"Com'on, com'on! Let's move!"
Gunfire split the night, just as the fires of explosions and the debris from them rained all around.
Smoke, so thick that it choked the night sky, made it impossible to see.
Like thunder, a large echoing boomed across the land, as the buildings illuminated by their burning members, shook with every deafening explosion.
Yet somehow, footsteps, the sound of running was still just loud enough to hear, as it came closer to the abandoned church.
"There! How 'bout there?"
"Where? I can't see!"
"Oh, for heaven's sake… Lumos!"
A bright flash of light flared from nowhere, cutting a path through the denseness of the wall of smoke, but behind it, only shadows could be seen clearly.
"Ah… got it!"
There was a sound of a doorknob being grasped, but it was certain that the door was locked.
"Shit! I don't have time for this!"
With a cry of bloody death, the owner of the voice rammed the door, and it broke open.
From the inside, the door was knocked aside and the broken shards littered the already decimated floor. The inside was just as bad.
"Quick! Inside!"
Two people ran through the door, the reddish smoke billowing in behind them, then another came through, who supported a fourth against them. All four wore black cloaks, and all four were considerably worse for wear.
Ignoring the depravity of the place, the first through the door knocked aside some of the beams that had collapsed from the ceiling, and cleared away some of the pews. Then, they went on to find a place clear of the broken stained glass. There were few spots.
The one behind the first, and considerably shorter, cleared the glass away with some spells, and then produced a blanket via transfiguration.
"Quick, bring her here!"
The third figured obliged, and laid the fourth figure upon the blanket, being careful to keep her head comfortable.
With tenderness, he held her close. But yet, he was careful not to move her too much.
"Luna… Luna… it'll be alright."
He pushed her hood aside, and the face of Luna Lovegood stared back, the well known spacey look long replaced with a tender one. Then, seized by a fit of coughs, she succumbed to their violence as they racked her body. With trembling hands, she closed them upon the hands of the figure hovering above her.
"Will… will it… will I?" A tear graced her cheek as she shuddered anew. A dark splotch of blood soaked her right chest, as a bubbling bullet wound festered below. It was clear even without a spoken word, that she was scared. "I don't… I don't want to… to leave you, Neville."
The figure leaned down again, the hood sliding off his head, revealing a Neville who looked as though he was entering his late twenties… nowhere near what a nineteen year old should look. His cheeks were tear stained, and his lips trembled. But he tried his best to put forth a brave front.
He gripped her hands hard and said softly: "And you won't have to… you won't." "He swallowed hard as he choked back a new line of tears. "I won't let you. Because I love you."
She smiled serenely and spoke even softer than he, but with a smile.
"And don't I know it."
Together, they shared a subtle kiss, and went back to their whisperings of love.
Apart from them, the other two figures had moved away, to give them their privacy. For all they knew, Luna wouldn't last the night.
With mournful eyes, Ron Weasley watched the tender scene from beneath the hood of his cloak. Each passing second scored a new line of agony in his already tormented heart, and served to render his very soul. Unable to stand it any longer, he lashed out against the wall.
"FUCK!"
From behind him, the gentle but weary eyes of his companion watched with an already broken expression.
Try as she may, she was unable to hold her peace as graciously as she wanted. Like Ron, she too wished to hit something. However… looking at the hole in the already beaten wall, and the redness of his knuckles, she would rather it be against something far more pliable.
"When will it end, when?" shouted Ron in an uproar.
He had done well to hold it in until now, but it was past the point of fury.
With tears in his eyes, he clutched the broken window ledge until his hand bled. "I never thought I'd see the day when I actually could sympathize with Sytherin's view of the muggles." He looked up wildly. "I'm sorry Hermione… but even your parents… they're on 'that' side now."
Hermione did not blink. Ron's rage and outburst were all too forgivable. Besides… it was already well known that the side he meant was the one of death, and not the enemy. For it was on the day of the first strike that her parents had met the same fate as Harry.
No one knew why the muggles fired. No one knew why they had done the unspeakable, but they had. In the blink of an eye, half of England was a smoky crater, and Voldemort was dead. As was the boy who lived.
Just that alone was more of an impact to the wizarding community, more than any bomb could ever be.
Yet… it was always thought that the muggles were beneath the magic society in everyway… though, that was fastly proven wrong. In the blink of an eye.
Since that day… since that day…
The war with the muggles began.