Here is Chapter 3 of Secrets and Allegiances. I eagerly await your feedback!
Small disclaimer: As I explained in Chapter 1 and 2, I did not create the story or the characters. I only included one character of my own invention. Therefore, for the sake of the story, there will be large passages that are copied and pasted from the book! You're reading this fanfiction knowing that!
Small disclaimer #2: There is a same-sex couple as a secondary couple. If you're not comfortable with that, please don't read!
I'd like to remind you that English is not my native language at all. If there are any mistakes, please don't hesitate to let me know!
No matter how much I proofread, there are always some errors left. Please feel free to point them out if you spot any! Thank you.
Happy reading!
The sound of pounding footsteps echoed on the staircase. Moments later, Mio and Draco were violently pushed aside as four figures in black robes burst into the top of the tower. Still paralyzed, unable to even blink, Harry watched in terror as the four newcomers appeared. It seemed the Death Eaters had won the battle that had taken place below.
A massive man with a crooked gaze and strangely distorted features let out a hissing laugh.
– Dumbledore trapped! – he exclaimed.
He turned to a stocky woman with a greedy smile who looked like she might be his sister.
– Dumbledore without a wand, Dumbledore alone! Well done, Draco, good job!
– Good evening, Amycus, – said Dumbledore, very calmly, as if welcoming friends to dinner. – You've come with Alecto… How delightful…
The woman gave a short, angry laugh.
– You think your clever jokes will help you on your deathbed? – she sneered.
– Jokes? Oh no. That's what's called good manners, – Dumbledore replied.
– Go on, – said the man closest to Harry, a towering figure with long limbs, gray, matted hair, and sideburns. His black Death Eater robe seemed too tight for him.
Harry had never heard a voice like his before, a kind of hoarse bark. A powerful smell of earth, sweat, and unmistakably blood emanated from him. His filthy hands bore long yellowed nails.
– Is that you, Fenrir? – Dumbledore asked.
– It is, – rasped the other. – Does it please you to see me, Dumbledore?
– Not particularly…
Fenrir Greyback grinned, revealing sharp teeth. Blood dripped from his chin, and he licked his lips slowly with an obscene expression.
– You know how much I love children, Dumbledore.
– Am I to understand that you no longer even wait for the full moon to attack? That's very unusual… Do you now crave human flesh so much that you can't be satisfied once a month?
– Exactly, – Greyback growled. – Shocks you, doesn't it, Dumbledore? Frightens you?
Mio couldn't suppress a cold sweat as she listened to the exchange. She was all too aware of what Greyback was capable of. How many times had she been forced to outwit him to escape?
– I can't say it doesn't disgust me, – Dumbledore replied. – And yes, I am a bit shocked that Draco brought you into a school full of his friends…
– I didn't bring him, – Draco whispered.
He wasn't looking at Greyback, didn't even want to glance at him. He moved closer to the blonde woman.
– I didn't know he'd be here…
– I wouldn't miss a visit to Hogwarts for the world, Dumbledore, – Greyback rasped. – So many throats to slash here… Delicious, delicious…
He raised a yellowed nail, picking at his teeth as he leered at Dumbledore.
– Maybe I'll take care of you as dessert, Dumbledore…
– No, – snapped the fourth Death Eater, a man with brutish, coarse features. – We have orders. It's Draco who must do it. Go on, Draco, hurry up.
Draco looked less resolute than ever. He seemed terrified as he stared at Dumbledore, whose face was even paler than usual and who was slumped lower against the ramparts of the tower.
– He doesn't have long left anyway, if you ask me! – said the man with the distorted face, provoking a hissing laugh from his sister. – Look at him. What's wrong with you, Dumby?
– Oh, lesser resistance, slower reflexes, Amycus, – replied Dumbledore. – In short, old age… Perhaps it'll happen to you one day… If you're lucky enough to live that long…
– What's that supposed to mean? Huh? What's that supposed to mean? – shouted the Death Eater, suddenly violent. – Same as always with you, Dumby, all talk and no action, nothing at all. I don't even get why the Dark Lord bothers to kill you! Go on, Draco, do it!
But at that moment, sounds of fighting erupted lower down, and a voice shouted:
– They've blocked the staircase! Reducto! REDUCTO!
Harry's heart leaped in his chest again. So the four here hadn't taken out all the opposition—they had merely managed to reach the top of the tower and, judging by the noise, raised an invisible barrier behind them.
– Hurry up, Draco, now! – the coarse-featured man barked angrily.
But Draco's hand was shaking so much he couldn't aim. Beside him, Mio had slipped her hand into his free one, both to dissuade and reassure him.
– I'll do it myself, – Greyback growled, stepping toward Dumbledore with outstretched arms and bared teeth.
– I said no! – the coarse-featured man shouted.
There was a flash of light, and the werewolf was flung backward. He slammed into the ramparts and staggered, furious. Harry's heart, trapped under Dumbledore's spell, pounded so hard against his ribs it seemed impossible that no one could hear it. If only he could move, he'd have cursed someone under his cloak…
– Draco, do it or step aside so one of us can…, – screeched the woman.
But at that moment, the door burst open again, and Snape appeared, his hand clenched around his wand. His black eyes swept the scene, from Dumbledore slumped against the rampart to the Death Eaters, including the enraged werewolf and Mio, who was still tightly holding Draco's hand.
– We've got a problem, Snape, – said Amycus, the massive man, whose gaze and wand were fixed on Dumbledore. – This boy doesn't seem capable of…
But someone else had spoken Snape's name, in a very weak voice.
– Severus…
Nothing that night could have terrified Harry more: for the first time, Dumbledore sounded pleading.
Snape was silent. He stepped forward and shoved Draco aside, forcing Mio to release him. She stumbled backward. The Death Eaters retreated without a word. Even the werewolf looked intimidated.
Snape stared at Dumbledore for a moment, and revulsion, hatred, etched deep into his rugged features.
– Severus… Please…
Snape raised his wand and pointed it straight at Dumbledore.
– Avada Kedavra!
A jet of green light shot from Snape's wand and struck Dumbledore squarely in the chest. The scream of horror Harry longed to unleash remained trapped in his throat. Silent and immobile, he could only watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air as if by an explosion. For a fraction of a second, he seemed suspended beneath the sparkling skull before falling slowly backward over the ramparts like a giant rag doll, disappearing into the void.
– No… – Mio whispered faintly, rising to her feet.
– Quickly, let's get out of here, – Snape commanded.
He grabbed Draco by the scruff of the neck and forced him through the door ahead of the others.
Greyback, along with the massive man and his stocky sister, followed, the latter two panting with excitement. Mio stayed behind in the tower, seemingly waiting for something… or someone.
Harry, who had joined the group some time earlier, threw off his invisibility cloak just as the last Death Eater, a man with coarse features, stepped through the door and disappeared down the staircase. Mio raised her wand:
- Petrificus Totalus!
The Death Eater arched as if struck in the back and fell to the ground, stiff as a wax figure. But no sooner had he hit the floor than Harry was already stepping over him, racing down the dark staircase without a glance or a word to the young woman.
Left alone, Mio felt paralyzed. Dumbledore couldn't really be dead, could he? She didn't dare approach the windows. What should she do? Had her cover as a spy for the Order been blown? Had Draco betrayed her?