown from Horvath's reach; Horvath himself staggered for balance. He turned and threw out his hand, calling the staff; it obediently flew back toward its owner, who desperately clutched at it.
What came next was pure instinct. Twilight raised her staff into the air with both hands, closing her eyes. "ELEMENTAL FINALE!" she cried.
It seemed to be raining stars, at first. Great spheres of white plasma, with comet tails that betrayed a pink sheen, poured down from the sky. Harry and Ginny flinched, and Fenrir cowered, but the spheres left them alone, sinking into the ground around them. Horvath was not so lucky as to be spared. The spheres attacked him relentlessly, any that were near him honing in on his body. With each one that hit, he felt weaker, more tired.
At last, they cleared. Horvath dropped to one knee, breathing heavily.
Ginny took her moment. She flicked her wand, and the next thing anyone new, several repulsive black winged creatures crawled from Horvath's nose, expanding in size, flying in his face. He scrambled to his feet immediately to try and escape the bat-bogeys; he dropped the cane.
PICK IT UP! Twilight urged Fenrir. PICK UP THE CANE!
Fenrir obediently did so.
Harry rushed to Luna, casting a countercurse; the girl could move once more.
Fenrir stood near the Portkey, Trixie slumped over one arm and the cane in the hand of the other. Wait for it, Twilight told him. Wait for my mark.
The bat-bogeys dissipated. Horvath took inventory of his bearings; Twilight, Luna, Harry, and Ginny all stood before him.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" they cried as one.
He fell, backward, toward the Portkey.
NOW! Twilight cried out to Fenrir. The werewolf reached down to touch the Portkey as Horvath fell and slammed into him. All three—Fenrir, Horvath, and Trixie—were transported immediately back from whence they had come, and much worse for wear.
"You think that'll keep them?" Ginny asked.
"We did hit them fairly hard," Harry answered, panting slightly. "Twilight…what WAS all that?"
Twilight was taking that moment to survey her new clothing. "That's apparently the reward I get for letting Kyubey put my soul in a phylactery," she answered. "I think it actually just might be worth it. Speaking of 'what was that,' Ginny…"
"The Bat-Bogey hex," Ginny answered. "A personal favorite."
"Did you know her?" Luna asked Twilight. "That Trixie?"
"I…I did," Twilight answered. "I mean, I do! I just…how can she be with THEM? How can she be trying to KILL us?"
"What was she like?" Harry asked. "Before all this?"
"Power hungry, vain, and I got the sense that she thought magic made her superior to everypony else…" Twilight shook her head. "Actually, just short of the killing, I can see how Voldemort would have appealed to her. But when we parted, she and I…we were almost friends. She doesn't belong with Voldemort, and I wish I'd gotten a chance to say that to her!" Her eyes began to water again. "Not that it would have done any good."
"We should go see if we can help the others," Harry suggested, wanting to distract Twilight from her sorrow. "If three of the Death Eaters are here…they're all here. That one…he had more power than I've ever seen."
"It wasn't just his," Twilight explained. "Those rings on the cane. Those belonged to somepony else. More than one. He's using others' magic to make himself stronger. It's definitely a magic style that isn't common on Fourth Earth."
"I want to know more about that," Luna commented. "I wonder if—"
"No time!" Ginny interrupted. "We're under a full-scale attack by this point!" She charged to the door, opening it with Incendio.
She came face-to-face with the silver eagle.
When Quirrell, Dolohov, Goyle Sr., and Selwyn materialized in the kitchens, they didn't expect the sight that met them at all. Dolohov had expected empty kitchens. Goyle and Selwyn had expected to interrupt a furiously working crew of house-elves and take them defenseless. Quirrell was the only one who actually worried about finding a retaliation party, but he imagined ten high-powered wizards.
None were ready for the sight of Fluttershy quivering while Linney, Winky, and Kreacher stood out front of her.
"You won't…" Fluttershy tried to say, her voice failing her and trailing into an inaudible squeak. "You're not…I mean…"
"YOU WILL NOT HARM HOGWARTS!" Winky cried with all the courage Fluttershy had failed to find.
"And who's going to stop us?" Dolohov asked. "Three little house-elves and a—"
"Do not underestimate them!" Quirrell warned, his own voice cracking. "They are very powerful and—"
As if on cue, Winky, Linney, and Kreacher each snapped fingers, and Dolohov, Goyle, and Selwyn were rocketed backward into the wall. Linney immediately ran after them, turning up the ranges on which Dolohov had landed, setting his robes alight. Winky pelted rotten fruit at Selwyn, disorienting him while Kreacher snapped his fingers again to put Goyle's wand in his own hands.
While the six battled behind Quirrell, Quirrell himself stepped forward to face Fluttershy. "And you?" he said, drawing his wand. "You…will die…in the name of Lord Voldemort."
"NO!" Fluttershy squeaked, thinking of Rapunzel and grabbing a skillet. She nearly dropped it—it wasn't too heavy for her, but it was heavy enough to surprise her, given how she'd seen Rapunzel carrying it around so casually. She lobbed it at Quirrell.
The skillet clattered to the floor some three feet to the right of him; Linney picked it up and beat at Selwyn with it.
"This is the great Element of Harmony of which I was warned?" Quirrell scoffed. "If they're all as easy to kill as you, I may as well do the job myself, all six…"
He'd unwittingly found Fluttershy's berserk button and pushed it. "No," Fluttershy said with clenched teeth. "You…will not…hurt…my…FRIENDS! WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!"
Quirrell rocketed upward, slamming into the ceiling. He struggled to keep his grip on his wand.
"I guess the time for it is now," Fluttershy said to herself. She remembered what Twilight had told her before the stakeouts were set up: not to hold back on using her Mahou Shoujo transformation, no matter what the stakes. So she called upon her amulet.
In the darkness, her robes were replaced by a green sundress, held over her shoulders by straps and fitted around the rest of her body, with short sleeves cut for her front hooves. A white sweater with long sleeves but that stopped short of Fluttershy's human stomach area adorned the top. Beneath that, a yellow belt cinched, ending in a yellow bow. Her hooves were encased in yellow heeled shoes with straps around the tops and bows at the toes. A yellow sun hat with a great bow finished the ensemble.
As the darkness cleared, leaving Quirrell to drop to the floor and wonder what had just happened—with his compatriots suffering behind him, Linney sending a hail of kitchen knives to pin Goyle to the wall and Kreacher slamming a bowl over Selwyn's head—Fluttershy noticed the weapon that had materialized in her hands: a katana, with a plain silver blade and a golden hilt.
Quirrell barely had time to form the words, "What is—"
Fluttershy reached out to the edges of the new power she felt. Flowers blossomed up around her feet, transparent flowers of pure plasma. The blooms broke off from the stems, rising to head height and unfolding the petals. The petals gleamed sharply; they were plasma shuriken, numbering about fifty. Fluttershy pointed the katana at Quirrell, and the shuriken flew at him en masse. They didn't injure him or bring him closer to death—that wasn't what Fluttershy wanted, and so she prevented it. Instead, as Twilight's elemental rain had done to Horvath, the shuriken dug at Quirrell's soul, making him tired, draining him of the drive to fight. He didn't feel pain—he just felt that he wanted very much to crawl into bed and sleep.
Fluttershy knew that she could enchant her blade to do the same, to weaken—and by no means permanently—for the means of defense rather than to maim. The katana's edges glowed with a soft light. She approached the staggering Quirrell, raising her blade…but before making a move, she asked him, "Why are you doing this?"
"In the name…of Lord Voldemort," Quirrell answered her. "This…this will all be his, this school…everything. The ones who defy him will die. The Muggle-born will know their place. He will be as a king, and I…I will fight to the death to see his will accomplished."
