The Lion and the Eagle |Neville Longbottom|

27. Pulled Into the Past

(Jenelle's POV)

Once I was back on the regular suffering schedule, everyone seemed to like me again. Bree and Ember were still the only two who talked to me, the rest talked amongst themselves.

There were no clocks or calendars to measure the true amount of time we had been here. All I knew was that if I kept on, some day, Aurors would come. They would bust any Death Eaters they could get their hands on and free those who were imprisoned. The true number of captives I couldn't begin to guess. This was just the women/girl section of the prison, the opposite gender was someplace else.

I sat against the bars of the cage door, scratching my nails against it unenthusiastically. Though I had never been to Azkaban, I was sure that prison was worse than here. I had done nothing wrong, as had none of the women here along with me. We were simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"It almost feels like Voldemort never died," I said glumly to no one in particular. "If he had gotten his way, he would have Death Eaters running prisons like this."

"Should that make us feel better?" asked Ember.

"Obviously not," chirped Bree. "Though V-Voldemort is dead, the idea of him, what he stood for...they feel strength in numbers, even with his absence. They must feel that if they keep this going, it somehow honors his memory. It's disgusting, really."

Just hope you never have to get your hands dirty, either of you. Murder effected people in different ways. Some could never bring themselves to think it. Others...others could do it without so much as giving a care.

~*~

The idea of wishing someone dead was not in my nature. But tonight it sure felt like it had always been there, deep down. It took the perfect storm to make it rise to the surface.

Penelope and I fought side by side among other students and professors, fending off the giant spiders who trampled along the courtyard grounds. The grounds shook from giants' footsteps pounding the earth. Spellfire was rapid in the air, it only took a second of lost focus to snuff out your life.

The creatures were bodies of darkness accompanied by eight hairy legs. Their pinchers clicked together, their bodies crouched to the ground as they charged. Penelope and I had nearly been run over a few times. We'd nearly hurt a few fellow students as well amidst the chaos. It was hard at times to separate friend from foe, it was all so messy.

"They can't destroy this school!" Penelope hissed under her breath. This was her mantra from the time Voldemort had taken down our defenses and let his forces unleash hell on earth. "They can't destroy this school!" Her bright green eyes were alight with fury and wet tears. At times I was afraid she would spew out an Unforgivable Curse or two.

We'd already lost one friend to this battle – Hannah. Our other friend, Cassie, was somewhere in this chaos. Right now, it was Penelope and I together, throwing out spells as our lives fully depended on it.

Penelope gave me a hard shove out of the way as a giant spider came thundering towards us. The creature did not get to my blonde-haired friend, so she was able to strike a spell at it.

It seemed that for every spider we struck down, more came into the fight. At times, Penelope and I stood back-to-back, pulling each other away from big pinchers coming for our necks or big, furry bodies barreling our way in the hopes of trampling us.

A spider separated Penelope and I, and the seconds apart disoriented me. I lost sight of her blonde curls amidst the spellfire, the darkness, and all the creatures running around in the chaotic war on school grounds.

When I found Penelope again, I started for her. I stopped abruptly, cowering, shielding my eyes from the blast of green light that invaded my vision. Once the light disappeared, I stood straight. My lips parted in a soundless scream as Penelope dropped in the courtyard, unmoving. Through tearful eyes, I screamed every spell at the top of my lungs as spiders sensed fresh meat nearby. When I couldn't cast spells at them, I actually kicked at a few of them. I used my wand to poke them in their big, beady eyes.

When the last of the spiders realized there were easier targets to seek out, I scoured the battlefield. I'd seen the general direction the Killing Curse had come from. Had Penelope seen it coming?

In the brief lull that I had, my eyes landed on a familiar pair of grey eyes, clad in black Death Eater robes, smirking at me devilishly. Brian...

Even when we were apart, he was still inflicting pain. I was prepared to duel him, to show him that I wasn't going to be bullied. Not this time around. I learned my lesson with our falling out.

Movement out of the corner of my eye sent me shooting spells again—a few more spiders tried to sneak Penelope away from me. By the time the wave was through, Brian was nowhere to be found. I wasn't sure if I wanted to find him. Could I handle the confrontation?

For all that he's done...I will find him.

~*~

I had faced Brian one more time before the battle had ended. If it hadn't been for other students intervening, I would've been another death on Hogwarts grounds.

With everything that had happened in the recent months, I hadn't thought about Penelope, Hannah, or even Cassie. They had all perished that god awful night, in some form or another at Voldemort's hands.

Be thankful none of you are alive to see this or be in it. I wouldn't wish this on you.

"Jenelle?" came Bree's quiet tone.

I wiped any wetness from my face. "Got pulled into my own mind for a while."

"We gathered that," said Ember. "You don't need to say."

I'd rather not anyway. It's not for Bree's ears, and I doubt Ember could ever understand. But I wasn't entirely sure about either of those things. For all I knew, Bree and Ember had been around at Hogwarts when I had attended. In the sea of faces, I would've never been able to pick them out of a lineup.

Everyone had their own horror stories. Survivor stories. Good ones, bad ones. And barely enough time to tell them all.

My eyes cast to the cold ground. When a shadow appeared, I picked my head up. I sucked in a breath.

Liam was back. He didn't seem to hide the fact that someone had sought him out and beat him within an inch of his life. Though, time had tried to help his face heal. There was still some work to do on that.

I didn't need to ask whose doing that was. My gut told me.

"Let's see if you can keep the streak going," he told me gruffly.

"I'm not going."

"I think you're forgetting the part where you have no choice in this. One way or another, you're going out for your turn. You were picked. It's mandatory. No substitutions."

The door opened, and I fell out of the cell, as I had been using it as support. Liam hoisted me up roughly, quickly getting the door shut. He led me out of the area, down the slightly familiar path underground.

Time to go around again. Come on, Aurors, what are you waiting on? The Death Eaters have to slip up somewhere. Come find us. Please.