Chapter Fifty-Three

Duels clogged the stairwells, but George was a man possessed. Fleur dodged jinxes and combatants, following him as he tore through the crowd. She wanted to yell at him to slow down, to look out, what good were they to Fred if they were dead, but she could not. He would not listen. George's need was greater than safety. Flicking her wand, a shield appeared around George, a curse bouncing off.

There was even more fighting in the entrance hall. The mighty, oaken doors gaped open like a ripped blouse. Armor scattered, stirring uselessly, across the front steps. A man in Healer's robes knelt beside a body. Black hoods and masks everywhere.

"George!" Fleur yelled.

He did not slow. Pushing a boy out of the way, George came face to face with a tall, thick Death Eater. George cast first, but the man deflected it. The duel raged, and Fleur weaved in and out of bodies.

The entire castle shook. Time slowed. George fell at the feet of the Death Eater, not moving. The man pointed his wand at George's face, and Fleur screamed. Her feet were moving faster than time, fear turning her blood cold, she felt like the wind. She thrust herself between George and the Death Eater, power surging through her, a golden glow encompassing her. A purple jet of light flew from the Death Eater's wand, bounced off her shield, and slashed across the man's chest. He screamed, blood pouring down his front. Fleur blasted him with a Stunner, he flew across the hall and smashed into glass tubes full of jewels.

Time rushed at Fleur. Screams and yells swamped her senses. She blinked at her hands, they were shaking. It was her Veela magic, it saved her, it saved George. She did not know how. Sinking to her knees, Fleur pulled George into her lap. He stared up at her blankly, tears on his dirty face.

"I'm too late," he said.

oOo

The world was dust and pain. Slowly, Percy uncovered his head, registering thanks that his glasses were still on his face. Everything ached from being blasted through the air and crashing on top of the rubble, but nothing seemed to be broken or bleeding. Immediately, he looked for his little brothers. Ron stirred, shaking out his long limbs. Between them, Fred lie still laughing.

Percy blinked. His breath stilled in his lungs. Fred was laughing. At him, at Percy. He had made Fred laugh, and he still was. Soundlessly.

Wind whistled past him, biting and brisk. There was a hole in the bloody wall, and Ron was there with overgrown hands and feet, his face starkly white under the black soot. And then Percy heard a terrible cry, and he thought…he thought maybe that cry was coming from him.

"No—no—no!" Ron was shouting. "No! Fred! No!"*

Percy shook Fred. He wished Ron would shut up because of course Fred—No. This was a stupid prank. Just a moment ago Fred was laughing. They were fighting, together. Any second Fred would jump up and take the piss. They were fighting together, dammit.

"Get down!"*

Throwing himself over Fred, one thought in his head. Percy was not going to let the prat get hurt while playing his bloody prank. But Fred didn't move. He didn't even flinch, and Percy's ear was pressed to his brother's chest and there was nothing. Fred was…he was…Fred was dead. Inside his own chest, Percy's heart pounded out the same rhythm over and over: Too late! Too late! Too late! Hands curling around his brother's jacket, he vaguely heard somebody screaming at him to move.

"Percy!" Ron was there, pulling Percy by the shoulders. "Percy, you can't do anything for him! We're going to—"*

His words were cut off by another scream. There was a scuffle and flashes of light. An emotion too terrible to name clawed at Percy's insides. Some part of him recognized it, he'd felt this before, when Ginny was taken to the Chamber of Secrets. Only this time it was more real, wholly formed, with not an inkling of horrible hope to keep its crushing weight at bay. What would he tell Mum this time?

"Let's move, NOW!" *

Harry Potter's face loomed into Percy's line of vision. The black-haired man stooped to hook his hands under Fred's armpits. Yes. Percy's brain snapped together painfully when he realized what Harry intended. Scrambling up, Percy grabbed each of Fred's legs. The two of them hurried, hunched to avoid curses flying in through the hole, down the corridor.

"Here," Harry said. They moved Fred into a niche where a suit of armor once stood. Turning away, Harry rushed off in the direction Ron and Hermione had disappeared, but Percy stayed. Only a moment, but he stayed.*

In the years since Percy left his family, Fred's features had lost their boyishness. Maybe he was every bit as reckless and brash as he'd always been, maybe he still took his jokes too far, but Fred had forgiven Percy. Before anybody else, before Mum, Fred had offered Percy his hand. There would never be a day in Percy's life he wasn't grateful for his brother.