"You're doing this all for someone else?" Fluttershy reiterated.
"I will do anything," Quirrell insisted, "for him."
She lowered her weapon. "Is he here?"
"Of course. Why would the Dark Lord not attend the invasion of Hogwarts he planned?"
"Go."
"What?" Quirrell asked, stunned.
"Go fight with him," Fluttershy said. "I know it's what you want to do. It's in your heart."
"QUIRRELL!" Dolohov cried out after having vinegar thrown into his eyes. "We're lost! We're taking the Portkey back!"
"You're letting me go," Quirrell confirmed with Fluttershy.
"Where you need to be," Fluttershy affirmed.
"QUIRRELL!" Dolohov called again. "We will leave WITHOUT YOU!"
"Then leave," Quirrell said calmly. "I'm not returning."
Dolohov, Goyle, and Selwyn, all fairly battered, took that as their cue. They dove for the book, and it transported them all back to Riddle House.
Shakily, weakened and unsure, Quirrell made his way for the door. Linney, Kreacher, and Winky all started after him, but Fluttershy put up a hand. Quirrell then bolted.
"WHY DOES FLUTTERSHY DO THIS?" Linney cried in frustration. "He kills us all later, you see!"
"A while ago," Fluttershy replied, "around a year, my friends and I united four thieves into a powerful force by accident. We thought it was a mistake, but it came around to do us a good turn. And we know they're happier than ever before. Later, Twilight helped out one of our most dangerous enemies. That did us a good turn too, and he has a strange relationship with her that we still can't really figure out. But I think it makes him happy. We decided that though there are a lot of people that do bad things, even they need friendship, and somehow, it always ends up working out when friendship finds them. The only ones that have really given us trouble are the ones who have refused to accept friendship at all. The traitors, the loners. I don't know if Voldemort knows what friendship is, but that wizard sees him as a friend. I couldn't hold him back. I just know that whatever happens will turn out better if they're together."
"That is beautiful," Linney said. "BUT STILL, HE KILLS US LATER!"
"I think," Fluttershy replied, "that when I'm like this, I can stop him from killing us. I hadn't tested those powers before! They were very useful!"
Then the silver Rottweiler burst through the wall near the door.
Firenze, Neville, and Romilda first thought Pinkie Pie was joking when she said, "I can't wait for the Death Eaters to show up!"
"Why?" Neville asked.
"Because I wanna try out my new Mahou Shoujo powers, silly!" she explained. "I'm sure they're way powerful enough to protect all of us!"
The four of them waited in the astronomy tower until their four opponents appeared. Yaxley, the two Averys, and Rowle all had wands drawn and ready.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" Neville and Romilda were quicker to the draw, sending the wands out of the hands of both Averys. In return, Rowle promptly put Romilda in a Full Body-Bind; Firenze charged at Rowle and put him in a headlock.
Pinkie first simply drew the Party Cannon, pointing it at Yaxley and firing; confused, Yaxley tumbled to the ground in a shower of confetti.
"Now let's see what this baby can do!" Pinkie cried, drawing upon the power of her own amulet. In the darkness, she made a remark for every accessory that appeared upon her. For the pink tank top, lengthened to cover her equine back and chest and fastened over her shoulders by thin straps: "Ooh, pretty!" For the blue corset that fastened itself around her waist, below her bustline, and flared out into a wide ruffle: "Ooh, flouncy!" For the heavily rhinestoned belt that cinched above the ruffle of the corset: "Shiny!" For the bright pink heeled shoes that appeared on each hoof, lacing up her legs with ribbons: "Pinktastic!" For the pink headband that appeared in her hair, with a rather large bow and a pouf of pink feathers on the right side: "That feels stylish!" For the great tulle ballerina skirt that started at the midsection between both sets of equine legs, tied there with a bow, and flowed to cover her entire hind area, "Ruffleriffic!" And for the pistols with rhinestone-studded handles that appeared in each hand: "Now, that'll come in handy!"
Rowle was unconscious, Firenze having worked a pressure point on him during the headlock. While Avery Sr. groped for his wand, which had rolled underneath a desk, Avery Jr. and Neville faced off; Neville was torn between fending off his opponent and countercursing Romilda, and so he was slightly slow on the uptake when Avery began to curse him; Firenze approached Avery Jr. from behind and wrenched his wand arm backward, behind his back, so Avery Jr. squeaked in pain. Neville rushed to Romilda, taking her out of her frozen state. Yaxley was still tangled in streamers.
Pinkie assessed her three targets—two Averys and Yaxley. Then she began firing rapidly. Energy burst from each pistol, along with a slight shower of glitter for every shot. She alternated so that she shot each in turn; Avery Sr., Avery Jr., and Yaxley felt the impact from each as though they'd been hit with an extremely powerful Knockback Jinx. Firenze took that time to secure the wands of both Averys and Rowle, snapping them all.
Each pistol only fired six shots, as was tradition, but when Pinkie threw one over her shoulder, it disappeared, and a new one appeared in her hand. "It's really fun when it isn't real bullets!" she told Firenze, Neville, and Romilda. "WOOHOO!"
"She's crazy!" Romilda hissed to Neville.
"But she's stunning our enemies," Neville replied quietly. "I wouldn't complain…"
"I bet I have some sort of finisher move for you guys!" Pinkie told the thoroughly stunned Averys and Yaxley. "Let's see…" Both pistols disappeared. A giant shoulder-mounted launcher appeared in her hands; she hoisted it up and to the left. The barrel was larger than Pinkie's own head, and the entire thing was a glittering, obnoxious shade of pink. "PARTY TIME!" she squealed, pulling the trigger three times.
Avery Sr. was struck with a great force of draining energy as well as a burst of confetti.
Avery Jr. was hit with the same force and a cream pie.
Yaxley was hit with such force that his wand flew from his hand as he flew backward to connect with the wall; glitter also showered over him.
Firenze caught the wand as it spun in the air, snapping it neatly in two.
"Retreat!" Yaxley ordered, knowing they were all useless without wands. He hoisted Rowle into one arm, moving for the Portkey; the Averys made the same move, and all four disappeared.
"Nice going!" Neville congratulated Pinkie.
"She's still insane," Romilda muttered.
"Thank you!" Pinkie gave a bow, then twirled around and around, admiring her new ruffles. The launcher had been dismissed into Hammerspace.
Then the silver pit bull appeared.
Rainbow Dash paced up and down the certain third floor corridor where her party was set to meet up with Voldemort himself. "I can't wait any longer!" she insisted.
"You know what will happen if you use any more of your…what did you call it again?" Hestia asked.
"Mahou Shoujo. Apparently it means 'Magical Girl.'"
"Your Mahou Shoujo powers by drawing upon that amulet. I'm sorry, but this is all still a new concept to me."
"Everything we learned over the course of this stakeout was new," Flora added.
"But I don't understand," Ermond Ricksmith, the fourth and final of the party, spoke up. "What WILL happen if she overuses her powers?"
"Nopony knows yet," Rainbow Dash told him. "It's just going to do something to my soul. Something…weird. You know what? If I don't know what's going to happen, it's not going to do me any good to worry about it. I'm using it right now so we'll be ready!"
In a flash, she induced the transformation, her clothing changing to that she'd seen upon herself on the grounds after testing it. She gripped the great sword, swinging it experimentally.
Ricksmith visibly flinched. "What was THAT?"
"I would assume," Hestia answered, "that comes with her Mahou Shoujo power."
"But how long will you have to wait and drain it," Flora said, "before they—"
On cue, they appeared: Voldemort, Amycus Carrow, and Alecto Carrow. Ricksmith noticed immediately what was wrong with that picture, but he had no time to point it out before Voldemort spoke.
"This is what they send," he said, "to fight me. It's almost pitiable."
