"Reinforcements!"
screamed one of the black-robed figures, and there was at once the
crackling sound of dozens
more wizards
apparating into the courtyard. Their positions were swiftly lit by
the jets of light they were casting at Jill, soon joined by more
wizards rising to their feet. Yet though each beam found its mark,
not a single one slowed Jill even for a moment, as she strode
directly towards
Sparrow.
Sparrow had been struggling to move a moment before, but a burst of
adrenaline gave her the panicked strength to scoot backward, in a
desperate effort to escape Jill’s wrath. Back a foot, and another, and
suddenly there were vines wrapped about her arms once more. Sparrow’s
exhausted heart beat wildly in her chest. Beams of light still
striking Jill’s back, the girl raised her hand, flame gathering
about it. Sparrow squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself to be
roasted. There was a bright flash –
The vines slackened and fell off her arms. She looked around. The
entire vegetation about her had been reduced to ash. She looked back at Jill, who was now slowly
kneeling to her, still as unfazed by the curses at her back as a
mountain would stand against the wind. She moved in close, now
face-to-face with Sparrow, now moving closer –
As
she briefly
brushed her lips against Sparrow’s,
Sparrow felt like a fire was coursing through her veins, and her
magical energy was at once restored. "I
don’t – I don’t understand," stammered Sparrow. "You
should be hating me right now. I deceived you. I manipulated you."
When
Jill spoke, it was in a murmur, yet rumbling like the voice of
thunder. "Oh my dear, my little bird. Have you not been here for
me, in spite of all the wild violence I have shown? Should I not
return the favor? I might be as furious with you as anything, but
even so, there is nothing that
can take me from you."
She rose, as unhurried as a mountain, turning to face the storm of
spells, shrugging them off like a high peak that shrugged off the
howling wind, ever unbowed.
A rumble rose in her throat. "There is nothing that can take me
from you," she growled, "not even these scoundrels!"
She drew in a great breath –
and breathed out a great roar of fire, a wide cone that shot towards
the black-robed wizards, raising many screams.
As
the firestorm died away, Sparrow could see many wizards running away
with their robes in flames. The courtyard was now lit up naturally by
all the vegetation aflame. Which was most
of it.
As well as the wooden windowsills,
doorframes, and balconies of the surrounding walls. Some of the
black-robed wizards were frantically casting magic to put out the
flames, but the rest of them, with Phineas at their lead, were still
casting magic at Jill, and this time the beams were all of one color
– green.
Sparrow frantically threw up a magical barrier between them and Jill,
feeling her magic rapidly
draining as she held off what she feared was the worst of all
spells.
"Hold!" shouted a voice. Through the barrier, Sparrow could
see Dolph holding up a limp Wren by one arm, jabbing his wand into
Wren’s throat. "We’ve got your precious
friend," shouted Dolph. "Surrender."
"Lower the barrier," growled Jill.
"They would hit you with the Killing Curse," said Sparrow.
"I can’t –"
"They might hit Wren too," growled Jill. "So we have
to act now. Sword and shield, remember? Let me be the sword. I’ve
got a plan. I should say, we’ve got a plan, which we would
be able to fill you in on more securely if you bothered to answer our
Sending. Why haven’t you been answering?"
"Our?" said Sparrow. "Wait, I’ve been trying to Send
to you! And you weren’t answering!"
"Just lower the barrier," growled Jill. "Do it."
"Are you not going to surrender?" said Dolph. "I must
say, this lass will make a fine addition to our collection –"
"Go," said Sparrow, dismissing the shield
spell with a wave of her hand. In an instant Jill had her wand out
and had cast a pencil-thin line of flame directly
at the upper part of Dolph’s wand, right beyond his grip.
The wand fell to ashes in Dolph’s hand. He yelped, snatching his
hand back and clutching it as if he’d been stung. Wren likewise
yelped, holding their hand over their ear as they stumbled forward,
eyes now wide open. At the far back of the courtyard, a tree that
not yet been scorched now burst into sudden flame, before crumbling to ashes near as fast as
Dolph’s wand. Many who had been near the line that the fire traced
jumped away with cries of fear.
Yet before they could recover, suddenly there was a green light just
behind Phineas, and a pale hand raising a wand – then a screaming
blast of wind that threw everyone down, to reveal Jocasta standing
there, eyes glowing green.
