CHAPTER 22!

From where they were, they could see that everything below them was pure chaos. There were people screaming, children crying, ash everywhere, and bodies littered the streets.

Ginny stood in Blaise's arms, dumbstruck as she watched the scene unfold below her. She knew that if they had not made it up this hill, they would all be dead. Her, Melissa, Evan, Blaise, Ron…they'd all be gone.

"Are you okay?" Blaise whispered to her. "You're not hurt?"

"I'm fine. Just a bit dusty," she said, her voice quivering.

He used his jumper to wipe the dust off her face.

"Blaise…"

"It's okay Gin,"

"Blaise if we hadn't of come up here…"

"I know,"

"Oh, God! What about Luna! Where's Luna?"

"Relax Ginny, she didn't come into Hogsmeade," Blaise assured her.

"How do you know? You're just saying that to make me feel better!" Ginny yelled.

"No I'm not! She had detention with McGonagall! I promise you Ginny she wasn't here,"

"Oh God. There's still so many other people…Colin and Dennis…"

"I know Ginny, I know. I'm worried about people too. We need to calm down and get down there to see if anyone needs help,"

"I'm sure Harry's…oh my God! Harry!"

"Don't worry about Potter, I'm sure he's fine," Blaise said dryly. Personally he couldn't care less what happened to Potter.

"Blaise! I have to go look, I have to find him!" she pulled herself from his embrace and ran down the hill.

Blaise sighed. He would never have all of her.

"Pansy! Pansy are you okay?" Draco ran over to where Pansy was curled up on the ground next to Ron.

"She's really shaken Malfoy. I want to stay but…"

"What?" Draco snapped.

"Gin just ran down that hill…God knows what's down there Malfoy…"

Draco's features softened slightly, and Ron was shocked. He'd never seen that happen before.

"Go make sure she's okay. I've got Pansy,"

"Thanks,"

Ron ran down the hill after his little sister.

"Pansy are you okay? You need to get up,"

Her voice shook as she spoke.

"We were just walking along having a nice conversation…and then there was…can you imagine? Me and Weasley having a conversation…and ACTUAL conversation…and then there was this, this sound and I just…I can't…"

Malfoy looked at her for a minute before gathering her up in his arms.

"It's going to be alright Pans,"

"We're part of this Draco, how could we be part of this? How could we not know! Why would he risk us being here?"

"Because he doesn't care about us Pansy, you know that,"

"He's a sick fuck," she whispered softly.

"Pansy we need to go, we need to go find the younger years. We're prefects Pansy,"

"We're also Death Eaters Draco…nothing we do can change that,"

Draco shivered slightly at the use of the term.

"We're not like them,"

He helped her up, and they walked over to Blaise.

"You coming mate?" Draco asked.

"Yeah give me a sec," Blaise replied.

"Are you okay?" Pansy asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We kissed,"

"What?" Pansy screeched excitedly. "When?"

"Right before the bomb went off…before she went running to find Potter," he said, and walked away in the opposite direction.

"Pansy we have to go," Draco said, pulling on her arm. "We have to GO Pansy,"

"Why?"

"Because we're Prefects, we need to go and make sure everyone is okay,"

"But Blaise – "

"Will be fine. We have to go,"

"We're going to get blamed for this Draco,"

He put an arm around her shoulder and sighed.

"I know. Come on, let's go,"

But he made sure to take his arm away and pulled his trademark smirk before they got down the hill.

"Hermione? Hermione?" George was yelling but she couldn't hear anything. They had been the last in the line of couples. The closest to the bomb. And now Hermione couldn't hear anything. Her ears were ringing, and she could see George's mouth moving, but there were no words coming out.

"George I can't hear you! I can't hear a word you're saying to me!" she yelled, but she couldn't even hear herself speak.

He mouthed something at her, and then pointed his wand at her.

"What are you doing!" she screeched.

He mouthed something at her – Hermione had to assume that he was actually speaking – and her ears cleared.

"Oh George, thank you," she said, and fell into his arms.

"It's okay. Hermione it's okay,"

"How is it ok? Do you know what that was George? That was a bomb, a little one, but a bomb nonetheless. People use bombs to blow things up George. Not just things, people and countries. MUGGLES are supposed to use these, not wizards. Especially wizards on a power trip that are hell bent on wiping out muggles. I mean what on earth?"

"Hermione it's going to be okay. I need you to come this way with me," he said, leading her in the opposite direction of the street where the bomb had detonated.

"Why? Why that way? Shouldn't I be going back to the castle?"

