fatal love

chapter 150

"FUCK!" Sirius screamed.

The train was now hurtling towards a dead-end drop, getting closer and closer every second.

"STOP THE TRAIN!"

"FUCKING HOW?"

"DO SOMETHING!"

"WHAT?"

"CALL MOODY!"

"THERE'S NO TIME!"

"SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!"

The front of the train started to dip over the edge, arcing downwards at a terrifying speed.

"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!"

The train continued to fall, but began to slow down. Sirius' whirled around on his broom, spotting Benjy with his wand out, looking like he was putting all he had into the spell.

"Black!" Benjy screamed, his voice hoarse with the effort. "Potter!"

Sirius scrambled for his own wand, casting the levitation charm just before the end of the train fell. As soon as he did, as soon as he felt his magic clasping and pulling on the heavy hunk of machinery, he felt its whole weight pulling against his whole body, fighting back. Like he was shouldering it's whole weight on his shoulders. He felt it, crushing him, and was powerless to do anything but keep pulling, channelling everything he had through his wand.

The train fell about ten feet down before stopping, hovering shakily in the air. Sirius threw all his might towards not letting it fall, sweat running down his back as he let out an involuntary, strangled cry. Benjy and James looked to be in similar states; their expression twisted grotesquely in both pain and determination.

"What- what do we do?" James shouted, his voice cracking.

The train shuddered threateningly, dropping another couple of feet. Sirius heard screams coming from inside.

He felt his magic draining quickly, he knew the three of them couldn't keep this up forever.

"Just get it to the ground!" he yelled back. "Lower on three. One, two, three!"

He tried guiding the train, but quickly lost control. The train started plummeting, hurtling towards the ground quicker and quicker.

"Stop!" Benjy screamed, and Sirius pulled all his magic back towards him, bringing the train with him and stopping any descent at all.

It was about fifty feet from the ground now, echoes of commotion coming from inside.

"It's too hard!" James shouted. "I can't control it!"

"We have to!" Benjy yelled back. "Again! Now!"

Once more, Sirius tried to carefully lower the train. It jolted in the air, dropping about another twenty feet before he could stop it.

"One more time!"

Painstakingly, feeling the last dregs of his magic starting to slip away, his very muscles burning, Sirius tried to get the train to the ground. It landed with a deafening thump, uneven and ungentle, sending a flock of birds into the sky and making the greenery around it ripple.

Practically collapsing over his broom, Sirius let himself fall to the ground as well, landing in a heap rather than on his feet. He heard the others land next to him, but his vision was blurry from the exertion, and couldn't see much more than the blue of the sky above him.

"The... the students," James gasped, somewhere to his right. "We.. we should... check on them."

"We can't... stay here," Benjy's voice breathed faintly. "We... don't know if that's it."