Tears streaked down Percy's face. He wiped a hand across his nose and sniffled. All of his blood had emptied from his body, only anger coursed through his veins now. He wanted to smash something. His wand hand shook with the need to do violence. Half-blind with grief, Percy tore through the corridors looking for something that would make this pain go away.

oOo

The tower trembled under her feet, screams erupting. Audrey grabbed for the edge of the parapet, but her hand slid down the smooth stone. Knocked to the ground, Audrey looked around to see Flitwick and the other students also forced off their feet as the tower rocked and quaked beneath them.

"The castle's been hit," one of the girls shrieked.

Audrey thought this was an overly obvious statement, but she had little time to dwell on that. An enormous set of pincers and eight eyes appeared over the ledge of the parapet. Scuttling away, Audrey crashed into the person behind her. Her heart was galloping in her chest, her hand shook as she tried to point her wand at the monster.

"Get down, children, we must go!" Flick yelled.

Audrey's Stunner went wildly awry, but somebody else hit the stone ledge the Acromantula was climbing over, and the side of the parapet exploded. The black, hairy body flew into the night, the side of the tower crumbling under Audrey. She screamed and scrabbled for purchase, but it was no use. The tower was collapsing and Audrey was falling. It was only seconds, and yet it felt longer. It felt like a lifetime, her lifetime. She saw it all. Her parents at Platform 9¾ waving her goodbye, her sisters' weddings, Seth's face when he dried her tears, even Brian's scowl when he bought her books, and her nieces. Fleur, resplendent before the first task of the Tri Wizard Tournament.

In those seconds, Audrey saw herself in white tulle. There a stone cottage and ginger babies, sunny days and stacks of books. She saw the things she would miss. And there was Percy, his unsure smile and warm eyes and big hands.

Pointing her wand at the ground, Audrey shouted, "Molliare! Molliare!"

Would it be enough? How high up was the tower? Would any cushioning charm be able to break a fall from such a height?

Then her momentum slowed. Instead of hurtling to her death, Audrey was gliding to the ground, landing with a thud on a rubbery surface. Rolling onto her back, Audrey looked up and saw a halo of blonde hair on a broomstick hovering above her.

"Cheers!" she yelled, the girl flying off.

For a moment, Audrey lie on the ground taking deep breaths. She needed to find Percy.

oOo

Fleur closed the door quietly, setting several obscure locking charms that Bill had taught her. She did not think anyone could hear them, but she set sound dampening charms as well. On his knees, face first into the floor, George sobbed. The sound battered at Fleur's insides. Grief was not new to her. She had felt another's grief too many times in the last months and years. This was not grief that George felt. It was a great nothingness.

It had taken so much time, but Fleur half-dragged George out of the Great Hall under a Disillusionment charm. Many instances Fleur thought they would be caught in the crossfire of duels, but somehow she managed to find a quiet room. It was an unused classroom, Fleur thought. She did not light any candles; this kind of sorrow was reserved for the dark of night.

Sinking to her knees, Fleur sat quietly by her brother-in-law. She would not ask him if he was sure that Fred was dead. She did not have to. Nothing else could have caused such pain. Nor would she ask how he knew. The bond between Fred and George was too strong not to be felt when severed.

Tears pressed against the backs of her eyes.

"I-I w-wasn't—" George stuttered. "Merlin, Fleur, I wasn't with him."

He was rocking back and forth, wailing.

Fleur closed her eyes, tears silently slipping down her cheeks. She said nothing to this, because no words—French or English—could offer him comfort. They would all be lies. It was not going to be better, maybe not ever. So, she said nothing to this man who was weeping at her side.

"Fleur. Fleur." Some time passed, and George sat up, wiping his eyes. "We can't stay here."

"Yes. Oui. I zink we are safe."

George shook his head. "We can't stay here. The battle…we have to do our part."

Fleur stared at the outline of George's profile. "Why?"

"What do you mean? My friends and family—"

"Do you zink I will let you commit suicide?" she hissed. "You will not go out zere to die. I will not permit it."

Silence suffocated them. Fleur stared at George, but he did not look at her. Let her be wrong, she prayed for this. She would stop him just as she promised she would, but she did not want to have to. She would do it for Bill, she would do it for Molly and Arthur. Most of all, she would do it for George.

He shook his head. "I'm not going to commit suicide, I swear. Fred…. It's the right thing to do. We have to fight because it's right."

