#different light

Breaking from your stupor, you turn your head to meet his eyes reflecting the bright crashing shield, and a fear he was failing to hide. “Right. Good luck.”

Draco blinks rapidly and his face contorts before he spats, “what? You’re not coming with me?”

Your eyes flicker to the castle as the shield no longer glimmering against the night, signifying that it was completely down and the path to the school was free. Once everyone realized that, it sent a frenzy that caused everyone to set off to the school by foot, flying the skies, or apparating to the grounds, whilst you stayed in place for a few lingering seconds more to reply to your brother in an unrecognizable tone. “No. We have our separate missions, I have to fetch the Diadem.”

Draco’s expression turns to a scowl and he scoffs. “You don’t even know where it is.”

“I have an idea where to go.” You assure him.

Draco steps back and shares a moment of silence before noticing how your lips twitch, but he didn’t know if it was to smile or frown. He was going to go without saying a word, but he needed to reassure you. “Fine. I’ll meet you there then. I’m sure we’ll cross paths with your boyfriend. You’ll need the help. Afterall he has something of mine I need back.”

Finally you let your lips turn to a soft smile as you gave him an agreeing nod before you watched him disapparate. After he left you turned to your family who was still accompanying you, and with one single look the three of you set flight to the school.

You were going to separate to go your own different ways once you go to the school, but before you could fly into the courtyard, an unsuspected stunning bolt hit your shoulder and knocked you out of your smoke form and dropped out of the sky. And without hesitation, and knowing she had no wand to protect herself, or to actually use to help you, Narcissa hastily followed you to try and catch you before you hit the ground. Your father caught her sudden actions and followed suit, his own black smoke form flying past her so he could at least grab your hand, or leg, but they were too far and you were falling too fast.

“Y/N!” Narcissa bellowed.

Because of the sudden spell that had hit you, you were trapped in a short haze that threatened to knock you unconscious, but at the sound of your name coming from Narcissa's lips, and the rush of rapidly falling from the sky, you fight the urge and rip your eyes completely open. That’s when you saw your fathers hand out, wanting to grab any part of you he could, but he was too far, you would never be able to reach for him either, so before you could hit the ground, you flipped around in midair and managed to whisper a spell that prevented your fall just inches from the stone bridge.

“Fuck,” you whisper out in a shaky voice. “Fuck.” A shaky laugh escapes your lips, and relief washes over you as you swiftly stand on your feet. Yet, the relief you had felt when you were safely on the ground soon turned to fear when you noticed that you were in between dozens of suits of armor. “Oh…fuck.”

Narcissa then lands beside you, whilst your father lands in front of the both of you even if he had no wand to protect himself either—“Y/N,” he muttered, slowly pulling his hand back. “Give me your wand.”

You reach for your wand hidden within your sleeve, but before you could give it to your father, an idea goes off in your head and a devious smirk tugs on your lips. “I have a better idea.” Before either parent could argue against you, you shove past your father to keep him behind you and to stand your ground in front of the dozen stoned suits of armor blocking the way. “Their shields will deflect every spell,” you explain over your shoulder as you open your hands and slowly raise them. “But there's a weakness if you aim right.”

You snap your head around to face the stone guards, and widen your smirk as you point your palms at their heads. “Reducto,” you murmur smugly, seeing bright blue bolts erupt from your hands and crash into each stone guard in front of you. However unlike before, the spell didn’t work in a split second, this time when the bolt of energy hit their heads, it began to crack down their entire bodies like bolts of lightning, basking their entire bodies in the spells bright blue hue before the spell exploded within them and turned them all into ash.

The aftermath was just a wave of bright blue that the three you shielded your eyes from. The path to school was clear after that, and both of your parents couldn’t help but stand completely bewildered and proud. Yet neither spoke on what had happened, they just quietly watched as your figure disappeared from the bridge as you apparate inside the school, in some lonely hall. Since you couldn’t actually appear inside the walls of the room of requirement, you had to apparate nearby. Now the only problem was finding the door.

“Okay,” you exhale as you come to a stop in front of an empty wall. “It should be around here.” You take a step to the side and then stand there to watch for a slight shift. Yet nothing happened. Making you close your eyes and whisper in some desperate hopes the door would appear. “Please. Please. Plea…”

Your words trail off when you catch the sound of the bricks moving. When you open your eyes, doors begin to form on the wall before you. However when they’re complete and you move your hand to throw them open, the doors open by themselves and a blazing heat wave instantly crashes into you, smoke burns your nose and the heat begins to suffocate you.

