Darcie's despearte state - Thunder Calamity (2)

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"No!" Darcie's shriek pierced the air, startling all the Auguries and making them cry along with her.

Even before Madam Villanelle could do something, Darcie stepped back to the broom, which was only a few feet away from her, and threw herself off the cliff. Air whistled in her ears, but it was the pitiful growls of the Kneazle that made her push the broom beyond its capabilities.

The drop was high, giving Darcie a chance to save the kitten, but the cliff's wall was full of vines and branches that jutted out like thorns. One of such branches hacked at the kitten, making it let out a painful growl.

It did break its fall, though.

Darcie had never flown so fast in her entire life, but she couldn't have cared less. The incomplete Firebolt trembled as she saw the ground enlarging beyond the kitten. And just when the kitten was about to kiss the rocky patch, Darcie's outstretched fingers wrapped themselves around its tiny body.

The broom spun at its position, making an instant 90-degree turn. The twigs at its end brushed the ground, but the danger had passed.

Sweating and huffing, Darcie stirred the broom back to the top and landed near her mentor.

"Darcie!" Madam Villanelle came rushing toward her, her face full of fear and distress. "Are you OK? You? How can you be so reckless? What if something had happened to you? You could've… Sigh!"

Darcie didn't know what to say. The kitten was still in her hands, and despite its smooth purple fur, she was feeling a moist sensation in her palms.

Darcie loosened her grip and turned over her palm. It was glistening red.

"It's bleeding!" Darcie squeaked, her face paling as she saw the kitten.

Even Madam Villanelle had gone quiet seeing so much blood. She took the kitten off Darcie's hands and put it on the ground. The older witch cast several spells, bringing a stop to the bleeding, but she kept becoming quieter. "It needs Skele-Gro," Madam Villanelle said, sighing at last.

Otherwise, it wouldn't survive. This, she left unsaid.

"Let's go," Madam Villanelle said, shaking her head. "We will come back after you've grown up a bit. After becoming a Hogwarts student, perhaps. It's clear that the Augury's chicks aren't fated with you. Such an ill thing wouldn't have happened, otherwise."

Darcie didn't move, though.

"No." Darcie's voice was defiant, the one that naturally comes to those who have struggled their way up. "I don't want to give up so easily, mentor," she said, her tone composed, her eyes almost moist. "Please."

Madam Villanelle was taken aback. She didn't know that Darcie had this side to her as well. But she could understand her thoughts. How vile a blow it would be to her self-esteem if Darcie didn't try her best today? Madam Villanelle knew the answer to that, too.

"Your mother's so going to kill me!" the older witch rubbed her head exasperatedly. In her hands, the kitten growled in pain. Madam Villanelle sighed once again and then nodded. She cast a protection charm around Darcie, creating an invisible spherical shield. "Don't go out of it. I will let the minister know that our return is delayed until the evening. Then I will come back. OK?"

Darcie smiled and nodded.

Madam Villanelle gave a last assuring look to Darcie, made sure that the protection charm was working, and then hurried off on the incomplete Firebolt.

Darcie sat down on the rocky ground, still catching her breath.

In the bloody commotion, she even forgot that she had eaten little today. Now that she got some free time, hunger found her, making her frown.

This frown took over two hours to disappear.

They had covered at least an hour's worth of distance after leaving the cobbled path. So, it didn't come as a shock to Darcie that even after two hours Madam Villanelle had not returned.

Darcie was still contemplating her failures in getting a magical creature when the corners of her eyes caught a golden flash. She threw herself to her feet and craned her neck toward the sky.

On that white and blue background, something gold was flying fast. Something incredibly tiny.

Chirp!

Darcie gaped, her pupils trembling as she recognized the creature. She could make out a blurry image of a completely round and fat bird, covered in golden feathers, with a long, thin beak. It was so erratic that if Darcie had not experienced such flight patterns before, then she would have not followed its trajectory.

No, it wasn't a Golden Snitch.

It was a Golden Snidget; the extremely rare and protected species of bird that probably no one had seen in ages.

Darcie pounced on the broom by her side, but then she recalled her mentor's words. What to do now? Should she leave the protective shield or not? But what if she was fated with the Golden Snidget? On this vast mythical island, what were the chances of her encountering such a rare bird, and just when she needed a magical creature, as expected of her by those Six figures? If this wasn't the calling of fate, then what was?

No. She had already failed enough. Moreover, this magical bird was on this side of the cliff, toward the tower. She would catch it in no time, Darcie believed. The broom wasn't as good as the incomplete Firebolt, but it was still faster than her Comet 220.

Darcie kept giving herself reasons, but it couldn't change the fact that she had already flown out of the boundaries of protection charm. The Golden Snidget sensed Darcie, rushing toward it on broom, and fluttered away like a bullet into the clouds.

Darcie followed.

Up, down, left, and right, Darcie never lost sight of this bird, her right hand already stretched outward, just inches away from it. She could feel it in her heart. This creature was truly the one who shared fate with her. Didn't she like flying? Wasn't she experienced in catching Golden Snitches? She had little interest in Quidditch, but didn't she imagine herself sometimes as a seeker?

The tips of her fingers touched the golden fur, and Darcie almost laughed.

It was then it happened.

A giant bird swooped down from heaven, its claws wrapping around Darcie in a solid grip. The other claw grabbed at the broomstick, but it snapped in two.

"Cough!" the force behind the blow was so much that Darcie's mind went black instantaneously, blood seeping out of the corners of her mouth. With sheer will, the young Malfoy kept herself from losing consciousness and forced her eyes to look up.

