Secrets Only Trouble Knows - George Weasley

46 - Goodbye, Year Four

"Please be safe, Harry," I said, biting my lip, trying to keep it together.

"I will," he replied, but there was a sense of forced confidence in his voice that made my heart break. "See you in a bit."

I could hear his footsteps trailing off until eventually everything on his side of the wall went silent.

"Yeah... see you." I mumbled, barely above a whisper.

Ron turned to face me. "Guess we should start trying to move some rocks then, shouldn't we?" he asked quietly.

I took a deep breath. "Yeah," I replied, sticking my wand in my robes. "But no magic. Neither of us have tried to move objects this big with magic before and I don't want the roof caving in on us right now if we happen to mess up."

Ron nodded and we each rolled up our sleeves, getting to work. With Lockhart still laying helpless on the ground—knocked out but still breathing—it was just the two of us as we tried to heave the giant pieces of stone out of the way. We used all of the strength we could muster, hoping to move the rocks enough that there could be a small opening for Harry to get back through... if he made it to us again.

After what had probably been around twenty minutes or so, Ron and I both needed to take a breather. We'd made a little bit of progress, but the hole we'd made still wouldn't be big enough for Harry or anyone else to fit through yet. The stones were gigantic and it took a lot of effort just to move only one.

"Do you think he's alright?" Ron asked softly as we were sitting on the ground, leaned up against a large block of rubble. "Do you think Ginny's alright?"

I chanced a glance up at the youngest of the Weasley brothers, seeing just how scared and broken he looked.

"I-I don't know, Ron." I replied honestly. "I hope with everything in me that they are, though."

"Yeah, me too..." he mumbled back. "I dunno what I would do if they didn't come back, Nov. Ginny's my sister, my little sister. And Harry... he's my best friend. He's practically family now too."

"I know," I agreed, squeezing his hand with a deep sigh. "I'm not sure what I'd do either."

A silence washed over us, both Ron and I unsure of what to say. I stared down at my hands in my lap, fiddling with the ring I was wearing.

Though I was trying to remain positive in this moment, trying to stay strong and level-headed, my mind was uncontrollably running through all of the worst possible scenarios right now; Ginny lying dead in the Chamber, Harry being attacked and maybe even killed by the basilisk, neither one of them returning to us, Ron and I being trapped down here under the school with no clear way out, or even the ceiling above us caving in and crushing us.

Not only that, but I was beginning to feel frustrated and angry over this entire situation and the way things had turned out tonight. I was someone who liked to have things under control and also needed to fix things, fix any kind of problem or conflict, and this situation wasn't enabling either of those things about me. It was all driving me insane. I absolutely hated being trapped here behind this stupid wall of rocks, completely useless. I was unable to do anything even remotely beneficial while Harry was off doing God knows what (but surely risking his life in some form or another to save Ginny and the entire school).