"You're really ALIVE!" Flora shrieked in fright.
"I knew it all along," Rainbow Dash said in a steely voice. "I knew it was really you. That you'd come back to bother us. Well, I'm ready for you!" She raised her sword.
"How absolutely frightening!" Voldemort nearly laughed.
Ricksmith drew his wand. He stammered. "Ex…expel…expelli…"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Flora cried. "JUST CAST IT!"
With a flick of his wand, Alecto imposed Cruciatus upon him; Ricksmith doubled over, then fell completely, whimpering.
"Leave," Hestia commanded, "him. Alone."
"Flora, Hestia!" Alecto cried warmly. "How we've missed you!"
"Don't," Hestia growled.
"One would think you'd be a little more grateful," Amycus responded, "to see your own beloved parents back from the dead."
"That depends," Hestia said coldly, "on what you've come here to do."
"Hestia," Alecto pleaded, "don't you want to come back with us? Things can be just like they were before."
"Like when you wanted us to join your cause even when we had doubts?" Hestia challenged. "Like when you attempted to enlist us just as two more warriors for your cause without even asking how we felt? If you want us to go back with you, give us a good reason. Give us proof that you want daughters back and not soldiers."
"How cruel, Hestia," Amycus responded.
"This, coming from you?" Hestia replied. "The one who made a name for himself torturing students and killing innocents? Don't be a hypocrite."
"Are you listening to what your sister is saying?" Alecto asked, staring directly at Flora.
Flora was fighting back tears. "I won't kill for you," she stated, "and I won't torture for you! You're going to say you don't want that but you always do! It's all you've ever wanted! How many times have you told us things would be different when they NEVER ARE? NOW LEAVE PROFESSOR RICKSMITH ALONE!"
"I didn't want it to come to this," Amycus sighed, drawing his wand. "But if you won't come back of your own free will—"
"PROTEGO!"
"STUPEFY!"
Hestia's shield blocked Amycus' curse. "You've just proven with one spell," Hestia said, "why we can never go back to you. With you, there's no choice. No ambition. And you claim to be students of Salazar Slytherin. You'll take us back by force. But we won't go. Because we are as strong as you now."
As that continued, Voldemort was undergoing a humiliating realization: Rainbow Dash's sword was overpowering him. He'd meant to eliminate her immediately, thinking back to the green pegasus in the library in Fourth Equestria…but that one didn't have a great rainbow-bladed sword that sent out rainbow shockwaves whenever swung. The shockwaves slammed into him, throwing him against the wall, weakening and tiring him. Rainbow Dash twirled the sword boastfully, readying for another swing.
She had no intention of using the blade to cut, just to produce more of the shockwaves. Unlike Fluttershy, she hadn't figured out how to use the energy waves to guard the blade.
He raised his wand arm again, hoping to get a lucky shot. She was quicker; she countered with another shockwave. The very edge of her blade crossed his skin. And he bled.
The blood was black. And as soon as it spilled, he no longer felt weak or tired. He felt…strange. Happy, even.
The bursts of rainbow occasionally distracted Flora, but she was brought back to the conversation at hand mostly because Hestia refused to be deterred, keeping her eyes off Rainbow Dash and Voldemort and keeping them on Amycus and Alecto.
"Come back with us," Alecto offered, "and we'll let your professor of…what was it again?"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hestia filled in.
That caught Voldemort's attention. A new professor in the spot he coveted so? His brain rushed with old memories, old grudges, and a new fervor that had struck him ever since spilling black blood.
"We'll let your professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts go unharmed," Alecto finished.
"N-no…" Ricksmith groaned from the ground. "Don't…listen…"
"All right!" Flora caved. "Anything you want, just let him—"
"They're not going to," Hestia told Flora sternly. "It's all a lie. They're going to keep hurting our friends no matter what we do." She aimed her wand at her father. "I apologize, but Flora and I have decided that we want to make our names apart from you, and for doing good in this world. We chose to come here and fight you today. And we will fight you."
Rainbow Dash was confused when Voldemort suddenly broke into a wide-eyed grin she had a feeling was uncharacteristic of him. The slight blood flow from the one cut he'd been given suddenly formed into a spike and shot at her like a bullet; she ducked it, her shoulder nicked.
Intrigued by the properties his blood had, driven by a mad desire to keep testing it and not question why it suddenly was that way instead of its usual red, Voldemort inflicted a few more wounds on himself using his wand. Shallow ones. The other arm. Each shoulder. Across the chest.
"Okay," Rainbow Dash thought out loud, "I'm confused."
She didn't have long to be. From each wound trickled a length of black blood…and then a sharp spike of black that shot toward her.
With a scream, she hit the floor. She swung the sword upward to cut at the black spikes, but the rainbow shockwave was halted by them and her blade met the spikes with a loud CLANK.
"Uh-oh," she squeaked.
Now all four Carrows' attention was turned to the battle between Rainbow Dash and Voldemort as black spikes and rainbow waves battled. Rainbow Dash attempted a charge forward with a rainbow shield generated by spinning her sword, but the spikes of black pierced it, grazing her on all sides. They became ropes, nearly catching and strangling Rainbow Dash before she slipped out through a gap, causing the ropes to converge on themselves. Voldemort merely laughed long and loud, still grinning, eyes still wide.
"My lord!" Amycus cried, unsure what was going on. While Rainbow Dash only suspected, Amycus and Alecto knew for sure that neither this black blood nor that expression, that laughter, belonged to Voldemort truly.
A hail of black spike bullets poured forth, and Rainbow Dash hit the ground. Hestia and Flora screamed in unison, in terror. Voldemort called the blood back to himself, stopping the flow, before turning to Amycus and Alecto. He blinked his eyes hard several times, as though fighting to regain control of his mind.
"Take the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts," he commanded. "Bring him back to the house. If I cannot kill any of my true enemies…I shall use him instead."
"NO!" Hestia cast a stunning spell: "STUPEFY!" It missed; Amycus and Alecto were too quick as they ran for Ricksmith. Flora physically lunged after her parents, but Amycus threw her off. The pair grabbed Ricksmith; Alecto touched the Portkey, and all three were gone.
Voldemort pointed his wand at the twins, threatening them with what would happen if they came any closer. Then he put the wand away, the mad grin returning; the black blood flowed from all wounds freely, and Hestia and Flora knew that was even more of a threat than the wand. Without another word, Voldemort opened a door and entered the room beyond.
"RAINBOW DASH!" Flora wailed, rushing to the side of her fallen friend once Voldemort had gone. She found that all of Rainbow Dash's wounds had healed; Rainbow Dash slowly blinked her eyes open, shaking her head to clear it.
"We thought you'd perished," Hestia stated.
"Nope!" Rainbow Dash removed her amulet and kissed the red stone. "Lucky for me, this thing isn't gonna let my body die!" She replaced the amulet around her neck. "Hey, where's—"
"They've taken him," Flora wailed. "Our parents took Ricksmith and brought him back to…wherever they came from! They're going to kill him!"
"But more importantly at hand," Hestia said, "Voldemort has just entered the beginning of what I understand is a very extensive labyrinth." She pointed to the door by which he'd taken his leave.
"More hidden rooms," Rainbow Dash sighed. "We've gotta go after him! I can't believe I couldn't beat him. I wished and everything! But I bet that if I could hold him off that long on my own, five other certain element bearers should be able to help me stave him off completely. Hopefully they're all still in their Mahou Shoujo forms. That should pump up our powers!" She looked toward the door. "I'm going after him. You two think you can track down Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack and tell them to get over here?"
"Five messages to deliver?" Hestia confirmed. "It will be quicker if Flora and I go, and we each send a Patronus to deliver a message to the other three."
