Harry was gone.

Left me standing in Dumbledore's office; cheeks tear-stained as his own eyes watered and threatened to spill.

The door didn't close behind him, and I didn't move from my spot in the middle of the office even after he had disappeared out of my field of vision.

And I stood there for what seemed like hours but were probably mere minutes, silently crying, pitying myself while my brother was on his way to his own death.

My heart was still loudly thumping against my chest, breath heavier than usual when Draco and Wren found me. Whether it took them hours to find me or just a few seconds, I didn't know.

Their presence seemed to snap me out of my thoughts enough to notice the cuts on my face and the rest of my body; burning, itching and stinging quite horribly. Though, they were nothing compared to the pain my brother left behind.

"Harry—He—" I tried to explain to them, my eyes still glued to the floor as I stood completely motionless; the only movement my shaking frame as two loud sobs interrupted my words before I gave up.

Wren quickly overcame the distance still between us to pull me into a tight hug, shaking her head as she played with my hair in a calming manner. "Shh," She whispered lowly. "We know."

I wasn't quite sure if I wanted them to see me like this.

Sure, I've shed my fair share of tears in front of both of them; they were my best friends, after all. But this was different.

This was my lowest. I didn't think it could get any worse. I felt empty, completely and utterly lost.

"We have to—" I tried once more, voice still shaky as my own arms tightened around Wren's body. "We have to do something—" My voice was hoarse and low, sounding like I haven't said a word in months.

Was that how long it took them to find me in here?

It was Draco who spoke now. Though, I wish he didn't.

"There's nothing that can be done, Y/n," He said carefully, stepping a little closer.

His words made me furrow my brows. What he said was the last thing I wanted to hear—the last thing I wanted to think about; to accept.

I scrunched up my nose before my eyes snapped onto him, my body going rigid in Wren's embrace. And he flinched at the unexpected eye contact, taking a precautious step backwards as he noticed the glare on my face.

"Of course you would say that!" I snapped, surprised by the sudden composure in my voice.

Though, how composed was one really when they were shouting.

Rather than dealing with the loss, it felt much easier to simply let go of the emotions and transform them into pure and utter rage. I didn't care who it was aimed at. It felt freeing, in a way.

At least that's what I assumed was happening as I freed myself from Wren's arms, the poor girl utterly perplexed at the motion, and rushed towards Draco's tall frame, forcing him to take a step back with every threatening one I took towards him. "You've always hated him, anyway!" I continued when his back was pressed against one of the shelves with nowhere else to go. "You hated him— still hate him to this day. You're probably quite pleased to finally be rid of him!"

I didn't notice the flicker of hurt in his demeanour, the way his brows twitched at my words, and his breath picked up just slightly. My mind was solely focused on how he probably wanted this to happen. It's all he ever wanted. Harry Potter in Azkaban, or better yet, dead.

I just forced myself to ignore the fact over the years; learned to live with their life-long rivalry. Even found it amusing, at some points.

The thought just made me sick, now that he was gone.

Gone.

"Nothing we can do," I repeated his words, almost scoffing before I turned around to face my best friend. She stood closer than I had anticipated, a horrified expression on her face as she contemplated what to do.

When my eyes met hers, she swallowed thickly. "Tell him that's bullshit!" I demanded, voice raised once more. Though, my face quickly fell into nothing but a pleading look as I read her own facial expression. "Tell him there's always something you can do. Tell him, Wren—" The words got caught in the back of my throat as I watched a single tear escape her brown eyes, guilt and pity in her features. "Please—" I begged.

"I'm sorry, Y/n... I—" She shook her head, effectively cutting her sentence short.

She huffed in disappointment at her own attitude, though quickly managed to pull herself together with a deep breath. "Let's get you to Madame Pomfrey, my love. She'll surely have a calming draught for you."

And without another word of agreement from either of us, she swung my arm around her shoulder and started to walk out slowly. Draco trailing after us.

Despite what I had expected, we headed for the Great Hall instead of the hospital wing. But I understood as soon as we rounded the corner, eyes frantically taking in the chaos we were presented with.

Even though the battle was over, people were running around, crying and yelling as if it was still going on. And it harshly put things into perspective for me.

Wren gently pushed me further into the room, leaving the calm and quiet corridor behind and indulging us into a world full of hurt and pain wherever you looked.

