Trapped

I enter my house, shut and lock the door and make myself comfortable in the chair beside the window. Any moment now they'll Apparate outside the garden door.

I'm not afraid. I'm angry. Angry at those people, who only live to kill and destroy. I know my plan is risky, but it's a bigger risk to let these people on the loose. I joined the Order because I wanted to help in stopping them. And if things go well, by tonight five more Death Eaters will be imprisoned. Thanks to the Order of the Phoenix... and me.

It's funny, actually. When I thought of posing as bait for the Death Eaters, I didn't really think I could attract them. Who am I, really? Emmeline Vance, half-blood, Ministry of Magic employee in the Department of Magical Transportation, Broom Regulatory Control. There's nothing special about me; and yet, the moment Snape 'betrayed' me, they didn't think twice. They immediately started looking for information on me and organising the attack. Just goes to show how thirsty for blood they are... and why I want to help the wizarding world get rid of them once and for all.

There they are. One, two, three, four, five. I quickly conjure my Patronus, order it to go to the Burrow and inform the Order of the Death Eaters' arrival, then run to the kitchen; no need to take more than the necessary risks. Once there, I lock the door and, just for good measure, go to the back of the room and build a protective wall around me.

I then see my Patronus again, the silver gazelle, shaped after the ones I so loved seeing at the zoo as a kid. She enters through the wall, as if she were looking for me.

"Go to the Burrow!" I whisper intensely. I guess I did a hasty job conjuring her. I raise my wand and project more positive feelings on her.

And yet, she doesn't leave.

She attacks the wall with her horns, insistently. But she doesn't fade and vanish; she remains there. I tell her to leave again, ask her to go give the signal to the Order... but she doesn't. She just keeps on attacking the wall, like a caged animal trying to escape.

She is caged, I realise. Something's gone wrong.

I am trapped.

"Alohomora!" I hear a female voice outside the kitchen door. One instant later, the door is down and the five Death Eaters barge in. The gazelle tries to attack them, but she can do nothing to harm them.

I start shooting hexes at them. I don't know what's keeping my Patronus from leaving, but it doesn't matter. They're five, and I'm one. I've got no time to lose.

They dodge my hexes and shoot me, but their first attack wave bounces on my barrier. This wall is one-way; my magic can penetrate it, but theirs can't. I take advantage of that to Stupefy the one closer to me; he slumps to the floor with a loud noise. The others, though, are still attacking my barrier.

The moment I manage to immobilise another of them, my barrier is torn down. I've got no time to get worried.

One by one, they are attacking me with the Killing Curse. One, two, three. I manage to Shield myself.

And then the green jets of light come again. Simultaneously, this time.

And my gazelle is still there.

I'll never know why she didn't leave.

-The End-