And Death Followed
/ This is set in an alternate universe, if everything hadn't gone down in the seventh book. Enjoy. /
I strode through the wreckage, elated with my success, success that would most likely result in a promotion. I plucked up the hem of my black cloak, not wanted to sully it with the goer under my feet. I supposed I would need to get new shoes to replace the current ones, slugging through.
"Please…. Please…" The gasp came from the ground, and I stopped, more out of surprise than anything else. I hadn't thought we had left a single one of them alive, but it seemed someone had made a mistake.
"Well, this won't do." I said, to no one in particular I guess, or perhaps to Death himself, who had to be nearby on this day.
"Please…" The voice whispered again, cut off by a wet, disgusting cough. I stepped through the carpet of bodies, once again clutching my robes in my hands, until I found the source of the voice. Pale skin, flecked with freckles, brown eyes half closed and long red hair splayed around the girls head like a gruesome halo. Death's own angel.
/
I stood before the mirror, taking in my appearance. It would have to do, considering how late I was. The final commencement ceremony for the graduates of the England Auror Academy. Not my graduation, that is, but Harry Potter's. I myself still had one year left.
"Come on, Gin. If Harry finds out we were late, I'm blaming you." I exited the washroom, flipping a strand of hair over my shoulder as I flounced by Ron. His set of dress robes looked ridiculous, but I decided not to infuriate him any further. Not yet, at least.
"All right then, let's do this, shall we?" Almost simultaneously we apparated away and landing on soft grass moments later. The hillside was beautiful at this time of year, all emerald green grass, with wildflowers the colors of jewels. It would be a large ceremony, one of the largest ever for the Boy Who Lived. Already wizards and witches were filing into the rows of chairs, the drone of conversation overpowering the lazy buzz of bees.
"It's odd, don't you think?" I said, as we walked towards a row of chairs. Hermione was standing, waving franticly at us. I waved back, to show we had seen.
"What is?" Ron asked, sidestepping an elderly wizard who seemed to have fallen asleep mid step, his cane desperately trying to keep him upright. I waved my hand at the surroundings.
"This, the location. The life of an Auror, it's hard, vile, dangerous, and yet they send them off with this place. It just seems…" I trailed off, not sure how to finish.
"Fake?" Ron offered. I nodded.
"Yes, fake."
Ron shrugged, digging his hands into his pockets.
"What would you prefer? Midnight? Rain? Maybe in the middle of a battle against infiri?"
I elbowed Ron, laughing.
"No, no. I just… it struck me as odd."
We filled into the chairs Hermione had saved for us, programs materializing in our hands as we sat.
"This is so exiting!" Hermione gasped, gripping Ron's hand tightly. "I've never been to anything like this! Ooh, I can't wait!" Ron planted a kiss on the back of Hermione's hand.
"Yeah, you can study the behavior, and stuff." He suggested halfheartedly. Hermione didn't seem to notice.
"It's starting!" She gasped. I turned to the rickety stage, a few chairs set up wrapped in purple fabric. A podium stood front and center, the Ministry's emblem hanging from it. A group of Wizards and Witches filed onto the stage, sitting down in the available chairs as the Minister approached the podium.
His magically enhanced voiced boomed over the crowed as the last few conversations pattered out. I didn't even try to pay attention. Instead, my thoughts wondered to Harry. I fingered the wring he had given me for my birthday last year, gold with a red ruby rose. I wore it day and night.
"And now, please help me in welcoming Mr. Harry Potter!" I looked up in time to see Harry stride onto the stage. He grinned at the crowed, but it wasn't until he found me that the smile reached his eyes. I clapped with the rest as he approached the Minister. They shook hands, the Minister congratulating Harry with words lost under the cheers from the crowed.
The Minister gestured to the podium, and Harry approached it, sweeping chunks of black hair out of his eyes.
"Thank you, everyone, and thank you for taking time out of your day to come and support me in this…." I could recite the words with him, considering I had basically written the speech and had helped him practice it. He hadn't wanted to read it off, but instead say it from memory.