The feeling to just turn away began to overrun every thought, but your instinct to go in overpowered that. Which is why you slowly began to walk in even if you did worry over the rising flames devouring every single object inside the room.

Nonetheless before you could fully enter the room, the wall of flames ahead of the entrance opened up and Hermione flew out. Upon catching you in the way, she swerves just as you jump to the side, having to think quickly on your feet to swerve Ron with Blaise riding behind him. Seeing them completely caught you by surprise, and left you unaware of Harry and Draco on a third broom flying directly towards you.

When you did catch a glimpse of it from the corner of your eyes, you tried to move aside, but they were riding too fast. So as to avoid crashing into you and injuring you, Harry hopped off the broom, but his body collided into yours regardless. The good thing was that at least all you felt was a headache beginning to form alongside a couple of dull aches, but otherwise you seemed fine, and once the daze and the burning feeling on your skin wore off, like a bright beam against a dark night, sat the diadem on the floor in between Harry and you. The moment you snapped your head up, he did too. Now you were both laying down on the floor staring down at each other as neither made the first move.

“Y/N,” Harry whispers slowly, “you need to let me destroy it.”

You narrow your eyes on him and clench your jaw, but don’t move anything else beside that. Draco, Hermione, Blaise nor Ron dared to move either, they froze in the tense silence that you both created.

“I’m sorry, Harry,” you grumble, whilst you let your fingers twitch. “But I can’t fail them, this is the only way.” Before he could talk back to try and persuade you, you throw your hand out and drop your fingers on the Diadem to try to apparate to the end of the hall where Draco was. But right your fingers barely grazed it, so did Harry’s, so instead of apparating alone, his body snapped along with you. Much to your annoyance.

Moreover, the both of you stare into each other’s eyes for another lingering second out of shock more than anything else, and then you surprise him by tugging back. Yet he acts quick and tightens his grip to counterattack with a harsher tug, neither getting the upper hand.

“Harry please,” you try to insist. “If I don’t give to him he’ll…kill me and my family.”

You know that those words were like a stab through his heart, but he couldn’t let you manipulate him, no matter what was on the line. “And if you do, he'll kill many more. Not only that but he will cause chaos and darkness. I can’t…” he pauses and swallows thickly. “I can’t let you take it. I need to destroy it like we destroyed the locket.”

At the sound of his comment you stiffen and your lips twitch. Harry notices that slight reaction twitching on your lips unlike anyone else in the room, and plays with that. “Everything your father risked to get the locket was not done in vain. It’s all done.”

Your lips want to form into a shaky smile as you feel relieved to hear his words, as you feel relieved to know that your father, your actual biological father, could rest peacefully now. His death as unfortunate as it was could be filled with purpose, and Kreacher could live a peaceful life without having to torment himself over his unfinished task—however, no matter how happy you wanted to be, you couldn’t let yourself get lost in that emotion, so you quickly forced yourself to focus on the task in hand.

“I thank you for that,” you remark softly, your eyes averting Harry’s. “But I still can’t let you have this.”

Quickly you think of a spell and discreetly flick your fingers to send Harry flying back to crash to the floor again. Hermione and Ron gasp, but neither go to his aide right away, they’re both stunned and both face you as they turn their wands on you for the first time. Not like they would do a thing since they stood at the other end of the hall.

“Let’s go boys,” you direct at Draco and Blaise, who don’t hesitate to walk over to you and grab one shoulder each so they would be able to disapparate with you.

Before you could leave albeit, you face Harry and smile. “I truly do love you.”

A flash of darkness erases the image of him and his friends, and light snaps you to a different hall much lonelier than the last. Yet it still seemed that he was before you even after you apparated somewhere else, the image of his face was vivid in the back of your eyelids. Out of the guilt that instantly began to torment you from what you did, your mind played cruel tricks that made your heart ache, that made you falter.

The Diadem was ready to be destroyed, Harry could’ve done it and you took it to hand it to the monster you hated, the one that terrified and tormented your family regardless of the loyalty brand on your arms.

It wasn’t too late to take it back?

Yet why was it so easy to take it from him even through the struggle your heart and head fought?

