Story by: Kassie King

Title: Down the Hallway

Category: Romance/Angst

Rated: T

Summary: Once the curse hits you you're dead no matter what was left unsaid. FredAngie. DH Spoiler Warning! May cause sudden outbursts of tears and crying. RIP Fred W.

I, Angelina Johnson was standing alone in one of the only deserted hallways currently in Hogwarts. I noticed my heavy breathing and delayed reactions. The walls felt like they were caving in, how long had I been awake? There had been two of them. Two death eaters and they had come at me, quite suddenly then I had done it.

It was quick, a curse only to be used in the most desperate of times and that moment truly was the most desperate I could recall. Still, I had killed a man. And inside of me that would never sit quite right. That information would never be okay with me.

So as I heard footsteps grinding through the hallway behind me i did not turn around. If this mysterious person wanted to kill me than good riddance to that, I deserved it. I was no better than Voldemort or his death eaters.

The footsteps behind me slowed and behind me the person's heavy breathing mixed with mine. I stopped walking forward and turned slowly to face the man. Relief filtered through me as I recognized the famous Weasley hair atop the man's head. It was George.

I felt bad constantly for losing touch with George after Fred and I broke up, but didn't think I could bare to see his face. Fred had left me in ruins, shattered pieces. And pieces left alone in dirty hallways couldn't mend themselves.

After Fred I was never quite whole, I had loved him forever only to have him leave at ease. It was something I would never understand, looking into his blue eyes and seeing the world for everything it wasn't. It was a giddy feeling and one I would quite like to have forever.

However, right now George's eyes held no life within them. They had no spark. It was almost as if he was a corpse walking after me. He stopped when we locked eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words left his dry lips. His face was a deathly pale and his hair almost seemed blonde rather than red.

"Ange…" he finally emitted slowly.

"George? Are you ok?" I asked concern painting my vocabulary.

"No and neither will be you."

"What?" His phlegmatic tone worried me more than anything else, his voice had lost its usual spark.

"It's not, easy Ange." He forced every word out, they reached a volume barely above a whisper.

"George, what's wrong? Tell me?"

"I can't." he choked on his words.

"Please, please tell me. George I'm scared." Panic now laced my words and I was screaming inside.

"Not everyone makes it out of those hallways alive Ange" his words were cryptic.

"George, is everyone ok?" please God, please.

"No." it was all he needed to say.

"Where's Fred?"

"Down the hall."

"Which one?"

"The one leading into the Great Hall from the Northernmost staircase."

"Can I talk to him?"

"No." It was short, but it was everything.

"No…" I whimpered. I was going to break down. Where was all the oxygen?

"Angie, he's gone." No, it wasn't true.

I felt myself crumple to the ground and my head reached my kneecap. Fits of warm, salty tears were erupting from my eyes. The hard ground beneath me wasn't enough to support me. I felt George next to me. He stroked my hair back. I couldn't breath, there was no more air. Even a witch can't survive with no air. My brain was failing, there was no comprehension.

He couldn't be gone, not like that. It was too soon. There was too much to say. We never made up. I never got my second chance. Any deity in the world with an acceptable nature wouldn't take Fred. He was a good one. He was the boy that could weave gold into his laugh. That could fill a room just by entering it. He was the boy with the baby blue eyes.

I don't know when my legs lifted me up or why, but I could feel myself drifting down the hallway, off to find my Fred. And then he was there, smiling at me from the ground. He had just woken from a slumber. His family was so happy to see him awake that tears stained their cheeks.

Molly turned to face me with the most distorted look I'd ever seen. Couldn't she see that her son was fine, he was waking up. But Fred didn't move at all. There was no rising and falling in his chest. He wasn't breathing.

Fred… Fred… sweetheart, wake up. Please. Just sit up. Prove to them that you're fine. Did you have one too many fainting fancies. I swear Mrs. Weasley I told him those weren't good for him.

It was only when I cupped my hand around his iced cheek and spoke to his lifeless figure that I fully understood that Fred Weasley really had left our world for one much greater. I could feel the tears again. They sprang to my eyes like waterfalls. I could feel Mrs. Weasley pulling me into her and I did not fight her off. He was her son. Her blood.

All I would ever have of Fred was 6 glorious months. 182 days of memories. Only a small fraction of his heart. We would never say goodbye because once the curse hits you you're dead no matter what was left unsaid.

A/N

In this fic Angie's denial is my own. I refuse to believe he's dead. See it's just what Jo wants you to think , she's a trickster that one. Fred can't be dead, no… I love Fred. I wanted to marry him. Please don't let it be real. Review please.