The morning was beginning to arrive. The castle was no longer fully reliant on the yellow light emitting from the faint flickers of candles mounted to the remaining walls and in makeshift cauldrons.
Eva was one of the first to notice it, the incoming army of wizards dressed all in black. Grabbing Draco by the arm, who had been speaking with Professor Slughorn, she led him towards the courtyard. Neville was already standing ahead of them, limping with the dusty and most likely damaged Sorting Hat in his right hand.
"Get your wand out," Draco whispered.
Agreeing that it would be wise to do so, Eva pulled her wand out from the back pocket of her jeans and stood between Draco and Hecate among the rubble. The others from within the Great Hall were following just behind them.
Voldemort was the first person she spotted. The image in her head that plagued her nightmares did no justice to how hideous he truly was. She felt her mark beginning to tingle slightly on her skin, causing some of her fingers to twitch erratically.
"Who is that Hagrid's carrying?" Ginny asked desperately. "Eva, who is it?"
Eva had the feeling she knew, but she didn't want to think about it, she didn't want to convince herself that it could possibly be the case. She forced herself to believe it could be anyone, that it wasn't Harry.
Voldemort walked towards the centre of the courtyard. "Harry Potter . . . is dead!" he announced triumphantly.
The first thing she heard was Ginny's scream as she ran forward. Before she had the chance to do anything she regretted, Eva leapt after her and tugged her back, barely able to stand on her own two feet herself. Trembling, she pushed Ginny towards Arthur and moved backwards into Draco's arms herself, one single tear already forming in the corner of her eye.
"Silence!" Voldemort ordered. "Stupid girls. Harry Potter is dead," he informed Ginny. "From this day forth, you put your faith in me." He then turned back to his followers. "Harry Potter is dead!"
They laughed, all in unison, mocking the body of her closest friend. Voldemort really was trying to take away things important to Eva piece by piece, friend by friend. This was the man who killed Cedric, after all.
Sometimes, she did wonder how different things would've been had Cedric been there, in a younger year obviously since he would've already left school by that point. They could've laughed about Umbridge together, he and Draco would probably be at each other's throats, and he'd even be fighting alongside them, and, knowing him, doing a damn well job at it too.
"And now is the time to declare yourself," he exclaimed in jubilation while Bellatrix hopped up onto a fallen wall. "Come forward and join us, or die."
Eva noticed that even Draco was crestfallen at the news. She hadn't seen that truly saddened expression of his since Dumbledore's death, and it hurt to look at now just as much as it had back then. He tightened his grip on her, taking deep and uneven breaths with one hand on the back of her head and the other over her shoulders.
"Draco," Lucius hissed.
Both Draco and Eva turned their heads. Draco's parents were standing at the forefront of Voldemort's ranks, although she had to admit that Lucius was looking worse for wear, especially since his time in Azkaban. Maybe if he hadn't tried to kill her in the Department of Mysteries, she'd feel just a tiny bit bad for him.
"Draco," Lucius whispered with an awkward hand motion, beckoning him over.
Eva felt Draco tense up in front of her. She knew the other defenders of Hogwarts behind them were looking at the pair, but she didn't care at all.
"Draco," Narcissa murmured softly, "come."
Eva pulled away slightly to look into his silver eyes. His conflicted gaze continuously flickered between her emerald green eyes and his parents.
"Go to them," Eva whispered under her breath. "It's fine, just go."
"I-I don't . . . can't you . . ." he trailed off.
She sighed quietly and placed her hand on the side of his face. "You know I can't. Go to your family, Draco. I'll be okay."
Very hesitantly, Draco pulled himself away from Eva. Hecate instantly tugged the tearful girl into her own embrace instead while the blond made unsure yet seemingly decisive steps down the remaining heaps of rubble and across the courtyard. And yet again, Voldemort had taken just another thing that was important to her.
"Sugarplum, just hang tight for a moment or two," Hecate whispered, rubbing her shoulder with very little empathy which was, in her defence, only expected from a demon. "Things will get interesting in approximately 2 minutes and 3 seconds."
"Ah, well done, Draco." Once Draco had reached Voldemort, he was pulled into a very uncomfortable hug before being released again. "Well done."
She watched as he rejoined his mother, looking awkward and out-of-place from where he was stood amongst the other Death Eaters. In his hand was the wand he'd stolen from the Death Eater Eva had used the Full Body-Bind Curse on, not that any of Voldemort's other followers had noticed. Narcissa also handed him back his own wand now that Harry didn't need it.
"And Eva?" Voldemort asked, looking directly at her. "This is the last chance I'm giving you, young one. Come forward, to where you truly belong."
Still with fresh tears in her eyes, Eva felt herself trembling in anger. "I will never be seen with the likes of you, Tom Riddle," she murmured murderously.
