The Death Eaters had finally broken through the barricades and were storming the castle. The Battle for Hogwarts wasn't beginning, it was already there.
Marianne couldn't hear the chaos several floors below for she was in the Gryffindor dormitories, tearing it apart desperately to find her wand to protect herself. Bright red bed sheets curled on the floor, drawers were flung from their dressers, and trunk contents littered the ground, but she couldn't find it. She would have been the first to admit that she was no fighter - her Defence Against the Dark Arts grade was abysmal - but she couldn't be a sitting duck either.
No. Not couldn't. Wouldn't.
Marianne's shoulders strained under the weight of her sudden self-realization. Her fingers loosened on the clothes she was rummaging through.
Come on, urged that hidden part of herself, your brother can't always be there for you. Let go of his hand. You have to.
The last time she'd seen him he was sleeping on one of the sofas in the Gryffindor common room, but that might've been a couple hours ago. He was long gone. She could have searched the common room an endless amount of times, but Ormond wasn't likely to be there, not when their school was under attack. She knew her brother well, he would've thrown himself headlong into battle. Did he know she was still here in the castle? Would he come back for her? Unless he was already de - no! She shook her head, refusing entry of that horrible thought into her mind. It still remained, however. It's dark, looming presence hovered out of sight but not out of mind.
Marianne couldn't stay in the Gryffindor common room anymore. The merry fire crackling to an entirely empty room was a haunting image that suffocated her. Fear caused by waiting alone with no news was too overwhelming, she had to find Ormond. They would leave together or not at all.
Slipping out of the Fat Lady's portrait, Marianne crept in the shadows. The upper floors of the castle seemed to be deserted as she ran into no one. That still didn't mean that she was going to walk out in the open. Everytime she met a corner, she peeked around it ever so cautiously.
When she got to the fifth floor, a gigantic boom outside the castle rattled the windows around her. She threw herself onto the ground, fearing the windows would explode into shards, but they held.
When Marianne got down to the fourth floor, she had to stop when she realized that with every step she was getting closer and closer to danger. Fear seared her veins so bitingly that it sent cold waves through her body; so much that she was afraid of solidifying with the stone floor. She wrapped her arms around her middle and huddled into a ball to stop the sensation, but it was the type of chill buried so deep within that it was impossible to warm. She had never known this breed of debilitating fear, the kind that kept one back on Earth no matter how much they willed the world to momentarily disappear. People were going to die tonight. People were going to die and nobody could save them all. There was no hope to begin with.
Bright, flickering torches lit the corridor walls at intervals. Shadows danced wickedly on the familiar walls, giving them a foreboding effect, as if they knew the horror happening down below and had sided with the Death Eaters. Marianne straightened. The idea repulsed her, she could not allow it. She would vow to keep Hogwarts hers.
Despite risking vulnerability by being out in the open, Marianne cautiously set to work and extinguished all but two torches, each on opposite ends of the hall - the only exits. Now she would be able to see anyone before they saw her. Innocent students were not going to die in her territory tonight. They would have to get through Marianne Agnes Wilford first.
She dragged two wooden tables out from one classroom, and then closed every door within the corridor. Taking the tables mid-way into the hall, into the darkness, she set them jutting out from the wall in a triangular shape so that she would hide between them and be protected from both sides. This was to be her look-out post. It was crude - two-inch thick wooden tables were little in ways of protection - but it was still a barrier and a better option than standing out in the open. The one on her left even had a handy peep-hole to keep watch on the western entrance without having to expose part of her head.
The makeshift fort was almost complete. She approached one of the suits of armour lining the walls and began to dismantle it, collecting the larger plates, the shield, and anything else of use. She could never wear them, the armour would have swallowed her whole, but the pieces were useful as blunt instruments in case of attack. In the absence of a wand, this was all she could improvise. Careful not to make the metallic ends clatter, she set them down gently into her hide-out and then sat down with her back against the wood, keeping the shield especially close.
