Chapter 16
Rebecca fell to her knees at Fred's side. His eyes were closed and his chest was still. He was gone. Her hands trembled as they went to his face, brushing against his cheeks and finding only cold nothing. No life, no wisp to bring back. This was only a body. The sobs left her freely, shaking her body as she laid her head on his chest.
Cedric had George clinging onto him at Fred's side, watching in horror.
Ron shook his head, not believing was was in front of him. "You'll bring him back!" He cried out. "J-just bring him back!" He went to his knees and took Rebecca's hand, putting it on Fred's arm. "Just do it like you have before, you-"
Rebecca tore her arm from his grip and brought it back to Fred's chest. Her mind both raced and remained blank, struggling to find the answer to a question that wasn't there. There was no solution.
Wherever souls went after their bodies failed, Fred had gone to. There was no soul left here, she couldn't save him.
McGonagall wiped the tears from her face and looked away from one heart-shattering Potter only to find Harry searching the room for Sirius and Remus. Harry's search failed. Both men were missing.
Percy stepped forward, holding the chain he had removed from Fred's neck out to her. "He-" Percy's voice croaked. "This was to go to you."
Rebecca took it, her eyes settling on Fred's face. Irrationality had set in. He wasn't dead, he had to be pranking her. "Get up, Fred." She whispered, leaning closer to him. "Just get up and we'll pretend. We'll pretend that nothing's wrong, we can do that again." Tears dropped from her cheeks onto his. "Get up! Wake up!" She shouted, her voice breaking.
Draco watched from feet away, Nigel and Louis on either side of him. All three boys watched helplessly.
Rebecca's hand tightened around the necklace, around the ring she had given him during their ceremony. She held it so tightly the metal left an imprint in her palm. She wished that the pain had felt anything close to the anguish engulfing her. She couldn't remember if they had said they loved each other before it started. She couldn't-
She couldn't stay there. She sat up and left her hand on Fred's chest a moment longer. Rebecca undid the clasp to the chain he had worn and exchanged his ring for hers. Her hands shook still, but she managed to undo the mechanism. It was quick and easy, and incredibly final. She returned her necklace to her neck and left his lying on his chest. She couldn't bear to life his head knowing he wouldn't open his eyes with a cheeky retort.
Harry followed her away from the grieving, not sure where they were going and not sure if she should leave them all yet. She turned away from the Great Hall and stopped only when she was outside the headmaster's office a few corridors away.
"The vial, Harry." Her voice was strict, cold, and demanding.
"Rebecca, we don't nee-"
"The vial!" Rebecca repeated. If she was to do so again, Harry didn't doubt that he'd be on the floor and she would have taken the tears by force. Inside the office, the pensieve sat where it always had. The liquid inside glimmering with the promise of reliving the past.
Harry poured the contents in, Snape's tears dropping into the reflection pool with inky darkness. Rebecca leaned forward and entered the memories, leaving Harry to follow after her.
The memory was in a park, with a young Severus watching two girls fighting from behind a tree. Petunia, Harry and Rebecca recognised, slapped a blooming flower out of the other girl's hand. "Freak! Petunia shouted at the girl, her back still towards Severus. "I'm going to tell mummy you're a freak!"
Lily turned her back to Petunia and search the ground for the flower she had been growing. She stopped when the pale, dark-haired boy stepped out and picked it up from where it had been thrown. Severus and Lily smiled at each other.
The memory shifted.
Severus now watched Lily sitting on the stool in front of the Great Hall, the Great Hall as it used to be. It wasn't the war torn centre of grief and death it was now. The didn't think long after it was placed on Lily's head, shouting out Gryffindor to the cheering crowd in moments. Severus was left waiting in the queue, staring out as a boy with round glasses proudly introduced himself to Lily.
Another shift. The memories were moments now, the flashes growing angry.
Lily and Severus walking down the hall and James plowing through them, Severus helping Lily gather her books. James calling for Lily from across the courtyard, screaming for 'Evans.' Moments and memories passed by until James and Lily kissed on the bench at the Black Lake.
Rebecca felt something hard grab at her as Snape's blatant jealousy seeped through. They were suddenly jerked into a new memory, a more recent memory.
