NUMB | D. MALFOY {EDITING}

xxxvi. battle of hogwarts

« BATTLE OF HOGWARTS »

Every time Anastasia heard the stories of how her parents survived the First Wizarding War, she never imagined to experience it herself. The amount of frustration and adrenaline she felt in that moment was too big, that big that she felt like collapsing.

Spells and jinxes were being thrown from left to right as she tried to defend herself against her once Death Eater colleagues. Every time, she would take advantage of her wandless skills, getting rid of the horrible dark wizards coming her way.

"Anastasia!" Her head snapped to the right, where she heard Ron's voice yelling her name. "Annie!"

"Ron! Behind you!" The brunette yelled as she pointed her wand at the snatcher behind him. "Stupefy!" Hermione shrieked as the man flew away from them and collided in the floor with a loud thud.

"We are going to find Voldemort." Harry quickly explained as they jogged away from the war.

"I'm going with you, then." Anastasia exclaimed through the screaming and chaos.

"No. You stay here and help the others." Ron ordered, pressing his lips together. "Be careful, Annie." He yelled as they sprinted away from her.

The emerald eyed girl nodded quickly and turned around to run to the other side of the already destroyed courtyard. Her eyes desperately tried to find a pair of grey ones and her heart threatened to leave her ribcage as she defended herself from the curses being thrown at her.

A loud scream left her lips as soon as she felt a force colliding with her body, throwing her to the closest wall and making her fall to the floor. She coughed and desperately searched for her wand in the dusty floor, but a foot stepping over her hand made her yelp in pain.

"Well, well, well. I finally see you again, little sister."

Anastasia frowned and tried to move his foot from her hand, but it was useless. William smirked mischievously as he stared down at his once sane and happy sister, the one he deeply hated with every inch in his body.

"You're forcing me to do it." She muttered and raised her free hand, pointing at the mad boy standing before her. "Stupefy!" The boy flew away from her and she instantly stood up with a small smirk starting to grow in her features. "Accio wand!"

"You will regret it, little sister." Her head snapped up to meet William's gaze. She frowned and held her wand tightly. "Cru—!"

"Expelliarmus!" Anastasia yelled, the boy gasped as soon as the wand flew out of his grip and landed on the brunette's hand. "Not so brave without your wand, big brother?"

"I don't need a wand to kill you, filthy blood traitor."

"I don't need a wand either." She smiled, dropping both wands to the floor. "You see, while you were busy torturing our parents and being a villain, I actually used my free time for something useful. Oppugno." Suddenly, a few rocks started to fly towards the boy, he whimpered in pain.

"You think you are really smart, don't you, little sister?" William smiled mischievously. "You're not the only one that is able to do wandless magic. Didn't you know? It runs in our blood." He smirked. "Now, it's time you pay for everything you've done. Avada Kedavra!"

"Protego!" Anastasia yelled, protecting herself.

After that, she heard a heartbreaking scream, and William's corpse was laying in the floor before her.

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Anastasia ripped a part of her sweatshirt and tied it up tightly around her blooded arm. She shakily cleaned her tears as her emerald eyes admired the now lonely courtyard that was a battle field moments before. Her leg bounced up and down as she hopelessly stared at the entrance in hope of seeing her friends walking in without a scratch. To see Harry alive and not in the Forbidden Forest like Voldemort threatened.

          "Where is everybody?" Her head snapped up at the sound of Hermione's tired voice echoing in the courtyard.

          "Hermione! Ron!" She yelled, rapidly standing up from the rock and running to her friends. "Harry!" She embraced each one in a tight hug as a ghost of a smile formed in her lips. "I'm happy to see you."

          "So are we." Ron half-smiled. "How are you?"

          "I—I'm fine." The brunette half-smiled as they slowly walked inside the destroyed castle. "William's dead."

          "What did you say?" Hermione widened her eyes at the girl's statement. "You killed him?"

          "No. I protected myself and the curse hit him back."

          "I'm so sorry, Annie." Harry mumbled. "I'm sorry for everything. You've done everything to protect me but—"

          "Harry, don't. You're my friend, and that's what friends do for each other." Anastasia smiled and took Harry's hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. "Let's go, maybe they need us inside."

          The trio nodded and followed the raven-haired boy into the Great Hall that looked like an improvised hospital wing. Corpses laid in the dusty floor while some professors tried to help a few injured students, Madam Pomfrey was practically running from left to right to try and help everyone in the room.

          Anastasia was about to offer her help, until her eyes caught the sight of a group of gingers crying and hugging each other in the back of the room. Her eyes met Ron's as they both jogged to them; George, at the sight of his brother and new sister, balanced himself to Ron in a tight hug. The brunette frowned, but then she looked down, a loud gasp left her lips.

          There he was, the once happy and sarcastic Fred, laying in the cold floor with no sign of life. The boy who used to bring so much happiness to The Burrow along with his twin, that sarcastic boy and joke expert was gone.

          "George..." The emerald eyed girl patted his shoulder as he broke the hug with Ron. Then, he embraced the girl in a tight hug and cried hysterically in her shoulder.

           Percy patted the sad boy's back and he turned around to seek comfort in his father, who accepted his hug with open arms.

          Anastasia tried to keep herself calm as she hurriedly searched for Remus or Draco in the room and tried to clean her tears in the way. Her emerald eyes scanned the whole room with hope of finding them somewhere, but they were nowhere to be seen.

          "Harry, have you seen—"

          The words got stuck in her throat as soon as she followed Harry's gaze down to the pair of corpses before them. The brunette then let out the sob she was holding and felt everything inside her crumbling down. Her knees betrayed her as she landed in between Remus and Tonks, her hands instantly held theirs as she shakily admired their cold faces with the stupid hope of making them wake up.

          "No. No, please." She begged, ignoring the arms holding her to pull her away. "You promised me! You can't be dead!" She yelled at the corpse in front of her. "Why did you leave me? I need you!"

          "Rosie—" Draco whispered, but Anastasia was already on her feet and walking out of the Great Hall.

          "Annie!" Harry yelled her name.

          But Anastasia wasn't hearing, she couldn't even hear her own thoughts. Everything was blurry and the anger had slowly taken over her body and actions. She felt hot and angry tears cascading down her pale cheeks as she tried to run away from the scene and the horrible reality that waited for her in the place that once made her happy.

          "Hello, there little blood traitor." She froze at the sound of Greyback's voice close to her. His arm instantly wrapped around her neck and she pressed her lips together, she knew Voldermort sent Greyback to get her. It was her time. "You're coming with me."