The French version of this story can be found on Wattpad
La version française de cette histoire est disponible sur Wattpad

CHAPTER 6 - First storm

A cold gust of wind greeted Gabrielle as she left the castle, forcing her to pull up her muffler to protect her nose. No matter how well she covered herself, the cold still managed to bite her somewhere. She had been warned that the weather in Scotland was not kind to the cold.
October had brought with it heavy grey clouds and recurring rain. It was now pleasant to study by the fireplace or at the Three Broomsticks, accompanied by a glass of ButterBeer. The young girl had quickly discovered the pleasure of spending a few silver sickles in Hogsmeade and never tired of the atmosphere in the village. She and the rest of her class often met there to plan their famous secret evening, away from prying ears.

Preparations were progressing so well that, with just over a week to go, there wasn't much left to do. Elisabeth had suggested that the event be held in the hills above Hogwarts, in the clearing of a small grove where the Mooncalves sometimes came to dance. It had taken the expertise of Poppy, a great lover of magical creatures, to ensure that their little party would not disturb the peace of the local wildlife. No one wanted to see a herd of panicked Mooncalves arrive in the middle of the night.
As promised, Garreth and Samantha had worked together to provide a list of all the potions they planned to prepare. Some of it was intended for a game of chance and promised surprising effects! The flamboyant Griffondor potion-maker was very proud of some of them, which were the result of his own experiments. The others, like the elixirs of Euphoria, were purely for recreational purposes. However, no one was fooled, not even Samantha: their comrade would find the opportunity to slip in a few mysterious vials among those that would be approved. He always found a way.

Gabrielle, Natsaï and Amit - who had also been quickly let in on the secret - were in charge of preparing the decorations, furnishings and concealment spells. The first excelled in transfiguration and was in charge of finding light, versatile materials which, once transformed, would become glasses, tables, leather armchairs or lanterns. The second, well-versed in the art of spells, had carried out her research to ensure that the clearing was as protected as possible. The first charms had recently been applied as a test. As for the young Ravenclaw with a passion for astronomy, he had taken great pleasure in reinventing the activities commonly offered at Halloween, especially those involving divination.

For the music, it was a Hufflepuff pupil who proposed the most advantageous solution: she had received a magnificent enchanted gramophone the previous year and was prepared to make it available for the event. The machine, of Muggle design, was capable of playing any piece of music as long as it was politely asked to do so and pumpkin juice was poured into its bell.
The thorniest question remained that of food and drink. While certain spells could be used to summon water or fruit, this would not be enough for the buffet that the organisers had in mind. Using the castle's kitchens was out of the question, and even if a few people had cooking skills, it was still difficult to prepare and transport large quantities of food to the grove.

It was to think about this problem that Gabrielle had decided to take a little walk alone on the banks of the Black Lake. She often came up with ideas at the most incongruous moments and after going round in circles for several days without coming up with a clever solution, she was desperate for inspiration. If the walk didn't work, she could always try a night-time bath in the company of the grindylows.

Her footsteps had naturally led her to take the same path as on her escapade of the first few days. This time, no magical fog prevented her from leaving the courtyard, and no curious onlookers tried to follow her. The path, made slippery by the recent rain, took her past the gamekeeper's hut and then to the edge of the forest. Unwilling to venture under the dark cover of the trees, the young Ravenclaw preferred to walk along the edge of the wood until she came to a goat track overlooking the banks of the lake. With her hands deep in her pockets, she followed it, letting her thoughts wander.
Two fwoopers passed over her head before disappearing between the trees. If you listened carefully, you could hear the tinkling of bells around the necks of cows left to graze. Gabrielle loved animals almost as much as her classmate Poppy Sweeting, although she had a preference for those without magical powers. She remembered her mother's reprimands when, as a child, she had expressed the wish to have her own farm one day. An activity that was neither suitable for a witch, nor for a young girl from a good family. The project had been nipped in the bud.