Dumbledore spoke to Severus sternly. "The prophecy did not speak of a woman, it spoke of two born at the end of July."
"But he thinks its her children!" Snape cried, turning around. Tears fell down his face clearly. "He intends to hunt them down, to kill them all! Hide her." Snape's voice fell serious. "Hide them all. I beg you."
Dumbledore cocked his head. "What will you give me in exchange, Severus?"
"For her?" Snape stared at him. "Anything."
The memory faded and a new one took over.
Snape was shouting at Dumbledore who leaned next to a window. "You said you would keep her safe!"
"Lily and James put their faith in the wrong person, Severus." Dumbledore turned around. "Rather like you." Snape let out a sob, his hand covering his mouth as if the grief that welled up inside of him would fall out if he didn't stop it. "The boy survives."
"And the girl does not!" Snape shook his head. "It doesn't matter anyway! He doesn't need protection. The Dark Lord is gone!"
"The Dark Lord will return!" Dumbledore boomed. "The boy will be in terrible danger." Snape didn't react and Dumbledore paused. "If you truly loved her..."
"No one can know." Severus shook his head. "No one."
"Why hide the best of you? Why hide that you risk your life everyday to protect him?"
Snape's memory shifted again.
It was his version of the night they had turned his Occlumency lesson against him. How he had thrown jars at them, how he shouted the insults about their father.
"Your father was a swine!"
Suddenly, they were back in Dumbledore's office. Snape's memories were growing more fractured and less linear as he neared the end of his life.
"We both know Lord Voldemort has ordered the Malfoy boy to murder me." Dumbledore said. "Should he fail, one should presume the Dark Lord will turn to you. You must be the one to kill me, Severus. It is the only way, the only way the Dark Lord will trust you completely."
The next memory was still in Dumbledore's office, but far more recent. Dumbledore's hand was already blackened.
"There will come a time when they must be told something." Dumbledore said ominously.
"Told what?" Severus demanded.
"On the night Lord Voldemort went to Godric's Hollow, Lily and James cast themselves between their children. The curse rebounded. A part of Voldemort's soul, already having divided itself downstairs, latched onto the next living things it could find. Both children themselves hold a segment."
Understanding dawned on Snape and he looked at Dumbledore in horror.
"Why else could Harry speak to snakes? Why else would they both be able to see into his mind? A part of Voldemort lives in them both."
"She's already died once!" Snape shouted. "Why didn't it die then?"
Dumbledore looked at Severus sharply. "Do not ask questions you know the answer to, Severus. Voldemort himself must kill them."
"You mean to tell me, when the time comes, they both must die?" Snape's voice shook in rage. "You've kept them alive so that they can dies at the proper time." Snape put his back to the headmaster, only turning back after a long moment. "You only need one of them, don't you? That's why you failed to intercede during the second task. She was the spare."
Dumbledore didn't answer, an answer all on its own.
"You've been raising them like pigs for slaughter!"
"Don't tell me you've grown to care for them." Dumbledore sounded bored.
Snape raised his wand and swung it around his head. "Expecto patronum!" A doe formed that pranced around the room, leaving through the building wall.
"Lily?" Dumbledore tilted his head at Severus, surprised the man's patronus still matched his unrequited, schoolyard crush. "After all this time?"
"Always." Snape answered.
Harry and Rebecca stood up, back in the present. Rebecca's breath came quickly and she grabbed the pensieve bowl. She launched it across the room, moving onto the papers on the desk next. She walked around and threw and smashed and broke, releasing everything the memories had awoken in her as Harry tried to stop and speak to her.
"Rebecca, please-"
"He loved her, Harry! He loved her!" Rebecca kicked the chair over. "That's why he hated us, because we weren't her!" She picked up a glass bowl and sent it across the room. "And now our time's up! OUR TIME'S UP AND HE KNEW! HE KNEW AND NEVER SAID ANYTHING!" Harry grabbed her and forced her against his shoulder, waiting until her struggle slowed. "He took him, Harry. He took him. Fred's gone."
"I know." Harry whispered.
