I can't believe I haven't updated in like two months! I'm sorry.
To make up for my horrendous lack of updates, here is chapter 9, and I will also post the tenth and final chapter.
Characters I Own (in order of appearance):
Victoria Wallace
Renee
Shiloh
Rebecca (Becca)
Jennifer and Donovan Wallace
Jack
Logan
Stephanie and Anthony
And now...our next installment of Love, Chaos, and Weasleys!
Chapter 9
Victoria and Renee apparated into Hogsmeade and ran into two Hufflepuff boys who been in the DA with them a couple of years back.
'Jack and Logan,' Victoria silently reminded herself.
Jack was just twelve when they were in the DA. He looked younger though; he had such a baby face and big, bright blue eyes. His eyes were still big and bright, but he was losing some of the chubbiness in his cheeks now that he was getting older. His auburn hair was still as curly as Victoria remembered, and he was just as thin too. He didn't look as nervous as he used to though. Now, he had a grim and determined look in his normally pretty eyes, his mouth set in a thin line.
Logan had been fifteen at the time of the DA, but he looked almost exactly the same. Logan was big--just a little over six feet tall--and well muscled. He had an easy smile and shaggy blonde hair that hung in his jovial hazel eyes. The only difference now, besides the fact that he was now seventeen, was the fact that his eyes were no longer happy, but anxious, and his smile was tense.
"Going our way?" Logan asked, trying half-heartedly to make a joke.
Victoria and Renee nodded slightly, now more nervous that they were closer to all of the fighting. They were not going to turn and run back to the shop though. There was too much invensted in this, and too many people they loved fighting. They were determined to help.
"Then let's keep going," Jack said, pressing forward. "I heard there's an entrance through the Hogs Head."
Victoria, Renee, and Logan followed Jack to the Hogs Head and indeed there was a line of people going through a portrait that hung on the wall.
"Well...this is it," Renee said, taking a deep breath as her turn came up.
"Right behind you," Victoria said as Renee went through the portrait.
Victoria stepped up and started walking. Before she knew it she was in the Room of Requirement with a good portion of the DA. She saw Fred, George, and Lee getting ready to go out into the battle. Lee had rolled his eyes when he saw that Victoria and Renee had come--despite his attempts to keep them out of harm's way. Fred and George both looked worried and came over to the girls. George took Renee aside and Fred stayed with Victoria.
"I told you not to come," Fred said flatly.
"I know..." Victoria said quietly. "But there's too many people I love fighting right now and I didn't want to sit in the shop worrying. I want to help."
Fred just stared at her for a moment, his face unreadable. After a moment, he sighed, probably realizing there wasn't any way he was going to get her to change her mind. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her close for a kiss. It was gentle and full of urgency at the same time, and still had the dizzying effect his kisses always had. Victoria steadied herself by holding onto his arms.
"I love you, Tor," Fred said when they pulled away from each other.
"I love you, too."
"Be careful."
"You be careful too. I want you in one piece at the end of this."
He smiled a little and kissed her forehead before leaving with Lee and George, who were waiting for him. Renee walked over to Victoria, her wand at the ready.
"Let's do this," Renee said.
With a nod from Victoria, they left the safety of the Room of Requirement and into the battle.
Immediately they found themselves having to duck and stay as close to the wall as possible. Red and green sparks flew everywhere, people were screaming in agony, some were crying, and some were laying still on the ground.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Stupefy!"
"Expelliaramus!"
"Crucio!"
It was hard to hear from whom most of these spells were coming from, but the Killing Curse was the one Victoria heard the most. Before long she and Renee got split up and Victoria found herself on her own. She had been in close proximity with a Death Eater and she could hear the beginnings of the Killing Curse.
Without thinking, she aimed her wand and yelled, "Stupefy!"
The Death Eater was knocked off of his feet and went flying several feet backwards. Victoria took the opportunity to run in the opposite direction. She ran in a zigzag fashion, jumping over broken objects and people, just barely avoiding being hit by a number of different spells. Her palms had begun to sweat and her wand was slowly falling from her hand. She wiped her hands on her jeans and held onto her wand tighter. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a couple of kids, a boy and a girl, cowering near a fallen tree. They only looked about eleven years old. She ran over to them and knelt down. The girl's long red hair was a mess, and her green eyes were wet with tears. The boy had black, messy hair and gray eyes that were full of fear.
"Hey...what are your names?" Victoria asked them gently.
"Stephanie," the girl said, sniffling.
"Anthony," said the boy.
"Okay. Stephanie, Anthony, you guys are gonna be okay. You just need to get down lower. Nobody will see you then."
"We don't want to hide here," Anthony said. "We want to get to our grandma."
Victoria bit her lip, looking around at all the madness. She knew they'd be safer here, but she felt guilty leaving them back, scared and alone.
