⚠️WARNING: injury detail and gore⚠️

The hallways were empty, almost untouched. I glide down them keeping my ears trained and my eyes sharp.

God knows how many death eaters there were here, and they could come at any moment the events of the courtyard still fresh. Cho's dead eyes seared into my brain and resurfacing every time I blinked.

I turned right, eyes trained forward when I halt, a pair of shoes coming into focus.

Fae.

"you know. I have been waiting for fucking ages. Turns out you take your time getting places, some things don't change."

I tense my fists, watching her tap her wand against her lip, her stance ready. Goading.

"You know ive been waiting for fucking ages for you to backstab me, turns out you really do take being a Slytherin seriously, just because our guidance animal is a snake....doesnt mean you need to take it so literal." I hiss.

She scoffs, turning her head to the room beside her and motions.

"I am gonna kill you. But that can wait, I have a visitor that has been pining for you. Begging for you. It's sad really...Pleading for you actually"

My heart leaps and my legs push me forward.

Draco.

Please don't be dead. Please be okay. Please be alive. Please don't be dead.

I follow Fae, my mind screaming at me for following someone who just promised to kill me, but the images of red soaked blonde kept pushing into my thoughts. Cho's dead face shifting into Draco.

Fae walks into the room, and I follow soon after. Her walking briskly to the front of the room as I round into the doorway. My breath catching as I see the person. My thoughts of who it was minuscule to who actually lay there.

"Mum?!" I shout, stepping forward but feeling a ward stop me, a glass sheet stuck between me and my mum. Fae beside her smiling.

She was suspended on a wooden cross, each arm secured by a large nail while her feet were secured with one long pole. Blood leaching down and dripping about the floor, her eyes closed and hair hung forward.

"you know." Began Fae, "There is just something so poetic about the whole Jesus and death story, don't you think? Humans hate magic so much yet they believe that the prick came back to life? Cause God decided too? He could have just made people good. But that makes life so much easier." She sighed. Turning to my mum.

"How long have you been with Draco?" She asks. Her eyes snapping to me.

"And before you say you arent, I caught you both. And Draco talks in his sleep. Something about not wanting you dead cause of him. Sweet really. But shit if Voldemort finds out."

I snap my eyes back up to my mum focusing my eyes on her chest. Breathing.

"Since after the Slytherin party in Sixth year. Just kinda grew I guess..."

"Do you love him?" She asks again, leaning against the cross and twiddling her wand between her fingers.

"Yeah I do. Lucas was great. He just wasn't meant to be, he was a childhood romance. Nothing more. And he knows that....he knew that"

"He loved you so fucking much and you dropped him when you got bored, and then when you see us trying things out. You had a fit and suddenly hes dead." Fae spat out, the feelings clearly bubbling out after long being held in.

"And then. You act smart, and then Sarah's dies. Thanks to YOU. And your stupidity."

I bark back this time. Sarah will not come out of her mouth.

"You killed Sarah you bitch. You redirected the curse and it hit her, and you knew it would. Let my mum go. I'm here now, you can do whatever to me. Just let her go" I bark. Taking a step forward but being blocked by the ward again.

Fae walks around the cross, watching my mum before locking me in the eyes.

"No thank you Ophelia. She is a loose end, and loose ends need to cut."

And she turns in a second, blasting a sectumsempra and watching as my mum screams as the slashes open up. Blood pouring out of her like a tap, turned full force as it hits the ground spraying up and landing on my shoes.

I don't recognise my own scream as it ripped around the room like a animal dying animal until my lungs forced me to inhale, the breath coming in as a staggered hiccup as Fae laughs.

She fucking laughs.

"I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna rip your throat out- I'm gonna gouge out your eyes. I'm gonna-" I breath rapidly, the fifty ways of killing her tumbling into my brain like a fountain of water.

Fae laughs again, waving her wand and collapsing the ward. "Come get me then bitch."

I always read stories or watched documentaries about people who just "snap." Their family home and bright upbringing meant nothing when the strand in their brain went ping, and their peripheral vision went red.

