Luck of Nines

36

An: Warning, scenes of gore and main character deaths. It's not that detailed, but still warning. -T.A.L.A.

     "You want to know why I hate that brat Draco so much!?" Phineas demanded his eyes both wild and hard at the same time, it was clear, despite it all, that he had never killed someone before, "Because he's a coward. His father's a coward.  His whole family is a coward!"

   Draco merely quivered in the corner, for once not snarling in defense and proclaiming what his father would do, the illusion of predator completely destroyed in a handful of seconds.

"Beckwith." Phineas snorted. "I've been called that for all my life, because my father is stuck serving in Azkaban, ten whole years now! Because your father was too coward to do anything else but to cry how he was being controlled rather than taking responsibility and fighting for what he believed in; to the bitter end if need be! And then I found out that I had no other choice but to attend Hogwarts of all places, to be in Slytherin with the rest of you gutless disgraces. My mother said it was father's last wish before he was taken away... do you know how knowing that feels? That his last wish of me was that I was stuck associating under you? You! You of all worms?!"

Phineas scoffed but his mind was somewhere far away now, "Look at you, you can't even look me in the eye, but you always talked down to people, they were under you, never with, it's a miracle that you managed to win anyone's loyalty, but I suppose idiots will do anything these days for fame and attention, that's all you're good for though. Everything you have is due to your father's meddling and you think that you are better than me!? Traitor! That's all you are! A spineless traitor! Better than me!? You're not even better than the Weasley blood traitors, not better than a slug beneath a muggle's foot. The only worse than a mud blood? A leech of a Malfoy."

His eyes finally landed on Chipper and he sneered, "You're parents might have been a mud blood with her puppy of a blood traitor, but at least they know what it is to believe in something. At least they stood up for what they believed. They fought with the will to succeed or die trying." Phineas's eyes darkened gesturing to the two of them, "They will die slowly, you witnessed all of this, so you're going to have to die first; sorry Harry, but we both know you're on the wrong side." He shrugged, something that looked between almost casual and almost helpless, but tears rolled down his face as he tried to brace himself for the task at hand, "You may have killed the Dark Lord, but now, today, his loyal follower will extract revenge in his place. Avada Kedavra."

Chipper dodged to the side in one clear motion, that was all he needed.  For a brief moment Phineas appeared shocked that he hadn't just stood there and died, but Phineas recovered and cast again.

He dodged, slipping to the side as the bright green spell raced past him. A swipe hitting the inside of his wrist and pushing out knocked Phineas's wand arm to the side. Now was as good a time as any to practice attack spells, a wizard's main form of defense. For once he had stuck his wand up his sleeve rather than letting Chipped Fang carry it.

The spell rushed forward as if second nature with only a thought, without him even needing to call it out, the very moment it's polished tip pressed against the other's abdomen and Phineas slumped forward into his arms.

A familiar feeling of thick, warm liquid gushed out and over his wand, hand and robes. The blood darker in the dim light. In an easy motion he turned and shoved them off, the dog immediately falling onto the dying student. Phineas stared at him as the light left his wide eyes and teeth tore into his back. He was dead.

Chipper stumbled back a little too, the severing charm had taken more strength from him then he expected and he leaned against the wall, nearing collapse, but desperately holding onto his strength.

"W-wait...Dr-Draco" Parkinson trembled now as she stared at the corpse being torn to shreds, "Y-your wand, he still has your wand..." it was as if she was in some sort of trance as she stumbled away from where Draco remained slumped and trembling.

Harry reached forward, careful to avoid getting into the dog's range though, "Parkinson-" he jerked his head back as the third head snapped at him.

His warning was cut off as she stumbled, falling the rest of the way into the dog's reach. He'd seen it before in animals. Shock. It was a strange but generally temporary ailment, if only one didn't do anything too devastating during that time.

The dog now mauled two corpses; one head shaking Parkinson's body while the other two tore into Phineas's slurping up great big chunks of meat. Harry longed for a freshly hunted kill as well at the scene, there was something deeply satisfying that Hogwart's cooked food simply lacked, delish as it was. The smell of fresh blood and the thought of once more going out hunting regularly momentarily distracted him from the moment; he should take some time to hunt with Chipped Fang in the forest again soon. 

How odd that in their eyes, the very same eyes that blinded themselves to the realities of the world, the very same that saw anything the least bit painful or discomforting to be something to be eliminated with prejudice, they saw Hogwarts was the safest place on Earth. Draco crawled over the scant few centimeters to him, his side never stopped being pushed hard into the wall as he closed the short distance, shivering and whimpering like a kicked, newborn puppy, still repeating the same mantra as before.

Chipper rested an arm around them and nuzzled his head into their hair which stunk of the products some humans used in their hair; how could he have forgotten? To humans eleven full years of age was still considered newborn, which was why the tactics had been so poorly developed. Rosey had done much to comfort him in his time of need, since Malfoy was not a threat, at least not at the moment, and nor was he Chipper's prey, he should do the same.

"It's alright." He murmured, "So long as we stay here it can't hurt you."

It wasn't strictly necessary, but emotional pain was still hurt, so when the large beast flung what remained of Parkinson's corpse at them, he turned to pin Malfoy against the wall, letting the bloody mess splatter with a heavy noise against his back and letting them bury their face and hands into his uniform. It wasn't any extra effort on his part anyway so he didn't particularly care about the blood and guts that smeared on his already stained uniform if it kept Malfoy relatively easy to handle, the splatter of blood and guts might set him screaming or make him rush the dog for all Chipped Fang knew. Shock was unpredictable, but it's form could change.

He wondered, as the chain shrieked, if help would somehow arrive before the dog broke loose.  From the way the metal leash creaked and groaned, somehow he doubted it. Whichever way the tables turned though, the fight would be over quickly, ending only in death.  He'd seen the singular look on the beast's face before; a bred and trained guard dog, there would be no peace until any intruders were dead, or it was.