✔️ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 → ℎ. 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

23 | D A R K N E S S

if the silence takes you,
then I hope it takes me, too.

   "NO — FRED, NO!"

   Ember was about to rush forward, but a pair of arms wrapped around her torso and held her back.

   "Let me go! Let me go!" Kicking and struggling against Harry's hold, Ember fought like a lioness to get herself freed.

   "Ember, don't — you can't — he's gone —"

   Ember let out a deep growl. Every cell in her body was fighting back what her brother had told her; because it just couldn't be true. There was no way, no chance, no possibility, that Fred was ...

   "He is not gone", she snapped, anger rising inside her like a fountain. "I just saved him! I saved him, he was alive, he is not — he can't be —"

   But as she watched Percy shaking Fred's motionless body, like poison the realisation spread through her veins. Fred wouldn't just lay there and do nothing, not while Ember was yelling for him, not while she was dying herself.

   Because she could feel it; her heart was staggering, stumbling with every beat it took. And it was a miracle that it was still beating at all. Something was tearing at her insides with shark like teeth, breaking her up, pain came crashing in waves through her whole body, and it had nothing to do with the wall that had buried her underneath its weight just a minute ago, nothing to do with her broken nose.

   If Fred was gone, how could she still feel his soft lips pressed against hers? How could his touch still linger on her back? How could he still wear that blissful smile on his face?

   "Emmie, let's — let's go", Harry said in a soothing voice. "There's just one left. It's just the snake. Let's end this."

   Ember couldn't. It had ended. This was the end. Because there was just no way a world without Fred Weasley could exist.

   You need to find Snape.

   The echo of Draco Malfoy's voice in her head seemed so misplaced in a moment like this, but it hollowed through her brain mercilessly, growing louder and louder.

   Still shaking, Ember took a deep breath. "You go and kill that snake", she told Harry. "Take care."

   "Wait!", Harry snapped, grabbing her wrist and pulled her back, as she was about to rush away, tears stinging in the corners of her eyes and a heavy  knot in her throat was threatening to choke her. "We stay together. You can't —"

   But Ember shook her head, a tear landing on her shirt as she did. "You need to get rid of that snake. It's almost done, Harry."

   "We'll destroy it together", he fiercely replied. "I won't let you go!"

   "I —"

   A body fell past the hole blown into the side of the school, and curses flew in at them from the darkness, hitting the wall behind their heads. Hermione screamed, and Ember, turning, did not need to ask why. A monstrous spider the size of a small car was trying to climb through the huge hole in the wall: One of Aragog’s descendants had joined the fight.

   Ember bit her bottom lip, throwing a last gaze at Percy, who was laying across Fred's chest to shelter him from further harm. A cold grip closed around her heart; an emptiness took over her that even banished the throbbing pain of shock and grief that had just drowned her seconds before.

   Turning her head away, she took the opportunity the chaos had offered her and spurted down the corridor — or what was left of it. Jumping over stones and debris, she left the battle behind her.

   The essential question now was: Where would she find Severus Snape?

  Did he join the battle? Was he somewhere amongst those black hooded figures attacking her friends? As she reached the end of the corridor, she stopped. In front of her lay the main stairs. The roars of the battle echoed through the whole castle, making it impossible for her to focus on just a single clear thought. Flashes of light blinked through the windows, having the sky enlightened like a firework.

   If only she hadn't lost her powers; if only she could use the shadows to get her to Snape; if only —

   Ember's eyes grew wide. She hadn't lost her powers! Hadn't she just used them to block the killing curse? And they had been even more powerful than ever! Excitement took over her and she grabbed her wand tighter, as her mind focused on Snape, and the shadows around her started growing longer, wrapping around her legs, her arms ...

   "Ember, watch out!"

   Her head jerked around, and not a second too late. A green flash of light missed her only by inches, bursting into the wall behind her. Only the the split of a second later, another curse passed her by coming from the opposite direction.

   Remus, Tonks, Charlie and George had appeared to her right, shooting spells at the hooded figures to Ember's left, and she was standing in the middle of the fight, feeling the rush of the curses and spells flying past her.

   Ember ducked away, joining her friends' side.

   "What are you doing here?", Remus snapped between firing two spells. "You shouldn't be here! Where's Fred?"

   The knot in Ember's throat tightened, leaving her unable to answer. Her eyes flickered to George, who fired curses at the Death Eaters with the common mischievous smirk on his lips, just like his brother had done before.

   "Ember!", Remus yelled. "Get out of here!"

   Another curse had just missed her, and she jerked back.

   "Now!", barked Remus, and Ember didn't waste another second. She stepped behind the fighters, concentrating on Snape as hard as she could, and again darkness emerged out of the corners of the corridor, creeping up her skin. It swallowed her whole, and she felt herself vanishing.

   Her face was covered in blackness, and as her view slowly was taken over by darkness, a green flash enlightened the last remainins of her vision, and she saw Remus breaking down on the floor. Her heart stopped, and Tonks screamed; a moment of unawareness she had to pay for. The second curse hit her straight in the chest, and Ember's cry got stuck in her throat; before she could even see Tonks falling as well, her surroundings vanished, as the darkness took her away ...

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