Maddox took the stairs two and three at a time. With stamina he no longer possessed, the black cat darted up the winding stairwell to the heavy sounds of hurried footsteps behind him.
Then he heard it.
Maevie Golding.
His blood went cold at what he could only imagine Thayer had done to get the girl to scream like that. But that was why he couldn’t stop. Staggered as he was in the moment the girl’s piercing screams flooded the stairwell, his instincts propelled him forward once more. This time, he was accompanied on the climb by more screams. Elliot. Her screams replaced Golding’s. There was something different about the latter, something so deeply visceral that it made him shudder uncomfortable.
The top of the landing.
As before, Maddox continued leading the way. He leaned into his enhanced senses, scanning for even the faintest moments in the shadows or the softest of noises. Nothing came back. There was an eerie stillness that engulfed the corridor, striking him the moment he entered. It stood in stark contrast to the screams, creating a jarring juxtaposition.
Maddox shot by several doors, noting the distinct lack of useful scents coming from them. He couldn’t trust his ears, not when the sounds were echoing off the walls to give them the appearance of coming from…well…everywhere.
He skidded to a stop before a particular door, zeroing in on the scent. In one fluid motion, he’d returned to form, sparing the briefest glance to the side to ensure the others weren’t far behind.
The man motioned them quiet, not wanting to give away their position.
He took a step back with his wand drawn and silently vanished the door. Busting it down might have spooked the man into a misfire none of the girls could afford. With a deep breath to steady himself against the swirling in his head, the man pushed forward into the room. On the inside, blue eyes darted around, trying to quickly assess the situation. Reflexes had his wand pointing in Ravenstone’s direction as the girl dangled precariously over the window ledge.
Maddox accio-ed the Ravenclaw by her robes, pulling her from the window and clear across the room.
“That’s enough, Thayer.”
Gideon wasn’t far behind, watching the tail skirt around corners and bound up the stairs ahead of them. Heart pounding in his chest, adrenaline spiking with every scream echoing off the walls. Casting a silencing charm to keep their footsteps hidden.
It was amazing how one minute he was a Professor enjoying a carnival and the next he was back in a soldier's body ready to battle. Lay down his life to save others. Thayer would not walk out of this building under his own steam. Either in bindings or a body bag. Either eventuality would do.
The screaming, he recognized the sweet undertones. Maevie, one of his own. Gideon felt protective of his students, so hearing them in pain was like a stab to the heart. The screams changed, growing louder as they made their way up the stairs silently. The new victim’s screams were that of Miss Elliot. Hearing her ear piercing screams made his feet move even faster.
As they reached the landing, Ruth’s screams being joined by Everleigh’s, there was no time to waste. Maddox, vanishing the door, immediately pulled the Ravenclaw from the window, she looked to be seconds away from falling out the window. Little Maevie, yelling at Thayer and biting the man, made pride swell in his chest.
“That’s enough, Thayer.” Maddox said. He was right, this would end now. No more children would be hurt.
With a silent Accio, Gideon pulls Maevie off of Thayer, and straight into his arms. Putting her back on her feet, he positioned her behind his back to protect from any other spells that Thayer may have up his sleeve. Keeping one hand on Maevie, Gideon kept his wand up and pointed at Thayer, studying his body language, the cold glint in his eye.
How had he missed the evil lurking beneath the quiet Professor facade? It would haunt him for the rest of his life. “This is over. Lay down your wand.”
The screams. Ruby would never forget the screams. She was thankful for her auror training, though, because if not… she’d be a mess. Instead, she focused her emotions into pure rage. These were her students and even though she didn’t know every single one of them all that well, she loved them. She had to, otherwise she would have quit months ago.
Ruby was not a quitter. She’d proven that time and time again. She had to fight her way up to where she was now, no thanks to men like Wylder.
And when she followed Gideon and Maddox into the room that Thayer had hidden himself and the girls in, she knew he would likely not leave the room alive. Not because of anything else, other than she knew that she wanted him dead and the others did too. There were four of them, against just one of him. Surely they would win. By whatever means necessary.
Ruby took an assessment of the situation. Thayer over there, Everleigh now in a heap across the room from Thayer, Maevie protected behind Gideon. Then Ruth, who was lying in the middle of the room, unprotected.
