My scream echoed through the room and I collapsed on the ground.
My entire body burned and when it stopped, I felt weak, my body almost lifeless.
"Those kids are everything to my brother." Jada said as she walked over to me and kicked my leg. "How dare you take them away from him."
I cried against the floor, trying to gain enough strength to reach for my wand, but as I did, Jada stepped on my arm and reached down to grab it.
"You won't be needing this where you're going." She said and snapped it in half, throwing the rest into the room.
Then she pointed her wand into the room while still looking at me.
"You can try and apparate without it." She said. "It won't work."
"Jada..." I breathed heavily and she crouched down, wiping my tears from my cheeks. "...why are you doing this? You were one of my bridesmaids. You—"
"Yeah, we were great friends, weren't we?" She asked. "Until you left my brother for a Weasley, a fucking blood traitor. I never expected Dahlia Willows to be one as well."
I took a deep breath.
My body was sore from the curse and I didn't have enough strength to get up or fight her or anything.
"I'll settle." I said in a whisper. "Malcolm will have custody. I'm sorry. Please don't—"
She ran her wand over my lips and it was like my voice was ripped from me. I could no longer speak no matter how hard I tried to.
"You should thank me, really." She said, patting my cheek. "You've had a horrible life. Do your husband know you tried to kill yourself when you were nineteen?"
I just stared at her as the tears kept pouring from my eyes, no sound leaving me.
"That I found you?" She asked. "Or that I kept that secret for all of those years? Not even Malcolm knows. You almost left your little baby girl."
Stop.
"And now you'll be leaving her for good." She said. "All of them. My family bought you for a reason, Dahlia, and it wasn't for you to leave my brother and join the blood traitors."
She gave me my voice back and the room was filled with my cries.
"I'm sorry." I cried. "Please don't do this. I've got children."
"Yeah, we'll you should've thought about that, shouldn't you?" She rolled her eyes. "How old is your youngest? A few months?"
"One month." I cried. "She won't remember me. Please. I don't want to die. They're gonna lose a mother. Leah is gonna lose a mother."
"Leah will have Malcolm." She said and stood up. "You'll be forgotten within a year. Well, maybe not your dear husband. He's gonna be broken."
Narrator
Dahlia cried out as her former sister-in-law stood over her, wand pointed at her.
In her last moments, all Dia could think about was her family.
Freddie who was coming home for the summer, wanting to introduce a boyfriend that he met on the team.
Elenora who was finishing Hogwarts, her graduation being in just four months.
Roxanne whom she had a strong bond with ever since she first entered her and her brothers lives.
Leah who had been through so much in her life and was starting to realise that what her mother had done for her.
The twins. They were just six years old and were currently having fun in school. It was parents day today.
And Maggie. She wouldn't remember her. She was just a little over a month old and while Dahlia didn't want her at first, she now loved her more than anything.
And George... the love of Dahlia's life. The man who saved her.
As she thought about all the people she was leaving behind, she continued to cry, staring up at the wand pointed at her.
"Jada, please—"
"Avada Kedavra."
A green light lit up with the office and Dahlia's body fell limp against the floor, empty eyes staring at Jada, the soon-to-be cold face wet with tears.
As quickly as she could, Jada removed the spells from the room and got out of there. She didn't say a goodbye to her brother. She knew she'd go to Azkaban for this so she disappeared into nothing, going into hiding for good, before anyone would notice Dahlia was missing.
And notice, they did.
When Dahlia didn't show up for the last part of the hearing, Malcolm was granted custody of Leah, but Dahlia's friends knew something was off.
Their Dia would never bail on something like this. She would never let Leah down. She would fight for her, no matter what it took.
Inez was the one who found her.
Her first instinct was to scream at the top of her lungs, her shaking hands finding her mouth as she stumbled into the room.
She dropped to her knees by the lifeless body, trying to shake her best friend awake while screaming and crying for her to wake up.
Many people showed up in the doorway because of her screams, Dove, Fred and Lee included and all were absolutely shocked.
Dove instantly started crying, dropping to her knees, Lee stumbled back and Fred just stared at her, trying to process what he was seeing.
For those four, it felt like the world was ending. They saw Dahlia's dead body but none of them realised what it meant.
That she was gone forever.
Aurors showed up and they tried to pull Inez from the lifeless body but she clung on, screaming and crying. Dahlia's skin was cold but she didn't care. She wasn't ready to let go of her body.
Dove was the one who managed to pull her off, holding back her own tears as she held Inez.
"What's happening?" Malcolm had heard a few rumours around the ministry, hurrying towards the crowd that was gathered outside of his office.
At the sound of his voice, Inez got off the floor, rushes out and lunged at him.
"I'm going to kill you!" she screamed but she was held back by Fred who couldn't process this entire thing.
He didn't feel anything. Just emptiness.
"Where's Dahlia?" Malcolm asked and looked around at the different people. "Is she in there?"
A few Aurors tried to stop him but Malcolm was determined to see her and know that she was okay, and when he saw her lifeless body being covered up, his heart broke.
All the colour drained from his face and he hurried out again, running to a bin where he threw up.
Someone had to tell George.
Someone had to tell him that his wife wasn't coming home. That the love of his life had died when she was just supposed to be in court.
She was supposed to be safe.
Auror Harry Potter decided to make that call. He knew George so he felt like he had to.
George was still at the twins' school when he received the phone call.
He declined the first few times but then had to excuse himself, walking outside of the school area to answer the call.
The second those words hit his ears, he completely shattered.
He dropped the phone, staring into the air before a heart wrenching scream mixed with a cry came from him.
He fell to his knees, holding his own head as he kept shouting 'no' to himself, shaking his head because if he shook it hard enough, maybe he'd wake up from this nightmare.
