Ch.41
“We are splitting up into groups,” I heard Professor McGonagall yell above the crowd, splitting up the groups of people.
I turned as George came up to me quickly. “Fred and I are securing the passageways in and out of the school. Where are you assigned?” he said, glancing around as he tried to find Fred again.
“No where yet, why?”
“Then you're coming with us.”
“You trust me to cover you?” I asked with a smirk.
“I wouldn't trust anyone else,” he pulled me with him, over to where Fred was standing with another group of people, him explaining where everyone would be at and what we were doing. When he spotted me, he gave me a soft smile before returning to address the crowd.
Before long we were all in the tunnels, making our way through them to make sure that that all the ways in and out were closed off. I was becoming more anxious by the minute and I could tell the others were as well. The battle was about to begin and as I heard more yelling coming from outside, I knew they were approaching.
For a second everything seemed to slow down as we all went off into our own directions, continuing to secure the building. Then it happened, the screams and sounds of explosions that told us midnight had come and there was no way to go back.
We all ran blindly, attacking anyone that was in a death eater's uniform, while all of us were hoping we would make it.
“You're a traitor!” one of the death eaters said as I ran into one of them, my wand pointed toward him. “Your father would be disgusted by you.”
“Actually, my dad would be furious with the thought that the one of his men was pointing his wand at me in a threatening manner. In his mind, that would be punishable by death,” I said glaring at him watching as he shrunk back some, not used to disobeying me. “That's what I thought. Avada Kadavra!” It should have scared me, knowing that in that moment I didn't care that I had just killed a man, instead it filled me with peace, knowing that this man could no longer harm anyone else.
I tried fighting my way through the crowds, trying not to attack some of the death eaters that I had once called my friends. I couldn't kill them, I couldn't even injure them, even though I wasn't on their side, I had still lived my whole life with them by my side. They seemed to realize that too and avoided me as much as I avoided them. It was either that, or my father had already warned them away from me.
I managed to finally get into a more secluded spot, trying not to focus on the flames blazing around me.
“Have you seen Remus!” I heard Tonks yell out in the distance, filling me with worry.
“He was dueling Dolohov, haven't seen him since!” I heard someone cry out in response. I knew right then that something had gone wrong, which brought the terror of all my past dreams back to me. Fred was in danger and I had to find him before it was too later. Before I could even stop to rethink what I was doing, I ran off into the direction I had in my dream, hoping that I wouldn't be to late.
I rushed toward a corridor, seeing Percy and Fred in the distance, ignoring the screams and yells around me. If there was only one person I could save, it had to be Fred, it just had to be.
“Hello, Minister!” Percy yelled, sending a jinx toward the minister that had been working for my father. “Did I mention I'm resigning?” I sped up, knowing what was about to happen.
“You're joking, Perce. You actually are joking, Perce... I don't think,”
“Move!” I yelled, finally reaching them and throwing Fred away from where I knew the blast would come from. Just as I moved him out of the way the air exploded. It was at that moment that I knew I was too late to move away, instead it hit me full blast, dropping me to the floor and causing me to black out slightly.
“No, no! Come on Abby, please wake up. Please!” I heard, the ringing still in my ears as I tried to focus on the voice, but it was too difficult. In the distance I could hear spells were cast and explosions continuing on.
“We'll have to carry her. We can't stay here any longer.” I heard someone else say. “Someone has to get George.”
“I'll carry her. Perce, you have to go find George.”
“Okay, everyone stay safe!” I could feel myself being picked up before all my senses were lost, leaving me in a sweet darkness.
“You have to keep fighting it, sweetheart,” a voice whispered in my head. I began to see a figure walking toward me, and when they came into view I noticed it was my mom.
“Am I dead?” she chuckled as she brushed my hair out of my face.
“No, it's not your time Abigail. You have to fight, you have to get back there. Everyone needs you.”
“I doubt that, I can't even bring myself to fight some death eaters.”
“That's because you think of them as your family,” she said with a sad smile. “You don't have to hurt them you know. You just being there gives others the strength to get through this. There's people that are distracted right now because of what just happened to you. They're being placed in danger. You have to help them.”
