Okay everyone, it is after two in the morning, and I can't sleep. I've tried. I went to bed at 11:30 and still can't fall asleep. My mom is spending the night with me in my dorm room, and I just can't sleep. So I thought I'd get up and start on this next chapter. And while I'm sure all of you appreciate it, I certainly don't. I have to get up in six hours, I'm exhausted, and I want to go to sleep and can't. So, it sucks. And since this is such a horrible situation for me, I think you should all leave me a review and let me know what you think of this story so far. And since you're reading this, you'll notice that it's the twentieth chapter, and I think that everyone reading this should have dropped me at least one review by now. So if you haven't, make this chapter the one. Anyway, on with the story. There's some action in this one.
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Harpies were magical creatures, sort of like the sirens of ancient Greece. Half bird and half woman, they ruled the skies and could have the sweetest song when trying to lure their prey. However, the ones protecting Lamia's forest didn't bother with luring Sebastian to his death. They knew that Carys would never have let him go. Instead, they soared above head, watching the two teenagers as they ran for safety. They could hear the cackling from above even as they ran.
Suddenly, Sebastian grabbed Carys around the waist and jerked her with him as he darted into the forest. He propelled her against a rock facing of a cliff and into a small cave like structure. "Okay, look, our job is to make a raucous. We need to alert them that we're here, and fast. From what I saw from our brooms, there's only one way to get to this castle, and that's straight up. Once we're up the cliff, we're in the maze. There're plenty of nasty things in there to keep us busy for a while. We can safely assume that Lamia will be keeping her eye on us and that she won't see the rest of them when they get here in a few hours. Once we're through the maze, we have to deal with getting across the moat. By that time, I say we just use magic and levitate over. Once we're there, we'll have plenty to keep us busy. And we want to let ourselves get taken."
Carys nodded. "That way Lamia's in there with us, and she'll never expect everyone else so soon. She'll be too busy with us to notice them anyway. Gotcha. So, can we levitate that far, or shall we do this the Muggle way and climb?"
Sebastian looked up. The cliff was nearly straight up, but had plenty of ledges and handholds. It didn't look like it would be very problematic to climb. And the longer they went unnoticed, the better the surprise was and the less time Lamia had to get ready. "We climb. The Harpies'll leave us alone, I think." He looked to where they were circling. "And if they don't, we'll just have to curse them with something."
Carys lifted one eyebrow at him. "And what if they take option number three and fly straight to Lamia and let her know we're here?"
Sebastian considered that for a second. "By that time, we'll be up that wall and into the maze. It'll take her a while to find us in any case. And she'll be too busy looking for us to notice if everyone else gets here early. Either way, this works as an advantage." He tucked his wand back in his pocket. "Need a boost to that first ledge?"
Carys looked up and noticed that the ledge was slightly above her head. She nodded slowly, nervous. "If you wouldn't mind."
Sebastian linked his fingers and grinned. "No problem."
She stepped into his hands and he lifted, depositing her neatly on top of the ledge. After a quick look around to make sure that the harpies were staying at bay, he heaved himself onto the ledge next to him. Once he was securely on the ledge, he stood and cupped his hands again.
"Ready to do this again?"
Carys measured the distance to the ledge mentally. "Sebastian, why don't I give you a boost and then you lift me up? That looks a little high for you to jump, and I don't think I'm strong enough to pull you up or help much."
Sebastian straightened to consider that, then nodded. "Are you sure that you can lift me?"
"Yeah. It's just a couple seconds. I'll be fine." She cupped her hands and braced them against her knee. Quickly, and in one movement, he stepped into her hands, grabbed the ledge as she stood, and pulled himself up. Quickly, so that the harpies didn't find either of them alone, he laid on his stomach, leaned over the edge and hooked his hands under her arms, lifting her onto the ledge next to him. The next bit was one that they would have to climb, but the handholds were near to one another so it wouldn't be a problem.
"You head up first."
Carys nodded. "I won't fall, Sebastian."
Sebastian grinned. "I know that. I'll just feel better about the whole thing if you go up first and I can make sure you get up to that next ledge okay. It looks like it's about fifty feet. Once you're on the ledge, I'll start up."
Carys shook her head at his antics and gripped the stone out cropping. She started to climb, making the transition from one ledge to the next with only one panic inducing moment when a rock gave way and she lost her foot hold for a moment. Once she was safely on the ledge, and making sure the Harpies stayed far away, Sebastian climbed up as well.
They continued in that fashion until they were finally pulling themselves over the final edge onto the top of the cliff. They'd made several hundred feet in a little under an hour. They were hot, sweating, and dirty, but safe and one step closer to the castle. The next obstacle was the maze.