Voldemort could easily kill Lucius and Narcissa, they were close to him, too close for comfort. No matter if they lied, you had to recognize that their intentions, albeit seemed strange, were pure. They had no obligation to take you in, yet they did, regardless of what your father had done to “taint his reputation”. They’re part of the reason why you were moments away from summoning the cruel lord, but the morality that your heart tried to keep strong and wanted to overpower the dark cloud your mind made stronger, held you back.

The mental battle caused physical pain to your head, it was throbbing and aching. It’s as if you were beginning to be torn in two, Draco tried to talk to you, but his voice was a muffled echo. “Y/N, are we really doing this? We can still destroy it?”

“Destroy it?” Blaise exclaimed, his tone heard shaky even through your struggle to focus. “Why would she do that?”

Their’s silence, deafening silence for a moment, but then Draco spoke the unbelievable. “Because it’d be the right thing...” His voice trails off and seconds later his hand grabs your shoulder to spin you around to face him. His blue eyes, and face pleading for reassurance. “Right? Y/N?”

His voice sounds clear, but his question creates a tougher battle—“I…” you shake your head and grab onto your temple. “I don’t know…” you step back and let out a shaky exhale. “What happens if we destroy it? He’ll find out who did it and then he’ll….hurt people.” You began to breathe heavily and quickly felt the headache worsen. “I can’t be the cause of that.” Your eyes sting, and no matter how much you tried to fight it, tears ran down your cheeks. “I'm going to give it to him. I can’t let him kill you, our parents, or you Blaise.”

Said boy averts his gaze for a second before he clenches his fists and lets his eyes flicker back to you. “Whatever choice you make I’ll support you.”

You sniffle and nod with a faint smile on your lips. When you look at Draco you see his own battle in his eyes, it makes him quiet for a second before his eyes focus on you to assures you too. “I’ll follow you too.”

“Okay,” you whisper before wiping away your tears and pulling your sleeve to uncover the Dark mark brand. “I’m going to summon him.” Your hand hovers over the brand, and even though the fight your heart tried to keep up, you pushed your hand closer to your forearm.

However, just as you were about to press your fingers on the brand a sudden crack went off before the three of you, and a single figure stood tall. Your eyes trail up their figure and you quickly recognize Clementine.

“Clementine.” Blaise called in bewilderment, his shoulders falling in relief. “Why are you here? Why aren’t you home?!” He walks towards her to continue demanding answers, but she ignores him.

“Y/N, Harry told me what you want to do,” she glowered. “I won’t let you do it.”

Slowly your hand falls to your side and your eyes narrow. “What do you mean?” You tilt your head slightly and retort. “Are you going to fight me? I’m…your friend.”

Clementine's tough and determined demeanor falters and her eyes avert yours for a fleeting second before she becomes more fired up. “Yes. You are. You’re like a sister to me actually. I love you y/n, but it’s wrong. Don’t you see it?” She steps towards you and uses that you’re struggling furthermore to try and manipulate you. “You’re the one always fighting to be seen differently. To be seen as who you truly are despite what they whisper about you, despite the house you were put in, despite how people saw you because of Lucius' past. You’re a good person y/n, with a good heart, you know giving that diadem to Voldemort is wrong. I mean think about Harry—”

You scoff and step away from her with your hand tightly clutching the Diadem. “Harry has nothing to do with my choice. If so I would’ve been at his side right now.”

“Fine, not for Harry. For you. Do this for yourself.” Her voice then becomes menacing so you knew she meant her words. “Don’t make me fight you.”

You sigh deeply and glance at the Diadem in your hand, you feel your grip loosen around it as you think of dropping it to the ground, but then as your eyes slide up to Draco, your hand once again grips the object and your other hand shoots out to shoot out a stunning spell that throws her back.

“I’m sorry,” you remark in a cold tone. “But I have to do it.” Once again you try to disapparate to summon Voldemort somewhere else, but before you could take your brother with you, Clementine counterattacks from the floor. You quickly block her spell and try to redirect it to her, but she swerves and jumps back to her feet.

“I really hope we can continue being friends after this,” she shouts, pushing her brother behind her even against his protests.

You smirk. “We can’t be friends if you kill me.” You wave your hand to shoot a disarming spell, but she blocks it and then thinks quickly by shooting a spell to try and paralyze you for a couple minutes. But soon your hand shoots out and blocks the flash of light, and you continue to step back with Draco.

