Pariah: The Other Malfoy

Chapter 80: The Fallen

I pushed my way into the Great Hall, the doors almost too heavy for my injured arms. I didn't want to find out who else we had lost, I didn't want to face that reality.

Tobias ran into me the moment he saw me, relief flooding both of us as we realised we had both survived. I cried into his shoulder, relief and sadness both the cause, before pulling back and examining the room.

The atmosphere was tense. Everyone was either injured, dead, or gathered around someone who was. I didn't want to take another step, already I was working out who I couldn't see at first glance, standing, alive.

Our number seemed horribly small. How many were lying dead, how many were elsewhere in the castle? I hoped more fell into the latter category, but from the bodies I had seen while running, I wasn't sure. I hadn't even noticed if they were Death Eaters or not, the fallen.

The first bodies I recognised were Remus and Tonks. In death, it was not as though they were sleeping. Their eyes were open, empty, their bodies lying at strange angles, they seemed too peaceful. An anguished sob escaped my lips - Remus, he cared for me so much, looked after me in third year, kept an eye on me after all the shit. And now, when he was finally happy, married, had a kid?

Teddy. Now he'd grow up without parents, both lying on the ground in front of me. Would he live with his grandmother? What would happen to him now?

I took a deep breath, placing Tonks and Remus' hands in one another, keeping them together even as they were gone. Tobias placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly as I wiped my face.

"He was a great man," Tobias sighed behind me, I knew it hit him just as hard, Remus had looked after him for the past year.

"Who else..." my voice trailed off, I didn't really want to know. My face hardened as I stood, staring around the hall.

My eyes fell on the Weasleys, hugging one another, crying, their grief hitting me like a brick wall. I froze, who was dead?

Fred Weasley. I turned to Tobias, burying my head in his shoulder. We didn't move closer, we gave them space, but I grieved from a distance.

We all knew what we were getting into, we knew some of us would die. But that reality hadn't sunk in until now, the quiet that contrasted from the loud battle noises minutes ago making it seem so much more real.

I pulled away from Tobias. I didn't want to find out who else we had lost, not yet. If I let it get too far into my head, I wouldn't be focused enough, I had to be at my best for the final chapter of this.

I was determined to make sure their sacrifices were not in vain.

I left the Great Hall, heading through the ruined corridors. Blood stained the ground, but the bodies had all been cleared, dust settling where they had lain.

I kept walking, the silence somewhat comforting, the voices from the Great Hall growing more distant.

Would Harry be able to do what was required? I knew he would, he'd likely already be in the Forbidden Forest facing it, that wasn't a question. The real question was whether everyone else could keep fighting after his death - would the loss of the Chosen One prove too much, would our side begin to tear at the seams?

I jumped out of my skin when a hand grabbed me, raising my wand without hesitation, but lowering it when I saw the broken face of my brother.

"Potter saved me," I raised an eyebrow at my brother, his face was full of confusion, disgust, pain.

"And you saved him," I said sharply, pulling him to the side, "An eye for an eye. You didn't expect him to leave you to burn alive?"

"I tried to curse him moments before, just to get my wand back!"