"Promise me!" Fleur grabbed George's lapels. "You will fight to stay alive, promise me."

"I promise."

oOo

"Bill Weasley."

The silver lynx paced back and forth, but Bill was rather busy. Grunting, he cast a battering jinx at the Death Eater before him. The man tried to dodge but was caught across the shoulders and knocked to the ground. Bill took advantage and Stunned the man, wrapping him up like a Christmas gift with a neat Incarcerous spell. Wiping his brow, Bill turned his attention to Kingsley's impatient Patronus.

"Reinforcements are needed at the front entrance," it reported with Kingsley's deep tones. "Meet near the greenhouses for further instructions."

Bill looked across the grounds to where the windows of the greenhouses stood in shadow beneath clouds and swarms of Dementors. In the distance, the Quidditch pitch was up in flames. A half dozen giants lumbered, swinging clubs and batting at Oliver Wood's Quidditch team as they swooped through the air. Another three giants sprawled across the lawns, pinned by ropes. Ravenclaw Tower tumbled into heaps of stone.

The sight tore at Bill's insides, but he couldn't dwell on it. The only option was to move forward, or all would be lost. In the back of his mind, Bill wondered if all was already lost. He knew Remus was gone already. Did Tonks know?

Running flat out, dodging hexes and spells, Bill kept his mind narrowly focused. The greenhouse, only fifty yards away. Above him, Oliver Wood and Katie Bell were shooting hexes at a giant, banking when it swiped at their broomsticks. Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet flew figure eights around the giant's thick legs, wrapping ropes around his knees.

"Now!" Angelina screamed.

She and Alicia pulled hard on the ropes. The giant's legs were yanked together, and he fell like a great oak, bellowing loudly. Rolling away, Bill narrowly escaped being crushed as it crashed to the ground. The earth quaked, sending duelers to their knees, curses going askew.

Skirting past the giant, Bill heard the thud as its club banged into its head, but he didn't look back. Combatants were regaining their feet. A hooded man bore down on Anthony Goldstein who was still scrabbling across the ground for his glass. With a flick of his wand, Bill Stunned the villain and ran on. In the distance, he saw wooden desks galloping out of the front doors, McGonagall following. She stood, lit by the torches on either side of the doors, hair whipping in the wind and wand raised above her head.

Across the lawn, Bill saw the centaur with bow and arrow. He felled a Snatcher but was attacked by two others who jumped on the centaur's back. Screaming and kicking, he spun in circles trying to dislodge his attackers, but they clung on. Bill glanced at the greenhouses, then pivoted, charging the centaur. He grabbed one Snatcher by the leg and pulled. He fell beneath the centaur's hooves, screaming as he was trampled.

From the other side, students rushed at the other attacker. For a moment, Bill watched as they yanked the Snatcher away from the centaur. A burly boy with blonde hair sank his fist in the Snatcher's face again and again, blood spurting from his face. One of the girls grabbed the boy's arm.

"Enough, McLaggen!"

The boy pulled back, blood smearing his hand, then stalked away.

The centaur gathered his broken bow from the ground and limped away, the students rushing in the other direction. Bill glanced at the mangled Snatchers, noting the rise and fall of each of their chests. Shaking his head, he raced again for Kingsley.

The battle raged around Bill in all directions. Screams and blasts. The hot woody scent of bleachers burning assaulted his nose. Under his boots, the grass was slick with who-knew-what, and Bill didn't want to know. Chaos burst out of the castles as a wave of acromantula pulsated into the castle and back out again. A dog's frightened bark rang through the night as the hairy, black mass undulated towards the Forbidden Forest.

Then all sound ceased. Bill felt chilled to his bones, his heart thudding between his ears. Through the night, swirling and awful, a swarm of Dementors rolled up the drive towards the castle. In their wake, they left nothing but darkness and despair. Bill's thoughts felt fragmented. He tried to form a happy memory, but there must have been hundreds of Dementors. They clouded his mind, they sucked all hope from his soul.

Where was Fleur? Bill pictured that bastard Scabior. He saw Fleur's blouse ripped and her tears…. Shaking his head, Bill wrenched his thoughts away. All of the night's horrors pressed in on him. Remus, lifeless and broken. The flaming Quidditch pitch. McLaggen pounding a defenseless man. They were overwhelmed and outnumbered.

