𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 | 𝐝.𝐦.

sixty seven

The ground thunders with the collision of stone pillars crashing down on the castle.

Betty narrowly avoids being apart of the debris as Draco had yanked her carelessly towards him as the wall splinters into rubble and a giant swings ungainly at them again.

The courtyard is blanketed with students with their wands out, trepidation shaking their stance as they fight against cloaked but unmasked death eaters.

A couple of giants holding what looks like an iron fork and some, the goal hoop plucked from the Quidditch patch, are clumsily trudging through the grounds, chasing after fearful students, including Betty and Draco themselves.

They only scarcely managed to lose the giant's tail when they hop over the stony fences of the yard.

Betty freezes in her tracks as the tip of her feet hits an unmoving body in front of them. She has been so distraught escaping the eyes of giants she had lacked to notice the umpteen number of bodies scattered around the floor.

Only some of their chests heave with life while the rest are rigidly still, pallid eyes wide with horror upon the sight of death.

"What are you doing?!" Draco asks loudly in front of her, attempting to tug her along.

Betty's throat goes dry, indicating with the lift of her chin at the body lying before them. "I know him."

The boy stops his futile pull and trudges grudgingly to match her step. His body tenses with nausea and a measly amount of sympathy at the sight of a lifeless body.

"He's a year younger than us," she says disquietly, unable to tear her gaze away. "Harry's friend."

Draco releases her hand, pulling her into his embrace and craning her neck away so she would stop looking. "He's dead. It's a battle, Linny, you have to move along."

There is a lump in her throat, tears brimming her eyes as they wander, consciously now, the other bodies smudged with dirt from the debris, lining the pathway.

She sniffles, tearing away from the boy's comfort. "We should at least move him, shouldn't we? People will step all over him."

He tosses her a peculiar glare which she knows is founded by his scorning of getting his hands dirty. But he gets over himself, stammering, "If you want to."

The two bend over, the girl lugging Colin Creevery's head while the boy carries his legs with dismay.

They both lift him up with a huff. A heavy pang hits her in her heart, and they carry him to the corner of the pathway, where she knows people might not tamper with his body or at least not step on him.

Betty places the young boy's hand over his chest, where it had previously been strewn rigidly. She whispers a solemn prayer under her breath before being tugged away again by her partner.

It is difficult to take in, watching the castle being thrashed, the people once full of life dropping to the ground, now just another void body.

Regret engulfs her and her brain ticks with the option of escaping so she wouldn't have to witness Hogwarts falling into ruins. But of course, she brushes it aside and allows her legs to trudge on its own.

The image of bodies haunt her mind and she regains the pulsing headache that weakens her body. Her forearm scorches again and she shrinks away from Draco's grasp, her legs buckling weakly under her.

"What is it now?" the boy asks again, annoyance lacing his tone.

He whirls around, eyes wide with horror before rushing towards her and catching her before she hits the ground.