I stared in horror at the scene playing out in front of me. We had successfully made it back to Hogwarts, only to have Dumbledore petrify us as someone had run up the stairs. My hand was firmly gripped on Harry's unmoving arm.
There were four other death eaters besides Draco Malfoy standing there- one of them was Fenrir Greyback. If I could move I would've thrown up at the sight of him. He was disgusting, and had a taste for eating humans even without being in wolf form.
All Harry and I could do was watch as they threatened to kill Dumbledore. Although Dumbledore had a point... if Draco was going to kill him, why hadn't he?
Dumbledore was beginning to weaken and there were shouts coming from below. Before I could comprehend what was happening, Snape had arrived. He's got to help... He has to do something. The thoughts sounded silly, I knew he couldn't be trusted.
"Severus.... please..." Dumbledore said weakly.
My heart stopped... Dumbledore was.. begging?
"Avada Kedavra!"
Everything went numb inside me the moment Snape uttered the words. The gasp I uttered never left my lips. Dumbledore fell from the astronomy tower, and the death eaters all fled. Snape and Draco were going to get away.
No no no it's not real.
Moments later Harry began to move, and I realized I could too. He tossed the invisibility cloak to the side, and wasted no time petrifying the big blonde death eater.
"Harry! You can't go after them!" I begged. I knew he wouldn't listen, and there was no way he was going by himself.
"They'll get away!" Harry demanded.
My brother began sprinting after them and I followed. We flew down the stairs, and right into the middle of a war with the death eaters. I saw people on the ground, but there was no way to tell who they were. There wasn't time to look.
Ginny was battling Amycus, and Harry quickly immobilized him. It wasn't long after that that Harry took off again. As I tried to follow him, a death eater aimed a jinx right at my head, barely missed. I turned around to see a death eater with dark hair and a manic look on her face. I barely had time to shout "Protego" as she launched another curse.
"Petrificus Totalus!" I shouted and missed.
"Crucio!" The death eater screamed.
I ducked and stumbled, hitting my head hard on the corner of the staircase. My vision blurred for a moment, but I could still see the death eater advancing.
"Protego..." I muttered weakly. The shield was weak, but it was strong enough to deflect the curse.
"Impedimenta!" I thought aiming my wand at the death eater as fast as I could. She fell backwards, her face turning into an expression of pain.
Ginny was by my side in seconds, "Are you alright?"
"Maybe.. I'm not sure," I said as I reached up and touched the gash on my head.
"That looks pretty deep..." Ginny said uncertainly.
"Cassie... Merlin that's a deep cut. Let's get you to the hospital wing."
I turned around quickly at the sound of my God Fathers voice. "Remus!" I exclaimed, relief flowing through my veins. He was okay.
Remus bent down next to me, grabbing my arm to help me up. He took me up to the hospital wing, along with Neville. Ginny had gone to find Harry.
There were already several people in the hospital wing, gathered around Bill. I shivered at the sight of him, he had gashes on his face all because of Greyback.
Madam Pomfrey had the cut on my forehead fixed in a second, as well as giving me something to help with the shock. She still insisted that I stay in a bed, just in case.
I tucked my knees to my chest and let out a deep breath. None of this felt real. Dumbledore couldn't really be dead. Snap could not have killed him. Everything felt wrong.
"Fred and George weren't here were they?" I asked quickly.
"No.. you already know of everyone who's been here Cassie," Remus said.
Remus...Tonks...Bill...
Everyone I knew was at least alive, although Bill was seriously injured and we were unsure of the outcome. At least we knew he would live.
Madam Pomfrey allowed me to move next to Bills bed as Ginny came in with Harry. More relief washed over me, they were both okay.
Harry sat down next to me, and the moment everyone realized Dumbledore was dead, the questions erupted. Harry began to explain what had happened on top of the astronomy tower. Occasionally people would look to me for confirmation, but all I could do was nod.
"Cas!" Harry gently tapped my leg.
"Mmm?" I murmured.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had arrived with Fleur. I scooted out of the way so Bills parents and Fiancé could have room. I'd completely missed half of the conversation, I couldn't focus.
Mrs. Weasley began to cry over Bill, gently dabbing his wounds.
"He was going to bed married!" She sobbed.
An argument quickly broke out between Mrs. Weasley and Fleur. The last thing I expected was for them to end up hugging and crying.
Injuries can do strange things to people I guess....
I can't say I was expecting the argument that broke out between Remus and Tonks either.
"You see! She still wants to Marry him even though he's been bitten! She doesn't care!" Tonks exclaimed.
"It's different," Remus said, looking at the ground.
The two argued for a moment more, before I interrupted.
"Remus... it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that you're a werewolf! You took me in, and you do a great job at that. You being a werewolf is only holding you back. I don't care. And neither does Tonks. If you care about each other, you both deserve to be happy."
Everyone stared at me in shock for a moment, probably because this was the first time I'd spoken for awhile. I blushed and looked down.
"Do you see? Cassie's right, Remus!" Tonks told him.
"This is not the moment to discuss it... Dumbledore is dead."
I sighed. Remus deserves to be as happy as any of us, and he just wouldn't accept it.
Moments later, Mcgonagall requested that Harry talk to her privately. She didn't seem to think I was in the 'right state' for the conversation she wanted to have with Harry. I wasn't sure how she thought Harry was any better me.
Nearly an hour later Hermione and I were back in our dorm. No one else was there, everyone was still trying to figure out all of the commotion.
My eyes were exhausted, but my brain was running away with images of Dumbledore masked in a green light before falling... falling... falling.
****
Fred held my hand tightly as we watched Dumbledore's body carried to the front of the assembly. Hot tears rolled down my cheeks, and Fred wrapped an arm around me.
Glancing back, I could see tears falling into Hermione and Ginny's laps. Harry, however, seemed expressionless. My heart ached at the thought of what he must be going through. Harry had been much closer with Dumbledore for much longer than I had even known him.
A man had been talking but I hadn't paid attention. As the speech ended things fell oddly silent, someone else must've been up to talk next. A gasp escaped my lips as Dumbledore's body was encased in flames. The next moment they had disappeared and Dumbledore's body was encases in a white tomb. Squeezing Fred's hand, I kept my eyes to the ground. This last week had been too much. All of this was still too much.
The funeral ended, and people began to rise from their seats. Fred, George and I all stood up but didn't walk away. Fred wrapped both arms around me, a gesture I gladly returned.
"I just still can't believe it..." George murmured.
"Neither can I," Fred agreed.
The three of us stood talking for awhile, until I saw Harry walking away, quickly followed by the minister.
"I'll see you at the burrow," I promised the twins, tightly hugging them both.
The conversation between Harry and Scrimgeour was short. It ended before I could catch up to them. Ron, Hermione and I all ran up to Harry at the same time.
"What'd he want?" I asked in disgust.
"Same thing he wanted at Christmas," Harry told us.
We spent the next little while sitting under a tree talking about everything. Snape being the Half-Blood Prince, our future, and the plan Harry and I had come up with to not come back to Hogwarts.
It was nice to spend a little bit of time with my best friends before we had to go back to worrying. As much as I wanted this moment to last forever, Hermione soon began rushing us to get back to our dorms and make sure we were all packed before we left on the Hogwarts express. And so, an hour later I sat down next to Harry on the train for the last time.
A/N- Thank you so much for reading!!