Chapter Seventy-Three: The Battle at Alsemore
Bodies already lined the ground of the entrance hall when Lottie entered the fray, both of students and Death Eaters. The air was alight with the remnants of magic, accented by color as more curses and jinxes flew about.
It was surreal. Lottie remained safely tucked into the darkness of the staircase, unseen. She couldn’t believe this was actually happening”that they were all about to be killed. She could have killed Maelioric if the traitor hadn’t already done so. Didn’t he realize that by going off and dying he destroyed what he had been working for for nearly sixty years?
“There might be some hiding down there”come on.” The voice came from behind a Death Eater mask and was followed by a grunt of agreement. On cue, the Death Eater who had spoken poked his head into the staircase.
“Avada Kedavra,” Lottie yelled instinctively. The man fell into a crumpled heap and his friend who had been standing behind him stood, momentarily shocked. Lottie waved her wand again, and there was another flash of green light before the Death Eater keeled over.
Lottie felt nothing as she stared at the two men she just killed. Instead she just raised her wand and jabbed it in the direction of the bodies. The one behind floated into the air and, on Lottie’s command, readjusted itself on top of the other, to form a sort of barricade.
Lottie crouched behind the bodies and peered out. Right now it seemed about even in numbers, though the Death Eaters were clearly more skilled than the students of Alsemore. Clynalmoy stood at the top of the stairs, shouting orders and shooting curses to the Death Eaters at the same time. The two sides were lined up neatly, almost like chess pieces. The doorway through which Lottie peered was closer to the Death Eaters, and she stared at the mass of black robes before raising her wand.
“Avada Kedavra,” she hissed. “Sectumsempra.”
The two Death Eaters nearest her fell over, one very much dead and the other writing on the ground in his own blood. She smirked at her handiwork, but the curses she had fired caught the attention of some others.
A masked face peered in her direction, staring at the two dead bodies that Lottie hid behind. Acting quickly, Lottie hissed, “Avada Kedavra,” again and watched as the puzzled Death Eater died.
This unfortunately pulled even more attention towards her hiding spot. Lottie saw two Death Eaters lower their wands and murmur to the offenders surrounding them. Then, no less than fifteen wizards broke off the main group and moved towards her hiding place.
“Shit.” Lottie scrambled to her feet and spun around. There was no way she could take that many at once. She ran back down the stairs as she heard them pushing aside the bodies in their way.
“Avada Kedavra!” cried a Death Eater.
Lottie dove around a sharp corner and heard the curse collide with the wall. She had survived”at least for the moment”but now they knew where she was. Just as their clunky boots pounded down the stairs, Lottie stuck to the tip of her wand around the corner and fired a Killing Curse.
She did not wait to hear if it hit true, but took off down the flight of stairs. They were following her, but she had the advantage of already being familiar with the castle. The Death Eaters moved slowly; the corridors were not wide enough to accommodate so many.
Lottie pounded down the steps, but stopped as she saw Palmyitor’s office door ajar. She slipped inside quickly, and slammed the door. Swiftly, she turned around to make sure Palmyitor wasn’t there, but what she saw was even worse.
A Death Eater sat behind the desk, with his hands folded, laughing under his mask.
Lottie didn’t let her momentary panic stop her. She raised her wand but the Death Eater acted faster. He flicked his own wand, and Lottie’s flew out of her hand.
“Well, well, well.” The Death Eater got to his feet and started towards her. Flipping her wand in his hand. “Mudblood scum”you think you actually can fight us?”
Lottie did not answer. She was not going to die like this”she was not going to let this man have his fun. Before he could say anymore, Lottie let out a roar of hatred and ran towards him.
This certainly caught him off guard. The average Death Eater knew very little about physical combat, but Lottie, who had spent most of her life without magic, had quite a bit of practice. She rammed into him with her shoulder aimed at his stomach.
On cue, he doubled over and dropped both his and Lottie’s wands. Lottie delivered a sharp kick to his groin before bending down to recover her wand. The Death Eater was already so incapacitated that he couldn’t get away, but just for good measure, Lottie performed the Killing Curse.
