All Wizards have Weird Names

                                    

                                          
Without warning or hesitation, the Mormo lunged at us. We split again, me diving to the right into a pile of rotting, smelly wood. Ugh, why couldn't the Shrieking Shack be filled with soft beanbags and piles of autumn leaves? The Invisibility Cloak shrouded my body and confused her for a second, but she turned to bear her teeth at Ron.
"Stupefy!" he yelled, thrusting his wand at her.
The red pulsing energy burst from the tip, knocking right into her stomach and sending her flying backwards.
"Good shot!" Nico yelled. He steadied himself from the broken remains of an old four-poster bed and offered my headless body a hand up.
Hermione stood shakily, eyes never leaving the Mormo's frozen body. "Is she dead?" she whispered, obviously shaken. "I don't want to take any chances."
The pile shifted a tiny bit. All of us readied ourselves for another attack... but she was too quick.
In one swoop the Mormo had thrown herself at me like a rocket, pinning me to the ground. Her wicked grin was even worse in close-up view – every evil pore and bead of yucky sweat was visible, and her jagged, yellow teeth glowed in sick delight.
"Little Perseus Jackson doesn't even remember who he is...  yet you fight a lost cause!"
She tried to take a chunk out of my neck, but I threw myself out of the way and managed to avoid certain death. Nico launched a Flipendo spell to shoot her backwards in somersaults.
"What do you want from me?" I shouted, as Ron hauled me off the floor and Hermione stood guard to ward off any more unwanted assaults.
"Isn't it obvious? Your life!" she growled back, flicking her gaze from Nico to Ron to Hermione back to me. "I've heard that you've been very naughty... too naughty to see another sun!"
"I was hoping for something a little less cliché, but whatever."
Nico scooted backwards, wand in hand, to knock her from behind, but she wasn't stupid.
The Mormo snarled. "Tsk, just like my master describes you to be. Ignorant, foolish... loyal..."
Master? "What?"
She sprinted towards Nico, fangs bared, before we could do anything about it, knocking his wand away and grasping him by the throat.
"Let me kill you or I will kill him!" the Mormo said with a wild cackle. Nico struggled under her grip, but she wasn't letting go soon. The Mormo pointed an accusing finger at Hermione. "And don't try any tricks, witch. One wrong move and the boy gets it."
Nico squirmed under her grip, scratching at her arm to injure her. It was a no go; he might as well have been a kitten mewling at a nuke. He started to gasp as the Mormo kept a claw on his bare throat.
A pulse of anxiety coursed through my veins – I couldn't let him die for me. I wasn't about to let anyone die for me. I barely knew this kid – weird, slightly creepy, funky name, and somehow familiar – but if it had been Ron or Hermione, I'd have given myself up in a heartbeat. There was no difference. At the end of the day, they were all people, all willing to risk their lives for me.
I dropped Harry's wand and put my hands up as a sign of surrender. The Mormo's smile widened. Hermione and Ron looked horrified as I slowly stepped across to her.
"All right, you win. Let Nico live."
The Mormo loosened her grip on Nico's throat, causing him to drink the air desperately.
"Come closer so I can end this now," she hissed, licking her lips in a gross way. "And the boy and your friends will live."
I inhaled deeply. It's been a short, but sweet life, Percy.