I always watched stories of the family man who strangled his wife. Or the deranged wife who killed her new fiancé because he slurped his soup.

The stories are partially correct. You do see red, and you do feel every strand of your brain snap. But they don't tell you, that when one snaps a new brain cell takes it place. It slots right into the place of the old one, electrifying your nerves as it grabs the reins.

They don't tell you about the jolt of energy that travels through you. They don't tell you about the fact that in some circumstances: you simply cannot control your actions. You are categorically unable to choose what your next move is, because your primal instinct has already decided and has in fact propelled you forward and so before your brain even catches up. The deed is done.

They don't tell you, that having a perfect upbringing and amazing parents. Can mean jack shit when one dies and those left are stuck in a war.

They don't tell you, that sometimes...just sometimes. You decide to snap. That when asked what pill to take: green or blue. Or what path to take. You choose the hard one because fuck it. Things are so much more fun.

I spring forward, shouting a spell so fast before firing another. Breathing halted. Brain focused.

She deflects both with ease, firing some back and dancing around. Laughs echoing around the hall as she plays Cat and mouse.

I almost laugh at the thought, that she sees herself as the cat.

We cast spells back and forth, ducking and dodging each other. The anger erupting with each one. Nobody backing down.

Fae dips behind the cross that still bare my mum, peeking out from behind only to hide again barely missing a reducto I had shot. Sucking in my breath as I jump out the way of her crucio.

I blast a second reducto towards her and she catches it with her wand, deflecting the spell up into the ceiling, shards of stone and metal cascading down on us.

"You know. I always thought we would be best friends Ophelia. Ride or die. Ya know? And then your dad became a prick and royally screwed us over. And suddenly you don't seen so perfect, suddenly you seem like such an annoyance. Such a bother. I'm sure Draco would forget you after he had a taste of me."

I scream, shooting a ray of spells towards her, Fae dodging the first two and then firing backwards into the wall, her scream evident as she goes.

I throw my wand and race after her, hearing it clatter on the ground as my vision is engulfed in red.

She lies slumped on her back, wind knocked out of her as she lifts her head up.

But I'm quicker, and I pounce on her, landing on her stomach as I lay fists into her face.

"you worthless- punch – disgusting piece of – punch – nothing. I'm going to make sure that – punch- you never ever forget – punch- this moment"

Her head snaps from side to side, blood splattering from her mouth onto the floor, her teeth stained red as I pummel her face. Breathing eratic.

She pulls up her hand and scratches at my face, cutting the side of my eye as I shove her hand away, giving her an open as she bucks me off her, rolling us until she is on top, her hands now laying into my face, her eyes wild.

"I'm worthless?! ME? – punch- you're a slytherin that cant even -punch – do – punch- magic.

I reach my hands up and pull at her hair, kicking my legs out as blood trickles into my eye making it hard to see, pulling at the strands of hair that had fallen out her braid.

"You were also a third wheel for us Fae. Replaceable" I Seethe. And she screams out, locking eyes with her wand across from her.

She scrambles up off me and kicks me hard, turning to grab her wand but I'm too quick and latch onto her foot watching her tumble forward as I use her weight to pull myself onto her, lungs on fire as my already broken ribs press in on each other.

I scramble to a stand and kick her back, forceful and angry. Sneering when I hear a crack at her side, her scream gargling as she covers herself.

Not so brave now.

I run and grab her wand, coming back with it in mer seconds, using it to send her flying across the room the wand angry at its enemy using it.

She flies and hits the wall hard, my footsteps thumping in time with my heartbeat as I stride forward. Watching her catch her bearings. Blood oozing out her head.

I lean towards her and look her in the eye, taking her wand in both my hands and snap it. The splintering heard around the entire school as I throw it away. Her eyes widening and then she screams, reaching into her side pocket and pulls out a dagger, lunging forward and slicing the blade cutting my shoulder as I fall back.

"You bitch. You little bitch. I'm gonna slit your throat and show Draco how fucking dirty your blood is."

