Finding the Magic (a Clexa hogwarts au)

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Clarke landed with a thump on a steady surface not seconds later. As the spinning in her head resided, she reached out her hands to feel her surroundings. She heard a crackle as her fingers touched something smooth and yielding. Her head finally cleared as she noticed the soft pastel light from a display across the room advertising a new flavor of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. "Now really every flavor!" The portkey had taken her back to Hogsmeade.

Bracing her hands on the wood floor beneath her, Clarke pushed herself to her knees. Before she could move further, a wave of nausea overtook her, forcing her back toward the ground. As she watched the ground beneath her spin, a familiar woosh of a cloak sounded from across the room. She was too weak to move, but light steps revealed the visitor to be a smaller form than that of Cage.

"Clarke? Lexa?" Clarke had only heard her whisper, but she recognized Em's voice in an instant.

"Here." Clarke lifted her head, but shaded her eyes as a light-tipped wand banished the shadows to the corners of the room.

Another sigh of her cloak brought Em rushing to Clarke's side and she helped her sit up. "Where's Lexa?"

"Hexed. Didn't make it..."

The light from Em's wand sent a harsh color crawling across her face, but her features seemed genuine. Her mouth gaped open, unable to form words.

It wasn't until Clarke looked into Em's eyes that she realized the magnitude of her situation. If the Phoenix had used Lexa once to get Clarke, they would use her again. Clarke didn't know if she could stand to watch Lexa as they tortured her again.

"We have to go back right now." Clarke felt stronger than she had moments ago as a realization struck her. The Phoenix wouldn't play nice now that Lexa had tried to escape. For all Clarke knew, Lexa could be dead right now. Em seemed to share that thought, and she shook her head.

"It would be suicide. The place would be so heavily guarded we'd be lucky just to get out of the woods before they kill us."

"Then I'll go back myself!" Clarke leaned over and scrambled for the portkey. The old textbook had landed a few feet away, one corner bent from the impact with the floor. "They wouldn't kill me, they think I'm too important."

When Clarke touched the portkey, she expected to be whisked away on another stomach-churning rush of wind back to the forest, but she remained on the floor of the sweets shop.

"They don't work both ways, Clarke." Em shook her head.

"Then make me another one."

"I'm not letting you go back there. We'll have to get Lexa another way."

"We can't wait! She'll die. You don't get to decide who lives and who dies." Clarke's voice broke. She thought back to the moment she and Lexa had shared earlier in the day. Mere hours ago they had been imprisoned, but together and momentarily safe. The soft brush of Lexa's kiss remained on Clarke's forehead, and her murmuring voice broke through the buzzing in Clarke's mind. That small slice of surety within all of the lies and danger. In that moment, a red hot anger at Em blazed up in Clarke's chest.

"You're supposed to be our savior! You promised to get us out, both of us. You came in here all alone, why couldn't you go back and get her? Fly right in and grab her. Her death is on you if she doesn't make it out." Clarke knew she wasn't being fair, and she should thank Em for even trying to help them in the first place, but the image of Lexa with that green light terrified her.

"I know you're angry, but I did what I could. They won't kill her if they think they can use her."

"So you're one of them, then? You know so much about them. Are you here to spy on us? Let us out like they let people like Raven Reyes out just to kill them later?"

The look that passed through Em's face told Clarke her claims weren't true, that or Em was an extraordinary actor. An image of Raven flitted through Clarke's head. Filthy, circles under her eyes, but a fire igniting the chocolate irises lighting up her worn out face. Something told Clarke Raven would go back if it meant saving someone she loved, even if she put her own life in danger.

"I was their servant, forced to keep my head down and follow orders. Cooking orders, cleaning orders, servant's stuff. I had never really known what was going on until just recently. I knew I had to get out. I wanted to do something good, too." Em sighed.

Clarke took a deep breath before continuing, her anger subsiding. "Well if you won't take me back, then we need to get to Headmaster Kane right away, we need to do something to help her."

The sadness in Em's face brightened a little. "You're right. Let's go."

Em grasped Clarke's arm and helped her to her feet. The two snuck to the door and peered out, making sure the cobblestone street around them was empty. The town had taken on the look of something old and abandoned, even though her friends had promised it was a bustling--if not sometimes quaint-- little village. The murder of a prominent businessman can usually do that to a community. The vacant street around them was eerie as they hurried back toward the castle, which loomed above them as a hulking shadow. Soon enough, they saw the glistening surface of the lake reflecting the pinpricks of lights coming from the castle windows.

The lights grew larger and more welcoming as they drew closer to the entrance. A tiny spark of hope ignited in her, but it was extinguished by a hostile voice coming from the shadows.

"Who's there?"

Clarke and Em turned, their lit wands pointing toward the sound.

"Clarke Griffin?" Professor Roan stepped out of the shadows, his own wand lighting at the tip, banishing the darkness around him as he came into focus.

"Professor Roan!" Clarke's voice caught. She hadn't been gone from Hogwarts long, in fact, she'd only been gone one day. The day before, Lexa had disappeared, and that night Clarke and the Gryffindors had been caught by the Phoenix. Only this morning she had reunited with Lexa, but watched as she was tortured. It had seemed like eons ago that they had laid in their cot and talked the afternoon away. Clarke and Lexa had weighed the odds of joining their captors, nearly escaped together, and now Clarke stood alone with a stranger outside of her new home.

All of a sudden the ground seemed to sway beneath her as a wave of exhaustion swept over her. She thought of her mother explaining Hogwarts the night she first received her letter. Clarke had expected magic, friends, bullies, and adventures. She hadn't expected torture and kidnappings. Em put her hand on Clarke's arm to steady her.

"Where have you been? The castle has been on lockdown looking for you and Miss Trigeda." Clarke remembered Cage wiping her friends' memories before putting them back near the castle. No one would have known what happened. Clarke tried to imagine the frenzy of searching for two missing students, but the exhaustion weighed her down and turned her thoughts sluggish.

"Can we come inside and sit down? Clarke's been through a lot and I think a chair and some tea will be more beneficial than standing out in the cold and dark.

"Who are you?" Roan said, his voice cold and wary.

"I helped to free her. My name is Emori."

Clarke shivered as the darkness grew closer around her. She wondered if Em and Roan were extinguishing their wand lights. She didn't have to wonder long, because the ground rushed up to her face and then there was only darkness.