"Right!" Rainbow Dash remembered—Harry had said the silvery animals could speak for their owners as well as defend them. "I'm going to send one up to Twilight! Flora, you send one to the Astronomy Tower and go meet Applejack in the Great Hall! Hestia, send yours to the ballroom and go meet up with Rarity in the dungeons! Ready? Cast on three! ONE! TWO! THREE!"
As one, they cast the spell: "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Rainbow Dash's eagle, Hestia's Rottweiler, and Flora's pit bull materialized, running off down the hallway before splitting up; Hestia and Flora did the same.
Rainbow Dash ran through the door Voldemort had used to make his escape.
"Twilight!" the eagle said in Rainbow Dash's voice. "You have to get to the third floor corridor! Voldemort got away from me, and he's headed down the weird secret rooms that way! I'm trying to gather us all there so we can stop him for real!" Then the eagle faded.
"I have to go!" Twilight cried.
"Wait," Harry said. "I know those rooms better than anyone. They were the first place I remember facing Voldemort, actually…I wonder why he…well, it doesn't matter. They're filled with traps and puzzles, and I know how to beat them all. I'll show you!"
"Come on!" Twilight cried, and she and Harry took off running.
"Fluttershy, you'll want to head for the third floor corridor where Rainbow Dash was," the Rottweiler, in Hestia's voice, told Fluttershy. "She needs your help to stop Voldemort."
"Okay!" Fluttershy told the Rottweiler; it dissolved. She turned back to the house-elf trio. "Are you three going to be okay?"
"We can handle any more Death Eaters that come!" Linney asserted, twirling a saucepan like a weapon.
Fluttershy nodded, then left the kitchens.
"Get to the third floor corridor, now," the pit bull told Pinkie Pie in Flora's voice. "Rainbow Dash wants the six of you to meet up there to stop Voldemort." It dissolved.
"I MUST GO!" Pinkie cried. "MY RAINBOW DASH NEEDS ME!" Then she galloped away.
"I still think she's off her rocker," Romilda hissed.
When Crouch appeared in the Potions classroom along with the younger Crabbe, Karkaroff, and Travers, he smirked to see who was waiting for him. "Draco Malfoy…I couldn't have asked for better. You are EXACTLY the traitor I wanted to see."
"Well, you aren't the one I signed up for," Draco replied. Behind him, Rarity and Astoria nodded to emphasize his point. Draco looked past Crouch to his former classmate. "Crabbe."
"Shut it, traitor."
"Do you realize what it meant to me when you died?" Draco spat. "You were one of the biggest reasons I ABANDONED all this. And yet here you are. Working with the wizards that got you killed."
"Obviously, you don't realize what it meant to me," Crabbe replied, "when I found out my supposed FRIEND was a lily-livered coward."
"EXCUSE me!" Rarity interrupted. "If that's the way you see friendship, I'm quite sure you frankly don't DESERVE Draco's friendship!"
"They see me for what I am," Draco hissed, "and for whatever reason, they still seem to stay around me. I can't say that for you."
"I wouldn't want to be caught dead with a cowardly traitor like you," Crabbe replied.
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Crouch bellowed. "I don't care about FRIENDSHIP! I don't care about your schoolboy problems! Malfoy, you and your parents proved your disloyalty to Voldemort when you turned on us, when you turned his forces in to Azkaban to die and didn't suffer with them. And if there's one thing I hate…oh, it's a Death Eater who walked free." He raised his wand, aiming it for a kill shot.
Rarity knew it was time. She drew upon her amulet, entering the darkness of her transformation. She was swept into a dress with a fitted bodice, short sleeves that puffed slightly and teetered into being off the shoulder, and a skirt that billowed out over the equine half of her body, showing only the edge of a white crinoline underneath. Over her human stomach appeared a white corset edged in pink; around this was a white sash, tied into a great bow in back. From her ears cascaded elaborate diamond earrings, and diamond bracelets appeared around her wrists and all four legs. Her arms and forelegs were also covered in fingerless gloves of white lace. Her hooves were encased in pink high heels while a white top hat adorned with pink ribbon sat atop her neatly coiffed hair. Finally, a pink and white bow appeared in Rarity's hands, already loaded with a crystal arrow. Before the darkness lifted, Rarity had already turned the arrow in the direction of Crouch. She concentrated; it was just like the arrows of the Galifems.
Crouch's wand was blasted out of his hand by a burst of energy before he could finish the incantation of the killing curse. Rarity wondered where the next arrow would come from, as she had no visible quiver, but the bow reloaded immediately with another shimmering shaft, and Rarity fired it; it turned into plasma and caused Crouch to stagger when it struck him.
"You leave my Housemates alone!" Rarity hissed.
"KILL HIM!" Crouch yelled as he dropped to the ground and crawled for his wand.
Travers stepped in and raised his wand. "AVADA—AAAAGHHHHH!"
Draco could hardly believe what had interrupted his assassin. Travers' entire wand arm had separated from his body in a burst of blood, and it hit the ground uselessly. Stunned, Draco looked behind him to see Astoria looking at Travers, rather pleased with herself. "Sectumsempra," she explained to Draco, though he was actually the one who would know better than anyone else what the spell was. "The wounding curse. I'm actually quite surprised that one isn't Unforgivable."
"I'm glad you're on our side," Draco commented before Crabbe's arms wrapped around his neck from behind. Karkaroff, put off by Astoria's ability to cast Sectumsempra wordlessly, backed away slowly, his eyes on the Portkey. Travers just kept howling. Crabbe was so consumed by anger toward Draco that for him, magical vengeance was not enough. He wanted to feel his former friend's neck break.
Rarity was having fun shooting Crouch's wand. Wherever it fell, he would grasp for it, but another blast would send it out of his reach. "Not so clever now, are we?" Rarity taunted.
"Do not…underestimate me," Crouch growled, finally seizing upon the wand. He turned toward Rarity only to receive a blast of water in the face; Rarity had recalled her old favorite arrow type from Galifem, and it appeared to work quite well on that bow.
"THIS IS NOT A JOKE!" Crouch roared, raising the wand for another go at murder.
"And now for the big finish!" Rarity announced, drawing upon the pinnacle of her power. When she drew back the bow, suddenly hundreds of crystal arrows pulled back along with the one on the arrow rest, all in unison. "DIAMOND RAIN!" Rarity cried, for it just seemed like the right thing to say, and she let the arrows fly.
Crouch screamed in frustration as he was thrown back against the wall and pinned there by a hail of oncoming force.
Astoria's calm demeanor didn't betray her inner conflict. Draco stood between her and Crabbe, and she wasn't sure if she could hit Crabbe without hurting Draco, especially because the two were writhing so violently in their struggle—Crabbe to break Draco's neck, Draco to get free of him. Before Astoria could make a decision, salvation came from the other direction:
"O.M.G.! GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF DRACO, YOU MOTHERFUCKER! BRACKIUM EMENDO!"
Crabbe gave a gasp as his arms and legs went completely numb, unable to be controlled. It was like being hit with a Jelly-Legs Jinx, only worse. He just crumpled to the floor, his limbs splaying out, bones missing from each one.
Draco turned to face his savior. "Ebony-!" he gasped. Instead of "Thank you" or "You saved my life," he burst out, "How did you get back here?"
"I snuck away from all those posers that were leaving," Ebony explained. "And I came back here because I couldn't let Voldemort have you bondage! You're so fucking hot."
"Voldemort…have me…bondage…?" Draco was confused.
"That was a lovely use of the Bone Removal Charm," Astoria complimented.
"Shut up, bitch," Ebony growled.
Astoria raised an eyebrow.
Karkaroff just stared, terrified to do anything. He was facing a former Death Eater, a girl that had melted the bones of one of his allies, and a girl that had cut off the arm of another without even saying the incantation out loud. Not to mention the centaur in pink and white that had just pelted Crouch with magical arrows a thousandfold.
