If I Fall for You [Harry Potter: Next Generation]

16. Bad News for the Hopeful

A/N: hey look who's back. Sorry bout the huge wait blah blah blah blah GUYS 1K??? *vine dude* DA FUUU????!?!?!?!??!?!!!ILOVEYOUUNICORNSSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSMUCH!!! LIKE NO ONE'S BUSINESS. THAT LIL 1K SERIOUSLY MADE MY DAY - WHO AM I KIDDING, IT MADE MY WHOLE FREAKING LIFE!!!! K I AM DONE BEING BORING!! ONWARD, CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH!!
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As they progressed further down the dark, snaking tunnel, a horrible sort of numbness settled over Rose. The slapping footsteps and the breath of her companions faded into the background, like her ears had been stuffed with cotton. Even her heart wasn't beating war drums in her head anymore. All the terror, all the grief, floated off somewhere, and left her completely empty.

After an unmeasurable length of time, Professor McGonagall's voice cut sharply through the haze, with a loud curse.

Professor Longbottom sighed. "We forgot that we can't go up the pipe, didn't we. Alright, well - Margot, would you carry Miss Ryan? Minerva, why don't you take Miss Weasley with you..."

"Alright." McGonagall let Vanessa down in Madame Chapelle's arms. The French headmistress gave a quick, tearful nod, turned on the spot, and disappeared into thin air.

Rose blinked, startled in spite of herself. Did that mean she would get to Apparate...?

"We'll do side-along Apparation, Weasley," McGonagall explained gently, quietly. "Hold on to my arm tightly. Do not, whatever happens, let go, understand? Here - I'll take Potter. Hold on, now."

It was like being crushed to death in a dark tunnel. Rose dug her nails into Professor McGonagall's arm; if she let go she would surely be consumed by the whirling, rushing, suffocating blackness. Were her eyes open, or closed? Impossible to tell.

Then it ended, quite abruptly. Rose found herself on the cracked tile floor of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Ears ringing, she took great gulps of air, registering the fact that Albus now lay sprawled across her knees. Had McGonagall just dumped him there, or - ?

An answer came in the form of an all-too-familiar voice, spitting out something in French from somewhere behind Rose. Another, higher French-speaking voice - Madame Chapelle - retaliated just as harshly, growing steadily in volume and pitch, fury threaded through every syllable. McGonagall was evidently trying in vain to break it up, but no one seemed to notice. There came a thump and a grunt of pain. McGonagall gasped.

"Really, Margot! I understand how you must feel, but it's no good hurting your own students!"

"She is no student of mine," Madame Chapelle hissed.

Presently Moaning Myrtle's howls drowned out everything. "Dead! Dead! Albus Potter is dead! Murder! Murder!"

The words stabbed right through the numbness and sent a fresh wave of pain through Rose's chest. She screwed her eyes shut, trying to block it out, but Myrtle was persistent in her proclamations of death, and the arguing was growing louder and louder by the minute -

"Alright, Rose?" Another voice, a softer voice, spoke close to her ear. Professor Longbottom was bent over her, Scorpius still nestled in his arms. "Come on. Let's get you to Madam Pomfrey."

Rose didn't need to be told twice. She hoisted Albus's body into her arms once more, and she and the Herbology Professor slipped past the quarrel and into quiet of the hall. The emptiness of the castle bothered Rose, until she realized that - of course - everyone was down in the bleachers, watching the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.

All that seemed a million years away, now. It was almost impossible to think that people could just carry on with life after everything that'd just happened. Suddenly Rose's life had been split, violently, into two parts: Before and After.