Just as she turned back around, the door swung open again. Before Lottie even saw who it was, she shouted, “Crucio!”
A heavy figure collapsed in the doorway; the Death Eater writhed on the ground and another poked his head in to see what was happening.
“Avada Kedavra!” The Death Eater was dead before he even saw her. Lottie glanced down at the man still writing on the ground and killed him as well.
Lottie took only half a moment to catch her breath before slowly inching towards the doorway and peeking out. There was nobody there. She stood still for a moment among the corpses and inhaled slowly. She had been acting on instinct, not thinking, not feeling”just killing, but now everything was catching up to her. Her breath caught in her throat. Her stomach filled with boiling fear. She didn’t want to die”she couldn’t die”not like this.
Her thoughts were cut short by the black blur of a Death Eater running by. He hadn’t even seen her, but he was, apparently, running to something urgently. Lottie looked at where he had come from. There was no one there.
She took off towards the Death Eater without another thought. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her and caught up to him on the last flight of stairs down. “Avada Kedavra!” she yelled.
The Death Eater collapsed immediately, like a ragdoll. Lottie, though, who had not slowed down enough, caught her foot on his robe and lost her balance. She toppled down the stairs along with the corpse and landed heavily on her jaw.
She felt a strong twinge as she pushed herself up and felt blood dripping down her face. There were shouts coming from a room nearby. Lottie glanced behind her in the direction of the yells.
It sounded like another fight”but how would have other students gotten here? A classroom door stood ajar and was clearly the source of the noise. Lottie inched closer and peeked in.
It was a fight. Numerous Death Eaters fought a handful of weren’t who weren’t wearing Alsemore robes. Lottie frowned”who were these people? They were not faring well, but Lottie wasn’t sure whether to help them or not.
Lottie gasped (though she held her hand over her mouth to muffle it) as a wave of realization hit her. This was where the others were Apparating”this was where Colm might have been appearing. She peered in again and fired three Killing Curses, all of which caught Death Eaters off guard.
The battle inside seemed to pause. A Death Eater stormed out to see what had happened, but Lottie hit him before he noticed her. “Avada Kedavra!” This one too collapsed.
Her heart leapt to her throat; Colm might have been in that room. He might need her”he might have already been dead. Lottie swallowed that horrible thought and rushed inside.
There was a handful of Death Eaters, but only two people Alsemore’s side. Five non-Death Eaters already lay dead on the floor. “Avada Kedavra!” Lottie caught another Death Eater as she joined the other two from Alsemore.
She didn’t recognize either of them or any of the corpses. At least Colm was safe.
“Avada Kedavra!” The curse was aimed at her but Lottie dove behind a desk. Instead, it caught one of the others square in the chest. He collapsed promptly. From behind the desk, Lottie fired a Killing Curse back at the Death Eater.
There was a shout and, horrified, Lottie turned to see the other wizard from Alsemore fall. “Avada Kedavra!” she yelled, and killed another Death Eater, but she was still outnumbered, three to one.
She scooted back and ducked behind another desk as a Death Eater fired another curse. Out of the corner of her eye, Lottie saw a blur of light brown enter the classroom.
“Avada Kedavra!” One down. There were only two left.
She glanced back at the blur that had caught her attention and gasped. It was a sparrow. “HELP!” she yelled before ducking once more behind her makeshift barricade.
The Death Eaters were laughing. Lottie stayed huddled in her tiny shelter, praying that Andrea would have heard her. The Death Eater’s laughter stopped suddenly with a dull thud. Lottie peeked out from behind the desk to see two unconscious Death Eaters, and Andrea standing above them.
Lottie looked from the Death Eaters, back to Andrea. “Thanks,” she breathed.
Andrea shrugged and crouched, about to resume bird shape again.
“Wait.” Lottie didn’t know what she meant by it or what she wanted to say. Andrea blinked at her politely. “How”how are we doing up there?”
Andrea’s face remained impartial. “Not well,” she said. Without another word, she transformed back into the sparrow and flew through the open door.