"Alright. You guys come with me, but stick really close to me. I don't want you getting hurt." Stephanie and Anthony scrambled out from their hiding spot. Stephanie took Victoria's free hand and Anthony took Stephanie's other hand.
If Victoria had been cautious on her own, she was now extraordinarily careful with the kids in tow. They ran along in the forest, hidden from view most of the time. Victoria caught glimpses of the action from between the trees. Neither side was backing down. She wasn't sure when, or even if, this war would ever end.
"Grandma!" Stephanie said suddenly. "I see Grandma!"
Victoria looked through the trees and saw and older woman who looked like she was in about her late fifties. She ran a hand nervously through her wavy, graying hair and worry was etched on her slightly wrinkled face.
"Stephanie! Anthony!" the woman called out over the din of the fight, holding out her wand defensively.
Victoria bit her lip and looked from the kids to the woman and back to the kids again.
"When I say go, we're going to run to your grandma okay?" she said to them.
They nodded, getting ready to run faster than they ever had in their lives. Victoria waited for a small space to open before shouting "Go!" to the kids. The three of dashed out of their spot in the forest. Victoria stayed close to the kids, and it was a good thing she did. As they cut across the battleground she just saw someone aim their wand at Stephanie. Victoria pulled Stephanie out of the way and pushed her into her grandmother's arms as the Cruciatus Curse flew right past them. Anthony reached his grandmother quickly after that.
"Thank you so much," the grandmother said to Victoria, who just nodded in turn, before running off with her grandkids.
Victoria had hoped they got somewhere safe, but whether they even got off the grounds she didn't know. When Victoria had turned to fight some more when two spells came flying at her.
"Avada Kedavra!" followed by the jet of green light.
"Stupefy!" followed by red.
She was hit by only one of them and was sent flying backwards. Victoria hit her head on the wall of one of the buildings, but hardly even felt it as everything went black.
When Victoria started regaining consciencesness, she felt her body shaking. No, not shaking. Whoever was holding her in their arms was shaking. She opened her eyes and thought it was raining, but when a drop landed on her lips, it was salty. A tear.
"What's going on?" Victoria asked, her eyes opening more.
"Oh, Tori! Thank God!" Lee nearly shouted with relief. "Oh I thought you were dead...I thought my Stupefy spell was too slow...or maybe that I had killed you...too much force..."
"You saved me. Thank you." Victoria had never been more grateful for a wonderful friend like Lee Jordan.
She looked around them, and everything seemed to be at a stand still. The grounds were completely and utterly destroyed. Bricks and stone and glass lay everywhere. Bodies of the dead, and the wounded, lay strewn around the battle field. Yet those who remained standing looked torn between grief and joyfulness.
"The war is over. We won," Lee informed her, noticing her wandering eyes. Now that he was convinced Victoria was fine, his crying had ceased. He helped Victoria to her feet and they walked around, unsure of what to do next. As they walked, they saw people hugging each other. Few people were celebrating the win. Many were crying, and getting their wounds bandaged and mended. But what really got to Victoria were the countless, lifeless bodies. Young and old. Strong and weak. It had been too much to bear. She just couldn't wait to find Fred again, to be in his arms and kiss him again. Then, none of this destruction would seem real anymore. Just an incredibly horrible nightmare.
The pair soon saw a crowd of red hair, dotted by a brunette and somebody with black hair. The Weasleys, Hermione and Harry. Victoria breathed a sigh of relief but upon closer inspection, the crowd was gathered around someone. They were crying. Its amazing how fast one can go from being to relieved to panicked. She pushed her way through and the first thing she noticed was Mrs. Weasley had laid her head on her fallen child, sobbing uncontrollably. She glanced up to see which sibling knelt at the head. This sibling had tears streaming down his face, the face that so resembled Victoria's fiance. However...this one was missing an ear. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest as she searched frantically for Fred. She was afraid to look down. Mr. Weasley gently lifted Mrs. Weasley up and drew her close to him. When Mrs. Weasley had got up, Victoria's worst fear was realized.
Her nightmare was just beginning.
'No, not Fred, not Fred, not Fred,' Victoria repeated in her head, fighting back an anguished cry as her heart wrenched in her chest. She could not, and would not, accept that Fred was dead. She dropped to her knees and grabbed at his wrists, felt his neck, foolishly and desperately checking for a pulse.
"Tori, kiddo...come on..." she vaugely heard Bill say, touching her shoulder. His voice was strained.
She shook off his hand and ignored him. Fred still felt warm to the touch. People who were dead were cold. Warm meant alive. Cold meant dead. When she failed to find a pulse, even though he was still a bit warm, she put her hand to Fred's nose, feeling for the slightest bit of air. Still nothing.
In a wild last attempt of checking for life, she kissed his lips, praying for them to kiss back. When at first they did not, she kissed harder, as if that would work. Her lips fiercely worked at his, but Fred's lips stubbornly lay motionless beneath hers.
