Stuck AIAOY 2

Chapter 12

"What the fuck is that?"  Rebecca's throat hurt and her voice hardly sounded like her own with how rough it was, but she felt everything crash back with the bitter taste of the draught she had been given.

She fell off the bed towards Hermione who was sitting up equally in fear.  Rebecca scrambled, forcing her stiff limbs to bend and move so that she was in front of Hermione--between Hermione and the little crowd around them of family.  

Rebecca didn't see the army of red-headed concern, nor how Harry's fists clenched with concern, nor how the colour had drained from Fred's face entirely.

She could see the hall in front of the library, she could hear the slithering.

Rebecca could feel how cold it was looking at just the reflection of those yellow eyes.

"Get away!"  Rebecca shouted, her voice grating with its lengthened disuse.  "Don't look Hermione!"

Rebecca buried her head on top of Hermione's, her heartbeat in her ears.  This was it, life was hers again and the basilisk was there and it wanted to take it and Hermione would be gone and Rebecca would be next and Harry would-

Rebecca was sobbing.  "Don't look, Hermione!  I-I won't-I-"  Harry was the only one to move, the only one who found himself able to.

Molly and Arthur were holding onto one another's hands so tightly, their knuckles were white.  Ginny had her head buried into Ron's chest and her arm around Percy's waist, George laid a hand gently on Fred's shoulder.

Harry sat on Hermione's bed, hearing how the girls were crying and Rebecca was stuck trying to reassure Hermione that she wouldn't let anything happen to her.  "Rebecca?"  Harry reached out, holding his hand his sister's back gently.  "Rebecca, it's alright."

Rebecca flinched, not raising her head.  This was a trick, this had to be a trick.

"We're all here, we're all okay."  Harry's voice cracked as he tried to continue.  "You're both here again."

Rebecca released Hermione the slightest bit, turning her head to Harry just as slightly.  Both Hermione and Rebecca's eyes were shut tightly.

But it sounded like Harry and it felt like Harry and it-There was no doubt in Rebecca's mind that it was, in fact Harry, because in an instant both of them were surrounded by his arms and then a wave of others came over them.

And with their hugs came their words.

"You are never leaving our sights again, neither of you!"  Arthur chided, though his voice was thick.

"This is what you get for going to the library so much."  Ron teased, trying to get closer to them in the group hug.

"Nothing's been right."  Fred whispered, not needing anyone else to hear but Rebecca and Hermione.  "Nothing at all."

"Look at us, loves."  Molly stayed as the boys gave them their space.  "You will be alright."  Their eyes opened, after a while.  Molly gave them the reassurance that they were fine and the lingering words of their friends gave them the need to see--The need to see all that they had missed.

Both Hermione and Rebecca looked at each other, remembering their final moments.  But their eyes turned to the others and the voices began again.

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"I heard what you told her, you know."  George and Fred were the only two awake in their dormitory.  Hermione and Rebecca, along with the other un-Petrified students, had been allowed to return to their beds for the night before the final feast the next day.  "About nothing being right."