Ch. 33: The Storm [Part Three]

Song For This Chapter: Summertime Sadness —
Lana Del Rey

     Forces came from all sides, all at once. Death Eaters and Hogwarts defenders rushed across Hogwarts, some in the air and some on foot. The world had been quiet for a mere second and then everything escalated. I could hear bombs.

     I could hear the heavy footsteps of Giants and Trolls as they crashed into the castle.

     I could feel my fear.

     The bridge had been taken care of, so we were sure no one would be able to come into the castle from the back. Now, we had to focus on the entrance. Our group consisted of Ginny, Jenna, Lana, Neville, the Pavarti twins, Seamus, and myself as we ran to the front of Hogwarts, ran to the dangers like our stupid, Gryffindor colours told us to do.

     I watched as our group split into two, half of us heading to the courtyard and the other half aiding those being pummeled back by Death Eaters of every size.

     We could see it coming far before it actually reached us. A troll, huge as three men and triple that width. It was lugging a giant, wooden club that seemed to have been torn straight from a tree. It was hideous in the dark torch light and, for a brief moment, I was glad we weren't facing it in broad daylight.

     Jenna, Lana, and I spared each other a few nods, breaking up our ranks and flanking out to try and face the coming threat from all sides.  Soldiers made of stone were thrown from its path as the troll pushed its way into the courtyard, barely held back by the charms from the professors.

      "Confringo!"

     " Expulso!"

     We attempted any offensive spell that came to mind, blowing back the troll just for it to advance again, hardly injured by our onslaught of attacks. We pressed harder, repetitively shooting jinx after curse after charm at the opponent.

      The troll roared loudly, annoyed by the stinging sensation of the curses pounding against its rough flesh. Jenna shot a volley of arrows from the tip of her wand, cutting against its torso and digging into its flesh, but hardly stopping the troll from its advance.

       Angry, the troll swatted at the arrows, yanking them out of its chest like cactus spines and tossing them to the floor before swinging the club around, an arch so wide that it almost knocked three people down in its path.

      Jumping behind the troll, I tried to think of a way to help slow it down, to bind it before it did any more damage for You-Know-Who.

      "Incarcerous!" I yelled, conjuring up thick lengths of rope from the tip of my wand, their fingers winding around the legs of the beast and wrapping it up, tying tightly before snaking their way up its body, trying to tether the troll to the ground.

       "AAAGGHHHH!" It hollered, shuffling its feet as I continued to press my magic harder, trying to take it down. The troll swivelled around, unsteady with the ropes, to face me. Before I really saw it coming, the whoosh of air burst across my skin before the painful, bone-breaking impact of the troll's club nestled into my stomach.

     As it swung, I could feel my body stick to the wooden club, as if moulded to it by the sheer impact. The force was so strong I lost all the oxygen from my body and was unable to catch a breath as I soared through the air.

      The night was cold against my flesh as the troll flung me to the ground from the end of its club. I watched the cobbled stones of the Hogwarts courtyard come up to meet me, unable to breathe, let alone conjure up a spell that would save me.

      "Arresto Momentum!" Jenna yelled, her blue eyes wide with fright as she caught me with her spell, halting my rushing demise. Lana and Seamus and a few other students picked up where we'd left off, sending more spells towards the weak spots in the troll's flesh.

     My bones settled on the ground, but I couldn't manage to stand just yet. As I gathered my breath, I rolled onto my hands and knees, feeling a sudden rush of nausea as I vomited a pool between my hands, my stomach throbbing and aching in splintering pain.

     "Agh!" I scream after managing to get air into my lungs. I clutched a hand onto my stomach, pain shooting up my entire torso in waves. Reaching out my wand, I fired more ropes at the troll, binding it down to the ground and causing it to trip and stumble onto the cobbled stones. Once it was flat on its back, more ropes covered it, gagging the beast and tightening around its neck, choking off its oxygen.

      Angry, I slowly pushed myself up from the ground, despite the pain.

      "Stay down, Elle!" Lana yelled over her shoulder, shooting arrows at the defenceless troll.

      "Bite me," I hissed through gritted teeth, spitting the foul taste of stomach acid from my mouth. I stumbled behind them and piled the troll with more ropes, probably more ropes than had ever been conjured before. I wanted to bury it in ropes.

      "This is gonna be nasty," Seamus warned, flicking his wand, "be warned."

      "What?" Lana asked, turning from the troll as it began to thrash and break the ropes that had been holding it down to the cobble beneath him.