It was a giant bird with six wings and golden furs, which kept changing to become blue and white. These were the only things she could see.

This much was enough, though.

Thunderbird! The name exploded in her mind.

Cry!!!

The bird released a cry and crossed the cliff with one flutter of its wings, leaving behind flashes of lightning in its wake. Darcie was feeling an intense bout of pain in her chest and could sense the iron grip of the talons that were wrapped around her.

'Didn't Madam Villanelle say that Thunderbirds don't come to this side of the cliff?' Darcie asked herself, grimacing. She was not even 7, and her parents had never let her do anything that would have inflicted such pain on her body. To them, Darcie was no less than a Veela or Fairy, and a gem of their eyes.

This one instance of pain shattered all experiences and knowledge for Darcie.

She forced her eyes open, and to her horror realized that the magical bird was taking her deeper into the valley, flying faster and faster toward the Valley of Endless Rumbles.

'No!' Darcie screamed inwardly. 'The moment we reached its nest, it would kill me.'

It was at this moment she remembered another thing that made her look up once more. This bird's wings were nowhere as large as mentioned in the books.

It was just a chick!

The young Thunderbirds were inherently more vicious than the adults, Darcie knew. She must do something now.

The wind was blasting against her face, and then with every moment, it kept becoming colder than before. The thunderous rumbles felt nearer with every flutter of the six wings overhead, and the flashes kept becoming more blinding, too.

Darcie greeted her teeth and tried to squeeze herself out of the grip, but failed. Her one hand, which she had outstretched to catch the Golden Snidget, was still free. She lifted it and focused, creating a blurry outline of a fireball. But then the young Thunderbird jolted up and down in the stormy winds, and a wave of cruel pain coursed through Darcie's body, staring from her chest.

The fireball's outline vanished.

What now? With so much, how would she focus on doing magic? Suddenly, a name surfaced in her mind, like a flame of hope.

"Dobby!" Darcie's shriek was helpless and painful.

However, for the first time, the house-elf of the Malfoy family failed to show up at his mistress' call.

A chilly sensation of fear and desperation ran over Darcie's spine. She couldn't help but think if the mythical island prevents the logic-defying Apparation of the house-elves as well.

If it was so, then she was doomed.

The darkness welcomed Darcie in her embrace, then. Several bolts of lightning hacked at her surroundings, and a sheet of rain drenched her clothes, icy rain droplets seeping into her woolen garments. Her white-gold hair got stuck to her face, and another drop of blood fell off her chin.

Darcie was truly scared now.

'Wait a minute!' She called something, making her eyes glow with a hazel glint. Her right hand fumbled at her waist, reaching for the purse at her waist.

The whistle won't work here, Madam Villanelle had told her. But there was something in her purse that could help her. Darcie forced her tiny fingers inside the rock-like skin of the bird's legs and opened the purse. A few things fell out, but she had already grabbed what she wanted.

It was a vial, full of bright green liquid. Darcie had brewed it at her home one weekend using her mother's wand. She always kept a few small vials of these useful potions on her, especially if she had brewed it recently.

Who could have thought it would come in handy like this?

It was a Shrinking Potion.

With a flick of her thumb, the stopper popped off, and a few drops came splashing out. Not waiting any longer, Darcie brought her trembling hand to her mouth and emptied the vial.

A pi-pa sound came out of Darcie's entire figure, and then with a generous pop, she blurred, shrinking to the size of a finger.

Darcie fell out of her clothes, her shrunken fingers grabbing the white cotton gown she had been wearing under her woolen coat. Over her head, the young Thunderbird let out an ear-piercing cry as it felt the prey loosening in its grip. But the coat was still there, and the young one hadn't developed enough intelligence to stop and give it a proper glance. So, thinking that it still had the prey, it kept flying, disappearing toward the distant mountain.

Darcie was falling like a stray drop of rain in the storm.

She wrapped herself up in the cotton gown, bolts of lightning making her blind. With a deafening thud, the cotton gown struck the wet canopies of trees. A few leafless branches hacked at the gown, making it stuck to them, and suddenly, Darcie's shrunken figure fell out of it.

With her being so small, everything in the world looked vaster to her. Even the distance from a low branch to the ground felt deeper than the drop from the cliff to the ground.

Not to mention, she was naked. Her hat had already loosened, falling off in the sky, and now even the gown got snatched off from her.

But the pain wasn't so bad now, and Darcie could focus once again.

Her pupils dilated, and the magic churned. In the next moment, Darcie was almost gliding, swaying toward the ground like a leaf.

Like a white-skinned fairy, Darcie landed on the ground, and when she straightened her spine, she found two murderous red eyes already glaring at her.

"Hehe!" The sheer absurdness and craziness of the situation made Darcie laugh suddenly. Even Daphne would have never heard her laugh so, with such madness in her voice. Blood dripped down her chin, and there were countless scratches over her body.

Yet, for the first time, Darcie felt truly free. None could see her here. And none could stop her.

Boundless Magic exploded around her, and she crouched, picking up a stray, tiny twig.

In the next moment, the twig transfigured, becoming a needle-like lance.

Darcie lifted her left hand, and her eyes narrowed to the size of a needle's tip. Three fireballs popped into existence, burning like three tiny suns. Then an even tinier hurricane appeared around her, bringing pieces of rotten leaves with it.

They, too, transfigured, becoming several icicles.

Darcie had learned much.

And now was the time for her to turn all her knowledge into practice; into power…

… Or die!