Leave Out all the Rest

Chapter 25: Death Wish

POV: Lily

It was a busy day in the streets of Muggle London. The sun was barely shining through the clear skies, throwing warmth and rays of light at the ground we walked, gracing us with a bit of heat. It wasn't enough to leave our gloves and scarves at home, but it felt like a kiss of warmth you could enjoy in the breeze.

There was a stampede of people at the shopping center Mum and Aunt Hermione dragged us to, all of them so desperate for those post-holiday sales that they were willing to trample over each other to get to. It was like watching a pack of lions surround their defenseless prey. If the look of utter fear the shop workers were sporting were any indication, then it was safe to say they agreed with my analogy, too.  

While it was entertaining to watch the bloodbath between two men trying to wrestle over a television set, I turned to frown at Lucy while Liam let his hand slip from mine. He was experienced in Weasley anger, as such, I could not blame him from walking over to Al, Malfoy, and Zabini to save himself from whatever tantrum was going to come out from my cousin. 

"You shouldn't meddle in other people's lives," Lucy reprimanded me with her index finger raised high. 

"Loosen up," I huffed at her. "That bloke was obviously smitten with you since the moment we walked into his shop. I just gave you a little push to notice him, too. It was harmless."

"Harmless?" Lucy repeated, her volume picking up. "You gave him my mailing address, Lily! He could be a completely demented boy for all we know! And you're forgetting that I am a—" She stopped before she screamed out a word that was not allowed to be said among all these Muggles. Not if we were okay with exposing a secret world to them that they thought to be only fiction. 

Lucy took a deep breath, but her cheeks were still red. "I don't need your help with my romantic life, okay?"

I snorted. "What romantic life?"

"Get your head out of your arse, Lily," Lucy hissed at me. "Once you do, you'll see not everyone needs a significant other to feel validated."

I frowned at her now, too. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means—"

"It means," said Hugo, appearing from around a light post behind Lucy, gripping on to her shoulder as he interrupted her to speak to me, "that Luce doesn't move at the same speed you do, Lils. If she's interested in a bloke, she'll deal with it accordingly. Right now she's only focused on her academic and charity work to become Minister of Magic. You can respect that, can't you?"

My frown was still on my face as I grumbled a curse word under my breath, but ultimately I ended up sighing in defeat. Hugo was right. As always. As such, I willed my anger to simmer down as I cast my eyes in Lucy's direction. "I'm sorry, Luce," I told her with more sincerity I thought would come out. "I won't meddle in any aspect of your life unless given permission." 

It took Hugo elbowing her in the ribs before Lucy dropped her glare. Her sigh of defeated was more of a grunt, but she nodded at me. "Nothing to forgive," she said. "I know you thought you had good intentions."

Hugo rolled his eyes at her comment. "Hug," he commanded at us, pushing Lucy forward. 

I was the first to open my arms and welcome her in. It took her a moment before she lifted her arms from her side, putting them around me.

Lucy and I (despite being cousins) had a complicated friendship. She was too much of her father's daughter, proper and prim, righteous and responsible, while I had too much of our loud, troublemaking Weasley blood that her veins rejected. These two versions clashed continuously, one always trying to overpower the other. 

She squeezed me, her resentment melting away as I smiled into her shoulder blade.

Despite the differences that often had us lunging at each other's throats, Lucy was one of my best friends. She was so many things that aggravated me (as I'm certain I was for her, too), but she kept me together. She kept me whole and sane. Lucy is what kept Hue, Roxy, and me rooted to the floor when our carelessness threatened to carry us off to chaos.

"Hey," came the voice of our missing fourth. Roxy narrowed dark eyes at us, the dim sunlight making rare red highlights pop from her wild, dark, thick curls. "Are you three having a moment without me?"

Hugo scoffed. "I prevented war, Rox," he said to her. "Nothing to be jealous about."

"Leave it alone, Roxanne," said Lucy when our cousin opened her mouth, intent on asking the reason behind our quick argument. "I'm serious. If we tell you everyone will know in the next minute and I'll be upset all over again."

"Are you insinuating I'm a gossip?" Roxy demanded. 

Hugo, Lucy, and I nodded in unison.

"I am not!" she protested with a stomp of her heeled boot.

"Mate," I began with a laugh, "you told Nan I was letting the gnomes back into her garden last summer."