Lottie took a moment longer to gather her thoughts. She looked down at the two Death Eaters that Andrea had Stunned and killed them wordlessly. She looked back up at the desolation around her, the overturned tables, the blood, the corpses. She blinded herself to it all and moved forward.
As she walked back up from the dungeon, she met nobody. She passed the Palmyitor clock and turned up to the final flight of stairs. In the doorway to the entrance hall, she paused and surveyed the scene around her.
It had devolved into complete chaos. There were not as many people”Lottie could only guess that the Death Eaters had pushed through their ranks and broken into the castle. Lottie hesitated in her hiding place. She just couldn’t quite summon the courage to go on.
One fight caught her eye in particular because of the ferocity of the duelers. Hermione fought a masked Death Eater and was gaining the better of him. Despite her age, she moved nimbly and dodged curses easily.
The spells she fired were incantations Lottie did not recognize”very advanced magic. Hermione moved her wand with a complicated flick and a wall of flames shot from it. The Death Eaters ignited like paper and collapsed, giving Hermione time to turn to another opponent.
This second Death Eater had no style. The curses he shot were nearly explosions, but not focused at all. Lottie sat the corners of Hermione’s lips twitch into a smile as she recognized this weakness. She had just lifted her wand, when from another corner of the hall, Lottie heard a cry of, “AVADA KEDAVRA!”
The tiny smile never left Hermione’s face as her body crumpled. She lay there, eyes wide open, reflecting the battle above her lifelessly.
Stricken, Lottie looked up from her still corpse to see who fired the spell. It was another Death Eater. He reached up and removed his mask and Lottie gasped when she recognized him. It was Lucius.
“Mudblood.” Lucius scowled at Hermione’s body and spat on the ground beside her.
The anger that boiled inside Lottie was cold as ice. She hardly felt it, but was aware of her legs carrying her numbly to avenge the death. She wasn’t fast enough, though. By the time she had emerged into the scene, a light brown sparrow dove to the ground.
Lottie watched as Andrea transformed midair and pointed her wand at Lucius. She shot a quick Stunner, which Malfoy deflected, smiling. “Ah, another Mudblood.”
“OPPUNGO!”
Birds burst from Andrea’s wand and dive-bombed Lucius aggressively. Lottie would have said this was a bit of a weak move, before Andrea acted again. “Incendio!” she hissed.
The birds that surrounded Lucius burst into flame, but did not stop their attack. They covered his entire body, and no matter how hard he lashed, they did not relent.
Without another word, Andrea transformed again and took off.
Lottie ran into the battle, reinvigorated. Lucius’s body was still burning, but she paid it no heed. She spotted a pair of Death Eaters running up the staircase. “Avada Kedavra,” she hissed and killed them both with one curse.
She glanced at the scene in front of her. It was mostly students who fought, but Lottie definitely spotted both Palmyitor and Clynalmoy in the fray as well. She walked along the edge of the fight, remaining mostly undetected but helping where she could.
She killed a few Death Eaters who had their backs turned, but didn’t make a show of herself. The fighting went on for a long time”longer than Lottie could ever imagine, and it didn’t seem like the Death Eater’s numbers were shrinking at all.
Crack!
People started screaming. The Death Eaters stopped fighting for just one instant to acknowledge the new arrival. Lottie shrank back to the wall.
The Dark Lord stood in the center of the entrance hall. Lottie’s breath hitched in her throat. There he stood”defenseless. He had no idea that all of his Horcruxes were destroyed.
All it would take was one Killing Curse. Lottie shrank back as his red eyes glanced around the hall. All they needed was one person to kill him now”but that would certainly mean death for whoever it was.
Lottie’s heart pounded impossibly fast. She could do it. She could go right then and end it all with one well-aimed Killing Curse. Her knees twitched as if to tell her to go forward. But then she would be killed”then she would die instantly as the wave of Death Eaters attempted to protect their lord.
Voldemort began to move forward. Again, Lottie twitched with the urge to confront him, but then she stopped. The entire crowd shrank as the Dark Lord moved. Everybody was too paralyzed to do anything. Lottie watched him, frozen, as he passed and walked directly through the door into the Great Hall.