Crouch staggered over to Karkaroff, grabbing his sleeve. "Get Crabbe and Travers and we'll go," he hissed.
Karkaroff nodded, throwing Crabbe's limp body over one shoulder and dragging the still-screaming Travers along with his free hand. He and Crouch touched the Portkey, disappearing.
"I don't believe I was too shabby, if I do say so myself!" Rarity boasted.
"That was strong magic," Astoria observed.
"But with an absolutely terrible price," Rarity wailed.
Hestia Carrow turned the corner, panting—she'd been running. "Voldemort's entered the labyrinth under the third floor corridor," she said. "Rainbow Dash followed him. Rarity, she needs you there."
"I'M COMING, RAINBOW DASH!" Rarity cried, taking off running. Hestia exchanged looks with Draco and Astoria before settling upon Ebony, then shaking her head, deciding not to ask how the first-year had gotten back.
"This place is clear," Draco said.
"Then let's find elsewhere to help," Hestia suggested. The four Slytherins left the classroom.
That left no one to notice as Quirrell slunk down to the dungeons by means of an alternate route. He moved into the Potions classroom as stealthily as he could, opening cabinets, seeking a certain vial. When he discovered the bottle of Wiggenweld Healing Potion, he downed it as quickly as possible, dribbling some in the process.
He felt rejuvenated, as though Fluttershy's attacks had done nothing to him at all. He then set out for the same place Rarity had gone.
RIDDLE HOUSE, FOURTH EARTH
The Death Eaters already defeated were taking shelter, nursing their wounds in various rooms. It was into this environment that Crouch and his party appeared.
"We're lucky we got away without losing more than Travers' arm," Karkaroff remarked.
"Oh, we're about to lose a little more than that," Crouch told him.
"What do you—"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Crouch stepped over Karkaroff's dead body with satisfaction. "If there's one thing I hate," he said to the corpse, "it's a Death Eater who walked free."
HOGWARTS, FOURTH EARTH
Scabior, Crabbe Sr., Jugson, and Macnair thought they had smooth sailing when they appeared in the Great Hall, near the Hufflepuff table, and found it completely empty.
"And here Crouch had us worried they'd be here to head us off," Scabior cackled. The four made for the door, moving past the Hufflepuff table and into the center of the hall.
From beneath the table, a voice cried out, "NOW!"
"WHAT?" Scabior cried, looking left and right.
From the far left end of the hall, Hermione climbed up from under the table. From the far right, Ron did the same. From the back, near the staff table, Applejack did as well, and much like Rainbow Dash, she hadn't waited for the Death Eaters to show up to undergo her Mahou Shoujo transformation. Her human torso was covered in a tunic of turquoise blue with gold studs, flowing down between her forelegs and over her equine back. A brown leather halter vest overlaid it, with beads and braids dangling. Her hind legs were partially covered by a brown velour skirt with prominent fringe, going down to the knee. Underneath that skirt were black suspender garters. Turquoise boots adorned all four hooves, and a brown belt with turquoise studs and a silver buckle looped around the tunic. Applejack's hair was tied back into her traditional ponytail by a scrunchie that resembled a length of braided rope, and atop all this rested a dark brown cowboy hat with turquoise and silver beads arranged on the hat band. She held a golden whip with turquoise set in the grip of the handle.
Ron and Hermione made quick work of the ambush; Jugson and Macnair were immediately paralyzed by a Full-Body Bind. Applejack cracked the whip, and it lengthened, shooting out to wrap around Crabbe Sr. and bind him so he couldn't move.
Scabior drew his wand to fire at Hermione, but she deflected him with a Shield Charm. She expertly disarmed him, remarking, "You can consider this payback for stalking us in the woods last year."
"I'm sure this thing's got some kinda super magical finisher move with a fancy-soundin' attack name," Applejack stated, "but I sure ain't sayin' it. That'd just be corny."
The whip released Crabbe Sr., and Applejack raised it, twirling it in the air until it shone brightly. It became a web of rope that erupted across the room in a spiderweb pattern, tying up Scabior, Crabbe Sr., and the frozen Jugson and Macnair. The rope broke from the grip of the whip, and the whip cord regrew, leaving the four victims trapped in the web, Scabior and Crabbe Sr. struggling. Ron and Hermione quickly Stupefied the two.
"Somehow I doubt the others put together an ambush plan that good," Ron congratulated Hermione. "We've probably finished ours off before anyone else!"
"Then we should help the others!" Hermione insisted, taking off running for the doors. Ron and Applejack followed.
As luck would have it, they crossed paths with Flora. "Applejack!" Flora cried. "Rainbow Dash followed Voldemort down to the rooms below the third floor corridor! She needs you there!"
"Right!" Applejack said with a nod before changing her course to make way for that direction.
"Wait!" Hermione cried, following close behind; Ron took off after her. "Ron and I have been down there! We know what's waiting! We can help you!"
"Well, come on, then!" Applejack replied.
"Makes me wonder how Rainbow Dash is doing against that Devil's Snare," Ron thought out loud.
"The WHAT now?" Applejack asked. "I don't know what you just said, but it didn't sound good."
"Well, it wasn't," Hermione sighed.
"It almost feels like home," McGonagall remarked. She, Flitwick, and Nigel Wolpert waited in the Transfiguration classroom.
"So all this," Nigel said. "Resurrection, other dimensions…how long have you known?"
"Quite a long time," McGonagall assured him. "Even the wizarding world has its secrets, Mister Wolpert."
"And exactly how many secrets are there left for us to learn?"
"Countless. I suppose, were Dumbledore here, he would make a remark as to how there is always more to learn about the way things truly are, always new secrets to discover. I believe that was what drove him to become a Professor here—because Hogwarts was a facility built for learning, for discovering truths both obvious and hidden. And with that sentiment, I quite agree."
Then the Death Eaters arrived. Rosier and Wilkes took a moment to gather their bearings, but Bellatrix knew exactly where she was. When she saw who she faced, she let out a long, loud laugh.
"So THIS is the new Headmistress!" she cackled. "Dumbledore's favorite little lackey!"
"I would not use that an insult," McGonagall replied, "given that you are in fact Voldemort's 'favorite lackey.'"
"Oh, I wish," Bellatrix moaned. "I probably would be if that ratty little Quirrell wasn't in my way. But once I tell the Dark Lord that I've killed the Hogwarts Headmistress…well, that ought to get his attention for sure!" She pointed her wand. "But all work and no play makes Bellatrix a bloody dull girl. We've got to have our fun first, oughtn't we? CRUCIO!"
"Watch how it's done!" Flitwick boasted to Nigel. He outdrew Wilkes. "TARANTALLEGRA!"
Wilkes found himself incapacitated as he began dancing a fast jig; every time he tried to get a shot in at Flitwick with his own wand, his feet spun, causing the shot to go wild and blast into furniture. It ricocheted off walls, around desks…and right into Rosier, stunning him. Were Bellatrix not otherwise occupied, she might have taken time to call them both idiots.
"Now go ahead and finish him off with that Dumbledore's Army knowhow!" Flitwick encouraged Nigel.
"STUPEFY!" Nigel cried, flicking his wand; Wilkes almost seemed for a split second to be relieved from his constant dancing before he went down.
Nigel turned to Flitwick. "Why not just Stun him earlier?"
"Oh, there's a reason I became a Charms professor, Mister Wolpert," Flitwick said with a wink. "I like to have my own sort of fun!"
Bellatrix was flabbergasted. McGonagall had shielded against the Cruciatus Curse, negating it, and without speaking the incantation aloud. "But you can't—" Bellatrix sputtered. "That curse-!"