"Well, you know how she feels about those gnomes—"

"You told Victoire I burned her favorite silk dress when I was seven because my Potions set exploded inside her room," Lucy said, "after she specifically told me I couldn't play in there. She made me pay for it with a week of servitude."

"It was a vintage silk dress—!"

"You told Teddy I fancied his friend Ollie Wood," Hugo then added. "He made a big deal about it and Wood never looked at me again."

"Teddy is just overprotective, he probably scared Wood—"

"You told Aunt Ginny I stole her enchanted roses for research," Luce said again.

"You told Uncle Ron I rather spend time with Uncle George because he's a better laugh," I reminded.

"Okay! Okay!" Roxy exclaimed, hands up to silence us. "I get it. I can't keep a secret."

We all laughed, looking at Roxy with complete adoration. We were on the verge of a group hug, but I was gripped by my forearm and steered away. 

"If you four are done now," James said through clenched teeth, "Mum and Aunt Hermione came back with our Muggle money. I don't want to keep freezing my wand off waiting for you children to hash out your tantrums."

"James," Mum hissed at my brother, "let her go."

He did as he was told, but with anger I had nothing to do with. It was the same fury that had been wrapped around him since Christmas. "Then don't ask me to do anything anymore," he told her rather harshly. "Especially to mind her. She's fourteen, is she not? Has a boyfriend? She can walk over to us just fine."

Mum could have murdered him, I knew, but James stalked off before she even processed his outburst.

"He'll come around," Aunt Hermione said to Mum, patting her shoulder with sympathy. "Everyone deals with a broken heart differently."

Mum huffed. "Broken heart or not," she said, "I brought him into this world and I'll take him out of it if he keeps it up."

"Mum isn't joking," I said to Liam as he made his way over to me again, his fingers instantly searching for mine. "I wouldn't be surprised if she returns James to Hogwarts with missing limbs."

"This Emily and Greyback thing is really tearing him apart, isn't it?" Liam said quietly as we walked behind some of our friends. "I never knew how much he fancied her."

I snorted. "Not surprised," I told him, "boys are rather clueless, sweetheart."

He smiled crookedly at me before saying, "He should be supportive, though. He's her friend first, right? I mean, if Scorpius can, James can, too. He loves her just as much."

"Different type of love," I corrected. "Besides, Em and Malfoy aren't in sp—"

"Emily and I spotted a sports shop ahead," Harper said as she tugged Emily by the hand as she came to stop Liam, Rose, Malfoy, Al, and Zabini (avoiding my line of sight as she had been doing for days now, something I was more than okay with). "Are you lot still up to learning football?"

Liam furrowed brows as the others voiced their agreement. "Football? What's football?" he asked Harper. "You're playing Muggle sports now?"

"Lorcan's a big fan," Harper said tersely, looking Liam briefly in the eyes before looking back at Rose (the safe zone, seeing as Al was now looking like he had no idea a Scamander was behind this idea), "and taught me to play a week before leaving for holidays."

"He still taking you to that match with his stepdad tomorrow?" asked Rose.

"You're friends with Lorcan now?" Liam demanded, his fingers tightening over mine. "Since when?"

"I can have other friends, Liam," Harper now turned to my boyfriend, anger turning her bright, blue eyes a navy shade. 

Liam's lips pressed into a tight line.

"He doesn't want to be friends with her, though," I said, knowing I should have kept my mouth shut, but I never had patience for Harper and her quick attitude. Everyone blinked at my direction. "Lorcan tells me things, you know?"

"Meaning what, little girl?" Harper demanded.

"Meaning nothing," said Al, narrowing eyes at me with something more than annoyance, something like a plea. I loved Al, I know I should have complied to his silent request, but I wanted Harper to know she had options (options that took her far away from my boyfriend).

"Meaning," I emphasized, "that Lorcan likes you. He has since you were First Years, but he's never thought you would ever even look at him as something more than a friend."

The navy shade in Harper's eyes only diminished slightly. 

"Oh," I laughed, catching on, "You already knew that, though."

Al and Liam both looked over at her, each with a different accusatory look in their eye, but before either could demand why she had never said anything before, a loud crack from the sky cut through the moment. Dark jets of lightning roared across the graying sky.  