The small, steep path gradually climbed up towards the edge of the wood before going under the cover of the trees. With her head in the clouds, Gabrielle followed it without realising where she was going or how far she was going. She was just thinking that she could probably transform some rocks into an oven and a worktop for cooking directly in the woods when a spell exploded above her head, cracking the branch of a tree. Jolted from her thoughts, she threw herself to the ground by reflex. The crackle of a new spell passed nearby and voices echoed further away. The young girl realised, a little too late, that she had strayed too far from the path and the banks of the lake. The forest had closed in around her, plunging her into its ominous shadows. Rolling through the pine needles to get to her feet, she took out her wand and sought the cover of a fallen trunk.

Exclamations came from what seemed to be the top of the slope at the foot of which she was sheltering. Spells were raining down, accompanied by sinister clanking and shrill cries, but none of them seemed to be coming explicitly in her direction. Cautiously, the witch glanced over the bulwark of the dead tree. Three figures were fighting furiously at the top of the embankment, all draped in Hogwarts uniforms. All around them, huge spiders were trying to pierce through their defences.

One of the monsters threw itself forward and was caught by a spell that sent it rolling out of sight. But no sooner had it disappeared than another took its place. The three figures stood back to back so as not to be outflanked, but the circle of their venomous attackers was closing in on them. Gabrielle was three or four metres down a slope too steep to climb, but she didn't hesitate to leap out of her hiding place when one of the spiders came within range to try and catch the students from behind.

— Orchideus!

The spider disappeared in an explosion of colourful flowers. Her intervention surprised the three wizards, and this moment of inattention was the opportunity the monsters had been waiting for to pounce on them. A Bombarda spell, cast in extremis, sent flames shooting in all directions, blowing enemies and allies to the ground. One of the three combatants, pushed back to the edge of the embankment, rolled down the slope, followed by a spider that rattled its fangs in its wake.
The young Ravenclaw immediately rushed towards her comrade to intercept him in his fall, but the creature was faster. There was a heart-rending howl. Gabrielle didn't think twice and let the animal explode in a shower of daisies before dropping to her knees beside the student, whom she recognised at once.

Ominis's dark cloak was stained with blood near his leg, where the spider's fangs had torn his flesh. In panic and pain, his first instinct was to struggle when the girl put her hands on him.

— It's me, it's me! Ominis, calm down, I've got you!

He was even more livid than usual, his ashen-blond hair a mess, his eyes wide and his face twisted into a painful grimace. With one feverish hand, he grabbed the witch by the shoulder to make sure it was really her and that she was staying by his side.

— My wand! Where's my wand?

Panic was in his voice as he desperately searched the earth and leaves around him with his free hand. At the top of the embankment he had rolled down, Elisabeth and Sebastian were fighting like hell, fluidly linking expulsion and explosion spells to reduce the ranks of the spiders. Their talent for duelling and defence against the dark arts would have made any dark wizard pale.
The beautiful Slytherin girl glanced down, worried, and immediately grasped the situation. Ever since her fifth year, she had been constantly exposed to danger and reacting at the drop of a hat had become second nature to her.

— Take him away! Get out of the woods!

Another explosion drowned out the rest of her sentence, but the message had got through. The two duelists launched Confringo at the same time, obliterating three monstrous spiders blocking their path and rushing into the breach to draw their assailants after them.

— No! They'll be killed, we have to get to them!

— Shut up! We've got to get you out of here quickly, you can't fight any more," hissed Gabrielle as she pinned the young man to the ground, her hands pressed to his shoulders.

The Slytherin boy struggled for a moment more, but she didn't let him get away. He finally tired before she did and without his wand in his hands, with his thigh almost split in two, he realised he was no match for her. But that didn't make his panic subside and the young girl found it hard to keep her composure herself, contaminated by her comrade's agitation. She was not in the habit of throwing herself in front of danger, nor of carrying the wounded off the battlefield.