Since neither of you wanted to hurt one another, the spells weren’t too dangerous, the next round of spells were simply just stunning spells or an attempt to deflect it. No matter what side you both stood on, neither of you could bring yourselves to injure one another. At least not too badly.

Despite that knowledge, you both were determined to win, so in a quick split second decision, you both simultaneously shot out the same blasting curse at one another, causing the bright hues of the blasts to slam into another. At first it seemed like a tied match of will, neither blast moving from the middle as they sparked and cracked, but you were unwilling to lose. So you put more effort into your fight and began to overpower her spell that clashed against yours; her feet began to slide back and her face twisted deeper as she strained herself.

Regardless of her hard efforts though, her colored hot blast was beginning to lose its power, and the powers of yours turned hotter and brighter, basking everyone’s faces in the red sparking hue. You then pulled your arm back and were going to thrust it forward to overpower Clementine, but just as your arm stretched out, your body was suddenly shot aside making the blast from Clementine and you to suddenly extinguish as your body hit the wall.

“What the hell,” you groan as you rub the back of your head and push yourself to your knees. “Ow.” You look up expecting to see Blaise defending his sister, rather you see Draco with his wand pointed in your direction. Realizing it was him leaves you completely stunned. “Draco?” Your eyebrows furrow and you can’t help but blink rapidly in disbelief.

“I’m going to do the right thing for you, for me and everyone else,” his voice trembled just as his wand did. “I’m not sorry for what I did.” He crouches down to swipe the diadem off the ground whilst his wand stays pointed at you. “And I won’t apologize for what I choose to do. After all, is it not you that tells me to do the right thing?”

Without looking away from you, Draco throws the diadem at Clementine, who catches it swiftly. Her eyes meet yours for a second and once she notices your body twitch to get ready to bolt after her, she takes out a basilisk fang from her coat pocket and impales it into the Diadem after she slams it to ground. You try to reach for it, try to prevent its destruction, but all you were left to do was scream in protest before black smoke exploded from the diadem, and a screech hurt everyone’s ears.

Once the dark smoke was gone, and the deafening sound didn’t ring in your ears, you looked up to see the diadem destroyed. “No. No. No!” You cry and stay paralyzed on your knees. “No. Clementine.” You drop your head and begin to cry in your hands. There's a moment of silence after, it's tense at first, someone could cut it with a knife, but as Clementine walks to you and falls on her knees in front of you, the silence is comfortable.

“I promise that you won’t be alone. He won’t take anyone.” Clementine comforts you softly whilst her hand wraps around your shoulders. “I know that you know that this is the right thing to do. Y/N, I can assure you that you can breathe now. You don’t have to go back. I’ll stay with you from now every step of the way. Fight for the right side.”

Your shoulders stop shaking and you manage to stop crying, you knew she was right. Her assurance was touching and it did help, even if you wanted to fight her and search for your parents to run away, you stayed in your same position and chose to stay there so that you could try to fight against Voldemort. Because Draco stopped you to try and change things, and because you deeply wanted to too. Even if it hurt.

“You’ll be okay,” Clementine continued, her hand still soothing you. “We all are.”

Before either of you could stand up Draco hesitantly dropped on his knees in front of you to slowly press his forehead against yours. Blaise stood behind watching awkwardly before he was pulled in the embrace by his sister. He of course tried to squirm away at first, but once he felt your arm, and his sisters around his shoulder, he eased into the group hug.

For a moment all the bad things happening outside disappeared. Just for a moment there was assurance in your small group. For a moment there was peace, the taste of what it would feel like if the war was won and you no longer were tied to the darkness. For a moment all there was, was just you and them. For a moment.

——

“You have fought valiantly…but in vain. I do not wish this. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a terrible waste. I therefore command my forces to retreat. In their absence, dispose of your dead with dignity. Harry Potter, I now spoke 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 tries to conceal you from me.”

“What now?” Blaise asks as the four of you walk out to a hall filling up with wounded students, and adults.

In a worried tone you answer Blaise’s concern. “We need to go to the forbidden forest. We need to pretend that we’re still with them and help him.” You want to glance at those walking at your side but when you do, you come to regret it as you see people’s stares as you walk through the crowd. “We can’t let him face Voldemort.”

You clench your fist and shift your feet to change directions, but Clementine grabs your shoulder and pulls you back.