My throat went dry as I raised a finger above, hoping the others were seeing the black tornadoes streaming down to the ground. The wind grew in speed and in harshness, smacking against us with the intent of knocking us down. It didn't. Instead it paralyzed us. 

Liam gave my hand a firm grip and I turned to look at my family: Mum was peering inside a shop's window with Aunt Hermione by her side, Roxy and Hugo were slapping each other playfully as Lucy rolled her eyes at them, Louis and Freddie were gawking at an attractive girl with a short dress, and James was somehow close enough to touch, his eyes locked in on the change of weather, too. 

Emily released a gasp and suddenly everything was put on fast-forward.

The tornadoes carried people. People that brought chaos and explosions.

Windows shattered, flames shot up, and somehow all I heard was Mum's vibrating yell of, "LILY!"

Despite the mayhem, I saw a clear beeline in her direction. I wanted to take it. I wanted my feet to carry be toward her, so her arms could wrap around me, so I could never hear her shrill scream that was more terrified and broken than anything I had ever heard from her, but instead my feet glued me to the cement floor just as a man appeared right before me. 

"Pity," he said with sharp teeth and his wand raising at us, "Pity you find yourselves at the wrong place, at the wrong time."

I saw the green sparks at the tip of this stranger's wand about to spew out, but it was blindsided by red in one swift and expert movement. Liam tugged me behind him, his wand out as he shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

The man was launched back.

"Run!" screamed Al, putting everything in motion again. 

There were a thousand more screams piercing the air. Concealed witches and wizards revealed themselves, wands out as the tornadoes multiplied and enemy numbers grew, too. As we ran past them, trying to search for cover, I was not oblivious to the bodies on the ground. The scent of iron filled my nostrils and I knew it was more than blood. It was death. 

We were intercepted in our path. Another cloaked figure was before us, her wand pointed at Rose, but Malfoy reacted just in time. His hex ricocheted the witch against the nearest brick wall as he went to cover Rose with his own body, acting like a shield.

Aunt Hermione roared her daughter's name alike Mum had done for me. She came charging toward us, curses vibrating out of her entire being as she dodged all the ones being hurled at her. I saw the warrior all the history books claimed Hermione Granger had been. 

She pushed Malfoy aside, her hands searching for any sign of affliction on Rose. When she found none, relief was short-lived when she turned to all of us, that war heroine in possession of her body now. 

"Disarm and shield," Aunt Hermione commanded at us. "You hear me? Disarm and shield. Get to the apparition point. Louis can get you home."

"Mum—"

"Move," said Aunt Hermione, silencing Rose before she could get her sentence out. 

I was running, my wand still in the pocket of my jeans, my free hand trying to reach for it, but I heard a cry that made me halt. Ahead, a shop had exploded. It caught Lucy under rubble. Zabini was beside her in a flash, as were Roxy and Hugo, and they were digging her out.

"Come on, Luce," sobbed Roxy. "Get up."

"I can't," Lucy heaved, blood gushing down her forehead, "My leg is broken."

Zabini pushed Roxy away when the last chunks of brick were off of Lucy. "Help me carry her," he said to Hugo. "She's not going to make it to the apparition point on her own."

"Liam," I cried. "Liam, Lucy is hurt! I have to—"

"CRUCIO!"

When Zabini and Hugo were intent on helping Lucy, Roxy had left herself defenseless. Alike me, alike the look of absolute despair in Hugo's face, all of her attention had been on Lucy. It made her blind to the cloaked wizard that had zeroed in on her famous face. 

Roxy fell with a cry so horrible I thought the world had split at the seams. 

I yanked my hand out Liam's just as Freddie turned from defending a huddle of small children. His agony turned into insanity. It was the only logical reason as to why an Unforgivable left his lips, wrapping around the wizard that had attacked his sister. 

"Hey, hey," bellowed Louis, pushing Freddie's wand down before something worse escaped his wand, "she's okay, mate. Roxy is okay."

Lucy cried harder as she sagged against Zabini, looking at Hugo and I leaning over Roxy's unconscious body. Liam was right behind me, his arms wrapping around me as he tried to tug me away. 

"Let me go!" I yelled at him with a sob choking me. 

"We have to keep moving!" he yelled back. 

A body fell nearby me. I screamed thinking it was someone else I knew, but it was a stranger. An enemy. Emily stood behind the fallen body, her fingers loosening around her wand as she heaved, something dark and almost unforgivable in her emerald gaze. 

