Alexandra Dursley {Golden Trio}

Chapter 131 - Back at the Burrow

Personally this is one of my favourite chapters :)

 The Burrow was there, in front of her. There were a group of people down the path, in the yard. She could see them, make out their familiar figures. Gripping her wand in her right hand, Dill's cage in her other and her trunk under her arm she stumbled forward and the tears began to fall again.

 She'd killed nine people. At least. And Moody was dead. The tears turned into cries, turned into sobs. Big, ugly sobs that made her throat hurt and her body shudder. Or maybe it was the cold.

 As Al approached she saw Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny. Kingsley, Remus, Tonks and Hagrid were there too. Al dropped her things to the floor, Dill hooting again and Al stumbled forward still crying and shaking uncontrollably. She felt it before it happened and pulled her hair back, bending over to the edge of the yard and leaning on the wall for support.

 Her stomach heaved and her throat retched and vomit spewed all over the ground at her feet as the sobs came malevolently, only drowned out by the splatters. The thick burning sensation that she had always associated with Snape's potion stung at her throat and her nose and she could smell sick everywhere. She threw up again, and this time the sobbing stopped, tears running into her hair instead. She retched one more time, finally emptying her stomach, before forcing herself up and looking around, crying her eyes out.

 Everyone was looking at her with concern. Remus took three steps forward, but Al pointed her wand at him, not knowing if it really was him. The smell of sick drifted up continuously and Al tried to ignore it. Her right hand shook so vigorously it would be a wonder if she could actually hit Remus, despite their close proximity. It looked like she was doing a wand movement. Orange sparks flew from the end of it. She'd lost control.

 "Whose blood is that?" asked Kingsley.

 She took a deep, desperate breath, and gripped her wand tightly in both her hands, ignoring everyone's pitiful stares. Her hands stopped shaking so much in the comfort of each other. "Wh-what...why...d-did I blackmail...you...third year...?" Al gasped between cries.

 "You wanted to take a book out the library," Remus said calmly.

 Al let out a great sob and forced one of her feet forward, but she was halfway to the ground by the time he reached her. Al sobbed and sobbed, her hands feeling at the soft, dry mud below her. She could feel Remus's arms wrapped around her, and they made her feel safer. Nothing could happen to her here. "What happened?" Remus asked her quietly, and she howled even louder at the thought of it. All those bodies falling. "Whose blood is that?"

 "It's not mine!" cried Al, wanting it off her and away from her, along with this horrible, horrible feeling in her gut.

 "Here," came Hermione's soothing voice, "Take this-" a vial was pushed into her hand, "-it's a calming draught." But before Al could drink it there was a soaring sound, followed by something landing.

 Al looked up, still crying but trying to be silent, and saw Bill and Fleur dismounting a thestral. Bill looked at her as pitifully as everyone else. "Mad-Eye's dead." Al let out a great, despairing cry, almost a scream, of pain. She was done. She wanted out. She couldn't do this. A hand roughly grabbed her chin, and she spluttered as a thick syrup was poured down her throat, but she swallowed it obediently.

 Almost instantly her crying stopped and she felt better. Everyone was looking at her, but everything was okay. It was over. Remus released her chin and Hermione stepped up, satisfied and putting the cork back in the bottle. Remus stood up from where he knelt next to her, and took her hands. With his help, Al got to her feet, her knees feeling shaky, and leaned into him, allowing him to embrace her.

 Al stepped back, her sudden calm replaced with a confusion that would be panic if not for the potion. "You were with George," Al realised quietly. "Where's George?" Remus didn't respond. The potion wasn't enough. "WHERE'S GEORGE?" she screamed, "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO LOOK AFTER HIM!"

 A hand grabbed her arm, and someone much stronger than her dragged her into the house. She didn't resist, but wished she had when she was pushed into the living room to see George, lying half-conscious on the sofa, a gaping bloody hole where his ear should be, with a never-ending stream of crimson pouring from it. "I thought I heard your dulcet tones," he slurred drowsily, a faint grin formed on his face.

 Al shakily fell to her knees beside him, where Fred had just stepped back. "Have you cleaned it?" Al asked the room unsteadily.

 "Yes," came Mrs Weasley's reply, "But I can't...I can't stop it bleeding."

 Al nodded, swallowed, and took a deep breath. She stroked his hair back with her left hand, and raised her wand with her right, holding it directly above the wound. "Vulnera Sanentur," she said softly, and some of the blood pulled itself back in. She repeated the spell five more times, before the wound had completely knitted itself together, leaving a hole where his ear should be. "He needs a blood replenishing potion," she said, and one was instantly handed to her. Mrs Weasley sure knew her remedies.

 She lifted George's head up, ignoring his wincing, and poured it carefully into his mouth, not spilling a drop. "Fred," George croaked when she was done, "The...the thing."

 "Now?" Fred asked sceptically. Al wondered what they were talking about, but decided she would rather stay right here next to him than find out.

 "Now," George said. Fred pressed something very small - no bigger than a sickle - that Al couldn't see into George's hand. "Al?" George asked, his deep brown eyes looking straight into hers.

 "Mm-hm?" she replied, not daring to speak again in case she cried.

 George held up a large diamond and white-gold ring. "Marry me?" he asked.

 The room was very silent, and if Al hadn't looked around she would've thought they were alone. Her heart thudded quickly and for a moment she was sure. But she couldn't say yes. She didn't want to say no. "I killed nine people," she said quietly, a single tear falling down.

 "Death Eaters?" George asked her.

 "Maybe," she croaked, "But they could've been imperioused-"

 "Were they firing the green ones?" Fred asked her, jokingly patronising. Al nodded.

 "Then you could very well have saved many more lives than you took," Remus's voice said from behind her, "I for one am grateful that you did." There were murmurs of agreement around the room.

 "You still want to marry me?" Al asked George quietly.

 "You killed nine Death Eaters, Love," George said, and Al's stomach dropped a little bit. "Of course I want you to be my wife."

 Al smiled, a faint smile, but able to overpower the guilt she felt. "Then, yes."