      Seamus didn't need to answer. Instead, I watched in horrified disgust as he conjured vines up from beneath the ground of the courtyard, the sharp ends piercing into the eyes of the troll and gouging out its eyeballs, sinking into depths of the holes left behind.

      The troll walloped against the ground, inhuman screams coming from it as the vines stabbed into its brain, down its throat, out its nose. Blood freely flowed from its wounds and the vines consumed the troll's entire skull, peeking out from every hole.

      I had to look away, feeling sick.

     Jenna's eyes widened in horror at the sight. I focused on her instead, watching her as she cupped a hand over her mouth and took in the dead creature.

       I was hunched over still, clutching at the pain, though I knew it probably wasn't helping in the slightest. "That really hurts," I muttered under my breath with a sharp inhale.

     "You gonna be okay?" Lana asked, turning her back to the sight of the troll as more bombs rocked the castle, Death Eaters swarming us like an angry hive of bees.

      Stretching out the pain, I arched my back and felt my lower torso ignite in flaming fingers of scorching discomfort. Inhaling through my nose and out my mouth, I found that it slowly started to ebb, and I nodded to my friends as they shot me concerned looks. "I'll be fine."

        BANG!

     Soaring past us, a fireball landed and exploded on the archway. Rubble and fire rained down from the air, big enough to kill.

     "GET INSIDE!" McGonagall yelled at all the students fighting in the courtyard, waving her arms to the quickly falling castle. "Get to cover!" In the distance, more trolls began to advance, and I tried not to look at the dead one at our feet, feeling sick at the thought of it. It had been a gruesome death.

      I followed the group into the castle, only to be attacked by a volley of spells from two Death Eaters immerging from the depths of their hiding place, in attempts to ambush unsuspecting students. Lana gripped the hem of my shirt and yanked me back against a door as the spells bounced off stone and wood, narrowly missing me.

       Flinching at the way my lower back hit the door, I thanked Lana for saving my ass.

        In the distance, as I turned my head, I could have sworn I saw Harry, Hermione, and Ron all running across the courtyard, but not towards safety. For a second, I worried that it would be the last memory I would have of my sister. But, with the two Death Eaters continually tossing curse after curse, there was nothing I could do about it.

      "Stupefy!" I shouted, not aiming as I didn't even peek around the door, shooting the spell in the hopes it would take one of them off guard.

      It didn't.

      Ginny rushed at the two from the side, blasting one of them out of their boots and through a stained glass window; I was sure he wouldn't recover. Taking the chance, I stepped out and shot a few curses at the remaining Death Eater.

      However, the man turned into a puff of black smoke, the cloud growing thicker and thicker as he swirled around our small group. "Bombarda!" I shouted, pointing it at the mist, but it went straight through, blasting a crater in the stone across the hall.

       White hot pain shot across my face as a bright yellow curse ignited across my face. I could feel the skin on my cheek splinter with sharp, deep cuts as blood trickled down my neck from the wound.

      Then, he appeared once more, grinning wickedly as he shot a few more curses.

         "Expulso!" I tried once more, being backed up by the others. The Death Eater dodged the spell I'd cast only to be hit by one Lana cast from the opposite side, his body freezing up into a human popsicle before tipping over and shattering into a million bloody chunks on the cobblestone.

      There was a crash from the side of us as our small group split once more, Ginny and Seamus meeting up wth Dean Thomas and heading East while Lana, Jenna, and I decided to follow the sound and see where it led.

      We found a trail of rubble and one dead body.

     One very familiar dead body.

      "I can't look," Jenna whispered, her eyes watering.

      Laying in a pool of her own blood was Lavander Brown, the annoying girl who had a crush on Ron Weasley. It looked like her throat had been ripped open to the bone, her face pale in death and her eyes wide with fright.

       "Oh my God, Lavander."

      My sore stomach churned as I peered into the dead eyes of her face, the torch light and the light from the fires all around us reflecting back at me. Beside me, Lana frowned and shook her head. "I can't believe it," Lana said, "those bastards. They fucking killed her -- they ate her."

     I didn't know where the monster was that had done this, maybe they'd been taken care of, but either way, I couldn't believe she had just been left here. "We need to move her inside," I whispered quietly, unable to speak boldly in the face of a dead peer.

     My eyes were watching the dead body of Lavander Brown, but my mind was telling me a different story entirely. My brain kept trying to trick me, and I began to see someone other than Lavander soaked in their own blood. Instead, Fred stared blankly up at the dark, hapless skies, dead and cold and gone from the world.

