Into Forever

Another explosion shook the walls of the castle; very faint screams could be heard from the castle grounds as they echoed around us.

“There are only two passages that lead into Hogwarts directly,” Fred panted as he took the stairs two at a time, nimbly dodging around the lingering students in his way. George, Angie, and I raced to keep up. “So that gives us the two obvious groups. As long as we keep on our toes, we should be alright, I reckon.”

Fred skidded around the corner, then came to an abrupt stop and turned to face us; his bright blue eyes were glowing with energy. He was ready to fight.

“Kelso and I will take the Honeydukes passage,” he told us, jerking his head off towards the right. “Georgie, I want you and Angie to man the passageway on the fifth floor.”

“I thought there were seven passageways,” I voiced, tilting my head to the side as I tried to recall all the passages I’d heard of.

“There are,” George informed me. “The one on the fourth floor caved in a few years back, and one of the two in the room of requirement was destroyed last year. Then there’re two that don’t lead into the castle, and one more that leads into the room of requirement.”

“What about that last one?” Angie asked, running a hand through her hair and locking her intense chocolate gaze on George.

“It can come out anywhere in the castle,” he explained to her, getting a confirmative nod from Fred. “There’s no point in wasting time running around looking for random death eaters, y’know?”

“Right then,” Fred piped up, looking anxious; I could tell he wanted to hurry up and get into position, and I couldn’t blame him. We all paused, though, and locked eyes with one another.

What do you say when you’re pretty sure you’ll never see your best friends again? What did I say to Angie? She was my rock, my ever-constant support that kept me going through the things that threatened to tear me down. And George.. Oh George. My other half. I’d come to realize that both parts of me now belonged to these two trouble making gingers –half to Fred, half to George- and there was nothing I could do about it. Without them, I wouldn’t be me. And if I lost either half, or both halves, what would I become?

No one was speaking, and I couldn’t take it anymore. So many thoughts running through my head… I looked around at everyone, and tried to voice my feelings. What I’d meant to say was, I don’t want to loose this last moment with any of you, but my tears and fright and anger mixed together and jumbled up my sentence, so what came out was,

“I just, I don’t want.. I don’t want to forget this…” and it made no sense. But somehow, it did. Because Fred wrapped an arm around my shoulder, and Angelina gave me one last hug, and George gently ruffled my hair. Softly, Fred whispered,

“I can tell by your tears that you’ll remember it all, love.”

And that was that. George took Angie’s hand, and two of my best friends, one half of my heart just turned and walked away, leaving me aching for one more smile, one more hug.

Fred’s hand slipped from my shoulder and settled into my grasp; our fingers intertwined, and he gently pulled me in the direction of the secret passage.

With a sickening lurch in my stomach, I remembered I hadn’t said goodbye to Uncle Remus, or Tonks, or Ron, or Hermione, or Lee, or Ginny, or Luna, or Neville… and now it was too late. I suppose, though, the most sincere goodbyes are the ones that are never spoken or never explained. Deep down, I knew that we’d already said goodbye; the last time I smiled at Ron, or hugged Hermione, or Ginny, or laughed with Lee… those were all my goodbyes.

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The sounds of battle were growing louder now; the violent tremors of the castle shook me down to the bone. As we sprinted past the windows along the corridor, I could see the massive shield over the castle beginning to crumble.

The grounds were covered in dozens upon dozens of students; I figured nearly everyone was outside fighting off the advancing death eaters, and I had assumed I wouldn’t see anyone else that was on our side.

So, when I saw Harry Potter himself dashing around the corner and sprinting in my direction, my legs nearly gave out and I called,

“Harry!”

He stumbled, surprised, and took a moment to realize who had called his name.

“Kelsey! Fred!” Immediately, Harry took off towards us, and he pulled me into the biggest hug he’d ever given me. I squeezed back, so relieved to see him one more time.

“What’s going on, mate?” Fred asked, not a single hint of jealousy in his voice; this was serious. Teenage drama had no place at Hogwarts tonight.

“I know where the last horcrux is,” he panted, pulling back; his electric green eyes had an intensity in them I’d never seen before. “Once I destroy it, there’s just one left, and then it’s me and him.”

“Go,” I told him, giving him a gentle push back in the direction he’d been heading. “Do what you have to, we’ll give you as much time as we can.”

Harry nodded, and then gave me a quick smile.

“Stay strong, Kels.”

“You too, Harry.”

That was the only goodbye we needed; we understood each other. Once Harry disappeared out of sight, Fred and I continued to race down the hallway to reach the secret passage.

ღ

The one-eyed witch statue was just sliding out of the way when Fred and I reached it; the two of us dove behind a pillar as a group of Death Eaters slid out from behind it, wands drawn.

“Are you ready?” Fred breathed to me, his own wand gripped tightly in his hand. Solemnly, I nodded, then asked,

“You?”