Phineas sprang to his feet, but it was too late – Jocasta had
vanished again, and in the meantime, Wren had managed to stumble
close enough to Jill that she could run out and grab them, hauling
them back to lay at Sparrow’s feet. And then there was a small
thump of air, and Jocasta was kneeling right beside Wren, and
Jill had another wand out, pointing it at the flagstones
of the courtyard. With a great scraping rumble, huge blocks of stone
rose between her and the black-robed wizards, forming a colossal
wall, just as the curses began to fly again.
"They could just apparate to us," said Sparrow. She raised
her shield spell in a dome about her friends. "Bit of an
oversight, with that wand of yours, Jill."
"And the Killing Curse could break your shield spell," said
Jill. "But I’m just buying us time. Turn that shield into a
platform and take us up, we need to get out of here. Unless you want
me to take care of these bozos the quickest way?"
Sparrow shook her head. "Platform it is." She re-shaped her
shield spell into a flat horizontal disc and hopped onto it. "Even
with all that these people have done I’m not going to accept
killing them."
Jocasta frowned at Sparrow, as she lifted Wren onto the disc. "You
do realize this is war, my dear?"
"I’ve already accepted Jill hurting people," said
Sparrow. "That’s the most I can do against my oath tonight.
Come on, let’s get out of here. My family’s escaped, but there
are other people to rescue."
At that moment, there came a crumbling sound from the wall. A beast’s
paw as big as a horse had broken
through it. The paw withdrew, to be replaced by a huge glowing eye,
as big as a Quidditch hoop. As its light nearly blinded Sparrow, a
hideous snarling came through the gap.
Jill gave a rumbling growl in return, and cast her pencil-thin line
of flame straight at the glowing eye. There was a hideous howling.
The glow vanished. "Take us up," said Jill, clambering onto
the disc. "Take us up, now, now, now!"
Sparrow did not need telling twice. She raised her hand, and the disc
rose. Slowly, too slowly, wobbly. Sparrow’s energy had been drained
by reflecting multiple Killing Curses. The platform began to flicker
out of existence. Sparrow was about to cry out a warning, but she
found herself drawn into Jocasta’s arms, and found her lips
captured in a fierce kiss. Energy
flooded back into her like a rushing wind, and her stomach lurched
in the sudden acceleration as the disc shot into the night sky, right
past the snarling creature’s paws as it tried to leap up to catch
its prey. A few curses slammed into the bottom of the disc, but
Sparrow and Jocasta were keeping their lips locked on each other.
Sparrow could barely feel her energy draining with each hit before it
was replaced.
At last the two of them pulled back, catching their breath. "Whoof,"
said Sparrow, "am I that much forgiven, then?"
Jocasta drew her knees up to her chest, backing a bit away from
Sparrow, eyes downcast, breathing heavily. "I don’t know.
Still figuring it out."
Sparrow looked out over the disc. They were sitting high up above the
sleeping city, its streets lit by the silvery moon. Of Diagon Alley,
the Ministry building and its conflagration of fire, there was
nothing to be seen – yet there was a column of smoke rising out of
what seemed to be nowhere. A critical flaw in the street’s
concealment charm, it seemed. Sparrow wondered what Muggle fire
engines of old might have done, if any part of Diagon Alley had gone
up in flames. Run around going mad,
probably. "What I don’t understand," said Sparrow, "is
how you managed to even find me."
"Luck," growled Jill. She shook her head, the glow fading
from her eyes. She slumped. "Timing," she whispered, and
coughed weakly. "You lit up like the sun at the right moment.
Shone right through the concealment charm. Made it dead easy to
target your location."
Jocasta scooted close to Jill. "Hush for a moment, dear, don’t
strain your voice." She wrapped her arms about Jill and kissed
her full on the lips, the two of them going at it for more than a few
seconds. But not quite as many as had been for Jocasta and Sparrow,
for soon enough Jocasta pulled back. "Sorry to leave you in the
lurch, love, I gave most of my energy to Sparrow."
"Best usage," said Jill, and she shrugged. She glanced at
Wren, who was laid out upon the disc. unconscious. "You think
that trick would work on our adorable ginger, here?"
"I’m sure Iphis would kill me
if I tried," said Jocasta.
