The smoke and dust that had once filled the entire hall was now beginning to

disappear. And the various noises that echoed off the stone walls were gone. The screams, the explosions, the ungodly cries emitted from people who stood watching their loved ones being blown to bits, but unable to do a damn thing to save them; all of it had stopped. I knew I wasn't dead yet, dying maybe, but not completely gone. I stretched my arms out in front of me searching for him, but all I felt was broken bits of glass and chunks of rubble. I half assed-attempted to sit up, only to fall back into a puddle of what was surely my own blood, when I felt someone's hands on me.

"Oh god Pacey!" That voice. I knew that voice. I wanted to open my eyes but my head was pounding too hard.

"Fred?" I mumbled. Yes, it had to be Fred. I forced my eyes open and saw a blur of red hair and freckles inches away from my face, but as my vision started to clear I saw that the freckles were merely similar to Fred's. They weren't his. They were Ron's.

"Oh god-oh, pacey you're okay! I though we lost you!" Ron moved his hands under my shoulders and carefully pulled me into a sitting position and hugged me to his body.

"Where's Fred?"

Ron didn't answer, but instead shook his head and hugged me a little tighter.

"Where is he?" I asked again, panic rising like vomit in the pit on my stomach. I pushed back against Ron to look at him and say that he was crying. Ron. Never. Cries.

No no no no no. This is not happening. No. I shook my head at Ron, unable to speak. No. I searched his face for some indication, no matter how small, that was I was thinking, and what his silence was implying was not what had actually happened. No. I was feeling the silence in every inch of my body. It was seeping in through my skin, mixing into my blood, passing through my muscles, and settling in my bones. I was breathing it in, it was filling my lungs. It was suffocating me. And the only thing worse, than that malicious overwhelming silence was the sudden cry that bounded off the half destroyed walls of the once astonishing great hall, and impelled itself into what was left of my barely beating heart.

Before my brain would process what was happening, my legs were carrying me away from Ron and towards that broken scream. At which point I saw them. Arthur, Molly, Bill, Charlie, Percy, and Ginny Weasley, formed a loose circle around two motionless boys on the floor. I ran past them and threw myself down on the cement floor next to Fred. I grabbed his face in my hands and used every ounce of hope and energy left in my body to will him to open his eyes.

"FRED!" I screamed at his almost peaceful looking face. His eyes were closed and dark black bruises were forming around them. There was a gash across his cheek, and his left eyebrow was split open. And his bottom lip was busted, but formed a half smile. Despite all of this, he looked like he was sleeping. Almost.

"Please wake up!" I begged him. Tears were gushing down my cheeks and landing on his like raindrops. "Fred?" I brushed a chunk of his wavy red hair off of his forehead only to reveal another sizable cut. "Come on Fred open your eyes!" I yelled at him. "I will not lose you, do you hear me? You are my whole entire world, Fred Weasley! Nothing means anything to me without you! I. Need. You." His eyes didn't so much as flutter. "FRED!" I scream. No response. I began to shake him, but he still would not wake up. "NO NO NO! YOU CANNOT LEAVE ME FRED! I CAN'T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU! I CAN'T DO ANYTHING WITHOUT YOU!"

Nothing.

The air left my lungs and they shriveled up inside my chest, and my blood evaporated into the air, and my bones suddenly disappeared and I swear to god, my very heart and soul acceded into the black, starless sky. I collapsed against his still warm body, and over the cries of the remaining weasleys, I strained my ears to hear his heartbeat. It was the most familiar and significant sound in my entire world. I could hear his heartbeat from miles away, the gently thud of it against his rib cage calling me to it wherever I was. But now I could hear nothing. And because I could hear nothing, I became nothing.