Fire!
The flames spread from one corner of the common room to the other, burning and peeling away the red and gold wallpaper, burning homework left on the coffee table after last night’s study, and destroying an antique set of Gobstones. Jars with herbs and liquid in them shattered and the flames flew up and licked the ceiling. Upstairs the teenagers leapt as smoke steadily and surely filled their rooms and started to choke them.
Millie sat bolt upright as did Giselle and Halle. Laura and Tegan only turned in their sleep and mumbled. Sheer terror filled Millie’s veins and her blood ran cold.
The Gryffindor common room was on fire!
Millie jumped out of bed, her heels hitting the cold wooden floor. She didn’t have time to think about the pain radiating from her feet upwards in her legs. Her eyes were streaming from the smoke and she found herself blindly finding her way over to Tegan’s bed while Giselle made her way over to Laura’s. Halle was searching for her wand and was crying as she tried harder and harder to suck in an essential breath. Her asthma was uncontrollable, and on top of the smoke, the stress was making her airways close.
Millie grabbed Tegan’s nose hard and she snorted. She rolled over and hit Millie’s hand away.
Desperately, Millie whacked her as hard as she could across her face. Tegan woke up with a snarl and stared into Millie’s blackened face.
“What the hell do you-” she broke off and her eyes widened in terror. The fire was now at the door. Halle and turned around, terrified, and broke one of the vases of flowers on Giselle’s bedside table.
‘Water,’ Millie thought.
“Halle! Find any water you can and put it under the door crack. We need to keep the flames away from this room,” she shouted loudly; the crackling of the flames was getting nearer, making it impossible to hear anything.
Halle instead choked back tears and sucked in another deep breath. She ran to the window, yanked it open, and felt the cool air wash over her and her breathing start to regulate. She grabbed the jug of water and splashed it under the door where she heard it hissing and steaming. She couldn’t take it any more. Her breathing had become ragged again and she fell to the floor in a deep faint just as the door burst open and flames entered the room.
* * *
Meanwhile, Giselle was still trying valiantly to wake up Laura. Finally, Giselle pinched her hard on the ear and pulled her hair. She felt a few strands part company with Laura’s head and Laura suddenly woke up and started screaming. Giselle’s head throbbed and she almost fainted.
That’s when she saw Halle lying on the ground near the window just out of reach of the flames, which were almost at Millie’s heels. She was sitting with Tegan on her bed trying extremely hard to calm her down enough to get her moving.
Millie suddenly made a split decision. She ran over, coughing and spluttering, the tears obscuring her vision. She knelt down beside Halle and with inhuman strength picked up her floppy form. She grabbed her wand off her bedside table, which was alight flames, and set off towards the door which was ringed with a wall of brilliant yellow fire.
She shut her eyes against the light and bellowed in hopeful desperation, “LIQUIDATES!”
A stream of water burst from her wand, soaking her and extinguishing the flames, which disappeared into nothingness.
She readjusted Halle on her shoulders, and continued dousing the flames, asking the people she met along the way to join in. Soon the spiral stairs of Gryffindor Tower were dripping wet and slippery. They all slid to the bottom into a pile of flames, which were now leaping from shelf to shelf on the cubby holes lining the walls. As one, all the members of the D.A extinguished the flames and fought the evil that was the fire. They couldn’t keep it up any longer and fled out the portrait hole where the rest of the Gryffindors were waiting.
The people in the paintings were all crying, their tears causing the oil painting to run and spoil. They all fled to the last painting before the Fat Lady’s and vanished out the side.
A tall pale witch in a flowing pink ball gown not unlike the Fat Lady’s was sobbing uncontrollably as
she entered Professor Dumbledore’s study. He was pouring over a piece of parchment and looked up when he heard her sobs.
“My dear Lady! What ever is the matter?” he asked his bushy white eyebrows knitting together.
“It’s the c-c-c-common r-room Headmaster! It’s alight with the la-a-argest f-f-flames you have e-ever seen!” she wailed.
“My dear Lady, please stop crying at once! I can not understand you properly. Please continue,” he said calmly, considering the situation.
“It’s the Gryffindor common room, your Headship! It’s on fire!” she hiccupped. She collapsed against the side of her frame and the other people in the painting rushed over and fanned her forehead quickly.