      Tears pricked at my eyes, blood and salt water mingling on the plains of my face as I reached up the back of my hand to wipe at it, smearing blood across my face and on my arm. I shook my head, seeing Lavander again, as more bombs and screams echoed from the castle around us. "We can't leave her out here."

     Jenna was silently crying as Lana firmly nodded in agreement and lightly grabbed tightly onto Lavander's arms while I stepped around the pool of her blood, grabbing her cold ankles. I'd never so much as genuinely talked to Lavander Brown, let alone touched her. And now? I was escorting her body into the castle.

      We quickly rushed into the Great Hall, managing to avoid the battles happening all around us. Outside the doors of the Great Hall, Oliver Wood was battling back any who tried to break in, Blake Hall and the Vera Hadley girl with them as well.

     We watched as a couple injured people were taken to the Great Hall and approached it, hoping that Blake would have some idea of what to do about Lavander's body.

      "Elle?" Blake started, but I couldn't even say anything, my hands coated with the life of Lavander as I struggled with the pain and the strain of holding her up with Lana. "Are you alright?" Blake whispered in my ear as she pushed open the Great Hall door and motioned for us to place the body down beside some others.

      I knew Blake didn't expect an answer, and I didn't give her one. I knew Blake would have a plan. She'd seen dead bodies before, dealt with them before.

     I took a deep breath and my stomach lurched, a sharp stab from inside caused me to cringe, but I fought it. My body was cramping up from the hit, but I had to brush it off, for now, to be strong. Blake didn't need to worry about me on top of everything.

     "Brown," I paused, sparing her body one last look, "...I'm sorry." I stopped talking. It didn't feel right apologising. I had never been Lavander's favourite person and the feeling had been mutual. But, Lavander was dead. I'd never wanted that. "I'm so sorry."

      The castle rocked. Bits of stone hailed down from the ceiling.

     "Elle, we're gonna go back out there," Jenna spoke up, surprising the lot of us. "Look at the bodies already in here," she murmured, eyes shining with tears. I refused to look, however. I was too afraid of finding a familiar face. "I've got to help them. And, I know you guys feel that way too. After all, we're Gryffindors."

     "We're Gryffindors." Lana nodded in agreement. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I shoved my mournful thoughts down deep inside myself. They were right. Lana and Jenna parted from Blake and me, wands drawn and ready for another fight.

      "We are." I turned to Blake, who was kneeling down beside Lavander, closing her dead and lifeless eyes from the world and healing the wounds on her skin, making her look nice for when her body was picked up later. If her body was picked up. If we won. As she ran her hand down the blood soaked blouse of Lavander, I saw Fred, dead and under her hands instead.

      "Have you seen Fred?" Part of me wanted her to say yes, but the other part was relieved when she'd said no. He was all right, all in one piece.

      Blake folded Lavander's hands over her chest as she responded, conjuring up a cloth from one of the pushed back tables to cover her body from view. "He's with George and I believe Percy and Arthur. They're pushing back the forces from the west side, I think."

      "Thank you, Blake," I said, turning from her.

      However, before I could get too far, Blake gripped the bottom of my jeans. I stopped and looked down at her, seeing that Blake's eyes were wide and full of fear, which wasn't something I had been prepared for. "You be careful, Elle. You hear me?"

      "I hear you."

     "If you get hurt, even if you're bloody dying," Blake's voice cracked as she looked back down at Lavander's covered frame, "crawl to me. I can try and fix anything. There's nothing I won't do to try and protect my family. You're my family, Eliza."

      My broken stomach fluttered at her kind words, and I felt my heart beat more feverishly against my chest, drumming at anxious speeds. "You're my family too, Blake."

     We shared a brisk, watery smile, and I followed Lana and Jenna out of the Great Hall.

FRED'S POV:

     "Expelliarmus!"

      George shot back the Death Eater as it rounded the corner, blasting him out the tower and through a wall as we descended the stairs, splitting up from our Father as he backed up Kingsley.

      There was a break in the rush of bad guys for only a few moments. I pressed my shoulder against my brother's, being sure to keep an eye on his blind spots while he did the same for me.

      "Aren't you worried?" George asked between heavy breaths. We'd been fighting nonstop for a couple hours now, and the exertion was starting to take its toll on the both of us.

       I didn't need to think about Georgie's question to know what he was referring to. "Aren't you?" I parried back, a smirk on my lips though he couldn't see it. We were both aware of what the other was talking about: the girls in our lives, our family too, but mostly Elle and Blake.

