Goodnight
Shona and Jessica ran ahead and Matt followed behind. He was beginning to become worried, they still hadn't found Lucy and he knew that Zuc wouldn't stay put forever. He tried to keep calm but it was hard to when he knew that Lucy could be in danger very soon. It was only when he passed the Room of Requirement did he get a strong inkling that Lucy was inside.
"Guys!" Matt called to them.
Jessica turned on her heel. "Mr Jarvin?"
"I think Lucy might be in there."
"Of course, the Room of Requirement only appears when one needs it." Jessica nodded and smiled, unintentionally showing her fangs which made Matt feel uneasy. She quickly shut her mouth and then stood in front of the door.
Shona took out her wand and prepared herself, Matt did the same and then Jessica flung open the door.
Inside Kingston battled Lucy with his own sword. He had found out quickly that his version of magic was nothing compared to the 'pointy hats' and had reverted to another one of his skills. But he still seemed to be struggling against Merlin's sword.
Shona ran forward with a comical battle cry and tackled Kingston from behind.
"Sebastian!" He seethed after falling to the ground with her and wriggled free of her grip and nearly chopped Shona's leg clean off, luckily she moved her leg in time and the sword clunked against the floor with a sharp metal sound.
Kingston jumped up and dodged Lucy's swipe before flying free from the room. "Time to tell Zuc you're here!" He called over his shoulder in a sing song voice.
"Time to kick your butt then!" Shona replied in an equally tuneful voice causing Lucy to laugh.
"Are you alright?" Matt came towards Lucy and stroked her hair. This time it felt authentic to her and she smiled.
"I'm fine," she nodded. "And I'm glad you are too."
"Okay, love birds lets - "
"Shona?" Ben appeared in the doorway.
Shona made a high pitched noise.
"You were saying about love birds, Shona?" Matt taunted.
"Argh," Shona waved his comment away and turned to Ben. "Ben, what's up?"
Ben stepped inside and looked up at the mirrored ceiling. "My face, apparently."
"Oooh you're getting as good as me," Shona laughed in delight.
McGonagall and Dean came inside too. "No luck in finding Professor Snape, but we found Mr Truman along the way." Dean looked forlorn.
Shona turned to Lucy. "It looks like we're going to have to confront Zuc without our missing member."
"But we'll come with you," Ben assured.
"Absolutely," Matt agreed.
"I will have to ensure that all students remain safe and inside the castle. I'm sorry I cannot join you but I wish you all the best of luck. I know you don't need me to confront that brute."
"Thank you, Professor."
They left the Room of Requirement and the door faded behind them and into the wall.
*
They headed out of the grand front doors of Hogwarts and began their descent down to the waiting Zuc. Zuc and Lucy locked eyes from the moment they could see each other and from the moment that Lucy stopped with her entourage behind her, a few feet away from Zuc. Beside him Kingston stood loyally. Behind him a group of knights stood in formation, their helmets shielding their identity but it was unknown as to whether there was a body inside the armour or not.
"So pleasant of you to join us on this fine evening, Lucy," Zuc smiled at her. "We could have enjoyed many more evenings like this on the Medieval Islands but you left without saying goodbye, what a pity."
"What do you want Zuc," Lucy huffed.
"I think you know what I want," Zuc's eyes shifted towards Merlin's sword.
Lucy hid it behind her. "Nice try."
"And if you wouldn't mind surrendering the orb as well that would be divine."
"Good Lord, get your own possessions," Shona rolled her eyes.
"Oh? And aren't you missing a certain third member? Or are these two young lads replacing him from now on? You know I'd particularly like that one there to join my army," Zuc turned to face Matt. "He's the right build and I'm sure he'd make a great sword fighter. What do you say, son?"
"Go to hell," Matt spat at him.
"Let's go together," Zuc withdrew a sword he'd been concealing all this time. It was clearly custom made and nearly as impressive as Merlin's.
Lucy withdrew her's just as quick and stood in front of Matt. "Don't you dare," she snarled.
"Aww young love," Kingston taunted. "I think he's the one to take, my Lord, the Snape girl seems far too fond of him."
Zuc strode towards them, sword in hand, and pointed it straight at Matt. He only stopped when the point pressed onto the skin over the place where his heart was. "You shall tell me everything you know about your girlfriends little plan to thwart me or..." he dug the blade a little harder into his chest. "You give me your life."
