Katie.

The storm didn't feel real anymore. Not compared to this.

I took the stairs three at a time, slipping once—my hand catching the wall, my ribs screaming in protest. The rain poured sideways, slashing through the windows, turning the tower into a wind tunnel made of ghosts and thunder.

But I didn't stop.

I couldn't.

I reached the top of the Astronomy Tower breathless, soaked, barely able to see through the water streaking down my face. My wand was already drawn—shaking slightly in my fingers. Lightning cracked behind me.

And there he was.

Draco.

Standing at the edge.

His wand was raised—but shaking. Like his hand didn't know what it wanted. Like he didn't know what he wanted.

And opposite him—framed in silhouette by the sky behind him—stood Dumbledore.

His voice was soft. Somehow still steady through the chaos. "He doesn't want this." There was a beat before his eyes locked on mine as I stepped into view. "Do you, Miss Blackwood?"

Draco's head snapped toward me. His face—God, his face. Rain-slick and pale and torn apart.

I stepped forward, slow. Careful. "Draco..."

He didn't move. He just looked at me. Not like I was the enemy. Not like I was a threat. Like I was the last thing anchoring him to the floor.

"You don't have to do this," I whispered, voice raw. "You don't want to do this."

"They'll kill me," he said. It wasn't anger. It was fear. It was a boy who had been forced to grow teeth too fast. "They'll kill my mother."

He looked at me again.

"They'll kill you. And Adrien."

I blinked hard, chest tightening.

"Then let them come for both of us, we can handle them." I said. My voice didn't shake. "But don't let this be your line."

A beat passed.

And then—

He lowered his wand.

Just a fraction. Just enough.

I breathed. I took a step toward him. Maybe two. Maybe I reached for him. Maybe he did the same.

We never touched.

Because that's when the world exploded.

There was no warning. No sound. No scream.

Just green. A sickening flash. A curse so final, so cruel, it split the sky in half.

I screamed.

"NO—"

I lunged.

But Draco caught me. His arms locked around me like iron, pulling me back, holding me against his chest as I thrashed and screamed and tried to reach the place where Dumbledore had stood only seconds ago.

Gone.

Gone.

He was gone.

"You let him do it!" I screamed, fists pounding against Draco's chest. "You LET HIM—"

"I tried—" he choked, but I wasn't listening. I was breaking. I was breaking.

And that's when I heard the footsteps behind us.

Adrien. Rowan. And Harry.

They burst through the stairwell just as my knees buckled beneath me and I collapsed, sobbing.

Rowan skidded to my side. Adrien didn't stop.

Her eyes locked onto the empty space where Dumbledore had been, and she understood.

No one said it. But she knew.

She screamed. Her magic erupted.

The air snapped. Sparks flared from her skin like live wires. Her runes—what was left of them— blazed so bright they lit the floor in red-gold veins.

"I can save him—LET ME GO!" she shrieked.

Rowan caught her around the middle, dragging her back as she thrashed, her magic buckling the boards under their feet. "Adrien— stop—if you—it'll kill you—"

"I DON'T CARE—"

But he held her tighter.

And she broke.

She crumpled to the floor with a sound I'll never forget—half scream, half sob—and curled in on herself, shaking.

Then Snape stepped out of the shadow.

Draco tried to move toward me.

But Snape caught him by the collar.

Harry's voice rose like thunder. "NO—"

Rowan let go of Adrien to catch Harry before he could throw himself at them, grabbing his arm, yanking him back just as Snape disapparated, pulling Draco with him.

Gone.

The tower fell silent.

The wind howled. The rain hissed on stone.

I couldn't move.

Rowan was the first to reach me, dropping to his knees. His arms went around me without hesitation, pulling me in as I folded into him like I was folding in on myself.

He didn't say anything. He didn't need to.

Harry stood frozen, chest heaving. And when Adrien looked up—her face soaked in tears, eyes glowing faintly from the burn of magic—he walked straight to her.

And wrapped his arms around her like he didn't know what else to do.

She collapsed into him. Again.

Everything we'd fought for—

Everything we tried to stop—

Gone.

The sky burned above us.

The floor was stained with magic and blood and ash.

And the moment? It shattered.

Just like everything else.

The lake was quiet. Too quiet.

Even the wind seemed to be holding its breath.

The entire school stood in silence across the grass, black robes fluttering like broken wings. The sun had the audacity to shine—warm and golden over the lake's surface like it hadn't just witnessed the most devastating night of our lives.

It shimmered. Like nothing had happened. Like we hadn't watched the world end.

I stood between Adrien and Rowan, my fingers clenched so tightly in the fabric of my robes I thought they might tear. Every inch of me ached. My ribs were bruised. My palms were bandaged. There was blood on my sleeve I hadn't had the strength to clean.

Behind us, Maddie was swaying slightly on her feet, her wrist splinted and eyes rimmed in red. Sage had a healing charm still glowing faintly around her temple, the cut beneath it stitched shut with magic that hadn't had time to settle. Cassian stood off to the side like a statue carved in fury and smoke—his coat torn, his knuckles split, his mouth a flat line.

No one spoke.

Hagrid sobbed openly beside the white tomb, each sound like a thunderclap in the stillness.

McGonagall stood like stone.

Harry didn't blink.

And Adrien—

Adrien was crumbling.

Her breathing hitched. Her shoulders trembled so hard I thought she might snap in half. She had one hand pressed to her mouth like she could hold it all in—hold herself in—but I saw the tears. The grief had already broken through.

Her other hand was curled around her middle like she was trying to keep her ribs from shattering. Her sleeves were wet—some of it rain, most of it not.

I reached for her elbow the second her knees wobbled.

"Come on," I whispered.