"Any idea how we go about this one?" Carys asked, slipping her hand into his as they looked at the thick wall of briars before them. Sebastian squeezed her fingers in reassurance and shrugged.
"We go through."
"We'll get torn to shreds." Carys pulled him around the side, looking for an entrance. She found none, just a wall of brambles that stretched clear to the other edge of the island.
"Look, this is a maze. That means that these have to be the outer walls. That means that it'll open up and there'll be a path a few feet in. Let me go in first and smash down the briars, then you follow me in."
Carys shook her head. "No way."
"Why?"
The blonde sighed in exasperation, dragged him within inches of the wall. "Didn't you ever pay any attention in Herbology? This is a patch of Gobblethorn. It'll tear us to shreds if we go in there. Even if it's five feet to the other side, I don't think we'll make it through without serious damage."
That stopped Sebastian in his tracks. "How much damage are we talking?"
"We could lose limbs."
"Well we have to get in there. There's no other way to the castle. The castle's in the center of this damn thing."
"I'm aware of that, Sebastian." Carys wasn't annoyed with him. She was upset about the situation and everything that they were being forced to endure. And more than that, she was upset about the faint tugging she could feel just behind her navel. Sort of like she was using a Portkey, but she recognized it as the pull of evil. And as it always did, it terrified and exhilarated her.
"Do you know how we get past it?"
"Well, I don't exactly have a vial of goat's stomach acid and extract of Mandrake blood with me. So no, I don't know exactly how we get past it."
Sebastian turned to look at her, concern in his eyes. She'd been known to have a short temper, but she wasn't acting like herself. "I feel it too."
Carys looked over at him, met his gaze. "If you feel it, you can imagine how hard it is for me to tell it no."
A thought occurred to Sebastian, and it was voiced before he could command his mouth to shut. "Then don't tell it no. What better way to get her attention and get there quickly than with a giant show of magic? It isn't dark magic that makes a witch or wizard evil, Carys. We've all used dark magic before. It's how you use it that matters."
Carys lifted her eyebrows, found herself considering it. "Dad says we all have a dark side. That there's a part of all of us that wants to be bad, because being bad is so much easier than being good."
"And my Dad says that he's never seen Draco look more evil than he did the day he killed Lucius."
"Dad is the best man I know. He's never claimed that we don't have evil in us. That it isn't harder for us to be good than anyone else. Magic isn't a two sided coin, is it? It's all one side, with many parts. To defeat evil, we have to use evil spells. The Unforgivable curses were created mostly by dark witches and wizards, and the good witches and wizards learned to use them to defend against evil and defeat it. We've been using dark magic to defeat the dark since the dawn of time."
"It's all in the way you use it."
"I know that embracing it would make me more powerful. It would make our chances greater. I always have to hold myself back, Sebastian. Always. I've never been able to embrace my magic and let it flow like you have. I'm scared of what I am. Of what magic makes me. And I'm terrified that if I let go and let it flow, that I'll lose myself and I won't be able to tell her no. If the pull is this strong when I'm holding back my magic, I don't even want to think about what it'll be if I'm using all my strength. I don't want to lose myself. I don't want to be evil. But it's in me, lurking right beneath the surface, and I don't know if I'll have the strength to stop it."
Sebastian took her in his arms then, drew her close, and kissed her. Warm and deep, his mouth played over hers, drowning her in sensation, until her head was spinning and she was clinging to him for support and balance. He drew back, rested his forehead against hers. "You won't lose yourself."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I know you. I know how you struggle, I know how you fight. And I know how strong you are. And I know that evil will never win."
"How? How do you know that?"
"Because I love you."
Carys took his hand, turned to face the maze, teeming with all it's dangerous creatures and dark magic. And she did what she had never done before. She threw her head back and opened herself to the power that was flowing around her. The wind picked up, tossing her hair around her face, making her close her eyes. She gripped Sebastian's hand tighter, using him and his love to anchor herself.
"Ready?"
Sebastian nodded, focusing his power as well. "Ready."
So there, with a magic made ten times stronger by the love that connected and grounded them, the two teenagers cast a spell that needed no words, needed not to even be thought before it was happening, and the maze flattened, the briars dead, the beasts therein ran from the force of the magic careening toward the castle, and in that castle, in the highest tower where Lamia was pacing, her head snapped up and she ran to the window.
She ran down the stairs to the Great Hall, where her followers were gathering. "Wands! Get your wands! They're here!"
And at the other end of the island, unseen and undetected, Harry, Ron, Draco, and Noah landed on brooms and prepared to follow Carys and Sebastian to the castle. No matter the outcome, the battle had started.
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