Lia stood defensively in front on Dumbledore, sensing that something had weakened him by his slight swaying in the mild night breeze. Lia kept on running through her mind where in the world her own headmaster could be, knowing that he would've been the next wizard besides Dumbledore to be able to defend the castle. Footsteps became rapid, and luckily each of them completely buzzed right past Harry. Only 6 of the Death Eaters made it to the top of the tower, two of them holding Draco by the shoulders and Snape bringing up the back.
"Lia?" Snape gasped in horror.
"Draco, I told you to get her out of the castle."
"I tried." Draco choked back another bought of tears.
"Luckily, I am my own person and nobody makes any decisions but me." Lia spat back at them.
Bellatrix's skin crawled with rage and disgust watching Lia's lips move.
"Severus, what is going on? Why did you bring them up here?"
"It's been quite obvious, Lia." Dumbledore interjected.
"Draco has been trying to kill me all year. Surely, not very effectively, and especially not directly. I allowed it to continue, knowing that Voldemort would've slain your entire family. But you knew that already, didn't you Lia?"
"I knew that Voldemort had threatened Malfoy, and I assumed it was to carry out the acts of murdering you."
Dumbledore humbly nodded at her.
"Draco, finish him!" Bellatrix screamed.
"Draco, it is never too late to become part of the good in this world. It is never too late to change one's destiny." Dumbledore persuaded.
"Draco, please. It doesn't have to be like this." Lia reached out to him with her free hand."
"I can't, Lia, I can't" Draco began to tear up again with his wand pointed at Dumbledore.
Harry could now almost wiggle his entire foot, and he was determined to fight alongside his girlfriend.
"Just kill him Draco!" Yaxley yelled in Draco's ear again.
Draco's wand quivered in the air since he was now dry heaving while attempting to stand.
"Severus… please." Dumbledore pleaded with his friend as he took lead in front of Draco.
Lia jumped in front of Dumbledore, completely blocking any curses that Snape might attempt to cast at his.
"Severus no! You're good! I know you are good! You can't do this." Lia screamed with tears running down her face.
A severe jolt sent Lia flying into a pile of empty crates, with her eyes only able to watch as the emerald light sprang from Snape's wand, connecting with Dumbledore's chest. Lia let out ear shattering shrieks as she watched Albus fall from the Astronomy tower in her pile of rubble on the solid ground below. Bellatrix began to jump for joy, with her attention set straight for Lia, distraught and sitting on her knees.
Bellatrix pounced on top of her, slamming her arms against the dusty floor leaving her unable to move.
"Bellatix no!" Draco yelled.
"Someone get Draco out of here please!" Bellatrix yelled.
Yaxley grabbed Draco by the collar and dragged him down the tower stairs, Draco screamed the entire way down for Lia's mercy. Lia's crying soon stopped, as she realized that this may be the last few moments in her life and she wasn't going to spend them showing that she had any weakness.
"Bella, this is a student, you must remember-"
"SHOVE IT SERVERUS!" Bellatrix boomed while running the tip of her wand against Lia's pale face.
"If she's not with us, she's against us, Severus!"
"Do it you coward. Go ahead, kill me." Lia urged Belltraix trying to wiggle her freehand to grab her wand.
Harry watched in complete horror. Dumbledore's curse was still entirely too strong for Harry to become free, even though Harry had watched his headmaster fall to his death.
"Bella, don't kill her, please." Severus begged.
"You risk this witch possibly going up against the dark lord? She already disarmed me once. She's a threat. Severus, who means more to you, her or the Dark Lord?"
Lia could see the tears in Snape's eyes; she could sense an unspoken message of shame. Snape dropped his head to left, unable to peer up to witness what Bellatrix had planned for Lia's demise.
"Just don't kill her, Bella." Snape whispered.
"Fine."
Bellatrix's wand crept up through Lia's blonde curls but Lia did not falter. Her blue eyes met Bellatrix's near black ones without a bit of wetness or fear.
"We're going to win. Harry will kill Voldemort."
Bellatrix cracked one more ugly smile … Obliviate.
A small string of white wisps came from Lia's temple, causing a draining feeling through Lia's entire body. The last thing Lia could see was the night that her and Harry danced together in circles of splendor of happiness until everything went black. Within seconds, Bellatrix and Snape apparrated with the rest of the Death Eaters, and near instantly Harry was able to feel his entire body. He skipped steps running up to his unconscious girlfriend. Over the railing he could see Dumbledore's lifeless body lying in the stone courtyard. Harry had no time to react to the murder of his Headmaster, only to hold Lia's golden curls in his hands trying to revive her. Hermione, Ron, Remus, the twins and Arthur made their way to the tower only seconds after Harry had held Lia's head in his lap.
"Is she?!" Hermione screamed in horror.
"No, she's not dead. Bellatrix cast a curse on her."
"We must get her to the hospital wing, immediately. Harry, come on." Remus lifted Harry from her body, while Fred and George collectively carried Lia away from him.
The trio slumped behind, leaving Lia to the hospital wing, and to go see the horror of their headmaster's dead body lying without light in his eyes. A large crowd had already gathered, most students and teachers alike were sobbing uncontrollably. Harry could hear laughing off in the distance, almost as if the entire world lost sound except for the chuckling in the forest. Harry split from the group and took after the sounds past Hagrid's hut, Hermione and Ron barely able to keep up.
