~

Every soul in the staircase was stunned, rooted to their spot with their eyes fixed on the piece of flesh. Their wands stayed low and nobody attacked one another as if standing together in silent agreement. They feared for their life, yes, but they also feared for humanity. This war had just reached a new low, one that no one was fond of.

Ginny ran to her mom and rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her. Molly sat on the side, a puddle of vomit beside her, her eyes unmoving from what she had just done. She couldn't believe her eyes, the person that had just fallen to his death was someone's son and she had killed him with no remorse, decapitating one of his limbs. Unwillingly her mind wandered to Fred and she started thinking about what she would feel if bellatrix had ripped his arm apart. Bile rose in her throat once again as did anger and guilt.

She reached her hand out to Ginny who guided her to stand up and as they climbed the staircase one step after the other no one dared to attack them. The stone stairs underneath their feet moved, forming a direct path to the rooftops. The place where she was probably going to find her son in a state that no mother should ever have to see. The wooden door that kept the night out was let open. A cold gust of wind blew into their faces before they walked out to the roof.

The sight they were met by was gruesome to say the least, bodies lay like swatted flies, blood oozing out of them with a few bones visible through the marred coats. In the corner sat the group responsible for this massacre, and in the middle of it all was Fred's face, illuminated by the moonlight, the ghost of his last laugh still etched into his features.

Molly walked over in disbelief, broken wands of the dead crunching underneath her feet. She looked down at him, as her sons ever mischievous face lay still. "Fred?" She called out in denial willing the universe for this to be a cruel elaborate trick, unfortunately it wasn't. In that very moment she did not care about Sirius and Remus offering their condolences or the how Y/N lay in mattheos arms, all she could see, hear and feel was Fred's last smile, last laugh, last hug. A sob tore its way from her throat before coming to her knees in front of her sons body.

She flung herself onto him and held on as if he were a wisp of smoke and would disappear any second. She felt something underneath her arm, in the pocket of Fred's vest. Pulling herself away she slipped her hand into it and pulled out a black box with a note on it addressed to none other than her. Opening it with swollen fingers and sullen eyes she read out loud,

"Dear mum,

I know I been a bit of a menace these past few days and I was wondering if you could forgive me for that. I got you something from our first earnings with the shop."

Molly stopped midway and ran her hands across the small velvety box. She passed the letter to Ginny who continued reading it as her voice cracked. Bringing her fingers to its edge Molly opened the box and inside she was met by a pair of brilliant diamond earrings. Ginny continued,

"I saw you sell your pair to get us books one year and I wanted to return the favour. They aren't exactly the ones you'd sold but I did the best I could. I hope you like them."

Molly felt her heart physically break in so many shards she wasn't sure it would ever be able to be mended again. Tears threatened to leak from her eyes and when they did they fell onto the diamonds, glowing brightly in the night. A scream tore through her throat, one that was raw enough to bring tears to the eyes of the dead, one that could only come from a mother who had just lost her son.

"Love you always,

Your little trickster,

Fred Weasley.

(George did help me pick them out :)"

Putting down the letter Ginny clutched it to her heart as her tears left stains on the parchment. Everyone felt the pain that Molly was going through, that the Weasely's were going through.

Remus removed his wand and whispered into the night before a ball of light appeared at its tip. The rest of the people followed suit and raised their wands in honour of Fred. In honour of the great loss this world had suffered. In honour of his bravery. In honour of his love.

The dark mark that was swirling over their heads slowly dissipated before leaving fragments of the protective dome. The skulls that had been embedded into Mattheo and Y/N's arms swirled with all their might, which they had been trying to ignore all along.

Y/N sat in the corner, having finally regained her energy she now spent it on grieving. Every cell and nerve in her body felt as if it were on fire and she couldn't help but blame herself. The war had gone on long enough and they still needed to kill 3 horcruxes.

She felt the weight of all the deaths tonight suddenly dawn on her and envelop her like a weighted blanket. Mattheo read her mind and frantically scrambled to assure her it was fine. She kept staring and didn't respond when he waved his palm in front of her eyes.

"Y/N?" He asked concerned through legillimens.

"Y/N, this wasn't your fault. None of it was." He said into her brain but she didn't move a muscle, staying glued to the ground where she sat.

"Y/N?" He asked aloud and when she didn't reply this time, everyone noticed. Sirius knelt beside her and put his hand on her knee before gently shaking her, trying to bring her attention back to them. Little did they know she had started overthinking everything. Her mind was replaying the events of the whole war and her thoughts kept repeating one thing, 'You did this. You killed him. You're so selfish.'

Mattheo held onto her shoulders and shook her harshly this time, "Y/N!?" He asked and when she finally responded she said the words that most of them were dreading, her eyes fixed on the mark that she bore,

"Im going to Voldemort."

==== End of part 44 ====

Hi loves!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was very sad, I'm sorry for doing this to you.

That said I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long, I had/have and finals are ongoing so I got lost a little bit and my mental health was in the gutter cause of someone but I feel much better now. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed writing!

Also, thank you so much for all the love I cannot say this enough.

Love,

P / Paridhi Prabhakar

Word count : 1192