“Yes,” he told me immediately; when our eyes met, I was surprised to see a burning rage in his gaze. “Every single Death Eater we kill brings us one step closer to making a safer life for Cameron and Brielle. I’d do anything for that.”

Tears pricked my eyes as I leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

“I love you, Fred Weasley.”

“I just happen to love you as well, Kelsey Weasley.”

“But we’re not married-“

“I don’t think I really care about that at the moment, love,” he told me, his trademark grin spreading from cheek to cheek.

Those were the last words Frederick Gideon Weasley spoke to me before the two of us jumped out from behind the pillar, wands drawn, with fire in our eyes.

We scared one of the Death Eaters senseless. He dropped his wand before my disarming spell even reached him; he was thrown into the wall nearly fifty feet away. The other two weren’t startled so easily; one sent the killing curse straight at Fred just a second after Fred sent his spell flying. I dodged a well-aimed streak of purple light, then whipped around to dish out a nasty stunning spell.

My spell missed him by a hair; he threw himself into the wall beside him, and the streak of red flashed right past his face. When his head met with the wall, it dislodged his hood, and his mask fell the floor with a clatter; my heart stopped beating for just a brief second as I took in his face.

Antonin Dolohov stood just a few feet away from me, his wild grey eyes dancing with delight. His thin lips twisted into a disgustingly joyous grin as he snarled,

“Little Kelsey Werner. Daddy would be so proud of you, fighting like a big girl. If only you’d been able to do something that Christmas night-“

I didn’t give Dolohov the chance to finish. I’d been dreaming of this moment nearly every night since the night he killed my father.

“Avada kedavra!” I hollered, my spell aimed for the center of Dolohov’s chest. He just barely blocked in time; the curse rebounded into another Death Eater that had just climbed out of the passageway.

I dropped to the ground a split second before Dolohov’s killing curse caught me in the shoulder. It whizzed back down the corridor, hitting the wall and taking a large chunk out of the bricks.

As I scrambled to my feet, I caught sight of Fred dueling two Death Eaters at once. Before I could even begin to worry, another head of ginger hair appeared beside him to take on the other Death Eater. Percy had joined his brother, and the two of them dueled like champions.

I shot another killing curse at Dolohov as I scrambled back away from the passage. If I just stood in the way of where Death Eaters were coming in, I wouldn’t be able to get a clear shot on the enemy. Fred caught sight of my maneuverings, and began to back up as well. Percy followed the two of us; as we rounded the corner, familiar voices caught my attention, but I had to block them out and use all my concentration on defeating Dolohov. Tonight, it would either be Dolohov or myself, and I wasn’t ready to die.

More and more Death Eaters poured around the corner; one of them shot a rather nasty spell my direction. From behind me, I heard Hermione’s voice shout Protego! and the spell rebounded back and hit its caster.

And then I realized that I could hear Ron and Harry as well; the four of us were together again! My heart swelled, and I shot a vicious spell at Dolohov that singed the side of his face.

One of the Death Eaters, the one dueling Percy, stumbled over a limp body, and his hood slipped from his head; Pius Thicknesse, the minister of magic, stood dumbfounded for a moment. Percy roared with laughter, then cried,

“Hello, Minister!” without hesitation, Percy hit Thicknesse with a jet of orange light; the minister dropped his wand and clawed at the front of his robes, apparently in awful discomfort. “Did I mention I’m resigning?”

“You’re joking, Perce!” Fred shouted just as the Death Eater he’d been dueling collapsed under the weight of three separate stunning spells. Fred was grinning ear to ear, looking at Percy with glee.

“You actually are joking! I don’t think I’ve heard you joke since you were-“

Dolohov’s wand was knocked from his hand by a random disarming spell; his grey eyes stretched wide with realization. It was that fragment of a second- Fred laughing, my friends by my side winning the fight, and the man who’d killed my father about to pay his dues- when the battle seemed to pause. I’d just opened my mouth to shout Avada kedavra, to rid this earth of one more Death Eater, when the air exploded.

The six of us had been grouped together; Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, Percy, and myself, plus the other straggling Death Eaters that had just rounded the corner. The brief moment, the fleeting moment of time when danger seemed temporarily at bay had shattered into a million pieces that went flying every which way. I was thrown to the side, my body flying through the air like a rag doll. I landed hard on the ground and skid a few feet, tearing up my shoulder and knocking my head pretty badly. My wand separated from my hand, clattering off to the side as I came to a bone-jarring halt against the opposite wall.

The air was filled with pained screams as my friends were scattered about the corridor. My body ached, and my vision swam as I struggled to get to my knees. And then I heard a terrible cry that pulled my heart into pieces; a scream that expressed agony of a kind that neither flame nor curse could cause, and I began to crawl desperately over the wreckage towards the sobs, more frightened at that very moment than I had been in all my life.

And then my world ended.

“No-no-NO!” I shouted. “No, oh god, no, Fred, no!”

And Percy was shaking his brother, and Ron was kneeling beside us, and Fred’s eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face.