Whispers

Thirty-Eight

In no time all of the inhabitants of the small house had gathered and disappeared together to the Hog's Head In, where the grouchy barman lead them to a portrait hole which opened outwards revealing a tunnel, which took the group through to the Room of Requirement. 

The whole time Molly was fussing about how Ginny shouldn't be there as the girl was still underage. Her protests fell on deaf ears. 

They emerged into an already crowded room to see all the teenagers of the DA gathered, staring at Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville who were deep in conversation about how they were looking for an item that belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw hidden somewhere in the castle.

More and more ex-students and Order members trickled in and Harry left the room to go to Ravenclaw tower with Luna Lovegood. Hermione and Ron left quickly after, muttering about a girl's bathroom.

Despite herself Calliope found herself clinging onto Fred's arm, a solidifying feeling of dread was filling her and she didn't want to stop clinging to his arm. 

When Harry returned he declared that Voldemort was on his way to the castle and that they would be fighting. Everyone began to make their way to the Great Hall.

There was a slight spat between the Weasley family, involving the return of Percy who had not been seen by the family since Arthur's funeral and a decision that Ginny would remain in the room of requirement for her safety. The rest of the family made their way to the Great Hall where battle stations were decided. 

Calliope was assigned to lead one of the teams into the grounds, whilst both Fred and George would be taking charge of the defence of the secret passageways into the castle. Whilst not fond of the idea of being split up, Calliope knew that she had to be on the front lines and resigned herself to leaving the twins in the capable hands of Sirius.

Once everyone was assigned their stations there was a flurry of movement of people rushing to say goodbyes to friends or family and get to their posts. 

No words of farewell were exchanged between Fred and Calliope. Fred squeezed Calliope's hand tightly and then pulled her in for a long and meaningful kiss which conveyed all that the couple left unsaid. That kiss said I love you, it said I'll see you later and it said come home to me safe. 

With nothing further between them, Fred rushed off to catch up with Sirus, Lee and George, who were already formulating plans as they walked. Fred did not look back. 

Calliope wished that he had.

She watched his back until he was out of sight and then tore her mind away from the hallway and hurried to join her group. 

The whispers had been overwhelmingly loud for the past month, so Calliope had gotten used to tuning them out but they were louder than they ever had been now and she could almost taste death on the air.

She hardly listened as Kingsley relayed battle plans to the gathered witches and wizards, trying to focus on the voices in her head, warning her of impending doom. Warning her of the battle to come.