"No Hermione, we need to go this way," he said forcefully. He did not want her to see what was down there. He knew the site would be burned into his memory forever, however long forever happened to be.

"George what are you doing? Let go of me!" she screeched. "I want to go to the castle! I want to – oh my God," she had turned around. George cringed and closed his eyes.

"George they're…they're dead. And the blood, there's so much…blood…"

And she fainted.

"I told you not to turn around," George said, picking her up and walking her in the opposite direction of the rubble.

"Liss are you sure?"

"Of course I'm fucking sure! I'm not a fucking idiot!" she yelled. Her ears were ringing slightly, she being the next closest to the bomb after Hermione.

"Ok, ok. Calm down it's going to be ok," he said, pulling her into a hug and stroking her hair. They both looked up at the ugly mark that marred the sky. Voldemort's laughter was still echoing through their minds.

"How is it going to be okay?" she asked softly, looking down at all the people…all the bodies.

"I don't know Pup, it just will,"

"We should go down there,"

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Of course I do. Ginny, Ron, Draco and Pansy are down there, I need to go and help them. I need to make sure they're okay,"

"Alright, we'll go down. But don't even think about moving away from me okay? I want your hand in mine at all times," he warned.

She smiled softly at him and nodded, and they made their way down the hill towards the disarray that was now the main street of Hogsmeade.

As they moved closer they could clearly see that the bomb had been placed in the Three Broomsticks. Melissa began to shake.

"Evan if we hadn't left…"

"I know hun. If you want to leave, that's ok,"

"No I – "

"HOGWARTS STUDENTS! ALL STUDENTS OVER HERE!" Melissa heard McGonagall's voice screech through the crowd.

"I better go over there," she said. Evan indicated their linked hands.

"I'm coming,"

They made their way over to McGonagall, who had a long list in front of her. It was a list of all those who had come to Hogsmeade.

"Miss Simmons? Is that you? Excellent. Where's Weasley?"

"She's fine, she's safe. She was with us, but I think she ran down here to help out,"

"If you see her, tell her to come and find me,"

"Professor McGonagall, was Luna here? Is she okay?"

"Luna Lovegood was serving detention with me. She is up at the castle, fretting over all of you as we speak. An owl perhaps, to inform her of your safety, would be kind,"

"Yes ma'am, straight away…er…has Harry seen you?"

McGonagall's face softened slightly while Evan's hardened. Melissa could have sworn she heard him whisper 'who cares'.

"Yes, Mr. Potter has checked in with me. He made his way back out to help,"

"Thanks Professor,"

As soon as they were far enough away, Melissa elbowed Evan in the ribs.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"I heard what you said! I know that he doesn't exactly like me right now but I can't just ignore the fact that once upon a time, we were friends. I care whether he lives or dies!"

"Ok, ok. I'm just saying that he doesn't deserve your kindness ok? He doesn't deserve for you to care," Evan replied, looking at her.

"I…I think we should just agree to disagree. Come on, I want to find Ron and Ginny,"

They ran around what was left of the buildings, asking people everywhere if they had seen the Weasley's. People just shook their heads and went back to what they were doing – helping people. They stopped to help wherever they could, but mostly they directed people they knew to be students over to see McGonagall. Melissa wanted to help, but she couldn't bear to look at those dead faces knowing that her mother and father had probably been involved in planning this. Suddenly a thought hit her that made her feel nauseated.

"What's wrong?" Evan asked worriedly as her body shook and she threatened to fall.

"This was planned by Death Eaters," she said.

"Yeah…so?"

"What if Draco and Pansy…what if my friends had – "

"They had nothing to do with it," Evan replied.

"Why do you say that? How can you be so sure?"

"Because they wouldn't have even come to Hogsmeade if they had known!"

"They could have known! They could have come into the Three Broomsticks to get US out of there!"

"Except that Ginny suggested the walk, not any of them. I really don't think that they were involved Mel,"

"I hope not. I really hope not. Ginny!"

Melissa had seen her friend running through the mess. Ginny's head whipped around and she ran towards Melissa with open arms.

"Oh my God! This is so horrible," she whispered, sobbing into Melissa's shoulder.

"I know Gin," Melissa replied, feeling her own tears fall.

In a second they were both leaning against Evan for support, both sobbing into HIS t-shirt and he was holding them both very awkwardly.

"Come one guys let's sit down. Come on,"

He led them over to a tree log that had fallen in the blast and sat down in the middle of them.

"Shh," he soothed. "It's going to be okay,"

"I'm so confused. I don't know where anyone is! I can't find Colin or Harry or Blaise!"