"I never said goodbye." Rebecca's shoulders shook, the admittance not relieving any weight on her but making it stronger, heavier. "I've never said goodbye and now it's too late. He's gone and I didn't say-"
"You don't need to say goodbye." Harry told her. "Goodbye's are for when they don't know how much you love them. Fred knew that, we all knew that. You didn't need a goodbye."
Rebecca stilled against him a moment. "Do they others know how much we love them?" Cold resignation was setting.
Harry brought his sleeves to her face and wiped away the last of her tears. Their decision was agreed upon. "Of course they do." Harry and Rebecca walked out of the office hand in hand.
The corridor outside remained empty. The scuff of their shoes against the rubble was the only sound.
"You know I love you, don't you?" Rebecca asked hoarsely as they turned at the bottom of the stairs.
"I do." Harry answered. "Just as you know I love you."
Two figures came into view sat on the next flight of stairs. Ron had his head on Hermione's shoulder, her hand rubbing his back. At the sound of their approach, they both stood up and turned to them.
"I-We thought you'd gone to the forest!" Ron wiped the tears off his cheeks.
Harry and Rebecca didn't answer. Hermione's hand shot to her mouth.
"We are now." Rebecca spoke calmly. The acceptance had filled her.
"No!" Ron answered, turning as they walked past them. "You're mad! You're not going anywhere!" Hermione grabbed his arm, but Ron didn't stop. "You're not giving up to him!"
Harry paused and Rebecca did the same a few feet ahead.
Hermione knew them well enough to know that they wouldn't do this without reason. "What is it? What is it you know?"
Rebecca didn't turn back yet, but Harry did. "Our connection...between us and him...why we can hear the horcruxes..."
"We'll go with you." Hermione's voice broke. "You won't go alone. We'll go and we'll-"
"No." Rebecca walked to Harry's side and Hermione didn't recognise her. This Rebecca was calm and still. Rebecca hadn't been still for any longer than two minutes in all the years Hermione had known her. "Kill the snake. Then it's just us and him."
Hermione stepped forward, putting her arms around their necks tightly. Harry put his arm around her, Rebecca staring back at Ron. Hermione let go of her without saying anything, freeing Rebecca to walk forward.
"I didn't-" Ron shook his head, clearing his throat. "I wouldn't have asked you to bring him back if I'd known."
Rebecca shook her head, putting her head on his chest and her arms around his back. "I would have if I could." Ron's hand grabbed the back of her head tightly, holding her against him.
"I know." Ron couldn't say anything after that. She heard the sob that left hi smouth echo inside his chest and she took a step back. She couldn't stay there in his arms a second longer. Doing so would have made it impossible to leave.
"Let's go, Harry." Rebecca murmured, stepping away.
Hermione wiped her face and watched as the Potter twins continued their slow exit of the castle.
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Draco and the two eldest Weasleys, Bill and Charlie, dug through the rubble in the tower Fred and spent the end of his life fighting in. There were too many missing, too many unaccounted for. After Rebecca and Harry left the Great Hall, Draco had joined the search teams. He couldn't stay in a room so heavily permeated with loss any longer.
Bill and Charlie couldn't stare at their brother's body any longer, either. The three worked methodically, rhythmically almost. They lifted the stones without magic and made piles behind them without speaking. They felt empty, but at least their bodies were moving.
"Bill!" Charlie called through the rubble, startling Bill out of his dark reverie. "Come help me!" Bill dropped the rock he'd had in hand and skidded around the corner, grabbing the other end of the slab of wood that lay over the bodies underneath.
"Are they-" Bill asked.
"Yes." Charlie grunted as the wood hit the floor with a poof of dust. In the rubble lay Remus and Sirius, their hands in one another's and their eyes glassy. "They are."
Charlie raised his wand and levitated them to the pile of dead before grabbing another rock off the pile and continuing his searching.
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"This is bullshite!" Fred screamed at the darkness around him. It pressed against him, compressing him into the nothing he was in. "You-YOU LET ME OUT OF HERE!"
"Stop shouting, boy." A weak voice sounded out through his mind, if that's what he was. He was nothing, nothing but a thought in an infinite darkness. "I can only hold you all here so long." The elderly voice grew more distant. "Don't make this harder than it needs to be."