"I was not made Headmistress without reason," McGonagall reminded her.
"You batty old bag!" Fuming, Bellatrix decided to go for the kill, which she knew no one could block. She raised her wand.
McGonagall didn't point her wand at Bellatrix. She pointed it at her old desk, behind Bellatrix. At first, Bellatrix thought McGonagall had merely missed taking a shot at her, and mocked the Headmistress in her head, thinking that it would be lovely to kill her just after she'd made her last bumbling mistake.
Then the pig knocked Bellatrix over from behind.
"The desk to pig spell!" Flitwick applauded. "An old favorite!"
The pig that had been McGonagall's desk stomped on Bellatrix's wand, breaking it. Bellatrix screamed in frustration. The pig returned to McGonagall's side.
"For a 'batty old bag,'" McGonagall teased, "I believe that wasn't half bad."
"Quick, Mister Wolpert!" Flitwick cried. "The other wands!"
Bellatrix crawled toward Rosier and Wilkes, hoping to pick up their wands, but Wolpert and Flitwick were already there, snapping them in half. Bellatrix knew she was cornered. She made for the Portkey, not bothering to take Rosier or Wilkes with her. They were on her own, as far as she was concerned.
And as Bellatrix literally crawled away, disappearing as she touched the book, McGonagall was more than a little smug.
The majority of students crossed the grounds in a mass exodus, along with the house-elves and various others. Among these others were Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy.
"I don't understand," Hagrid said, walking beside the pair out in front of the massive group. "Why didn't yeh stay back an' help yer son?"
"Lucius won't answer you," Narcissa stated, and Lucius held his silence as she said.
"Oh, so he thinks it's beneath 'im to talk to a giant, is that it?"
"Of course that's it. And that's why he's here, not there." Narcissa sighed. "As he put it…Draco cast his lot with centaurs and 'mudbloods.' Lucius thinks Draco CHOSE them all over us. Over safety and escape."
"An' you?" Hagrid asked.
"It's complicated," Narcissa said. "I believe Draco could be there, should be there, because I believe he's strong. Stronger than we gave him credit for. And I believe the others…Harry Potter, Minerva McGonagall, even the strange centaurs…they're strong enough to protect him. I trust them all. And I'm not there with them because…because I don't trust myself. I'm not strong. I would fail."
Hagrid wasn't sure what to say. He didn't know whether to admire the credit she gave Draco or feel disgusted that she'd left him behind in the path of danger anyway. He was surely disgusted with Lucius; that was without question. He eventually decided to say something: "Well, yeh're more than strong enough to help protect these students. So help me get them to safety."
"I will," Narcissa vowed. And even Lucius gave an almost imperceptible nod.
At the back of the group, Trelawney crept guiltily, wondering if she'd done the right thing by moving with the evacuation instead of helping to fend off the invasion.
Even further back, Stevie griped to Alice and Luca: "I still don't get why you won't let me go fight! I learned all the same things in the Army as you! And Enoby just went back when no one was looking!"
"I highly doubt Ebony could have gotten away from us," Alice argued.
Luca began to wonder how they'd ended up at the back of the crowd that was moving towards Hogsmeade. When he stopped to think about it, he realized that Stevie had been walking more and more slowly, and he and Alice had been matching their pace to hers. They were at that moment the three in the very back, with Trelawney nearby. Only then did it become suspicious to Luca.
Before he could accuse Stevie, she proved his suspicions correct. She turned around and bolted toward the castle.
"STEVIE!" Alice called out as she and Luca took off after her. "STEVIE, WAIT! YOU'LL GET KILLED!"
"STUDENTS!" Trelawney shrieked. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" She was torn, looking back toward Stevie's chase, looking ahead toward Hagrid leading the crowd. Eventually she sighed, breaking into a run and following Luca, Alice, and Stevie.
Stevie re-entered the grounds proper, running past the tree behind the greenhouses where Astoria always settled down to read—and then she skidded to a halt. Four people had just materialized before her. And she was pretty sure they weren't on her side.
"BRILLIANT!" she remarked, drawing her wand to face the Death Eaters that had appeared at Crouch's final, secret Portkey. Luca and Alice fell in next to her, drawing their own wands in fear; Trelawney caught up, startled by the appearance of enemies on the grounds.
"She seems far too happy to see us," Pettigrew remarked to the Lestrange pair, Edmond and Rodolphus.
"I don't care," Rodolphus said. "Let's get rid of them!"
"Hold on." The fourth, Alex, raised her hand. "Stevie Nichols?"
"How do YOU know my name?" Stevie asked.
"I thought I already killed you," Alex replied.
In the meantime, Alice, thinking fast, cast Diffindo on the tree branch above Edmond Lestrange; it fell upon him, pinning him to the ground. Luca attempted to outdraw Rodolphus, but was struck down by Rodolphus' casting of the Cruciatus Curse; Luca writhed on the ground, letting out a pained scream.
"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Trelawney put Rodolphus in a Full-Body-Bind, angered by the mistreatment of Luca.
Pettigrew, sensing that he was soon to be outdrawn and jinxed, shifted. The form of the rat was familiar to him, easy to take. Suddenly smaller than Trelawney's foot, he took off at a hard run toward the castle.
"CATCH HIM!" Alice screamed, and she, Luca, and Trelawney went after the rat, firing jinxes that kept missing by a hair's breadth.
Alex and Stevie remained under the tree, staring each other down. "I have no idea who you are," Stevie stated, confused.
"Oh, right, right!" Alex realized. "The parallel universe thing! That's why you're short and have a weird accent! You're not the one I killed! You're the other one, the one on this world!"
"Are you saying we knew each other on another world?"
"Well, kinda. On this world, I lived way back in the past, and now I'm dead. In the world where I'm really from, you and I were friends for a while. But you just used me to betray Voldemort and lead a wizard rebellion."
"That sounds like something I'd do. So you killed me?"
"It wasn't like I wanted to…" Alex shrugged. "But I kinda had to. It was that, or every wizard would have equal powers."
"Do you even hear yourself talk?" Stevie asked, incredulous. "You think me DYING is better than everyone having equal powers? I take it you're one of the lucky ones who got more powers than everyone else!"
"Yeah, pretty much. Well, it looks like I'm just going to have to kill you again to make sure you don't screw with Voldemort on this world. It's kinda funny, actually. Voldemort keeps talking about Harry Potter as 'the boy who lived.' You're the girl who died. Irony, huh?"
Alex cast her spell; Stevie hurriedly deflected it with a Shield Charm. "…Glacius?" Stevie thought out loud, naming Alex's spell, confused.
"Well, that's what I used to kill you last time. I thought it would be…you know. That term for when people get what was coming to them for a long time in an ironic way."
"Poetic justice?"
"Yeah. That's the one."
Alex's next spell was a blast of fire, and Stevie's robes caught flame before Stevie put them out with her own Freezing Charm.
"Okay, this is getting boring," Alex remarked. "So I'm just gonna kill you now and—"
"IMPERIO!"
Alex stopped midsentence, staring at Stevie blankly.
"Do I…actually have you under my control?" Stevie asked. "Answer yes."
"Yes. You have me under your control."
Stevie grinned. "All right. Do a tap dance."
Alex broke out into wild dancing, her heels thudding against the grassy ground.
"And they said I couldn't manage," Stevie muttered. "Now go back home. And rip up that book. Actually, rip up all of them! All the books you can find!"
Alex turned, picked up the Portkey, and vanished.
Trelawney made a last-ditch attempt to catch the running Pettigrew. She abandoned all thought of using magic and leapt into the air, going for a tackle. When she landed on the ground, her hands clasped around the rat, halting him. "STUN HIM!" she cried. "STUN HIM NOW!"
