Chapter 194
Sirius had lost sight of Jenna. The last time he'd seen her was when she had moved away from Hermione. But he became distracted when Rodolfus Lestrange tried attacking him.
Sirius managed to fight him off and defeated him, but it was not over yet. Voldemort had gone for Harry as he fought back. The battle was still going on, but this time even though they were outnumbered, they were winning.
In the distance, Ginny was now trying to fight of Bellatrix. She sent a killing curse at her with high pitched laughter, but missed Ginny by a few inches.
"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" Molly yelled, stepping forward and raising her wand.
Bellatrix spun on the spot, roaring with laughter at the sight of her new challenger.
"OUT OF MY WAY!" shouted Molly to the others, and with a swipe of her wand she began to duel.
Jets of light flew from both wands, the floor around the witches' feet became hot and cracked and it was obvious that both women were fighting to kill.
"No!" Molly cried as a few students ran forward, trying to come to her aid. "Get back! Get back! She is mine!"
"What will happen to your children when I've killed you?" taunted Bellatrix, as mad as ever, capering as Molly's curses danced around her.
"You — will — never — touch — our — children — again!" Molly screamed.
Bellatrix laughed, but just them Molly's curse soared beneath Bellatrix's outstretched arm and hit her squarely in the chest, directly over her heart.
Bellatrix's gloating smile froze, as if for a split second, she knew what had happened, and then she toppled to her death, and the watching crowd roared.
But the Hall fell silent as Harry and Voldemort dwelled, raising their wands and crying out together,
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Expelliarmus!"
The bang was like a cannon blast, and golden flames erupted between them, where the green and red light connected. But at last, the red light overpowered the green as it backfired on Voldemort.
The Elder Wand shot out of his hand, spinning in mid air and Harry caught it, finishing Voldemort off and give an end to the war.
It was all over.
***
The sun rose steadily over Hogwarts, and the Great Hall blazed with life and light as the morning drew on. Those who were Imperiused had come back to themselves, the Death Eaters were fleeing or being captured, and the innocent of Azkaban were being released at that very moment.
McGonagall had replaced the House tables, but nobody was sitting according to House anymore. Everyone was jumbled together, teachers and students, ghosts and parents, centaurs and house-elves, and Firenze lay recovering in a corner, and Grawp peered in through a smashed window, and people were throwing food into his laughing mouth.
Everyone was focused on Harry, cheering and celebrating, shaking his hand and patting him on the back. But he finally managed to slip away and get out of the Great Hall with Ron and Hermione. Everyone seemed to finally be at peace.
Everyone , except for Sirius.
He had been trying to search for Jenna in the crowd for the last half-an-hour, ever since the fight between Voldemort and Harry had come to an end. But she was nowhere to be found.
At first, he tried to reason with himself that she was probably somewhere with Remus and Tonks, celebrating. Or maybe she was even helping those who were injured. But when he couldn't find her anywhere among the celebrating crowd inside the Great Hall, he began to worry.
With a shudder of fear, Sirius even forced himself to look at the faces of the fifty victims that had given their lives in the battle, but she wasn't there either.
The horrifying thought of Jenna being hurt somewhere out of his reach made Sirius suddenly feel sick with worry. What if the baby was hurt? What if her water had broke? What if she was gone...
Sirius couldn't allow himself to finish that thought. With all the sanity that he had left in him, he pushed that thought away, trying to bring excuses of where she could be. But by each minute that passed without any sign of Jenna, it became harder and harder for him to remain positive.
The feeling of panic started surging from within him no matter how hard he had been trying to push it down. He was beginning to lose his mind that his eyes then fell on where the Weasleys had gathered, along with Lexi, Remus, and Tonks.
By the time Sirius reached them, all color had drained from his face and they all noticed that he was slightly trembling.
"What is it, Sirius?" Remus asked worriedly and frowned at the sight of his friend.
"Have you seen Jenna?" Sirius asked and then soon after, a tense atmosphere fell upon all of them.
He turned to glance at each and every one of them individually, hoping that one of them would have a clue as to where she was, but they all shook their heads.
Sirius went paler if that was even possible, running a hand through his hair. His face had become whiter than ghost, his lips dry and his guts twisting in worry.
"Sirius, I'm — I'm sure she's fine," Remus tried to say softly in order to calm him down, even though he didn't seem too sure about it either.
Sirius wasn't listening. He just turned on his heels and rushed out of the Great Hall, muttering under his breath, "I told her not to come... I'll never forgive myself..."
Remus looked just as afraid as his friend at this point, but as he glanced at his wife, it looked liked he didn't dare to leave her anymore.
As if reading his mind, Tonks gave him a small reassuring nod and smiled. "Go on. I'll be fine."
So nodding, Remus left the Great Hall as well after Sirius, quickening his pace to catch up with him.
"Sirius! Wait!" Remus called as he rushed after him, but Sirius didn't stop walking. He seemed too lost in his own troubling mind to even hear what was going on in his surroundings.
"If she's hurt... or the baby..." Sirius felt a shiver run down his whole body, but he finally halted as Remus placed a hand on his shoulder firmly, stopping him.
"We'll look for her. She's going to be all right," Remus said reassuringly, though deep down he knew there was chance that he was wrong. "She's — she's probably — I mean — she could be using the bathroom or something. It's been a long night, and she's pregnant. Tonks was just like that when she was pregnant. They need to use the loo more often than the others at this stage."
Sirius seemed to have calmed down a bit as he considered Remus's words, though the unsettling feeling remained in his mind. He forced himself to let out a nod.
"Okay... okay, let's go search for her," he said, letting out a shaky breath.
Sirius and Remus searched the whole castle for any sign of Jenna. They looked in each and every bathroom, or all the deserted corridors and classrooms. But she was nowhere to be found.
At long last, Sirius leaned his body against a wall, hiding his face into his palms in misery.
"This is all my fault..." Sirius muttered under his breath. "All my fault... should've stopped her from coming..."
"Sirius —"
"Don't you dare tell me to calm down, Remus!"
"No. Sirius —"
"What was I thinking, letting her stay and fight!"
"Sirius, listen to me!" Remus suddenly snapped. Once he had Sirius's attention, he said more calmly, "Look over there."
When Sirius glanced over at where Remus was pointing, he felt a slight glimmer of hope inside him. Because there, upon the dusty floor, laid a blank piece of parchment that Sirius knew very well.
"The Marauders' Map..." Sirius mumbled, running toward it and bending down to pick it up.
But Sirius then shook his head as he remembered something, feeling the disappointment again. "Her name doesn't appear on the Map. She took her name off years ago."
"She's pregnant. She carries another human being," Remus explained. "Theoretically, that would break the spell she put on the Map to hide herself."
Sirius wasn't sure if this theory was true, but it was the only hope he had left. So he took a deep breath, nodding in understanding.
With a shaky hand, he held onto the piece of parchment, and with the other he took out his wand. He tapped it on the parchment, saying, "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."
Remus walked toward him. They both had their gazes fixed on the parchment as writings started to appear on it, until it read,
Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
Sirius quickly opened up the map, and both he and Remus searched through it for any sign of Jenna.
"There!" Sirius suddenly cried out in relief as he pointed at a dot with the name 'Jenna Potter' above it.
Although the happiness didn't last long, because as they started walking and Sirius kept on watching her name for the next few minutes, he realized with a rush of feat that she wasn't moving.
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen2U.Com