       "Not at all," George replied, disarming an approaching cloaked figure as I hit the Death Eater with a curse, locking its legs and sending them down a flight of stairs.

      "Me neither," I told him.

       George and I moved from the tower to the lower floor, battling off curses and jinxes being thrown at us from all sides. It was an infestation of the worst kind. I couldn't help but think of when Mum's garden had been over-run by garden gnomes, the evil little buggers that chomped down on our fingers whenever we tried to harvest something.

       It was much like that. And, just like that, we would weed these bastards out too.

      "Thinkin' about the gnomes, Freddie?"

        "You know me too well," I told him.

        George chuckled and pushed me out of the way as a blast rocked the stairwell above our heads, rubble falling from the upper floor. "It's almost like we're twins or something."

     "Oi, watch out!" A yell came from across the hall, catching the attention of George and me. There, kneeling behind a fallen, broken statue, was Percy with his matted orange hair, spectacles askew, and a startling black eye.

       I followed the curve of his pointer finger, watching as a fireball was chucked at the pair of us with deadly aim. "Shit," I cursed, swishing my wand at the quickly approaching blast and transforming it into a shower of fireworks, raining gold sparks down onto us instead.

       Percy counter-attacked the Death Eater tossing bombs around the castle, blasting the Cloak into one of the exterior castle walls. The impact shook the upper floor and I was sure the Death Eater wouldn't come back from that.

      I trudged up to my older brother, George sceptically trailing behind, keeping an eye out for surprise attacks at any time. "Percy," I said as we approached, "Welcome back, you tosser."

      "What kept you these few years?" George added with a hint of sarcasm tacked on to the end of his rhetorical question.

       Percy reached up a bruised and scraped up hand, adjusting his glasses before softly smiling at the pair of us. "Sorry, boys, I've been a right dickhead." George and I paused, surprised that Percy had just said dickhead, and about himself too. "If you can forgive me, I'd like to fight beside you two."

        A wicked cackle echoed from across the hall as one of the demented Carrow twins rushed at our small group, followed by a Death Eater named Dolohov that I recognised from the paper, and from the stories dad told us after the restless trials -- he'd known my father. "Exentero!" The female Carrow screeched, sending a disembowelment curse at us. Quickly, Percy stepped in front of George and myself, hardly flinching as he fought off the spell and shot one back in record time.

       George nodded with a faint squeak in his voice. "Yeah, mate, okay. We forgive you."

ELLE'S POV:

      It was like swatting ants. Every time we would beat one back, three more would pop up in their place, more persistent and annoying than ever. Jenna, Lana, and I weren't doing so well, and we looked like beat up shit.

      I didn't have to look in the mirror to know I was covered in bruises and dried blood. I was sure that if I lifted up my shirt, there would be a black splotch the size of Manhattan on my lower torso, the throbbing pain hardly helping me fight back the Death Eaters as they came.

       Added onto all of that, I was beginning to get worried.

      I hadn't seen Fred.

      Blake had mentioned that he was most likely with family, and I knew I couldn't be in two places at once, but I needed to find him. The battle was wearing thin and even the bad guys were starting to lose stamina. I needed to be sure Fred was all right.

       Bombarda and Stupefy had become my go-to enchantments. Perhaps I should have paid more attention in Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Thinking back to my days when I actually attended Hogwarts while I leant against a wooden door frame, sucking in deep breaths of air, I realised I never really had any spectacular DADA professors for that matter. The only arguably good one had been Professor Snape -- but that wasn't particularly hard of a title to claim with A Death Eater and Umbridge in the running too.

        Then again, Snape had been a Death Eater. So, two Death Eaters and a horrible slag.

      Shaking my head, I stopped trying to blame my predicament on the shit teachers on my past and instead focused on the trouble ahead.

        "How are you holding up?" Lana laid a hand on my shoulder as I hunched over, the throbbing pain in my pelvis growing. "We're not too far from the Hogwarts kitchens, so the Great Hall is just up a flight of stairs. We can make it to Blake, if you need."

       I shrugged off Lana's hand and straightened myself out, forcing a firm smile. "I'm fine. I'm fine, really."

      "You're lying," Jenna piped up, "but, it's your decision."     

      Lana lassoed her arm in the air and hit a Death Eater square in the chest as he flew through the air, thinking we had been distracted. With a grunt, the man fell to the ground and was promptly frozen in place with Petrificus Totalus by Jenna.

