chapter forty two | a raging fire

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        Stella panted as she weaved her way through the castle with Harry, passing panicked students and dodging spells coming from every direction. On a staircase through the chaos, the Mason felt Harry stop suddenly. The boy was in a daze as his breath became ragged, leaning against the wall. That could only mean one thing—a Horcrux was just destroyed. Green met blue as the boy gave the girl a slight nod, indicating he was fine, and they were back to running.

        Suddenly, a crash was heard, making the students all duck for cover. Stella's eyes widened to see a familiar black smoke shooting through a air. From next to her, Harry drew his wand, "stupify," the blue light hitting the smoking figure, stunning the Death Eater inside.

        Students of all ages didn't hesitate to continue their journey's to safety as Stella and Harry are met with a familiar face.

        "Neville," the blue eyed girl exclaimed over the screaming, happy to see he was all in one piece, though taking into account the scratches and bloody bruises that littered his face, "are you alright?"

        The Longbottom seemed to bounce on his heels, "never better. I feel like I could spit fire! You haven't seen Luna, have you?"

        "Luna?"

        "I'm mad for her," Neville shared, seeing Harry's confusion. His eyes then turned determined as he made his way away from the two, "I think it's about time I told her since we'll probably both be dead by dawn!"

        Watching Neville's retreating figure, Stella could feel a sink in her chest as the thought of what was yet to come their way. Her thoughts were interrupted by someone cupping her face and pressing their lips onto hers. Knowing exactly who it was, she instantly kissed Harry back before they pulled away.

        With a more firm attitude than before, Stella didn't hesitate to grab his hand, "let's go."

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        The Room of Requirement. She let Harry take the lead in asking the room what they desired and followed him in. There before them was a plethora of different objects—furniture, jewels and all kinds of boxes with miscellaneous things inside. Stella was so stunned by the amount of things in the room she almost missed Harry bolting away from her, but she managed to follow as closely as possible. She could sense that Harry was following his instincts and wasn't going to question him—she trusted him.

        Going further and further into the room, the couple stopped at one of the big piles before Harry turned to a nearby table, somewhat in a daze. Stella watched Harry closely as he made his way toward the table, pushing some rope away from a box. Peering over the boy's shoulder, the latch of the box opened to reveal exactly what they had been looking for.

        "Well, well."

        The two looked to the voice, startled. Draco Malfoy, along with his friends Goyle and Blaise, wands drawn at the two, mostly at Harry.

        "What brings you two here?"

        Harry stepped forward, keeping himself slightly in front of the girl, "we could ask you the same."

        "You have something of mine," the blonde boy told them, nodding to the wand in Harry's hand, "I'd like it back."

        "What's wrong with the one you have?"

        "It's my mother's. It's powerful, but it's not the same. Doesn't quite understand me. Know what I mean?"

        "Why didn't you tell her?"

        The boys in the room, including the one next to her, didn't expect for Stella Mason to break her silence, but she did.

        The girl continued, her gaze to the Malfoy unwavering, "Bellatrix. You knew it was Harry. You knew it was me—Bellatrix knew who I was—you could've used that to your advantage. You didn't say anything."

        Draco looked taken aback from the statement, softening for a moment, before someone pulled him out of it.

       "Come on, Draco," Stella heard Goyle hiss to the blonde, "don't be a prat. Do him."

        Harry and Stella slowly withdrew their wands, seeing that talking wasn't going to solve anything at that point. Before they could use their wands, a spell was shot from behind them.

        "Expelliarmus!"

        Everyone flinched in surprise at the appearance of Hermione and Ron.

        Goyle recovered quicker than the others, "avada kedavra!"

        "Stupify!"

        At Hermione's last spell, the shot bounded onto the table and shot the diadem into the sky, landing on a nearby pile.

        As Harry and Stella watched it fly with wide eyes, Ron growled and ran toward the retreating trio of boys, "that's my girlfriend, you numpties!"

        Stella Mason gave her best friend a surprised look at the sudden title. Before the girls could speak, their attention had been brought to Harry, who was recklessly climbing the objects to get to the Horcrux. Stella started to make her way to meet him, Hermione right behind her. The Mason stepped carefully onto different objects, making sure they were steady enough to step on.

        Successfully dodging the screeching pixies that came flying out of the pile, Stella watched the Potter rip the diadem out from between the chair cushions.

        "Got it!"

        The three breathed heavily as a thud was heard a little ways away where Ron ran off to. Stella followed her friends off the pile and looked toward the noise with furrowed brows.

        "Run!"

        The Mason looked to her friends, "is that...?"

        The room turned lighter as the screaming figure of Ron came barreling toward them, "Goyle's set the bloody place on fire!"

        Harry and Stella didn't hesitate to latch onto each other and run. A snake figure followed the group in a blaze. Soon, every corner was covered in fire, Harry knocking down piles with his wand to slow down the blaze. Stella covered her head to protect herself from the flaming objects flying around the room as she fought to keep her sight of Hermione and Ron in front of her. Unfortunately, Harry and Stella had split from the other two, going down a narrow carpet covered area, a fire following them close behind. No matter how scared Stella was in that moment, she didn't dare look back.

        The four met in the middle with fire surrounding them in every corner. Stella could feel her heart pounding in her chest, seeing that her friends didn't know what to do either. A fire snake came full force toward the group, making Harry shoot a force shield around them, knocking Ron down to the floor. The Weasley felt around him only to feel wood. He had found broomsticks. Without a second thought, the four hopped on their own individual broom, and soared through the smoky air and toward the exit.

        Ron looked back at the two girls, as Harry was in front, "come on! This way!"

        Flying a little bit more, Stella could finally see the doors leading them out, only for Harry to look back at his friends.

        "We can't leave them!"

        The Mason made eye contact with Ron, who asked her, "he's joking, right?!"

        The girl could only shrug as she and her friends circled back around to assist a dangling Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zambini as they held on to a pile tightly, a fire brewing below them. Harry swing his arm for Draco to catch and missed.

        "If we die for them, Harry, I'm gonna kill you!"

         Finally, Harry locked arms with Draco and pulled him up on his broom, Ron doing the same with Blaise. By this time, the whole room was crumbling around them. Fire was roaring in every direction, making it difficult to see. Hermione shot a gust of wind from her wand to make a path for their exit as they finally made it out of the Room of Requirement, or what was left of it. Stella jumped off her broom as her, Ron and Hermione caught up to Harry, who had the Basilisk fang in hand.

        "Harry!"

        Green met blue for a moment before the Potter stabbed the diadem, black smoke erupting in the air around them. The Horcrux roared as Harry flew back against the wall. Ron kicked the diadem into the fire, Hermione pushing him back from the flames. As soon as the diadem hit the fire, heads of Voldemort roared toward them, only for the doors to shut, leaving the group to only hear each other's breathing.

        Glancing uneasily at Hermione and Ron, Stella moved slowly to Harry, who was panting shakily on the ground. She knelt down with soft eyes, assuring him to take his time and to speak when he was ready. The Mason recognized this as a product of his visions.

        "It's the snake," Harry shared, moving his glance through his three friends, "she's the last one. It's the last Horcrux."

        Ron knelt down next to Stella, "look inside him, Harry. If we find him, we can find the snake. Then we can end this."

        Stella watched as Harry shut his eyes and breathed in deeply in concentration. She dared not to touch him no matter how much she wanted to. Just to touch his hand in comfort. But she knew that wouldn't help his concentration. After a few moments, Harry opened his eyes, his green hues more sure than ever before.

        "I know where he is."

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edited: 6 april 2021