— Accio wand.

Ominis's wand leapt from the pile of leaves where it had been hidden when it fell, landing directly in the witch's hand. She immediately returned it to its owner, who clung to it with the energy of despair. The familiar pulse of light reappeared at its tip and the heir to Salazar breathed a long sigh of relief.

— You've been badly bitten and we need to take care of it straight away.

Her hands were shaking with adrenaline and it took her a moment to concentrate. She knew an absurd number of spells, gleaned from her years of study and personal reading, but she hadn't always had the opportunity to practise casting them. A few spells came to mind that might be useful, but she felt unable to cast them.
What if she got the formula wrong? What if she made the situation worse? Wouldn't it be better to wait for help? But who would help them?
Ominis began to tremble, a victim of his rapid haemorrhage. It wouldn't take him more than a minute to bleed to death.

— Oh no no no... What... I haven't got anything to... O-Ominis, stay with me, please. It's alright. I'll just...

She could feel the fear knotting her throat and blurring her vision with big tears. Then a spell appeared in her mind. With the tip of her wand, she flew over the wound.

— Vulnera Sanentur. Vulnera Sanentur.

She repeated the formula, stammering, over and over again. The blood stopped gushing and even began to flow up the leg, slowly returning to the body. The spasms gradually subsided and when all the blood had returned to where it came from, the torn flesh closed just enough for it not to leave the body again. Unable to do more for lack of experience, Gabrielle completed her work by creating bandages which were immediately wrapped around the injured limb. This would have to do until the infirmary.

— Ominis?

Her voice, usually so warm and cheerful, was reduced to a trembling trickle. The young wizard grunted as he shook his head, assuring her that he was still conscious. However, he seemed very shaken and deprived of his strength, as if the effects of the haemorrhage were persisting despite the spell.

— We have to go and help Sebastian and Elisabeth.

He got to his feet, helped by his comrade who made no attempt to dissuade him. But as soon as he tried to lean on his injured leg, a sharp pain tore a scream from him and it was only thanks to Gabrielle's presence that he didn't collapse again. She told him again that he was in no condition and that the slope was too steep anyway. Reluctantly, he admitted that he wasn't in a position to go to the aid of his friends. All he could do was return to the castle for treatment and perhaps send reinforcements.

With one arm around the girl's shoulders, supported at the waist by a hand that seemed tiny to him, he hobbled slowly along beside her. At least he had regained his wand and some sense of his surroundings. The pain was making him breathless and dizzy, he could feel cold sweat running down his back, and yet he couldn't ignore the trembling of the little French girl supporting him. Was she going to give in under his weight?

— Are you hurt?

— Me? No, I'm fine. I just had the fright of my life.

And she couldn't tell which had frightened her more: the impromptu encounter with the spiders or feeling life slipping away from her correspondent.

— Don't worry, I'll take you back to the castle and the nurse will see to it that you get better. And Sebastian and Elisabeth will come and visit you as soon as they get back. Maybe they'll even get there before us.

He listened to her speak without answering, lulled by her thick accent. He couldn't help comparing her to his friend who, as soon as she'd arrived at Hogwarts in fifth year, had thrown herself into the battle against Ranrok without batting an eyelid. Elisabeth didn't seem to be afraid of anything and always went straight into danger, she always seemed to know what to do in any circumstances and you couldn't help but admire her and follow her. In comparison, Gabrielle looked very fragile and scared. He surprised himself by tightening his grip around her shoulders and didn't try to understand why.

Their progress was slow and difficult, and the soft forest floor didn't always help. The light soon began to fade, a sign that the clouds were once again gathering in the sky. The smell of perichoresis warned them that rain was imminent.

— We need to find shelter. You're already freezing, there's no need to risk hypothermia," she said worriedly.

A deafening crack suddenly shattered their eardrums and the sky split in two, releasing downpours of water in a matter of moments. The storm waited for no-one.