Hecate leaned in to whisper in her ear. "That was a much better comeback than I predicted."
"Thanks, Catrina," she responded.
Then Neville began to hobble forwards, his leg apparently quite badly injured. There was still fresh blood pouring down his face from a head wound that probably needed to be looked at, but he'd refused in order to leave space for those who needed more urgent medical attention.
"Well, I must say, I'd hoped for better," Voldemort remarked, causing his followers to automatically laugh like robots. "And who might you be, young man?"
Neville hesitated, staring at the ground. "Neville Longbottom."
"Neville, come on," Eva whispered, quietly motioning for him to come back, but he didn't budge.
Voldemort and the others laughed again. "Well, Neville, I'm sure we can find a place for you in our ranks-"
"I'd like to say something," Neville cut in.
Voldemort made a strange irritated motion with his left hand, curling his fingers in the air, although Eva couldn't quite tell what it meant exactly. "Well, Neville, I'm sure we'd all be fascinated to hear what you have to say."
"It doesn't matter Harry's gone," he began.
"Stand down, Neville," Seamus urged.
"Not now, Seamus," Eva hissed, waiting for Neville to continue.
"People die every day," Neville reminded them. "Friends, family, yeah. We lost Harry tonight, but he's still with us, in here." He seemed to be aiming for his heart but instead got lost in the moment and grabbed his stomach. Eva tried so hard not to laugh at such an inappropriate time. "So are Remus, and Tonks, and Cedric." Eva's heart sunk at the mention of his name, one death she would never quite overcome. "All of them. They didn't die in vain." He turned to Voldemort angrily, the latter of whom was almost laughing. "But you will, because you're wrong." Now he was laughing. "Harry's heart did beat for us, for all of us! This is not over!"
The next few moments must've been what Hecate had been referring to. From the Sorting Hat in Neville's hands, he pulled out the Sword of Gryffindor, glistening in the faint light of the sunrise. There was a thud as Harry rolled out of Hagrid's arms and back to life.
"Yes, glasses!" Eva encouraged slightly unnecessarily.
"Potter!"
Draco darted forward before his parents could reach him. He tossed Harry what seemed to be his wand and ran straight over to Eva. Meanwhile, Voldemort could barely process what was happening.
With Draco's wand in hand, Harry pointed it at Nagini.
"Confringo!"
The giant snake hissed in pain, allowing Harry the perfect moment to escape. He leapt into another corridor, while Voldemort blew it up behind him, to no avail.
After the revelation, several Death Eaters began to panickedly apparate away, only leaving Voldemort's closest followers. Taking Eva's hand, Draco began to lead them back towards the safety of indoors while they both sent spells over their shoulders as they went.
Once in the doorway to the Entrance Hall, Eva ran towards the Great Hall, only to find herself in the path of Corban Yaxley. He looked exactly the same as before, with his identical smug expression, but this time his eyes were much colder than they had been when they'd spoken in the Ministry under Polyjuice Potion.
"Infernum," he snarled. "Avada Kedavra!"
"Sectumsempra!"
Her spell collided with his at such force that it physically shook her arm and almost tripped her over. She could feel her wand vibrating under the intensity of the spell pulsing out in a beam of purple light, slowly pushing further towards his.
"Stupefy!"
Draco dived forwards and stunned Yaxley, sending him flying backwards until he smashed into a stone pillar behind him and fell limp against the wall. The connection between their wands snapped in half once more. Panting for breath, Draco approached him and snatched his wand from his hand.
"At least this one will work to a decent standard," Draco muttered. "Stupefy!"
They continued to duel the last remaining Death Eaters, while most had already fled. Eva wasn't exactly sure where Lucius and Narcissa had gotten to, but she didn't dwell on the thought. Molly had already killed Bellatrix, Voldemort's second-in-command, so in her eyes it was the last final push until the battle was over.
And then it just stopped. The fighting, all of it, it just winded down to a definite close as the final few shots were fired. The remaining Death Eaters began to flee the grounds in billowing masses of black mist frantically, shouting in worry between each other.
Voldemort was dead.
The Death Eater Eva had been duelling took a few panicked steps back before disappearing altogether, so quickly that she hadn't even had the chance to stun him. Then the next few seconds felt like they were occurring in slow motion.
She spun around on her heel at the same time as Draco, the pair of them locking eyes on each other with bewildered yet elated expressions on their faces. That was the moment she heard someone yell.
"Avada Kedavra!"
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: I didn't kill Fred, no, but I did give you the biggest plot twist of the year, you're so welcome. Honestly, this cliffhanger is hurting me, and I'm not even the one reading, but I hope I caught you at least a lil by surprise there. It'll all make sense very soon, I promiseee
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!
