𝐌𝐀𝐃 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 → 𝒸. 𝓌𝑒𝒶𝓈𝓁𝑒𝓎

⤷ 19| THE FINAL FIGHT

CHAPTER NINETEEN
the final fight

⋆. ────────── ꕥ ────────── .⋆

JUNE FELT IT BEFORE SHE SAW THEM.

A shift in the air. A presence she'd known her whole life.

She turned just as a familiar, reckless voice cut through the low murmur of the Hall.

"There you are."

For one impossible second, June just stared.

Then Sirius was in front of her — soot-streaked, hair wild, eyes burning with a fierce, frantic relief that cracked something open in her chest.

"You're alive," he said, like he'd only just dared to believe it.

June didn't answer. She crossed the distance in two steps and slammed into him, arms wrapping around his middle as tightly as she could manage. Sirius staggered back a half-step, then laughed — breathless, broken — and held her just as fiercely, one hand cradling the back of her head like he was afraid she might vanish.

"Don't ever do that again," he muttered hoarsely into her hair. "Do you hear me?"

She nodded against his chest, tears finally spilling free. "You're one to talk."

A quiet presence settled beside them.

June pulled back and turned.

Remus stood there, looking exhausted to the bone — robes torn, face pale — but his eyes were soft with something that felt like home.

"You did well," Remus said gently. "We're proud of you."

The words hit harder than any curse.

June's breath caught as Remus opened his arms, and she stepped into them without hesitation. His hug was different from Sirius's — steadier, grounding, like being held together rather than held up.

For a moment, she let herself be a child again.

"I thought I lost you," she whispered.

Remus rested his chin lightly on her hair. "We're still here," he said. "Because of people like you."

Sirius's hand settled on her shoulder, solid and warm.

"Tonks told us," he added quietly. "About Fred. About everything."

June nodded, unable to speak.

They stood there like that — the three of them — while the Great Hall breathed around them. Grief. Relief. Love. All tangled together.

It wasn't safe yet.
It wasn't over.

But for the first time that night, June felt something close to steady.

And she held onto it.

-

June found him near the edge of the Great Hall, half-hidden by a broken pillar, staring at nothing.

Harry looked smaller somehow — not younger, but thinner, like the night had already begun to take pieces of him.

"Harry," she said.

He flinched, then turned, relief and resignation warring in his expression. "I was hoping you wouldn't find me."

Her chest tightened. "You're not going."

His jaw set immediately. "I am."

"No," June said, stepping closer. "You're not doing this alone. If you go to Voldemort, I'm coming with you."