The Crimson Haunting - D.M

Chapter 1

The Battle of Hallows' Eve

31st of October, 1981

The moon hung eerily in the sky, a beacon the shape of a skull casting green over the country side. Candles burnt an autumn spice in the cottage as Gideon tightened the grip on his wand, his heart was drumming in sync with the hum of early winters wind outside.

Marlene clutched Beatrice close to her chest. The flickering candlelight cast a panicked shadow over her determined face. She slightly glanced at Gideon, her eyes reflecting both love and fear. 

"They're almost here." Fabian whispered, his voice strained. He stood at the window, his silhouette outlined by the faint glow of the green beacon of death. "I can feel them."

Gideon nodded, his jaw firm. "We stand together." he stated. "For Beatrice, for everyone we've lost."

Marlene softly kissed Beatrice's forehead before handing her to Gideon. "Keep her safe," she murmured, her voice trembling with a mothers rich love. She turned, standing shoulder to shoulder with each of the brothers, her wand ready for the battle about to come.

Suddenly, the door exploded inwards, sending shards of wood and splinters flying. Five masked figures emerged from the darkness, their eyes glinting with ultraviolence. At the front stood proud and tall was Antonin Dolohov, his satanic smile visible even in the faint light.

"Prewetts!" Dolohov smiled disparingly, his voice seething with poison. "And the lovely Marlene. How alluring." 

Gideon didn't waste time on nonchalant words. With a growl, he launched a curse at Dolohov, the potentness of his spell hissing through the air. The other death eaters quickly joined the melee, and the once quiet, homely cottage abrupted into turmoil.

The essence of dark magic flew in every direction, the air thick with the smell of burning wood and smoke. Fabian danced with rehearsed agility, his wand movements exact as he deflected curses and hexes. Marlene fought with the ferocity of a lion, protecting her baby cub from harms way. Her protective instints made her a tricky opponent.

Gideon cradled Beatrice protectively in one arm as he fought with intesnity. He couldn't let the death eaters harm his family. However, the tides were turning and he could feel the hope begrudgingly slip away from him.

Dolohovs sinister laughter cut through the noise, "You're outnumbered, Prewett. Give up now and I'll make it quick."

"Never!" Gideon roared, his wand flashing as he cast another spell. But as he battled Dolohov and his death eaters, he felt a searing pain as a curse struck his side. He staggered using a table to the side of him for grip, driven by sheer willpower to keep standing.

Marlenes scream pierced through the air as she was struck by a blasting curse, sending her crashing into the staircase. Fabian ran to aid her, but Dolohov's hex struck him down before he could get to her. 

Gideon's heart seethed with a mix of terror and rage. He knew they weren't going to win, but he couldn't afford to fall. Not yet. He shielded Beatrice with his body as every curse shot in his direction brought him closer to death.

"Time to end this," Dolohov spat. With an agile, vicious movement, he cast the killing curse. A flash of green had filled the room, but before anybody could act Gideon's lifeless body lay on the floor protecting his infant daughter. 

Marlene barely conscious, reached out towards her daughter as Dolohov approached. "Please," she whimpered, tears streaming down her face. "Not Beatrice..."

Dolohov smirked with twisted satisfaction. He reached down and with surpassing gentleness, took the now crying baby from Gideon's lifeless arms. 

"She'll be a useful pawn," He said eerily. "The order will assume she's dead, just like her parents.

With that, Marlene growing weaker by the second watched Donolov walk out of the cottage with no hesitation, holding her babygirl in his arms. 

Outside, Antonin Dolohov stood with a twisted smile on his lips. Terror occupied Marlene's face as she tried to move, but pain kept her pinned to the floor.

Dolohov raised his wand, eyes locking with Marlene's in a moment of sinister triumph. He uttered a dark hex and the cottage shuddered violently. With a thundering crack, the ceiling began to collapse. Marlene's last thoughts were of her precious daughter and Gideon, her vision failing as debris rained down, and Dolohov's haunting laughter surged through her ears. 

As the Death Eaters vanished into the night, taking little Beatrice with them, the once cozy cottage now lay in ruins, nothing but a pile of splintered wood and warm memories. A figure of  brutality from the war.

In the days that followed, the Order of the Phoenix mourned the loss of the Prewetts. In the chaos and grief, Beatrice's tiny presence assumed lost in the destruction. The order unbeknown that far away, Beatrice was in the clutch of the Death Eaters.

- - -

Ouch!

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