Towers - Fred Weasley

92

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

THE PROTECTION SPELLS AROUND HOGWARTS HAD FALLEN, Death Eaters managed to slip inside and war had officially begun. The only Slytherin Students who stayed were Pansy, Blaise, Daphne and Flora. They said they had to make something right and Ebony was glad they did.

They rushed through the corridors and ended up in front of two Death Eaters whom Ebony didn't recognize but the gasp from Flora made her realize she did recognize them. They lifted their wands but Ebony fired protection spells to make sure the kids behind her wouldn't get hurt.

"Tarralora!" With a quick whip of Daphne's wand, one of the two Death Eaters turned to dust right in front of them. Ebony was impressed. Her wand made another -- much louder -- musical noise than it had ever done before and without knowing what was happening, she felt an orange glow burst through the tip before hitting the second Death Eater and making him hit the wall before falling down lifelessly.

"You okay, Carrow?" Ebony called over to Flora who nodded determinedly and continued to run down the corridor. 

Ebony's heart sunk in her chest at the sight of Remus and Tonks batteling and obviously losing to Dolohov. She felt weak and almost passed out but she watched Flora lift her wand and point it at the man. She looked confident, angry -- as if she had a personal spite against him -- and spoke "Crucio!" With a great pain, Dolohov was left to suffer before he managed to apparate away.

Remus and Tonks took deep breaths as they looked up at the Slytherins, not expected to be saved by them. Ebony looked around, her heart still ached. The uncertaincy of how Fred was doing ate her alive. She looked back down at the couple.

"Seen Fred anywhere?" She asked but they could only shake their heads. 

Ebony began to run. There was a reason, a way she wanted -- needed -- to get to Fred. She needed to know he was okay, that he wasn't going to die, that she wouldn't lose him. She ran faster and faster and faster but she had truly no idea where she was going. 

"Avada KedaAAAAH!" Somebody yelled. Ebony had just enough time to turn to see Smokey -- her cat -- attack Bellatrix. Ebony watched as the curse hit the wall instead of a person. Bellatrix kicked the cat away from her leg and pointed her wand at Ebony. "Avada--"

"Estorchio!" And with that, Bellatrix' cloak began to burn and she apparated before anything else could happen. 

"Ebony!" She heard Blaise yell and looked up. "I found Fred!" 

With new found determination, Ebony began to run down the corridor. She felt her entire body ache for her husband, she wanted to be next to him, to be able to have his back. She began to run faster, to go as fast as her legs would allow her. She did her best as she sped down the corridor until she arrived near the room of requirement. 

"Hello, Minister!" bellowed Percy, sending a neat jinx straight at Thicknesse, who dropped his wand and clawed at the front of his robes, apparently in awful discomfort. "Did I mention I'm resigning?"

"You're joking, Perce!" shouted Fred as the Death Eater he was battling collapsed under the weight of three separate Stunning Spells. Thicknesse had fallen to the ground with tiny spikes erupting all over him; he seemed to be turning into some form of sea urchin. Fred looked at Percy with glee. "You actually are joking, Perce... I don't think I've heard you joke since you were—"

The air exploded. Ebony pointed her wand and send off a protection curse but got hit and fell backwards into a wall. The two Death Eaters at their feet, one Stunned, the other Transfigured; and in that fragment of a moment, when danger seemed temporarily at bay, the world was rent apart. 

She heard the screams and yells of his companions without a hope of knowing what had happened to them—And then the world resolved itself into pain and semidarkness: she had trouble getting up and it was awful but she managed to push herself onto her feet. She stumbled for a moment and looked up. 

Three redheaded men were grouped on the ground where the wall had blasted apart. 

"No—no—no!" someone was shouting. "No! Fred! No!"

And Percy was shaking his brother, and Ron was kneeling beside them, and Fred's eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face. 

Ebony's heart sunk into her chest at the sight, she shook her head, stumbled towards him and fell down next to her husband's seemingly lifeless body. She felt so many emotions at the same time but could not even manage to tell them apart. The familiar numbness whom she had learned to live with returned to her. 

"Freddie?" Her voice was broke in the middle of the word, her hand reached for his and squeezed it softly. Then, she saw it. It was impossible but possible at the same time. His chest heaved a little, as if he was struggling internally. Again, she saw it and she blinked a couple of times. "Fred!"

"You could say. . . I am the bomb." Fred coughed out, Ebony rolled her eyes at the pathetic attempt to the joke. 

"The world of explosion related humor and you go with 'the bomb?" George asked with a smirk on his face even though tears were still running down his face. "You're pathetic."

"Still look better than you." Fred coughed out and turned to look at Ebony. "Ain't that right, darling?" 

"I hate you." Ebony replied but finally began to let her tears roll down her cheeks. Fred pulled her into a hug and held onto her as she cried. 

"Thank you for saving me with your protection spell." He whispered and stroked her hair. 

"You were dead! Your heart stopped beating!" Ebony muttered as she cried. 

"It's okay, it's beating now." Fred assured her. "It's beating now." 

And then a body fell past the hole blown into the side of the school, and curses flew in at them from the darkness, hitting the wall behind their heads.

"We have to move!" 

Both George and Ebony helped Fred up and began to run down the corridor towards what they could imagine, a safer place to be. 

A voice, eary and dark came over everybody. It made some people scream in agony once again as Voldemort continued his speech.

"You have fought valiantly. . . but in vain. I do not wish this. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a terrible waste. I therefor command my forces to retreat. In their absence, dispose of 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 facing 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 men, women and child who tries to conceal you from me." 

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

Written: 28/07/2023

Word Count: 1190