       I began to thank them for allowing me to do what I wanted when a shift in the air stole our breath. It was almost funny how you could feel Dementors before they showed their faces. A black swarm of Dementors descended upon the three of us, their horror striking faces exposed beneath their cloaks. If there had been any joy or hope to have in the middle of the battlefield, the Dementors found it, absorbing all happiness until I was merely a shell, all my fears and worries amplified.

      It became even more strikingly obvious of how many people out in the battle that I cared for, people that I could have already lost and not even be aware of. The Weasleys, my husband, Blake, Harry, my sister, -- hell, anyone I had spent a significant time with over the years could be dead and gone. Like Lavander Brown.

      Lavander's dead eyes watched me behind my closed eyes as the Dementors continued to break us down. The poor girl.

      "Expecto PATRONUM!" Lana shouted, her eyes hard and focused between Jenna who was hunched over with her eyes clamped shut and my own, slightly pathetic frame. Silver mist wisped out from the tip of her wand, slowly at first and then all together with a blast as the creature took form, spreading its humungous wingspan and bucking at the Dementors as they tried to approach.

       The Dementors clawed against Lana's Hippogriff apparition, but the Patronus was stronger than them, glowing silver bands emanating out from it and wrapping the three of us in its warm embrace. Finally, the Dementors backed down, flying away with the wind and taking their depression with them.

      We were quiet for a little, drowning from the dark thoughts that each had been taken down into from the dark presence before we slowly started to regain our focus. Cracking a brow, I watched my friend as she tucked a stray strand of fading auburn hair behind her ear. "A Hippogriff?"

        "It's not like I chose it."   

      Jenna remained quiet, eyes distant and unfocused. Her lips formed a small, forced smile but I could tell that she had been taken somewhere darker than Lana and I had. I wondered what she'd felt, but I didn't dare ask.

      Lana gave me a look over, knowing me almost better than anyone else. "Go find him."

      "I can't leave you two," I replied, leaning against the stone wall behind the door and taking the strain off my stomach as it began to cramp, stabbing pain through my intestines.

      Lana rolled her eyes and scratched a clump of dried blood off her chin, her hazel eyes glinting as she looked from me to Jenna. "Don't you mean we can't leave you. Jenna and I will be just fine without you. But, you on the other hand?"

      "Harsh!"

       Jenna snapped out of her thoughts, nodding as she interjected into the conversation. "Lana's right. You should go find him. I know you're worried, plus, I'd be long gone if I were you, being perfectly honest."

     Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I took them in, my two crazy, stalker, best friends who had followed me through thick and thin. I could feel myself start to cry, but I held it back, not sure if I would be able to stop once I started. "I love you guys," I told them. Reaching out, I wrapped Jenna into a tight hug then gripped Lana into one as well.

      "Yeah, yeah," Lana swiped under her eyes, sniffling but hardening her face into a mask of nonchalant-ness. "Alright, you know we love you too. Don't get all sobby on us now."

      "Bitch," I said, my voice cracking as I swiped at the blood and tears that rolled down the sides of my face. I never thought that walking away from my friends would ever rip my heart into two pieces, but I could feel it breaking as I turned my back on them.

      My teeth clenched down on my bottom lip as I forced myself to keep walking, keep hobbling, forward and turn the corner, their frames disappearing from view.

      'They'll be fine.' I told myself. I hoped desperately that I wasn't lying.

      Walking seemed to ease the cramping shards of pain, so I pressed forward, passing the barricaded doors of the Great Hall where people were shuffling in and out, escorting wounded and dead into the doors.

      I didn't want to look at their faces. I couldn't let myself be taken from my path.

       I had to find him. I had to be with him.

     'I have to find Fred,' I chanted, pushing my feet to move faster, further, faster, and further until I was running in a hobbled sort of fashion. 'I've got to find him.' I clung to the shadows of the corners in the walls and behind door frames, trying not to be spotted by any enemies. Their numbers seemed to be thinning, and I was surprised when I hadn't met any in my path.

      Perhaps something bigger was about to happen.

      It felt like a massive brick had been chucked at the back of my head.

      "OUCH!" I hissed, clutching at the sore bump beginning to grow on the back of my skull. As I swivelled around, wand at the ready to throw a curse, I was met instead with a blinding white light.

      "Stupefy!"

      Are you fucking kidding me?

      I blacked out before I hit the ground.

LANA'S POV:

     Jenna and I didn't get too far from Elle when we stumbled across another dead body. Or, almost dead by the look of things.

      "Survive with me!"

      "SURVIVE WITH ME, DAMN IT!"

