SALEM ᵈ ᵐᵃˡᶠᵒʸ

ii. Party Crasher

EVERYTHING happened too fast — too quickly for me to comprehend.

A minute's time to realize that there were Death Eaters and for me to take my wand out, then, all of a sudden; Hagrid's yell, a jet of green light, and me hanging onto the handle of the sidecar for dear life as the motorbike rolled over and upright, leaving me in a disoriented and terrified state. Not such a good combination.

Harry was too occupied with his rucksack and Hedwig's cage in both hands to notice a Death Eater pointing a wand his way. Pure instinct washed over me as I raised my wand towards him and yelled, "Stupefy!"

"Keep moving, Hagrid!" I screamed at him over the sounds of fighting and screaming and the harsh wind.

In desperation to move fluidly, I lifted myself a few inches off the seat and maneuvered in a way so that my knees were placed on there instead, and gripped on the handles as tight as I could with sweaty hands. I scanned the air for more Death Eaters surrounding us, telling myself to not look at the seemingly bottomless pit below.

"Margo, what the hell are you doing? Sit back down!" Harry yelled after doing a double-take at my position.

I ignored him just as another Death Eater flew by, then another, and another.

"Stupefy!" I shot.

"Impendimenta!" I shot another.

Spell after spell, I shot at them. Even using my kinisis to block their hits and send them flying to Merlin knows where.

To hell with hiding my powers from them, I thought viciously.

From beside me Harry started to fight back, giving Hagrid time to fly forward with no interruptions.

But then: "Margo, watch out!"

I barely had the time to register Harry's warning before something dark moved on my right and green filled my peripheral vision.

Both of my hands immediately went beside my face as a burst of my power sent the spell rebounding, the same white wisps encircling around my fingers. But the impact was too much. As soon as I had let go of the sidecar, I toppled over the edge dangerously, before letting out a strangled scream as I fell off and into the empty abyss below.

"MARGO!" Harry yelled, his voice mixing with mine as I continued to scream, the reality of it and the gravity pulling at my naval scaring me greatly.

I continued to free-fall, my throat already feeling hoarse as I kept screaming and screaming. I took one glance at the night sky, now streaked with green and red and wondered if anyone knew where I was; what was happening.

Was I going to die like this?

Just as I was about to accept it, the air around me changed, a zoom whooshed past my ears, and an iron grip latched onto my forearm.

I stopped falling; stopped screaming as I jerked to a stop all too suddenly that I could have sworn I heard my shoulder crack. I howled in pain and desperately latched my right hand to the arm that was holding me to ease the burn, until I felt another pair of hands gently hold on to me.

"I got you, I got you!" Remus's voice called out. I almost sobbed in relief. "George help her up!"

Hands fisted the fabric on my shoulder at the same time I hauled myself up the broom, ignoring the pain with gritted teeth. As soon as I was seated in between them, I gulped down air greedily and looked around with wide eyes. I could barely hear what Remus was asking me as blood roared in my ears and my heart thumped violently. Even the pain was starting to feel numb, the adrenaline and shock from falling being the only thing I felt.