Aunt Hermione was visible again. She was dodging more curses effortlessly as she Obliviated Muggles in her path toward us.

"Where's Mum?" I asked her with tears streaming down my face and a desperation in my chest. 

Aunt Hermione did not have to answer. Mum was right behind her. Her hair flowed behind her like a shot of fire, the same that burned in her eyes as she dropped enemy bodies in her path. If I saw Hermione Granger in my aunt, I saw Ginny Weasley in my mother—fearless, brilliant warrior from books I thought only to be fantasy. 

"Hermione," she yelled at my aunt, "I've seen them! They're just—"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"EXPELLIARMUS—!" Al came from my blindspot, his wand shooting out red jets of light as an enemy sent a stream of green at our mother.

All the air in my lungs had vanished when Mum fell. 

Everything had to have stopped existing, everything had to have stopped moving, but nothing was. Al charged after the runaway enemy with a ferocious growl.

"No!" Liam released me to launch himself at Harper. He tackled her to the ground, digging his knees into her back as Aunt Hermione ran after Al. "You're not going after him! I won't let you, Nia!"

Harper shrieked, kicking her legs in a futile attempt to free herself from Liam. "Let go! Please, Liam! Please!"

For a slight moment, I wanted to move toward Harper, hug her just as Liam was doing now. There was such agony in her blue eyes, in the way she sobbed, fear wrapping around her. It's how I felt. It was grief.

Then I remembered.

Mum.

"I'm sorry," James cried as he stopped me, yanking me back by my boot as I attempted to crawl on the littered floor toward our mother. "I can't, Lily. I can't."

There were tears down his cheeks, too, agony the ocean forming beneath us. He was holding me back, keeping me from entering the chaos outside our bubble, but his gaze was not on me. It was on Mum—Mum who was laying a yard away from us, her red hair covering her face.

If we weren't both blinded by our tears, we would have seen Emily tighten her fingers around her wand again. We would have seen her run toward that very same chaos James was keeping me safe from. 

She sent a burst of flames at a cloaked figure torturing a Muggle with the Unforgivable that had gotten Roxy. The figure turned, exposing sharp teeth like fangs. In the next second, that predatory snarl turned into a dangerous leer, laughter leaving his mouth.

"It's you," he said to Emily.

James gripped me tighter, his heart banging so violently in his chest it collided with my spine. 

I know I kept my brother by my side, so it was Malfoy who bolted from his safe corner. "Emily," he shouted, "move!"

Emily did not falter.

The figure laughed again. "I've known," he said to her, "I've known from that day that you don't fear death. You invite it. You wish for it. And if that's the case, Emily Taylor, I am happy to grant it. You owe me, after all."

"You owe me, too," said Emily before raising her wand, shooting out a bright light. 

The man dodged it right on time. His hood fell, exposing his face. It was Marcus Macnair. The same brute who had used the torture curse on her when she was a First Year. A curse she had jumped in front of to save James. 

"STUPEFY!" bellowed Malfoy with such a force. I was surprised he did not launch himself forward with it, beating Macnair with his own fists. The hex had done its job, however; Macnair flew back, crashing through a shop window. 

Malfoy did not fret over the fallen body. Instead, he turned to Emily, outrage and relief in his silver eyes as his hands went to grip her arms. "Never," he hissed at her, "Never do this again. You hear me, Emily? Don't you ever fucking dare put yourself in danger."

Emily said nothing as Malfoy pulled her into him. Her face was buried in his chest.

Bright, white lights filled the darkness around us. They were consequences of new voices, new faces emerging into the shopping center.

"Aurors," Rose said with a cry of relief.

I could see why: Uncle Ron charged out of his apparition point a few feet down with a squad of Aurors following after him. Protective charms and Obliviating spells were being shot off from their wands. Rose called for her father, but he did not seem to hear her. He only had eyes for his fallen sister.

I did not know how my heart kept beating all that time. All I know is that it stopped when a roar of despair came from beyond the street. Running with the wind, emerald eyes wild behind round glasses, untidy, black hair harsh against all the white light, exposing a famous scar in the form of a lightening bolt, was Dad. 

"Ginny!" screamed Harry Potter for his wife. 

The world surely had ended now.