Soteria

CHAPTER 1:

Run...

Run...

Run and don't look back...

Run.

Tears and blood were streaming down her face as she held onto this mantra for dear life, fearing that if she turned, they'd meet death at the palm of his hand. The same way Harry had met him.

Oh Harry, She thought despairingly. Oh Harry.

She reflected on how she and the others had clung to hope, believing that he would miraculously somehow be alive, just like he had every time he had run away from death and returned. Only this time, death was firmly grasping him, making sure he wouldn't be able to elude him once again.

Breathing heavily, legs running on their own accord, holding onto her sobs, she remembered how Ginny screamed when she saw her beloved's lifeless body drop after the fateful bond between Harry and Voldemort broke. How the green jet of light struck him. This time ensuring that the curse had played its part. How she fell when she tried to run to him, to hold him once more, to feel him once more, just to see if she was truly seeing what she thought she was. But, alas, she too met the same fate. The same green jet of light struck her in the chest, just right between her lungs.

She remembered how she saw the mere inches of their fingertips nearly touching, to feel each other, to show that even in death, we are inseparable.

She remembered how she saw Remus and Tonks both in the same position. Inseparable.

She remembered how she saw her other friends and classmates meet the same fate as Voldemort laughed hysterically and commanded them to obey. 

She remembered how she saw Neville. Oh, Neville. Brave, brave Neville, stood up, knowing that he too would meet death. He defied him with a smile on his face.

He fell with the same expression, sinking into his face.

She remembered how she then saw the death eaters begin to strike that same green foreboding light, hitting their targets instantly, as screams began to erupt once more. People fleeing for their lives; people fighting back; people accepting death as an old friend, hoping that they will meet their loved ones in the next life.

She remembered how she saw her friends' lifeless bodies scattered around like seeds, burying them 6 feet below the soil, hoping that they'd grow back to life. But she was wrong. How foolish was she to believe that they would come back?

Stumbling past branches and twigs, she remembered how she saw Hermione crouching beside Ron, sobs erupting from her as she held him in her arms.

Ron. He looked so peaceful, so tranquil, and so quiet. It was unlike him.

She remembered how she sobbed along with her, both sharing their grief along with others. 

She remembered how Hermione held onto her, wetting her with her despair. 

In reassurance, she whispered that she was here. She was right here. They weren't going to die. She won't allow it.

How she grabbed her hand, forcing her to run towards the forbidden forest when they heard a familiar cackle they were not wanting to hear as the last.

So here she was, running with her only friend, not taken by death, holding onto their dear lives.

*

Sounds of crunching twigs and leaves were everywhere as they both ran through the maze-like forest. Both were breathing hysterically, gasping for air as tears slid down their cold cheeks. Run.