Junoesque ✿George Weasley✿

99.

Blair didn't hesitate to fire her string of hexes, jinxes and curses as soon as the man had shut his smarmy mouth. But as prepared as she was, the Death Eater was two times more. He began to whisk his wand in all directions to deflect and block her spells. The corridor was filled with flashes of green, yellow, red and blue. The torches lining the wall were the inferior sources of light now that spells were being thrown back and forth between the two.

The Death Eater acted as if it was child's play. Every spell that was cast by Blair he was able to block and pre-empt. The exhaustion that Blair had previously thought had washed away forever suddenly returned and coated the insides of her limbs. Her arms were beginning to sag and her eyelids wanted to drop. She suspected that the man had cast a sleeping charm at some point to make her feel this way, but she somehow doubted this. She and Fred had been dreary and sluggish before arriving at Hogwarts thanks to the potion's brewing process and she barely had any sleep the night before. There was also the event with the giant who swung his sword around her head multiple times. Everything pointed to some good old basic human exhaustion.

But she forced herself to go on. Human nature wasn't favouring her in this battle but she refused to let it take over. Blair pushed herself to cast all the spells she could think of; the levitating spell, the fire-making spell, the water-making spell, the stunning spell. But all were futile. This man seemed to never tire and could see her sluggish wand work. His lips hitched into a smirk and he decided to take a step closer, shorting the distance between them by the slightest. And then he took another. And another.

Blair panicked. He was getting closer to her and she had nowhere to go. Turning her back on him would be a fatal mistake. She couldn't slip behind a pillar or a convenient wall because they were all reduced to rubble. The hallway was closing in and the man was within ten feet of her. The sweat ran down her back and her breathing was heavy. No potion could save her now. No matter how talented she was at the skill, only prestige magic could stop the advancement of this man.

She nearly cried out when her fire-making spell was swallowed by a jet of water produced by the man's wand. She wanted to cry. She had nothing left and grew unbelievably weak when her wand was sparked out of her hand and made friends with the wall furthest from her. The man grinned with a sparkle in his eye and stopped his advance towards her.

"I don't need to do much here, do I?" he rhetorically asked. He looked up to the sky that could be seen through the gaping hole in the ceiling and took a moment to breathe in the victory. Blair had never felt so helpless. It had been a foolish mistake to think she could save others when she couldn't save herself. Everyone she knew would be disappointed to hear she had been defeated by a man such as this one.

"I'm sorry, Rosier. I really am," he sulked and jutted out his lower lip. Giving her a look of feign sympathy, he flicked his wand and Blair soared through the air.

Her spine cracked as she hit the stone wall and her body collapsed to the ground with a dull thud. Her hair sprayed out around her and her skin was now caked in dirt, dust and blood. A gurgle left her throat and a string of redness leaked down her chin. She lay between the rubble and debris in agony.

Satisfied and feeling well fed, the Death Eater turned around and left her there.

---

"You have fought valiantly, but in vain. I do not wish this. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a terrible waste. I therefore command my forces to retreat. In their absence, dispose of your dead with dignity. Harry Potter, I now speak directly to you. On this night, you have allowed your friends to die for you, rather than face me yourself. There is no greater dishonor. Join me in the Forbidden Forest, and confront your fate. If you do not do this, I shall kill every last man, woman and child who tries to conceal you from me."