Chapter 7

- Silence -

Weird.

Everything was silent.

Was the fight over?

How long had they been fighting for?

Arkie limped towards one side of the torn apart greenhouse. Her ankle felt like it was on fire and blood was staining her sneakers. Her shirt made a long tear sound as she ripped off a long piece, tying it around her ankle tenderly. She'd lost Teddy in the heat of the fight. She didn't know how it'd happened, one moment they were in each others arms, then their hands were ripped apart.

The floor of the greenhouse was smothered in ash and dirt, along with broken pots and shovels. A sack of mulch sat empty beside her, its smelling contents staining her pants. She raised a bruised, her wand still in the other, brushing back the strands of hair from her eyes. She blinked in the light from the bright rising sun.

Morning. It was morning!

Was it over?

She couldn't hear the firing of spells anymore, nor the distance shouts and screams of students. Her breath came out unevenly, her heart raced and she couldn't slow it. Memories of bodies falling to the ground, never to get up flashed in her head like a camera. Her chest heaved up and down quickly.

Calm down Arkie. Calm down. Deep breath in... Deep breath out...

Her eyes fell downwards to her hand, and the thin golden ring on her fourth finger. The moonstone, which she preferred more than any diamond as it reminded her of Teddy, glowed beautifully in the sunlight, like a colourful marble.

She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stand up. Her eyes glanced left and right, but there was no living person or thing in sight. One step. Two step. Three step. She was walking to the Great Hall. She didn't know why, she just had the feeling that, that was the place to be. Where this magical journey had first started.

She was right. Everyone was there. The tables, some broken into long pieces, had been pushed to the side. Stretchers had been lain out across the floor with crying family and friends surrounding them. Teachers were talking to students, trying to comfort them, or heal their ugly wounds. Madame Pomfrey was running around quietly.

Everything was... calm... dead-like... still... hopeless...

But a cry soon broke the silence. Arkie's head whipped around. To see Ron kneeling down beside Fred's still body, his head buried in his brother's chest. The whole Weasley family stood around him. Arkie couldn't watch the scene play out and further and turned away. "Arkie." She turned around, but sighed when she realised it was just Remus and Tonks.

"Where's Teddy?" He asked.

Her hands raised to her arms, hugging her chest tightly. "I- I don't know. He... he disappeared- I-" She could hear her heart cracking as Remus spun around, looking around the hall frantically. He surged forward, checking each and every body in the room, living and dead. She watched him, but her feet refused to move.

She didn't want to search. Maybe she was too afraid of what she might find. Tonks stood beside her, pulling her into a hug. "Teddy!" Remus' cry echoed off the walls. There was silence. Then... a distant echo.

"Dad!" The faint sound bounced off the walls. Remus turned around. Teddy had appeared in the doorframe to the Great Hall pulling something heavy on a stretcher. Around him, his friends were helping, tears staining their eyes. Arkie's hand covered her mouth at the sight of Freddie being dragged forward carefully, his face pale and lifeless. Remus ran forward, pulling Teddy towards him with so much strength that he almost tumbled over.

The two fell to the ground together in tears. "I thought... I thought... Oh..." Remus sighed.

"I'm fine, Dad. I'm here." He fingers dug into his father's back, holding him closely. He opened his eyes further to look up at Arkie, who ran forward. Teddy let go of his dad so to grab the girl practically leaping on top of him. "Teddy! Don't you ever disappear like that again!"

"Sorry, I had to go back for Freddie..." His gaze saddened towards his fallen friend. His hand touched Arkie's finger which had his mother's ring. "He would've loved to have seen it."

"I'm so sorry, Ted."

Teddy suddenly straightened, looking around the hall. "Wait... Where's Harry?"