"Harry is fine, he checked in with McGonagall," Evan assured her, his features darkening.

"Are you sure? What about Blaise?"

"I don't know where he went…obviously he's safe, he was with us,"

"I know he's safe but I think I may have upset him,"

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's fine. I think I want to get you two back up to the castle though okay? You guys don't need to be around this mess anymore,"

They nodded, and he stood up, offering a hand to each of them. He led them back past McGonagall, who ticked Ginny's name off. She looked at Evan for a second when it became clear he was going up to the castle also, but she sighed and turned her head. Melissa and Ginny had never been more thankful to her. They passed Hogwarts students on their way, people sitting on the road vomiting, people covered in blood, people that had small injuries who were making their way back up to the castle. The whole scene made them feel sick. Evan felt lucky at that point. Yes, it was heartbreaking for him to have to see so many people in pain, but there was a rare chance that he knew any of them, as he didn't go to Hogwarts. Melissa and Ginny knew 90 of the people that they passed. It made it very difficult for him to calm them down, and very difficult for them to do anything but cry.

They made it to the gates without any further incident, and Dumbledore, who was standing at the gate with Snape, just nodded at Evan as they passed. Evan nodded back as a sign of respect, and continued on, with Ginny and Melissa still holding his hands. He got them up to Melissa's room and put them in separate beds. He went into the small kitchen to get them each a glass of water, and when he came back, Ginny had crawled into Melissa's bed and they were laying facing each other, crying.

"Hey girls, it's going to be – "

"Evan please don't say that," Ginny said, sniffing. "There is every chance that people we know, people we have class with everyday are dead. Hell, WE could have died. How can you be so calm?"

"Because I didn't know any of these people. This is a trauma, a trauma that I am not directly linked to. Therefore my number one priority is you two ladies,"

They both smiled at him, and something dawned on Melissa.

"What are you going to do? You have no job now, you don't even know if you have a house! You should go back there,"

"I'm not going anywhere," he stated firmly. "Except in that bed if you girls will let me crawl in with you," he said with a grin. Two pillows flew at his head.

"I'm guessing that's a no then,"

Melissa woke up in the middle of the night to find Ginny gone, a note left in her place.

Mel,

Gone to check on Blaise and then going to see Ron…don't stress, I'm fine. Say thanks to Evan for me, he's an angel.

Love,

Gin xxx

Melissa smiled. Ginny and Blaise…that was something she was glad to see. Even if they were on opposite sides of the fence when it came to the big picture.

She looked over at Evan who was asleep in the other bed. She smiled softly at his sleeping form, and got out of her bed, and crawled over to his. She felt him stir.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"What for?"

"Waking you up," she replied.

"That's okay. I wasn't sleeping properly anyway,"

He kissed her forehead and she sighed. She had missed him so much.

"Evan…I think I want you to…" she left the words unspoken in the air, and he turned to look at her.

"Are you sure?"

"Why so nervous? It's not new for us," she said, smiling.

"Yeah but…it's the first time in THIS part of our relationship,"

"Relax…I'm sure,"

She felt him unbuttoning her shirt and she smiled. I REALLY missed him…

She could feel Evan's breathing change next to her. He was finally asleep. She felt amazing, like a new person. He was right – it was like her first time again, but without the discomfort...

She got up and wandered around her little room, and into her bathroom. She splashed her face with water and looked in the mirror.

I look like hell…

Then she noticed something in her reflection. A box, sitting on the drawers near her mirror. It was the gift she'd gotten from her mother at Christmas, the necklace. She'd never put it on, she had been almost afraid to put it on, afraid of what might happen. In view of what had happened today, she decided she was less afraid of a necklace.

She unhooked clasp and held it against her neck. It was an amazing color; it matched perfectly with her hair. She pulled it back and did it up around her neck. Immediately she began to feel dizzy. She reached for the clasp but it was no longer there. The necklace was too small to go over her head, and no matter how hard she tried to pull, it would not break! She felt a familiar tug at her navel and knew that she was being apparated.

NO! Not now! Not now! She tried to scream, but no words would come.

Seconds later, when she arrived at her destination, she had fainted, and did not see the pair of strong arms pick her up from the floor, nor the nose that was so similar to her own poking out from behind a hood…

A/N: drama!!! Thank muchly to:

crying'in'my'dreams

werecool

Love you guys still! And to anyone else who reads but doesnt review, thanks guys lol. Next update will be...well...a while. But oh well. Love you xxx