Dumbledore strode quickly from his study, acknowledging the encouragement from the portraits with a curt nod of his head. His starry robes billowed in an invisible wind as he strode out the door and into the corridor where he broke into a brisk run to reach the common room quickly.
Laura, Giselle and Tegan were huddled in a corner of the dormitory, their backs pressed flat against the wall in terror. The flames were almost upon them, and Tegan could feel her fluffy hair starting to burn. Their hearts were in their throats as the flames licked at their pyjamas and Laura howled in pain as the bright yellow wickedness burnt her arm leaving it shiny and raw. The window was still open and black smoke was billowing out into the cool night air. Giselle’s back received a sharp poke from something. She pushed herself away from the wall into Laura and grabbed hold of her broomstick, her dad’s old original Firebolt.
Something in her brain clicked and she heaved herself onto the back of it, pulling Laura and Tegan onto the twigs on the tail. She could smell the polish on the ends burning as she kicked off hard and rose up to the high ceiling above. She choked on the smoke and almost lost consciousness. She steadied herself with a prod in the shoulder from Tegan and whisked them outside through the large window, out above the grassy Hogwarts grounds. Freedom at last.
* * *
Harry reached the common room portrait at the same time Dumbledore, and without hesitation leapt inside and started to extinguish the remaining flames.
“Liquidates, Liquidates, LIQUIDATES!” he roared, sweeping his wand across the common room in desperation.
“LIQUIDATES!” he yelled again. It was only when Dumbledore joined him in the fiery common room did the fire finally give in and fade away completely, leaving in its midst a dripping wall of water. It steadily dripped, falling on top of the ashes that used to once be the grand Gryffindor common room.
Giselle ran towards the front doors of Hogwarts castle without stopping. Tegan and Laura ran beside her, gulping in great breaths of fresh air. Giselle pushed with all her might against the heavy door, but it wouldn’t open.
“Open, OPEN!” she screamed to the door. “Open …” she said again, the tears in her throat reducing her voice to a whisper. She fell to the ground, wrapping her arms around herself and crying her heart out. Millie and Halle were gone. Or so she thought.
* * *
Halle and Millie were surrounded by their fellow Gryffindors; all except Giselle, Laura and Tegan. A few others she might have said ‘Hi’ to once of twice came over and gave her a hug, but she fell absent from her body once more. She was still holding Halle upright, holding her tight to her body as though she would never let go. The scene around her flickered in front of her eyes. Strangely, both girls and boys were crying, Prefects were ordering people to stay calm and first years were huddled in little groups screaming and crying, their tears streaming down their tiny faces and making puddles on their collars.
“How awful for them,” said Halle weakly. She had just come round and was looking for Giselle, her eyes wide. “Where’s Giselle, Millie?” she asked, grabbing Millie’s collar and pulling her face down level with her own. “Where is she? Please … no … she can’t be! She just can’t be!” she cried out letting her tall gangly self fall back into Millie’s arms. Millie lowered Halle to the ground and rested her head on her slipper. She murmured incoherently and dropped off into a restless sleep.
“Where are you, Giselle?”she thought.
* * *
Harry looked around at the crowd outside the Fat Lady’s portrait, which was destroyed and hanging from one corner of its gold frame. Finally he spotted Millie and rushed over to her. He was shocked to see her tending to a sleeping Halle in the middle of the mob.
“Millie! Halle! Where’s Giselle?” he asked urgently gesturing widely to the crowed around him.
Millie raised her head and Harry was shocked to see she was crying, the fat tears rolling down her cheeks and falling straight onto Halle’s face. She stirred, but didn’t wake up.
“She’s gone, Uncle Harry. I left her in the dormitory like a coward. It’s my fault she’s gone. It’s all my fault.” She hung her head and Harry brought his hands to his face and moaned. His daughter was dead. She was gone and wasn’t coming back.
“No,” said an aged voice near to Harry’s ear. “She’s not gone. Follow me.”
Dumbledore swept off and Harry had no choice but to follow him aimlessly, without a clue.
* * *
Giselle raised her head and listened hard, her ragged breathing filling her ears. She held her breath and listened again.
“Yes!” she whispered excitedly. “Someone’s there!”
Laura and Tegan raised their heads. They had been sitting slouched on the stairs for the past half hour trying to figure out what to do. When they heard Giselle’s whisper, they pressed their ears to the door, listening hard, and could hear the distinct sound of the Hogwarts front doors being unlocked.
