The Original Heretic

xiii.

i apparated into the great hall, where the loud crack made heads turn towards me in astonishment.

"hi professor, your favourite immortal is here!" i said cheekily to minnie, and she shook her head with a grin on her face.

"get up here, brit." i sped up to her side, where we stood watching as more and more students flooded the great hall. eventually, everyone was seated at their respective tables, looking apprehensive. mcgonagall started to explain what was going on and all the younger students looked even more scared.

"... follow your prefects order in a quick, calm manner. those who are of age may stay and fight if they wish."

"where's snape?" a hufflepuff yelled.

"he flew away, quite literally." i spoke up this time, remembering what minnie told me. everyone except the slytherin table started cheering.

mcgonagall began to give more instructions, but was cut off by an evil voice that surrounded the whole room, coming from everywhere.

"i know that you are preparing to fight. your efforts are futile. you cannot fight me. i do not want to kill you. i have great respect for the teachers of hogwarts, and i do not want to spill magical blood." several of the kids were crying, and i knew that this was voldemort talking. "give me harry potter," voldemort's voice demanded, "and they shall not be harmed. give me harry potter and i shall leave the school untouched. give me harry potter and you will be rewarded." there was an awful pause. "you have until midnight."

i, just like everyone else, stared at harry. a single figure rose up from the slytherin table. a girl. she pointed at harry and yelled accusingly,

"but potter's right there! someone grab him!"

i scoffed, and cast a spell as every other table stood up, pointing their wands at the slytherins.

"oscausi." the girls mouth disappeared, and i smirked as her eyes widened in terror. mcgonagall ordered all the slytherins out, and all the younger children to follow. eventually, all the tables were clear, and the group left gathered closer. it was time to formulate a proper plan.

-

jets of lights flashed around me as i danced through the battlefield. i shot stunning spells, tripping spells, and any curse i could think of that wasn't the killing curse as i felled death eaters left and right. i was still yet to kill a human, and i wasn't ready to start, though i was scared tonight might be the time it happened. multiple killing curses had hit me, but i just absorbed their strength. my eyes glowed green as i kept on running around, doing my best to slow the death eaters while others killed them.

everything was going amazingly for me, until i dropped my guard for a second, and werewolf fangs sunk deep into my neck. with a loud scream of pain, i shot the beast away before speeding into the great hall, where i collapsed.

"brit! brit, oh my god!" i saw one of the weasley twins, and tried to focus. "what happened to you?"

"got bitten by a werewolf, who's bite happens to be very-" i coughed up some blood. "very fateful to normal vampires." i shuddered from the cold, and he helped me sit up.

"are you gonna die?" at that, i laughed weakly.

"the one thing in this world that can kill me is nowhere near me, and also nothing but ashes. i'll survive this, i just need to siphon the venom." i winced as the cut throbbed.

"so why aren't you doing that yet?" the twin asked. "i mean, it's a simple thing, right? drawing magic from other magical things?" i reached out and grabbed his wrist, and with a little concentration, i siphoned some magic and released it into a gold puff in the air.

"it is simple, weasley. but when you feel like you're about to die, it's hard to focus on trying to siphon the death juice." he picked up my hand, and put it over my bite, causing me to flinch.

"ssshh. here, you can do it. just pull it out, make it something to make you stronger." i listened to his voice, the sounds of battle from outside fading as i put all my strength into siphoning the venom.

"there you go!" the twin, who i now identified as fred cheered lightly before helping me up. "ready to keep on kicking ass?"

"you know, you remind me a lot of someone i used to know." i stated, brushing myself off. "a little bit arrogant, very funny, kind when he had to be..." kol's face flashed in my head, and i sighed. "he was special to me, but i'm pretty sure he's dead, or close to being dead. we've gotta focus on the now, not the past, right fred?" he was looking at me with a strange look.

"you still love him, whoever he is." he observed, and my cheeks reddened slightly.

"maybe i do. and i can see in your eyes that there's a special someone for you too, so we're getting out of this alive, deal?" i held out my pinky, and he laughed at the childish move, but nonetheless linked our fingers together.

"deal."

we ran up the stairs to a corridor, where i saw a our friends dueling. the trio and another weasley brother named percy were all there, slowly being backed into a corner.

"hello, minister!" yelled percy, who shot a jinx straight into the man, who dropped his wand. "did i mention i'm resigning?"

"you're joking, perce!" shouted fred as he stunned another man with me. i turned and hit another man who just fired a spell at the wall behind us as fred momentarily stopped to look at his older brother.

"you actually are joking, perce, i don't think i've heard you joke since you were-"

a scream erupted from my lips as the wall came crashing down on all of us. i jumped back up after digging myself out of the rubble, looking around to see everyone else doing the same, only to have my eyes fall on an entirely motionless body.

"NO!" i screamed in anguish, running over to fred. "you are not dead!" i bit my wrist desperately, letting my blood trickle down his throat. he remained motionless, and the sob i let out was so full of sadness and anger that i could barely breathe. "you promised!" i broke down into tears, ron and percy kneeling next to me, just as heartbroken, if not more, than i was.