Gentlemen Aren't Nice

Chapter Six - Sixth Song ~ Syringe

It was May 2 when the letter came. Fred, George, Lee and Aria were busy conducting their Potterwatch duties when Muriel came in waving the thick envelope.
"There's a battle at Hogwarts!" she said in a wheezy voice. "Here! Read it!"
Shoving the parchment at Fred's face, he read it out loud: "'Battle at Hogwarts. Need reinforcements. Harry has been spotted here and is wanted. Come and help.'"
"Well, this is it." George said.
"The big one." said Fred
"The one we've all been waiting for." Lee joined in.
"We really need to forget Wood's speech from Quidditch." George sighed as he noted the confused look on Aria's face.
"Well, let's go. It's six thirty. Wouldn't want to be late, eh?" Lee checked his shiny gold watch. Aria looked at her wrist only to see a red ribbon tied there. Her seventeenth birthday gift from her parents was the pocketwatch chained to the inside of her boot.
Even though it was a wizard's tradition, not a witch's, to receive a watch.
Stepping out of the crowded house, the entire Weasley family, excluding Fleur and Bill gathered out of the boundaries of Muriel's home. Aria linked arms with Fred and George as they Apparated to the outskirts of Hogwarts.
"Infiltration, we are go." Fred commentated every move Aria did as she tried to climb over the brick wall, but when she went to swing over, she hit a barrier and was blasted back, landing in a heap on top of George.
"I think I'm gonna get killed before we even fight." George groaned in pain.
"Sorry George. I didn't mean to."
"Now, the two are bickering over how to get over the wall." Fred kept going at his commentating much to everyone's dismay. The only one who rather liked it was Lee Jordan.
"Confringo!" Aria grunted, breaking the brick wall into many pieces of fired clay.
Stepping through it, she looked smuggly at George and Fred.
"Wouldn't want to upset that bird. She'd kill us." Lee whispered to Fred as hey clambered through as well.
"You know, we could have used some of the secret passages to get in, y'know." George said as Aria fixed the wall with a flick.
"You had to tell me now?" Aria shot at him a look daring him to question her method of doing things.
"But a flashy entrance is nice!" he quickly went back to her good side, not wanting to be blasted to bits like the wall.
"Damn straight." she muttered and ran full speed to the Hogwarts grounds, kicking many Death Eaters and jinxing them as she ran in. Just as good with a wand, she could pack a punch as well. After all, she had taken self-defense lessons from a Muggle woman at a small Tae-Kwon-Do dojo.

All hell broke loose. The Second Wizarding War was in full throttle. Hogwarts was being blown to bits by curses, jinxes and spells. Wizards on both sides suffered major losses.
After Disarming a Death Eater, Aria punched him in the nose and round-house kicked him in the head. He landed roughly on a pile of rubble, smacking his head on a sharp rock. Blood pooled out from the wound making the floor a sickly red.
Aria shuddered at the memory and slipped into a hidden corridor. "Mum! Dad!"
"Hullo, Aria dear." Alabastoria Trindley smiled kindly at her daughter, face blotched with soot. Vinzenz also gave his daughter a hug to express his happiness.
"Sorry we missed your birthday, darling. Hppy twentieth. Have you finally managed to get one of the Weasley boys to propose to you?" Vinzenz fussed over Aria's dirty and sweat covered face.
"Dearie me. Your make up's all a mess. You spend so much time perfecting it every morning." Alabastoria also joined in on the cleaning of Aria's face and clothing.
"Stop it!" Aria whined as if she were a pouty child getting treated like that.
"Ah, my apologies, Aria." Vinzenz backed off, pocketing his handkerchief.
"We forget your not a child anymore." Alabastoria's face was overcome with sad pride in her daughter's growth. "Still not past five and a half feet I see. Still wearing heels... my, my." Her tongue ticked against her white teeth.
The happy family reunion was interrupted by a loud explosion that rocked the floor beneath them.
"Sounded close," Alabastoria gripped her daughter's hand in hers. "Let's go before anyone finds us. Vinny, darling, you're changing again."
Vinzenz made his white hair and watery grey eyes turn back to their normal brown and emerald green.
The Trindley trio bustled down many barren and debris covered corridors, hexing any Death Eater that came their way.
Aria couldn't help but give her mother a look-over as they weaved in and out of corridors.
It was a wonder that such a beauty had been born to the Snape's. Alabastoria was a right beautiful thing. Not scrawny, hook-nosed, or intimidating like her brother. Oh, no, she was curvy but still thin and had wide, loving eyes. Her black hair was long and shiny and when not covered in dust, perfectly washed.
If Aria had not inherited her father's metamorphmagus abilities, she was sure she'd look as beautiful as her mother.

After another half hour of running around and beating down any Death Eater or any of the opposition, Voldemort's voice echoed throughout the school and its grounds.
"You have fought valiantly. I personally shall congratulate the Trindley's, and I hope you will mourn your beloved uncle and brother well."
"What?" Alabastoria roared with fury.
"Uncle Severus - is dead?" Aria's heart sunk deep within her gut as Voldemort kept talking.
"NO!" Aria's mother was raging now. "I shall kill the bastard who dare kill my brother!"
"Mum!"
"Toria!" Aria and her father had to Body-Bind the distraught woman to keep her from waging against the opposition.
"Let's take her to the Great Hall. Check up on the others." Vinzenz carried his wife in his arms as they made their way into the cleared out Hall. Many of the dead were lain in rows and Aria found a large group of redheads at the side crying.
Making her way over, she heard the muffled sobs of Mrs. Weasley as she had thrown herself over a tall lanky body.
"What happened?" Aria asked Ginny softly, patting her back.
"Fred -" was all Ginny could choke out before she threw herself into Aria's arms and sobbed.
Aria's heart plummeted further down and a knot lodged itself in her throat. She was sure if she looked down, her heart would be lying on the floor beating loudly.
Tears flooded her eyes as she sobbed harder than Ginny and Mrs. Weasley combined, but not as hard as George, who was on his knees above his deceased twin's head. Hermione took over with Ginny so Aria could go on grip onto George with a ferociousness unbeknownst to her.
George gripped back as they cried so hard they could barely breathe or make a sound.
It was about an hour after that that they had finally dimmed their sobs down but stayed in their firm embrace.
While trying to choke down the knot in her throat, Aria began to sing a soft tune into George's ear.