She races forward, my mind running one hundred miles an hour as she climbs onto my legs, holding them down as she plunges the blade into my side, the screaming cracking my throat as I feel the blood warm up my side.

"I'm gonna watch you die, bleed out. Like your mum. I'm gonna watch the life leave your eyes and them in going to use your fucking hair for a scarf!"

She moves up to my chest, pressing down on my lungs as I scream out a breathless cry, my lungs shuddering as I push my hands against her chest, feeling her push back, anger exploding around us.

My hands scramble to hold her hand back as she rears the blade in her hand and pushes it against my chest, my legs convulsing out trying to get her off.

I scream and wriggle, pushing with all my might as she pushes harder and harder, feeling the tip touch my skin and sting it, the ink blotched injury from earlier bringing to reopen and bleed. Like adding salt to a wound.

I look at her, eyes blown out of her face, hair a mess and her lips cracked.

Just survive. Somehow.

I turn to my left and right, reaching my hand out and scrapping the floor for something. A wand. A pole. A rock.

A rock.

My hand clutches it and I heave it across the side of Fae's head with so much force I feel my hand bruise instantly, her body flying to the side and rolling a few paces.

In that moment. In that exact moment. I make a decision. I make a choice. I allow my brain to let go, the final snap pinging around my head as I turned on my hands and knees, pinning the blade in my palm as I wrap my fingers around it.

In that moment. I decide. I decide to live. To survive. By any means needed, by any choice made. I was going to live. Breathe.

I scream. Rearing the blade above Fae. Looking her dead in the eye.

"This is for fucking Sarah. You bitch"

And I plunge the knife into her chest, feeling the pop as it enters her body. Air expelling out of the wound as I pull it out of her and stab her again, blood spurting everywhere as she breathes. Gargling and eyes rolling.

I remove the knife a third time, rearing with speed as I plunge again. And again. And again. And again. My hands getting covered in blood as I scream and cry. Throwing insults at her. Her eyes hallow and open. The holes in her chest bubble and spill blood. My hand slipping down the dagger onto the blade cutting my hand, readjusting and then throwing the knife far away hearing it clatter somewhere as I clamber off her and stand. Blood drenched from my chest down. Heaving.

I stumble a few paces forward, retching as I try to wipe some of the blood off my hands.

Fae lies a few meters away. Her body lying in an awkward angle, hair covered her face. But her eyes can still be seen through the trails of hair. Ghostly. Dead. Murdered

This is just like my dream. Fae dead and my hands covered in blood. Murdered.

But the dream was different. In the dream I felt guilt. I felt like a different person.

But now I felt complete. No guilt. No sorrow.

"Ophelia!" I glance up. Seeing Draco race into the room and then halt catching the state.

Mum on the cross. Fae dead behind me. Me covered in blood.

"Draco. She- she killed my mum and then I just. I had too. She attacked me and then- a blade. A knife. She was gonna....

I don't regret it"

I say finally. Regaining my thoughts and then straightening up.

Draco stands and looks. Locking eyes with each object.

"Let's get you out of here first okay. Then we can talk"

I nod slowly. Stepping towards him before screaming in pain. My head exploding as the voice ruptured my ear drums.

"You have all fought triumphantly. You have all fought with courage in your hearts.

But Harry Potter I speak only to you. Come to me in the forbidden forest. And I shall spare the lives of those that fight with you. Come to me now, and we will let you all live. You have until midnight. Gather your dead, mourn the loss of your lives."

The voice leaves our heads as if it was sucked out a tube, ringing in my ears as I watch Draco straighten back up, hand clapped to his temple.

My body suddenly feels heavy. The injuries of the last few hours blowing forward.

Broken ribs. Slice on my chest. Burns. Bruises. And then the stab wound in my side.

I stagger and falter. Draco grabbing my elbow to steady me.

"Ophelia your side. What the fuck-" he stops talking and gulps. Grabbing me and moving me forward.

"Let's go get you healed. And then we can talk"

I nod. Walking forward with Draco and then dipping down quickly to pick up the blood soaked knife.

A trophy. A reminder. My own cross to bare on my side.