| CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR |
DEAD.
AS SOON AS DAWN AND Remus stepped into the Great Hall, they both felt their hearts dropping and their stomachs flipping. Dawn kept her hand firmly in Remus', staying as close to him as physically possible as they finally began to walk.
All around them there were students, parents and professors, some of them dead, some badly injured and the ones that managed to get out without any injury were trying to help. She didn't recognise most of them, but they all looked far too young to die. It broke her heart and made her think about her own daughter, if she was in the same situation. Tears pricked her eyes which finally caused her to look away.
She let out a sob when her green eyes landed on two familiar figures. Tonks and Edmund were both in stretchers, their eyes closed and their chests completely still. What broke Dawn's heart even more, was the fact that their arms were outstretched and barely brushing one another's fingertips.
Suddenly, Remus came to a stop which alerted Dawn. She glanced up at her husband, noticing a look of pure sadness and disbelief in his eyes. She opened her mouth, ready to ask him why he stopped walking when her eyes landed on what Remus' was already looking at. A few stretchers down she spotted a huddle family of redheads. They were all crying hysterically and hugging one another, even Percy was there. She couldn't see the body on the stretcher, but she also saw one person missing from the hugs, her father.
Dawn dropped Remus' hand and rushed over to her family, tears already escaping her eyes. Molly's eyes landed on her older daughter. Unravelling her arms from Fred, Molly rushed over to Dawn, throwing her arms over her oldest child's shoulders. Dawn stood there stiff as a board, her eyes glued to Arthur's body as tears silently slipped down her dust-covered cheeks. Her body felt numb as she just stood there. It took her far too long to finally move; Remus' touch brought her back to the reality. Her body shook as she cried hysterically into his chest, clenching her fists around the back of his jacket. Her eyes were squeezed shut, wishing to wake up from this nightmare.