𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙨 (𝖽𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗈 𝗆𝖺𝗅𝖿𝗈𝗒 𝗑 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋)

thirty-one

"Harry Potter was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," Voldemort continued, "killed while trying to save himself."

My attention was pulled away from my head when a bang, flash, and commotion rang through the courtyard. I watched as the guy hit the ground and his wand flew up into the air.

"And who is this? Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"

Bellatrix began laughing, crying out, "It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord!"

My mind wandered off again as Voldemort and Neville bickered. I didn't come back into the moment until a piercing scream shot through my ears. Neville was screaming; he was on fire. I jerked to help, but then remembered who's side I'm supposed to be on. I watched as flames crawled down his head, sprouting directly from the Sorting Hat, directed by Voldemort. I looked at my hand, which was still connected to Draco's, because it was easier to look away.

Draco squeezed my hand again. His head was still, but his eyes were moving around, looking for something reliable to watch instead of Neville.

He met my eyes and stopped moving. A quick sigh of relief escaped his lips as I mustered whatever I could to smile at him, an attempt to calm him down.

My attention was jerked away from Draco as a horrendously loud uproar surrounded me. It took me a moment to realise that I wasn't the only one hearing it. The students of Hogwarts had ran out of the school, screaming curses and war cries. The rest of Voldemort's army—which included Death Eaters, ogres, trolls, a herd of centaurs, and a group of giants—replied with more cries and yells.

Potter was no longer at Voldemort's feet, and Longbottom had pulled a sword out of the Sorting Hat.

Voldemort screeched and stumbled as Longbottom's sword slashed Nagini, the Dark Lord's trusted snake. The snake's head came straight off, and Bellatrix kneele down next to Voldemort as he tried to recover from his fall. Hagrid was yelling, Potter was yelling, and chaos filled every sense I had.

Draco was my only source of comfort in this moment. His hand was still in mine. All of the fighters started closing in and I finally realised what I was really supposed to be doing. I shot multiple spells from my wand and watched people, Death Eaters and Hogwarts defenders alike, fall, be disarmed, or freeze.

I watched Draco fire a spell at a black-haired Hogwarts boy. The boy dodged, and a green Killing Curse shot towards Draco. He and I got out of its way and, without any thought, I shoved my hand out at the boy and focused my emotion through my hand.

He crumpled to the ground, not dead, simply unconscious. I wasn't in the mood for killing anybody.

Draco pulled on my hand and we ran into the school. I put a quick Shielding Charm in front of us while we ran.

Upon entry, I immediately noticed the chaos and sound. Spells, screams, and cries were heard all around. I saw lights, death, and fighting straight away.

Draco and I ran towards one end of the Great Hall, where the most fighting was happening, and let go of each others' hands.

I pressed my back against Draco's. "I have your back, you have mine."

I felt him nod in agreement and we began firing spells and protecting one another. I saw a group of house-elves emerge from the kitchen entry and looked at them. A wave of disappointment fell over me as I realised that these were mostly the same house-elves that I had befriended from being a Hufflepuff. They were obviously disappointed in me, but that at least kept them from attacking me and Draco.

I realised that all of the tables were gone when I saw Voldemort standing in the middle of the Great Hall, shooting spells at anyone he could hit.

I heard Draco shout, "Expelliarmus!" and brought my attention back to the current fight.

A group of girls had surrounded me and Draco and were firing weak spells. With a single moment, they were all unconscious.

A screech came from the other end of the room and I turned just in time to see a red-headed woman pointing her wand at Bellatrix. She fell to the ground, her face full of shock as she died. A scream rocked the room as Voldemort showed some emotion, His scream surprised me; since when had he been emotional?

Voldemort shot a curse at Bellatrix's killer and Potter jumped in front of the woman, a shielding charm blazing in front of him.

The Dark Lord let out another scream as Potter drew all of the attention to himself. The fighting completely ceased. We all looked at Voldemort and Potter, ready for their duel.

I kept my wand at the ready, my other hand clasped in Draco's once again.

I looked at him. His face showed fear, courage, and fatigue. I could relate.

"This is it, Y/n," Draco said quietly. "The moment we've been waiting for. This is where we find out our future; whether we'll live under the Dark Lord's control forever, or if we'll finally be able to live freely."

"No matter what happens, Draco, know that I love you."

A shout. "Avada Kedavra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

The two opposing spells, one green and one red, shot towards the other and collided in between Potter and Voldemort. A bang echoed throughout the whole room, scaring me and shaking the walls. Voldemort's wand flew high into the air, and Potter caught it. Voldemort fell backwards, and crashed on his back, flat on the ground.

A moment on pure silence passed, but it was broken by cheers and shouts of joy and triumph.

I turned to Draco, shock displayed on my face. "Is he . . . is he really dead?"

Draco took a moment to process what had just happened. Then, he nodded. "I think he is!"

A smile broke out on both of our faces and we ran to each other, laughing out of pure happiness. I kissed Draco, smiling into it.

"We got through it!" I said happily.

His eyes were bright, which was a joyous moment because I hadn't seem him truly happy since before we had become Death Eaters.

I moved to put my wand away in my boot, but Draco stopped me.

"We fought with the Dark Lord. Any of these kids could be holding a grudge against us, we don't know. Keep your wand out just in case."

"Good point. Speaking of Death Eaters, what are we going to do about your parents and the rest of them?"

Draco shrugged. "I think that's something we can figure out."

I grabbed his hand and we started walking out of the castle and past the gates, unsure of where we were going but okay with that.