𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐝 {𝐇. 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫}

105

The world had ended, so why had the battle not ceased, the castle had fallen silent in horror, and every combatant laid down their arms? Johnny's mind was in free fall, spinning out of control, unable to grasp the impossibility, because Ronald Weasley couldn't be dead, the evidence of all his senses must be lying- And then a body fell past the hole blown into the side of the school and curses flew in at them from the darkness, hitting the wall behind their heads.

"Get down!" Harry shouted, as more curses flew through the night: Harry and Johnny had both grabbed Hermione and pulled her to the floor, but Percy and Fred both lay across Ron's body, shielding it from further harm, and when Harry shouted "Guys, come on, we've got to move!" they shook their heads.

"Guy, you can't do anything for him! We're going to-"

Hermione screamed, and Johnny, turning, didn't need to ask why. A monstrous spider the size of a small car was trying to climb through the huge hole in the wall. one of Aragog's descendants had joined the fight.

Johnny and Harry shouted together; their spells collided and the monster was blown backward, its legs jerking horribly, and vanished into the darkness.

"It brought friends!" Johnny called to the others, glancing over the edge of the castle through the hole in the wall the curses had blasted. More giant spiders were climbing the side of the building, liberated from the Forbidden Forest, into which the Death Eaters must have penetrated. Johnny fired Stunning Spells down upon them, knocking the lead monster into its fellows, so that they rolled back down the building and out of sight. Then more curses came soaring over Johnny's head, so close he felt the force of them blow his hair.

"Let's move, NOW!"

Pushing Hermione ahead of him with Harry, Johnny stooped to seize Ron's body under the armpit. Fred, realising what Johnny was trying to do, stopped clinging to the body and helped: together, crouching low to avoid the curses flying at them from the grounds, they hauled Ron out of the way, Percy mumbling words of disbelief as he followed them.

"Here," said Johnny, and they placed him in a niche where a suit of armor had stood earlier. He couldn't bear to look at Ron a second longer than he had to, and after making sure that the body was well-hidden, he took off after Harry and Hermione. Malfoy and Goyle had vanished but at the end of the corridor, which was now full of dust and falling masonry, glass long gone from windows, he saw many people running backward and forward, whether friends or foes he couldn't tell. Rounding the corner, Percy and Fred let out a bull-like roars: "ROOKWOOD!" and sprinted off in the direction of a tall man, who was pursuing a couple of students. "Johnny, in here!" Hermione screamed.

She had pulled Harry behind a tapestry.

"Go, I wanna help- I wanna kill Death Eaters-" said Johnny, a lone tear running down his cheek as he thought if his redheaded best friend. His face was contorted, smeared with dust and smoke, and he was shaking with rage and grief.

"Johnny, we're the only ones who can end it! Please- Johnny- we need the snake, we've got to kill the snake!" said Hermione.

But Harry knew how Johnny was feeling: Pursuing another Horcrux couldn't bring the satisfaction of revenge; he too wanted to fight, to punish them, the people who had killed his best friend, and he wanted to find the other Weasleys.

"We will fight!" Hermione said. "We'll have to, to reach the snake! But let's not lose sight now of what we're supposed to be d-doing! We're the only ones who can end it!"

She was crying too, and she wiped her face on her torn and singed sleeve as she spoke, but she took great heaving breaths to calm herself as, keeping a tight hold on Johnny's hand as she turned to Harry.