"Where am I?" Fred asked more calmly, finding a voice in the nothingness calming. He wasn't as alone as he thought he was. "Who are you?"
"You know who I am, Fred Weasley. I am Wilhomena of the Forest, the Woman in the Wood. I am the only thing keeping the lost tethered to this realm."
"The lost?" Fred questioned pointlessly. He could feel the exit of the consciousness. He was alone in the dark again.
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The Forbidden Forest loomed in front of them as foreboding as it had been during their detention of first year. Harry and Rebecca hadn't spoken during their march out of the castle, neither willing to share what they were thinking.
Rebecca looked around as they entered the trees of the forest, the finality of what they were doing coming upon her. She needed one person, even if they were to be dead in minutes, to know something. "If he had to die, I'm glad it was before this." She whispered.
Harry didn't say anything, knowing she would elaborate.
"If he knew we had to go...that we had to do this, he would have died trying to stop us."
"How can you know?"
"He told me as much." Rebecca wiped the last tear from her cheek and let her voice rise to a conversational tone. It didn't matter if they were heard, they were walking to their deaths. "I was the hero, he was the villain. I would save the world for him, he would let it burn for me."
"That's...nice." Harry turned and looked at her as she laughed.
"No, it was rather odd." Rebecca shook her head, the laughter drying up inside of her. "But it would have made this harder."
"We do this together, though." Harry grabbed her hand. "It won't be as hard as it would if we were to do this alone." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the snitch, tossing it to her. "There, now you can say you've caught the golden snitch at least once."
Rebecca looked at it a long moment before pressing it into his hand. "I'm not a seker, Harry. I'm a chaser. You need to keep it."
He brought it up to his face, holding the cool metal against his lips to see the words appear one last time. Harry stopped walking as the snitch opened a secret door, sensing his readiness to die and fulfilling its last enchantment.
Rebecca crouched to the ground as he did, picking up the red stone that fell out. "The Resurrection Stone?"
"Yes, my dear."
Both Harry and Rebecca shot to their feet. Lily, their mother, stood in front of them.
James took her side, smiling at them sadly. "It's been too long since the four of us were together."
Lily put her arm through James', holding him at her side. "You've both been so brave, faced so much."
They were the two in the clearing aside from Harry and Rebecca, a family meeting before they would be together once again.
"Why are you here?" Harry asked softly, his hand passing through LIly's as he tried to touch her.
James gave his son a tilted head, a grin painted with heartache crossing the man's face. "We never left."
Rebecca looked around the clearing, finding no other movement. "Have you-is he out there?"
"Not yet." Lily answered, shaking her head. "We'll be here when he is."
"Will you stay?" Harry's hand tightened its hold on Rebecca's. "When it's time, will you stay with us?"
James' eyes were misty behind his frames, just like his childrens'. "Until the very end."
"Does it hurt?" Rebecca asked. "Dying."
"Easier than falling asleep." Lily looked over her shoulder, stepping to the side so Harry and Rebecca could continue on their path. "And when you wake, we'll be there for you."
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"You let them..." Nigel's voice was shaking, his eyes thunderous as they looked over Ron. "You let them both go."
"You don't understand, they-"
"YOU LET THEM GO!" Nigel screamed, slamming into Ron and sending them both to the ground. Nigel's rage redirected into focus momentarily. He scrambled up off the stony, dusty floor. "Louis! Yara! On me!" He shouted over his shoulder, grabbing his bag.
If he hurried...maybe he wouldn't be too late.
The two students Nigel called for appeared instantly, both bloody and bruised but nowhere near done fighting. "
"They've gone into the forest." Nigel barked orders. "We don't have a lot of time. Louis, get the thing. Yara, more darkness powder. I'm nearly out."
"You're not-" Ron tried to speak, on his feet once more.
"I am going to save my friends." Nigel wiped his face angrily, his tears betraying him. "I'm not going-I'm not giving up on them!"
"It's not like that, Nigel." Hermione grabbed his shoulders, trying to make him listen. "Voldemort's soul attached itself to them the night their parents were killed. He cannot die as long as they both live."