Take a photograph,
It'll be the last,
Not a dollar or a crowd could ever keep me here,
I don't have a past
I just have a chance,
Not a family or honest plea remains to say,

Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun.

Is it you I want,
Or just the notion
Of a heart to wrap around so I can find my way around
Safe to say from here,
You're getting closer now,
We are never sad cause we are not allowed to be

Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun.
Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun.

To lie here under you,
Is all that I could ever do,
To lie here under you is all,
To lie here under you is all that i could ever do,
To lie here under you is all,

Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun.
Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun,
All the world is waiting for the sun,
All the world is waiting for the sun.

His sobs slowly dissolved and he looked up at her with puffy red eyes. His face was blotched with red and with his hair, it didn't look well.
"Harry Potter is dead. he was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down in your lives for him." the high, cold voice reached Aria's ears as well as all the valiant fighters assembled in the Hall. George's face scrunched together, ready to cry again. "Let it out." she murmured into his ear, running her fingers through his hair calmingly.
The giant oak doors swung open and everyone flooded out into the corridor. George and Aria stayed back, only to hear the fight that broke out again and came back into the hall.
Bellatrix Lestrange was battling Ginny, Hermione and Luna Lovegood all at once. Aria was staring at Voldemort, fear and disgust mingled in her brain. He was thin, bony and had the shiniest head she'd ever seen. Red eyes and a slit nose were his two main features.
No one could ever mutilate their body like that, she thought grimly. Only mad people would do that.
George released Aria and helped Lee slam a man named Yaxley down onto the floor. Aria was then confronted by a brutish looking man.
"Can I help you, sir?" Aria asked with a wishy-washy look on her face as she stroked Fred's head lovingly. The man was about to raise his wand and curse her when Vinzenz body slammed the man away.
"Stay way from our daughter!" Alabstoria joined in and soon, the Death Eater had been killed.
Voldemort screamed when Bellatrix had been killed by Mrs. Weasley and was about to do her off when a large bellow of "Protego!" filled the hall.
It was Harry. He hadn't been killed, it was all just a facade.
The Trindley's lifted their daughter off the floor to pull her out of the Hall before anything else happened but she resisted. She ran over to George instead who embraced her tightly, aaiting the end results of Harry's and Voldemort's duel.
Voldemort's killing curse backfired and hit him instead, causing him to release his wand and fall back.
Harry caught the wand and there was a pause of silence. Joyous voices bellowed throughout the halls as the not-dead death Eaters screamed in anguish at their fallen leader.
The now red golden ceiling dazzled everyone as they congratulated Harry.

George and Aria stared up at the abandoned joke shop. The charms that had been placed on it were still in perfect condition. It took both of them a lot of courage to not burst into tears just by looking at it.
It had been weeks since the Battle of Hogwarts had been won and things had settled down slightly, if not terribly for George.
His mother would burst into tears everytime she looked at him and George couldn't bare to see his reflection so he walked around the Burrow and punched every mirror out as if he were trying to make them seem as if it weren't his reflection staring back at him.
Aria had been set on George duty for those weeks and probably would be for the rest of her life.
"George," Aria started slowly, trying to make sure George didn't rush in there and destroy the place they had worked so hard on, "let's go in now. I'll make us a cup of tea."
She felt awkward as she stripped the place of its charms and unlocked the front door. Trying not to look at the shelves and shelves of product, they made their way upstairs carefully.
"George?" Aria turned to face him when she let herself and him into the flat.
"Aria," he whispered with the pained look on his face that had replaced his normal, smiling one on May 2, "I can't do this. Not alone. Not - ever."
His hand pressed itself against his forehead as his eyes betrayed him and flooded with tears.
Aria's face scrunched together as she enveloped the tall man's body in a tight hug. He hugged her back and buried his face in her purple hair.
"Aria. Aria. Aria."
Aria felt shivers go down her spine when he spoke her name.
George's lips crashed upon hers, as if wanting some comfort to make sense of what had happened. She kissed back with as much force. Stumbling their way to George's room, they knocked over a few chairs and the coffee table, until they reached the yellow door.

Aria didn't know what had happened until she woke up the next morning, with George's arm around her naked waist. Turning red, she slipped out of bed and bit her bottom lip. She was in turmoil.
She couldn't leave George on his own. Not when he hadn't gotten over Fred yet.
Dressing in her clothes from the night before, she went to her room quietly and packed all of her stuff up. Not wanting to leave without a word, she pulled out a Self-Inking quill and a piece of parchment.

George,
I am so sorry. I had to leave.
I wish you the best of luck and I hope to see you sometime in the future.
Best of luck to you.
Love,
Aria

Slipping the parchment onto the pillow in front of George's sleeping face, she kissed his cheek one last time and walked out the door, purse in hand.