✔️ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 → ℎ. 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

19 | B A T T L E C A L L

see, I was dead before I woke up
this morning & I'll be dead
before the day is done.

   "WHERE DOES YOUR loyalty lay, Ember?"

   "With you, my Lord."

   Surrounded by blackness, Ember felt her body burning. The shadows licked on her fingers, crawling up her arms. Her first instinct was to shake them off, but she couldn't move a muscle as she stood there, rooted to a ground she couldn't see. She felt the darkness caress her shoulders, out of the corners of her eyes she watched the smoke like substance reach her neck. Ember wanted to scream, but no sound left her throat. Nevertheless, opening her mouth was what it took for the shapeless monster to react.

   It felt like suffocating; darkness invaded her mouth, streamed into her nose, took the last bit of her sight as it covered her eyes, muffled the silence as it crept into her ears.

   "Where does your loyalty lay, Ember?"

   It stopped after what felt like a lifetime, leaving Ember shudder for a second, before she opened her pair of dead black eyes.

   Like a movie playing in her head, she could see Harry raising his wand, could again feel the pain on her back, and a hatred like she had never felt it before was jolting through her veins.

   "He knows what you are, girl", an icy voice spoke into her ear. "He knows very well. This was no accident, Ember. This was his opportunity. Neither -"

   "... can live while the other survives", Ember growled.

   "We have wasted too much time, Ember", Voldemort spoke inside her mind. "You tried to fight it, and I understand. You were confused. But now you see it, don't you?"

   "I do."

   "Dumbledore has trained him. He had taught him how to destroy you."

   Her eyes grew to small slits as the wrath took over.

   "They don't understand you, Ember. They fear you, and therefore want you dead. I ask you, precious girl, is this fair?"

   Ember shook her head.

   "So tell me, why should he live, while you're dying? Who's given Dumbledore the right to decide this?" There was a pause, before Voldemort said, "I will help you. All you need to do is bring me Harry Potter."

   Ember didn't react. Beneath all her hate and anger, there was a call in the back of her mind, barely noticeable, and suddenly utterly silenced.

   "Where does your loyalty lay, Ember?"

   "With you, my Lord."

·

   Ember Potter's eyes flung open, rapidly blinking against the blinding moonlight. After what felt like weeks in darkness, even the rays of the half moon shining through the windows had her eyes burning. But quickly she got used to it. Fortunately, because there was no time left to waste.