Harry hadn't ever felt hate quite this strong in his whole life. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were dead. Arthur and Molly had died. All because he'd listened to Draco.

"This is all your fault!" Harry turned, lashing out at Draco.

Draco's eyes went wide with fear. Harry stormed towards the blonde, and Draco ran through the Ministry, trying to escape. As he gave chase, he was aware of the Weasley children behind him. Bill was holding a sobbing Ginny while George and Charlie worked to keep Fred from pounding the still laughing Ron into the ground.

As Harry and Draco reached the atrium, Dumbledore and Voldemort both appeared. Percy and Minister Fudge had arrived as part of the first wave of reinforcements. "He's back." Fudge muttered, just before he passed out.

Voldemort and Dumbledore had a short skirmish where Fawkes was injured and Voldemort disappeared. Then, Harry felt his scar burst in pain and heard Voldemort's voice came out of this mouth. He heard Voldemort beg Dumbledore to kill him by killing Harry. He heard an entire conversation take place through him without his permission. Then, he collapsed to the ground as Voldemort left his body, smashing the prophecy in the process.

Harry saw Voldemort grab Lucius and Draco. He heard Draco say, "Oh, the prophecy? Sirius told us the whole thing over Christmas. I'll tell you." He tasted bile in his throat when Voldemort smiled and disapparated the pair away. He smelled Ginny's perfume as she ran through the atrium and grabbed him in a bear hug.

"Harry, Harry, are you okay?" Sirius asked, rushing to check him over.

"I… I don't know." Harry stuttered, looking around wildly. Remus pulled Ginny away from him gently and led her to Charlie.

"Bill, where's Mum and Dad?" Percy asked, causing Ginny to burst into more tears. Harry wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. Ron was starting to sober and his laughter turned into dry sobs.

"Shut up, Perce." Billy glared as the Aurors brought the bodies up for identification.

"No," Percy exclaimed. "No. Why are… why are they here? Why were they here?"

"They were here, you prat," Charlie exploded, "because your boss refused to believe eye witness accounts that Voldemort was back. Then he set up an absolutely sadistic beast as headmistress up in Hogwarts, so the students couldn't reach their parents! That's why they were here! Now, stop asking dumb questions before I clobber you!"

"Charlie," Bill said tiredly. "Get the kids back to Hogwarts, yeah? Get them checked out by Pomfrey. Ginny's ankle is turning colors and Ron's arms don't look good."

"Fred needs to check on Hermione, too," Ginny said, her voice muffled by Harry's shirt.

"What happened to Mione?" Fred turned on his sister.

"She took some horrid curse, I think. I can't remember much." Ginny eyes started to water again. "Did… did Mum and Dad really die?"

"Shit, we'll get them to the school. Let's go." Sirius led the younger Weasleys to one of the floos surrounding them.

"You'll have to call for the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, Padfoot." Harry's voice was small. "It's the only floo that isn't blocked."

"What?" Remus demanded. "What does that mean?"

"She's blocked all the floos and owls and things," Harry explained vaguely.

"What the hell has been going on up in that castle, Dumbles?" Sirius exploded, turning on the headmaster.

"Mr. Black, if you'll let me explain." Dumbledore started.

"No. I want Fudge to explain." Sirius whipped around and glared at the Minister. "I want you to go back to your tower and do your damn job for once!"

Dumbledore nodded his head and flooed with Remus, Harry, and the younger Weasley's to Hogwarts. They were dazed as they were led to the hospital wing. There, they found their cohorts already bandaged and resting in beds.

"Harry, I would like to speak with you tonight, before you get checked out and put to bed," Dumbledore announced, putting an arm around Harry's shoulder to shepherd him away.

"Like hell, you will." Remus raged, pulling Harry away and settling him on a bed. "He's a boy who's been through too much tonight. He's in shock. You can speak to him after the funeral."

"Whose funeral?" Neville asked shakily.

