Him - A Harry Potter Love Story

Chapter Forty

A/N I'm sorry, I had a four day weekend this week and today's my last day off but I've barely gotten anything done...I've been having writer's block and I feel like I'm making the story move too quickly. I'm only going to publish a chapter today, Wednesday, and Friday again this week...thank you!

So far, winter break really was better than any I've had in a long time. I felt more relaxed than I did at school, where I felt that I would have random moments of panic for no reason. I hadn't had anything like this since I was twelve; I finally went to Madame Pomfrey about it when third year started, and she gave me a potion that would stop anxiety and panic attacks. Although it started to come back in fourth year, it wasn't like this.

It was a late night, the night before Christmas Eve. Almost everyone was in the kitchen, except Harry and I. I was wrapped in his arms, curled up and warm, slowly drifting off to sleep. I didn't think anything at that moment could go wrong.

But, in this world, if something can go wrong...it will.

A sudden loud noise caused my eyes to snap open. Harry quickly moved me over and ran to the window, pulling out his wand.

He sucked in a breath sharply, not looking at me once before running towards the exit.

Startled, I went to the window myself. I could feel the blood drain from my face as fire raced around the fields. A loud cackling was what brought my attention to the few death eaters, including Bellatrix, standing outside.

I could feel my entire body weakening. My breaths quickened, my heart raced.

Then, I saw Harry.

He had raced outside, blasting spells at the death eaters. All the fear that had suddenly overtaken me was forgotten, and I ran out after him, my wand pulled out.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were also chasing him out, yelling at him to stop. Their yells only became more panicked as I ran after him, into the field. I had just seen Bellatrix disappear in the tall plants, Harry following.

I ran for what seemed like forever, until the sounds of running around me stopped. I quickly froze, holding my breath to try and hear anything.

A very quiet footstep behind me caused my body to jerk around, a strangled cry escaping my throat.

It was Fenrir Greyback; I recognized him from the prophet. His lips curled up in a smile, his teeth crooked and sharp.

"Stupefy!" I shouted, taking off running before I could see if I hit him. I heard another shout, and followed the noise to find myself face to face with Harry in a small clearing of the plants.

"Cassie! What were you thinking?!" he whispered harshly, pulling me into his arms. "I heard you yell and thought you...I thought you..."

"I'm fine, Harry," I murmured, pressing my face into his jacket a little before pulling away. "We need to be quiet. I think I got Greyback, but there are more of them."

He nodded, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the middle of the clearing. We stood back to back, glancing around at the plants around us. The only sound heard was a rustling of the grass from the wind.

I could feel my heart racing. I could feel Harry breathing quickly, yet he stayed silent.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Protego!" I managed to quickly block the spell from Bellatrix, shooting the stunning curse at her soon after. She blocked it, sending another. Harry had now swung around to my side, throwing spells faster than I thought possible. I started to focus more on blocking, every once in a while throwing a random spell in.