𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 \\ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗷. 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿

𝐶𝑋𝐼𝐼𝐼.

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙚-𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙙-𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

THE GROUNDS OF Hogwarts were empty. "Where is everybody?" Hermione asked first, noticing the silence. In times like these, silence wasn't always bad. But that night, the silence meant death. So much death. They walked into the Great Hall, which had been set up as a makeshift hospital. Ron stepped inside first, searching for his family. Hermione followed, then Caroline. Harry waited before he entered.

        They passed their professors, who were caring for students, covering ones that had died with cloth. Caroline saw the Weasleys, Molly was hugging a body, Ginny standing still beside her. Fleur and Bill were embracing, and someone was sobbing, holding Arthur. It was George, Caroline could tell by his missing ear as he turned and held onto Ron. Fred Weasley died that night. Hermione was with Ron as he sobbed over his brother's body.

        Then, as Caroline gently cried for Fred, she looked down. Remus and Tonks laid next to each other, fingertips almost touching, but not making contact. They were dead. First, Caroline's legs gave out and she fell to her knees, gasping, shuddering, failing to breathe. Then she cried. The tears fell as she clutched Remus and Tonks's cold, stiff hands. She sobbed, because they were dead. Her last remaining family was dead.

        "No!" Caroline screamed, the loudest sound in the Great Hall. "No!" she wailed, again and again, unable to understand why this was happening. She begged for them to come back, for whoever writing her story to erase everything and give her a family again.

        Harry reached his girlfriend, kneeling behind her, holding her with his chin on her shoulder while she sobbed. They were parents, they weren't done raising her, and they had barely started with Teddy. Their son wouldn't ever know them, because they were dead. It wasn't fair. Nothing was fair, and all Caroline could do was scream. Tonks came back that night for Caroline, she died because of her.

        She touched her head to Remus's chest, gripping Tonks's arm. Harry held her, crying. They were all he had left, too. Caroline had never cried this much, not even when Jacob died. Back then, she didn't understand, but now she did. This was an attack on her. They were all dead, because of Voldemort, and he wanted to kill her too. Everyone in the Great Hall wept listening to Caroline's pained screams, like they were on the Quidditch Pitch again, three years before, after the Tournament.

        Harry pressed a kiss into her shoulder blades as Dean and Seamus came over, kneeling beside Caroline while she continued to cry, arranging Tonks' hair over her shoulders. It was brown, its natural color, because she was dead. Caroline tried to find her breath again, unaware that Harry had disappeared to Dumbledore's office. "I'll protect him. I promise, I'll take care of him." Caroline swore to her aunt for Teddy, vowing to keep her cousin/godson safe.

        Professor Mcgonagall cried with Madam Pomfrey when they saw Caroline wailing over her godparents. "Carol, you know they loved you." Dean said, unsure of what else to say.

        Caroline sat up on her knees, holding Remus and Tonks's hands in her lap. "They were the ones who were supposed to have lived. They promised that they were always going to be here." Caroline said, gentler this time, soft tears streaming down her dark cheeks.

        She looked over to see Hermione comforting Ron at Fred's body. So much death, everywhere. Teddy was alone now. He had Andromeda and Ted, his grandparents that Caroline loved, but he didn't have his parents to protect him and raise him and love him. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't. Nothing in her life was fair, and she hated it. Caroline just wanted to scream until her voice was raw, but that wouldn't be enough. Nothing would ever be enough to ease the pain she had gone through.