"This is for ones who stood their ground, for Tommy and Ginna who never backed down Tomorrows getting harder make no mistakes Luck ain't even lucky gotta make your own breaks" - It's my Life by Bon Jovi

It was as though nothing had changed. The sun still came out behind storm clouds and let its sun rays shine brightly. The hippogriffs didn't act any different. There was nothing wrong with the fairies. The wizards were the only ones who seemed to have an ever-present storm cloud looming over them. Hayden, a curly haired Gryffindor wizard lied dead in a puddle of blood. To his side was his boyfriend, Rodrigo, a Ravenclaw wizard of equal strength and ability. He was crying in the pool of blood.

Grace and Austin, a pair of Gryffindors that proved to be close to Rodrigo, tried to pull him away from the body. It was unsuccessful. It wasn't until Makenzie, a wizard of impressive strength and wit, another Ravenclaw, managed to pull his best friend off of the body of his love.

Candice, the last of the Ravenclaws, stood to the side, sobbing on Amatha and Amy, a pair of Gryffindors, shoulders. Hayden and her were particularly close. When Makenzie turned away from Rodrigo, Candice ran straight into his arms, the strong arms of Makenzie enveloping her.

I stood to the side, just watching, an observer in this catastrophe. What could be done? Hayden wasn't the only one dead. In our rag-tag group of wizards and witches, we were the only survivors, as far as I knew. Dakota and Jazz, dead. They died holding one another. Martina and Ramie, both dead as well. The best friends had the other's back until the end. Keagan, Aaron and Michael, the three trouble makers and jokesters, all found dead. It was hard to not cry. It was always hard to not cry. It was hard to know that everyone held dear and close to you was gone, no chance to ever be seen again.

Everyone leaned on one another, Gryffindors running to the other Gryffindors, Amatha, Amy, Austin and Grace huddling together, Austin looking up to protect the other three, if need be. The Ravenclaws, Makenzie, Rodrigo and Candice all stuck together, telling one another it would be okay. I stood in the middle. Hufflepuff. We all fought. There were as many of us as there were Gryffindors. There were just more of us dead. Goodbye Lauren. Goodbye Taylor. Goodbye everyone.

I sat on my knees, letting the dirt, damp with blood, sink into my jeans. Why did they go? Why? "Katie?" I hear a voice ask. I turn around and see Rodrigo standing there, about to cry behind his glasses. He had a tendency to do that.

I hug him, and manage to hold my tears back, if only for a moment, for his sake. "Why did this have to happen?" I feel like a child. I am a child. My voice is soft and my tone is confused. I knew the answer to that question, though. We all did. We just wanted to pretend it wasn't real."

"I don't know, sweetie," he said. With that, I pulled away. Something had to be done; a tribute to our fallen comrades.

"Line them up. Move them to the grass, where we can't see the blood. Hayden, Lauren, Martina, Michael, all of them!" I say with such authority, Rodrigo seemed to doubt it was me speaking. Still, he nodded his head and told my orders to the others, who then did as I wished.

I took all the wands of the fallen wizards and witches and lined them up at their feet, saying their wand each time I put it down. A hawthorne wand here, a dragon heartstring core wand there, and had my fellow grieving friends stand by my side. "Patronus. We can all produce a patronus. Think of all the happy thoughts you've had with them and let that be their memorial. They wouldn't want us to be sad. They would want us to reach for something greater! We can't let them die in vain." I look at the first person in the line up, Martina, and say the spell. "Expecto Patronum," I whisper. I remember us running away from the dungeon after causing some sort of mayhem that had been my idea. The Slytherins never found out the culprits. A bunny came out of the tip of my eleven and three fourth inch, quite flexible rowan and unicorn hair wand. It danced around Martina, paying tribute to her memory. One by one I did this. Each bunny standing vigil next to a body. A Polar Bear belonging to Rodrigo joined my bunny's side. Next an owl, a cougar and so on, until a group on animals stood watch over each body. Something amazing happened. The patronus of each deceased wizard joined our army of animals, sitting watch over their old souls.

The next twenty-four hours were hectic. Everyone tired to find every deceased body found in Hogwarts. Every soulless body was identified. There were more tears that day than I ever hope to see again, but for that quiet hour, where my friends and I just stood silent over those we lost, serenity was felt, and all was good.

The animals finished their vigil by accompanying the animal of the one deceased into the sky, as if to say "you're not going to have to do this alone. We're friends until the end!"

A bitter end to a bitter war, but now peace can finally come out of something terrible. Maybe we can even pray for something good. Rodrigo came up to me after we did our vigil and gave me a hug. "Thank you, Katie."

I shook my head. "They deserved it. Don't thank me. I'm not the reason this happened."

He took me and kissed the top of my head. "You're such a sweet girl, Katie. Please, do something good after this war."

I nodded my head. I would find purpose. I was no longer that naive little kid that only sort of belonged. I was a leader, intelligent and brave and loyal. Everyone came out changed. I produced a patronus once again, and the bunny that stood in front of me seemed a little more intelligent.

Every single character in this story was based off someone I know very well in real life, including the dead characters, so it broke my heart to write this story. This is another practice for me for the contest I'm in. I wrote this story in 38 minutes and pray it turned out well. Please leave a review and tell me thoughts on how it could be improved. Thank you!

-Juliet