"I won't say a word," Matt responded evenly.
Kingston placed his hands on Matt shoulders from behind and revealed his fangs. "Goodnight."
Jessica threw Kingston off of Matt and glared at him. Kingston hissed. "Traitor!"
"Don't you dare attack him, he's not part of this." Jessica growled.
"He's as much of a part of this as you are! If you associate with the Snape girl you are a part of this! YOU ALL ARE!" Kingston roared. He threw himself at Jessica and before any of them could comprehend what was happening, Jessica screamed out in pain.
She fell to the ground like a dead weight and two puncture marks remained on her neck. Kingston wiped his mouth before spitting at her lifeless form.
"NO!" They came a sound in the distance, but it was hard to tell if it was the wind or not. Nobody looked up to see Snape coming towards them, exiting the grand doors of the castle. But he was too late, Jessica was dead.
Lucy darted towards Kingston and threw him to the ground, fuelled by her anger. All she could think about was that her ideal life had been within her reach and had been snatched from her so recklessly by the hands of Kingston. She was going to have a mother, one who cared for her and Snape was going to be happy and now she was gone.
Shona turned on Zuc and pulled out her wand. "Come on, big guy, show me what you got."
"My pleasure," Zuc smirked and readied his sword.
The scene was chaos, everyone fighting out of anger and not thinking straight. Arms from suits of armour were torn off and Matt even ripped off a few helmets to reveal no bodies were inside, just empty space. Dean proved his worth and got stuck and good boy Ben Truman didn't hold back in making his best effort to help the girls out. Snape eventually managed to stumble down to the scene and to join in. Lucy barely noticed, she was determined to finish Kingston. But Kingston had already made a portal appear. It glowed in front of them, bright as the sun, as he crawled toward it.
"Coward!" Lucy roared and knelt on his back.
He cried out at her and bit her leg. Not enough to draw blood or even make puncture marks but it was enough to stun Lucy and Kingston was free and jumped through the portal. Zuc followed suit and everyone stood there panting, remnants of the knights littered at their feet.
It was only when they were done did they notice Snape. He'd already crawled over to Jessica's body and cradled her body in his arms. Then he just stared down at her. No tears came, he looked too shocked to say anything.
"She could've lived," Snape murmured and then looked darkly at Matt. "She could've lived" he said again. "If it wasn't for that idiot boy." Snape set Jessica down gently before springing up and striding towards Matt, he'd already withdrawn his wand.
"NO!" Lucy shrieked, and threw herself between the two. She shoved Snape back and he looked down at her in surprise. "She was protecting him! She did her best to make sure all of us were safe! She was making up for the adult who didn't care to join us when we needed him most! WHERE WERE YOU?!"
Snape turned away guiltily. "Lucy..."
"This is your fault, not Matt's! If you were there you wouldn't have put Matt's, Ben's, Dean's and Jessica's lives at risk! But you did! Because you were too incapable to come and join us and be part of the gifted! All you do is think about yourself!"
"I asked you to love me no matter what," Snape said, reminding her of yesterday that now seemed so far away. "You said you would, let me explain."
"You're the reason she's dead!" Lucy snarled.
"Please, hear me out," he raised his hand. "I had to kill Dumbledore."
Lucy recoiled, even more disgusted than before. "You think that's supposed to make me feel better? Two people dead because of you!"
"I made an unbreakable vow, I've made promises and - "
"I don't want to hear it," Lucy's bottom lip quivered. "In fact I don't want to hear from you ever again. You're not my father, you're dead to me."
"Lucy - !" He reached out to her.
She turned away viciously. "You heard me, never again. You're not part of this battle anymore. You're not part of the army and you are not going to assist Shona and I in defeating Lord Zuc. It took only Merlin and Sebastian to defeat Vasil and all we need is two. You're on your own now and we don't need your help."
"I can't lose you," Snape shook his head.
"Maybe, but I can do without you now. I don't need to carry around your dead weight when I have a battle to win." She turned on her heel and then knelt down and shut Jessica's eyes. She gave her a kiss on the cheek and whispered to her:
"Thank you, for everything."
Before standing up and walking back towards the castle. The others followed one by one, not even giving him a separate glance. Except for Dean who opened his mouth to say something and then remembered where his loyalties lie and scampered off after the group.
"Snape!" Harry's voice carried on the wind to him in the distance.
Snape, now devoid of emotion, took out his wand and turned to face his call.
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