"Mr. and Mrs. Weasley died tonight. Bellatrix LeStrange died at Molly's wand as well, but Arthur's killer, Lucius Malfoy, is now at large. With his son." Remus informed the young man, causing Dumbledore to tut.

"You would spare one boy and torture another?" Dumbledore asked.

"You would." Remus pointed out. "You just reversed the roles."

Harry and Neville both sensed that there was a deeper conversation they didn't know about. Before they could do anything, Madame Pomfrey started bustling about, shooing the headmaster from the room. "You're just upsetting the children by being here."

Dumbledore, mercifully, took his leave, allowing Harry to check on his friends. Ron was inconsolable, for obvious reasons. Ginny was nursing both a head wound and a broken ankle. Luna had a concussion and had to stay awake through the night. Neville's nose was broken and he was still suffering from spurts of tremors. Hermione was the only one he couldn't see, but that was because Fred was blocking her from view.

"What's wrong with Hermione?" Harry asked as Madame Pomfrey wrapped him in a blanket.

"I've no idea, but I'm doing the best I can. All I can tell you is that if she hadn't of silenced the Death Eater when she did, she'd be dead." Madame Pomfrey answered, waving her wand around him to get an idea of what else was plaguing him.

"How are the Weasleys?" He asked quietly.

"In shock, most of them. Ronald is beyond consolation. He was hit with a confundus curse, and that caused him to laugh as his parents died. He'll have a lot of healing to do, mentally, to accept that he had no control over his actions."

Harry nodded at that. Madame Pomfrey continued, "Miss Weasley faces a different trauma. Molly, it seems, was standing over her when she died. She was very close when it happened."

Harry didn't know what he was supposed to do about that. All of his joy at being picked by Ginny felt like a lead weight in his stomach. He didn't think he was capable of comforting her, of helping her through this situation. He'd never felt so inadequate in his life and he wished Hermione was awake so she could tell him what to do.

"Harry, where's Draco?" Neville asked, looking around the room.

"That bastard went with his new master." Harry spat. "He's working for Voldemort."

"Nev!" Marly shouted as she burst into the hospital wing. "Neville! What happened? Are you okay?"

"Marlene, you should be in bed." Neville scolded without heat.

"Yeah, well so should you. Oh, wait!" Marly yelled at him. "You're going to be so dead when Mum and Dad get here!"

"Mum and Dad aren't coming." Neville shook his head.

"Yes, they are, Neville Franklin Longbottom." Alice Longbottom said sternly. Marly smirked at her older brother.

"Are you going to explain to us why you were in the Department of Ministries this evening?" Frank asked, crossing his arms and standing over his son. Before Neville had a chance to answer, he was wracked with another bout of spasms. Frank jumped forward, trying to hold his son down as he shouted, "Madame Pomfrey! What's happening?"

"What's the timing this time, Mr. Longbottom?" Madame Pomfrey asked after Neville settled, looking her patient over.

"About ten minutes." Neville shivered in exhaustion.

"That's good. That means you're healing. Auror Tonks, come and talk with the Longbottoms. You know more about the situation than I do." Madame Pomfrey ordered.

"Hey, Alice," Tonks said, hugging her mentor. "I'm so sorry we didn't get there sooner."

"What happened?" Alice asked, searching Tonks' face for answers. Tonks winced.

"You know, I'm fine for another nine minutes, thirty seconds, right?" Neville huffed. "And I was there for more than you were."

"You are in so much trouble right now, young man, that it's not in your best interest to defend yourself." Alice whipped around and released a mother's glare on her eldest child.

"I was crucio-ed by Bellatrix LeStrange. Bring it on, Mum." Neville challenged.

"You… were…" Alice stuttered, the fighting going right out of her.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have broken it to your mum quite like that, Nev." Tonks wrinkled her nose at the younger boy.