"Then we'll find a way-"
"There is no way!" Hermione snapped and shook him once. "You're looking at this like a child!"
Nigel glowered and tore himself from her grasp. "And I'm going to solve this, not give in. Who's the child there? Who is just-I'm not going to-" He straightened his shoulders as Louis and Yara took either side of him, their tasks completed. "We're going to bring them back."
Ron grabbed Hermione's arm as she went to follow after them, and nodded down the hall as Draco waved for them to let him. He was dusty from his body recovery work, but he could only hide there so long.
"I'll get them." Draco called as he jogged down the path the three had just taken. "Nigel? Nigel, wait!"
"We're going." Nigel turned and raised his fists. "You can't stop us."
Draco shook his head and produced the wand McGonagall had given him from his pocket. "I know." His eyes met Louis' and they seemed to have reach an understanding without speaking. "I want to come too."
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"Everything will be fine in the end." Harry muttered as he and Rebecca entered the clearing. Voldemort's back was turned to them. "You have always believed that."
"And look where it's gotten us." Rebecca squeezed his hand a final time before letting go. "Kidding. I'm here with you."
Bellatrix stared at them. Voldemort turned his head at the approaching footsteps.
"I doubted your arrival." Voldemort spoke loudly, his voice carrying over the Death Eaters around him and further in the surrounding forest. "He told me you would never." Voldemort gestured to Hagrid, taken prisoner in the battle.
Hagrid looked up from the ropes he was bound in, shaking his head ferociously. "What are you doin' here? No! You two need-"
"Silence him." Voldemort ordered. One of the Death Eaters raised their wand and Hagrid could speak no longer. Voldemort stepped forward, spinning the Elder Wand lazily between his fingers. "I told you before, in the graveyard Harry, I would have you both one day."
"You did have us, one of us at least." Rebecca stared at Voldemort, not looking away as he narrowed his eyes at her. "A week, right?" The Death Eaters shuffled nervously as she goaded their leader so obviously. "A whole week and you didn't kill me."
Voldemort sneered at her, speaking to Harry as if she weren't there. "How does it feel to be the mirror image of such obstinance? Of such stupidity?"
"Me?" Rebecca looked around shocked. "Tom, you must know I'm quite smart. You've spent enough time in my head."
Voldemort turned his attention to her sharply, waving his wand at her and forcing her to her knees, her mouth shut and her neck craned to the sky tautly. "Some children never learn their manners. Poor parenting."
Harry took a slow breath and let his mind be consumed with the most peaceful things he could imagine. He was in the Burrow, the Weasleys all there too. Ginny was there. She sat across from him, and Harry pretended to read the book in front of him while really watching how she could be so consumed by what she read. "Don't fuck it up, Tom." He said quietly.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort bellowed, sending a stream of green to Harry's chest.
Their parents were right, it was easier than falling asleep. There was a flash of white and then his body fell to the ground beside Rebecca. She didn't flinch, she didn't cry, she didn't close her eyes. She fought against the spell holding her and managed to take control of her head enough to stare at Voldemort.
"What he said." Rebecca grinned. "If you can manage it."
Voldemort raised his wand an repeated the curse, leaving Rebecca to fall lifeless beside her twin.
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Rebecca's eyes opened and her hands flew up to her face, startling Harry who had been leaning over her. "What the hell, Harry?" She gasped, her fright at his closeness making him laugh. "Why would you sit so close?"
"I didn't realise that you could be scared if you were dead."
"Where are we?" Rebecca looked around and pushed herself to her feet. "Where is everyone else? Lily, James, they said they'd be here."
"King's Cross, I think." Harry answered the only question he could. They were in King's Cross, that's for sure, but it wasn't the station as it had always been. It was empty and white. Everything was quite. It was so bright it made their eyes smart.
Harry pulled her to the side, needing to show her what he had discovered in the moments between his death and hers. "I don't know what it is."
Rebecca gasped and backed away from the white bench Harry pulled her towards. "What is that?" She whispered, horrified. It was baby-like in shape, but that was where the comparisons ended. The thing's skin was bloody and raw, oozing and seeping. It cried out weakly, pain wreaking havoc on its body.