At the sound of Iphis’ name, Wren’s eyes flew open. They
scrambled to a sitting position, which action put them dangerously
close to the edge of the disc. Jill grabbed them by the collar. "Whoa
there buddy, don’t go leaping after your lover yet. You don’t
even have your cloak."
"Cloak and rings," whispered Wren. "Lost it all. Easily
replaced. But Iphis can’t be. Where – hang on." They closed
their eyes, a line of orange light shining through where their
eyelids met. The light faded and their eyes flew open. "The
entrance to the Ministry?"
"They were supposed to stay up high until I gave them the
go-ahead," said Jill.
"Trying their book-swiping scheme while
they think they have a chance," said Sparrow. "Did you ever
actually finalize the plan?"
Wren shook their head, before once again laying out on the disc and
dropping into sleep.
"Improv it is," said Sparrow. "Let’s get down there,
I’ve got to find my family anyway. And a certain metamorphmagus."
Sparrow directed the disc downward, following the column of smoke
downward, back down past the concealment charm –
– right over the courtyard, out of which immediately shot many thin
jets of light. "Damn," said Sparrow, her concentration on
the shield spell already faltering. "They don’t stay down, do
they?" She directed the disc away from the courtyard, over the
dome of the Ministry building and down towards its entrance.
There stood a small group of people – A middle-aged man and his
wife and a young girl, and a child in the man’s arms. They were
huddled behind a great glowing violet disc that was absorbing many
beams of light. It was Iphis standing before them, holding the shield
for them, as Miranda behind had her back to them, casting gusts of
freezing wind at dark-robed figures in the shadows of an alleyway.
Before Sparrow could bring the disc any lower, Jill had already leapt
off, soon landing in a three-point crouch right before the figures in
the alley. The impact sent everyone stumbling, including Iphis, whose shield
spell faltered – but the figures in the alley had been knocked to
their feet, and with a roar, Jill grabbed one of them and flung them
over Iphis’ head at the unseen foes that had been assailing him.
There was a soft thud, and some quiet groaning, and the sound
of a few pairs of running feet.
Yet it was but a few seconds before jets of light began to pass over
the heads of the small party again. This time when Iphis cast his
shield spell, it quickly began to flicker. Jill let out a rumbling,
echoing growl, and grabbed the other figure she had knocked down,
stomping over to stand right in front of Iphis’ shield and,
absorbing every curse sent her way, flung her next victim straight at the source of the beams of light.
There was another dull thud, and some of the assault let up.
But the rest did not. Jill’s eyes lit up red. She drew in a deep
breath.
Sparrow directed her disc downward, desperately trying to reach the
ground safely and cast a shield in front of the assailants without
risking losing her concentration on her current magic. But just a few
feet from the stones, Jill’s flame roared out, engulfing a great swathe of the block
in flames. All that was of cloth and wood, the awnings, carts,
stalls, windowsills, chairs, all that was not reduced to ash was set
alight, casting a glow over the street, enough for Sparrow to see
more clearly the dark-robed figures.
Well, less dark now, some of their robes were also alight. The flames
cast even more light on those of them that lay upon the stone, and
upon those that were turning and running.
As Sparrow hopped off her disc, she could see Jill standing before
the burning wizards, stock-still. Sparrow tried Sending to her,
hoping that she might be caught off-guard enough to let Sparrow in.
But still nothing happened. All of a sudden she was shouldered
roughly aside by Miranda, who snarled, "Do I have to be the one
doing anything here?" She stomped past Jill and directed her
wand at the flames upon the burning figures, blasting frost all over
them.
As Miranda directed her wand at the remaining fires, Sparrow shook
herself. "Right, We’ve got casualties. Jocasta, go and heal
those poor blighters. Iphis –"
"We need to
move," said Jocasta, looking behind her with an expression of
dread. "We can’t stay here."
"Jocasta, for God’s sake –"
"This is war," said Jocasta.
"When you have to move, you have to move, never mind mercy.
These people knew what they were signing up for. I’m not about to
forgive them for siding with my – with the Carrows."
"Then someone else must forgive them," said Iphis, as he
brushed past Sparrow on his way to where Wren lay. He gathered Wren
in his arms and kissed him hard on the lips. "Someone who has
managed to forgive even me. Wake, pretty bird."
