The Beginning of the End

Effie stared at her reflection in the mirror, she felt like she needed a new appearance. Her bright red hair was starting to get very dull and boring to her. Maybe a nice dark brown with caramel highlights would be good. She picked up her wand and give it a quick wave. A few seconds later, her hair changed to exactly what she wanted.

This color definitely suited her better than she thought it would. Effie had been doing really good the past few months. She finally stopped pining over Harry and her confidence level had been higher than it's ever been. She and Fred were still talking and flirting and it still made her feel good.

Effie had just finished getting dressed when Ron burst through the dormitory door. It scared Effie shitless.

"Oh my god, Ron! What is it?! How did you get in here?!" She exclaimed, trying to slow her heartbeat. The look on Ron's face was enough to make her sick. Something was happening, something really bad was happening.

"Effie, Death Eaters broke in. They're destroying everything...and I have no idea where Harry is. We need you." Effie's breath caught in her chest. Without even thinking, she grabbed her wand and ran out of the dormitory and common room with Ron.

Students were running all throughout the halls, screaming. Never in a million years did she think that something like this would ever happen. But she couldn't think about that now, she had to fight along side her friends...and she had to find Harry.

She and Ron ran down the stairs and made it all the way down to the second floor without being attacked, their luck was about to run out though. There was a loud crash and bits of the wall came flying out at them. Ron threw his arm around Effie and forced her to lay down on the ground, his body covering hers.

Effie stood up and ran down the stairs. She saw a Death Eater going after Luna.

"Luna, watch out!" Effie shouted before throwing a curse in the general direction of the Death Eater. The curse hit and he went flying into the wall. Luna thanked Effie with a smile and ran off.

If Effie could see outside of herself, she wouldn't believe anything that was going on. It all seemed like a dream to her...a really bad dream. Death Eaters were throwing curses at students and students were flying against the walls. It was a total massacre.

Effie took out her fourth Death Eater and still hadn't seen any sign of Harry. She decided to run back up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower and check there. She wasn't sure why, but something was telling her to check there.

It was easier to get to where she needed to be now that there weren't any students crowding the hallway. Most of them had gone into the common rooms to hide out, Effie didn't blame them.

She made it to the Astronomy Tower just in time to see something she really wished she hadn't have seen. She felt her whole world just come to a screeching halt. Everything seemed to have slowed down and she couldn't tear her eyes away from the seen.

Snape...how could he? Dumbledore trusted him...and he betrayed him. Snape betrayed Dumbledore...by killing him. Effie watched as Dumbledore toppled off the ledge of the tower and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Bellatrix Lestrange and a couple other Death Eaters that Effie didn't recognize, turned to leave the room. Effie quickly and quietly hid behind a desk so they wouldn't see her.

After they left, Harry suddenly darted out of nowhere.

"Harry wait!" She called after him, trying to get him to stop. She chased him all the way back down to the Entrance Hall but stopped at the door when he ran out. There was no way she could stop him. She just had to hope that everything would be okay. Effie sighed and turned to go sit on the steps.

"Oh my god, Hermione! Where have you been?! Are you okay?!" She asked when she saw Hermione enter from the Great Hall. Hermione gave a small smile and nodded her head. She had a few cuts and bruises but didn't look nearly as bad as Effie did. But it wasn't a contest. Ginny followed in closely behind Hermione and Effie stood up.

Ginny sighed and walked up to Effie.

"Look, I'm sorry about the way I've been acting. I just wanted to tell you that, oh, and that I really appreciate you being so brave for everyone tonight. Without you we probably would be so much worse off." Effie smiled and yanked Ginny in for a hug. It felt good to have her friend back.

Suddenly, Harry walked back through the front doors. Effie walked quickly towards him and Harry did the same. He reached up and grabbed Effie's face. His thumbs moved softly back and forth on her cheeks, rubbing her cuts carefully. She reached up and grabbed his forearms.

"You're so stupid for coming after me, Effie. Are you okay?" He asked, dropping his hands. Effie nodded and pushed her bangs out her face.

"I had to make sure you were okay and yes, I'm fine."

She looked all around the enormous room and felt sick. Everything was busted and a lot of people were hurt. Madam Pomfrey could fix that though and there were plenty of repair spells. It was the simple fact that Death Eaters got into Hogwarts.

"How did they get in?" Hermione asked as she tended to Ron's wounds. Harry swallowed and sighed.

"Malfoy let them in. It was his plan the whole time, just like I told you." Harry stormed off, feeling a little upset. Effie stuffed her hands in her jean pockets. What now? How do they move on from here with Dumbledore dead?

Effie kicked a chuck of wall and the entrance doors creaked open. Everyone stood there, waiting anxiously to see who was coming in. When Effie saw who it was, she felt her heart swell.

"Daddy!"