(00. violent ends) " this is the end. bitter, sad, yet painfully sweet. "
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HER ENTIRE BODY WAS FILLED WITH ICE. Her breath felt like it was caught in her throat, and a scream was echoing in her ears. She couldn't quite tell if it was in her head or actually her own— but she could feel the agony in it. The faltering tone was like it was speaking, describing both the pain and sorrow in it.
Astra Malfoy laid still on the ground, not even bothering to move a single muscle. Slowly as the scream finally faded away, silence overtook it. Engulfing her entirely, shielding her from the sounds inside the Great Hall. As the silence grew, she could begin to feel her muscles aching to move. But she didn't want to, she didn't want to see what was before her. What had happened to her. She knew what had happened, but she didn't want to see it. Perhaps, she hoped foolishly, that if she lay there long enough she would be given another chance. Another chance to find out who had been the vile human who had taken Fred from his family, his friends...from her. She wanted nothing more than to find them, to kill them if she was given the chance...
Fred.
Astra's eyes shot open at the thought of him, if she was there, he could have been too. Of course there was no telling what the afterlife was. Nobody had been there and back to share with everyone. At least not that she had heard about. For all she knew, unless she refused to accept this— which could land her trapped inside the walls of the castle for years to come...the afterlife could just mean a blissful existence for eternity. No worries, no anger, just peace. All by herself. And if that was the case, she'd take a miserable existence for eternity in the stall next to Moaning Myrtle instead. Witnessing great witches and wizards enter Hogwarts and graduate and move on couldn't be that awful.
Astra contemplated closing her eyes again, perhaps just refusing her fate right then and there would be better than what she would find there. But before she could lower her eyelids once again, she couldn't help but notice the crystal clear blue above her, the stone rafters in the Great Hall still intact. The enchanted ceiling was mimicking a perfect day, one that was perfect for Quidditch or cloud gazing for one of Trelawney's divination classes. Astras' eyes glided down from the sky until she was looking at untouched windows that hadn't been shattered, and the faculty table that was in pristine condition. She ran her hands along the stone below her, and she didn't feel a single speck of dirt or dust on her fingers. Slowly she took in the entire room, her eyes were wide with amazement as she looked at the unharmed walls, and unturned tables...everything was in place as if waiting for the oncoming students for a new year.
"H-hello?"
The silence was so thick her voice barely cut through it. Her voice echoed in a way inside the Great Hall that it had never done before. It was as if the entire castle was empty, like she really was trapped in the castle all on her own...