As much as she wanted to hit the man with something that would, at the very least, hurt him and at the most kill – or maim – him, she needed to make sure the students were safe. That was her first priority. So even though the auror in her wanted to hit Thayer with all she could, instead, she just sent a silent depulso his way before kneeling beside Ruth to check on her.
“I highly suggest you do what they say before you have no hands with which to hold that wand with,” she spat as she pointed her wand at Thayer, as if threatening him. She wouldn’t do anything to him because she didn’t want to risk her shield failing, giving him the opportunity to attack the Slytherin again. Yet, she kept her wand in his direction just in case she had to switch gears quickly.
In the trenches, Wylder had learned to drown out the sounds of explosions of fire and lead that rained down upon him, focusing only on the shouts and screams from his comrades. Orders, retreats, flanks, cries for help - he'd learned to zero in on each one amidst the chaos and scent of blood in the air. The screams drove him, facilitated his every move, and kept him alive. With each shout or cry that vibrated against his ear drums, Wylder knew he was still breathing. His heart was still pumping. He was still moving.
His feet carried him swiftly up the stairs, bringing up the rear, one hand on the rail to steady himself, his eyes and wand both focused behind him in case anymore of Halloway's fanatics got any bright ideas. He had no illusions that somehow Thayer was working alone. An insurrection of this type wasn't easily pulled off by one unhinged man, and Halloway had somehow gathered quite the number of followers.
They'd got them all - or at least all those that retained positions as Professors at Hogwarts - he'd been told. Apparently, the MLE had not done as thorough a job as they'd lead him to believe. When this was all said and done, the minister had every intention of launching a full-scale investigation into the administration at Hogwarts - friend or not - and snuff out any remaining rats that lurked within its walls.
The first screams echoed through the stairwell, calling out to him just as they did on the battlefield. A flash in front of his eyes. Red, and then a blinding haze of gray. The man's breath shallowed, his ears zeroing in on the child's shrieks and wails. His legs moved faster, chasing after those that led.
Another glance behind him as the second set came shriller, deeper, laced with a pain that Wylder knew only came with something horrific. He'd heard them before, as shrapnel pierced through limbs and organs. He'd heard them laced with the cries for their mothers or for deliverance that would feel like a lifetime to arrive. He could smell the blood and residual gunpowder in the air, the ozone that lingered after the crack of a hex. He stopped, only a moment, swallowing hard before gathering himself and racing up the stairs again.
The third. As they raced across the landing and into the hallway at the top of the tower, Wylder was in battle mode, his wand ready as Barlowe transfigured back into his human form, vanishing the door he'd located them behind.
The sight that met them was as Wylder had expected. One girl hanging more than halfway out the window, another on the floor, Crucio's red hex pouring into her, and a third trying to protect her friend, attacking the lunatic that would torture children.
As his eyes quickly assessed, Barlowe and Blackwood were quick, summoning two of the children to them and out of harm's way as Ruby sent Thayer flying with a swish of her wand. The curse broke from the girl, giving her a moment's relief as Ruby knelt down beside her, but there was no time.
"Take him alive," Wylder called, knowing that a man this insane would only serve to testify to the power that Halloway had over his followers, and lead them to a more secure conviction. If it wasn't possible, it wasn't, but they could disarm him and the girls were safer than they had been moments ago.
Thayer was back up, rushing at them flicking his wand wildly as curses and hexes flew across the room.
Wylder's eyes narrowed as he raised his wand, "Levicorpus."
The Narrator
Unmonitored Account
There the Ravenstone girl went, leaning further and further out the window as her sweet screams cascaded across the grounds, joining those of her friends. It was only a matter of time now. Somewhere in the castle, his partner was busy distracting and terrifying those that remained. If they were not delivered what they had demanded, then all would be lost - for the Ministry. Thayer and his cohorts were not above killing every last man, woman and child within the grounds to make a point, and if an entire generation of young wizards and witches needed to pay the price for the Ministry's close-minded ineptness, then so be it.
"You're mad, you're sick!"
A low laugh bubbled from the man's throat. It wasn't the first time he'd heard the words, and perhaps those that would spew them were right. It wasn't many that would go to the lengths he would. There weren't many people, he mused that were as devoted to their cause as he was. Not many would lay in wait for months and months, smiling in faces that he hated and playing the perfect part.
