In The Moment
She ran around frantically, trying to do anything and everything to help those around her while still trying to adequately protect herself at the same time.
She ran around a corner, her heart beating so loudly that it was the only thing she could hear amongst the chaos. Her eyes searched frantically for him amongst all the debris and all the figures continuously moving about.
She spotted two redheads after a few moments of searching, earning herself a cut on the arm from a barely-missed curse due to her lack of concentration of what was going on around her.
She would take the pain though because she had finally spotted him and was able to make sure that he was alright with her own eyes. Her heart filled with elation at the sight of him, mainly unscathed.
He and Percy had just taken down Thicknesse and another Death Eater she did not recognize. The brothers spared a moment from the battle to turn to each other and exchange a few words, most likely acknowledging a job well done, which had left her lover laughing.
She saw him start to turn towards her, as he had seen her in his peripheral, and give her that boyish smile that she had come to know and love. In that moment, time seemed to cease, as though it was only the two of them and as though there was not a battle taking place all around them.
It was in the seconds following that she heard, or rather more accurately felt, the explosion. Her vision became clouded due to the dust and debris that was now encompassing the scene and she felt a hard body slam into hers, forcing her onto the cold, hard floor of Hogwarts.
The dust finally cleared and she could tell that it was Harry who had knocked her to the floor in an attempt to prevent her from further harm. She picked herself up quickly, unsuccessfully attempting to brush off the dust on her blouse, when a wail pierced her ears.
She whipped her head around, and stared disbelievingly at the scene before her. Percy was hunched over his brother's body, tears running down his face as he tried to cradle his still smiling brother in his arms.
In that moment, she stopped breathing. It couldn't be true. There is no way that Fred Weasley, infamous prankster, could be dead. Any moment now, he would get up and brush himself off and tell them that it had been a big joke.
Except that he didn't.
She saw another redhead rush past her. Instinctively, her arm shot out and caught the redhead by the arm, without knowing which Weasley she had just grabbed. Ron, her mind processed the information.
Her mind barely registered that Harry was pulling her and Ron into a nearby niche, where they could remain considerably well concealed for the time being. She wasn't able to register the words Harry was speaking to Ron, telling him that there was nothing that could be done for Fred now.
The only thing that she was able to register was that her Fred was now being dragged off to one side of the hallway, where he wouldn't get trampled on while the fighting continued. She noticed the smile still pulling on Fred's lips, and a small part of her brain made a mental note, that she would not remember until years later, to ask Percy what they had said to each other before the wall had exploded.
As she stared at the simple gold band that he had given for her left ring finger, she finally allowed the tears to break loose from the confines of her eyes. She moved her right hand to cradle the barely perceptible bump of her stomach, the same bump she had been planning on telling Fred about as soon as the Final Battle had been won.
It was at that moment that her world came crashing down.