Waiting was agonizing. The surrounding quiet was so stifling that Marianne couldn't get rid of the feeling of cotton in her ears, and it made her afraid that she'd miss the tiniest sound from being too accustomed to silence. The loneliness of sitting there allowed thoughts into her head. Terrible timing it was, for Marianne wanted no distractions, but when faced with the possibility that she may not survive the night, images barged in uninvited. She could see her lifeless body underneath a white sheet, lying on the dining room table in her home. She could see it so clearly within her mind that it almost seemed like a premonition. She shifted uneasily but curled her fingers tighter on the knight's shield.
Earlier that evening she had missed the school's evacuation of the younger students even though she was standing in the Great Hall during You-Know-Who's chilling speech. With her limited experience in dueling and Defence, Marianne knew she was a liability and thus had no choice but to evacuate, whether or not she chose or be allowed to stay and fight - which she didn't even have time to ponder. House alliances were long forgotten, prefects herded as many children as they could.
Marianne was in line when she noticed that she couldn't see Ormond anywhere. Not willing to leave without knowing, she left the line and craned her head. She remembered seeing him sleeping in the common room a while ago. Scared that he was still there, she left the Great Hall and bounded up the stairs. Nobody stopped her.
Once she reached the Gryffindor common room, it was empty, and she chastised herself for being so stupid to leave the Great Hall. A echoing boom thundered from outside. Marianne ran to the window and could see Voldemort's army awaiting them. She needed her wand to protect herself, but it was nowhere to be found.
Hurried footsteps shuffled from the corridor's eastern entrance. They were coming fast. Marianne didn't have time to get into the right state of mind, she quickly ducked and crouched on the balls of her feet like she was about to spring. Risking a peek, she leaned to the side of the wooden table and watched. The footsteps stopped. A hand holding a mirror appeared from around the corner and turned at an angle several times. It then retreated and disappeared.
"Somebody snuffed out the torches," somebody whispered. "Could be an ambush."
There was a drawn out pause. Then the voice spoke again. "Ready your wand."
Another voice - female this time - answered fretfully, "Be careful."
A stout boy, most likely a sixth or seventh year, peeked around the corner. He edged cautiously into the corridor and kept to the wall, squinting and trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness inbetween the lights.
He raised his wand to the torch above him and whispered, "Aguamen-"
"Stop!" Marianne commanded. She needed that torch.
The stout boy stopped dead in his tracks and raised his hands in surrender. "Whoa, whoa, easy," he said quickly.
Marianne had to squint to see him better. He was wearing a set of Hogwarts robes. True to how she predicted, she could see him but he couldn't see her.
"State your name," she said forcefully, leveling her voice to make herself seem bigger than she really was.
"Ernie Macmillan, Hufflepuff prefect," he answered in an official tone. "Who are you?"
Marianne remembered him from the library a couple days prior, he had spoken to her. He knew where her loyalty stood. She emerged slowly from her hiding spot, holding the knight's shield protectively just in case the boy was a Death Eater in disguise. To Ernie it looked as though she had materialized out of thin air.
"Oh, it's only you," he sighed, and lowered his hands. He then motioned around the corner. "Hannah, it's okay."
Marianne's spirit sank. She knew she wasn't one to be taken seriously, but Ernie's instant lowering of his guard didn't do much for her already fragile confidence in upholding her speck of territory. A blond girl emerged from the corner, wand poised as she pivoted quickly to view the ceiling, then her surroundings.
"The ghosts have been making themselves useful as well?" she asked Marianne urgently.
Was Marianne supposed to know? "I - I haven't seen any, if that's what you mean," she said, her speech slipping back into habit, "I just came down from Gryffindor tower."
"Well, if you do see them, tell them that we appreciate any help," said Ernie.
Evident by their tone, Marianne was better suited to a messenger who stayed out of sight. She wasn't supposed to be part of this battle, it was true, but their writing off of her effort so far was deflating her pride.
"Is it safe down there?" asked Ernie, pointing past the darkness.
"Yes," said Marianne, "I've been here for a while. I heard nothing."
"Good. Keep down the fort here," instructed Ernie. "Come on, Hannah."
The pair ran down the end of the hallway and disappeared around another corner, leaving Marianne all alone again. She ducked back into her hiding place, running the Hufflepuff's words over and over in her head.
