𝑺𝑶𝑳𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑪𝑬 [𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑹𝒀 𝑷𝑶𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹/𝑻𝑾𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻]

𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝐺𝑅𝑈𝐷𝐺𝐸

Gwen felt cold as she arrived at her destination, hardly remembering Edward saying goodbye to her and the looks of those in the Cullen's household. In fact, she hardly felt like herself after she heard Kingsley's voice, "He's alive for now..."

Nothing felt real.

Her last moments in pure bliss seemed like a distant memory of someone else. Someone that was not her. When had she ever known that type of happiness last more than a few moments? What she knew was death. She was familiar with destruction. Gwen knew chaos and constant death. She saw the many faces of war and yet, this was hitting her harder than she had ever felt it...After all, wasn't it just days ago when she was telling Harry Potter that she never wanted to see him again?

Dragging her feet, she recognized the voices of those around her as she walked through the halls of a safe house. She heard people talking at her, letting her know there was a decoy as Harry in St. Mungo's in case the ones who placed the explosion were coming to finish the job. There was chaos everywhere--people with bandages, injured magical beings, familiar pained faces surrounding her.

"Gwen?"

"Can she hear us?"

"GWEN?"

"Everything I said to him...Everything we did--" Gwen whispered, her vision going in and out as it became hazy around her. She thought only of Harry Potter and of Kingsley's words echoing in her head. She could hardly comprehend what was going on around her--too much chaos...Too much...

"Did she say something?"

"She must be in shock."

"Gwen?"

"Do you think it's a good idea to bring her to him?"

"He's been asking for her...He's been going in and out for the last hour..."

She could hardly see or hear anything until she met those familiar green eyes, and suddenly, she felt her entire body shuddering as she once again, was reunited with Harry Potter.

"I'll leave you two" the voice behind her said, as Gwen ignored it and felt her eyes begin to water without warning.

"What? Did someone die?" Harry asked in a raspy voice, as Gwen felt herself shaking.

His glasses were on his face, more than half of it covered in orange paste as most of his hair had been burnt off. She could see his chest was also covered in multiple pastes, his bandages covering the rest of his badly wounded body.

"He's alive for now..." Kingsley's voice came back to her.

Gwen walked forward, immediately stopping herself as she got closer to his bed as her first instinct was to throw her arms around him.

"Harry I--" Gwen began, unable to finish as she kept looking at his heavily injured body once more before sitting down at his bed side.

"I can't believe you came..." Harry said in a low voice, as she wondered if it hurt for him to speak.

"You called for me" Gwen managed, as their hands found their way to each other and he squeezed hers weakly. "Harry I'm so sorry this is--All of my fault. If I hadn't pushed the Malfoy's so hard, if I--"

"No, stop" Harry said, coughing as he held her hand. "I've made mistakes Gwen--"

"I have too."

"No, you're not listening" Harry managed, looking at her sternly. "None of this is your fault. I should have listened to you. I should have listened and heard you. You told me to go after Ron but I couldn't...You told me to take a bigger role in the war trials and I couldn't...You pushed for all of us to be better, to do better. And I couldn't...You took all of this on and I let you. I let you take the blame for everything--I--" Harry stopped as he coughed, his lungs working beyond capacity.