       Draco Malfoy sat, hovering over the body of Rachel Harvard, crying and muttering 'survive with me' under his breath over and over as blood began pooling around her, soaking into Draco's clothing.

      "Oh, holy crap," Jenna gasped, rushing over to help. I reached out a hand and tried to catch Jenna by the hand, but she was too quick for my protest.

      "Jenna --" I called out.

      Jenna ignored me and dropped to her knees beside Draco, flashing him a concerned look before she examined Rachel's steadily dying body, trying to figure out how she could help. "Draco, let go." Jenna tried to push his hands off the hole in her neck as I approached quickly in the background, never having a fondness for the boy. "I," Jenna met my gaze and corrected herself, "we can help her, but..."

      A small gathering began to form, all students who knew the Death Eater that Draco was, their wands drawn against him as the entire group sized up the burns in his cloak and the soot stains on his face.

      Jenna saw them too and I could tell she was afraid for him. "But you need to leave. Now."

       "No," Draco barked out, choked up. "No, I can't leave her."

      "Then give me your wand," I snapped, "we're in a bloody battle, you prick. I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but --"

     "--Lana," Jenna hushed me, her hands pulling up Rachel's blouse to look at the second wound  in her side. It was a deep gash, and if I guessed right, I figured both the slash in her neck and the wound were inflicted by a blade of some kind. Someone had stabbed her. Twice. "This would be better if Blake was here, but I know something that culd possibly help her."

     Rachel sputtered and gagged on her own blood, under Draco's tightening grip. The scene didn't paint him in the best light, but I couldn't watch the girl die in front of me, no matter how confused I was whether she was on our side or not.

      "All right then, shit," I hissed, rolling up my sleeves and bending down beside Jenna, avoiding the quickly growing blood beneath Rachel Harvard. I sighed and pressed my wand against the hole in her side, thinking of a healing spell I'd been taught in fourth year. "I guess if we let her die, we're no better than You-Know-Who."

       "Vulnera Sanentur," Jenna murmured, pointing her wand at the wound beneath Draco's hands. He still refused to let go of Rachel, but once the magic began to start working, Draco retracted his grip. The walls rocked with the sound of an explosion not too far away, but Jenna only faultered for a moment, her hands shaking as I joined her, healing the wound in Rachel's side and the girl began to gasp for air, heaving and sputtering.

      "Draco," Jenna turned to him again. "You need to leave."

      "I-I can't, I can't go back." His face paled and he dodged her eyes. "Not without Rachel."

     "We've got to take her to the Great Hall," I inserted. The group of students that had swarmed us began to thin out, realising that there was no fight happening here. "Blake Hall will help her more than we can."

      "Blancora?"

      I nodded, trying not to feel bad for Malfoy's pathetic tone.

     There was a piercing whine and everyone flinched. I clutched at my ears, trying to block out the squealing sound. However, I quickly found that the noise was coming from inside my own head. It felt like my brain was on fire.

      The hissing, horrifying tone of a man, a man that I immediately knew to be Voldemort despite the fact that I'd never heard him speak before.

YOU HAVE FOUGHT VALIANTLY, BUT IN VAIN. I DO NOT WISH THIS.

EVERY DROP OF MAGICAL BLOOD SPILT IS A TERRIBLE WASTE. I THEREFORE COMMAND MY FORCES TO RETREAT. IN THEIR ABSENSE, TEND TO YOUR DEAD WITH DIGNITY.

HARRY POTTER. I NOW SPEAK DIRECTLY TO YOU. ON THIS NIGHT, YOU HAVE ALLOWED YOUR FRIENDS TO DIE FOR YOU RATHER THAN FACE ME YOURSELF. THERE IS NO GREATER DISHONOR. JOIN ME IN THE FORBIDDEN FOREST AND CONFRONT YOUR FATE. IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS, I SHALL KILL EVERY LAST MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD WHO TRIED TO CONCEAL YOU FROM ME.

     The voice couldn't stop soon enough. I felt violated and grimy, having had the Dark Lord penetrate my mind. Shudders shook my shoulders and I shivered off the feeling of being watched, finishing the job of suturing Rachel's wounds temporarily.

     Jenna and I both turned to Draco Malfoy, who was a blubbering mess. I wasn't sure if it was because of the state Rahcel Harvard was in, or because of Voldemort's voice in his mind. Perhaps it was a mixture of both.

      "Draco," Jenna quietly asked, biting her lip, "who did this to Rachel?"

      "Bellatrix Lestrange," he muttered back. "She found out Rachel was fighting for the wrong side."