Seconds stretched into long minutes. Marianne wouldn't change her position with her knees tucked up to her chin. She felt that any physical movement was a distraction she couldn't afford.
Fifteen long minutes had gone by since Ernie and Hannah's departure when footsteps padded in the lit western end of the hallway. Marianne started and raised herself to her knees to look through the peep-hole. Illuminated under a torch, two Death-Eaters skulked into view, their skull masks discarded for better visibility. Marianne sat back down, rested her head against the board and closed her eyes for one contemplative second to gather her courage. In her heart was a stirring, an awakening. She'd never known a time when she'd felt so afraid, so vulnerable, so alone...so alive. For this is what it truly meant to be so. Her senses were hyper-aware; she could taste the air, touch the sound of the incoming footsteps, smell impending doom.
She lowered her chin to rest on her chest. This wasn't supposed to be how it ended, she thought. She was only thirteen, this was suicide.
You're counting yourself out too soon, Imagined Ormond's encouragment somehow broke through her loud thoughts.
Marianne nodded, trying to picture the actual Ormond standing before her and saying those words. When the timing was just right, she clenched her jaw and swung the shield upwards mightily, clanging the closest Death Eater right in the face.
"AAAUUUGGH!"
In unison with the Death Eater's yelp of pain, Marianne's cry tore through her throat as she leaped from her hiding place and swung her plates of armor like a mad wind-mill. Her outburst accelerated her limbs, giving adrenaline-fueled power to her movement and strength. She twisted her body to wind up for another hit which smacked dead-on with the second Death-Eater's ear, sending them careening sideways. Marianne didn't wait, she immediately tossed a plate into the second Death Eater's mid-section, who was stunned for a split second, but that was all Marianne needed.
"Oof!" cried the second Death Eater (audibly male). He dropped his wand in mid-rise and doubled over.
The Death Eater whom Marianne attacked first had already righted himself. "What the hell?!" he roared, squinting in the darkness to find who ambushed them. Without waiting for his eyes to adjust in the dark to search for the threat, he raised his wand and pointed it back and forth, unsure who was who. "Rookwood!"
"Over here," called the second Death Eater a couple of feet away from Marianne. He gave away her position! Marianne quickly backed away like a cornered animal.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" snarled the first Death Eater, Rookwood. A streak of light shot directly at Marianne, illuminating her frightened expression and the entire hallway in a bright green tinge. With lightning reflex she twisted to avoid it, but a force of energy grazed her right-side ribs, she felt it. Her eyes widened as she stood deathly still, waiting. Her hand flew to her side searchingly, but it felt solid. She hadn't dropped dead. If she were able to even think at this moment then it missed. Narrowly.
A rushing sensation pumped through her body. Her heart must have been vibrating incredibly fast for she couldn't feel her heartbeat. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkly silver moonlight finding it's way in through windows and crevices, and she could see the second Death Eater's face scrunching in anger.
"Get away, you pest!" cried the second Death Eater, swatting at her like she were smoke.
Marianne jumped just out of reach, then planted her feet firmly on the ground and held the shield in front of her. A whimper was snaking from her stomach and making it's way up her throat. "No," she told the Death Eater defiantly, crushing the whimper in her vocal chords, feeling it disintegrate and disappear.
"Go to hell, you little -!" Rookwood was cut off when a knight's helmet flung out of nowhere and crashed into his face. Given the other Death Eater's moment of startled confusion, Marianne followed the trajectory to find out where it came from. The ghost of the old man with only three teeth faded into view with an enraged look on his face, holding a suit of armour's sword up high.
"Speak to her like that again and I will slice you to ribbons!" he wheezed harshly. He didn't need his voice to be strong, just his concentrated energy to handle the sword.
Rookwood was on the floor, holding his bloody nose. Upon seeing the sword he yelped and scrambled to his feet and ran the way he had entered, leaving behind his partner. Ormond faced the second Death Eater with the same expression, the sword glinting menacingly. The second Death Eater whimpered as he tripped backwards, wand clattering to the ground as he fell, and layed there cowering. Ormond raised his weapon, looking his enemy dead in the eye, then brought the sword down and cut the Death Eater's wand in half.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" he bellowed. The Death Eater obeyed and quickly bolted after his friend.
