A/N - A little idea that refused to leave me alone.


Twelve Seconds

"Everyone gets a choice. Whether it is to save a life or take a life, we all choose one way or another." – Unknown

-

Twelve seconds. That was all it took.

There are some people who don't know what they are to others. There are some people who don't know that their very existence can impact on a million different circumstances in a million different ways and each way makes the outcome… well, different. There are some people who don't realise just how important they can be, and are, to another person.

She was that kind of person. The kind of person who was completely oblivious to her own significance. The kind of person who was always giving, always putting everyone else's needs before her own. She had worked in the infirmary that day, after promising him that she wouldn't leave the confines of the castle. She had looked him in the eyes and told him, without fail, that she would not leave the watchful eye of the wounded but astute McGonagall. She had lied.

He didn't remember much but what little he did remember was crystal clear. He remembered precisely what the scent of burning flesh smelled like; he remembered the look on Riddle's face when the blade pierced his withered flesh; he remembered every name of every person who lost their life that day. But what he didn't remember was how he had gone from the brink of defeat, to a national hero in the space of twelve seconds.

-

Smoke. Bodies. Death.

Everywhere.

His vision was distorted. One side of his face was sticky with dried blood – whose blood he didn't know – and he couldn't see out of one of the eyepieces in his glasses, it having been lost at some point in the fray. Out of the corner of his good eye, he saw a mop of red hair being blasted backwards through the air and slam into a wall twenty feet behind. The one responsible laughed and Harry stood torn between going on and finding his nemesis, and turning and blasting whom he recognised as Malfoy Snr. out of existence. His indecision didn't last long as an identical mop of hair – Fred, or maybe George – whipped round and threw back a heavy barrage of spells and curses that hit Malfoy with such force that Harry wasn't surprised when the blonde did not get up again. Harry turned once more and scanned the battlefield.

As his eyes found the snake like, red-eyed face that had haunted his dreams for years and smiled – which came out more as a grimace than anything else. The red pupils met brilliant green and then it all happened very fast.

1…

Voldemort raised his bone wand, intent clear in his eyes.

2…

A curse was formed on his lips.

3…

Harry realised that he wasn't going to have time to draw his wand.

4…

A scream echoed through the courtyard. High and decidedly feminine.

5…

Harry remembers the scream somewhere in the back of his memory. Something to do with Hippogriffs.

6…

Green light formed at the end of the wand.

7…

Six eyes widened.

8…

The green light made slow and yet speedy progress across the battlefield.

9…

A flash of brown curls.

10…

A thud. A scream. A silent 'oh'.

11…

A silent, yet understood, cease-fire is called with the dull, damp thud in the grass. All eyes had swivelled to stare at the girl in the grass.

12…

A heart stopped beating. And rage began to form.

-

Twelve seconds. Twelve seconds was all it took to ruin his world. Twelve seconds to was all it took to kill his dreams, his wife and his unborn baby. Twelve seconds.

Twelve.