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

[thecoolone]

It's quiet, except for the one tall thin red-haired wizard picking his way through the destruction in the hallway with one thought on his mind: to find his wife. She's here somewhere; he can tell. He's no Diviner and no Seer, but he knows where she was supposed to have been. Reaching for the doorknob, he opens the door as much as he can: this is the infamous Room of Requirement he's heard so much about. What he requires right now is for Fleur to be inside.

Wand drawn, he muscles his way in past the debris blocking the door, but...

No one? Where are they? Where could they have gone? This room was supposed to have been safe. This is the one that was supposed to have been a haven, untouchable. It's almost too much, this coming on the heels of what he and Fleur saw in Paris: ruined furniture, the smell of smoke, things in a jumble, and... is that a body?

He can feel his heart racing in unpleasant anticipation.

"Fleur?"

[leplusbeau]

There is the distant sound of something, masonry maybe, falling.






And then a gasp of surprise.




From somewhere, it isn't clear where, "How did you first learn I waz pregnant?"

[thecoolone]

That's my girl. "From an entire room full of snickering and silly people in Bernard and Tonks's flat. I had to rattle on the door to the bath to convince you to let me in, and I wondered why everyone else in the universe but me was there with you."

Now it's his turn. "And what was the name of the first Healer we saw after we knew?"

It's a game: she'll know it's him and he... well... he already knows it's her. He can feel it in his veins.

[leplusbeau]

"BILL!"

And she is launching herself at him from behind her upturned table hiding place, and she doesn't care that she is the size of a house, she leaps at him because HE IS ALIVE, HE IS HERE, HE IS FINE, HUSBAND!

And she is weeping, clutching, kissing his face. "Bill, Bill, Bill!"

[thecoolone]

He holds her in his arms and twirls her round the room: this was not what he expected to have happen today. It isn't that he had an entirely dire scenario in mind, but... of all the things that have gone on this day, this is the single best moment. Regardless of everything else, this is the best.

"Fleur, Fleur: I was afraid of what I might find. Did you do this all by yourself? All this destruction? Are you the only one here? What happened?"

He's not sure if the tears on his face are hers or his own. All he knows is that she's here and she's all right and it's a miracle.

[leplusbeau]

"No, no. Your father, mother. Sister. There iz..." She is too busy kissing him to care. Bill made it!

Behind her, students, families, assorted Weasleys. They are coming out of hiding.

They might be a little crispy around the edges, but they are here. They made it.