✔️ 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓&𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 → 𝑓. 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

32 | P R O P H E C Y

•••
I fight for the ones
who can't fight;.     
and if I lose at least
                       I tried.
•••

   "Row ninety-six", Harry whispered more to himself than to his friends, enlighting the small silver sign saying 'thirty-four' with the tip of his wand. The high shelves surrounded them, row for row like threatening giants, longing into the depths of the hall. They turned left. "Keep your wands ready", Harry breathed, raising his own a little higher.

   Passing row for row, eighty-four, eighty-five, Harry was listening strained into the silence for a sign, a whisper, even a breath. But Lynnea might be gagged by now, or else unconscious. Or, said an unbidden voice inside Harry's head, or she might be dead ...

   I'd have felt it, he told the voice, his heart hammering against his throat. I'd know ...

   "Harry", Hermione muttered, her glowing wand shining into the depths of the darkness; the light fell on the floor, enlightening something that didn't fit into the blackness surrounding them, that didn't match the threatening shadows raising high up the shelves. Like a fire in the night her auburn curls were shining through the darkness.

   "Lynn", Harry whispered, and his heart skipped a beat. She was laying on the floor, not moving the tiniest bit. Don't be dead, he thought, ignoring Hermione's mumbled warnungs as he fastened his steps, until he ran. Don't be dead. Please don't be dead!

   His footsteps echoed into the silence, crashing like thunder onto the floor. Harry fell to his knees right next to his sisters lifeless body, shaking hands were searching for a pulse, and Harry let out a muffled sigh as he finally found it, while his friends reached him and Lynnea.

   "Seems like she's stunned", he muttered. "Lynnea?" Softly Harry grabbed her soulder, giving her a weak shake. "Lynnea, please wake up."

   Her eyelids twitced, and slowly they fluttered open, immediately locking with Hary's, and she was highly alarmed, while Harry wondered how he ever could not have noticed that they were like a mirror to his. There was not the tiniest bit of doubt left that this girl was his sister.

   "Are you okay?", he asked, examining her face. "I -"

   "Harry, you goddamn fool, it's a trap!", she whispered in a fierce voice. "I'm so sorry, this is all my fault, they tricked me, too. I was so stupid. We need to get out of here!"

   And she didn't have to tell him twice. But it wasn't as easy as planned. When Lynnea tried to get up, she immediately fell back to the floor as if her feet couldn't carry her. Harry lifted her up, holding the tightly as her legs were shaky and weak. "Don't worry, I got you", he told her.

   "It's not that bad, just bit dizzy", she mumbled. "Just a few seconds and I can walk on my own ..."

   "Harry?" Neville's voice reminded him of his friends still being around. For a moment he was so overwhelmed by the feeling of actually having a sister that he simpley forgot the world around him. "Harry, there's your name on this."

   Curious Harry turned to Neville, who was pointing on one of the small crystal balls in the shelves.

   "Take a hold o her", he told Ron, pushing Lynnea carefully in his best friend's arms. She stumbled and Ron took an arm around her waist zo give her hold. Harry threw his sister one last gaze before he turned to Neville again.

•••

   Lynnea felt completely numb. Leaning against Ron to not fall back on the floor again her eyes followed her brother making his way to the shelf.