     "And," I furrowed my brow, shooting him a glare, "who do you fight for?"

GINNY'S POV:

     The school was a complete disaster, rubble littered the floor mingled with blood, water, and other materials caused by the battle that had just erupted. Pacing at the large doors of the Great Hall, I tried not watch as Oliver Wood and Alicia Snippet began hauling in bodies to be laid to rest. Whever someone would pass with a person needing Blake's emergency help, I'd swing the door open and help however I could.

      Our hour was quickly ticking down. Soon, Voldemort would be back to finish what he started.

      I tried not to see. I was afraid that I would recognise a face. Harry had left a little while ago, after taking a small glance around the room of the dead. I knew he felt it was all his fault.

       Continuing to pace at the front of the doors, I turned my back as Oliver Wood and Vera Hadley rushed a bloody body into the Great Hall. I didn't even turn to watch them. I couldn't see it. I didn't want to know, not when I was alone, especially if it was someone I knew.

       It didn't take long for the mourners of the body to find their loved one dead, set down among the others as Blake told them there was nothing she could do. I prepared myself for the cries I would hear, trying not to pry.

      "No! No!"

       My heart ripped into pieces with only that voice echoing inside my brain.

       "Oh God." Mum.

       And, then the voice broke, with that one last moan, I knew nothing would ever be the same. Blinking roughly, a tear leaked down my face as I shoved my way through the thick doors to peer at my family surrounding a body.

       My family and a body.

       Oh god. Who was it? Who was it?

       There was a man limping slowly in front of me, but I paid him no mind, roughly knocking him to the side as I sprinted to them. "Who is it!?" I screamed, my voice breaking into the same, small pieces that my heart was.

       Lowering my eyes down onto the body, I felt my legs as they began to buckle from under me, dropping me to the floor beside my fallen family member. My mother was clutching tightly against my father. Bill was holding Fleur in his arms as he stared mournfully down.

     "No," I shook my head roughly, feeling my brain begin to flicker, trying to tell me this wasn't real. This was all a dream. "No," I breathed out as George appeared beside me, clutching my arm.

      It was his face that killed me, how broken and empty he seemed. "George," I began, bottom lip quivering as I stared up into his blank eyes as he just watched the body laying peacefully on the ground, a glimmer of a smile on his lips. But, I couldn't piece together a coherent sentence.

      "Mum?" A rough voice urgently called from across the hall as Ron and Hermione stalked their way inside. "MUM!" Ron yelled, picking up the pace as Hermione's eyes widened and she began to understand the scene before her.

      George turned as Ron broke down, grasping him tightly in a hug, sharing their moment of grief. This was too much to bare. Too much.

       Knees giving out beneath me, I held onto Fred's hand as we all just grieved, the sounds of mourning filling up my thoughts. Things would never be the same.

       I'd almost forgotten where we were until the sound of Hermione sobbing caught my attention. Dropping Fred's hand, my head snapped up to look directly into her eyes, shoving away my grief.

       "Where is Elle?"

ELLE'S POV:

       I woke up, groggy and confused and pissed and ready to fight. And, also in a lot of pain with my head bleeding, but otherwise all right. Not only was my stomach in the worst pain of my life, but my head felt like it'd been bashed in with a two-by-four. I had no idea who the hell attacked me, or where I was, but I knew someone was about to get hexed into next week.

      I wasn't dead, so that must mean that it was someone I knew. And, they were going to get a good punch from me when I figured it out.

       Sitting up and rubbing the back of my head with a groan, I realised it was oddly quiet here. Frowning, I pointed my wand in front of me and casted lumos, finding that I was facing a couple brooms and a mop.

       A broom cupboard. Someone locked me in a broom cupboard.

      Shuffling up onto my feet, I pushed the closet door open and walked out, wand first, making sure to check every blind spot I had before walking any farther. There was hardly anyone in the castle, and the remaining ones weren't focused on me. They were either bleeding or mourning, there was no in between.

      Though the doors in front of the broom cupboard were broken and charred by blasts from curses and counter-hexes, I could still figure out that I was standing in front of the Great Hall.

    As if confirming my assumption, I watched as Blake, covered in blood, rushed to help others in need. I started to call out to her before she disappeared down the hall, headed for some disaster, but she was too far gone.

     There seemed to be a commotion happening somewhere else, towards the courtyard by the faint sound I was hearing, but I couldn't be sure. Hobbling to into the Great Hall, I found it was mostly empty of life outside of the Healers rushing about, trying to help those that they could. Not many mourners were in the room, perhaps because the Healers needed space, but I wasn't sure.

