Chapter twenty seven; Plan of the century

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It seemed that Severus Snape was a man of his word. Like he had said, the corridor by the Great Hall was lifeless apart from the odd snatcher patrolling. It only took a small stunning spell on Olivia's part to knock them on to their arses for the time being.

She hid behind the wall leading to the Grand Staircase, listening for any movement before she could pass through to run to the courtyard. After some time of waiting she peaked her head around the corner of the stone wall for visual confirmation. Still, no one was around and Olivia stepped out into the main corridor and jogged quietly past the Hospital Wing.

Her jog shifted into a fast, light-footed walk as she approached the courtyard and Olivia smirked in result of her victory.

Or at least until a curse was blasted just above her head.

She jumped from the sudden shock of the unanticipated attack and spun around to face the person who'd aimed for her. Olivia found herself fighting an expression, as on the opposite side of the corridor stood six or seven Death Eaters. They stood by the entrance to the Great Hall, and while they were moving slowly each was armed except Amycus who stood at the very back.

It was the woman in the front, who cast the curse, that caused Olivia's blood to boil.

Bellatrix Lestrange to Olivia always walked funny. It was almost like she'd had one too many shots of Firewhisky and the way she always pointed her wand to her matted hair added to the cause. Her manic hair, in Olivia's opinion, made her psychotic persona real. The way the curls hung loosely everywhere, some over her face as she looked up at her opponent through them. One could comment on her eyes and how they looked void of every emotion possible, adding to how terrifying she looked.

But her laugh to Olivia was just borderline sinister.

A psychotic cackle full of humour filled the space around them as Bellatrix's heeled boots clicked on the stone floor as she walked. Her eyes never left Olivia's blank ones as the elder witch examined her.

Instead of taking steps backwards like most would do, Olivia stood in place. She held her wand firmly in her right hand, ready to fire, and reached into her left coat pocket with her other as Bellatrix stalked forwards.

The woman laughed again, "I knew the chances of it being you were high." Bellatrix spoke out through the corridor, "No ones as stupid as you to attempt to break into a highly securitised school."

Naturally, Olivia's left brow rose in annoyance, "I think the term 'highly securitised school' is aiming fractionally too high don't you Bellatrix?"

Bellatrix scoffed, "I disagree—"

"—You would." Olivia interrupted, heavily satisfied, "But that lump on a Snatchers head proves you otherwise."

"That Snatcher is just as idiotic as you." Bellatrix told Olivia, passing the Great Hall completely. Olivia's right brow rose to meet her left after hearing the woman's words. Bellatrix pouted as a sardonic expression formed on her face, "Oh, I'm sorry, did I offended 'ickle baby Olivia?"

A deadpan expression formed on Olivia's face and she shook her head while shrugging her shoulders, "No, not really."

Olivia could openly see the frustration behind Bellatrix's eyes as she tried to play with her mind. The older witch had to learn that her taunting methods, of dehumanising a person or insulting them to an age well below their own, were ineffective on the likes of Olivia. As were her attempts to work her way into her mind using Legilimency.

Her feeble attempts only brought Olivia to sigh in disdain, "You can stop now. I can assure you, you have more chance of breaking into Gringotts than working your way into my mind." Olivia announced, twirling her wand aimlessly in her fingers.

For a moment the shock appeared on Bellatrix's face before she masked it with a scowl, "And how do you—"

"I can literally feel you trying to get in." Olivia interrupted, "It's like this." Without even really giving it another thought, Olivia recited the Legilimency incarnation in her mind and quick flashes of Bellatrix's childhood, teenage years and adult life appeared before Olivia's eyes — like a movie playing in her mind.

Bellatrix didn't have a strong enough mind as she thought she did, and Olivia was a girl much stronger than she anticipated. Regardless, it seemed Olivia's recent attempt at humiliating Bellatrix — in front of her Death Eater friends — didn't go down well with the woman. She was infuriated as a green light emitted from the tip of her wand, flying directly towards Olivia. She was even more infuriated when Olivia blocked the spell effortlessly, flicking it away like you would a small fly on your hand.

What came next reminded Olivia somewhat of when Dumbledore and Voldemort duelled in the Ministry, as Bellatrix lashed spell after spell at her. No matter, each was as futile as the last, they were all blocked by Olivia's handiwork. The only sound in the corridor being spells clashing together.

Olivia had, really, no interest at duelling Bellatrix at that point. It was clear the woman was having an off day as every spell was imbalanced and her mind really wasn't there. Olivia wanted to win a duel with Bellatrix, wanted to end Bellatrix, when both witches were fighting at their best. She didn't want to win because Bellatrix was having an off day when it came to her wand work.

As Bellatrix's attempts were feeble Olivia cast a blasting charm to knock them back. All seven Death Eaters fell to the ground as the force of the spell hit them hard, all from a small wrist flick.

Olivia didn't plan on meeting the friends of those she'd knocked to the ground and decided to make a quick break for it while she could. Almost there, she had the shock of her life when she turned around to four scruffy looking Snatchers stood guarding her only exit with smirks on their faces.

"Shit." She mumbled under her breath while breaking to a half in front of them. The one in the middle she recognised, he wore an old black and tatty trench coat with shoulder length brown hair, something resembling black eye liner under his eyes. She recognised him from the one who had smelt out Hermione's perfume a few months back when they were hiding out in a forest somewhere.

