ꜱᴇʀᴘᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ | ᴛᴏᴍɪᴏɴᴇ

Serpentine, ch. 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Master said Borgin & Burkes was only a few steps away from where they were, but to Harmony it felt like much longer to get there. While everyone else strode confidently through the brick maze, her eyes darted to every shadow and alleyway in paranoia. When she caught one of the shadows moving, she assumed it must be only what Barty had encountered earlier—a beggar.

They rounded a corner, and the group came upon a little shop with a "B & B" logo on the door sign. Harmony breathed a sigh of relief. We're here, she thought, and without incident. Now they can just go in, get the Vanishing cabinet, get out quickly, and we can get out of—

Harmony stopped in her tracks and frowned with a feeling of unease. Her sudden stop pulled Master up short as well, and some of the Death Eaters halted to look back at them.

"It's really quiet, isn't it?" she remarked as she looked up at her Master. Then her Serpentine charm flared on her bicep like a searing hot poker, and Voldemort's eyes widened when he felt it along with her.

Her observation was like the magic words to let all hell break loose. Lights from wands came at them from all directions, and witches and wizards spilled out from the shadows. The Aurors had come down upon them with a vengeance, and they had Voldemort's whole group trapped.

Through the pandemonium, Harmony heard Voldemort shout out in anger, his voice echoing off the prison-like brick walls. Red and green lights flashed everywhere, and the colors mesmerized Harmony until one red spark shot past her head, just centimeters from her left ear. The Death Eaters now stood with their backs to each other in a defensive stance and they wore looks of grim determination.

Just ahead of Harmony, Master had conjured a dark blue protective field around himself. It poured out of his wand above his head like a cascading waterfall. By the defeated look in his eyes as he looked back at her, Harmony realized that he had meant to protect her with it as well, but he hadn't realized she'd wandered too far away from him in the disorder.

With only herself for protection, she spun around to face the Aurors. There were too many of them to count and her heart thundered with fear. All of her months of intense lessons with Master ran through her head as she decided which defensive spells to use.

She brandished her wand with a flourish, ready to choose which Auror she would duel, when she froze in her defense stance. Was that Tonks over by the alley? And was that Lupin fighting Barty? Moody? Kingsley?

Harmony knew these people. They were her friends. How could she fight her friends? She had a sudden, desperate urge to run up to them and reveal herself. Like they could protect her—bring her home.

But the hope was quickly dashed when a fiery-haired Tonks faced her, her heart-shaped face filled with rage. Without a moment's hesitation, she aimed a red shot at Harmony, who quickly absorbed at the last second as she came out of her shock. Of course they couldn't recognize her—not with her face scarf. All they saw was just another Death Eater that needed to be eliminated.

With lightening quickness, Harmony sent a spell at Tonks that knocked her off her feet and sent her flying. She knew the woman wouldn't be badly hurt, and it gave her enough time to escape dueling with another one of her good friends. She sprinted toward the mouth of an alleyway she could hide in until the fight was over. Bright, glaring spells shot past her like bullets, so close that it made her wavy hair ripple as though caught in a light breeze.

She reached a reclusive spot and laid herself as flat as she could against the grimy wall when a petrifying spell shot past her ear. The spells light lit up the shadows briefly and Harmony saw a man waiting in the alley with her. He moved before she could even lift her wand.