"Harry had a vision of Sirius being tortured in the Hall of Prophecies. Since it was the real deal with Mr.-" Neville choked, unable to say the name. So instead, he said, "He was right last Christmas. He had a vision, Dumbledore was gone, Aunt Minnie was over there, knocked out, and Remus had the two-way mirror. He tried to floo, but no one was home, so we had to assume the worst. I promise, Mum, he tried to alert Snape, but Snape didn't react in any way to let us know he understood the situation. We had to fight, we had to do something." Neville was begging his parents to understand.

"Oh, Neville." Alice's eyes filled with tears as she hugged her son.

"We got 'em killed, Mum. We- we or-orphaned the Weasleys." Neville finally cried. "And we may have gotten Hermione killed, too. She might not make it through the night."

"Shush, shush," Alice soothed. "You did what you had to, given the information at your disposal. It's okay, it's okay."

Harry caught Ginny staring at Alice and Neville and her eyes welled up with tears.

"I'll have to start planning the funerals." Bill huffed out, letting Fleur check him for injury.

"Whatever you need, Bill. The aurors will stand behind you. We've wanted to do something for months, but we were hampered by the red tape." Kingsley Shacklebolt reassured him.

"It needs to be a quiet affair," Charlie said from his bed. He was staring stoically into space, willing himself not to cry.

"Someone will have to tell Percy the time, but not the place," Fred added, not taking his eyes off of Hermione.

"We can't risk him telling someone." George justified. Charlie rolled his eyes at the twins' antics.

"I agree, Beel." Fleur murmured, smoothing his hair back and dropping a kiss on his brow. "'E 'as been a reesk. Eet's better to be safe zan sorry."

Bill shook Fleur off and scrubbed his face with his hands. "I'll… I don't know. I'll figure it out."

"You don't have to do this alone, you ninny." Charlie glared. "We all lost our parents. We'll all have to help each other."


The cold light of day did nothing to brighten those still in the hospital wing. Sirius and Hestia had joined the crowd in the overnight, having started to deal with the cleanup. As morning turned to afternoon, the Weasleys were still locked in, if only to give them some semblance of privacy as they dealt with issues closer to home.

"What if I don't want to live with Bill?" Ginny said defiantly over her bed. "Ron said he is living with the twins!"

"Ron is also sixteen, Gin, you won't be fifteen until August," Charlie said rubbing his eyes.

"Are you staying? Or are you leaving to go back to Romania?" Ginny asked, pulling at her blankets, tears pooling in her eyes.

"I'll stay for a while, with you and Bill until things..." Charlie started but couldn't finish.

"Until they what? Get better?" Ginny huffed, the tears boiling over. "Ron is in complete disarray and is either sobbing or staring at the wall like he is half here. Fred can't leave Hermione's bed long enough to actually care about his family. George is playing mediator with Percy, the nitwit, and you and Bill are preparing a portkey to send us all to watch out parents be put in graves. How is any of this supposed to be better?"

"Gin, once you're done with school-"

"Screw school! Forget all of this!" Ginny said, standing up from her bed and walking away, making it three steps before her ankle gave out and she fell to the floor. Charlie got up from his chair and went to help her but it was Harry who got to her first, sweeping her up into his arms and putting her back in her bed.

He and Charlie exchanged looks before Charlie spoke. "I'm going to go check on Ronny."

Harry pushed Ginny's hair from her face, sitting next to her on the bed, letting her cry.

"You can be angry," Harry whispered to her. "You should be angry, no one will blame you."

"You don't have to be here," Ginny said pushing him away.

"Yes, I do," Harry said, kissing her head gently. "You've always been there for me and I'll always be here for you."

After that, time sped up again. Hermione's parents were told that she had contracted a serious wizarding disease that was fatal to muggles. The truth was too much for them to bear. The rest of the students were released for summer holidays early if only so they could attend the funerals and grieve in private.

The funeral of Arthur and Molly Weasley was a quiet affair. Well, it was as quiet as any event involving the Prewett and Weasley clans could be. George guilted Fred into leaving Hermione long enough to attend. It was mostly family, though a few friends were invited to attend. Molly's great aunt Muriel was a bear, belittling Bill's ability to raise an almost fifteen-year-old girl.