Wren stirred, before spinning out of Iphis’ arms and fairly leaping
to their feet. "Thanks pardner!" They turned to look over
the scene, where Miranda stood with her hand on Jill’s shoulder,
before the burned wizards. "Shucks, that looks like someone got
hurt. Hang on." They dashed over and knelt before the wizards,
casting spells at their charred skin.
"You see," said Sparrow, "even Wren isn’t holding a
grudge."
"That’s because you haven’t told them who those people are,"
said Jocasta.
She turned her head at the sound of Wren’s frustrated
excalamations. Miranda knelt beside them, dripping a glowing purple
potion onto the wounds of the injured, but this was not satisfying
Wren. "This is what I get for having to use a wand I stole!
Jocasta?" They rose slightly and turned to call to Jo. "Help
me out, you’re the master at this, I’m just the humble
apprentice."
But Jocasta was once again looking behind her, now shuddering.
"Please, we really need to –"
"Heal those people," said Sparrow. "That’s an order."
Jocasta turned to give Sparrow a shocked look of betrayal. Then she
narrowed her eyes. "Now you want to be the captain, you
deadbeat –" But her words were
cut off as Jill grabbed her by the arm and threw her towards Wren.
Jocasta glared at Jill, but at last, with another fearful glace up
the street, she produced her wand and directed it towards a quietly
groaning wizard, shrinking their wounds swiftly.
Sparrow moved to her family, who were shying away from where Jill stood, looking around and
startling at small noises. "Mother," said Sparrow, "Father,
everybody, I am so sorry."
Mother’s head whipped around at the sound of her voice, her
expression softening when she saw it was Sparrow. "It was quite
the tantrum," she said. "But you also freed us, and told
us to run. Should I be angry at you for that?"
Lark and Robin were clinging close to their parents, undercutting
Mother’s forgiveness. Sparrow sighed. "I’m sorry for
everything that’s happened. I’m sorry I failed you. I’ve gotten
in over my head with this business – and now you don’t even
remember me."
"Well we clearly don’t remember how you failed us," said
Father, "or if you did at all."
"At the very least," said Sparrow, "you remember the
way out of Diagon Alley. I suppose we ought to escort you –"
"Diagon alley?" said Robin, a smirk on her face. "This place is named
Diagonally? That’s stupid. Who are all these people anyway? Where
did they get wands? How does any of this work?"
"We didn’t even get a chance to know the way into this place,"
said Mother. "People just appeared and pulled us in. It was
horrible, Lark didn’t stop crying until shortly before you
arrived."
In that moment, Sparrow wished, for the first time in her life, and
hopefully the last, that she had not been kissed. She would have
still had only dregs of her magical energy left, and would not have
been in a position to go off bang again, as she could feel rising up
in her now. She closed her eyes, and drew in a deep breath, fighting
desperately to keep her calm. There were no clear enemies here she
could blare her wrath against. She would only be hurting her loved
ones. She had to keep that thought at the forefront, if she were to
be able to hold it together.
And then there was a rumbling growl in the distance behind her.
Sparrow jumped, eyes wide open, whirling around. Out of the far
darkness gleamed two glowing white discs.
From behind her she heard Jocasta’s voice. "I told you we
should be moving! I specifically told you!"
Sparrow’s rising grief was replaced by cold resolve. If there was
one thing she could do right now, it was hold a shield up against a
son of a bitch. "Jill," said Sparrow, turning to
call behind her, "can you get over here? If I use the Magical
Sign Language to cast a barrier, I might need a recharge."
But Jill’s voice came right at her side, startling Sparrow.
"Carrow," she growled. Sparrow turned to see Jill’s eyes
glowing red once more, with flame flicking out of her mouth.
"Carrow."
"Yes yes," said Sparrow, "Dolph turned into a wolf, that much
is clear, though I wonder why he didn’t bother to do it before –"
She yelped as her right earlobe erupted in pain, whirling around to
see Jocasta glaring at her. "Jocasta, of all the times to be
flirtatious!"
But further invective died upon her lips when she registered the fear
in Jocasta’s eyes. The girl linked her arm through Sparrow’s. "Of
all the times to be flippant," she said, "this is
not it, you are far too arrogant with that shield spell of
yours. Everybody inside, now. Jill –"
"The wolf is mine," growled Jill. "I have this chance
to avenge you. I will take it."
