Towers - Fred Weasley

85

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"GOOD LUCK, EVERYONE," shouted Moody. "See you all in about an hour at the Burrow. On the count of three. One... two... THREE."

Buckbeak flew up, following Alyx's guidence towards 12 Grimmauld Place where a portkey to the Burrow would be waiting for them. It seemed to be fine, the raging sound of Hagrid's motorbike, the brooms and thestrals, it looked all perfect.

And then, out of nowhere, out of nothing, they were surrounded. At least thirty hooded figures, suspended in midair, formed a vast circle in the midst of which the Order members had risen, oblivious—

Screams, a blaze of green light on every side: Ebony wasn't able to see much anymore. Alyx guided Buckbeak higher, she knew the creature would be able to fly higher than a broom would be able to reach but it was hard to get there when you were avoiding all kinds of charms.

Ebony turned off her thoughts, as if she had pressed a button to stop herself from overthinking the situation. She instead swung her wand around, a sudden blaze of fire came from the tip and hit everything in the near thirty feet. 

"Whoa! Cool!" Alyx said, surprisedly. Ebony smiled but it disappeared as quickly as it came when she saw more hooded figures. The fire wasn't distracting enough and it was clear they thought she was the real Harry. She kept pushing her thoughts away and instead tried to focus on her magic but it was hard. Very hard. "Hold on tight, Harry."

Ebony must give it to Alyx, she was a quick-witted witch but not quick enough. As Buckbeak flew downwards to avoid a spell, another one came their way. Ebony drew her wand and casted a perfect protection spell right in time. 

"Do something! Fight them off, please!" Alyx said as she tried to create a way through the storm. Ebony thought for a moment before humming and looking at her right where a couple of Death Eaters were desperately trying to reach her. 

"Confringo!" She blasted two straight off their brooms and heard Alyx cheer as they neared 12 Grimmauld Place. "Densaugeo!" Ebony didn't know how she remembered these two spells but she was glad she did until she came face to face with Dolohov.

"Crucio!" An intense pain traveled through her body. Ebony grabbed ahold of her wand and of Alyx but when the second wave hit, she couldn't focus anymore. A shrilling scream erupted from her lungs as if it had been trapped for years. A third wave of the Cruciatus curse and she let go, dropping about two hundred feet down towards the ground. 

She looked down, trying to restart her thoughts to memorize a soft-landing spell but a fourth wave hit her. The pain managed to bore straight through her skin into her bones. Her veins began to boil at the intense feeling. There was a ringing in her ear and all her muscles contracted together. Another scream left her, she didn't even realize she had stopped falling and had succesfully landed on the ground with a soft-landing charm.

After the fifth wave, there was a voice in her head. So familiar yet so strange. Her body felt weak but at the same time it felt like she was laying on top of clouds, as if she was currently floating in mid-air. It was a nice feeling and somehow she enjoyed it a lot. Until the voice grew louder.

"Stand up and join us." 

It was the voice of Dolohov. Ebony wanted to do just that, she moved to stand up but another voice -- a much more familiar one -- began to question the first voice.

"Don't do it!"

Ebony was confused, the second voice sounded an awful lot like herself. She could swear she had heard herself say that in the same voice tone before. 

"Stand up and join us!" 

Dolohov's voice became louder, more impatient and Ebony was about to continue to rise but her own voice in her head once again managed to stop her.

"I will not listen to someone who put me under the Imperius Curse." 

The imperius curse. . . of course. It felt familiar because Ebony had to face it back in her sixth year with Moody who wanted her to roll over the floor. 

"STAND UP AND JOIN US!" 

"I SAID NO!" This time, Ebony managed to say this out loud. Her eyes -- vision turned back to how it was supposed to be -- stared straight into the dark ones of Dolohov. "I will not listen to you." She added, glaring at the man in front of her.

"Crucio!" 

Again, Ebony screamed. She fell back onto the ground, the pain of the sixth wave of the Cruciatus Curse made her almost lose her mind. It was too much, too strong. She had hoped somebody would come save her but she guessed she was alone. 

By the ninth wave, she was basically unconcious. She slipped in and out of conciousness constantly and whenever she was awake, she began to scream. It was a game for him and it drove her completely off the edge. She would do anything to make it stop.

Her fist tightened around her wand, a glowing orange light lit up her entire body. As if a flame was travelling through her. She felt her body heat up and screamed out one more time before the flame exploded and hit Dolohov so hard, he was launched backwards and hit a rock. 

The pain should've been gone but it was still there. It was in every bone in her body, in ever fiber of her being. Ebony wanted to stay on the ground and die there, never wake up from the nightmare she had found herself in. But she didn't.

There was a scream, a similar one she had let out before. Ebony pushed herself off the ground, she had no idea how she managed to walk -- but she did. Her legs brought her towards the edge of the forest and her gaze landed on Alyx. She laid on the ground with a Death Eater towering over her. The Cruciatus Curse was also used on her. 

Ebony pointed her wand at the Death Eater whom's name she did not remember, and spoke carefully. "Avada Kedavra!" With an orange flick, the woman fell to the ground and Alyx took her first real breath since she was found. 

"Thank you." The blonde girl said and got up as best as she could. "Come on, Grimmauld Place isn't far." Ebony nodded and began to follow her through the woods towards the edge of the city.

"Buckbeak?" Ebony asked, not managing to utter another word after that. It was clear she received the worst treatment between the two of them.

"I hope he made it." Alyx replied with a soft shrug of her shoulders. "I was thrown off with an explosion." 

They made it inside 12 Grimmauld Place and easily found the Portkey. Both woman took ahold of it before appearing inside the Burrow. Everyone was there, they must've been the last ones to enter. Bill immediately went to hug Alyx but when Fred stood up to hug Ebony, she fell limp against him.

"What happened?" Remus asked and looked down at the two.

"Mad-Eye's dead, Mundungus fleed and Ebs and I were hit with the Cruciatus Curse multiple times." Alyx explained. "She got it worse than I do. Anyway, what happened to him?" She asked and pointed at George who laid on the couch.

"Snape." Remus muttered. "Blasted his ear off."

"When Buckbeak came back without you. . . I got so worried." Fred whispered to his fiance. Ebony hummed.

"He tried to use the Imperius Curse, must've forgotten I can defeat it." Ebony muttered back and wrapped her arms around him with her last piece of strength. "I killed one, I murdered someone."

"It's okay, that was your revenge." Fred whispered back.

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Written: 27/07/2023

Word Count: 1310