Alice provided the Stun, and when Trelawney stood, she held Pettigrew by the tail. "Disgusting creature," Trelawney remarked.
"Stevie!" Luca cried, turning to run back for the greenhouses only to see Stevie walking casually toward him, waving.
When Stevie caught up, she remarked, "The good news is, I just sent a Death Eater back home. The bad news is, she seemed to know me from a parallel universe."
"She…what?" Alice shook her head, confused.
"She said she'd already killed me once, and she called me 'the girl who died,'" Stevie clarified. "I took care of her, but I'm not exactly sure we've seen the last of her. Actually, I'm just sure I haven't seen the last of her."
Her victory felt hollow. If this girl had already killed her once, what was to stop her from doing it again? As much as Stevie tried to convince herself that she knew enough to outpower the teenage Death Eater…she couldn't shake the idea that she'd merely been lucky.
"I'm…sorry we underestimated you," Luca said at last.
"You probably could have held your own in the main invasion," Alice added.
"Thanks," Stevie replied. She, however, was no longer convinced. Perhaps that was the poetic justice.
"And this is really what you want?" Grintcliffe asked. "To fight with us?"
"You have to be coming back for good," Slughorn added. "Just think! When I'm able to introduce the infamous double agent of the Second Wizarding War-! Oh, and of course it would best benefit us if we had your…loyalty."
"I've no desire to be paraded before your ranks of celebrities," Snape nearly growled at Slughorn. "When this ends, I would rather return to what was before."
"Then why fight with us at all?" Grintcliffe asked.
"Because as much as it may seem to you that I am either an enigma who acts upon whims or a heartless creature who only lives to serve himself," Snape answered angrily, "I do, contrary to popular belief, have a sense of what I care about, and this school happens to be something I do, strange as it may seem to you, care about."
The three were camped out in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, awaiting the largest faction of Death Eaters yet. To their surprise, only two turned up. They had no way of knowing that Pettigrew, the Lestrange father and son, and Alex had diverted to the greenhouses instead of there. They had no way of knowing why those who had come to the classroom didn't think it a handicap to lose that many allies to another location.
Gibbon was outdrawn instantly; Grintcliffe, Slughorn, and Snape stunned him at the same time, and he hit the ground, unconscious. That left the three of them to face the sole witch that stood before them.
"He's out of the way," Medusa said. "That was over with as quickly as I expected."
"You won't win with three on one!" Slughorn boasted.
"Won't I?" Medusa cracked a wide smile. Then she began to chant in a low voice: "Snake snake, cobra cobra…snake snake, cobra cobra…"
"What is she doing?" Grintcliffe asked.
"Otherworldly magic," Snape replied. "Wandless. Get DOWN!"
He clutched Slughorn and Grintcliffe's arms, dragging them both down so all three hit the floor. From Medusa's body, sprouting from her skin, forms that looked like giant black arrows arced outward and pierced the wall; had the three been standing when the arrows fired, they would have been skewered.
"I repeat," Grintcliffe panted, "WHAT IS SHE DOING?"
Medusa gave a low, throaty laugh. "I see you are impressed by my snakes," she said. The arrows drew back a bit, flowing outward from her body, floating freely. "There are one thousand of them within my body. One thousand different ways to kill you without using a wand."
She crossed her arms, then flung them out wide; a burst of black arrows shot directly upward and then down, giving Slughorn, Snape, and Grintcliffe only a second's notice to roll out of the way. "You are fast," Medusa remarked. "Or perhaps simply lucky."
Slughorn stood, flicking his wand. "STUPEFY!"
The arrows formed into a tight wall between him and Medusa, blocking the spell as a Shield Charm would. Medusa then retaliated, saying, "Vector Plate."
Slughorn barely had time to register that he suddenly stood upon a giant black arrow pointed at Medusa. It shot him forward, towards her, and a rush of black arrows jutted outward to pierce him.
"SECTUMSEMPRA!"
Several of the snakes fell to the ground, severed. Only blunt, chopped-off ends nicked Slughorn; Medusa sidestepped him and let him slam into the wall behind her. She then turned to see who had sliced her arrows. "I remember you," she said. "Severus Snape. If I recall…you betrayed Lord Voldemort at a crucial moment."
"I barely remember you," Snape replied. "Voldemort did his dealings with you in secret. I do remember your name, Ms. Gorgon."
"But you never knew that I wasn't any ordinary witch. Not the kind you're used to dealing with." She licked her lips. "You are tormented, and you thwarted one of my more powerful attacks. You're exactly the kind I love to play with."
"I do not have time for games," Snape replied.
Slughorn wobbled around the room, dazed. "I'm all right…just a little bump on the head is all…"
"I want to see how you stand up to my snakes," Medusa told Snape. "Consider this a test. VECTOR ARROW!"
The arrows didn't come all at once. They were staggered, requiring Snape to cast Sectumsempra again and again in order to stop them before they reached him.
"I am impressed, Severus," Medusa remarked. "How long will it take you to tire out?" She sensed Slughorn moving behind her. "VECTOR PLATE!"
Another Vector Plate sent Slughorn tumbling into the adjacent wall.
In the moment when Medusa was distracted, attacking Slughorn, Grintcliffe whispered to Snape, "I'm going to hold her off. You and Slughorn run."
Snape began, "I would not advise—"
He was too late. Grintcliffe had transfigured into a gray cat. Snape was somewhat startled; he hadn't known she was an Animagus. Grintcliffe took off on four quick paws toward Medusa.
Medusa summoned a hail of Vector Arrows, aiming to pierce Grintcliffe. The cat lithely darted around each one as it planted into the floor. She launched herself off the flat surfaces of the arrows as they jutted into the air. Her path was clear; she was headed for Medusa's face.
Snape and Slughorn edged along the wall toward the door; Slughorn reached it first—the Vector Plates had landed him rather close to it—and he left the room in a panic.
Grintcliffe made a final lunge, clawing out toward Medusa's eyes.
Then came the squelch.
Snape watched as three arrows pierced the cat; there was a spurt of blood, and then the cat was still, lifeless. Medusa recalled the snakes, and Grintcliffe's feline corpse dropped to the floor with a thud.
"It is too bad everyone on this world is so weak," Medusa remarked.
Snape abandoned all thoughts of leaving the room. When he saw Grintcliffe die, his mind had suddenly been taken over by one thought: Medusa needed to be destroyed. He ran at her, casting Sectumsempra again and again.
She countered; it rained arrows. Each one was cut down by the wounding spell. Medusa laughed as Snape destroyed her snakes, nullifying her attacks. He couldn't understand why she was laughing. She must have known that she was about to meet a grisly end.
The wounding spell cut through her skin at long last. He began with her head, as befitting of her mythological namesake. When that hit the ground, off went the arms. Then the legs. He lashed out at her in a nearly blind rage. No more arrows; they shriveled up. No more Vector Plates.
Then he collected what was left of her and dropped it on the Portkey. The pieces vanished.
Slughorn peered around the door. "Is she gone?"
"She is gone," Snape confirmed. "As is Felina."
It took Slughorn a moment to register that statement. "No…" he breathed. He stepped into the room, over the body of Gibbon, approaching the dead cat. "This isn't-!"
"I am afraid it is," Snape stated calmly.
"That…that bloody BITCH!" Slughorn roared. "She'll pay for—"
"She's already paid in blood. I saw to that."
Slughorn wasn't sure how to respond.
"We'll need to contain the other one somewhere safe," Snape said, referring to Gibbon.
"Have you no—" Slughorn swallowed the words midsentence. He was about to ask "Have you no heart?". But as cold as it seemed to pass over Grintcliffe's death, to move toward locking away Gibbon, Slughorn knew that if it didn't matter to Snape, Medusa would have been merely stunned.
And he'd only known her for less than a day.