“You do that and you’ll die. What then?” Her eyes narrow and her voice turns serious. “Harry wouldn't want that.”

“I don’t care,” you remark angrily. “I need to help him. He…” your voice cracks and you can’t let her or the boys notice your watery gaze. “I betrayed him before. I can’t let him die. He can’t. Clementine. He can’t.”

Their silence for a moment, Clementine's hand doesn’t loosen from your shoulder, even as your body moves to leave, she holds her ground before she pulls you in for another hug. “I know you love him. But you know the one thing I like about you two, is that you respect each other’s choices. No matter what, no matter how dangerous things are, you understand one another. Understand him now y/n. Trust him if he chooses to go—”

“Then he can understand my choice to go,” you argue in a quivering voice, “I can’t…I can’t lose him. Please. I just need to tell him I’m-I’m sorry.”

People around you stare at you both, all wondering why you, a Death-eater, were amongst the people fighting on the other side of the war, against your “beloved master”, you saw it in their eyes, the confusion over your crying state. You knew they asked why you weeped and argued about someone that was supposed to be an enemy. Yet they knew nothing about you, or the choice either of you risked making.

“I know,” Clementine assures you, “but you can’t continue helping him if you die. If something happens we continue to fight. I know it’ll hurt, but we have to keep fighting here.”

She was right, deep down you knew she was, but you didn’t want to admit it to your own heart. As you pulled away, your head was overwhelmed with the urge to just go, but as you faced your friend she added words that helped your stay.

“But that’s if something happens, and I know that he’ll win. He’s strong. He’ll win and you’ll see him again. You have nothing to worry about.” She smiles warmly and gives your shoulder one last comforting squeeze before completely pulling away. “Now let’s go find the rest of our friends.”

You wipe your tears and offer her a faint smile. “Right.”

“Are you done crying now?” Draco remarks, making you scoff, but nod before you continue down the hall, averting the stares to reach the doors to the main hall. Albeit as soon as you stepped inside you were met with some unwelcoming students.

“Death-Eaters, and Slytherin associated with them have no business here. Leave or we’ll show you the fate your friends met.” He spats, causing Draco to scoff loudly and get ready to shoot a nasty rebuttal that you stopped in time.

“We’re not here looking for a fight. The battle was called off.” You counter, “even if it wasn’t, look around you. These people…” you swallow thickly after you catch glimpses of dozens of dead bodies fallen as a result of the people you had been a part of not so long ago. You notice the heavily wounded and the ones grieving, and chills run down your spine. “…are tired. Besides, regardless of who we are, you shouldn’t judge us, especially after my friends and brother destroyed a horcrux. We’re on your side. Now,” you push past him and his friends, “excuse us.”

As you walk past them and slowly walk through the hall, there's a heavy tension everyone could feel, silence was filled with some broken sobs and whisperings. You tried to avoid looking at the dead, but no matter how much you tried, your eyes felt magnetized to each and every one of them. And with every body you felt guilt weigh down your heart.

Darkness felt much colder now more than ever. You felt out of place and as if you were the big bad yourself. Yet at the end of the hall there was the sight of relief, George Weasley. His back was turned to you, but you could recognize the back of his head; his bright red hair, his tall and thin figure, his clothes that oftentimes coordinated with Fred’s.

“Look Clementine,” you point to the boy at the end of the hall. “There’s George. Let’s go to him and Fred.” You picked up your pace without waiting if someone would rebuttal, but before you could get much closer Hermione blocked your path, making you stop.

“Hi guys,” she offers a gentle and faint smile. “It’s nice to see you guys are okay, and that you’re here.”

You return her smile and give her shoulder a gentle and assuring squeeze. “I’m happy to see you’re okay too.” You glance at her side to steal a glimpse at Ron. “You too Ron.”

Said boy meets your gaze for a second before he frowns and rips his eyes away. Almost as if it pained him to look at you. It wasn't hard noticing the gesture, but you couldn’t question it because of someone’s call. “Hey! Voldemort and more Death-eaters are walking down the bridge this way.”