Lottie lowered her wand. Her chance had passed.
The crowd stood still for a moment in his wake. It was a good minute before the first person moved. Clynalmoy stood up suddenly and glanced around at the students, alive and dead at his feet. Countless Death Eater masks turned to him but none of them raised their wands.
Palmyitor stood after him. Her usual blank face was contorted with foreign emotion. Lottie had never realized until just this moment how sorrowful she actually looked. “Ryan,” she said, her voice saturated and rough. “You can’t.”
Clyanlmoy turned to face her. His face as well seemed older and more emotional than ever before. Lottie looked closer and saw tears staining his old cheeks. Despite all of this, he smiled. “I have to, Naesa.”
He began to move forward, stepping carefully over the corpses on the ground. The Death Eaters just let him go, watching him intently. He was moving toward the Great Hall”to the door through which the Dark Lord had just gone.
“Ryan, you can’t.” Palmyitor moved forward as well; her movement was more sporadic and strained than Clyanlmoy’s. Her face too was lined with tears. She grabbed onto Clynalmoy’s hand and squeezed it in her own. “Please, Ryan, I”I can’t live without you.”
A dark flicker crossed Clynalmoy’s face as he observed Palmyitor with pity. There were more tears, though they fell silently. “I have to,” he said. His voice barely reached a whisper. “I’m sorry. I love you, Naesa.”
With that, he freed his hand from Palmyitor’s grip and turned to the door of the Great Hall. He only observed it carefully for one moment before taking a step forward, and going inside.
Palmyitor stood there for a moment. She looked deflated, crumpled. She was crying in earnest now; this was so out of character that Lottie was taken aback. Palmyitor turned to the frozen scene behind her, and her dark eyes traveled along the crowd. She paused for a split second when her eyes met Lottie’s before she turned back to face the door.
Silently, Palmyitor moved forward. She matched Clynalmoy’s path exactly as she approached the Great Hall. She did not turn around to glance one more time at her students; instead, she reached out, opened the door, and disappeared inside.
The battle began again instantly as if that was all the Death Eaters had been waiting for. Unfortunately, they were one step ahead of the students of Alsemore. Lottie heard several cries of “Avada Kedavra!” and saw a handful of her fellows fall at once.
Lottie remained on the outskirts, her heart pumping wildly. Both Clynalmoy and Palmyitor had gone in to face the Dark Lord. It was possible that they had destroyed him”but Lottie knew in her heart that his was not true. They had died. They both knew they would, but had tried anyway. Lottie’s heart sped up. They were alone now, truly alone. All of the heads were dead. Hermione was dead. It was an army of children against the Dark Lord’s strongest forces.
Lottie took a breath and plunged into the battle. She was one of the only students who knew the Killing Curse at all. “AVADA KEDAVRA!” she cried. “Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra!”
Three Death Eaters fell instantly. She spun around to face the others, reinvigorated with bloodlust. Alsemore was putting up a reasonable fight considering the circumstances, but they were still not close to winning.
Every now and then a student would slip through the door to the Great Hall. Lottie groaned inwardly every time she saw this. It was all very honorable for them to want to single-handedly destroy the Dark Lord, but impossible. It was practically suicide.
She fired three more Killing Curses. It wasn’t very difficult to catch the Death Eaters off guard as long as she kept her back to a wall. She was able to make sure that nobody hit her from behind.
Through all the fighting, though, Lottie couldn’t help but wonder what she actually was fighting for. Even if she killed two hundred Death Eaters there would be two hundred more. And even then, there would be the Dark Lord to contend with.
Lottie wondered for an instant whether those who had disappeared into the Great Hall had a point.
But fear prevented her from following their footsteps. Even the thought of going to face her death caused bile to rise in the back of her throat. She had to survive”she had to. She kept fighting.
“Avada Kedavra!” The curse was aimed at her, but she dodged it by diving behind a dead body. Instinctively, she fired a Killing Curse back in that direction. The Death Eater who had tried to murder her fell over with a thud.
