I have supped full with horror.

[wand_wavers]

For a moment, the briefest of moments, Hogwarts is silent. It's the silence of surprise, of blank shock; even as deep below the castle, a wizard perhaps more powerful than any other in the building raised his hands and prepared to fell them, Voldemort's Inferi crumpled lifeless to the ground, every one. No wizard did that - nor any magic worked by an Old One - and for a moment, the briefest of moments, the fighting stutters to a halt as the combatants stare at the fallen bodies.

The silence of surprise, of blank shock, and - as something tenses in the air - the silence of a great, indrawn breath.

And then -

The explosion is bigger than it should be, bigger than it was ever supposed to be, and only in the furthest, deepest places of the castle will it not be heard.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_our_king_/]

Ron's face was pale, so pale, and his expression was disbelieving. He barely felt his father's hand on his shoulder.

All he could do was stare blankly, trying to fight off the despair clutching at his chest.

No more pranks, no more calls of "ickle Ronniekins," no more teasing, no more backyard Quidditch matches, no more throwing rolls at each other across the dinner table, while mum scolded them, no more jokes that made Ron laugh so hard butterbeer shot out his nose...

"No," he finally muttered hoarsely, white as a sheet. "No, they can't...they can't..."

[thecoolone]

Sudden realisation hits him: Bill's jaw tightens and he can feel his eyes sting. He admonishes himself for his first thought: they are not this sad over Percy.

Later, there will be time for rational thought but now, all he can hear is one word over and over in his mind:

No.

Things weren't supposed to end this way. It's not fair. He thinks it was Professor McGonagall who, in his sixth year at Hogwarts, reminded him in her prim and clipped brogue that "life often isn't fair, Mr Weasley, and it does no good to complain after the fact." But this... the reality of it is too harsh, too complex, too unfathomable; it's all he can do to blink away the tears, the singular and very guilty thought twins for twins playing around the edges of his consciousness. It's not a trade he would have willingly made.

[dragon-paznic.livejournal.com]

Charlie needs Bill, needs his steadiness. It was always the two of them, together, and Charlie wasn't about to let that change now.

His strong arms, shaking now with grief, wrap around his brother.

And Charlie just lets go, sobbing into Bill's shoulder.



But underneath it all, in some small, far-back corner of his mind, he's proud of them.

They did it bloody right.

[thecoolone]

There's nothing else to do: Bill just holds his brother, lets his own tears fall. One hand runs over the stubbly short hair on Charlie's head and for the first time it truly, truly hits him: they're...

...just gone.

No one will ever see them again.

It's absolutely unthinkable, and he'll stand here with his brother for as long as Charlie needs.

As long as he needs. That's what family means.

[wand_wavers]

Ginny feels the arms of her mother surround her, and hears the quiet sobbing going on around her, and she doesn’t know what to do. How does someone recover from something like this?

The sobbing isn’t coming only from her own family, but from many different places all around her. Three are families here from all over Britain, and nearly everyone has suffered some sort of loss…friend, mother, father, and sister. Brothers.

The tears start again, and she can’t see through them to the people around her anymore. Just knowing that twins are no longer in the world makes the whole place seem less populated. She can’t stop trembling, and she wonders again what they are all going to do, now.

[wand_wavers]

Molly watches her sons and her daughter and her husband and her newest daughter. All of them are so strong, but this a blow that will take a long time to heal (if it ever does).

She remembers another pair of twins—her brothers—who had fought against the same enemy and who had also lost their lives in the attempt to bring peace back to their world. She hoped that wherever they were now, that Fred and George were with them.

She looks at each of her children in turn, her heart breaking for each of them, then turns to Arthur and sees that he is doing the same with wet eyes. They will have to take their family home soon, where they will undoubtedly face the news of more losses of friends.

They will face them together. That’s what family does.