Redamancy || Draco Malfoy

DH // 41

I entered the Great Hall.

All around me, people seemed to stop whatever they were doing. The chattering hushed down, and the movements slowed.

But all I could focus on were the bodies. Countless of them lying on the ground. These were all people I know. People I've studied with.

Grief bubbled up.

I knew war was cruel, but this... This was just pure evil.

And then I saw them.

My family, huddled around someone.

The breath seemed to leave my body as my gaze landed on a body on the ground.

And then I was running over, stumbling over, and prying my family apart, just so I could get through.

All this while I was telling myself that it couldn't be him, that he wasn't dead, that he had to still live. But I got near, and his chest wasn't moving, his eyes closed.

Maybe that was better. Maybe then I couldn't see how glassy, lifeless Fred's eyes were, when they had once been so bright.

A strangled sound squeezed its way out of my body.

But then I turned, and I saw George, and I knew. Somehow, I had to be strong.

George had remained stoic, somehow still in shock.

But when I wrapped my arms around him, and he sank to the floor, his tears came flooding out. His head buried itself in my chest, and I held my brother close.

No words formed.

For what could I say? He had just lost his twin. His entire other half of him, his inspiration, his partner in crime.

His reason to be him.

♔  R O N  ♔

"Where would she be?" Hermione wondered aloud, as we ascended the stairs.

I stared ahead, "She likes to be high up when she's upset."

What happened to Fred had affected all of us hugely.

We got to the top of the stairs, and we spotted Aria immediately. It wasn't hard. There wasn't anyone but the two of them, sitting against a pillar.

Aria had her eyes closed, asleep. She was sitting in between Malfoy's legs, leaning back into his chest.

Malfoy was awake, however, he didn't seem to notice us. His eyes were looking into the distant trees, and he was stroking Aria's hair lightly.

When we got closer, he glanced up.

I was half expecting his usual sneer, or something along the lines of, "What do you losers want?", but it didn't come out. All Malfoy did was stare at us, expressionless.

"She asleep?" I asked, even though I knew she was.

Malfoy didn't reply, he just turned back to look at Aria. A ghost of smiles flickered on his face.

Harry sighed from behind me, pushing me aside. "Tell her that I wanted to say goodbye, will you? And thanks, too." Harry told Malfoy.

Malfoy paused for a moment, before he nodded silently.

Harry nodded back in acknowledgement, and was on his way down the stairs already.

Hermione gave me a look, before she followed after Harry.

I glanced back at my sister, lying in the arms of that bloody git, Malfoy.

But even I couldn't deny the way he looked at her. Perhaps I'd been too blind to see it. Whatever it was, a small part of me was glad that at least Aria had someone to take care of her. That was my job, but I stopped doing it a long time ago. It was one of the few things I regretted. Now I couldn't be there to protect my sister anymore.

But if Malfoy was there, even him out of all people, I'd have hope.

♔  A R I A  ♔

I heard the screams while I slept.

The anguish, the deaths, the rage. I couldn't do anything about them.

When I awoke, Draco had his arms around me, spaced out.

And then it all came flooding back to me.

The war, the fallen... Fred.

My chest tightened and tears threatened to spill.

After leaving my family in the Great Hall, and once out of sight from George, I had broken down, Draco there beside me, silent.

He didn't know what to say, that much I got.

But I couldn't care any less about what he was doing, whether he was speaking or not.

My brother was dead.

There wasn't going to be any more Christmas dinners with Fred cracking jokes, or making puns. There wasn't going to be any more idiotic pranks being pulled by him.

I thought of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. The thought of it alone suffocated me.

Nothing had ever hit me harder than the realisation that his death was permanent.

He was never going to come back.

He was never going to hug me after a rough day. He was never going to turn my hair blue, or pink, or whatever colour he liked best.

Mum would make one less sweater on Christmas.

And George.

Oh, George.

The thought of him losing the other half of him killed me.

I pulled my knees to my chest, resting my head on them.

And as I wept for my fallen brother once more, and the lives affected by this war, Draco looked on, fatigued by the amount of lives today had taken from us.