You quickly pull your hand from Hermione’s shoulder, and follow her and the others with you out of the hall and to the doors that led to the courtyard. Once you’re welcomed by the cold breeze, and the sight of a battered courtyard is when you see Voldemort, Death-eaters, and your parents behind their lord; their eyes searched for Draco and you amongst the crowd of students and adults all now gathered at the courtyard, it took them sometime but then Narcissa was the first one to lay her eyes on the both of you. She didn’t motion either of you to go to her like you thought she would. At least not yet. She stayed beside Lucius, and stayed attentive to you both.

Bellatrix was right beside her beloved lord and her eyes fell on you too. She, albeit, wasn’t expressing any sort of relief or sign of affection, her gaze was cold and deadly. Even more so as she saw you on the other side—it was easy to avoid her glare though because you didn’t care for her and her spiteful behavior towards you, it was easy to ignore all the death-eaters. Someone who wasn’t hard to avoid was the half-giant Hagrid, or really, the limp body he was carrying.

Their face was turned away from the crowd, but their—his clothes were recognizable, as was his short brown hair. Realizing that you knew who you’d seen wear that brown jacket made your heart sink, and turned the air much colder. You didn’t want to admit it to yourself that it was…him. That it could possibly be Harry, but deep in your heart, you knew the truth. You just didn’t want to face it. You didn’t want to feel the pain of your heart shattering. You couldn’t feel the pain of losing the boy you loved.

Which is why you pretended like you didn’t know. Why you asked first. “Hagrid is carrying someone,” you point out before asking, “who is it? Who is he carrying?”

Voldemort stepped further away from the Death-eaters with Nagini slithering at his side, and an evil smile crept on his pale face before he exclaimed with malicious pride. “Harry Potter…is dead!”

First every single ceased feeling to exist; you couldn’t feel the light cold morning breeze, you couldn’t feel Clementine's hand wrapping around yours when the announcement was shouted from Voldemort’s lips, You couldn’t feel ever part of the pain whilst your heart shattered within your chest, it fell completely numb. You felt completely numb as your world came crashing down. Time felt like it flowed slow until the heavy weight on your chest was unbearable. You couldn’t hold back your cry of pain anymore. You couldn’t stay numb to the heartbreak.

“No! No! No!” You cried loudly, whilst your feet tried to run forward towards Harry in Hagrid's arms. However you didn’t get past the stairs before Draco and Blaise held you back. “No, let me go to him,” you fought in broken sobs, but they kept their hold strong and ended up falling on their knees along with you.

“Silence!” Voldemort exclaimed as he shot out a spell to the sky. “Stupid girl. Harry Potter is dead. From this day forth,” he continued whilst he walked forward and directs the crowd, “you put your faith in me.” He turns away and strides to the Death-eaters to continue to gloat with a cruel laugh. “Harry Potter is dead!” He turns again and spreads his arms out. “And now is the time to declare yourself. Come forward and join us. Or die.”

Silence falls over the crowd, not even a single step forward on the stone ground breaks it. Voices a few seconds later break it and the attention is easy to focus on those who speak; your parents. “Y/N. Draco,” your father calls.

Eyes shift over to you, you feel the stares, it was evident that they would, but you couldn’t look back, or at either parent as you numbly looked at the ground beneath your knees.

“Draco. Y/N.”

“Draco, y/n,” Narcissa’s voice travels out now. “Come.”

A shift happens beside you and suddenly you feel yourself being lifted to your feet.

“Draco,” Clementine whispers back. “Y/N. Stay. Stay.”

Your brother does glance over his shoulder, but he doesn't argue, or seek your suggestion. You were too out of it, he saw that and made a choice for you both out of fear, pressure. After Harry was gone, what else was there to fight for? So he grabbed your hand and pulled you with him back to Voldemort and your parents. Whilst Clementine stayed with Blaise by her side.

“Ah. Well done, Draco and y/n.” Voldemort praises, “well done.” You feel his hands awkwardly wrapping around the shoulders of you and your brother. You feel his head push forward, and you feel his hissed whisper in your ear. “We’ll talk later about your secret doings.” He knew.

Voldemort let’s you both walk behind him, and Narcissa quickly welcomes you warmly and happily. She pulls your hands apart to grab them herself and take you further back to the crowd, where you watch everything before you as a spectator, feeling as if you were hundreds miles away.

“Well I must say I’d hoped for better,” Voldemort teases Neville as he limps forward, causing most of his followers to laugh at his lame comment. “And who might you be, young man?”

“Neville Longbottom.”