She shook her head violently. "I can't—I can't—" Her voice was cracked glass.

"I know," I murmured, tightening my grip. "That's why we're leaving."

She didn't fight me when I pulled her out of the crowd, and the others didn't stop us. We passed by heads bowed in mourning, through the tree line, through the gates of the courtyard, up the stairs—

And into the castle.

No footsteps echoed. No portraits spoke. Even the stone seemed to be mourning.

I led her down the first corridor that felt empty enough to breathe. Then into the closest girls' loo. I locked the door.

Adrien collapsed like her bones had finally given up. Her knees hit the tile. Her arms wrapped around herself.

And then—

Then came the sound.

Not a scream. Not a sob.

A shatter.

Like the grief inside her had broken something permanent.

I dropped beside her. Held her. Let her press her face into my shoulder while her whole body trembled. Neither of us spoke. I didn't know how to help her.

What the hell could I say?

She'd almost lost herself in the fire. Almost killed a man. Had watched Dumbledore die. Had nearly let her magic become her.

And still—

She survived.

We both did.

Eventually, she hiccupped through the tears and whispered, "He was supposed to be untouchable."

I blinked hard. "I know."

We sat there on the floor in silence.

A beat.

Then, without lifting her head, Adrien croaked, "I look like I crawled out of a dumpster fire."

"You do," I whispered, my voice raw. "A very magical, very dramatic dumpster fire. The eyeliner's still hanging on, though."

She let out a small, wrecked laugh—one of those unhinged ones that almost immediately dissolved back into tears. "I think my ribs are bruised. Either that or my left lung is missing. I haven't decided yet."

"Don't be ridiculous," I said. "You'd be way less annoying with one lung."

That earned a tiny snort. "You know if you tell Maddie I cried like this, I'll set your bed on fire."

"I helped you cry like this," I said, brushing a lock of hair out of her damp face. "You're welcome."

"Cool. Friendship jail," she muttered. "I hate this."

"I know," I repeated, because it was the only truth left in my throat.

We stayed there a bit longer—two girls on the bathroom floor of a shattered castle, held together by bandages and borrowed time. Adrien wiped her face with the sleeve of her ripped robe and muttered something about cursed mascara.

And somehow? That almost made it worse.

Because we should've been doing that somewhere else.

At a dance.

In a dorm room.

Not here.

Not like this.

But that's grief, isn't it?

It comes dressed in laughter. It arrives in silence. And it doesn't ask if you're ready.

It just comes.

When Adrien finally stopped shaking long enough to splash cold water on her face, I gave her a look—one part protective sister, one part silently begging her to hold on—and stepped out into the corridor to give her a minute.

The castle was too quiet.

The kind of quiet that only comes after something irreversible.

I exhaled slowly, pressing the heel of my hand to my ribs, where every breath still felt bruised. The hallway smelled like smoke and stone and singed magic. Somewhere deep inside the castle, someone was crying. Or maybe it was just the way grief sounded in my head now.

And that's when I saw him.

Draco.

Leaning against the archway like a shadow half-swallowed by the stone. Soaked. Pale. His robes were torn at the shoulder. His eyes were hollow in a way that hurt to look at.

The second he saw me, he straightened. His mouth parted.

"Katie—"

"Don't." My voice cracked, but I held my ground.

He took one cautious step forward, like I might bolt. Or hex him.

"I didn't have a choice," he said, his voice low and hoarse. "You saw. You know what would've happened. What they would've done—my mother—you—Adrien—"

"You let it happen," I snapped. The words sliced out of me, louder than I meant. Harsher. But not untrue. "You stood there while he died, Draco. You watched him fall. And then—then you held me back while it happened."

He winced like I'd hit him already.

"You let me chase after you," I hissed. "You let me believe. You let me fight beside you, run after you, love you—despite everything—and you still stood there."

"I didn't want—"

"You let it happen."

The words landed like stones. I felt them break something between us.

He looked away. Just for a second.

"I was protecting you," he muttered. Weak. Tired. Like it cost him to even say it.

"No," I said, stepping forward now, rage blooming under my ribs like firewood catching flame. "You were protecting yourself."

His head jerked back toward me.

"And for a second," I continued, quieter now, but sharper, every word honed to a blade, "I forgot who I was."

He blinked like I'd slapped him already.

"But not anymore."

My wand hand twitched at my side. But I didn't lift it. I didn't need to.

"I'm not some helpless Hogwarts girl, Draco. You taught me how to fight," I said, voice trembling with fury and finality. "But now I'm teaching myself how to win."

And then—

CRACK.

The sound echoed down the corridor like a spell detonating.

Draco reeled.

Adrien had emerged from the bathroom without a single word and struck him hard enough to turn his face sideways.

Clean. Crisp. Violent.

He staggered, one hand lifting to his cheek, now burning red with the imprint of betrayal.

Adrien didn't blink.

"That was for not pulling the trigger," she said, her voice like cut glass. "And for holding her back."

He didn't respond. Didn't have time.

Because Rowan appeared at the other end of the hall—mud-splattered, limping slightly, blood still dried in the crease of his temple. He took one look at the three of us and went still.

His eyes darted from Draco, to Adrien's still-raised hand, to me.

He didn't say anything.

He just crossed the space between us, wrapped his arms around me like he could pull the grief out of my lungs, and let me breathe.

No questions. No demands. Just his heartbeat, steady against my cheek.

I didn't cry. I couldn't. I'd cried too much. Lost too much. Burned too hot and too fast.

But in Rowan's arms, I breathed for the first time since I watched Dumbledore fall.

And that was enough. When he let go, I looked back once—at Draco.

His mouth opened.

But I didn't give him the chance.

I turned. And I walked away.

No more sneaking. No more silence. No more him.