Matilda Matlock

I Am You, You Are Me

The strength of Hagrid's enormous arms made carrying Matilda feel as if she were a feather, sprawled in his tight grasp as he walked at a steady pace and sniffled with every few steps.

She had to keep her eyes tightly closed; working a plan in her head was proving to be difficult, but she knew she would surely come up with something on the spot, she had to, she had to, because everyone was counting on her. Everyone and everything. 

Her body was limp in the half-giant's arms as the pack of Death Eaters trudged back towards the school. That's where Matilda guessed they were headed; Voldemort likely wanted to flaunt his victory, she presumed, but her other theory was her most feared one. 

Forcing her friends tending their wounds inside the school at that very moment to join his side. 

She would not let it happen. She couldn't. 

It felt as if they had been walking forever when they finally reached the crumbled courtyard of Hogwarts; Matilda knew they were back on the grounds by the sound the hundreds of pairs of feet made on the stone below. 

But she knew it hadn't been long; she knew why it felt like forever. It was because she dreaded the thought of being seen as dead, a mere corpse, before her friends, the ones she loved. The ones she grew up with. 

In front of Harry.

The low murmur of the Death Eaters' conversations seem to quiet as their footsteps came to shuffling stops; Hagrid grasped the girl tightly in his arms, his chest heaving in large, quiet breaths to try and hold back sobs. It hurt Matilda to feel.

Soon, she thought. Soon, he will know I am okay. They all will. 

They will once I make sure they will be okay.

She heard more murmurs and mumbles from afar. These ones did not sound like the grumbling and snickering Death Eaters she had grown used to on the walk over. They sounded like younger voices; some younger, some older, and she knew whose they were. 

She pictured a steady trickle of Hogwarts occupants streaming into the courtyard at the sight of Voldemort's army's arrival.

And then, she heard his voice.

"Matilda Matlock..." Voldemort's hissing voice seemed to bellow across the grounds, "...is dead."

"NO!" 

Harry. 

His scream shattered Matilda, and she struggled to keep her eyes shut.

"NO! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU-!" 

"Silence!" Voldemort snapped, and Matilda heard a stumble as if Harry had been pushed back by some force. "You stupid boy... muffle your pointless threats."

A low wave of snickers washed over the crowd of his followers behind Matilda. 

"For Matilda Matlock..." Voldemort went on, "...is indeed, dead. Even your tireless fighting could not have put a stop to her inevitable fate."

Hagrid's arms closed tighter around Matilda's limbs and she heard him struggle to breathe steadily. She also picked up the distant sound of a few soft cries and whispers of disbelief.

I'm okay, she wanted to shout at the top of her lungs, running to them and embracing them and seeing them again, I'm okay, I'm okay.

Not yet.

"Now, I'm sure you wish to ask 'what comes next?'" he continued, and Matilda heard his slow footsteps begin to pace. Everything else was still, and quiet. "I am... overjoyed... to now personally invite you... to join me."