Hannah Abbott
She's trembling as the battle around her begins in earnest. Yes, she was a member of the DA. Yes, she'd heard Harry talk about how you can't learn life in a classroom. She'd heard him explain that Defense in real life is a little bit of skill and a lot of luck.
But there's a reason Hannah is not a Gryffindor. And she'd, quite frankly, much rather never have to face real life at all, not if it's going to be raw and scary like this.
She's spent the last year being afraid, though, and she's sick and tired of it. She's tired of cowering, of shaking, of trembling. She's tired of believing that there's nothing she can do – she's just Hannah.
Maybe just Hannah isn't so bad a person to be, she tells herself. Maybe just Hannah is good enough.
An orange burst of light hits the wall near her head, and she squeaks. Apparently, she doesn't have much of a choice in the matter, at the moment. Her options are do nothing and likely die, or do something and maybe have a slightly smaller chance of dying.
Well, gee, doesn't that sound happy?
Hannah wonders, as she begins firing off spells, when she became so cynical. She's always been a sunshine and rainbows kind of girl – her bedroom back home is pastel pink, and she loves it that way. She's used to seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. She's used to seeing the best in people.
But this year – it's changed people. It's changed everyone, and Hannah is in no way exempt from that. This year was the year she was forced to face the darkness, acknowledge it, and then determine for herself that it had no place in her life – she decided right off that she wasn't going to let the darkness rule her.
Hannah's never been afraid of the dark, but she's always been afraid of the Dark. This year, she confronted that. She confronted that without her mother, who had always been her support.
This year, Hannah grew up. And tonight, everything comes to a head. It all ends here, and Hannah is a part of that – and proud to be. She's proud of what she's done this year.
But just because she's proud, just because she's stronger, that doesn't mean she's brave. And she'd rather not have to be. She'd rather just be safe, with no need for bravery whatsoever.
But safety is not an option. Here, tonight, safety doesn't exist.
And Hannah is not going to run away, because while she may not be brave, she is not a coward, and she is not going to leave her friends to die.
She will not.
So she fights, shooting only Stunners, because Hannah doesn't like pain and she doesn't like suffering, and she knows better than to even try for a kill, because that's not her. She's a deeply rooted pacifist at heart. Hannah's perfect world is the one where everyone gets along.
But they don't live in a perfect world. They live in a flawed one, and so Hannah fights, because she has to.
