#dd:hogsmeade

Faye pressed her back against the side of the building. Behind her, the cries of the battle continued to echo, a reminder that while she’d stepped away, she had not escaped it. It was why her wand dare not leave her grasp. With a quick glance left then right, Faye checked to see that she was safe before letting her eyes shut. Her body was on a high- from seeing her parents’ faces, from making her first kill, from trying to stay alive. While she felt every rise and fall of her chest, every heart beat, every nerve ignited, a figure drew closer. It was only once his footsteps drew closer, sound rising above the war, that Faye heard. As quick as her eyes flew open, she had her wand pointed straight at him. The spell at the tip of her tongue remained unspoken, frozen upon seeing his face.

The attack was coming to a close. The amount of people in the streets was starting to decrease, both Death Eaters and everybody else. But there were still plenty of fights going on, and Morena was trying to weave through them. Only a little farther, she thought, until she could dump these robes and hide. But she learned while turning a corner that that was not to be.

In yet another alley, Syreni Thomas was there. The older girl seemed to almost snarl as soon as she laid eyes on Morena. Or the mask, rather.

“You people just seem to come out of nowhere! Hopefully by the end of this day there will be a lot less of you.” Syreni had her wand out and was slowly stalking towards the other girl. Morena slowly raised her own wand, her mouth going dry with terror; another duel she was preparing to lose. She had been lucky too many times today to make it out of this alive.

“Densaugeo!” It was unlike Morena to strike first, but she thought that there was a chance she could end this before it began; enough harmless spells, and Syreni could at least be subdued, just long enough to make an escape. The spell flew right past Syreni’s head, the other girl’s face darkening even more.

Before she could react, Morena felt herself fly back into a wall. Her head made a loud thud as it hit the brick, and she immediately yelled out in pain. Syreni was on her in a second, holding her wand against Morena’s throat, roughly grabbing the girl by her hair as well, staring down at her. Morena struggled, unwilling to be in the same position as before, but Syreni had almost superhuman strength.

Behind the two on them, a loud scream came from the rest of the battle. Syreni turned her head towards the noise, and Morena took the opportunity to push the other girl off of her. Her wand was out again, and Syreni had her own wand facing Morena in a silent challenge to try and hex her again. Audelia Prince came to the Hufflepuff’s mind almost immediately. She had been able to knock out a boy with just a stone, just by hitting his temple, but he didn’t seem to be hurt other than that. Hoping to mimic that, Morena pointed her wand to the ground. She didn’t dare take her eyes off of Syreni, but murmured a spell under her breath, feeling her wand levitate a stone off the alleyway ground. Syreni’s eyes widened, her wand pointing, her mouth moving to say an incantation, but Morena didn’t hear her; she sent her own rock flying towards the Slytherin. 

But it hadn’t been a tiny stone at all; Morena had picked up a large and heavy piece of ruble. The large brick went flying, right for Syreni’s head, and the other girl didn’t have time to do anything except scream. Morena yelled as well, trying to drop her wand, but it was too late; the brick hit Syreni in her left eye, sending her into the wall behind her. She slowly slid down the wall and left a trail of blood as she did, before landing on the ground with a final death moan.

“No!” Morena whispered the word, too shocked to even scream. She ran over towards the girl, shaking her head, ears ringing. “Please don’t be...”

But she was; Syreni Thomas was dead. There was blood dripping from her eye that was struck, more blood than Morena had ever seen. Hesitantly, Morena’s hand reached out, turned the girl’s head to one side; Syreni’s skin had been scrapped away, brain matter and more blood visible into her skull.

Morena screamed as she tore her hand away. Standing slowly, Morena gripped the wall and took only a few more steps before collapsing. She began to vomit, tears streaming down her face as she did. The stained red on her hands made Morena even sicker, loud sobs escaping in between heaves. Once she was sure it had stopped, Morena stayed on her knees for another minute or two. But the sounds of the battle soon brought her back, and she needed to escape the alley for her own sake. Rising to her feet, Morena wiped her tears roughly as she tore the Death Eater robes off of her body. Hesitating for only a moment, Morena bunched up the robes and covered Syreni’s face with them.

She couldn’t stand looking into the girl’s eyes for one second longer.

Taking off the mask, Morena let it loudly clatter to the ground. She hated the sight of it now more than ever. She pointed her wand towards the metal mask, glaring it at as she whispered, “Incendio.” Smoke began to rise as the metal shrank as it burned into mere ashes. Morena watched it disappear, the smoke evaporating as quickly as her tears.

Turning back to Syreni one last time, Morena dipped out of the alley, not having to fake the look of panic on her face. People were still scrambling, and Morena looked like another student, desperate to try and make it back to the castle.

As she ran to safety, Morena couldn’t help but think of Syreni, think of how little she knew about the older girl, about her brother, wondered about who her parents were. Tears were welling up again, threatening to fall. But she blinked them back, not ready to cry. She didn’t deserve to cry, not until she was alone, safe. She could see familiar faces as she ran, one or two calling out to her, but she still ran, trying to make it to safety without being seen by any Death Eaters. She eventually ducked into a shop, deciding to wait with other students for the rescue she knew was soon to come. 

“Go find your mother.”

Faye’s heart pounded in her chest, matching the sound of her feet against the cobblestone. With her wand clutched tightly in hand, she thread through the battle, eyes shifting left and right searching only for one face. As curses shot past, nearly grazing her on either side, the hairs on her arms stood tall. Every nerve heightened in the fear and the excitement.

Her search ended outside the tea shop. Off in the distance, chaos separating the two, Faye caught sight of a witch draped in black; her similar blonde hair fell stark in contrast. The ring around her finger felt heavier in her presence, as if it too knew that it had found its way back home after all these years.

The bell above the door still jingled as Faye passed through the threshold of Honeydukes, stepping foot straight into the chaos of war the streets had become. Her heart began to pound with the nerves. Her eyes grew wide as they lay witness, watching as bodies fell and blood coloured the cobblestones. Screams pierced the air. Faye stood frozen, more frightened by the reality of war than she could have ever prepared. But the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end reminded her that she was testing her safety by standing still. Given no other option, Faye sprang into action. Her bag of treats fell to the ground, chocolate frogs hopping free.

His heart was still beating fast. Even after the door behind him slammed shut. Even after escaping the streets and the chaos for a moment. Even after trying to catch his breath. Lub-dub. Lub-dub. It was the fear and the adrenaline that kept it going. It was the fear and the adrenaline that kept James pushing forward, breaking through battle on the cobblestone streets. His knuckles went white as his grip on his wand tightened, holding it out and at the ready. Eyes flashed left and right, watching for the next burst of green light, watching for his next dark-cloaked target, watching for the faces of Albus and Lily and Alice, everyone he had to save.

As he stepped over a fallen student, their blue and bronze scarf draped across their still chest, James turned his head just in time to watch a curse shoot in his direction.

A scream behind her threw her into immediate panic, fumbling for her wand and dropping the book forgotten by her feet. A masked figure a few shops ahead stood with their wand raised, and more Death Eaters seemed to crawl out of the surrounding area. One of them up ahead had made quick work of a duel with a fourth-year, and turned around as if looking for a new opponent. Well, they were about to find one. “Hey!"