✔️ 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓&𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 → 𝑓. 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

29 | G O O D B Y E

•••
let it hurt,
then let it go.
•••

   "Love, are you even listening?"

   "Huh?" Lynnea flinched, drawing her eyes at Fred, who watched her with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry, zoomed out. What did you say?" It took everything to not let her eyes flicker back to Pansy and Millicent standing by the fountain in the courtyard, fiercely whispering. Easter break was almost over and she couldn't stop thinking about Pansy Parkinson's words.

   "What's up with you lately? You seem to be off track", Fred said. "This is not the Bailey I knew."

   "Don't know. OWLs are coming closer", Lynnea muttered. She could tell Fred about the frightening fact that Pansy knew about her real identity, but she didn't want to bother him, so she just said: "Guess I'm getting nervous." A shaky laughter quietly left her mouth. "Why aren't you nervous at all? Your exams are soon starting as well."

   "That's what I was about to tell you", Fred muttered, not looking at her, his eyes glued to his feet. "George and I won't take the exams. We'll leave."

   "What do you mean you'll leave?", Lynnea gasped. "Leave like leave Hogwarts?" Fred nodded. "You can't leave!"

   "It's already planned", Fred said, still refusing to look at her. "We found a shop in Diagon Alley, our products are ready to get sold, we don't need to graduate. And with Umbridge here, and Dumbledore being gone, there's no need in staying."

   "But -"

   "Lynnea, the only reason we're still here is you." Finally his eyes met hers. "But now Harry bid us for our help, so we'll have our last big strike and then we're off."

   "And you didn't ever feel the urge to tell me about that cute little plan of yours?", Lynnea scoffed. "So when will you go?"

   "Tomorrow." His voice was less than a whisper, but to her it seemed like he had yelled the word straight into her ears.

   "You're kidding!" She expected from her self that she would explode, but she instead felt dead empty. Without Fred and George being around here Hogwarts wouldn't be the same. There was no DA left, she didn't dare to speak to Harry, Ron and Hermione, Ginny seemed to purely hate her lately, and she was quite sure that Pansy was up to something dreadful. "Can I accompany?"

   "Oh love, no", Fred chuckled. "Don't ruin your future. At least it's almost summer break, just three tiny months."

   "Yeah ... tiny ...", she sighed.

   Neither of them spoke a word for a long while as the sun went down and the students left one by one for curfew. Lynnea and Fred just stayed a little while longer, enjoying the silence of their last remaining night together at Hogwarts.

•••

   "We need to talk." Harshly Draco grabbed Lynnea's arm and dragged her with him into an empty classroom.

   "You know we're running late for Snape's class, yeah?", she said, the corners of her mouth twitching.

   "Be careful around Pansy."

   The smile dropped from her face, she stared at him bug-eyed. "Wh-what?"

   "She's up to something, I don't know what it is, but she's planning something", Draco hissed. "Tried to get out more details, but she just had that stupid grin on her face."

   "Didn't you tell me she's just a gobshite?"

   "Forget what I told you, she's a bitch", the boy growled. "And she's dumb as hell, what makes this even more dangerous. She's ruthless. Remember that whatever you do."

   "Don't you think you're exaggerating? She's fifteen", Lynnea said dryly. "You sound like she's about to kill me."

   "I don't know, but she has some information, and I don't really know how dangerous these information can turn out in her filthy hands."

   "Nice ...", Lynnea muttered, exactly knowing what this information was. But where she got it from was a mystery.  Unless ..." Lynnea's blood froze. There was just one plausible reason. When Pansy's parents were Death Eaters, and they told her daughter, that had to mean ...

   "I - I have to go", she stammered, turning around to the door. When Pansy knew, Draco knew as well. What if this was a trap? They were all alone in this empty classroom. What if he was just playing dumb, what if he exactly knew which information Pansy had?

   He tried to hold her back, grabbing for her wrist, but she shrugged it off, and stormed out of the door.

   "Lynnea!", he called after her along the corridor, but she ignored him, running even faster.

   Instead of joining potion, she stumbled through the castle, until she reached the Astronomy tower. She didn't need to lie to herself when she leaned against the balustrade, snapping for air. The situation was bad. Awfully bad. And it was not her own fate that caused the worry, no. It was her brother's. If Voldemort really knew about her ...

   She needed to talk to someone. But Dumbledore was gone and Remus and Sirius impossible to contact. Harry needed to be informed, so he was prepared. But what if she told him and he didn't believe her? At least nobody was here to confirm that it's the truth.

   And then a loud bang tore her out of her mind. Time had come for Fred and George to leave. Lynnea sighed. One thing after another. When Fred and George would have left, she'd think about a solution of this mess.

   The entrance hall was crowded with people; students, teachers, ghosts, and high above them on their brooms the Weasley twins, wide grins on their faces.

   "Special discounts to Hogwart's students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat", said George, pointing at Professor Umbridge.

   "STOP THEM!", shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, Fred and George have already been fifteen feet in the air. Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his level above the crowd.

   "Give her hell from us, Peeves."

   And Peeves swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.

   Some of the students ran after them, but Lynnea didn't. She watched her boyfriend and her best friend getting smaller and smaller in the distant, suddenly feeling entirely tired. She sat down on the steps of the great marble stair behind her, and while everyone's mood was on its top, she couldn't remember ever feeling more sad and exhausted than right now.

   "Are you okay?" Someone was sitting down next to her, and when she looked to her left, it was Harry staring back at her.

   "I -" But her voice cracked and she shook her head silently. Harry lay an arm around her shoulder, and as a lonely tear escaped her eye, she leaned her head on Harry's shoulder, for a moment forgetting that she should better stay away from the boy next to her; her brother. For this moment she let the world crash down on her and to be honest she couldn't imagine to share it with anyone else than Harry Potter, her last remaining bit of the life she never knew.