Speak Up

“Oof!” Lokelei Hillier grunted as her broom collided with the earth and she tumbled around in the dark, completely unaware of which way was up. Her shoulder aching with pain, Lokelei felt warm arms pull her upright again.

“Oh, Lokelei, thank God!” Mrs. Weasley hugged her tight. Lokelei winced, something was certainly wrong with her shoulder.

“Is anyone else here?” Ginny, who was standing behind her mom, wringing her hands with nervousness, shook her head.

“You’re the first,” she said.

Lokelei stretched as much as her shoulder would allow her and tried to situate her slender, model-esque body. Her long, brown hair was tangled and scattered with grass. Dirt dusted her cheeks and her torn-up clothes, but she didn’t care. This was serious right now, the biggest fight between aurors and Death Eaters since Sirius’s death. Her eyes settled on Ginny, who was pale with terror for her friends and family. Lokelei put a reassuring arm on her arm. Ginny was like a little sister to her, and Lokelei would put on a brave face for her sake.

“We were ambushed almost immediately.” Lokelei explained. “It was a good thing we were spread as far apart as we were or else they would have had us all surrounded. I tried to lay low below the battle and attack from the cover of the clouds. I got here as fast as I could.”

Just as she was finishing her sentence, three red streaks of light fell to the earth hard and fast, like meteors. Harry, Hermione, and Ron all rose from the dust.

“Blimey.” Ron panted heavily. Hermione leaned against him, eyes shut tight.

“Harry!” Ginny breathed as she threw herself into his arms. They held each other gratefully, making Lokelei only think of one thing.

George, you have to get here soon...

“Dolohov and Yaxley were forced to bail out before we made it out,” Harry said into Ginny’s long, soft hair. His green eyes were locked seriously on Lokelei’s caramel ones. “But Snape was still up there. Travers, Bellatrix Lestrange... And Voldemort, of course.”

“Well, with you here, they won’t want to waste their precious numbers on a lost battle.”

“Let’s hope.” Harry nodded stiffly.

Another pair of red lights. This time, Bill and Kingsley stepped forward.

“We lost touch with most everyone else not long after the fighting started.” Bill said. “Is this everyone?”

“So far,” Lokelei answered. Bill offered the same short nod that Harry had.

“Then we wait.” He concluded. “That’s all we can do.”

Lokelei’s eyes focused on the horizon as the group walked silently into the house. She hesitated a moment, before Hermione put a knowing hand on her pained shoulder.

“I know, I want to wait out here too,” she whispered. “But you’re hurt. Come on, let’s go fix up your shoulder.”

Lokelei sent a final, casting look into the night sky. Somewhere up there, George and her other friends were fighting for their lives. The stars twinkled back at Lokelei innocently- oblivious to the tragedy going on in Lokelei’s world.

Hermione poured over a spell book, trying to figure out a way to repair Lokelei’s shoulder. To be honest, Lokelei wasn’t really concerned. Whether or not Hermione could get rid of the pain in her shoulder, she couldn’t get rid of the pain and panic in Lokelei’s heart.

Moments later, Lupin appeared. Followed by Mr. Weasley. Every sound of brooms crashing into the earth was a heartbeat of relief for everyone in the Weasley living room, but every time it wasn’t George walking through that door Lokelei got more and more anxious.

Nobody spoke, really. Mrs. Weasley kept herself busy making tea for the newcomers as they appeared. Ginny and Harry leaned against the fireplace, never letting each other out of their sights. Hermione continued to page through her spell book looking for bone-repairing charms. Ron sat stoically on the couch- staring at the door. Everyone else took turns checking outside or just pacing about. Lokelei continued to run a frustrated and impatient hand through her ratted hair. The minutes couldn’t have passed more slowly.

The room shone scarlet as two more flashes of red finally appeared outside the window. Lokelei was the first out the door.

Fred and Tonks appeared from the tall grass, looking bewildered and terrified. Instantly, everyone was at their sides to support them.

“M-Mad-Eye,” Fred breathed desperately as everyone took the pair into the house and sat them on the sofa. The group surrounded the babbling Fred and the stunned silent Tonks.

“What about Mad-Eye?” Lupin pushed Fred, everyone dreading the very words they were about to hear.

“He’s... He’s dead.”

A crack of silence. Nobody knew what to say. Then, Harry spoke.

“George is still out there.”

This is where Lokelei lost it. She couldn’t put on the brave face anymore, couldn’t play the hero. She grabbed the nearest broom and sprinted out the door.

She was just about to take flight when two sets of arms pulled her back to the earth. Her shoulder sent legions of stinging pains throughout her body but Lokelei could hardly notice. She was sobbing, completely wild and lost in her fear for George.

“Let me go!” She begged, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Lokelei, you can’t go back out there.” Harry grunted as he fought to hold her back.

“We won’t lose you!” Hermione added, the other one holding onto the struggling Lokelei.

“No! I have to find him! Let me go!” she continued to scream desperately. Suddenly, that familiar flash of red and sound of grass crashing in the field captivated Harry, Hermione, and everyone surrounding Lokelei. The arms released her, and she ran as fast as her aching legs could carry her to where her George was laying limp in the field.

“Oh god,” she choked when she saw the immense amount of blood coating his body. “George!”

He was laying on his back, head turned to the side. His right ear was completely gone.

“George, please say something,” Lokelei sobbed, pressing her filthy hands onto his bloody chest. The feeling of his heartbeat- full and alive- was like air to Lokelei’s lungs.

“Thank Merlin!” Lokelei brushed some red hair away from George’s injury- trying to clean the blood away with her soft fingertips. “George, please, if you can, speak to me.”

“Hmm mmm...” he mumbled softly.

“Say that again?” Lokelei breathed, bringing herself closer to his lips.

“I said...” he exhaled. “You need to talk louder. I only have one of these things now, you know,” he smiled weakly, gently pointing to his vacant ear. Lokelei grabbed onto his hand and held it tight.

“Lying here half alive and still joking,” she shook her head. “George Weasley, you are something else.”

George brought their bloody, grasped hands to his lips and kissed Lokelei’s softly.

“I’m sorry, can you say that again?” he asked quietly, yet sarcastically, because he had obviously heard what his love had said. “Baby doll, you gotta speak up.”