beautiful - harry potter

chapter 48

"The Burrow?" Thalia repeated as she followed Theo, Draco, and Blaise out of the Forthing Manor. "They're insane. They want us to go to the Burrow and capture Harry?"

Just a few minutes ago, the Dark Lord had a little task for Thalia and she finally understood why she was asked to turn into a literal pyromaniac. 

"They're not insane," Theo sneered. "Capturing Scarhead and getting the rest of the blood traitors in one go? It's a win."

"I think it's a test," Blaise jumped in. "To see if we'll do it or not."

"And we will do it," Draco scowled. "We'll prove ourselves. And we'll prove the rest of them wrong, especially Aunt Bella. Says that children can't do a good job. We'll show her."

"What a wonderful day to spend our Christmas," Blaise said sarcastically.

"Ladies first," Theo smirked. The three boys looked expectantly at Thalia.

Thalia nervously stuffed her wand into the back pocket of her jeans and she bunched the sleeves of her tight sweater up to her elbows. 

"I'll see you guys on the other side," Thalia said hopefully.

"We're right behind you," Draco assured.

Thalia breathed quickly as she twirled and half-apparated into black smoke, the form all Death Eaters took, and she could feel black smoke swirling behind her, signifying that the rest of her friends were following.

Thalia's smoke form zipped until she saw a tall crooked building and something that surrounded it, which looked like a wheat field. She dropped down onto the ground and almost lost her balance as she twirled in circles.

Thalia's green eyes widened as she saw some of the Weasley family and her old professor, Remus Lupin, watching from the entrance of their home.

Before they had time to react of even shoot at her, she put her hand to the floor and muttered the spell as an entire ring of fire trapped the Burrow, with one exit, which was right behind her.

Theo came in next and landed right behind Thalia. He held her in a chokehold position and put a wand to her head, not actually planning on hurting the girl he loved. 

"Theo, what're you doing?" Thalia screamed, squirming in his tight grip. "This wasn't the plan!"

"Harry Potter, get your ass out here or I'll kill your little girlfriend!" Theo yelled loudly, wearing a malicious yet carefree smile. "Come on, you little bitch, I know you still love her!"

Blaise landed right next to Theo and held his wand out in front of him. 

"You're the bait," Blaise whispered over to Thalia. "Sorry we didn't tell you earlier."

"Come on, loverboy! We know you're in there!" Theo taunted. He dragged Thalia backwards and she tried to get out of Theo's grip as she walked backwards into the wheat field.

"Let go of her!" Harry shouted, pushing past Remus Lupin and Arthur Weasley.

"No, Harry! It's a trap!" Arthur screamed as Harry ran past the ring of fire. 

Theo released Thalia and she harshly smacked him across the face. "Yeah, do that later," he hissed. "Let's go."

The two ran deeper into the wheat field and Thalia went right while Theo went left. Blaise ran after Harry as silently as possible, not letting Harry become aware of his presence.

Draco landed in the south side of the wheat field and pushed through the overgrown plants with his wand, slashing them down angrily. 

"I'm coming, Thalia!" Harry screamed in the wheat field. 

"There you are," Draco whispered to Thalia. "This is gonna be a piece of cake."

"I know," she whispered back. "Now shut it."

It was completely silent and the only thing Thalia heard was the sound of wheat being pushed as everyone ventured in the field. 

Ginny, who'd gone after Harry, was so close to Draco and she didn't realize until she reached a clearing. Draco pushed aside the wheat and sneered, "Weaslette."

Ginny held her wand out. "Stupefy!"

Draco easily deflected her spell and walked closer. Harry pushed through the wheat and jumped in front of Ginny, shielding her. Thalia moved deeper into the wheat field and she saw Blaise in the distance, on the other side of the clearing.

All four Slytherins silently shot spells at Harry and Ginny as Arthur, Remus, and Tonks made their way into the clearing.

"There's too many of them," Blaise muttered. The rest of his best friends were shooting at the group non-stop and the rest of the blood traitors and half-bloods began to make their way into the field. "There's too many. Theo, fall back."

"We got it," Theo hissed over, still shooting spells at the small group. "He's right there. Don't mess this up for us, Blaise."

"There's too many!" Blaise repeated loudly. "Lia, Draco, fall back!"

Thalia heard rustling behind her and she cursed as she half-apparated into black smoke once again and she shot towards the Burrow, shooting into a window. She went back into her normal form and put her hand to the floor.

"Thalia, what're you doing?"

She looked up and Ron was standing above her with a small frown on his face. "What's going on?" he asked, moving past her to look out of a nearby window. "Blimey, where did that fire ring come from- ohhh."

"Do you like fire, Weasley?" Thalia asked.

Ron hesitantly grabbed the wand out of his sweatpants and pointed it at her. 

"It was just a question, calm down," Thalia shrugged. "I advise you run, Weasley. I still need someone to bully at school."

Ron gulped and quickly ran down the stairs as Thalia looked back down at the hardwood floor.

"Incindeo."

Draco's smoke shot through the Burrow and picked Thalia up along the way as she turned into smoke herself.

They flew out and the rest of the Slytherins shot out of the field in black smoke, watching as the entire Burrow went up into flames.

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Harry stood in pure disbelief as his home burned to the ground. He never thought Thalia would be the kind of person to do these kinds of things.

"Still think she's a good person?" Hermione scoffed. 

"Well, she did tell me to run," Ron chipped in. "I mean, she still destroyed my home but at least she didn't kill me too."

"People like Thalia Forthing think they're born with privilege, and that everything can be excused because they're attractive," Hermione continued. "You can't excuse this just because she's pretty, Harry, and you know that."

"I'm not excusing it," Harry replied. 

The reasons for why she'd done such a thing were endless. She could've been threatened or somebody she loved could've been threatened. Whatever it was, she wasn't excused for being pretty.

She was being excused because he loved her. He would forgive her because he loved her. 

And for as long as he lived, he would always forgive her. Not because she was materialistically pretty, but because to him, no matter what anyone else saw, she would always be beautiful. 

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a/n: i entered this in the wattys!!! AHHH

also, i didn't realize that no one understood but this is the last chapter. this is where it ends, because no one really gets to know if harry does end up with thalia. why crush souls or leave people smiling when you can do neither?

people expect a heart-wrenching ending where thalia's unhappy or a happily ever after where they're married with kids, but why find that out now? why not leave it as it is?