Lottie took a moment on the ground to catch her breath. It felt like she hadn’t had proper oxygen for hours. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted motion, and glanced up to see the light brown sparrow flitting among the crowd.
She swallowed a lump in her throat. Andrea hovered over the crowd and made eye contact with Lottie. At her size, she was hardly noticeable, but Lottie held her gaze. Andrea was staring at her pointedly, as though in some kind of warning. Lottie frowned.
Then the bird flapped its wings a few time and veered around. It soared through the open door to he staircase that Lottie had just come up. Lottie picked her head up. This seemed strange”Andrea was trying to tell her something.
She was still on the ground, shielded by the layers of corpses. Quickly, she pushed herself up and spun around to face the doorway. She took off. Heart pounding, and legs pounding faster, she ran through the battle into the staircase.
“Andrea!” Lottie croaked as she ran down the steps. She had to hop over dead Death Eaters as she went. “Andrea!”
She turned sharply to the next staircase that led to the very bottom of the dungeon. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a rush of brown feathers ahead of her. She pressed on.
Lottie reached the bottom corridor just as Andrea did. Her eyes were focused on the bird watching it as it led her to whatever Andrea had to show her.
The sparrow spun around, flapping its wings to stay in the air. It stared at Lottie significantly who just frowned and glanced further down the corridor. A Death Eater stood at the end. With his wand extended, he surveyed Lottie and the bird, his masked face eerily blank.
Lottie raised her wand, but the Death Eater had disarmed her before she could even open her mouth. She turned around to find the sparrow but saw that it was gone.
In its place stood Andrea, standing before Lottie protectively with her wand extended. Her eyes were pinpoints of concentration as she faced off with the Death Eater. For a long time, neither of them moved”neither spoke.
Andrea acted first. The whole thing happened in slow motion. She raised her wand and opened her mouth to say an incantation, but the masked Death Eater was faster. He jabbed his wand towards Andrea and cried, “Avada Kedavra!”
There was a flood of green light and a rushing sound that drowned out all of Lottie’s hoarse shouts. Andrea fell to the ground gently, her tiny, limp body now entirely devoid of life.
Lottie reacted instinctively. She held out her arms and caught her friend. She weighed nothing. Her face was contorted with the rage of generations. Her blue eyes were still clear; unseeing, they pierced straight to Lottie’s core.
“Andrea…” Lottie’s voice cracked. She stared at her friend, unable to understand, unable to believe. “A-Andrea.” Lottie sank to the ground, taking Andrea down with her. She couldn’t be dead. She couldn’t be dead. She had been alive moments before”just a second ago, she had been living, breathing, and feeling. Now she was nothing.
Lottie placed Andrea’s body against the ground. She was cold. She was empty. This couldn’t be happening. Lottie put a thumb to Andrea’s frail wrist. There was no pulse. She had never noticed how small Andrea was before.
Now, in death, Andrea did not look afraid. She did not look broken. The determination that had defined her whole life stretched across her face.
Lottie just stared, motionless. This was the end of the world. Andrea was all she had”and now she was gone.
Lottie did not cry. She could not find tears anywhere in her. Confusion and fear filled her so strongly that she was paralyzed. She wanted to throw up. She wanted to die.
Andrea couldn’t be dead. How could that Death Eater had taken away her life by just muttering those words? How could he have destroyed somebody so good, so utterly? She couldn’t be dead. She couldn’t be.
Lottie reached down and gingerly took off Andrea’s glasses. They were fogged with the tears still wet on her face. Without the glasses, she looked younger”like she had when she was in the camps.
Delicately, Lottie folded them up. Andrea was gone. Lottie took a breath. She was gone. In the blink of an eye, she had vanished and Lottie was alone”completely alone.
Slowly, Lottie slipped the glasses”Andrea’s glasses”into her pocket and stood up to face the Death Eater.
Halfway to Infinity by Eponine
Chapter Notes: Thank you to my beta, coolh5000! You're awesome!
This chapter is dedicated to the JL. You guys are great friends.