      Maybe their attention was called elsewhere, but I wasn't aware of what.

     Blake rushed into the Great Hall just as I entered, her eyes wide as she passed me, standing in front of my view before I could really get a good look at the trauma in the Great Hall. I quickly noted how her sea eyes were wide with horror.

      "Elle, I-I," Blake stuttered, "W-what's, I don't," she looked confused, her eyes shifting from a few bodies cpvered in white sheets then back to me. "There's something you need to know."

      My heart imploded on that last word. The sensation was one I had never really felt before. It was like a vaccum had come and sucked everything away, turning my veins to ice and my palms to sweat. "What?" I whispered, staring into her eyes. "Blake, who is it?"

      Blake opened and closed her mouth, her lips quivering a tad as she tried to force the words out. "I'm doing everything I can, but..."

       "Blake," I cut her off, unable to see as the tears clogged my vision. "W-Who is it."

      "Blake! We need your help," A man called from the entrance of the Great Hall, but I couldn't see who it was. "There's another body in the rubble!"

        Blake wrapped me in her arms, but I didn't move. The blood on her clothes transfered to mine, but I hardly noticed, feeling like a statue under her arms. She didn't even need to say anything. I already knew.

       I'd been too late.

      I stood in the midst of the Great Hall, unable to move for a solid few minutes. It didn't take very long for my eyes to land on him. Laying there, uncovered, he was almost asleep.

     Finally, I forced myself forward, pushing my bones, commanding my body to move, to see. I only made it half way before the tears started silently falling. There he was, half covered with a dirty, blood-soaked bed sheet.

      I couldn't speak as I closed the final gap between him and myself. But, my pain seemed to melt away into nothing, a numbness filtering through my marrow, turning off my physical pain and settling for an emotional one instead.

      I limply dropped down beside him, sniffling as the cuts in my cheek stung with salty tears. I swallowed hard, forcing down the lump in my throat, smoothing down the sheet on top of him. I found my voice through the disbelief. "Oh, stop it, Fred," I whispered, trying not to choke on my rapidly closing throat. "Stop messing with me."

     "Y-You're fine." I craddled my knees to my chest as I sat beside him, just staying there with my quiet tears falling, still unsure if this was reality or not.

       The Great Hall doors opened again after some time of me sitting there, alone with the others in the room. The other dead and the other mourners who were still wrapped up in their own thoughts. I wondered where the Weasleys were. If they even knew.

      "Put her down there," Blake hissed to Oliver Wood behind me, but I didn't look. I didn't want to. I couldn't take any more heart break. Oliver said something to Blake, but she cut him off. "Just leave, they need some privacy, Oliver."

      My heart was back from its vaccumed space, but now it was shattering into a million little pieces. "Blake?" I called out, meeting her eyes. "Y-You've got to do something. He's not dead. He's not."

      Blake saw something in my face, I wasn't sure what she saw, but it scared her.

      "Cover the body, Oliver," Blake tells him, her fingers figetting as her brow furrowed and unfurrowed. In her eyes, there was a madness I had never seen. She didn't approach me, but kept averting her eyes. "Elle," she dropped her gaze, "I'll do what I can."

      There was a commotion outside and Blake left without another word, taking the others with her as a dark, menacing voice echoed throughout the castle. I hardly listened, unable to comprehend much of anything as my world came crashing down around me.

'HARRY POTTER IS DEAD'

     I blocked out the rest, collapsing onto my hands, clutching at my stomach as the pain returned. I ached all over, from everything. Nothing was all right. We didn't win, and Harry Potter was dead.

      I wanted to throw up, I wanted to scream, I wanted to die.

     I wanted Fred.

     Sobs wreck havoc on my chest as the reality came crashing down around me. It was all real. Nothing was a dream. The evil had won.

     "You just had to die, didn't you?" I screamed out at him through my tears, my vision gone, but my anguish and anger still very much alive. "Fucking Fred! Y-You couldn't have wa-waited for me!"

     I didn't even know what I was saying anymore. I couldn't think. I didn't know what to do. Running a hand up his chest, I clutched his blood soaked lapels, thinking of the night we had danced after our date on Christmas Eve; the night we both had become one.

     We'd been one ever since.

     And now, I have never felt so empty.

     I was going to die. Voldemort had won. Harry was dead.

     In the end, however, as I rested my forehead against his chest and cried some more, I knew I was already dead.

[this is not the end of our tale]