TO THE JOURNEY'S END
IF NATASHA COULD, SHE WOULD PROBABLY BE STEAMING SMOKE FROM HER EARS WITH HOW FRUSTRATED SHE WAS.
Between Yelena, Tom, and the upcoming battle that would probably happen, Natasha was ready to burst with frustration. Of course, since that wasn’t physically possible - to her knowledge, at least - she settled on taking out her frustrations on a boxing dummy. However, without her wand, she wasn’t able to enchant the dummy like she normally would.
Plus, with her magic jumping in and saving the day, she was magically exhausted. Sure, she could’ve asked Remus or Sirius to help, but she knew their attention was better spent on Yelena and Tom. Grunts escaped her mouth as she threw all of her anger and hurt into attacking the dummy.
What was she supposed to do? Because of her, two people she cared about were hurt, and she couldn’t even help! Hell, even when she tried to help, all it did was cause more trouble. Her eyes stung with tears as her stomach twisted with nerves, feeling less like a deadly spy, and more of the teenaged girl she was. She stopped her attacks, staring down the dummy with furrowed brows.
Her heart hung heavy, disgusted with herself as she examined the damage she did. Natasha glanced down her hands, knuckles blistered and bleeding from the force. She had never been proud of the past and knew that no matter what she did, she couldn’t turn back time and change what she did.
She was a killer, and the wizarding world expected her to save the day. The girl who had more red in her ledger than some of the death eaters… She was a monster, but even monsters weren’t always monsters. Dully, she picked at the broken skin on her knuckles, the sting of pain grounding her in a way.
Pain and suffering were all she knew, and that caused a lightbulb to go off in her head. Realistically, she knew that Voldemort would keep Nagini close to him, so while getting the snake away from her master would be difficult, it was doable. Now, getting the diary horcrux would be hard, but she knew there wasn’t any way she was getting back into Malfoy Manor. Sure, she could see if Draco would be willing to help, but she knew that his family didn’t have the most trust in him.
Hell, the Horcrux at Hogwarts would be hard for her to get without any help - especially since the death eaters took over the school. However, with a good number of Voldemort’s followers stationed at Hogwarts, there was a chance of Voldemort appearing at the school.
He never went anywhere without Nagini, so that would mean she would be with him as well. If that happened, it would mean that all but one would be at Hogwarts… The sentient castle that had a literal god living underneath it. Not only that but there were also hundreds of students and professors still teaching there.
Students shouldn’t be forced to fight, but with times like this, Natasha had no doubt they would rise to the occasion to defend their school. Heart pounding in her chest with newfound hope, Natasha rushed out of the room to Sirius and Remus. Her feet scalded to a stop, catching the attention of the wizards.
“We bring the fight to Hogwarts!”
Getting them all to agree was surprisingly easy. Although, Natasha knew that if everyone wasn’t so exhausted, and had the ability to think straight, it would’ve been a different outcome. But, she wasn’t one to turn down a win and took her victory with grace.
The four of them stood around a table, staring down at the marauders' map. Sirius poured everyone a drink, giving Natasha a long look before filling her cup with alcohol. As soon as he set the bottle down, he tilted his head back and chugged it like it was a shot glass. Remus looked like he was going to say something, but shrugged and did the same thing.
“If we could make it undetected to Hogsmeade, we can see what the protection around the school is like,” Remus explained, “Also, we can inform any people living there, and see if they wish to help.”
“I still have some stuff hidden at Hogsmeade that could be useful,” Sirius piped up, filling his glass once more, “Not very legal, mind you, but… legality doesn’t really matter when there’s a war happening, yeah?”
Natasha nodded, drumming her fingers against the table as she looked over the map, “We can use the cloak to help us bypass, especially since I’m kinda limited on the magic thing without a wand. If there’s an alert system, it probably won’t keep us safe from that, but if we set up a distraction, we might be able to sneak away without anyone knowing.”
