Healed & Broken (HP) {Book 4 of the Wild & Free Series}

17. Flight of the Prince

I felt as though I too was hurtling through space; it had not happened... It could not have happened...

"Out of here, quickly," said Snape.

He seized Malfoy by the scruff of the neck and forced him through the door ahead of the rest; Greyback and the squat brother and sister followed, the latter both panting excitedly. As they vanished through the door, I realised I could move again. What was now holding Harry and me paralysed against the wall was not magic, but horror and shock. We threw the Invisibility Cloak aside as the brutal-faced Death Eater, last to leave the tower top, was disappearing through the door.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The Death Eater buckled as though hit in the back with something solid and fell to the ground, rigid as a waxwork, but he had barely hit the floor when Harry and I were clambering over him and running down the darkened staircase.

Terror tore at my heart... We had to get to Dumbledore and we had to catch Snape... Somehow the two things were linked... We could reverse what had happened if we had them both together... Dumbledore could not have died...

We leapt the last ten steps of the spiral staircase and stopped where we landed, our wands raised: The dimly lit corridor was full of dust; half the ceiling seemed to have fallen in; and a battle was raging before us, but even as we attempted to make out who was fighting whom, we heard the hated voice shout, "It's over, time to go!" and saw Snape disappearing around the corner at the far end of the corridor; he and Malfoy seemed to have forced their way through the fight unscathed.

As Harry and I plunged after them, one of the fighters detached themselves from the fray and flew at him: It was the werewolf, Fenrir. He was on top of Harry and me before we could raise our wands: we fell backward, with filthy matted hair in our faces, the stench of sweat and blood filling our noses and mouths, hot greedy breath at our throats —

"Petrificus Totalus!"

I felt Fenrir collapse against us; with a stupendous effort we pushed the werewolf off and onto the floor as a jet of green light came flying toward us; we ducked and ran, headfirst, into the fight. Our feet met something squashy and slippery on the floor and we stumbled: There were two bodies lying there, lying facedown in a pool of blood, but there was no time to investigate. We now saw red hair flying like flames in front of us: Ginny was locked in combat with the lumpy Death Eater, Amycus, who was throwing hex after hex at her while she dodged them: Amycus was giggling, enjoying the sport: "Crucio — Crucio — you can't dance forever, pretty —"

"Impedimenta!" yelled Harry and I.

Our jinxes hit Amycus in the chest: He gave a piglike squeal of pain, was lifted off his feet and slammed into the opposite wall, slid down it, and fell out of sight behind Ron, Rowan, Professor McGonagall, and Lupin, each of whom was battling a separate Death Eater. Beyond them, I saw Tonks fighting an enormous blond wizard who was sending curses flying in all directions, so that they ricocheted off the walls around them, cracking stone, shattering the nearest window —

"Harry, Liana, where did you come from?" Ginny cried, but there was no time to answer her. We put our heads down and sprinted forward, narrowly avoiding a blast that erupted over our heads, showering us all in bits of wall. Snape must not escape, we must catch up with Snape —

"Take that!" shouted Professor McGonagall, and I glimpsed the female Death Eater, Alecto, sprinting away down the corridor with her arms over her head, her brother right behind her. We launched ourselves after them but our feet caught on something, and next moment we were lying across someone's legs. Looking around, we saw Neville's pale, round face flat against the floor.