“They found us,” said Giselle and she ran over and gave the other two a tight hug.
* * *
Harry rushed out the front doors quickly and caught Giselle in a bone-crushing hug. He stroked her hair and whispered into her ear, “It’s finally okay. I found you.”
Dumbledore walked over to the other girls and steered them over to Harry and Giselle.
“Perhaps we should continue this up in the Gryffindor common room. We have certain matters to discuss,” he said quietly.
Harry nodded grimly and they walked into the safety of Hogwarts.
Outside the common room people were now talking in low whispers and shoving each other around playfully. Apparently, they thought it was all over.
How wrong they are, thought Millie darkly.
“Millie,” said Halle again, rousing herself from her sleep, “What’s happening? Is it all over?”
“Yes, Hal, It’s all over.”
There was no use making her asthma flare up again. The slightest sign of panic could set her off. She just hoped to God that Giselle was alive.
The group settled down when they saw Dumbledore and Harry approaching. Halle and Millie’s hearts became considerably lighter when they saw a sooty, tired, but nonetheless alive, Giselle behind them with Laura and Tegan.
They rushed forward and captured her in a hug. Tegan and Laura stood awkwardly, watching the reunion with a sad expression on their faces. They had always wanted to be part of the special group Giselle, Millie and Halle had going, and even now, when they had just been through an episode like this together, they were still excluded.
Halle saw their expressions ands reached over and included them in the hug.
“We are so glad you’re alive. All of you,” she added.
Tegan and Laura’s faces lit up and they hugged the girls back. They only broke up when Harry cleared his throat importantly and gestured them towards the abandoned common room.
The mob entered the sooty common room one by one and stared around at the damage the fire had done. It had totally demolished the place.
How could you burn down the Gryffindor common room? Millie wondered. She thought it was supposed to be protected by magic. Obviously, she thought, The person who did this had to be extremely powerful.
Halle felt tears sprang to her eyes and her throat constrict as she stared at the place the fireplace had been a few hours before, where they had all fallen asleep.
‘What would have happened if we were still down here when the fire was lit?’ she wondered in horror.
Giselle and Millie seemed to have the same thought because the looks of terror on their faces were evident. Tegan and Laura’s however were blank and looking toward Harry.
“Has anyone any idea at all who could have done this?” Harry asked.
Uproar sounded, and Millie could easily hear the chorus of “Slytherin!” coming from the little first years.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think just any Slytherin was responsible for this fire. It was certainly a powerful wizard,” he said, rubbing the stubble on his chin.
“Like Lord Voldemort?” asked one first year fearfully.
“No,” said Millie forcibly, and everyone looked at her in surprise. “I just don’t think he did it,” she said simply.
Dumbledore was looking straight at Millie and she had the distinct impression he was trying and failing to use Occulmency. She smiled (with grim satisfaction) when his white bushy eyebrows knitted together in concentration. She stared back, closing her mind to him. Finally, she felt the pressure release from her brain as he gave up.
“Once again, anyone with any information whatsoever please come to me straight away. There will be no consequences, I assure you,” he said, his voice booming through the sodden common room.
“Now, as for where you are to sleep, it is with deepest regret I inform you the Gryffindor common room will be under renovation, owing to the obvious destruction around us. It is also my duty to inform you the other houses are happy to play host for the meantime until the renovations are complete.”
A collective murmur ran throughout the crowd as people comprehended exactly what Harry had said.
They were to be split into different houses?
A/N: I originally had this chapter advertising the story on FF.net and HPFF. They are no longer on there, and I will not be posting any more stories on other sites other than MNFF.
Eh, I’m evil. Thanks go out to Lori for betaing, because without her, this mass of grammatical errors wouldn’t have been accepted so long ago. You’ll thank me for the big twist in the next chapter; I have ideas I thought were going to be in chapter six long ago, but they were shunned into chapter seven. Now it looks like it will be in chapter eight! Look out for it, it’s called “Crying.” Hopefully it will be the next chapter!
- Lurid.
Edited: 1100, 23rd January, 2007.
Malicious Intentions by Lurid
Chapter Notes: This chapter is mainly a descriptive chapter, and I intentionally didn’t put much dialogue into it. I felt the imagery and the descriptions of their expressions speaks louder than words, or the characters ever could.