Perhaps he was a little mad, but how boring was the alternative?
Suddenly, a feral scream ripped through the air as Maevie launched herself at him, clawing and sinking her teeth into his arm. A guttural growl shot through the man as the little girl's teeth drew blood, the fierceness of her bite sending a searing ache up and into his shoulder.
All at once, chaos erupted. Without warning, Thayer was thrown backwards across the room, slamming into the stone wall with a sickening thud. His wand arm dripped with warm crimson as his vision blurred and the sounds around him dulled into a strange vibration. For a brief moment he was disoriented, not sure how he'd landed here or what had happened.
He vaguely heard his name. Something about dropping his wand.
A demented smile crept at the corner of his lips, spreading wider and wider until he looked nearly manic. Pushing through the haze, Thayer leapt to his feet, ignoring the way his bones cracked as he did.
Barlowe, the lackluster barn attendant who could barely make it through an entire day without winding himself.
Blackwood, the soft boy hiding behind a tough-guy exterior, hilariously thinking he was fooling anyone.
Haswell, a joke of a headmistress who fought and failed miserably to fill Halloway's shoes.
And Merrow. The shiny new do-little minister who was - disappointingly unaccompanied by a certain man he'd requested. How foolish.
"Take him alive."
They'd never. All four of them and their little charges would die right here in this room, as would the rest of the castle the moment he gave the signal. But first, they could have the little bit of fun it was obvious everyone wanted.
Thayer slashed his wand, countering the levicorpus, shooting the minister straight into the air by his ankle, causing Merrow to drop his wand.
"Sectumsempra," he growled in Gideon's direction, and then a "Relashio!" at Ruby. His gaze caught Barlowe's for a moment as he whipped his wand at the man, "Confringo!"
And then, "Bombarda Maxima!" The spells exploded from his wand, one after another in a frantic firing of chaos and light. Thayer didn't care if he blew a hole right through the middle of the tower, as long as it took all four of them with it.
With a quick dash, Thayer dove for Ruth, grasping at her arm to yank her up and use her as a shield.
Her entire world had been reduced to a single moment of agony. Time stood still, and the universe itself faded into the backdrop, a hollow and abstract thought with no real meaning.
The girl would've been horrified--and proud--to see Maevie go at Thayer like the fierce little honeybadger she had learned she could be, but it was another thing that took place in a world parallel to the one that now trapped her. In her scorching isolation, Rae missed the entrance of her soon-to-be saviours. There were things happening around her, swift rescues that removed the other girls from danger, but her focus remained firmly in the grip of the cruciatus curse.
For a second time, she found relief. As abruptly as before, the pain ended. Through her blurred vision, she watched the man get launched before another figure crouched by her.
Voices echoed in the empty room, two she recognised to be the deputy and Professor Barlowe. Her mind was too jumbled for her to glean the meaning of their urgent words. The Slytherin sucked in a deep breath, trying to steady herself. Her muscles were still spasming, clenching in anticipation of the return of the spell. She hadn't yet realised it was over...perhaps because it wasn't.
Spells went flying, Thayer the main culprit. The man splattered the room with a barrage of spells and explosions. Heat rushed by her, barely registering with the way her nerves still crackled. The volatile fireworks show that sparked inside her was taking its time to end, its final flames still licking hungrily against every inch of her skin so that the boiling water shooting toward the headmistress was little more than a passing breeze.
Rae shifted fully onto her side, trying to prop herself up by her elbow. The action was awkward because of her arms and legs, which were still bound. The difficulty was compounded by the weakness in her limbs from all they'd been made to endure.
No sooner had she managed to get herself sitting, the young girl was yanked harshly to her feet.
The orientation of her world shifted. She was upright, but she was also pressed against the man, who'd spent the better part of the last few minutes bringing her to the frayed edges of her mind. He jerked her once as if daring her to move or reminding her that she couldn't. The still-warm tip of his wand pressed into her neck, eliciting an involuntary whimper before the girl could compose herself.