"You will not," snapped Jocasta, "because if
you actually have the strength to bring him down, it is only
enough to bring him down with you, which is quite out
of the question because I am not losing you, Sparrow isn’t
losing you, we have completely ignorant muggles to
protect here, and you were the one who wanted to be directing this
operation in the first place, so maybe you can relieve me of the
burden of giving orders and tell us to get the fuck inside."
Jill’s hands clenched, flame bursting from them for a moment. She
let out a long breath that streamed fire into the night. "Fine,"
she growled, turning to the doors. "Everybody in."
With that, Sparrow found herself dragged toward the open doorway, her
family and the rest of her crew close behind, Jill at the rear, still
casting glances back as the glowing orbs drew closer.
And so they made their way into the atrium. Once all were inside,
Jocasta released Sparrow, directing her wand at the great doors to
slam them closed and lay the heavy
bars across. "There," she said, "and now – oh, but
we have a few seconds, why don’t I let our battle captain give us
the game plan we were supposed to have?"
Jill’s fiery appearance had at last faded, though the glare she
gave Jocasta seemed like it could light paper aflame at forty paces.
Her expression softened when she turned to the others. "Split
up," she said. "Wren, Iffy, Miranda, you were going to look
for the books, so get to it, and keep in communication with us.
Joneses, follow them to the library, it’s going to be the farthest
away from any actual fighting. Fighting will be where I and Sparrow
and Jo are, since we’re going to be rescuing people." She looked up at one of the hallways,
which had flashes of light and sounds of battle coming from far down
it. "Thankfully they make it easy to find where things are
happening. You seven stay away from trouble, and us three will be
heading towards it. I’m still looking for a piece of Carrow, so
hopefully he’ll be more interested in our scent trails instead of
yours. Let us know if that isn’t true. Got it?"
The floor shook, and there was the sharp sound of cracking wood, as
something huge slammed against the doors. The line between them
opened a millimeter, letting a bit of gleaming white light through.
"Got it," said Iphis, taking Wren’s hand. "Let’s
be off then. Miranda, you can be in front, Wren and I will take the
rear, Joneses in the middle."
The seven of them were off just as the next impact opened the crack
a bit wider. Sparrow scoffed. "Honestly, what’s the point of
trying to hit the door? The walls are probably
weaker. Or there’s probably other entrances, it’s not like this
building has to conceal its portals like the previous Ministry."
The next impact did not come. The light spilling through the crack in
the doorway vanished.
"Hang on," said Sparrow, "was he listening to me?"
"Big ears," said Jill. "All the better to hear you
with. Let’s be getting a move on." She scooped up Sparrow and
placed her on her shoulders, setting off at a run for the sounds of
battle in the distance.
The pounding of Jill’s feet upon the tile of the hallway would
normally have been loud enough to alert anyone. Were this a normal
day, it would have been the sort of thing where anyone dutifully
avoiding work would have been able to hear the director come along
and quickly make themselves look busy. But all other sounds were
obscured by the echoes of the distant battle now, the screams and
wails and crashes and booms. Awfully convenient. Clearly the
conspirators, whoever they were, had managed to infiltrate and
incapacitate the Ministry by stealth – but they
had not anticipated resistance being loud and fierce.
Jill rounded a corner. The first thing Sparrow saw was a jet of light
flying right over her head. She dropped off Jill’s shoulders,
throwing up a translucent golden barrier across the width of the
hallway. Through it she could just see many dark-robed figures.
"Greetings chums," she said. "Might I suggest you drop
your wands, or my dear Jill will incinerate them one by one."
For a moment, the figures were still and silent. Then they leveled
their wands at Sparrow, and, as one, cast jets of green light straight at her. Sparrow felt her
magical energy rush out of her in an instant – and for an instant,
the barrier held. Just long enough for Sparrow to
fall to the floor, as the last jet of light shattered the barrier and
flew through the space where her torso had been.
As she lay there on the tile, she saw a green glow appear out of the
air, and a sudden howling wind rolled her over, as many yelps and
cries of surprise were followed by dull thuds.
Sparrow hauled herself to her feet to see Jocasta standing there, the
green glow all about her, standing before many groaning figures that
had been heaped up against a nearly ceiling-high pile of rubble. In a
moment the green glow was drowned by many red flashes as Jocasta
stunned the
heaped figures one by one, though many of the stunning spells were
coming down from the narrow spaces between the rubble and the
ceiling.
