my best friends brother - fred weasley

lxviii. loss

"Get away you stupid bird." Draco spat. "What the..." He used his foot to nudge my side.

"Um, Clover." His voice panicked as he watched my unconscious body slump to the side. Forks the Phoenix let out a quiet squawk, jumping over my body to get a closer look at me. Forks had caught Draco's attention in the middle of the battle, leading him to the bottom steps near the Dungeon, completely abandoned by everyone while the battle raged on. Draco's breath had quickened as he took my hands in his shoulders and shook. My head flopped back and forth as he tried to wake me up, shouting in my ear.

He struck my face with his palm, slapping me awake. The breath I took was so sharp it hurt my throat, or it was the puncture marks that laced along my neck. As his breath slowed in relief, mine fasted, confused as to where I was and what had happened.

"Malfoy? W-what's going... where... what?" I sat up against the wall, some of my questions being answered by Forks angling his head to look at me, still assessing my injuries.

"I don't know, I had just escaped a fire and the bird led me here." He shrugged, getting back to his feet. I thought back to what I last remember, Fenrir Greyback's hot, manky breath too close to my face.

"Where's Greyback?" I jolted up, looking around incase he was waiting to attack.

"I got here and watched Hermione blast him off you, she sent him flying out the window. He's probably dead." I looked down to Forks, who was leaning his head over my thigh, letting one of his tears drop into a deep cut that was bleeding. "You might have that nasty scar for while though." e traced down his own face, from above his eyebrow to his cheek.

"What?" I reached to my own face, the contact stinging as I touched the open wound. "Oh, god. How's everyone else?" I asked nonchalantly, grabbing his hand to let him pull me up to my feet, noticing that my once white top now covered in blood and dirt.

"You mean how's..." He trailed off, lifting my sleeve back onto my shoulder.

"Fred!" I yelped, I had convinced myself we were going to be safe, forgetting that him getting hurt was could be a possibility. "Where is he?"

"Come." Draco turned to head up the stairs. "The Weasley's are probably in the great hall. Voldemort is allowing time to heal the injured and collect the... dead."

"Do you know anyone that has... y'know. Died?" I whisper to him. He took a breath before answering, not looking back.

"Goyle. That's all I know for certain." He sniffed. "Let's just hope that's all."

"Draco? I don't mean to be rude or anything." I asked, a few steps behind him. "But aren't you a Death Eater? Shouldn't you be rooting for everyone against Voldemort to... die?"

"Clover, I'm not a monster." Was all he said in response, stopping a few metres in front of the Great Hall. "I'm not going to go in there, but I hope it's only good news for you."

"Thankyou, Malfoy." I held out my hand to shake his, ignoring the mess that was the hallways.

"I hope I see you at the end." He smiled, shaking my hand before heading back down the stairs.

I felt like I was going to throw up. I was now standing outside the doors, shaking. The other side would bring me the greatest news, or it could destroy my life completely. Everyone I knew and had grown up with was on then other side, either dead or alive. If I listened close enough, I could near sobbing through the door, mixed with feet shuffling along the ground. I couldn't bring myself to reach the doorknob, my hand was shaking too violently.

"Are you going to go in?" A voice that I could only recognise slight sang from behind me. There was no one behind me when I turned my head, and no one was standing near me. "It's not pretty in there." They said again. I tilted my head up to look directly into Peeves' face.

"Now is not the time, Peeves." I said shortly, not giving into it.

"Get a grip, girl. If you stay on this side, you'll never know how it turned out." He continued.

"That's the point." I turned back to the door.

"But if it's good, then you won't know either." He flew between me and the door, floating through.

"Do you think I should." I asked as his head poked through the door, his body on the other side.

"Find out yourself." He said finally, floating back through the door, into the Great Hall. "Suck to be you." I heard him call through the door.

I swallowed hard, trying to stop my jaw from chattering and my palms from sweating. As I turned the knob, the cries got louder and a few heads turned my way. I kept my eyes on my feet, too scared to recognise one of the bodies. But that didn't last long. My eyes grazed past Colin Creevey, the boy who was a year younger and would follow Harry around with a camera. A wave of guilt washed over me, remembering how cruel we'd treat him when we were younger. Trying to look away from Colin, my eyes landed on Professor Trelawney, who was comforting Padma Patil, who was crying over her Parvati, her twin sisters, body. They were the twins that Harry and Ron had taken to the Yule ball, but had refused to dance with. I refused to keep my eyes on them as I walked past, recognising a few more students on the ground. As I tried to get to some seats, overwhelmed by the amount of deaths that had occurred, I kept my eyes on the ground. My eyes glanced over a head of bubblegum-pink hair, lying next to matted, light brown hair. With a double take, I sunk down to the ground.

I knelt between the two, too shocked to cry and too hurt to breathe. I gasped for air on the ground, clutching Remus's cold hand. A lump formed in my throat, making me choke as the tears finally started to form. I could only focus on his expressionless face, turned toward Nymphadora, everything around him had gone blurry and everything echoed. An arm reached around my shoulders, holding me into their chest. They brushed my hair out of my eyes and hugged me while I cried.

"Oh, Clover." Molly Weasley sighed in my ear, holding me tighter. I placed Remus's hand back next to Nymphadora's, turning into Molly to hug her back. "Come here, come on dear." I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to stop crying as she pulled me up, walking us over to the seats with all my body weight on her. She sat next to me, turning me away from the centre of the room so I couldn't see them. She wiped the tears off my cheeks and brushed my hair behind my ears. When I managed to finally look at her in the eyes, I noticed that she had been crying as well.

"A-are you okay?" I stuttered between sniffs, holding onto her hand. I knew as soon as she pursed her lips. I couldn't stop my head from turning. Behind us, the Weasleys were standing around a body. Everyone except for Fred and George were accounted for, between their legs i could see Ron crouched over a body, holding it to his chest.

"Clover, don't go over." Molly pulls me back down as I stand.

"Is it..."

"No. We haven't found Fred." Molly said sadly, her face dropping even more. "But George has died." She started to shake with cries.

"I'm so sorry, Molly." It was my turn to wrap her in a hug, allowing her to sob into my shoulder.

"It'll be okay." She sniffled, composing herself for her family. "Go and find Fred." She smoothed my hair out., giving me an approving nod.