He cocked his head to the left and pouted, "Going somewhere, love?"

With her lips parted slightly, Olivia stared stolidly at the Snatcher while his choice of words sent unpleasant chills down her spine. This was now a eleven against one and Olivia knew herself she didn't have enough man power to take down eleven older and more experienced witches and wizards.

As she slyly reached into her pocket for a prank product of the twins a twelfth person from the opposing side joined her.

The man who had advised her to escape from this side of the castle came down from the Great Staircase with wand in hand and his cloak swishing behind him. Severus Snape's face was void of anything, much like it usually was as he entered the scene with caution.

Bellatrix Lestrange had just pulled herself to her feet and returned to her sauntering walk as she forced one off-balanced foot in front of the other. A sadistic smile laced her mouth when she spotted Severus Snape stood in amongst the chaos, "Ah, Severus," she called, "how nice of you to join us."

"Bellatrix." Professor Snape greeted slowly while giving Olivia the side eye discretely, "What seems to be the problem here?"

The woman pointed her wand in Olivia's direction, "Her."

Olivia's hand dove further into her pocket at a snail pace, searching for the black stone rock she had hidden amongst the prank products. She remained focused on the situation at hand, making sure to give her full attention to her surroundings depriving anyone of catching her digging in her pocket.

She saw as Severus glanced at her with an unimpressed expression before looking to Bellatrix, "An eighteen year old girl is the problem?"

Immediate fury engulfed Bellatrix's face and Olivia had to prevent herself from snorting as the woman's face hardened. Her eyes lit up a storm as she cocked her head to the left, "Have you ever tried to fight against her Severus?" She spat, narrowing her eyes.

Professor Snape shrugged his shoulders casually, "I've never had any need, nor desire, to duel an inexperienced eighteen year old."

Olivia would've spoke up at the insult but she could easily sense from the tone of the Professors voice that he was taking the piss.

Out of the corner of her eye, Olivia spotted a snatcher closing in on her right and slyly aimed her wand at him while reciting the knock-back jinx in her head. His yell and clatter to the floor broke the palpable tension and everyone looked to her.

She played it off by wearing a blank expression and looking around herself, "What?" She asked slightly defensively, "Don't look at me, the idiot was probably holding his wand the wrong was round when he was staring it out."

It seemed her response was bought as attention was brought back to Bellatrix and Severus' stand down over Olivia. The two Death Eaters stared down at each other silently for what felt to be an eternity. Olivia's hand twitched in her pocket as her hand encased around the jagged black rock she held in her pocket. Her eyes were examining Bellatrix closely, her every movement as her right hand twitched every so often.

She needed the perfect opportunity in order for her escape attempt to work.

When Olivia saw Bellatrix break the intense stare-down she had engaged in with Severus she knew it was about to happen. That prime opportunity was only moments away and she smirked as once again, she'd single handedly won against numerous older Death Eaters. The fractional movement she was waiting for occurred, and Bellatrix's wand moved from her twitching hand.

Olivia knew to duck before she even lifted her arm up to fire a spell but it was all about the timing.

So when a spurt of red light came hurdling towards her at speed Olivia threw the Peruvian instant darkness powder to the ground and ducked when thick black cloud engulfed her. She didn't sick around after that for the aftermath of another failed attempt on the part of Death Eaters, instead she disapparited into nothing while thinking of her destination with deliberation and sheer determination.

She left with a fitting amount of satisfaction, knowing that when the powder cleared again she would have disappeared.

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Had the obvious crack of an apparition not been heard by the three, they would've remained in the tent. They jumped in their skins from the loud snap and the closeness of it before exchanging cautious glances. A white light illuminating outside their tent seemed to give them a sort of answer.

As much as they believed it to be impossible, it was something they had to check.

For the last time that night, Olivia pushed her hair off of her face and knocked Lumos on to her wand. Her plan hadn't worked down to every little detail, but at least she was still alive. Her attempt to apparate to a person instead of a place hadn't quite gone to plan, so it left her returning to every location they had took refuge at over the past however many months of hiding.

It was typical that the last spot she apparated to was where they were. She found the unreasonably sized tent pitched on the top of a small hill almost instantly. For safety precautions she cast a few protective enchantments incase she had broken the existing ones with her apparation.

It was when she was casting the charms she realised she shouldn't of been able to have actually passed through the barriers.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stood utterly dumbfounded in front of the tent, wands raised out of precaution. Olivia hadn't yet noticed they were stood watching her, but they noticed her. Ron and Hermione had dropped their wands to their sides but Harry left his partly up.

In her own world, Olivia cast the last enchantment before turning around to walk up to the tent. When she caught them standing there staring at her she too jumped. A small blast fired from her wand and hit the ground next to her as she held her hand to her heart in shock. She hadn't even heard them come outside.

"Bloody hell." She murmured, "Scared the shit out of me, you did."

"We scared the shit out of you?" Ron echoed incredulously, "You scared us you nutter, where've you been?"

Still feeling overly proud of herself Olivia grinned devilishly and her eyes twinkled mischief, "Oh you know, just Hogwarts."

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