"It's not right," Muriel commented at the wake after the funeral. "You're an unmarried man in his twenties. You have no business raising your sister."

"Fleur's going to help." Bill tried to sooth his aunt.

"Oh, that child you presume to be courting?" Muriel spat. "Has she even passed her OWLs yet?"

"Fleur Delacour was the Beauxbaton champion in the Triwizard Tournament. Last year. She works at Gringotts with Bill. She's not too young, Aunt Muriel!" Ginny shouted. "And I'll live with Bill if I want to!"

"Well, I never!" Muriel exclaimed before huffing and flouncing off into the crowd.

"Ginny, you really shouldn't have done that." Bill smiled affectionately.

"Well, if I didn't, no one else would. Mum," Ginny choked a bit. "Mum told me once it was the only way to handle her."

"You've changed your tune in the last three days, sis," Charlie commented.

"More like in the last three minutes." Ginny huffed. "I realized that if I fought too hard, I'd end up at Aunt Muriel's place."

"You have no idea how true that is." Bill huffed as he ran his fingers through his hair.

Just then, Fred appeared with Percy as George brought Ron to the circle of siblings.

"Everyone's starting to go home," Fred commented. "It's just the seven of us now."

"It's just the seven of us forever," Charlie added staring into space.

"We're going to have to stick together," George said, wrapping his arms around Ron, who couldn't look away from the gravestones. Everyone's gaze followed his.

"I can't believe they died thinking I was a traitor to the family." Percy's voice was thick with tears. "I can't believe I was such an ass to them."

"They knew you loved them," Charlie attempted to console his brother.

"That's because they're my parents. Parents always believe that about their kids." Percy snuffled back some tears.

"That's not true at all. We spent most of last summer stuck in Grimmauld Place with Sirius Black's mum's portrait." Bill soothed. "Trust me when I say there is no way anyone would love that woman, and I'm sure she knew of Sirius' hatred for her."

"Oh, yes, Bill." Percy bit out through his tears. "Walburga Black, of a notoriously dark family, is the same as Mum and Dad."

"Stop it," Ron said staring at his brother. "No matter what you say or what you wish would have happened, they aren't coming back. We need to move forward. Or at least that's what you all keep telling me. Besides, it's not you who got our parents killed, then laughed at their deaths."

"Ron, no-" Fred started.

"You didn't get them killed." George finished.

"Draco did?" Ron huffed, getting hysterical. "We all did."

"No, the Ministry got them killed when they didn't acknowledge that Voldemort was alive and refused to see the evidence that said he was staking out the Ministry," Charlie said lowly, trying not to upset his brother.

"Which lands the blame for this at my doorstep because I didn't fall in line with the family." Percy wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"Shite." Bill cursed. "None of you caused Mum and Dad to die. The only people to blame for that are Bellatrix LeStrange, who is dead, and Lucius Malfoy. They are the reason that Mum and Dad died. Not you two for running off to the Ministry, or you for following your own convictions. Please, stop trying to guilt yourselves even further."

"You did what you thought was right and was tricked by an evil man," Charlie said, putting his hands on Ron's shoulders. "You were brave and no one would be more proud of that than Mum and dad. Do you understand me?"

Ron shook his head as Charlie pulled him into his embrace. Together, the Weasley children turned away and went to face the day together.


Gabs: So, yeah. We killed the Weasleys.

Kat: Sorry about that...Well, not that sorry, but we will make it up to you. Comment with questions you have and we will answer five of them in the next chapter. Does that makeup for it?

Gabs: Also, we'll probably be moving back to the every other week update schedule. It's that time of year when life gets hectic again.

Kat: Yes, We need to develop the next book and my Master Project is kicking my butt. Once life slows down we are going to go back and edit the fic.

Gabs: And I have to work, like, 80 hours a day for the next three to five months, so there is that. Thanks for all the reviews. Sorry, we can't reply to each of you individually.

Kat: We own nothing!