Her blood ran cold as her mind finally caught up to her reality. Dark eyes darted around the room. Everything was going in slow motion. She didn't know what to do, what she could do. Rae couldn't feel her arms or her legs, largely being held up by the man who'd taken her for a shield. Bound and weak, she was in no position to fight him off. He wasn't above unforgivables. He wasn't willing to surrender. She dreaded to think of the spell that came next, but her gut told her that she already knew what it would be.
She squeezed her eyes shut, swallowing roughly. Inside her chest, her heart was ready to give out as she tried to brace for what she couldn't control.
It might've already been too late.
Sigh.
Nothing in life was ever so simple.
He wasn't surprised by Thayer's final stand. Anyone who'd been willing to go to such lengths for their cause wasn't the sort to lie down because a few guests had shown up to his party uninvited.
Maddox's limbs were beginning to tremble, the surest sign he'd already overdone it, but the adrenaline that flooded his system kept him upright. He supposed it would've been too much to ask the man to have planned his attack for a day when he hadn't already spent the bulk of his energy wrangling creatures and students alike. Surely, they could've worked something out. Although with the way Thayer now lashed out like a mad dog, an amicable agreement on invasion plans may have been a lost cause.
Maddox stepped forward, placing himself between the Astronomy Professor's spells and the Ravenclaw he'd pulled from the window. Gideon had Golding and Ruby had gone to check on Elliot.
Behind him, he could hear the minister calling for the man to be taken in alive, another thing Maddox hadn't taken issue with, even as the explosions began going off. That all changed the moment Thayer took possession of the Slytherin girl.
Fuck.
The walls around them shook from the force of the explosions, one now turned on him. His wand went up automatically, a shield rising to cover himself and Ravenstone.
Thayer's wand at the girl's neck set off every alarm bell inside the man's mind. He wasn't against the cruciatus curse and didn't seem to harbour any desire to walk himself back down the winding steps of the dark tower. It increased the man's danger. Now or never, the moment of truth. The man's wand tip lit as Elliot squeezed her eyes shut, and Maddox could read the intent in those crazed eyes. He would take her out--he would take out as many of them as he could before himself being put down.
How many were enough to...to justify...? How many were too many? Was there still a choice? What if he missed? If the man shifted the girl he'd taken for a shield? How much did he trust his casting with already shaky hands?
Shit. Shit. Shit.
The terror that had flashed into Elliot's eyes before they squeezed shut was all the answer he needed. Even one was too much.
"Avada kedavra!"
Green light burst from his wand, filled with intent and purpose. It shot across the room, impossibly fast, and in that moment, the world went still.
Everything was happening so fast. Spells flying, each adult being targeted, the room filling with more flashes and bangs. A well-timed "Sectumsempra!" ripped from Thayer's lips and slashed towards Gideon. He side stepped quickly, managing to dodge the main force, but the curse still grazed his upper left arm.
The pain was immediate, a gash appearing on his left bicep. Blood started seeping down his arm, coloring his white shirt a gruesome shade of red. For now, with his heart hammering against his ribs, the pain was minimal. His brain chose to focus on that later.
It was four against one, odds in their favor, but Thayer had psychosis on his side. The man was unstable and dangerous, willing to die and kill for his cause, making him utterly unpredictable.
Thayer went to send off another spell, likely more damaging than the last round. "Bombarda Maxima!" already beginning to tear from his mouth. Reacting on instinct, Gideon's wand slashed through the air. A lightning fast, desperate counter spell erupted from his mouth, “Finite Incantatem!”
Thayer, not deterred in any way, bent to pick up Rae using her as a human shield. Seeing the look on her young face, eyes shut tight. Having already seen the horrors this man was capable of, Gideon was proud of her self preservation.
Wand still raised, arm seeping blood, Gideon watched as Maddox stepped forward. The minister wanted the man alive. It seemed that wouldn’t be happening. He was too dangerous and unpredictable. If they were going to get the girls, and themselves, out alive. It seemed Maddox had come to the same conclusion.
"Avada kedavra!"
The flash of green light was unmistakable. Gideon watched as the events unfolded before his eyes. Wand still raised, waiting for the next bomb to drop, but hoping that this was finally over.
"Take him alive."
A valiant effort by the Minister, Ruby decided, and yet… as things began to unfold even more in the Dark Tower, she saw the chances of that were quickly decreasing. It would have been one thing had he only threatened the adults, however children were at risk as well and that was just unacceptable. She’d been hired to lead the school, and part of that was to protect the students.
