Soundtrack

5. Photograph by Ed Sheeran | The Fallen Headmaster

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ELLE

Hearts pounding, I felt the vibrations of my feet slapping against the cobbled stone halls as Hermione and I raced to only God knows where. The sound of glass shattering and curses bounding and rebounding off walls was almost surreal.

This shouldn't be happening. This shouldn't be happening. I kept repeating to myself as we ran, dodging a hue of red as it whizzed past my ear. Hermione and I had split ways with Harry and Max a few moments before and already I was beginning to worry about them.

Force of habit, I assumed.

We reached the hall where the House Points were held, but the hourglasses filled with jewels had been long since shattered, the remains of colored gems, glass, and blood from a few mangled students mingled on the floors.

Hermione and I caught our breath, and I felt my hands shake. 'This is really happening.' It couldn't be contained. This was real. Clutching my wand tight, I spared Hermione a small smile, remaining close by her side.

So far, it seemed we had outrun the problem, but who knew how far off the Death Eaters were.

"Well, look what we have here," A vile, sickly squeaky voice sounded from behind us and I only stuck tighter by Hermione's side. For a fleeting moment, my mind traveled to Jenna and Lana. Where were they? Were they alright? My stranded thoughts were pulled back by the Death Eater, a pale, sickly looking fellow with a few missing teeth and a scraggly beard. "Two lost, little girls, looking for a fight."

"Bombarda!" Hermione yelled, not wanting to stick around for the small talk, and hit the wall next to the Death Eater, causing rubble from the explosion to knock him unconscious.

Raising a brow, I allowed a smirk to fill my lips, "Nice thinking, 'Mione."

"Don't mention it," She breathed out, tugging roughly onto my hand, reminding me, yet again, that this was not some dream. "Let's get out of here."

"Where are we going to go?"

She shrugged her shoulders as we ran, leaving my question unanswered and merely leading me around the castle. As we neared the Great Hall, the sounds of the struggle were greater, and the booming sound of jinxes, hexes, and curses were immense.

Jenna and Lana were in the midst of the room, along side Neville, Luna, and Ron. But, where was the rest of the DA? Defensively raising my wand, I rushed towards the others and aimed towards a few of the swirling mists of black.

"Abigo!"

"Claudius!"

"Expelliarmus!"

And a few other choice spells were shouted from our small cluster as we formed a sort of protective circle. Each of us were covering someone else's back. From across the room, I saw Max fighting with two Death Eaters at once, and doing a great job defending herself as Sam slid through the doors, sizing up the miniature battle that was taking place in the hall that we ate at every day.

McGonagall gathered up her strength and began smashing the invaders with everything she had. Spells flew so fast from that woman that I was taken by surprise. The teachers formed a strong team, and began pummeling the Death Eaters back.

Then, finally, the Order of the Phoenix showed up.

My breathing steadied as I realized that this was working in our favor. The small group of Death Eaters watched with angst as Moody, Tonks, Fred, Bill, Lupin, and the others filed in, forming a more complex offense than they, the Death Eaters, could handle on their own.

In the middle of the room, I recognized Bellatrix Lestrange as she let out a howl of a scream before fleeing the scene after the majority of the other Death Eaters had bailed, screeching about how cowardly they were being, but fleeing nonetheless.

There was a moment of calmness, like the shattering, empty sound one hears after a noisy thunderstorm, as every one merely watched one another, the same thought on all of our minds. Was this really over for now?

Slowly, people allowed themselves room to breathe once more, and I let out a low sigh, shoulders sagging as I let my guard down for now. "What the hell happened?" I bit out, once I felt it was time for someone in the small group to talk.

"How did they get in?" Neville questioned, eyes flickering over all of our faces as if one of us could have possibly known the proper answer.

Beside Hermione, Ginny appeared, holding Harry's invisibility cloak in her fists. "It was Malfoy," She swallowed, eyes wide, "Harry told me that...D-Dumbledore is dead."

"What?" I hissed out, clutching my bleeding cheek where a Death Eater had nicked me at the very beginning of the surprise attack.

Max stepped forward, eyes glistening as if she was fighting some inner battle, but a frown etched onto her lips, "It wasn't...It wasn't his fault."

"Wasn't his fault?!" Ron stepped forward, face contorted and his fist clenched tightly, "What are you talking about?! What do you mean, it wasn't his faul--"

"Just shut up!" Ginny interrupted her furious brother, eyes sizing up the sudden look of mourning that crossed Max's face. "Max, what are you talking about?"

"Do you and Harry know something?" Hermione prodded, a scared gleam still staring back at me in her eyes.

Max's lip quivered and she glanced towards the eyes trained on her, "I-It was Snape, he... Snape killed Dumbledore!"