Marianne's eyes were saucers."That...that was incredible, sir," she said awestruck, many seconds after the Death Eaters disappeared. "You saved me."
The ghost faced her, the rage barely faded from his eyes. "I would never allow them to get near you."
"Hold on," Marianne said suddenly, "It's not safe here out in the open. Follow me."
She led him to her makeshift hideout in the center of the corridor. She sat down behind the table and Ormond floated down next to her.
"What do you think you are doing here, child?" he asked.
"I didn't make the evacuation," Marianne explained, leaning her shield against the wood, "And my wand was stolen. I was backed into a corner, I - I didn't know what else to do! I barely even know what I'm doing now, I know nothing of combat. But...I couldn't simply wait until these Death Eaters finally caught me, curled into a ball on the floor. This is now my area. I've sworn to myself to defend it. I can't allow this castle to be claimed by those...horrible people."
"You are only thirteen, you know." It didn't matter that she was already dead, Ormond felt he had to remind her that she was awfully young to try to be taking charge.
"I know," she said, downcast.
"But I admire your spirit," said Ormond, not wanting her to think that he was chastising her. On the contrary, he was quite proud. Prouder than he ever had been in his sister.
"Thank you, sir," she said humbly. She didn't believe that she would hold down the area for an entire night, but his words kickstarted a small spark in her chest that maybe it was possible.
A quiet moment followed.
"I was wondering if you could do a favour for me, sir," said Marianne.
"And what would that be?"
"Could you relay a message to one of the teachers to deliver to my family? You know, if I don't...if I don't make it home?"
"Do not say that, of course you will." This was not a time where Ormond wanted to tell her that she was dead. Not because she was already a ghost, or that she had already been told countless times before, but because it'd break her determination. She was giving every effort she could in this moment, something he had seen so rarely in her before.
"Please?"
"Very well, then."
Marianne paused a moment to collect her words. How does one put their entire life's meaning into their last words? she thought.
"My father is the strongest man I've ever known, you know," she began, "Not only in strength but in spirit. He has never approved of my struggling marks, and I just wish that there could have been one point in my life where I made him proud of me."
Ormond nodded. It had been a very long time, but could still easily recall their father's goal of wanting his children to be given every opportunity for success. While strict, he was proud of having Marianne for a daughter no matter how many times she failed, he merely didn't make enough time for her to see it, something that Achilles Wilford regretted to his dying day. He never expected his child to be taken away from him without warning. If only Marianne had seen his anguish, she would've known then that everything Achilles did was out of love for his children.
"And mother. I know she fusses a great deal, wants me to stand up straighter, be braver. I suppose I never really saw it until now but I know she does these things out of love."
Ormond nodded again. "I'm sure she does..." It broke his heart to remember their mother's grief-stricken wailing during the funeral.
"And my brother Ormond. He has been worrying me lately, to be honest. A few nights ago we were in the Gryffindor common room and he looked terribly upset. He was crying when he found me in the common room, saying over and over that he thought me dead."
Ormond whipped his head up. "...What? What did you say?"
"I know," said Marianne, misunderstanding his incredulousness, "I thought it an odd thing to say at the time, too, but NEWTs are coming soon, I'm convinced he was over-stimulated - "
Ormond almost wasn't listening to her. He strained to remember how a beating heart felt, because if he had one it would have been racing. That incident she recalled in the common room, probably over two hundred years ago by now, happened after her death. She remembered it!
"- I never want to see him like that again."
Ormond struggled to keep his rapture behind a neutral face. "I see..."
"You don't know my brother," she continued, "He has never broken down in front of me, not since we were children. It scared me. I never imagined my brother as vulnerable, it was impossible to, but the clarity it brought was eye-opening. We aren't necessarily close, but I know he's not spiteful. He doesn't know this, but I look up to him still, even if I had to act the role of the stronger sibling for that one time. And I want him to know that even though he doesn't like my company, I do not hate him for it. I feel as if my own clarity is coming to me. I once thought of him as an idol where I now see a human-being. It's like...it's like I finally see him eye to eye now."
