Write about a budding friendship on a spring day.
QLFC Cannons Beater One
Reserve Fic
WC: 1,093
A/N: The Battle of Hogwarts takes place on May 2nd, which is when this fic is placed. I also have this Headcannon that Lee was only really close with Fred and George, and that's where this idea came from.
Lee was worried.
There was a war happening around him, but the only thought on his mind was, "I can't find Forge or Gred anywhere."
George had already been injured this year. (Lee remembered him walking into their store with bandages wrapped around his head, a joke already on his lips about how Lee would have to speak louder now.) He couldn't handle it if one or the other was hurt once more.
"Fred!" Lee shot off another slicing hex at a figure cloaked in black before turning to run down another hallway. "George!"
What if he never found his two best friends? What if he only found their bodies?
The thoughts crushed Lee, stealing the breath from his chest and pushing his legs to run faster. Flashes of light burst on the edges of his vision; reds and blues and greens blurred with the screams of pain and cries of death as he ran by. Sobs filled the air as groups of people crouching down in corners flew by — the number of huddles growing with each corridor he passed.
His heart beat faster and faster. Lee felt his stomach flip and flop as his throat closed up. Fred and George had kept him out of the fights so far, locking him up at their house so he could do the radio show. The closest to the fighting he had ever gotten was during his last year at Hogwarts helping the DA deal with Umbridge.
"Luna! Let her go, you arse!" Ginny's voice broke through Lee's concentration and he skidded to a stop, eyes frantically searching the corridor for a sign of the redhead. She was standing with her back to a wall, eyes fierce as she glared down a large werewolf. Her long red hair had been pulled back, causing Lee's gaze to skip over her once before quickly flying back.
"Ginny," Lee called out, dashing over to stand next to her. The youngest Weasley didn't spare him a glance, her arm whipping through the air to snap out a ticking hex at their opponent. The man was tall, his eyes a silvery sheen in his pointed face. When he snarled at them, teeth sharp and pointed, Lee felt a shiver go down his spine. The werewolf had Luna clutched in his grasp, the blonde's eyes closed as her mouth gasped for air and her hands clawed at hooked fingers.
"Keep his guard up," Ginny growled lowly under her breath. "I'm going to run him down from the side."
Lee blinked. He wanted to search for his boys, the two men whom he had depended on for eight years — whom he still depended on — but he knew if he left Ginny alone they would skin him alive. He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.
He could do this; he would do this.
For Gred and Forge.
"Alright," Lee whispered back, his weight shifting to the balls of his feet as he bent his knees. "Make him think you left."
"I have to find my family! Save her, Lee!" And then she was gone, vanishing around the corner with a last hex aimed at the feet of the werewolf. The beast howled, dancing back a couple steps before baring his teeth in a sinister grin.
A twist of his wrist had a dark yellow spell shooting out of the end of Lee's wand. The beast dropped Luna's body to the floor, a sickening thud echoing from where she collided with the stone. Anger, sharp and hot, twisted to life in Lee's chest, and he shot forward. Hex after curse left his wand, the werewolf snapping his own wand up to counter them. Behind the beast, a large chunk of the ceiling caught his eye, and Lee grinned. He Accio'ed the bit of ceiling silently — thanking Harry absently for showing him how to perfect it his seventh year.
"Careful there mate," Lee called out as he stood up straight. "One wrong step and you'll be fallin' for me!"
As soon as the last word left his mouth, the chunk of stone smacked into the back of the werewolf's head. Body and rock went tumbling to the floor together in one large pile, and Lee dashed over to make sure he stayed down.
"Luna!" Ginny appeared at the opposite end of the corridor, her chest heaving as she booked it to her fallen friend. "Luna!"
"Is she alright?" Lee glanced over at the two girls, his wand hand raised in the air as he searched the hall for anymore threats.
"She's breathing, but she's hurt." Ginny pulled the girl into her lap, cradling her head in her arms. "She needs healing!"
"Alright," Lee swallowed the panic building in his chest once again. "I'll carry her if you watch out for enemies."
"Deal."
Lee nodded and stashed his wand in his belt holster, thanking his mother for the late graduation present absently. He stooped to pluck the blonde out of Ginny's arms before straightening.
"Lead the way."
Ginny met his eyes before nodding and whirling around, her wand up and at the ready. The younger girl stalked down the hall, curses zipping from the end of her wand to knock out anyone threatening that came into sight. (Lee was reminded of the days Fred and George would come home to cuddle, tales of their sister filling the air. If he focused he could hear their laughter at the story he was able to tell in return of Ginny taking down an ex-boyfriend with her infamous bat-bogey hex.)
After what felt like hours, but was actually minutes, the two arrived at the Infirmary. Ginny pushed the doors open before turning to quickly shut them as Lee darted in after her.
"Madame Pomfrey," Lee called out as he made his way over to one of the cots. "I've got a patient for you!"
The old woman quickly made her way over to them, her wand already waving through the air. "I've got it from here, dears. You two go rest."
Exhaustion suddenly filled Lee's limbs, and he stumbled over to where Ginny was standing by the door. Her gaze was fixed on her friend, the bags under her eyes making her look ten years old than she was.
"Come on," Lee gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He steered them towards a large sofa in the corner of the room, making sure they could still see the blonde. "Let's go rest. Besides, your brothers would kill me if I let you collapse from exhaustion."