He was going through the usual list of necessaries to thank. Ron, Hermione, Mum and Dad were on the list too, along with Dumbledore of course, and even Neville.
"And lastly, to my amazing girlfriend, without whom I wouldn't have made it this far. Gin, I couldn't have done it without you there with me, every step of the way."
Oh, wow. I hadn't written that part. My cheeks reddened, and Ron guffawed, punching me in the arm. But I didn't care, I was looking straight at Harry. So I was the first one to see the flash of green strike him, full in the face. I screamed, before anyone else had noticed what had happened, before Harry's body had hit the floor. I screamed, and that's when all hell broke loose.
I didn't remember much. I remembered Ron throwing himself over Hermione, blocking a killing curse that had been meant for her. The screams were deafening, but even still I could hear Hermione screaming Ron's name in desperation.
The beautiful glade was thrown to chaos. Death reigned, pain following close behind. I felt frozen, my eyes still on the stage. I couldn't see Harry, only the top of his head. His glasses had fallen off his face, and were now lying a few feet away.
I was hit, not with a gracious Avada Kedavra, but with something that sliced and burned. I didn't know where my wand was, and even if I had I wasn't sure I would know what to do with it. My mind seemed fuzzy, and the feeling from my school days returned. The feeling that I forgot something, I just couldn't put my finger on it.
I collapsed, I know that much. The ground rushed up to meet me, and I welcomed it. The grass was now stained red with blood. I think it may have been mine. I grasped my torn skin with bloody fingers, trying to hold my life in, even as it slowly seeped away.
Everything had seemed to go still, no more screams breaking the peaceful silence. Quick, everything happening so fast, and I didn't even know what it had been.
"Please…"
The voice startled me, until I realized it was my own.
"Please…." I said again, my voice rasping. Help. that was what I needed. Help to get me out of this, to make the pain stop. I heard someone approaching, the soft sound of boots on grass, and then, softly, "Well this won't do."
A familiar face came into my vision. White hair, striking against the dark robes he wore. A hand clutched at the robes, holding them out of the blood. My blood.
/
It had been quick, just like the Dark Lord had ordered.
"No more allowances for mistakes. Take out Potter first. And then kill the rest of them."
Those had been his words, and that was what had happened. Of course no one was expecting it, and it was easy to take them out, one by one. Others had gotten bored, Avada Kedavraing everyone.
"No sport" I had heard one of them mutter, before shooting a curse at a women. It had sliced through her, and he left her to bleed to death. None were spared, not child or elderly. No one escaped, we had ensured that. A simple spell enclosed the entire glade, and with only a dark mark was it possible to leave.
We had congratulated each other, and then set out through the masses, looking for Them, the ones the Dark Lord despised the most. This list was long, longer then I had expected it to be. I knew many of them from my school days, and was surprised to see their names. They had seemed like such inconsequential irritations, flies on the Dark Lords back.
But apparently no one survived defiance. It was in this way I found myself, standing over the girl. I knew her, she was on the list, and she was still alive.
"Please" She said again, her eyes on me. One hand grasped at her stomach, stained red with blood that still squeezed through her red-stained fingers. I wasn't sure what she wanted so badly. Surly she knew I wouldn't help her. I wondered if she recognized me from three years ago. I wanted to ask her, but decided it was in bad taste. Again, she repeated the word, the last word in her vocabulary it would seem.
What did she want from me, to save her? I crouched down next to her, not even caring now as my robes splayed over her, getting dirty. Perhaps she didn't want to be saved. Perhaps the girl wanted just the opposite, to be put to rest.
She opened her mouth, no doubt to repeat the word, but only a wet sob escaped her. Her face was ashen, eyes filled with pain.
What was it she begged for so dearly? Life, or death?
Slowly, I lowered the tip of the wand, until it hovered just above her left temple.
"Goodbye." I whispered.
Green filled the air, and Death followed after it.