Halloween dawned cold, dark, and rainy. Harry pulled on his warmest Weasley sweater, his knee-high dragon hide boots and the thickest cloak he could find. If Ginny was going to make him go to Hogsmede, he might as well be warm. "You look like you're dressing for a miles-long trek in the middle of winter instead of just for across the grounds and into town."
"I don't really want to go. Bad things happen on Halloween." Harry walked next to Severus on the way upstairs. All of a sudden, they felt the castle shake. Harry looked at Severus. They both ran to Albus' office as fast as they could. Something wasn't right. They met Minerva, Flitwick, and Sprout at the gargoyle just as the castle shook again. "Everyone, including faculty, please head down to the dungeons. No one will be going anywhere until we figure out what it going on." Albus' voice rang out in the halls.
Albus joined them by the time they got to the dungeons. "I want all of the first and second years to follow Madame Hooch and Professor Sinistra. All of the third and fourth years should go with Professor Burbage and Hagrid. Fifth, sixth and seventh years, you may either stay here or go with the younger children." All of the seventh years left with the younger years, Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle went as well. All of Harry's friends and all of the fifth year Gryffindor-Slytherin defense class stayed.
"The wards are collapsing. I fear that Voldemort is not far away." Albus looked all of his age and then some. Harry went into full battle mode. He'd been training his fifth and sixth years for this type of situation.
"Charlene, Jenna, and Ginny, I want you to do defensive spells with Hermione, Susan and Daphne. Ron, Neville, I want you to back up the girls. Bertie, Edwin, David, Goldstein, and Colin, you are going to work with the rest of the sixth years on offense. I know that none of you are death eaters, and all of you have told me that, though some of you are related to them, you hate what they stand for. This is the time to show it. Does everyone hear me?" Every single head bobbed. "Ginny, Jenna, you're in charge of the girls. Everyone stay with your partner!"
"Where are you going to be, Harry?" Minerva was afraid to ask.
"With my friends. I'm going to fight with them. I haven't been training them for nothing, you know."
"Be careful." Harry hugged his mother.
"I always am, Mum."
Harry and Severus led everyone through the Great Hall. They had to get some idea of what they were facing. Harry looked out across the hall. "Mum and Dad are gathering order members, right, Sev?"
"Yes." He looked through the windows at the swarms of black-robed death eaters crowding the grounds. "No creatures, thus far. That's good for us."
"I hope so."
The battle moved at a frenzied pace. Harry's thorough tutoring on running and ducking when necessary had stuck with his pupils, and not one of them was killed before the order got there. When Harry saw Bertie trying to take on Lucius Malfoy, he stepped in. "Go, Bertie. I've got this one." Nearly all of the Death Eaters stopped fighting for a moment when Harry let loose a chain of spells that few of them had ever heard of before. That gave the Order and 'Harry's girls' the chance to capture a lot of them, including Bellatrix and Pettigrew. The remaining Death Eaters recognized a lost cause when they saw it, and left. After they left, Harry, Severus and Albus surveyed the field for their dead.
Near to where they stood, a body with bubble-gum pink hair lay near the body of a large black man and another person who Harry couldn't quite make out. He walked closer. "Please don't let that be one of mine."
"Who's that, near Tonks and Kingsley, Severus?" Harry asked, not only because Severus was closer, but because he really didn't want to look himself.
"Lavender Brown." Severus knew that every body they found that wasn't a death eater was killing Harry slowly.
"Parvarti wouldn't have been far away from her, so if we don't find her that means that she's still alive." Harry tried to stay hopeful. If only one person died, then he'd trained them well. They walked on. Harry caught sight of red hair. Three red heads lay side by side. "Bill, Charlie, and Percy, I knew he wouldn't give up on his family that easily."
"Severus, I think you should take Harry inside now. Poppy will want to get a good look at him and make sure everything is all right. I daresay your mother will also want to see him." The unspoken message that Albus sent to Severus was much greater than the spoken. He didn't want Harry to see anymore dead bodies for a while, and he certainly did not want Harry to linger over the bodies of the fallen Weasley siblings.
"Come on, Harry. Let's go inside."Severus put an arm around Harry's shoulders and led him away from the grounds and into the school.
Minerva met them at the door, looking quite distraught. "Severus, can I speak to you alone for a second?" Severus put up a silencing charm so that Harry could not hear them. He guessed, correctly, that she had more bad news to tell him.
"What is it, Mum? Please don't tell me that there are any more Weasleys that died. We already found Bill, Charlie, and Percy."
"Add Molly, Arthur…" Minerva couldn't go on. Severus pulled his mother close. "The twins and Ronald, too. The Death Eater's were targeting Weasleys."
"Because they're close to Harry. Where are Ginny and Hermione? And Harry's other friends?" Severus glanced at Harry. How in Merlin's name were they going to break this to Harry?
"Ginny is with Poppy. She had to sedate her. Hermione is…also heavily sedated. Poppy is going to wake them up when Harry is ready to handle it."
"I doubt he'll ever be able to handle it. We've got to tell him." Severus dismantled the silencing charm. "Harry, come here, please. Let's go to the Hospital Wing and get a calming draft for you. I have a feeling you'll need one before the day is out."
"I have to assist Albus with the dead, Severus. See if you can call Jamie and the others before you tell him," She whispered so softly Severus could barely hear her.
By the time they got to the Hospital Wing, Harry had figured out that something was up. All of the critically injured patients had been moved to St. Mungo's, so just Ginny, Hermione, and Jenna Flint, who had only a broken leg, were in there. "Sit down, Harry. I have something to tell you." Severus sat down next to him, and looked his brother strait in the eye. The Marauders floated in just at the right time, which Severus greatly appreciated. "Harry, the Weasleys are dead. All of them, except for Ginny."
"You can't be serious, Sev. This has got to be some sick joke." The look on his brother's face told him that it wasn't, though. "Ron's gone too, then? Hermione will need me."
"Yes, but first you need to take care of yourself."
That night, Severus stayed with Harry as his emotions finally took hold of him. He held him as the sixteen year old sobbed. He wished he could take all of Harry's pain away, but he couldn't, and that hurt him more than anything else.