True Colours, part 4

We’d gone maybe half a dozen steps before the sounds started. There were shouts, as well as some muffled explosions. Bright lights of various colours flashed from that top row of tower windows – enough to tell me there was a full scale duel happening up there. It ended with a loud bang that left my ears ringing as the top of the tower disappeared in multicoloured fireball. I stumbled and would have fallen if Bulstrode hadn’t turned and grabbed my arm with surprising strength. 

“Move, damn you!” she sobbed.  It took a moment for it to hit me. This was for real. I was escaping. 

While most of my mind tried to wrap itself around that thoroughly foreign concept, a small corner was curious about the girl’s reactions. I had a sinking suspicion I didn’t really want to know right now. We’d gone maybe a hundred steps when I started hoping we were near the edge of the wards, and that Bulstrode’s plan included a port-key as well. My physical reserves were flagging and I wasn’t how much farther I could walk without a break.  

As if in answer to that thought, a detestably familiar voice broke in.  “Not another step, both of you,” came the smug voice of Lucius Malfoy.