𝙿𝚞𝚖𝚙𝚔𝚒𝚗 𝙿𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚜 - 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦 | ✔︎

Chapter 82

Lily and James decided on staying up by the Gryffindor common room, as Natasha ran to the Great Hall, in search of her father. She had also tried to find Harry, but after Sirius had explained that Harry was now in the forest, she knew, deep in her heart that he would be safe, wishing for him to see what she had done.

Fred had rejoiced at seeing her, kissing her passionately whilst tackling her as she saw him, but had opted to stay behind with his parents, after one of their old friends had passed away from the battle.

She now led Sirius down the corridor towards James and Lily, unsure of what to say. "Dad," she finally said, continuing to walk. "Did mum ever tell you about the prophecy deemed to be a myth?"

Sirius looked at her cautiously, before nodding. "If you're referring to the one in which the dead can be possibly brought back to life permanently, then yes, I'm vaguely aware of it. Why do you ask?"

Natasha shook her head, stopping at the portrait that separated her and her father from his best friends and her godparents. "I think it would be better if I just showed you," she said slowly, opening the door where the Fat Lady's portrait once sat.

She stepped to the side, and gestured for Sirius to enter, quietly following behind as he stopped dead in his tracks, facing the backs of two people cuddling by the fire.

He turned back to Natasha, his mouth wide open. "You didn't," he whispered, not daring to turn back around as James and Lily did so instead, their eyes glistening with tears. They stepped forward, still in each other's arms, and Natasha nodded, smiling from ear to ear.

"I did it dad."

"Definitely got her brains from Aurelia, though she is a spitting image of you," James said with a laugh, fixing his glasses as they slipped from his nose.

"Your son is no better," Sirius said, cracking a smile Natasha had never seen before. "Quidditch captain, seeker, but with Lily's eyes."

He swivelled around, jumping atop of the couple as they all began to cry, rolling around on the floor in some, interesting, positions. Natasha smiled to herself as her father kissed both of James and Lily's cheeks continuously, whilst Lily brushed her fingers through his hair, and James tried not to break his glasses.

"I can't believe it," Sirius finally said, sitting up with tears streaming down his face, landing in his moustache. Lily cuddled his arm, her faint lily perfume once again reaching every corner of the common room.

She motioned for Natasha to join them, but Natasha shook her head, peering out of the window. "It seems I am needed elsewhere, as everyone is congregating outside, and Harry is still-"

She stopped as James and Lily looked at each other worriedly, realising their son was yet to see them. "Don't tell me he did a James and went to face him," Lily whispered. Natasha said nothing, her expression on her face telling everything.

"He's just like the two of you, fighting for everyone else," Sirius answered for her, standing up before helping up James and Lily. James pinched his prow, removing his glasses to wipe some sweat from his now.

Natasha swayed on her feet, now feeling just how much energy had been drained from her, and James swooped to catch her, lying her down across the closet sofa. "Careful Nat, you performed quite the powerful spell, it'll be catching up with you now," he said gently, making sure she was comfortable.

"Yes, you shouldn't be realistically casting any more spells until you feel good to go, though knowing your parents, I know we won't be able to stop you," Lily said with a smile, grabbing James' hand to pull him outside.

"Come on, let's go see what trouble Harry has gotten himself into. Our wands are most likely either in the possession of Albus, Remus or broken, so we can't exactly perform spells, but we can do other things," she instructed, pointing to an abandoned broom in the corner left by a sixth-year.

James smirked, running eagerly towards it. "Oh, how I have missed brooms!" he shrieked with glee, skilfully jumping on. Lily rolled her eyes, but smiled at her goofball of a husband, encouraging him with a little flick of her hands.

He winked before shooting out through the open window, leaving Lily, Sirius and Natasha to take the manual way down. They made no time in waiting, running as fast as they could to the courtyard, where Lily stopped as she noticed a tired looking Aurelia leaning against Remus, both unaware of her presence.

"I can't do this, I'll send them into shock," she whispered. Sirius looked to Natasha, who nodded in agreement and he pulled Lily into a hug, ruffling the top of her red hair.

"Go stay in the Great Hall, James will see you in there through the window. Many people still need to be tended to, and your faces won't be recognisable to most students, so they'll leave you alone."

Lily glanced over at her friends once more, kissing both Sirius and Natasha's cheeks quickly before running off in the direction of the hall, followed by a quick whoosh of a broom, the only tell-tale sign of James being his dark, messy hair.

"Natasha!" Fred called out, and she ran to him, throwing her arms around him, as she noticed Death Eaters approaching.

"Freddie why are they approaching us?" she asked nervously, moving in front of him. He wrapped his arms around her middle, his wand gripped tightly in one hand, as the rest of the people outside also noticed them approaching.

Ginny ran out to them, nearly colliding into Neville, who was crouching on the ground. "Who's that. Hagrid's carrying?" she asked tentatively, fear creeping upon her face.

Neville silently refused to answer her, already knowing the answer.

"Neville, who is that?" Ginny pleaded, her face turning red and hot as the procession drew closer. Arthur, who had been helping out some of the others carry the dead into the hall, entered the courtyard, initially confused by what was happening.

"What's going on here, Neville?" he asked lightly, and Neville tried to speak but no words came out, his face cast down to avoid Ginny's face. His eyes glanced over to the Sorting Hat in his hands, which he had found in the rubble before, and as something glinted, Voldemort opened his mouth, delivering the worse news any of them could hear.

"Behold Nagini, our work is done."

All eyes trailed to the limp body cradled in Hagrid's hands, and Natasha felt her knees buckle, dropping to the ground in Fred' arms.

"NO!"