tainted transparency || a harry potter story

Chapter Thirty-Six- The Battle's Begun

I was thrown into the many beginning factors of battle way too early. There were already dementors circling Hogwarts' defense barriers. Harry's still holding a grudge too. He's shared with Hermione and Ron that he's suspicious of things going on between Draco and I.

Hermione's said that Harry now feels betrayed and 'doesn't want to be anywhere near me' until he cools off and processes the information.

Which is insanely inconvenient and horribly timed. Because we're about to fight a war against the most powerful wizard on the face of the earth. He's not fighting next to me in a freaking WAR because he's assuming I'm involved with someone.

Very immature if you ask me.

"Hazel! Thank god," The twins ran up behind me and stood on either side of me, each of them looking worried. "You alright? We wanted to find you."

"Figured since Harry's got his knickers in a twist, we'd help you instead," Fred scoffed, obviously not happy about how Harry's treating me. Protective Fred. A side version of him I've grown accustomed to witnessing.

"Where's Neville?" My heart suddenly dropped. "Have either of you seen my brother?"

"He's with Sprout," George said. "They're stationed near the greenhouses and that section of the castle. He's alright. 'Bout as terrified as the rest of us."

I sighed and nodded, turning my eyes towards the dark skies. The dementors were just barely visible through the starry sky. Their shadowy outlines were blocking out sections of the star blanket, that's the only way any of us were able to see them.

"They'll be arriving soon," Fred said.

"Anytime now, really," George agreed. "D'you think they'd attack you as well?"

"Oh, it's guaranteed. I'm a traitor in their eyes. I'm their enemy now. Regardless of the mark on my arm," I explained to the two of them. "I'm definitely not getting out of this."

"Shame. You could use that mark to your advantage. Convince the other less bright Death Eaters that you're one of them so they don't kill you," Fred shrugged.

"Freddie, you're brilliant," I turned to him with a scoff. "That's insanely brilliant! God, I could kiss you right now. But I don't want to give Harry another reason to hate me."

"Oh, there they are," George called out and pointed to a distant cliff. "It's the Death Eater army!"

"Everyone, man your stations! Protect each other!" McGonagall firmly exclaimed, but the last of her statement was cut off by the horrified reactions of everyone witnessing the complete dissipation of the defense barriers.

I gave the twins one last encouraging look before seconds later, dementors and Death Eaters alike swooped into the scene and began attacking witches and wizards left and right.

This is nothing like the duels my friends and I trained for in Dumbledore's Army. These are duels to kill, not injure. To kill. This is real. This is full blown war.

I heard a man yell the death curse not too far away from me. So instinctually, I turned towards where the cold voice had come from and was instantly shoved onto the ground by Fred. I watched as he impressively warded off the curse and shot the same one back at the Death Eater, who dropped motionless to the cold stone ground.

He turned to me and helped me up. His hands were shaking and he had a wild look of pure fear in his eyes. "You alright, Hazelnut?"

"Fine, thanks to you. Yourself?"

"I just bloody killed somebody," He scoffed. "I'm definitely not okay."

"You saved my life," I patted his chest. "Just think of it that way. You saved my life."

"That helps," He nodded, then we were instantly split off by a pair of Death Eaters shooting curses at the both of us. As I finished warding off the death eater, I saw a sudden flash of white off in the distance.

It's Draco.

I ran after him, throwing up a quick shield as I went so I didn't have to stop and defend myself. I had just gotten close enough to call for him but as soon as I started to say his name, I was stopped by a pretty large chunk of Death Eaters.

I panicked, not sure how to defend myself in this situation. But that's when an idea popped into my head. I'm not entirely sure how well this would work, but I executed the plan that Fred had joked about earlier. I yanked my sleeve up and revealed my Dark Mark.

Two out of the three Death Eaters started to back away, but one of them smirked and pressed the tip of their wand to my neck and lifted it to my chin. "See, if I was as dumb as they were, I'd believe you. But you're the traitor everyone's been talking about. You're one of the Dark Lord's biggest targets. I should kill you right here and now but I think... we'll make it nice and slow and painful so you can see just what happens when you betray the Dark Lord."

"Eat slugs!" Ron's voice erupted from behind the Death Eater. Instantly the man's face turned pale and I jumped out of the way when he vomited a rather large slug. Ron laughed and tossed his wand up and caught it. "It worked! He's down for the count. Come on!"

I ran with Ron through the massive crowds of witches, wizards, and Death Eaters. I kept my eyes open for Draco again but he's nowhere to be seen. I suddenly felt my heart drop. Neville. I need to find Neville.

"Ron! Have you seen Neville?!"

We stopped on the staircase in the school. "Last I saw him he was at Hagrid's! He was helping defend some trolls that had wandered out of the forest to help us!"

"Thank you!"

I raced off through crowds towards Hagrid's hut. As I had made it outside, though, there was a massive explosion right next to me. I was thrown to the ground by the impact and my ears rang so loud I couldn't hear anything other than my own heartbeat.

When I sat up, I felt a trickle of something down the side of my head. My ears are bleeding. Great. I also have a number of debris scars and gashes along my limbs and face.

Startled, I looked up and spotted Neville, who had seen the entire explosion and ran after me. He looked worried and was yelling something but his voice was but a faint mumble in my ears. He seemed to notice that I couldn't hear him and helped me stand up. Turning to action instead of trying to get verbal answers out of me.

Neville rushed me to the back of the castle and began trying to coax my hearing back. He massaged the parts of my head just under my ears and looked into my eyes with worry.

"Come on, come back," He frowned. "Come on, please. Hazel? Can you hear me yet?"

"Nev," I sighed in relief when my hearing came back. Though it was fuzzy, I was able to hear him. He grabbed my arms and pulled me in for a rather insanely tight hug. "I saw the explosion. I thought I'd just watched you die."

"No, you're still stuck with me, I'm afraid," I grinned faintly. "Is everything okay with you? Are you okay?"

"Great," He suddenly brightened up, which is not what I was expecting. "I've found Luna! Told her how I felt about her! She's ridden off with friends on thestrals for air strikes."

"Luna! That's who it is?!" I gasped and grinned. "Neville, I'm so happy for you! You found someone!"

"I did!" He laughed. "Merlin, she's wonderful!"

Another distant explosion reminded us that we're indeed stuck in the middle of a war. I felt a sudden tug on my chest. Which usually means only one thing. That Harry either needs me or is in serious trouble. So, I left Neville after a tight hug, and raced off to find Harry.