Soundtrack

6. Echo by Jason Walker | Everything Has Changed

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ROXANNE

Before I could even imagine opening my eyes, I still felt a lingering pain in my stomach and my head throbbed. What had happened?

No, that's not possible,'I told myself. How could it be possible? How could Death Eaters get into the castle? The place had been crawling with Order members and Aurors all year. There were so many protective charms that Dumbledore himself had placed around the castle himself. 't was a dream, I'm asleep outside the Shrieking Shack right now, I assured myself, but the feeling the smooth sheets were still beneath me no matter how many times I told myself that Death Eaters hadn't gotten into the castle.

"Roxanne?"

I closed my eyes even tighter, the sound of even Sam's voice made my head throb even more. But it was obvious that whatever had happened, really had happened-- it wasn't some sort of nightmare. So I blinked my eyes open once, and then twice-- then finally managed to look up at tall ceiling of the Infirmary. There was no way I wouldn't recognize it, I spent a whole weekend in there after Neville's practicing in the DA knocked me out.

"Mrs. Weasley! She's awake!"

"Do you have to shout?" I said loudly as I brought my hands up and rubbed my eyes.

Sam looked down at me, "Suck it up, Roxxy."

I rolled my eyes and slowly began to prop myself up on my own elbows, but not without complete agony. I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from making any sound as the pain shot up my back and throughout my entire stomach. Once I was sitting up though, my mother had already hurried over and embraced me in a hug-- that didn't help the pain.

"Mum," I stated simply, my voice stayed quiet to hide as much of the pain as possible. "I'm fine, really..."

"You're lucky is what you are!" she retorted and then pressed her lips against the top of my head, "Who knows how long you were there! Sam found help as soon as he could, but you were just brought in here five, maybe ten minutes ago! They could have taken you! They could have...you could have been killed, sweetie! Why didn't you stay in the Gryffindor Tower?!"

"Molly, Molly, she just woke up! She doesn't need an earful already," my father said from behind her before hugging me after my mother finally took a step back. "How are you feeling?"

"Just a bit sore," I replied but then looked away from both of them and looked up at Sam, "What about the others? Lysander, Josiah, and Alex? Are they alright?"

"Madam Pomfrey sent a house-elf down to check on them," Sam replied, "I'm sure they're alright, after all the action happened in the school."

I let out a sigh of relief, "What about everyone else? Ronald? What about Ronald? And Hermione? Ginny? Is Ginny alright?" I listed off just the few names that popped into my head, and the questions came out much more frantic than I had originally intended.

Before anyone could answer, the doors to the infirmary were opened, and the group that I had been wondering about walked into the room. Elizabeth and Hermione both looked fine, besides a cut on Elizabeth's cheek. Fred looked fine, too, he and George stayed a step behind Elizabeth and Hermione. Lana and Jenna were visible near them, and even Maxine was there with Harry. But Ron and Ginny hurried past the Grangers and towards the bed that I was in.

"Roxanne!" Ginny smiled, relieved to see me, probably as much as I was to see her.

"Roxanne, are you alright?" Ron asked, cutting in front of Ginny and pulling me into a tight hug.

I nodded, "I'm fine, what about you?"

Ron smiled a bit, but I could see a few stains on his cheeks from tears. "I'm fine."

Then finally, Ginny took her turn and pulled me into a hug just as tight as Ron's hug had been. "I thought...I thought something had happened to you."

"Technically, something did happen," I replied, in a vain attempt to lighten the mood. "Just not what you were thinking."

A few people let out a chuckle, just to humor me.

"What about Bill?" Fred asked looking across the bed at our mother.

"Bill?" Ginny and I echoed at the same time.

Mother's face fell from hopeful to disappointed really fast. In a split second her mood changed, and that never happened. She always tried to be optimistic. "He'll be fine," she replied and looked over at a bed across the room. "He just needs his rest right now." There was a long moment of silence as I tried to look around mother and Sam. I caught a glimpse of Bill in a bed, but he wasn't moving all that much.

"What happened to him?" I asked quietly, if Bill was awake, I was positive the last thing he would want to hear is a bunch of people talking about him.

"Greyback," father replied quietly.

Sam's face went pale, he looked like he was going to pass out or be sick. "Gr-Greyback was here?" he asked.

Earlier in the school year, before Christmas break, the group of us had gone off to Hogsmeade when the trip was canceled. It had been canceled because Fenrir Greyback had been sighted in Hogsmeade. We learned that the hard way. We were heading back to the castle late, and Greyback caught up with us. Josiah got the worst of it, obviously. But Sam had gotten scratched up, really, the only difference in him was that he barely liked his meat cooked. Any mention of Greyback, ever, made him uneasy.

"He isn't here anymore," Harry said suddenly, he hadn't said a word the whole time. "He left with the others."

I looked up at him, and then the others. I couldn't help but notice how...empty they all looked. Almost emotionless, and they were all trying to look alright. Elizabeth had tear stains, Ginny had tear stains, George had tear stains-- they all did.

"Did I miss something?" I asked, letting my eyes go back and forth between the group of them. "What happened?"

Maxine frowned, "Dumbledore..." she began but her voice was extremely weak and quiet. I almost couldn't understand her. "He's...he's dead. Snape, he...he killed him in the A-Astronomy Tower."

I stared up at her, "What kind of joke is that?" I stated, "I know Snape's a git, but..."

"She isn't lying, Roxanne," Harry stated, "Snape killed him."

I just stared at them, what sort of cruel joke was that? Albus Dumbledore was killed by Severus Snape? That just didn't seem possible. I hated Snape as much as the next person, but he wouldn't kill Dumbledore. But they all looked back at me, their expressions didn't change at all.

"He's...he's actually dead?"

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