The black robes of the Death Eaters were easy to spot against the raging fire the set upon Hagrid's house.
"Snape!" Harry screamed with tears streaming down his face. Red beams flew out Harry's wand, but Snape easily deflected them in Harry's emotional state.
"You were supposed to protect her, Snape! You were supposed to make sure nothing happened to her!"
Snape stood stoically, while the rest of the group mocked Harry's sobbing.
"You coward!"
Harry shot the only spell he knew that wasn't an unspeakable curse at Snape.
The DADA teacher was able to deflect again, and only slightly chuckle at Harry.
"How dare you use my own spell against me, Potter?" Retaliating with a stupefy spell.
Snape was now inches from Harry's face.
"Don't you dare preach to me, boy. She was the best part about you and you let the light leave her eyes. Stay away from us, Potter."
The professor slammed him against the ground and disappeared into the blackness of the forest.
Harry shot blindly into the tree line, hoping to hit any body to help soothe his frenzied satisfaction. The grass slid from underneath Harry's pants as his friends dragged him back to the castle.
A tribute of wands pointed toward the sky, clearing the Dark Mark from over the Astronomy tower. Dumbledore's gray face was laying face up, with his wrinkled eyes gently shut and a graceful closed mouth smile. Hermione could barely stand from the hysteria of the moment; Ron held her by the waist keeping her afloat. McGonagall cupped the trio with her long arm span and guided them away from the crime scene understanding that out of anyone, it affected them the most.
There was such a rage built up under Harry's skin, he wanted to call Voldemort out himself and fight him one on one. The entire journey back to the common room was a complete blur, and Harry couldn't recall anything until he was being roused the next morning.
"Where's Lia?" Harry asked hazed.
"In the hospital wing." Hermione was barely able to chirp out.
"Has she woken up?"
"Not that I know of." Hermione answered somberly.
"I have to go to her." Harry stood from the couch.
"Mate, that's probably not a good idea." Ron urged Harry to sit back down.
"You guys are acting weird."
"Harry, do you remember anything from last night?"
"I remember Snape killing Dumbledore. I remember Fred and George carrying Lia away. That's about it."
"Harry, Bellatrix cast a curse on her." Ron explained.
"She's not dead. I have to go to her."
"Harry, she doesn't know who you are! " Hermione yelled, trying to get through to Harry's thick skull.
Harry felt knives in his stomach.
"What do you mean?"
Hermione stepped closer to Harry.
"She doesn't remember any of us. Bellatrix used some sort of Obliviation curse on her."
Harry quickly changed his shirt, half ignoring what Hermione had said and sped off out of the common room, where Ron and Hermione followed. The hospital wing was quite jammed with students injured from the small battle that ensued. There was a blend of American students and Hogwarts students laying with parts of their bodies bandaged, some knocked out cold with their chest's barely rising. Luckily, Dumbledore was the only seriously casualty, and no students were killed, but some were very seriously injured.
Madame Pomfrey was tending to Lia in the far back corner, and a jolt of lightning burst through Harry's heart seeing her smile. Fink was standing with his back leaned against the far wall, still wearing his sleek black headmaster outfit. No tears left his eyes as he watched his brightest pupil sit cross legged in her hospital bed, but Harry could tell he was distraught by the forced closed mouth smile he presented to him.
Harry didn't stop to chat, but approached Lia's area calmly, walking in to a conversation that she was carrying on with the head nurse.
"I must've taken a pretty rough tumble out there. Next thing I knew I was looking up at my uncle at the top of the cliff right outside these walls. Luckily this school was out here. Was this a private boarding school again?"
"Yes dear. A private school."
"I can tell, everyone here is wearing uniforms."
"Has anyone found my uncle yet?" Lia asked.
"Yes dear, a ranger found him just a couple counties over. He should be here within the day to take you back to Colorado."
"That'll be nice. I think I am over backpacking through Europe. It's been nothing but trouble. First I lose my wallet, then I fall and hit my head, nearly forget who I am."
"I am sure that troubles will soon pass, dear. For now you should rest."
Madame Pomfrey took her leave, and Harry sunk into a chair only a few beds over from Lia's. All he wanted to do was hold her, to kiss her, to comfort her and tell her everything was going to be okay. When Madame left Lia's bed, she came straight for Harry and knelt beside him, cupping his hands inside hers.
"I've been at it all night, Harry. This curse is one that isn't budging. It's going to go with Lestrange to the grave, I'm afraid my boy. You three best not mention the past. This spellwork isn't anything I've ever seen before, but it's left her mind fragile. Anything that excites it too much or break the bridge holding it together might cause a total collapse. It could even kill her depending on what shuts down."
Harry began to sob while Ron and Hermione joined him, all sharing the loss, even though Lia was only sitting a few feet away from them.
"She was the best friend I ever had, Harry." Hermione cried into his shoulder.
After only about an hour, Ron and Hermione knew that Harry needed time to work through the chaos in his head. The two left Harry in the large chair, with his black glasses folded up on the arm and his chin resting on his clutched knuckles.