Corky De Luca's Story

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Bobby stood at the front of the cruise, looking on at the sight of Magnus with awe and aspiration within. He couldn't control how much his lust for returning outpaced itself. "Ah, fresh air indeed.. He thought silently to himself. He fixed his posture and licked his lips, followed by untying the knot in his freshly green tie. Bobby sniffed, once and again, finding himself uncontrollably sneezing at that. He whipped his nose with his arm, shaking his head as a sign of relief as he peaked over, noticing something strangely odd, grotesque rising to the top of the ocean losing all hope as his face changed from relief to horror within seconds.

They were humongous, rising in the league of hundreds, mermen and maid alike. All holding on tightly to their tridents and pitchforks. But they were waiting, almost as though they had been signaled. With shock came blood, as the skies lit up in a dash of multiple colors, snakes in fact, swirling around the other, almost hissing like a python in the Egyptian deserts. He gripped tightly onto his wand, turning left to face the cold that awaited him.

Men, covered in masks and smoke. Demons he thought? But he knew all too well for what was to come. Screams filled the air, followed by laughter and spells shouting left and right from one another. He fell down, watching the death eaters board the cruise one by one, filling what joy the students had with coldness, rain and death.

He pulled out his wand, breathing heavily with short pauses to catch his breath. Where were the others? Were they safe? Secure? His thoughts mesmerized and changed, crossing his arms as he hid under the cupboard by the deck, surrounded by spells shooting back and forth. "We're at deck! We're at deck!" The captain cried, stopping the cruise to a halt as Bobby exited. Pushing, following and running for his life.

"Dementors! Dementors!" A poor young girl screamed, pointing to the skies as they fell like rain. Bobby could see the carriages in clear view that would lead him to the school, safe and unharmed. He sped up his pace and ran, turning his back to see an all out war still on the cruise. "Faster, I must.." He repeated by the dozens. He could see it, the carriage just a few distances away, finally, he had made it.

Too soon the boy had hoped. Bobby clenched hard onto the carriage door, unknowingly realizing his fate would be decided right there. A word came..followed by a flash of green light. Bobby hit the floor with a face that had been filled with pink now cold like ice. He was dead.

”Not quite, yet,” the Texan replied, ”oh, but we're still holding our breaths. My uncle, the monsignor back home, says all the Masses in Latin under dispensation from our bishop. Some of my kinfolk refused to go to Mass until that dispensation was enforced. 'Course, there is definitely room for English... when German or Latin doesn't suffice.”.

"Quite true. I have a great deal of affection for the English language. With its patchwork of words and grammar from other languages, there isn't a language like it," the pure-blood noted. With that, he remained mostly quiet, observing the others and contributing to the conversation here and there. The cruise was pleasant and he was looking forward to another school year.

Then, an icy hand gripped his heart and everything went to hell in a hand basket. He cursed and gripped his wand as he watched helplessly as other students fell to an unholy alliance of Death Eaters and Dementors. In a split second he had to make a decision. Would he have a better chance of survival hiding somewhere in his compartment or fighting their attackers?

He calmly stepped out of his compartment and, spotting a group of Death Eaters, he thrust out his wand and softly murmured, "Flipindo Tria."

He watched with some satisfaction as the fools were knocked against the wall by a tornado of magic, losing consciousness. Honestly, it was a third year spell. He smiled charmingly at his friends.

"I really see this as an opportunity to cut loose, don't you?"

As he said that, he grimaced as a Dementor flew towards him. He had not yet fully mastered the Patronus Charm. It took great effort for him to produce a corpeal one.. Quickly, he drew circles in thin air with his wand.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Sure enough, a jet of white vapor erupted from his wand, halting the creature as he grinned, his patronus clearing his mind enough to allow him to regain a happier state of mind. Now then, what memory was strong enough for him to use? Ah yes, last New Year's Eve. He had not gotten any sleep that night.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Sure enough, a luminescent snake was produced by his wand. It hissed as the Dementor before lunging at it and Stephen nodded in satisfaction before he heard a familiar scream.

"Schwarz!"

He ran towards the scream and spotted his classmate and the perpetrator, his mask hiding his expression, but Stephen could tell he was enjoying torturing the boy. He gripped his wand before making a slashing motion, casting the first spell that came to mind.

"Sectumsepra!"

Stephen watched coldly as his spell made a large cut across the man's chest. He cursed when he heard a scream. Okay, it was time to lose the bravado.

"Stephen is not physically injured, but he's not getting up anytime soon," he murmured to the group, not caring in the slightest what they thought of his using a dark spell to leave a man to bleed out. He was not going to think about it now. He stepped down the hall and his heart clenched. He hadn't known Bobby well, but he didn't deserve to die.

"We can give him his last rites later. For now, we can make his enemies suffer greatly before they die."

"Bobby..." Death. Natalie had never been a real witness. She was not like so many of her classmates, scarred by tragic pasts and dark histories. She was ignorant in perhaps the best way. Ignorant of true tragedy. Even now, as she looked upon the face of the boy she barely knew, a boy that she'd spoken to only through sharp barbs, swift jinxes and a single punch, she did not feel sadness, or misery. She was not torn up by his death. Her mind was vacant of fond memories of him, and thus, as the glimmer in his eyes faded and his skin turned cool as marble, she felt little more than shock. Shock and disbelief.

Why were they here? What did they want? Murder and violence, were they truly the only things these wicked creatures lived for? Her thoughts were suddenly shattered, and sensing a presence behind her, she spun around, wand at the ready and lips folding around a hex. But the person was not masked, nor cloaked. She was a fellow student, one that Natalie was familiar with, and as she went to shield Natalie, she fired spells not at the Arietum witch, but at the cruel beings that were now attacking them.

"Cover me, I'm not leaving him here like this!" The girl spoke to her, her voice sharp and desperate, and as she hoisted the limp and lifeless figure, Natalie nodded, spinning on her heel and firing a rally of wordless jinxes and hexes and the oncoming parade. Glancing at the cowering first years still beside her, she jerked her head pointedly towards the Corky, "Keep down, and follow her!" They were, for a brief moment, too terrified to move, but as a curse came their way, only to be deflected by Natalie's own spell, they followed her command, hurrying teary-eyed after the short-haired witch.

Natalie noted her struggle, and, with a pained expression, twirled her wand in a familiar, second-year charm. Bobby's body rose slightly, hovering above the ground like a spirit ascending to heaven, but stayed inches from the deck's surface, weightless.

She turned back to the crowd of death eaters and dementors, shivering slightly as a coldness overcame her, but firing spells all the same. Not taking her eyes off the attackers, she called over her shoulder at the girl pulling along Bobby. "We have to get these first years out of here!" She urged, her eyes searching for somewhere safe, secluded... Where else? Magnus.

"We have to get to Magnu-" The yelp of a first year cut her off, and she looked back to see the child squirming on the ground, writhing in pain as the death eater above grinned maniacally. "Sectumsempra!" The wizard's eyes widened in horror as his hand, still clutching the wand, tumbled from his wrist, and with another spell, he was sent soaring backwards. Grabbing hold of the girl, Natalie hoisted her up, helping her up and following after Corky.