It was as if the whole congregation in the Great Hall took a deep breath at once, not wanting to believe those words to be true. I knew that I didn't want them to be. McGonagall shook her head, placing a trembling hand over her mouth to stifle her outcry.

"He fell off the Astronomy Tower," Max sobbed, tears beginning to streak down her cheeks as she recounted the tragedy she'd seen tonight. "There was nothing... I couldn't..." Her voice broke, making my eyes water as I watched her. "I couldn't stop it," She breathed out, voice hoarse as if she'd been crying for days.

McGonagall, clad in bed robes, led the student body out into the brisk air. And even if she'd wanted to stop us from following along, she wouldn't have been able to; we were a force to be reckoned with.

I'd like to imagine that the majority of the students went out to pay their respects to our late headmaster, but I knew that wasn't the truth. Many were merely moved by morbid curiosity. They didn't know Headmaster Dumbledore as well as a lot the older students did.

Tears clouded my eyes as I gazed down at the broken figure of Dumbledore. He seemed so fragile and weak, as if he'd been through an even greater ordeal than just being tossed off a tower. I felt a warm hand clasp into mine as I stood there, peering down at the scene.

Sniffling, I jolted and glanced up, sob on my lips. There, standing with my hand in his, Fred Weasley was mourning as well. He spared me a forced smile, but the mood couldn't have been lifted even by his joyful nature. Next to him stood Lana and Jenna.

"You don't know how happy I am to see you're alright, Letter," His mouth formed a wobbly, watery smile that made a tearful one spread on my lips. I quickly wrapped my arms around his shoulders, pulling him tight against me and not wanting to let go until I felt safe.

If I would ever feel safe again.

Hot trails of tears gleamed on every one's cheeks, and one by one, shots of white, hot light were shot into the sky to rid us of the vile Dark Mark that clouded our sky. In the corner of my eye, I watched as Harry broke through the crowd, horror etched onto his face as he stared down at his mentor, falling into step beside his twin sister who was sobbing next to McGonagall.

This shouldn't be happening, I thought once more, but this time it was different. It was a prayer. I repeated it over and over, hoping that if I wished hard enough, it would go away. But the way Fred's hand tightened in my own, showed me that the world had changed this night.

No matter how hard I willed for it to disappear, it wouldn't.

Clearing my throat as people began to disappear from the scene, one after the other, I turned to Lana, roughly rubbing against the stains on my cheeks, "Where's Sam and Roxanne?" I questioned, realizing that I hadn't seen Roxanne since the Gryffindor Common Room, and Sam since the battle. It seemed odd that they weren't here to mourn with us.

Bile churned in the pit of my stomach as my eyes flickered from face to face in the crowd. Gaze landing on Ginny, I prodded the question once more, tearing her attention off the mourning figure of Harry Potter, "Gin, where's your sister? Have you seen her, or Sam for that matter?"

She took a small while to gather her thoughts, and I didn't blame her. Everything was chaos. "I-I," She blinked a few times before finding her voice, eyes widening, "I haven't seen her. I haven't seen either of them."

Fred and I glanced at each other with dismay and nodded, as if we had shared the same thought subliminally. Letting go of his hand, I ignored the sudden, cold sensation it gave me, and I gathered up Jenna, Lana, and even Max, despite the fact that I knew the two weren't on the greatest terms. Fred, in turn, grabbed Harry, Ron, Ginny, and George.

"What's going on?" Jenna sniffed, swiping under her tear stained eyes as the crowd of teenagers followed Fred and I up to the Infirmary. "Is everything alright, Elle?"

"It's Rox," Ginny twisted her hands together nervously, eyes dancing around with anxiety. I could tell that Ginny really cared for her, just like I cared about Hermione.

Oh, shit. Hermione, I cursed in my mind, flipping around to look for her face, but coming up empty.

"Forget something?" Fred called, a small, quirky half-smile slipping on his lips. I tried to ignore the fact that it didn't reach his eyes. The death of Dumbledore would take a while for all of us to get over.

"Nothing important," I sighed, waving him off, "Just give me a minute."

There was the sound of a curt laugh as I skipped down the steps quickly, attempting to avoid the shattered glass and rubble, "Well, tell me how you really feel, sis." Hermione's voice was coarse, and broken, but her attempt at a joke only pointed towards healing.

"Jeez, 'Mione," I rubbed my nose, wrapping her in a tight hug as the others walked into the Hospital Wing with me, "Don't fall behind like that."

Tilting her head to the side, Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but shut it, pursing her lips with a disapproving frown. We both knew that it wasn't her fault. I sighed in relief, almost every one had made it out alright. But we still had to check in on Roxanne.

Putting my arm around Hermione's, we both entered the infirmary.