All night Bill had been keeping that knowledge at bay, but now it flooded him. It was a lost cause. They didn't have the numbers or experience to fight these hoards. Bill's entire family was at Hogwarts, but he had no idea where any of them were. How long would it take to collect them all? No.

Bill shook his head. He couldn't let the despair take over. He forced Fleur's face to the front of his mind's eye. Think of our wedding. He tried to cast his Patronus. The great mane formed, then shook out of existence.

Think of something happy…. Think of Fleur….

Three silver creatures flew into the air. Bill was too far away to make out their shapes, but their luminosity lit the night, pushing back the Dementors. Taking deep breaths, Bill worked to clear his mind of all its shadows. Then he saw it. The great stag. Harry's stag. Hope filled Bill's chest. If Harry was alive, then they still had a chance, they had hope. And that meant Bill had a job to do.

Into the breech he went. Bill sped past duels, casting jinxes and Stunners when he could. Flitwick was fighting Bellatrix Lestrange—a flurry of wand slashes and jets of light. A few yards away from the greenhouses, Yaxley backed out of a corner, fighting a small girl…. Bloody hell, that was Ginny.

It felt like all of Bill's blood drained from his body. She fought like a harpy. Fierce, her teeth barred, her eyes flashing, her long hair swinging around her. She matched Yaxley's skill with passion. Hitting him again and again with hexes. The Death Eater shrieked, barely able to construct a shield to fend off the barrage of spells that just kept coming. Bill had never seen such quickness or ferocity in a duel.

"Immobulus!"

The jinx flew past Ginny's defenses, freezing her on the spot. Yaxley hit her with a Cruciatus. Screaming, Ginny fell to the ground, convulsing. The blood in Bill's body surged back, boiling in his veins. His wand slashed through the air, a roar erupting from his chest. Yaxley fell to the ground, under Bill's Torture Curse. The man's back bowed, his hands flexing as he tore at his clothes, the veins in his neck and forehead straining.

Bill wrenched his wand away, his teeth clenched. "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

Feet away from him, Ginny was resting on her elbows, staring up at him. Bill didn't want to know what she saw. Rage coursed through him, but he knew. He knew what he had done, and bile was in his throat. Spitting at Yaxley, he waited as the man climbed to his feet.

"Filthy blood traitor," the man spat.

"That the best you got?" Bill said. "Let's do this."

Each wizard pointed his wand. Yaxley cast first. A jinx exploded at Bill's feet, but he leapt back.

"Rictumsempra! Conjuctivitis!" Ginny screamed, hitting the Death Eater with both curses. The man writhed, rubbing his eyes with one hand, but ending the spells with the other. He shot a hex at Ginny, who danced out of the way, and Bill rammed Yaxley with a curse. Forced into the dirt, the man rolled onto his back, crawling backwards on his elbows. That's when a high, thin voice reverberated through the grounds. Chills spilled down Bill's spine. They all froze.

"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery."*

The voice seemed to come from the walls, the ground, the sky. It surrounded them on all sides, as if it had caught Hogwarts in a net. Bill fought to keep his eyes on Yaxley, when really he wanted to look at Ginny, make sure she was safe.

"Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste.*

"Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately."*

Before Bill could move, Yaxley Disapparated. From all around the grounds, Bill could hear the pop of Death Eaters retreating. Was that the right word? Retreat indicated the end of fighting when one side pulled out. Bill did not think they would be so lucky. Whatever ploy that monster was playing, this battle was far from over. Looking to Ginny, he saw his sister's stark white face, then she was in his arms.

"You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity," Voldemort continued. "Treat your injured.*

"I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you."*

Ginny stiffened against Bill at the mention of Harry's name.

"You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."*

"No!" Ginny gasped. She pulled away, looking up at Bill with big eyes. "He wouldn't be so stupid."

Bill said nothing. He didn't know Harry Potter that well, certainly not well enough to know if the man would willingly walk into his own death. All he could hope was that Harry knew it would be a fruitless endeavor. The Defenders of Hogwarts would stand to the last man, and Voldemort would murder every one cheerfully.


*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling, Chapter 31 Battle of Hogwarts page 637

*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling, Chapter 32 The Elder Wand page 638

*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling, Chapter 32 The Elder Wand page 638-639

*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling, Chapter 32 The Elder Wand page 639

*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling, Chapter 33 The Prince's Tale page 659

*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling, Chapter 33 The Prince's Tale page 660