Wylder attempted to cast on Thayer, but the deranged Astronomy professor was quicker; he countered it, and instead rose the Minister into the air by his ankle, causing the man to drop his wand.
Alive? Ruby repeated to herself, shaking her head while holding tightly to her wand as Thayer casted even more spells. She didn’t see what happened; Thayer was casting a lot, and it was pure chaos. Had Gideon gotten hit? Maddox? Honestly, Ruby had no clue what was happening and while that was important – the children were what mattered the most. If she had to sacrifice herself to save them, so be it. She would.
But then a relashio came towards her, and Ruby quickly dropped both her wand and let go of Ruth at the same time and moved back so she didn’t get hit. Once the spell had passed, Ruby turned back and saw that Elliot was now with Thayer, a wand to her neck.
“No!” she yelled, and then she heard the words slide out of Maddox’s mouth. Her eyes widened, and she grabbed for her wand, fumbling a bit from the stress of the situation. There was no way in hell the guy was getting out of here alive. She quickly cast accio at Ruth, hoping the girl got to her before the man was hit with the killing curse.
The room filled with green and she looked at Barlowe’s wand, her own wand still raised.
Somehow, the man had been caught off guard as his own spell was turned on him, levitating him into the air. His wand fell from his hand in the startle, leaving him to dangle helplessly mid-air.
For a man who was so decorated, so well-renowned for his acts of heroism and bravery on the battlefield, it was utterly humiliating. Emotions aside, he was now a spectator while three children were caught in the crossfire of spells that rushed across the large room in a flurry of color and light.
He'd said to take Thayer alive, but it was become more and more apparent with each moment that passed the impossibility of such a request. Men like Thayer wouldn't come quietly. They'd rather go out in a blaze of glory, sacrificing every life in their immediate vicinity. Wylder had come across a few of them in his days. It was what was to be expected of fanatics and radicals. He should have seen the writing on the wall before they even ascended.
A man who would take three innocent children hostage wasn't a man who could be reasoned with.
It was another grave misstep he had taken.
He could only watch in abject horror as one of the girls was snatched up by the maniac, a wand to her throat. "Don't do this!" Wylder called, his fingers outstretched towards the floor to try and retrieve his wand. "Let her go! This can still end peacefully."
It all fell on deaf ears. As the minister held his breath, Barlowe's wand flashed green.
The Narrator
Unmonitored Account
For a heartbeat, the chaos was immaculate.
Spells and hexes shrieked through the air like fireworks while the scent of ozone and iron wrapped around his senses. If it had to come down to this, the man could feel the exhilaration in knowing it was everything he promised himself it would be. Messy. Divine. Roaring.
The girl in his grasp was trembling lightly, but it was enough to feed the darkness that gripped his bones. Her pulse fluttered against his wrist. The others shouted his name, their voices thin under the roar in his ears. It was all slipping, slipping, slipping.
Thayer pressed the wand harder into the side of Ruth's neck, not to kill her - yet - but to feel her stillness, the final hush as the storm gathered in slow-motion. He marveled at the beauty of the way the world seemed to be holding its breath.
His vision blurred at the edges. He could almost hear Halloway's voice again with that low promise that the world would kneel or burn. How faithful he had been; how zealous and obedient. How alive it had made him feel.
The girl's whimper broke against the stillness. He almost thanked her for it. Fear always told the truth.
Something shifted, he could feel it as his eyes met Barlowe's again. It was only a split second, but it felt like a lifetime. Thudding. Pulse. Inhale. Exhale. The buzz of adrenaline and the taste of blood in his mouth.
The sound of Haswell's 'accio' caught him, whipping his wand from the girl and shifting his arm to pull her further to the left as he deflected the summons. It was a grave miscalculation.
Low. Quick. Final. Green light filled his eyes before he could turn his head.
For an instant, it felt like dawn breaking through the tower window.
And then...nothing.
As Barlowe's curse struck the man, sending him backwards into the wall, Ruth toppled forward, still bound by her restraints and hit the ground, hard. Silence fell over the tower, even as the remnants of curses and hexes still reverberated off the walls.
Professor Thayer was dead.
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