Whispers

Twenty-One

Her dazed brain couldn't miss the familiarity of the situation as she stumbled towards the burrow with George and Natalie in tow. She had been in a very similar situation not even a year earlier when she rescued Fred from Malfoy manor. 

As soon as she was within the boundary of the house, Calliope set Natalie and George down on the ground and began doing everything she could to bring Natalie back to life.

She knew that her friend was gone, she had felt it the moment that she dodged Nagini, but her heart couldn't accept it. She uttered every healing spell that she knew, closing the wound in Natalie's neck, and used a blood replenishing charm to replace that which she had lost, but it was too little too late. Natalie was gone before they left Malfoy Mannor.

George began to stir, he pushed himself into a sitting position and looked around to see the source of the gut-wrenching sobs beside him was Calliope. She was lying across Natalie, with sobs wracking her entire body. 

He scrambled over and grabbed her shoulders pulling her into his lap away from Natalie. He moved the place his fingers on Natalie's wrist in the crude muggle way of finding a pulse. He couldn't help but notice the blood on her clothes and hair.

"She's dead George," sobbed Calliope, "she's dead."

George had no words to say to comfort Calliope. He held Natalie's limp hand in one of his and hugged Calliope tight to him with the other as she cried into his shoulder. They sat like this for a while, before the Burrow's door opened and they were prised apart and taken inside.

Bill carried Calliope inside, as Molly pulled George to his feet and took him inside too. Remus and Sirius were left to take care of Natalie's body.

"Go and get Fred Ron," Molly said to Ron as the group moved into the living room.

Bill placed Calliope down on a sofa, and George sat down beside her.

"Fleur could you put on the kettle please," Molly asked.

Calliope half noticed Fleur leaving to do this as Molly sat down beside her. Calliope was still sobbing and Molly pulled the girl into a hug. She rubbed the back of Calliope's head in a soothing manner and Molly held her daughter-in-law until Fred burst through the door and pulled Calliope into his lap, rocking back and forth with her held tightly to his chest. 

She cried herself to sleep in Fred's lap.

********

Calliope refused to speak about Natalie in the following days for fear that she would break again and burst into tears. The only contribution she had to the funeral was to point-blank refuse to let Natalie's parents have a hand in organising it.

"She hated them." Calliope argued, "we're her family."

This was the only time that Calliope mentioned Natalie. She tried not to think about her because every time she did she remembered how Natalie died. In blood and pain. This was not how she wanted to remember her friend, but it was the only thing she saw every time she closed her eyes. A heavyweight threatened to crush her at all moments of the day and the mere mention of Natalie's name was enough for it to drop onto her and crush her to pieces.

George took a different approach. He worked on making her funeral a perfect send-off for Natalie. He made a beautiful collage of pictures that he found of the girl, and found the perfect resting place for her.

********

Calliope stood beside Fred, her hand clutched tightly in his at Natalie's funeral. Natalie's parents and brothers were there, along with Calliope, George, Fred and many other members of the Order and the DA with whom Natalie had been friends.

Natalie's mother gave a tearful eulogy, and then George stepped up to speak. 

"Natalie was a wonderful person. She always knew how to put a smile on my face and she never ceased to see the bright side of a situation. Let's remember Natalie this way, the way she-" 

"Why do you keep making out like she was perfect?" Calliope interrupted. She hated that everyone was remembering Natalie incorrectly. Even though she hadn't initially felt like she could speak at the funeral she needed the people gathered to remember the real Natalie. "She wasn't perfect, she talked too much and she never knew when to shut up and she couldn't tie her own shoelaces to save her life, she was too loud and- and-" Calliope found herself unable to continue as she was overcome with sobs that wracked through her whole body.

Seeing her discomfort, Fred pulled Calliope close to him and allowed her to cry into his chest.

"She couldn't take a joke and she was the most annoying person that I've ever met!" Calliope sobbed, "and just because she's gone doesn't mean I'm going to forget all those things!"

"I'm not asking you to forget any of that," said George quietly, "you've got to remember! You won't talk about her, you won't even think about her, and I might not be able to tell what you're feeling, but I can sure as hell tell what Fred is feeling, and I can see that he's hurting. So no, don't forget what you hate about her, but don't forget the things you love either! Stop pretending that you don't miss her!"

"George you have no idea how much I wish I could forget her!" Calliope got to her feet, "you have no idea how much I wish I could have stopped it from happening because I actually could've stopped it-"

"Screamer," Fred said quietly, "you can't blame yourself every time someone dies."

"But I can't help but blame myself! I am able to stop these things from happening! If I just listened a little harder to what the whispers tell me, then I might be able to stop anyone else from dying."

"We're in the middle of a war," said George bluntly, "no one likes it, but people are going to die. No one can save everyone."

"Well, I can sure as hell try." Calliope apparated away as the tears began to fall shamelessly down her cheeks. She hated how she had caused a fight at Natalie's funeral. She hated everything about the situation. The only person she wanted comfort from was gone. And Calliope couldn't help but feel that the world was a darker place without Natalie Hughes in it.