(36 : A MADMAN'S MERCY . . .
BID THEE RUN AWAY)

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THE ONLY REASONABLE EXPLANATION FOR the group being immediately surrounded by Death Eaters wasn't a pleasant one — someone had set them up. Not that any of them had time to dwell on this fact because the battle was instantaneous. The Death Eaters were more organised and more experienced than the five teenagers could ever imagine. Lights of all colours — green, red, white — shot from the masked men's wands in synchronisation. None of the younger group had managed to cast a spell that wasn't a shield charm yet.

It seemed like they had lost the battle before it had even begun.

"We need to split up!" shouted Juliet over the noise of various blasts, fumbling when it felt like she had run into a wall upon going to  disapparate. "I — I think they put up an anti-disapparation jinx, so we need to aim to stun and then run. There's six of them and five of us, the mission's been compromised, don't do anything stupid, just fight to survive."

"Juliet, we need to get you out of here first," James insisted. "If someone recognises you and pieces together that you're helping the Order —"

She gulped. "I'm dead, I know. At least I'll make a pretty corpse, right?"

Although she was merely trying to lighten the mood, the joke fell flat. James and Sirius couldn't conceal her for much longer — not when they were dodging hexes and curses left and right — but she wasn't prepared to face the reality of the situation. Juliet didn't want to die and she never thought that was a particularly unrealistic thing to want until she started befriending Gryffindors.

Within seconds, a white blast of light hit the back of head and she gasped. "I'm on your bloody side, Sir—" Juliet cut herself off, holding a piece of hair between her fingers and watching as it changed from red to such a dark brown that it was almost black. "Of course. Crinus muto."

"It should last about an hour," muttered Sirius, his talents in transfiguration benefiting him as he altered the Slytherin's appearance until she was unrecognisable. "Now, let's go kick some Death Eater ass."

     Juliet wondered if she could really do it, if she would finally be able to choose fight instead of flight. When she realised they were surrounded, her first instinct was to disapparate. How useful could she really be when she would always put herself first? It wasn't like she was a textbook good guy. Yet, when she caught James looking in her direction, she felt the pull of his magnetism and his blinding light once again. There really was no choice — she was going to fight but not for the Order of the Phoenix, she was going to fight for him.

     Lifting her wand in the air, the girl echoed, "Let's go kick some Death Eater ass."

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     "AVADA KED—"

     "Silencio!" Juliet yelled, tackling a paralysed Peter Pettigrew to the floor before the Death Eater could finish the spell.

    The two teenagers were breathing heavily on the floor, a trickle of blood running down the boy's head. Whether the battle had been unfolding for minutes or hours, neither of them could be certain. It was Remus who first managed to knock one of their enemies unconscious, but that still left five Death Eaters running around, wanting to spill blood for the fun of it. Everyone in the group had paired off to fight someone, but it wasn't like a duel in the safety of their DADA class. The Death Eaters were relentless and the teenagers were exhausted.

     Bruised and cut up with sweat dripping down their foreheads, nobody dared take the risk to turn their backs and run for the door. Like Sirius had said, the Death Eaters were plotting in an old warehouse, but there was nothing incriminating in sight. Only boxes upon boxes and rusting conveyor belts. The mission was pointless . And, no matter how desperately Juliet searched for an escape route, she could barely see past all the abandoned stock.

     "Maybe if these Death Eaters stopped with the dramatics then they'd actually finish a spell. It's always avaaaaada kedaaaaavra with them lot," she mocked, lowering her voice, "like, we get it, hurry up."

     Peter placed his hand over his heart, bleary-eyed. "You saved my life."

Dusting herself down, Juliet scrambled to her feet. "Yeah, don't mention it." The temporary brunette extended a hand to the blonde Gryffindor. "Really. Don't."

     Once both of them were on their feet again, Juliet ran back into the fray. She wielded her wand like a sword, slicing through the air as she cast spell after spell. All she wanted to do was reach James, who was gallantly fighting two Death Eaters on the opposite end of the room, but the distance between them felt like an ocean. Every time she would make it one step closer, she would stumble back ten.

Protego. Flipendo. Stupefy.

As Juliet went through the motions of each spell, it felt like her wand was growing heavier and heavier. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to fight without collapsing. They were senselessly fighting and neither side seemed to make much progress until . . .

"Carpe retractum."

Time slowed — it was like somebody had cast the impediment jinx on her — as she watched a supernatural rope shoot out from a Death Eater's wand and wrap itself around an oblivious James. It came from behind him and the Gryffindor was suddenly pulled into the clutches of a Death Eater. Determined, Juliet tightened her grip on her wand as the man wrapped an arm around James' neck, holding him at wand point.