“But what would the distraction be? It wouldn’t be very smart to send someone to be the distraction, and we’re limited on what we can use.” Tom replied, crossing his arms over his chest as he pursed his lips in consideration.
“I have an idea.” A fifth voice popped up, and everyone turned around to face the voice. Natasha rushed over to her sister, taking most of her weight as her sister seemed to sway on her feet. “Sorry, there’s only so much sleeping I can do before thoughts of arson set in.”
“Yelena!” Remus scolded, parental fury on his face, “You almost died; you should be in bed!”
Her sister rolled her eyes, a scoff making its way out of her mouth, “I got up to go to the bathroom, and I heard what you were talking about. Yes, I know snooping is bad, but I have a lot of explosives and goodies from the Weasley twins. I also may or may not have convinced Clint to give me flying lessons, and have some dude’s number on speed dial for an attack helicopter.”
“... What do you do when we’re asleep?” Sirius asked, sounding slightly scared but impressed.
“You don’t wanna know.” She answered quickly, which only caused the suspicion to rise.
“Yelena,” Natasha started with a concerned tone in her voice, “You almost just died; you should be resting, not fighting.”
Her sister pursed her lips, an annoyed look on her face. “As if you haven’t done the same thing - hell, even worse!” Natasha couldn’t help but wince at her sister’s words, knowing that she was right. “Besides, the wards won’t pick up on us if we’re high enough in the sky, yes?” Yelena looked at Tom, who nodded his head in agreement
“Brooms are easier to detect, yes, but… There is always the possibility of magic interfering with the helicopter if it gets close enough to Hogsmeade, considering it isn’t technically magical.”
“Well,” Remus cleared his throat, “Arthur Weasley has an illegally modified car, but it’s been able to ride under the ministry’s nose due to how small the modifications are. It’s still able to work as a regular car, in both magical and muggle areas.”
“So, you’re saying we could modify the helicopter to be safer?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
This is a bad idea, why did I let Yelena convince me to do this? Natasha chewed through her lip until the taste of copper filled her mouth. The helicopter was invisible to everyone and packed with protection, but the older sister couldn’t help but worry.
She shuffled underneath the cloak, waiting for her signal. She watched as Sirius and Remus pranced between the different shops, warning the shop owners of the danger that was about to come. Surprisingly, not many of them decided to leave - choosing to stay and defend their home.
Tom, however, was the bait. Once everything was settled, he raised his wand up and shot red sparks up from the tip, alerting death eaters about his presence. Magic wasn’t banned in Hogsmeade, but it was an unspoken agreement between the folks that lived there to keep magic on the low, with the hope of not gaining any attention.
Within seconds, the popping sound of apparition rang throughout the village, a dozen or so death eaters appearing before them. However, before Natasha could tell Yelena to hit the button, her sister had already acted.
Their plan was honestly quite simple, and muggle, if you will. With a second thought, Natasha placed the gas mask over her face - the rest following suit. The death eaters coughed and tried to remove the gas with their magic, and some even tried to apparate away. However, step two of their plan prevented them from leaving.
Sirius and Remus threw one of the Weasley’s products, which kept a wizard from being able to remove their feet from the ground. It was time-based, so magic was unable to do anything for it. One by one, the death eaters collapsed to the ground, having passed out from the sleeping gas.
Finally, Natasha moved, walking over to the fallen death eaters, and grabbing the knife from her back pocket. She lifted the cloak in order for her to slit their throats, preventing them from ever waking up again. With that done, Natasha completed the last step of their plan, grabbing one of their wands for herself. She flicked her wrist, whispering a quiet, “Lumos,” to test the wand.
It wasn’t a perfect match, but thankfully, the wand agreed with her enough to work with her. That was all she could hope for…
“You ready?” Tom asked after making his way up to her, placing a gentle hand on her tensed shoulder. She cracked her neck, trying to release the tension from her body.
“No, but I have to be.”
With that, she made her way towards Hogwarts…
To the journey's end.