Harry Potter: 19 Years Later

Chapter 79: Salazar's Defeat

First, it was Natalia's death. Now Xander was gone too. And that was enough for Rose to endure her breaking point.

"NO!" she screamed out in despair, her whole body limp from shock as Albus and Holly dragged her out of the Great Hall. One of the most cherished and beautiful rooms in Hogwarts was now totally obliterated.

"Rose, i-it's going to be alright..." Holly tried to say consolingly, but her voice came out as a shaky whimper.

"It's all my fault!" Rose bawled. Albus and Holly had let go of her and she was now on her knees, her face buried in her hands. "They're dead because of me!"

Suddenly, she felt hands grip her wrists tightly and forcibly pull them away from her face. Rose couldn't help but shrink under Albus's hard gaze, his green eyes blazing with anger and mourning. She could tell her cousin was close to losing control of his emotions too.

"Rose, listen to me," Albus told her sternly, his voice cracking. "Natalia and Xander's deaths are not your fault. They knew what they were getting into when they chose to fight with us."

"But I could have saved them, Albus!" Rose cried, her bottom lip wobbling.

"No, you couldn't have!" Albus yelled, shaking Rose to snap some sense into her. "I hate that it has to be this way, but innocent people die, Rose. That's just life. Many others are dead too besides Natalia and Xander. They died fighting for our school. Let's make their deaths mean something."

Rose knew he was right. Lives will be lost in a battle, and that's something that unfortunately cannot be prevented. Either they died unwillingly, or they died fighting, those deaths had to signify something. If they lost this battle, those killed will have died for nothing. Rose vowed to herself that she would make sure the deceased's deaths were avenged.

"Albus is right," Holly agreed. "But we can't dwell on what happened. We have a battle to finish. The basilisk and Lucius Malfoy are gone. Now we just need to save Scorpius and defeat Salazar."

A wave of determination replenished Rose, similar to when she first discovered her enhanced powers. She transformed her grief and sorrow into anger. She would channel that anger into every ounce of power she had. They had to save Scorpius. Rose may have lost Natalia and Xander, but she was not going to lose him too.

She stood up, wiping away the remainder of her tears. Albus and Holly gave her bemused looks at her sudden change of emotions. Just moments ago Rose was screaming and sobbing with grief, and now she looked ready for war. She could practically feel her powers boiling in her veins.

"Like you said, Holly, we have a battle to finish," Rose began, sticking out of hand and mentally summoning her wand to her, which she'd dropped in the Great Hall. Once her rather battered wand touched her fingers, a twinge of a smile played at her lips as she added, "Let's go kick some arse."

Albus and Holly's worried expressions were instantly replaced with smiles. They looked as determined as Rose was.

"There's the Rose we all know and love," Albus said, smirking.

Rose led the way down the empty corridor, neither she or her two companions knowing where they were going. The Marauders Map would have really come in handy right now. Scorpius- or Salazar- could be anywhere in the castle doing Merlin knows what. They had to find him as fast as possible.

"Wait," Holly said, making the three of them stop abruptly. "What is that?"

Rose followed her gaze ahead towards the entryway to the courtyard and frowned in confusion. A large group of students and adults were marching in sync in rows, staring straight ahead like soldiers in attention. Instantly, she had a flashback of a nightmare she had once had when she was in her fourth year. Even with it being years since she'd had the bizarre dream with the expressionless people marching down a dark hallway, Rose remembered it as vividly as she had when she was fourteen. She recalled what a voice had said to her in that dream.