The last enemy

Chapter 27: The heroic act

I throw myself over to him, hoping the intercept the curse and save him in one last heroic act but of course, this is no movie. I only fall to the ground, at the same time as Theo. Anger fills me as I stand back up and before Lucius can do anything, I roar:

- Stupefy!

Lucius is hit right in the chest. With a thud, he falls on the ground, unconscious. I get down on my knees. The curse should've hit me. I was the one it was intended for. Somebody saved me by condemning him.

Tears fall down on the marble floor as I crawl my way to my boyfriend's body. I lay my head on his chest, desperate to hear a heartbeat. I don't hear anything. I check for a pulse but again, I am deceived.

- Please, please don't leave me!

I cry out. It feels like the walls are crushing me. The air I try to get in my lungs seems to be wanting to get out. There is hole in my chest. A burning hole and a pain that matches exactly the one of the cruciatus curse. Sadly, I know this one will follow me wherever I go and will not stop.

Flashing before my eyes, I see the memories I have with him. I see the boy, who used to give me notes in class, telling me where to meet him. I see the one person to who I would go when all of this became to much. I see the guy who bought me sweets when he saw that I didn't bring any money at honeydukes. I see all of these little moments that made him who he was.

I sob. Somebody puts a hand on my shoulder and I am startled when I see Draco Malfoy's face. I let my anger consume me as I spit:

- Go see your Daddy. The one that killed your best friend!
- I'm sorry I followed you guys here...I needed to see where you were going. He never poisoned me with the sweets you know.

I notice a tear making its way down his cheek and I suddenly understand that Draco cared about Theo. And Theo trusted him. He deliberately spared his best friend knowing that he would follow us. He wanted Draco to see all that his parents do...like Theo needed to understand what his Dad had done.

I cry over Theo's lifeless body. Draco forces me to stand up.

- We have to get out of here.
- No I'm not leaving him!

I try to fight Draco off but he is much stronger. He drags me to a chimney. I scream and struggle but he doesn't seem to want to let go. Having left my wand beside Theo doesn't really help me with that either. Suddenly, I hear somebody running to get to us.

- Let go of her! Reducto!

Draco gets blasted into the air. He hits the ground a few metres away from me. I turn my head to see who attacked him and I am surprised to see Fred. He walks over to me.

- Are you alright?
- No...

I weep. With watery eyes, I point at Theo. His head goes down at the sight of the body. I sniffle and while walking towards it, I say to Fred:

- Help me, I'm not leaving him here.
- Yeah, no problem.

He approaches and in a quiet voice, he pronounces:

- Mobilicorpus.

I hear loud footsteps behind us and when I look, I see a furious Draco Malfoy. He glares at Fred.

- I saved her! He was aiming for her! I deviated the curse!
- Yeah and you killed your best friend instead! Congratulations!

I yell. Fred stops me from slapping Draco by catching my wrist in midair. We share a glance where he is asking me to calm down but I don't care. At this point, I don't care anymore and I'm not sure I ever will.

- Fred, get rid of him and move the body to somewhere safe.
- El we can't leave you here...
- It's okay, I'll just go back to Remus.
- Halfie...I didn't mean to.

Draco whispers. I do not find the strength in me to actually respond, knowing the look Theo would've gave. The kind of look he can't give me anymore. So instead, I turn my back on both of them as a cracking sound can be heard in the hallway. A tear rolls down from my eye, quickly followed by many others. The only thing I feel like doing right now is laying down but obviously I know I can't do that.

And so, stifling the sobs in my throat, I raise my head and continue to walk...as I know that's what he would've wanted me to do.

I go back to the first room, where Remus is kneeling down before the arch in which Sirius fell. Tonks is crying uncontrollability and I find myself asking why I am not reacting that way. I mean, Sirius saved my life and Theo was very important to me but both of their deaths leave me feeling numb. Why am I able to get up and leave? What does it say about me?

George seems to notice my presence first. He looks at me incredulously, probably wondering why tears are staining my face.

- Where's Fred? We sent him to get you.
- Gone. He disapparated after I told him to do so.
- And where's that boyfriend of yours?

He says, trying to joke, though even he clearly isn't in the mood for it. Nor do I. My voice breaks as I quietly pronounce:

- He's also gone. But for good.

I meet his eyes and his face falls. He appears to be mumbling apologies but I can't hear them. It's like a buzzing sound is filling up my ears. We stay like this for what seems like an eternity, watching as Sirius' old friends mourn him. When Remus gets back onto his feet, he takes Tonks hand and they disapparate. George whispers to me:

- That would be our cue.

He takes my shaking hand and I feel the familiar sensation of being twisted around.

...

I sit on a bench, with the letter in my hand. In front of me, is Theo's grave. Molly agreed to put it in her backyard, just behind the white rose bush. Knowing who is parents are and who killed him, we knew that they probably would not built a tombstone. Not after doing what he did at the ministry. So, after sending the body to them, we gave Theo a proper grave, at the Burrow.

That's where we apparated two days ago. Fred was already there, with Theo's body, Mione, Ginny, Luna, Neville and Ron. At first, we wondered where Harry was but then we heard he was with Dumbledore so we didn't worry any further. Besides, he arrived a few hours later, leaving us very little time to panic over his disappearance.

On my right, is sitting Hermione. Yesterday, I was feeling really bad and so she advised me to write what I was feeling and then go read it at Theo's grave. Overall, I thought it was a stupid idea but nothing made me feel better so I caved in. And here we are.

I start reading...