A single figure dropped down from the rubble. "How about that,"
they said, "I thought it was only Jill and Sparrow who had the
raw power."
"I find fewer occasions or provocations to employ mine,"
panted Jocasta. "As for you, Mina, you’ve clearly been
holding a lot of things in reserve."
Jill flicked her wand, casting a little glow at its end. In the
light, Sparrow could at last see that the figure standing before them
had one distinguishing feature: their rainbow irises. Mina shrugged.
"If I’m infiltrating a conspiracy I can’t ever tell everyone
everything. Thanks for rescuing us, though, I overestimated my
ability to help the resistance here."
"Don’t sell yourself short." Another figure slid and
skidded down the rubble to stand beside Mina. A woman of her mid-thirties, it seemed, with reddish hair cut
in a neat bob, and sharp features whose severity was undercut by kind
eyes. "You were doing most of the work to hold off these people,
we wouldn’t have been able to stand without you." Up at the
gap, a few more people voiced their agreement.
Sparrow almost thought she could see Mina growing a centimeter
taller, as she smiled faintly. But the metamorph was going to have to
be taken down a size. Sparrow staggered up to her. "And what
exactly was your plan, here? Did you think you could take
these people down quickly and then rescue me?"
Mina shook her head. "Oh no, no, the idea was that Jill would
arrive and see you hogtied and then go completely bonkers and roast
all the heads of this conspiracy at once. I figured after that fiery
outburst upon the walkway, she’d be perfect for getting rid of
multiple people at a stroke. How many did you get, Jill? Are there any
left?"
Once again Jill’s eyes glowed red, and once again flames licked out
of her mouth. "Depending on how much you have been spying upon
our crew," she growled, "you may have been able to pick up
on how delicate that subject is for me."
"I mean," said Wilhelmina, looking nervous, "It’s
not like I actually pry too much, I mostly just keep an ear out –"
"I have been trying to keep myself in check this
evening." The flames out of Jill’s mouth burned briefly
brighter on her stressed words. "But it has not been easy.
I could have simply reduced everyone to ash. But for the sake
of my loved ones, for the sake of my sanity, I had to hold back. Even
then I might have killed, without the intervention of others. I am
still holding myself back now. Or trying." Her fists clenched.
"And you joke about taking lives?"
Mina backed up a few steps. "It’s a soldier’s black comedy.
We are talking about war here."
"Then whose side are you on?" Flame played
over Jill’s fists as she took a step forward. "What the hell
do you think you’re playing at?"
As Mina backed up a few more steps, Jocasta hauled Sparrow into her
arms and kissed her hard, swiftly restoring Sparrow’s magic.
Sparrow spun out of Jocasta’s embrace and ran to stand between Mina
and Jill. "Enough recrimination," she said. "This
hulabaloo isn’t over yet. We still have to find everyone that was
transfigured, swipe some books, find Wren’s belongings, and get my
family out of Diagon Alley. The last
people we need to fight is each other."
The glow from Jill’s eyes faded, as did her flames. "You do
realize," she murmured, "that you are one of the only two
people in this world who could possibly stop me from burning this
woman to ash right now."
"And I shall play my power to the hilt," said Sparrow. "We
do not need any more injury this evening."
"Wait," said Mina. "Books?"
"Shouldn’t be a heavily guarded part of the Ministry,"
said the redheaded woman. "There’s a door and a lock and a
librarian, but –"
"But nothing," said Mina. "That’s the most
heavily guarded part of this entire operation. You sent your friends
there?"
Sparrow felt suddenly cold. "My friends and my family. Everyone
we wanted to keep out of the way."
"Bringing them back," said Jill. "One moment."
Her eyes flashed red. In the next moment she bore an exasperated
scowl. "So much for me being in charge of this operation,
Miranda just said they’re going to try to get past the security
anyway."
From somewhere down long corridors came the faint howl of a wolf.
"To the library then," said Jocasta, "and let us hope
that there is only a small amount of extra injury this evening."
There was a small thump of air as she vanished.
"There will be a lot more of it if I get my hands on Carrow,"
growled Jill. She scooped Sparrow into her arms and set off at a run.