𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒-ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣❥

𝐃𝐇 𝟑𝟎

The world had ended, so why had the battle not ceased, the castle fallen silent in horror, and every combatant laid down their arms? Emily's mind was in free fall, spinning out of control, unable to grasp the impossibility, because Fred Weasley could not be dead, the evidence of all her senses must be lying-

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.

"Get down!" Harry shouted, as more curses flew through the night: He and Ron had both grabbed Hermione and Emily and pulled them to the floor, but Percy lay across Fred's body, shielding it from further harm, and when Emily shouted "Percy, come on, we've got to move!" he shook his head.

"Percy!" Emily saw tear tracks streaking the grime coating Ron's face as he seized his elder brother's shoulders and pulled, but Percy would not budge. "Percy, you can't do anything for him! We're going to-"

Hermione screamed, and Emily, turning, did not need to ask why. A monstrous spider the size of a small car was trying to climb through the huge hole in the wall. One of Aragog's descendants had joined the fight.

Emily lifted her hand and jolted her finger with the slightest movement and monster was blown backward, its legs jerking horribly, and vanished into the darkness.

"It brought friends!" Emily called to the others, glancing over the edge of the castle through the hole in the wall the curses had blasted. More giant spiders were climbing the side of the building, liberated from the Forbidden Forest, into which the Death Eaters must have penetrated.

Emily fired Stunning Spells down upon them, knocking the lead monster into its fellows, so that they rolled back down the building and out of sight. Then more curses came soaring over Emily's head, so close she felt the force of them blow her hair.

"Let's move, NOW!"

Pushing Hermione ahead of them with Ron, Harry and Emily stooped to seize Fred's body under the armpit. Percy, realizing what they were trying to do, stopped clinging to the body and helped: together, crouching low to avoid the curses flying at them from the grounds, they hauled Fred out of the way.

"Here," said Emily, and they placed him in a niche where a suit of armor had stood earlier. She could not bear to look at Fred a second longer than she had to, and after making sure that the body was well-hidden, she took off after Ron and Hermione.

Malfoy and Goyle had vanished but at the end of the corridor, which was now full of dust and falling masonry, glass long gone from windows, she saw many people running backward and forward, whether friends or foes she could not tell. Rounding the corner, Percy let out a bull-like roar: "ROOKWOOD!" and sprinted off in the direction of a tall man, who was pursuing a couple of students.

"Harry, Emily, in here!" Hermione screamed.

She had pulled Ron behind a tapestry. They seemed to be wrestling together, and for one mad second Emily thought that they were embracing again; then she saw that Hermione was trying to restrain Ron, to stop him running after Percy.

"Listen to me-LISTEN RON!"

"I wanna help-I wanna kill Death Eaters-"

His face was contorted, smeared with dust and smoke, and he was shaking with rage and grief.

Emily ran forward and grabbed Ron's face, "Ron, we're the only ones who can end it! Please-Ron-we need the snake, we've got to kill the snake!Ron, I understand. I understand more than anyone how this feels. You want to run, seek revenge, kill them all, I want that too. But we can't get revenge if we act stupid! Don't let his death be for nothing!" said Emily.