𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬 | l. lovegood

xlvii

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐍. Dorothea's eyes were puffy from crying, and she wanted nothing more than to go home, curl up under her bed, and sob some more until she eventually passed out from exhaustion.

But she had to stay. This battle wasn't over yet. Her friends still needed her.

She walked outside with Neville, Draco, and Luna, her hand holding her girlfriend's. She wasn't sure who's hand was squeezing the other's, but it brought her the littlest bit of comfort. Neville saw the Sorting Hat laying in a pile of debris. He picked it up, his brows furrowing when he saw what was inside.

The Death Eaters were marching back. Hagrid was with them, and he was carrying a body that Dorothea had a bad feeling was Harry's.

"Who is that?" Ginny asked, a tremor in her voice. "Hagrid's carrying? Neville, who is it?"

"Harry Potter..." Voldemort said, raising his voice so that they all could hear him, "is dead!"

"No!" Ginny cried, rushing forward. She was quickly grabbed and pulled back by her dad. "No!"

"Silence!" Voldemort yelled. "Stupid girl." He sneered at her. "Harry Potter...is dead. From this day forth...you'll put your faith...in me."

"Not a chance, baldy!" Dorothea shouted. Neville quickly covered her mouth with his hand, whispering for her to not say anything that might get her killed.

Voldemort turned to his followers with a triumphant grin. "Harry Potter is dead!" The Death Eaters laughed in their victory. "And now is the time to declare yourselves," he said, now facing the Aurors, Hogwarts staff, and students again. "Come forward and join us...or die."

The two sides stared at each other. No one made a move to join them.

"Draco!" Lucius hissed.

Dorothea looked up at her cousin. He looked absolutely terrified. "Don't do it, Dray," she whispered, shaking her head.

"Draco," Narcissa called to him, her voice much more gentle than her husband's. "Come."

"Draco," Dorothea begged, tears filling her eyes again.

"I'm sorry, Thea," Draco whispered, not able to bear making eye contact with her as he walked over to join his parents.

"Ah. Well done, Draco," Voldemort said. He gave the boy a hug. Dorothea felt uncomfortable just watching it. She exchanged a look with Luna, who raised a confused brow.

Neville stepped forward. Dorothea's heart nearly broke right then and there, but that was before she told herself that there was probably more to this than what she was assuming. She needed to let him explain before jumping to conclusions.

"Well, I must say I'd hoped for better," Voldemort said, the Death Eaters roaring in laughter. "And who might you be, young man?"

"Neville Longbottom," he told him. More laughter from the Death Eaters. Bellatrix looked smug.

"Well, Neville, I'm sure we can find a place for you in our rank."

"I'd like to say something," Neville snapped, glaring at the Dark Lord.

Voldemort clenched his jaw, his nonexistent eyebrows scrunching together as he contemplated how to respond – or if he should just kill him on the spot. "Well, Neville, I'm sure we'd all be fascinated to hear what you have to say," he eventually said.

"Doesn't matter that Harry's gone," Neville started.

"Stand down, Neville!" Seamus told him.

"People die every day!" Neville stated, turning to him. "Friends...Family...Yeah. We lost Harry tonight. He's still with us...in here." He placed a hand on his heart. "So is Fred," he said, looking at George before his gaze shifted to Dorothea. "Remus. And Tonks. All of them. They didn't die in vain." He turned back to Voldemort, who had begun to chuckle. "But you will! Because you're wrong! Harry's heart did beat for us! For all of us! It's not over!"

Neville pulled the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat, and a very much alive Harry rolled out of Hagrid's arms. Voldemort's amusement was replaced with an oh, shit look as he realized what this meant.

"Confringo!" Harry shouted, blasting the curse at the snake before running away, Voldemort chasing after him and sending spells in his direction.

Most of the Death Eaters started Disapparating. The ones who didn't leave began chasing after them.

Dorothea sprinted back into the castle with Luna, her heart racing in her chest. They entered the Great Hall, where another fight had broken out. "Where's Neville?" she asked, gasping for air as she looked around. "I-I could've sworn that he was right behind us."

"Thea, get down!" Luna pulled Dorothea down as a spell was shot in their direction, quickly casting Protego to block it. When Dorothea stood back up, she saw that it was Bellatrix. Shoving Luna behind her, she raised her wand.

"Bellatrix!" a familiar voice shouted.

They turned to see who it was. Bellatrix's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits as Andromeda stormed up to them, placing herself in between her daughter and older sister. She raised her wand.

"Not my daughter, you bitch."

"Oh, this should be fun." Bellatrix smirked. She fired a spell at Andromeda, which the woman blocked before sending one at her. "What's ickle Dorothea gonna do when I've killed you? She won't have any family left." She fired a killing curse at her, which Andromeda quickly dodged. "Maybe I'll kill you both. How does that sound? Or kill her and let you live so you have to deal with the loss of everyone you hold dear for the rest of your life."

"You can do a lot of things to me, Bellatrix," Andromeda growled, firing a stunning spell at her. "You can disown me for following my heart..." She shot another spell. "You can kill the man I love, murder my oldest..." She dodged a curse. "But you will not— touch— her—" She fired a spell in between each word. She disarmed Bellatrix, and her wand went flying.

Dorothea jumped up and caught it with her free hand. She gripped her own wand tightly, ready to help her mum out if she needed too.

"Give that to me, you brat!" Bellatrix lunged forward, but Andromeda roughly shoved her back, pointing her wand directly at her heart with a piercing glare in her eyes. "Do it then," she spat. "I dare you."

Andromeda narrowed her eyes at Bellatrix for a moment before lowering her wand. "No."

Bellatrix scoffed in amusement. "No? Salazar, you really are as weak as I remember, Andromeda."

"I'm not stooping to your level, Bellatrix."

"I say we feed her to the dementors."

Andromeda gasped, her head whipping around to face her daughter. "Dorothea Tucana Tonks!"

"What?" Dorothea crossed her arms. "She killed my sister and tried to kill me twice."

"Three if you count that time at the Department of Mysteries," Luna said.

"Technically four then if we count that time last year when the Death Eaters invaded the castle. My point is, she's done terrible things, and a dementor's kiss is looking pretty damn good right now."

"Thea's right," Neville said as he appeared beside them, panting from the show-down with Voldemort's snake. "She tortured my parents. Made them lose their minds."

"She killed Sirius," Dorothea added.

"Yes, I did do that, didn't I?" Bellatrix smirked proudly.

Andromeda sent her a glare, her jaw clenched. She pointed her wand at her. "One more word, Bellatrix, and maybe I will kill you."