Obliviate my Destiny {Book 5}

36. The traitor, revealed

We stared and stared at Snape's body, and I couldn't stop staring at how still he was, how empty his eyes were. Was that was death was really like, quiet and as still as a muggle picture?

And then I heard Cole shout out from behind me, clutching his ears and then I could hear it too—Voldemort's voice, magnified and booming, travelling from the shack to Hogwarts and back to Hogsmeaede.

"You have fought," said the high, cold voice, "valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. But if you continue to resist me you will all die, one by one. I command my forces to retreat—one hour to dispose of your dead, treat your injured."

A flutter came to my heart—finally; I could see who was dead and who was still standing out of the people I cared about.

"I speak now, Harry and Aurora Potter, directly to you both." Voldemort said, and Harry and I exchanged looks of horror. "You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me. One hour you have to meet me in the forbidden forest. If not, I shall enter the castle and kill every last man, woman and child who try to hide you both from me. One hour."

Ron and Hermione shook their heads frantically. "Don't listen to him." Ron said fiercely.

"It'll be all right," said Hermione wildly. "Let's – let's get back to the castle, think of a plan—"

"Yeah, don't be mental, we can fix this." Cole said quietly, his hazel eyes serious. "We'll find Gennie and my sisters, think of a plan—they're so smart, they'll know what to do."

Nodding once, I took one last look at Snape's body, the man who had loathed me for as long as I'd known him, and yet had given me memories from the man I once called father. Looking down at the memories in my hand, I tightened my grip.

There could be so much hidden within Mark's memories.... Things that I didn't know, things that maybe he'd erased from my mind.... Somehow, if I got a stolen moment, I would look at them.

We crawled through the tunnel in stunned silence, my ears still ringing from the echo of Voldemort. You let them die for you.... One hour... One hour.... In one hour, all that I knew might be gone.

As we emerged into the grounds, everything was silent and sullen and grey, despite it not being far off dawn. Red streaked the cobbles, and volunteers were hanging around to pick up the bodies of people who'd been taken too soon.

Inside the castle it was unnaturally quiet after the constant screams and flashes of light. More dried blood streaked the floor, emeralds and rubies smashed into dust on the floor.

Ron led the way into the Great Hall, where a make-shift hospital and shelter had been made. All the house tables were gone, survivors stood in dregs trying to find their loved ones.

The injured were being treated upon the raised platform by Madam Pomfrey and a group of helpers, including Arthur and Nate—blood streaked and dust covered, but alive. But in rows upon rows lay the dead.

I couldn't see Fred, because his family surrounded him. George was kneeling at his head, shaking and sobbing while Lacey clung to her partner; blood soaked yet alive. Mrs Weasley was across her dead son's chest, shaking while Mr Weasley stood above her in tears.

Ron and Hermione rushed off to the Weasley's, and I could see Cole desperately looking around for Gennie. There was Alia—she was holding onto Dennis, as they sobbed over the corpse of Colin, Alia's face a tear-blinded disaster.

And I heard Cole let out a strangled cry, and I followed his gaze. Three bodies lay on the stone floor, not far from Fred. Remus and Tonks lay silent under the star-covered ceiling, they may as well be asleep, and in-between them—