The Battle of the Grounds

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Holly shivered again, eyes on Gryffindor tower.
They were up there, she thought. They were all up there, probably watching her right now....just waiting.
Holly licked her lips nervously, waiting.
A huge black falcon swooped down from the tower at the speed of light.
Holly automatically stepped back wand outstretched waiting.

Holly smiled bravely after Shadow but the second she left, Holly moaned like a three year old.

A group of death eaters strode into the room, grabbed Holly, and vanished.

Holly obediently let herself be taken from the room, but she stamped her foot immaturely to show she wasnt happy about it.

A few hours later, Shadow was lead back into the room and tied up again. Part of her black coat was matted with something dark.

Holly looked up from the spot she had sat down in just a few moments prior.
"Thank goodness your back-" Holly stopped, "Is that ... blood?"

Shadow looked up at Holly before turning her head to lick the blood off her coat.

Holly bit her lip, concerned, but then thought that there was very little she could do, so just said tentively.
"How was it?"

Shadow looked up with a look that said I don't want to talk about it..

Holly nodded understandingly.
"Mm .... I didnt torture the kid. It was actually just a kid so ... i just asked him. He told me quite easily ... "

Shadow nodded, turning back to cleaning herself.

Holly looked around the empty room with a hint of disbelief in her eyes. "Its not .... that ba- you know what, Im gonna shut up, it is,"
She sat down and hugged her knees.

Shadow smiled her wolf smile, having forgotten about the blood on her fangs.

Holly smiled a little nervously at the creepy looking Shadow.

Shadow wiped the smile on her face and continued cleaning her coat until there was no blood left on it.

"Better," Holly commented, "Now for the real problem. How are we gonna get out of this place?"

Shadow pulled pointedly on the chain and shook her head.

"We'll get you outta that so you can use your magic," Holly said hopefully, but with no wand between them, this seemed rather far fetched.

Shadow sighed, shaking her head.

"Or we could sit here being pessimistic and wallowing in our own grief," Holly muttered, resting her chin on her knees.

Shadow sighed, putting her head on her paws.

Holly masaged her forhead moaning.
"Stupid place," she muttered, "I got a migraine now..."

Shadow didn't look up, trying to think of a solution.

"So heres the plan," Holly said, voice mild and sarcastic, "We wait in here for the next seventeen years, by which time Voldy will be too old and frail to command properly, and his speech wont be what it used to. He gives us a mission and we pretend to hear something about returning to Hogwarts as normal. But by that time I will be thirty two, and thinking about settling down, so Ill just go home. You can join Jamie who by this time will have made himself a nice little amount in the Dragon business, and may well be looking for a girl."

Shadow rolled her eyes, curling up to sleep.

"I was serious," Holly muttered, and morphed into her racoon to warm up. She ambled over to Shadow a little cautiously, and lay some three feet away.

Only Shadow's ears twitched as she was on guard for danger, even when asleep.

Holly took one last "man-i-feel-sorry-for-her" at Shadow, and closed her eyes.

Shadow's tail wagged slightly as she dreamed.

Holly woke up what felt like a few seconds later, and glanced at her watch. She had been asleep for two hours. After a strange feeling of vertigo, Holly stood up, swaying, and had to sit again.

Shadow had one eye open, but it was unseeing.

Holly decided that the reason for this feeling of faint was that she was hungry.
For a whole two minutes she debated over going in through the door to ask Voldy or another death eater for something to eat, but decided she valued her life.

Shadow raised her head as the door opened, showing a death eater with some bread and raw meat.

"Thank the saviour of the broken the beaten and then damned," Holly said, as the Death Eater left.
She tossed Shadow the meat, squirming at it, and tore off a piece of bread.

Shadow caught the meat and started to chew on it.

Holly shivered and leant back against the wall, smiling slightly.

Once Shadow had finished, she lay down with a contented sigh.

"It could be worse," Holly said evenly, swallowing, "We're alive. And we're together. So....thats pretty good."

Shadow nodded dejectedly.

"Mm...." Holly said, "Whaddya think'll have happened back home- I mean back at Hogwarts."

Shadow shrugged, and then looked thoughtful.

"Maybe everyone's okay," Holly invented, trying to keep her spirits up.

Shadow nodded silently.

Holly wrinkled her nose in unhappyment and sighed slightly.
"If we had a time turner," she found herself saying softly, "We could go back a few hours to the point when you made the arrow.....and I could pull you into the forest and none of this would happen....."

Shadow sighed, nodding. She scratched at the silver collar preventing her from changing back.

"Does it hurt?" Holly asked sympathetically, though the fact that it hurt was the most obvious in the world.

Shadow nodded. It burns... She tried to say.

Holly bit her lip and decided on trying to take Shadows mind off of it.
"Okay.....ill tell you a story. Um ... once when I went shopping with my mum and dad, I wanted to get Owl-o's cereal, but they wanted to get Honeynut Mice. I protested like the little brat that I am, but eventually they got the Honeynut Mice. So that night I crept out of bed and poured them all on the floor."
She smiled, remembering sadly.

Shadow smiled silently and sadly.

"I wish I was little again," Holly said, "Like ... about nine. Everything was so simple...."

Shadow shook her head, sighing.