Angelina Johnson was never much of a crier. She had fought right beside her former classmates, and had not shed a tear. Not even now, now that her whole world was falling down around her, did a tear escape. Her emotions were numb.
She heard her own heart beating. She took a breath and looked at her surroundings. The area was so familiar to her, it was comforting. She knew every detail of these trees by heart. She knew every inch of the grounds, from Hagrid's hut, where she had had her first Care of Magical Creatures lesson, to the Quidditch Pitch, where she had played in countless matches. Now, Hagrid's hut had been burned, as well as the Quidditch Pitch. Evidence of the battle lay everywhere.
Angelina turned back to the trees. She wanted to take shelter in these trees. To climb to the tallest branch and never be found. But she couldn't. The D.A. needed her. Gryffindor needed her. Hogwarts needed her. She had just watched Harry defeat Voldemort in the final battle. She supposed that she should be happy. They had won. It was all over.
But, Angelina thought grimly, the battle is far from over. Constant reminders of everything that had been lost closed in on her. Her pulse quickened. It was beginning to lightly rain. She felt the raindrops cling to her dark hair. She wished she could stand in the rain until everyone came outside, and everything was back to normal. But she had to face the war's damage eventually. She couldn't evade it any longer.
As she walked to the Hogwarts doors, her eyes moved over the people on the grounds. Some were in groups, some alone. Tears had left tracks on their faces. No one even glanced at the tear-less girl moving towards the Hogwarts entrance. Angelina's hands closed over the handles to the Hogwarts doors. She pulled them open, and took a sharp breath in.
People packed the Great Hall. Families and friends were in groups surrounding each wounded person. The hall was drastically different from what she remembered from her days at Hogwarts. The body heat made the hall uncomfortably hot, but no one seemed to pay much attention. Angelina scanned the faces as she walked inside, praying that she saw no familiar faces. She passed the bodies of Colin Creevy, one of her fellow Gryffindors, and Remus Lupin, her old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Each felt like a powerful blow to her chest. It was then that she saw him. Fred. Fred. He lay on the ground, surrounded by his family. All of them were in tears. They all had it written on their faces. Fred was dead. Angelina was sick. She was broken. She was suffocating. She wanted to reach to him, even though she knew that he wasn't there. She felt her throat hurting and her face get warm, but still her eyes were dry.
Fred couldn't be dead. He just couldn't. Angelina could hear Fred's laugh. It was clear and cheerful in her mind. She saw his smile, his face, the way he moved. That body lying beside Fred's family wasn't Fred. She knew Fred. It couldn't all be gone.
She turned sharply. Now, she could hardly stop the tears. She paced down the hall until she reached the threshold. She ran down the corridor, away from it all. She didn't stop running until she reached the empty portrait of the Fat Lady. All of the portraits had deserted their frames and left for the Great Hall. She finally allowed herself to sit in the corner by the Fat Lady's portrait. Every moment she had ever shared with Fred came into her mind at once. What about everything they'd been through? She remembered every word he had said. In her mind, she played back a thousand memories.
She closed her eyes to stop the tears from coming. She could still see Fred. She remembered him whispering softly in her ear, "Nothing's gonna change, not for me and you."
She allowed the tears to fall. They raced down her cheeks, and dripped onto her tattered clothes. She had never known how much she had to lose.
In her mind, she said:
Come back, come back, come back to me
Like you would if this was a movie.
But this wasn't some movie, this was reality. And in reality, Fred wasn't coming back.
A/N: Well, I finished it, even if it was a bit late (: Sorry if this story was a bit depressing, but it was really a relief to write it. I wrote it for the Taylor Swift Song Challenge by Magic Doors, and I'm pretty proud of it. Anyway, please review and tell me what you thought. I am open to any constructive criticism that you might have. Thanks for reading! -M
Disclaimer: All characters belong to JK Rowling, I own nothing.