Cessation ⌁ Draco Malfoy [3/4] ✔

37

Many people left the Great Hall, Emma didn't know what for. She didn't care to know what for, all she knew was that she felt so very weak, and she couldn't feel this weak for too much longer. She needed to gather her strength for when the fighting was to begin again. It wasn't hard to foresee the fight that was to come.

She could tell Draco was getting agitated seeing everyone exit the hall, especially when hearing faint arguing outside. Emma looked up at him and studied his face. Draco looked so tired; shadows beneath his eyes, a crease between his eyebrows, his eyes hooded, skin paler than usual, hair unkempt. She wished she could just take him in her lap and let him nap right then and there, but:

"I should find Harry," Emma said quietly, expecting to wobble while standing but she did so without a problem. 

"No, you should stay here--"

"I'm alright, I feel fine."

"You almost died, Emma!" Draco exclaimed, standing up to his full height and looking at her with concern in his grey eyes. Emma stared up at him, her eyebrows furrowed. "I don't know what I'd do if you did."

"I don't know what I'd do if you died as well but, I also don't know what I'd do if Harry died," Emma whispered to him calmly.

 She expected Draco to look annoyed at this statement, but he didn't, instead he nodded understandingly and let Emma take his hand, guiding him towards the doors of the great hall with her. The arguing got louder and louder as they neared the Entrance Hall and upon hearing a certain voice, Draco gripped Emma hard by the arm and yanked her back. 

"What is it?" Emma asked quickly, frightened by the look of terror on Draco's face.

"Get back, back," Draco said, pushing Emma back away from the doors. She fought back and knocked his arms away from her, shooting him a look of bewilderment. "That's His voice, Emma. You-Know-Who..."

Horror struck Emma and a loud gasp broke through the depths of her throat and, without thinking, only thinking of Harry and where he might be, if he was even alive, Emma raced out of the doors and slammed into the backs of a crowd of students. She stood on the tip of her toes; it was Voldemort, and he looked... more abnormal than she'd have imagined. His skin was snakelike and his eyes a devil red, his nose nothing but slits like those of a snakes. So this was the man who killed her parents... and may as well have killed her mother. 

Emma didn't even let the fear of seeing this horrifying looking man bother her, she simply pushed through the crowd until she could see everything. Voldemort, standing there, with a pile of his army behind him, Neville at the front of the crowd looking furious, Hagrid, tears streaming down his face, holding a body in his arms. Emma could hear Draco behind her whispering her name, but his voice began to sound like static to her ears. She let out a cry of terror and felt her knees wobble, almost giving out beneath her.