RIDDLE HOUSE, FOURTH EARTH
Alex was destroying the books.
One by one, as Portkeys came back, she slashed them with Diffindo.
"What are you DOING?" Bellatrix shrieked. "YOU LITTLE BITCH! STOP IT! STOP IT NOW—"
Crouch merely flicked his wand at Alex. She dropped her wand, rubbing her temples. "Man…that was weird…"
"She was under the Imperius Curse," Crouch stated simply.
"Yeah, thanks to Stevie!" Alex growled. "I swear, she is not going to get away with that! Why is she ALWAYS in my way?"
"Always?" Bellatrix raised an eyebrow. "Do you and this girl have a history?"
"Yeah, we have a HISTORY. I'm going to kill her."
In a flash, the dismembered Medusa appeared, along with the last Portkey. "Ick," Alex remarked.
"That's the last of 'em," Bellatrix pointed out. "Voldemort's still over there. Pretty sure he ain't been taken prisoner." She laughed at the thought.
"He's over there with no way out?" Alex reiterated. She rushed for the Portkey.
A translucent green spotted serpent began to crawl out of Medusa's body. It wrapped around all her limbs, pulling them together as though it were rope.
"You really care that much about him?" Bellatrix asked.
"I care about saving my butt!" Alex replied. "I just broke all the Portkeys because of that idiot Stevie! I'm getting my job security back!"
She grabbed ahold of the book, and then she was gone, returning to beneath the tree.
The snake finished pulling. Medusa's body was whole, and the snake faded into her skin, becoming her tattoo. She opened her eyes, standing.
"Severus was far more amusing than I initially believed," she said with a smirk.
"Things aren't going so well for us right now!" Bellatrix yelled. "You got chopped up, Crouch got sent back, I got my arse kicked by a transfigured desk, Horvath is sleeping off being hit by some kind of nuclear magic, and 'Alexandra' was cursed to destroy all the Portkeys except the one she just took back! HOW CAN YOU HAVE THAT BLOODY STUPID SMILE ON YOUR FACE?"
"Because," Medusa said, "we still have yet to play our trump card. My experiment. Voldemort carries within him the Black Blood. When he discovers it…it will change him. And he will win without need for any of us."
"You…you didn't," Crouch whispered.
"You EXPERIMENTED ON THE DARK LORD?" Bellatrix shrieked.
Medusa just laughed.
HOGWARTS, FOURTH EARTH
Twilight, Harry, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Ron, and Hermione reached the door on the third floor corridor at around the same time.
"Y'all got Rainbow's message?" Applejack asked.
"Yes," Harry answered. "I hope it isn't too late. She can't face Voldemort on her own…"
"But she wished!" Pinkie pointed out. "She wished to beat the bad guy that was behind the attacks on Hogwarts!"
"Then why did she have to chase him?" Fluttershy asked nervously, already shaking.
"I don't know," Hermione said, "but we're going to help her."
"Let's end this," Twilight stated.
Harry opened the door, leading the other seven into the empty room. "Er…what's so special about this room?" Rarity asked. "It's rather…bare."
"Back when this was the first room that guarded the Philosopher's Stone," Harry explained, "there was a three-headed dog posted here as the first challenge. Fluffy was sent back after the Stone was moved."
"Fluffy?" Fluttershy asked.
"Hagrid's idea," Ron sighed.
Harry crossed the room, opening up a trap door in the floor. "This way," he said, jumping down.
One by one, Ron, Hermione, Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity followed.
Chapter 42:
· Yes. I had a spreadsheet laid out for who was going to fight who where.
· Okay, so doing the Mahou Shoujo setups was REALLY fun for me. I know it was a lot of "nobody cares what _ is wearing," but I LOVED making those outfits, as well as the battle setups, the finale moves, and the weapons. The weapons are actually ones I plan to make relevant through the whole story. And it was fun to write some battle action anime style, with the calling of attacks. I do hope that there was enough action here to make up for all the fashion.
· By the way, just so you know, writing wizarding duels is hard. I had to come up with a CRAPTON of excuses for why the Death Eaters couldn't instakill people.
· The Mahou Shoujo weapons do have the ability to physically hurt people, but I thought it more in the style of the Mane Six to be able to "defeat" enemies without harming them.
· Twilight's weapon is a staff, of course, because it matches her magical nature to be a "mage type." And her fighting style is amplified magic. "Elemental Finale" is based on Mami Tomoe's "Tiro Finale" move from PMMM—I think she's the only one whose finale move we actually see.
· Horvath has his cane with Drake and Abigail's rings because I said so. Discord gave it back to him or something.
· I had to give Ginny back the Bat-Bogey Hex after she used it so well in Order of the Phoenix.
· When writing the kitchen battle scene, I was just thinking, "How would Monty Oum do a fight in a kitchen?"
· Fluttershy's battle style is based on ninjas because of the martial arts connection she displayed when karate kicking the knots out of that bear's neck in "Lesson Zero."
· Ophira actually had me pick up a cast iron skillet recently so I could feel for myself how strong Rapunzel has to be to wield one. And those things are freaking HEAVY.
· Pinkie's battle style is guns because of the Party Cannon and because of the fanart that's exploded of her holding a giant shoulder launcher (yes, her finale move incorporates the shoulder launcher from the fanart!) to shoot herself at things.
· Even I find myself shuddering when I think about the depths of the relationship between the Carrow parents and children.
· We see Medusa's experiment begin to pan out. Black Blood drives you mad and can be formed into insane weapons. So that's the effect Voldemort is going under right now.
· Oh dear. Ricksmith is gone and may die. Boo hoo. Oh, come on, I doubt any of you actually were attached to him. I'm not attached to him. And he's my character.
· Hestia and Flora's Patronuses are dogs that are perceived as violent but are actually very friendly if trained properly. Because symbolism.
· Rarity's battle style is archery because…well, hers was actually the hardest to figure out, but I saw a comparison once of the Mane Six to the Avengers and she was given Hawkeye because of the "eye for detail."
· I realize I'm giving a lot of people permission to use Snape's spells from Half-Blood Prince, but I highly doubt that he CREATED them.
· Oh yes. Ebony actually was USEFUL. And "Voldemort has Draco bondage" is another MI reference.
· I of course had to have Crouch off Karkaroff if he couldn't have Malfoy. There was originally supposed to be some line there like, "The draconequus can keep you," but I realized that made no sense. (I ACTUALLY KILLED OFF A CANON CHARACTER? WHAT IS THIS SORCERY)
· AJ's battle style is of course based on Western-related stuff. Whips and ropes. I was actually inspired by Mr. Moss' crystal razor whip in Storm Hawks for how a whip could be used as a weapon, and it was recently confirmed by Rise of the Guardians (Sandman) that whips could be an effective primary weapon.
· Tarantellegra, you may remember, was a dancing jinx from the dueling club in Chamber of Secrets. I feel like Flitwick is the playful type, so I had him bring that one out. Because who doesn't want to see that in battle?
· And of course, the desk to pig spell, a call back to McGonagall's first ever appearance in a classroom.
· I…actually forgot to put the Malfoy parents on my spreadsheet and gave them bullshit excuses for not being there afterward.
· I couldn't resist building for a rivalry between Stevie and Alex.
· "Snake snake cobra cobra," the vector arrows (that are actually snakes), and the Vector Plates are all canon things Medusa can do in Soul Eater.
· Oh no. Another filler OC I made (or at least expanded on from a canon frame) died. Boo hoo.
· Medusa has already been dismembered so many times in canon, I figured I could do it again.
· And it occurred to me that Snape would probably remind her somewhat of Stein from SE, who she loves to torment with Foe Yay.
· No one's actually seen Medusa put her body back together. I imagined how it happens, with the snake and all.