"You mean, one doesn't need to be stronger than the other any longer, for you both can assume the role for eachother when needed?" finished Ormond, blinking away silvery tears.
"Yes. Yes, exactly. I don't feel so seperated from him anymore, as if we are on the exact same level, and now the love I have for my brother is even stronger. I haven't seen him for days, but I know he's here, I know he stayed behind tonight and is fighting somewhere in this castle. I'm not sure if he's looking for me or not, but-"
"He wouldn't forget you," affirmed Ormond, "Perhaps he's even looking for you right now."
Marianne pursed her lips in thought. It was a very nice feeling to picture Ormond in the throes of battle while simultaneously asking anyone if they'd seen his sister. If that was the case, then she would do the same. She would not rest tonight until they were reunited. She would even rescue him if she had to.
"Thank you for listening," she said to the old ghost sitting next to her. "When you can get word out, if we lose this war, please tell my family what I just told you."
Ormond clenched his jaw to keep himself together. He smiled so widely that his bare gums showed. "They will know. I promise you."
Marianne's lips quivered as she nodded. "Thank you," she said.
Tears glittered in her eyes but she refused them permission to fall. She was aware of the ghost of the old man staying with her, but she could think of no natural progression of their conversation that they could take after that. Instead they both fell quiet and listened, but it was a comfortable silence. Marianne felt safe with him around and glad that if these really were the closing moments of her life - it was likely, she had no wand - then she wouldn't go to the grave without her family knowing that her final burst of bravery was for them, for freedom, to the bitter end.
A rumbling echoed deep down the corridor's western entrance. Seemingly a hundred voices were screaming spells, followed by deafening booms and crackling sounds of stone exploding. The battle was coming fast. Marianne mentally prepared herself for the second round by tightening her grip on her improvised weapons as the noise got louder and louder. Dueling Death Eaters and students emerged from the western corridor.
Marianne looked to the ghost of the old man, possibly for the last time.
"For Hogwarts," she told him, and then leaped from her hiding place and threw herself into the chaos.
THE END
A/N: And we are done! I feel so accomplished. Thank you to all my loyal readers. No really, thank you, thank you, this story wouldn't be what it is without you all. Give yourselves a pat on the back. A very special thanks to my reviewers, Sayakami (formerly Madokaism), Kelly, The Agent of Fire, katchile94, Penseln, michlovescookies281, and everyone who favorited and alerted. I couldn't have done it without you guys! Thanks for being so patient with me.
I know some people were wondering why Marianne was put into Gryffindor at all, and I really hope this explained it. It was my intention all this time to sort of pull a Neville-in-Gryffindor kind of thing where it's hidden deep, deep down.
Trivia Time:
-Marianne's parent's names, Achilles and Tristeza, literally mean "Pain" and "Sadness", respectively.
-Originally, this story was going to take place in Harry's fourth year, but there was so much going on in the Goblet of Fire that it was hard to find a place to shove in a short little story, much less one that was as close to canon as I could possibly get. Harry just didn't seem to have ANY time for a little sub-plot in it. Marianne was supposed to be the reason why the Triwizard Tournament was cancelled around 400 years ago (she wasn't a Champion, she just accidently got in the way), but I couldn't make it work, so I decided to have this story begin at the end of third year instead.
-Originally, the ending was going to be more heartbreaking instead of just bittersweet. Instead of talking to Ormond, the trio would find all this out from a sympathetic Fat Friar in one epilogue chapter, no flashback. Ormond wasn't a ghost in the castle, just a mentioned person who was long dead. But I thought that ending was awfully grey and dismal, and that I could add in a little hope. If this story had an entirely sad ending, I didn't want readers to think it would make the whole thing seem like a waste of time. So I added just a few less depressing things in there to perk up the story a pinch.
Phil Collins' "You'll be in my Heart" was the inspiration for a lot of Ormond's dialogue. If this were a movie and I had to choose an end credit song, that would be it.
As always, please let me know what you think, I'd love to hear it! It really helps me improve my writing when readers let me know how I'm doing. And remember, just because the story's over doesn't mean I can't make any changes or still take in reviews.
Hope you all enjoyed!