More laughter follows and Voldemort continues in a joking tone. “Well, Neville, I’m sure we can find a place for you in our ranks—”

“I’d like to say something,” Neville interjects.

“Well, Neville, I’m sure we’d all be fascinated to hear what you have to say.”

“It doesn’t matter that Harry’s gone.”

“Stand down, Neville.” A friend of his warns.

“People die everyday. Friends, family. Yeah. We lost Harry tonight. But he’s still with us. In here ” Neville words slowly pick up your head, and focus your full attention back on the scene. “So’s Fred...”

Your eyebrows slowly furrow at his last comment, you want to pick at his comment for a meaning, but there wasn’t time. You actually didn’t let yourself.

“…and Remus. Tonks. All of them. They didn’t die in vain. But you will! Because you’re wrong! Harry’s heart did beat for us. For all of us.” Neville pulls Gryffindors sword out of the hat in his hand and exclaims, “This is not over!”

A thud hits the floor close by, followed by grunting breaking the silence from your side. At first you didn’t want to follow the crowd by looking, but then you heard the gasps and murmurs, you noticed the spark in everyone’s eyes from the crowd in front of you, and you turned your head. That’s when you felt the shards of your heart come together and the spark everyone shared. Light returned to the grim world and a smile tugged on your lips when you saw Harry standing on his two feet with a beating heart.

Without an ounce of hesitation you pulled away from Narcissa and pulled your wand out to throw it to Harry’s empty hands. “Harry!”

Said boy looked at you and swiftly caught your wand to turn and point it at Nagini, and shout, “Confringo!” The spell redirects to a couple Death-eaters behind the snake, and Harry quickly rushes for cover to avoid Voldemort’s explosions. While Voldemort was distracted though, you proceeded to pull away from his side, stopping only when Narcissa called after you.

“Y/N! Stop! What are you doing?!” Her hand tightens around Draco’s. “Let’s go!”

You smile and shake your head. “I’m fighting for the right side. It’s not too late to do the right thing.” Your eyes flicker to Draco, but you didn’t beg him to join you. It was his choice and you couldn’t force him. You just stood to wait for a second.

Nevertheless he didn’t move. Or at least not until after you turned your back and began to head back to Clementine. “Y/N, wait!”

“Draco! Y/N!”

Once you catch Draco fall at your side, you both share a sweet and understanding smile. Neither of you look back, you let yourselves be guided back inside by Harry and the others. “I’ll lure him into the castle. We have to kill the snake.”

“You’ll need this.”

“Neville!”

The moment you peer back to witness the scene going on behind you, all you see is a flash of bright light before catching Neville flying overhead and crashing onto the floor. Things begin to happen quickly after that; Voldemort disapparates with Nagini, Harry follows suit to search for them without saying a word since he was too caught up in his plan, and Death-eaters begin attacking every student they see, it causes you to part ways from your friends and brother.

Fighting them wasn't hard though. The two you fought were cocky, saying that you were nothing but a stupid little school girl. Yes, you did block some spells, so as to avoid being hit, but they left themselves open rather quickly. The one true struggle was when Bellatrix suddenly surprise attacked you by slamming you to the floor. “Ugh. What the—”

“Traitor dad, traitor mother, and,” she scoffs and her face appears over you, showing an evil smirk. “Traitor…” she stomps on your hands so you wouldn't cast a spell. “…you. I’ve always hated you, I told my sister it was a bad idea to take you in, but she has a heart of gold. Took pity on a poor little orphan girl.” She giggles and bends down so her face is next to yours. “But where is she now to save you, Hmm? I’ll tell her that one of your friends killed ya, they didn’t believe your betrayal, hmm.” She points her wand on your chest and tilts her head. “Now you tell my cousin Regulus I said hello, and you welcome for such a happy family reunion.”

Bellatrix grins and is about to part her lips to execute a spell, but as your eyes close to expect a sudden pain that would lead to a quick death, suddenly a bolt of white light hits her back and her body is flung away off you. When you push yourself to your feet, you expect to see Clementine, the twins or Draco, but you're surprised to see your father, Lucius. “What the—”

“Do get up before you get trampled, we have a fight to win.” He offers you his hand, and you hesitantly take it to stand on your feet. “Perhaps you kids are right. Besides, I never did like her.”

A grin slowly spreads on your lips and you give your father a quick tight hug as you share some quiet words only he could hear. “Thank you.”

