Ortum Infernum [d.m]

Chapter Twenty

Trigger warnings: Blood and gore. There is a scene where mutilation and dismembering will occur. I have it marked with asterisks to signify the start and end. Please skip it if you feel uncomfortable with the topic.

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Screams filled the night. Odette frantically tried to reach a group of students in time as a troll advanced towards them, swinging its barbaric weapon around. She casted a slicing hex that sliced through the troll's Achilles tendon, causing it just enough pain to drop its weapon. Someone from the Order had jumped in front of the students, shooting a spell from her wand directly at the troll's eye; blinding it.

An inhuman sound escaped the monstrous creature as blood gushed out from where the eye used to be. Odette didn't have enough time to see if the older woman was able to defeat the troll because a blast was shot her way mid-run.

It struck the ground near her feet. The force of it flung her into a wall and she heaved a broken gasp at the sharp pain instigated in her side. It didn't feel like anything was broken, although all her breath was knocked out of her.

She whimpered as she picked herself up. Whoever that shot the blast was gone. It was probably a misdirected spell or someone had gotten to the caster first before they could finish her off.

Odette had no idea what she was doing. Ever since the shields had been breached, Voldemort's army had poured in relentlessly. The numbers of their army were easily far greater than their own.

Her hands hadn't stopped trembling, though now she wasn't sure if they were still trembling from fear or adrenaline. Odette wasn't sure of anything anymore.

The world was chaos.

She didn't know who was screaming, which spell was casted by whom and which side the wizard that just got disintegrated had belonged to. It was all happening too quickly, too callously.

The Death Eaters had chased the colony of Acromantulas from the Forbidden Forest and they were swarming the battlefield, attacking voraciously at anything that was human.

Professor Sprout spotted her and hurriedly cleared a path for her to join the garrison group that was fortifying the main entrance. Though from what she had gathered through snippets of rushed conversations she had overheard, some of the Death Eaters had already made their way inside the castle through other means.

"Get inside! Make sure the students in the Great Hall are safe!" Sprout ordered as she hurled another pot of Mandrake into the side of a Death Eater's head before she summoned a small army of badgers that ferociously tore at a man on the ground.

Odette barely had enough time to nod before two seventh-years from her house had urged her to follow them. A blonde boy and a tall girl.

They had just made it through the bend in the corridor when hexes were hurled their way. It was a nerve wracking moment as they each duelled a masked Death Eater, barely holding their ground against their more experienced opponents.

Odette heard a sharp scream from the corridor down her left.

The blonde boy casted a spell that made vines erupt from the castle grounds and stone walls. The large vines latched themselves onto the limbs of the three Death Eaters, curling around their bodies so tightly that they howled in pain at the building pressure of the vines.

"Go! We'll handle things here!" The tall girl shouted as she casted several disarming charms before she stunned their attackers with quick succession.

More was coming up behind the subdued Death Eaters, but the Hufflepuffs stood their ground.

Odette made a quick dash down the long hallway, feeling a burn in her legs as she pushed herself to catch up to the screaming.