“I know, I will.” I could feel the tears returning once more as I watched my mom.
“You may lose a lot of people tonight, but they'll always be there for you, remember that. But right now, George, Fred, Hermione, Ginny, Sirius, Ron, Harry and all of the others need you. Goodbye Abigail, stay strong.”
I felt myself returning to my body, my eyes flickering open.
“Oh thank god,” I soon as I could register that I was lying down in the great hall, I was pulled into George's arms. “I thought I lost you.” he continued to mutter over and over.
“You can't get rid of me that easily,” I whispered back, throwing my arms around his neck and pulling him even closer to me. “I thought we agreed we were going to get through this together. Besides, I'm really looking forward to that break you were talking about.” I pulled back, looking up to see tears in his eyes.
“I really thought I'd lost you,” he said once more, this time talking to himself before slamming his lips onto mine.
“I thought so too.” we separated and I saw Fred standing there, looking as if he had been crying as well. I got off George and went and hugged Fred, feeling the guilt coming from him.
“It's okay, Fred,” I said as he pulled me closer.
“If you had died it would have been all my fault.”
“No, it wouldn't have Fred. It was my choice Fred, I wasn't going to let you die. In the end we're both fine, so don't you even think of blaming yourself when we both made it out of there.” He nodded before letting go of me, letting George pull me back into his arms.
I could tell that something was wrong by just looking into their faces. “What happened?” I asked, their gazes suddenly taking interest in the floor.
“Some people didn't make it out of the battle Abby,” George whispered, my ears barely catching it.
“Who?” I asked my voice cracking. The twins gave each other a look before Fred walked away and George made me sit down, him kneeling down in front of me, grasping my hands in his.
“Ron told me that Snape didn't make it Abs,” I couldn't stop the sob that came from my throat, stunned. I thought he would have had the potion, he should have had the potion. Why didn't he have it? “I'm so sorry,” he pulled me into his arms, as the sobs shook my body. I could tell that he had started crying as well.
“Who else?” I managed to get out.
“Come on,” he squeezed my hand tightly, pulling me over to where I saw the Weasley family and Sirius standing, all of them with dried tears on their faces, but as they turned to see me there they all filled up again. Sirius was kneeling on the ground, sobbing, not even bothering to turn around. Before I could see who it was I noticed Mrs. Weasley had stepped in front of me first, pulling me into a hug as well.
“Thank you, Abigail, for saving my son. I'm just so glad you're okay.” she moved out of the way, allowing me to see the bodies, murmuring a quiet sorry.
As soon as I spotted the two bodies I felt my legs become weak. George must have noticed because he lightly lowered me onto the ground, sitting there with his arms wrapped around me. Tonks and Remus lifeless bodies laid on the ground in such a peaceful way you might have thought they were sleeping. I hung onto Tonk's body, not wanting to let her go as I realized that their son had just lost his parents, parents that he would never be able to meet. I couldn't even imagine what Sirius was thinking.
Sirius glanced up at me and held out his arms, allowing me to throw myself into his arms. He had just lost one of his best friends and I had just lost one of my last blood relatives.
“Harry went to face my father,” I said in shock, realizing was going on. Everyone standing around me seemed to pale in realization as I spoke.
“Of course he did,” Sirius whispered. I managed to stand up, running out of tears from everything that had occurred this whole day.
We all stayed in our spots in silence, mourning everyone that had lost their lives. We all knew that this battle wasn't over yet, but as everyone in the room glanced around at each other, we all came to an agreement. These people had given up their lives with the hope the everyone else would be able to live in a world full of peace. We weren't going to stop until they were avenged and nothing was going to stand in our way.
After a few minutes I felt my father's presence coming, I just knew that he was coming and that we had to be prepared for whatever came our way. I began walking toward the door, my hand clutching onto my wand tightly as I became aware of what was about to happen. As I reached the door I turned back to see that everyone was watching me.
“He's coming,” I said, my voice echoing through the achingly quiet room.