"You cannot help it."
Harry and Rebecca looked up at the voice that spoke in the silence, familiar yet not entirely welcome.
"Harry, Rebecca...you brave, brave-"
Rebecca interrupted Dumbledore. "You knew he'd have to kill us."
"Let us walk." Dumbledore guided, his steps slow as he put a Potter to his left and to his right.
"What is that?" Harry asked, looking over his shoulder at the monster. Rebecca glanced back at it before returning her attention to Dumbledore.
"Something beyond any of our help." Dumbledore met Rebecca's eyes, knowing that the vague answer wouldn't suffice. "It is a part of Voldemort sent here to die."
"And where are we?" Rebecca asked sharply.
"I'm not certain, I thought you would know."
Harry looked around again and nodded. "It looks like King's Cross station, but cleaner. And without all the trains."
"King's Cross, you say?" Dumbledore asked. "As they say, this is your party. This must have been a location the two of you felt familiar with."
Rebecca hated this. Why couldn't they just get to where they were going. She wanted to be dead and be done with it. No detour necessary. "If it is, why are you here?" She demanded.
"I expect you now realise that you three were connected by more than blood or fate, since that night in Godric's Hollow."
"Yes, that was made quite clear by Snape's memories." Rebecca's tone was icy.
"You knew that a part of him lives inside of us." Harry added, his own betrayal still being brought to terms.
"Lived, children. That part was just destroyed moments ago." Dumbledore turned his eyes away from theirs filled with accusations. "It had to be destroyed by Voldemort himself." He eased himself on to a bench ahead. "Where you go from here is up to you. King's Cross you say we're in? If you wanted, a train could come and you could board."
"And where would it go?" Harry asked quietly.
"On." Dumbledore answered. "But there is a second option. A choice, if you will."
Rebecca turned her gaze down and Harry stepped closer to Dumbledore. "He has the Elder Wand, and the snake is still alive."
"That is true, yes."
Rebecca stood at Harry's side. "We have nothing to kill it with."
Dumbledore smiled at her sadly. "Help will always be given at Hogwarts, Rebecca, to those who ask for it." He watched as she looked around with yearning, trying to give Fred time enough to arrive in their limbo. "Do not pity the dead, pity the living." Dumbledore turned and slowly walked away into the whiteness they could not peer into.
Rebecca felt as if something was dying inside of her, the hope that she would see Fred. She would not see him ever again, not in this semi-life state. "Professor!" She called. "Is this real? Or is it just happening in our heads?"
Dumbledore's smile could be heard in his voice. "Of course it's happening inside your heads, why should that mean that it's not real?"
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The four who snuck out of the castle did so quickly, the Invisibility Cloak draped over their heads as they crouched to the ground to cover the ankles in which the cloak did not cover.
"They went this way." Draco whispered, pointing to the ground. "Look, a snitch."
"And this thing." Louis muttered, bending to the ground and picking up both the golden snitch and the red stone out of the dirt.
"They couldn't have been too far ahead of us. We need to move!" Nigel hissed.
Draco held his hands out to stop any of them from going further over the top of the hillcrest they climbed. In the clearing below, Harry and Rebecca lie on the ground. Voldemort stood tall, his head white in the moonlight and his eyes shining even from the distance they were at.
Narcissa broke away from the crowd, crouching over Harry and laying a hand to the side of his neck. It was not yet cold.
"Is he dead?" Bellatrix crowed, at Voldemort's side like a shadow. "Check the girl!"
Narcissa did the same, finding life inside of her as well.
Hagrid shook in his restraints, his eyes staring across the distance at Narcissa's face as she righted herself and nodded. "Dead. Both of them." The lie fell out of her mouth before she could even fully comprehend the weight of her actions. She would never know why.
"Then it is time to celebrate." Voldemort shouted, turning to his cheering Death Eaters. "Have the beast collect them, he'll ferry their bodies back to the castle. They will serve me in death, ending this futile resistance at last."
Draco pulled the frozen trio down, guiding them back to the castle. Harry and Rebecca were dead. They were too late.
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