Sirius was backed into a corner. Peter had disappeared. Remus was locked in a deadly clash as his spell collided with that of his opponent's. And Juliet was the only one who could save James.

Without any hesitation, she pushed through the battle, dodging dark spells in the process. Maybe playing hero wasn't the worst thing in the world.

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"Don't come any closer," warned the Death Eater. "One more step and your friend dies."

Halting, Juliet glanced at her wand thoughtfully. As long as the Death Eater had his wand, her magic was useless. The Death Eater was too close to James, so his spell would hit James before Juliet could so much as mutter an incantation.

An explosion sounded behind her and she was too scared to check what happened. From how the Death Eater clenched his fists though, she could only assume it was good news for her side. However, it only served to anger him as the man in the mask demanded, "Put your wand down, little girl."

With a shaking hands, she bent down, letting her long hair curtain her face. "I'll lower my wand. Just let him go."

     A faint memory of the last time she 'fought' Death Eaters came to mind. Remus Lupin had made direct eye contact mid-battle during the attack on Hogsmeade. He heard her over the chaos and — at the time — she had brushed it off. It had also been Remus Lupin who told James about how she smuggled students to safety via the tunnel from Honeydukes. Whilst her werewolf knowledge was dismal and tainted, she wanted to test a theory.

     "Lupin," she whispered, grateful for her hair concealing her lip movement, "I don't know if you can hear me right now, but I need your help. There's — there's a Death Eater with his back to you. I need you to disarm him so I can help James."

She waited ten, twenty, thirty seconds. A part of her questioned if she had been mistaken and she began to rise with unsteady legs. Just as she was about to address the Death Eater again, Remus Lupin artfully and non-verbally disarmed the man. His wand flew across the room, landing in the hands of an extremely smug werewolf.

The Death Eater sneered, his blue eyes sparking with a familiar anger. "You bitch."

Juliet almost keeled over in recognition. The girl had seen those cold eyes one too many times before — she saw them every single time she looked into the mirror. After all, they were her eyes. Or, more precisely, her father's.

"Release him. I have the upper hand, not you." Her voice was like steel, but it started to waver when she caught how James' face contorted in agony. She knew better than anyone that her father didn't need magic to cause pain.

"You heard her," a strong voice added, "I hate to tell you this, but all your little friends are out of commission now. Not bad for a bunch for kids, huh?"

Sirius and Remus stood behind Juliet, unwavering. Even Peter appeared again, coming from behind a stack of boxes. Most of the Death Eaters had either fled or found themselves unconscious by this point. Quite frankly, Juliet thought it was sheer dumb luck that five Seventh Years had achieved such a feat.

"Fools! Reckless youth, once again thinking they can make a difference. None of you stand a chance. This — this was child's play for us, a laughable training exercise. Your precious Order is a punchline to the Dark Lord, sending a band of brats to fight in their name." He erupted into screeching laughter that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. "Remember this pathetic victory because you will never know it again. All of you will fall with the mudbloods and you —" Arin roughly twisted James to face him, grabbing him by the chin "— will be the penance for the failure of my acolytes. It is only you who will die today and that is the mercy of a madman if you ever knew such a thing. Maybe I'll even mount your blood traitor head on the wall for my whore of a daughter to see. You see, I know you. Yes, I know you well from her memories."

Remus held up his wand. "I'll snap this in two if you so much as look at James wrong again."

     Offended, the man scoffed. "Real wizards don't need a twig like that to do magic. Ava—"

     "Diffindo!"

     It was the heaven-splitting scream of a banshee.

     A veela.

     An augurey.

     A lovesick teenager.

     Her spell was distraught and frantic. Her wand movement was rushed and sloppy. But the spell itself was filled with power and intent. It severed a ragged line across Arin Fawley's neck, dark crimson gushing from his pale skin. James was shoved away from the man as he crumbled to his knees, clutching his neck and choking on his own blood whilst he fruitlessly attempted to murmur healing spells.

     Stunned by her own actions, the girl turned into a statue. The Death Eater's mask slipped off to reveal it was indeed her father as he collapsed onto his side, open-eyed with blood pooling around him.

     "He's — he's dead," James stated, dumbfounded and horrorstricken.

     Juliet closed her eyes. Merlin, what had she done?

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A.N: I hope this was enough drama for you because shit is about to hit the fan, let me tell you. I totally hate writing action scenes, so I hope this lived up to expectations for the battle. I also might have took some liberties with Remus' hearing because I can't find anything supporting or rejecting it in canon. I've been so excited for this because I've been building up to the fact Juliet is wholly capable of murder — the unicorn, hello? — for a while. I know a lot of you will have a lot of thoughts about it though.

Question, what is your favourite spell? I think mine has to be the patronus charm.