Lucius stiffens, but slowly he pats your back and presses a kiss on the top of your head. He doesn’t say anything back, he just wasn't one to show affection with either Draco or you. You understood that, and then went on to fight, catching Narcissa with Draco.

The fight after that wasn’t long, Neville ended up killing the snake from what you heard. That action led to Harry ending Voldemort's reign of terror once and for all.

All that was left of Voldemort after was bad memories, and ashes.

“Clementine! Blaise! Are you two okay?” You queried in a panicked voice as you rushed to them sitting on some bleachers.

“Yeah,” Clementine groans, “nothing that can’t be healed. You?” She smiles, her eyes stealing a glance at your family close by, ignoring the curious stares from those around the hall.

“I’m fine,” you nod, “happy.”

“I’m glad,” Clementine coos. “I’m happy for you.” Her eyes then flicker over to a figure slowly making its way to you and her grin turns mischievous. “Let’s meet up tomorrow? After we assure our mother we’re fine.”

“Of course, I’ll be waiting.” You offer her one last smile before turning and spotting Harry at the other end of the hall, his eyes solely focused on you. Instead of letting him make his way to you, you beam at him and let your legs run towards him to meet him halfway. Harry welcomes you with open arms and secures his hold around you, as you do the same with him.

For a moment as you held each other and basked in each other’s comfort, all that existed was just the two of you; the room was nothing but the morning light that shone through the windows, the relief of all of it being over and seeing one another, feeling each other’s warmth. It felt great drowning out the noise without having to worry over a threat. It felt comforting having one another after all that happened.

“I’m sorry,” you mutter in his ear, “I’m sorry I betray you at the end. I’m sorry Harry.”

“It’s okay,” he assures you sweetly, whilst he begins to caress the back of your neck. “You helped me at the end, that’s all that counts. You were with me. You know I understand your actions before that. I do. There's nothing to forgive.”

“I love you,” you whisper with your voice breaking. “I love you.”

Harry pulls away to be able to face you. “I love you,” smiles, “so much.” He cups your cheeks and pulls you in for a gentle and longing kiss. He’s careful with it, he savors the feeling of your lips against his, he takes his time to make sure that you knew that he missed you, that he did share those feelings he just uttered to you. He made sure you knew that he was happy that you were alive. He didn’t care who watched. He was happy. You were happy.

Pulling away was harder than other times, but now you had time to spare. You could be with another without worrying. You would be together now and nobody would have a say.

“I’m going to find George and Fred, okay?” You whisper against his lips, missing the frown that twitched on his lips. “I’ll try and find you later.”

Harry parts his lips to reveal the truth about Fred, but he stays quiet and lets you find out by George. All he does is let you give him a last peck on the lips before you leave his side in search of George, which wasn’t hard finding him.

Once he saw you, the corner of his lips twitched, and he was quick to return the hug when you got close to embrace him. Unlike Harry though, you felt George’s shoulders shake, he was quick to break down when he was in the comforts of your embrace, he couldn’t hold his grief. But you didn’t captivate why he had gotten so emotional, so fast. You had heard Neville’s comment on the courtyard, but your mind chose to ignore it’s meaning, leaving you clueless to George’s tears.

“George, what's wrong?” You ask as you pull away to meet his eyes.

“Y/N,” he cries, “it’s Fred….he’s—fred. He’s dead.”

Your smile slowly falls, and your happiness begins to dwindle away as does the spark of light in your eyes. You don’t want to believe him, you wanted it to be a joke, a prank, but you knew he wouldn’t joke about that. Which is why you were quickly struck with disbelief, guilt and that heart shattering grief you thought you had been free of feeling. It was such a strong feeling that you couldn’t bear.

Even if it wasn’t your fault, you felt guilty over his death because it had been Death-eaters, the people you had once fought alongside with who killed him. It felt as if it might as well have been you who ended the life of such a good friend, the first friend you made in Hogwarts, your first kiss. Even after you broke up with him, after you became a Death-eater, he remained close to you, he never changed how treated you, or how he saw you. He was your best friend and now he’s gone. You couldn’t handle it.

Thus you began to slowly back pedal towards your family, as you looked at George with sadness and horror.

“I’m so sorry George.” You whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Harry was nearby and he saw how you were. He called to you, but all you did was share a last lingering look before you disapparated from the school with your family, without saying any last words.

.

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