Madame Pomfrey was currently finishing up a bandage around what seemed to be a nasty wound. Seeing as the matron didn't simply heal it, it must've been inflicted by dark magic.

Similar to what had happened to George's ear. As far as I heard, it couldn't simply be regrown, either.

As soon as the elderly witch noticed me, she gave me a warm smile, though her eyes showed me she knew. They all did. And their looks were hardly discrete.

Wren quickly rushed over to her, probably explaining what she thought I needed, leaving Draco and me helplessly standing around until she eventually came back with the draught in her hands.

"Open wide," She smiled weakly, and I did just that before she let a few drops of it fall onto my tongue.

It tasted bitter, quite unpleasant, really, but I could immediately feel my body relax and the tension that had accumulated in my head sweep away.

Though, contrary to my belief, instead of staying with us and relieving the uncomfortable silence between us as well, Wren was back at Madame Pomfrey's side not a moment later, looking like they were having a rather serious conversation; eyes darting over to us every now and then.

Draco cleared his throat in an awkward manner, acknowledging the first time we were both genuinely uncomfortable with the silence between us.

And the draught had swept away that part of me that wanted to blame him for something that absolutely wasn't his fault. It pushed me to do what I was too afraid of doing then; Letting it settle in. Acknowledging. Dealing with it.

"I'm sorry."

Our heads snapped in each other's direction as the words left our mouth simultaneously, a sad smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

I tried to mirror it to the best of my abilities, though sighed at how fake it felt.

"Y/n!" Fred's voice had my eyes divert off of Draco's, turning to my left to notice the Weasley boy's distraught face as he hurried over to where we were standing. "Have you seen Wren?"

Wren?

"Yeah, she's over there. With Madame—" I couldn't even finish my sentence before he turned on his heel to head into the direction I had pointed him in. My brows furrowed at his rush, and I quickly followed him over while hushing a quick "What about her?" after him.

He turned his head but kept on walking as he muttered a quick "It's her mum—" before he cut himself off, almost running into her himself. "Wren!" He exclaimed once more, eyes wide. "It's your mum, she—" He cut himself off, taking a deep breath, and Wren's eyes widened before her brows furrowed like mine had.

And with a nod in the direction he came from, prompting her to follow him, he turned around and started hurrying back. Wren shot me a quick, confused glance before following Fred.

And, as confused as ever, I grabbed Draco by the wrist and rushed after them.

Why would Delphia be here? In between our fallen and injured?

It was a quick walk over, and my eyes caught Molly Weasley's fiery red hair before they latched onto a dying Delphia Inkwood by her side.

The circles under her eyes were dark, face scattered with cuts, bruises and dirt. I took all that in with furrowed brows before my eyes trailed further down her body to find a large, black wound on her stomach.

It looked burned to a crisp, surely the doing of a nasty curse that had hit her.

Wren fell to her knees beside her mother as soon as she got there, brows still knitted together tightly as she clutched her hand in hers. Delphia groaned at the motion, and my breath hitched at the first sign she was still alive, even.

"There's nothing I can do, love. I'm so sorry," Molly muttered softly, lifting her eyes to meet Wren's. She noticed the confusion on her face immediately. "We fought side by side for a while; that nasty thing was supposed to hit me— would've hit me if it wasn't for your mum," She explained quietly, shaking her head in disbelieve as her eyes fell back onto Delphia.

Wren opened her mouth to say something but closed it again when she realised she didn't know what to say. "'Didn't even know her before this... I'm just glad somebody knew she's your mum," She sighed, and Wren's eyes dragged back down to look at her mother.

The latter had opened her eyes now; there was no way you'd miss how weak she looked when she squeezed Wren's hand a little tighter, tears already rolling down her daughters face.

"But you—" Wren breathed out weakly, the sheer confusion and hurt in her voice undeniable.

"If I didn't, he would've approached you. And I knew—" Delphia began, voice weak and hoarse as she forced the words out of her throat. It was a lot of effort for her to even speak; we could all tell.

"—I knew you'd never say yes to Him. I raised you too well to do so," She forced a weak laugh out of her throat, which turned into a groan as soon as it began rattling through her body. I almost winced at the sight and sound.

My own tears prickled in my eyes at the state of her. After all, Delphia Inkwood and her family were the first hint towards a normal family-life I ever had after my own parents died.

They took me in, fed me and laughed with me as if we had known each other for years ever since Wren first took me home with her over the holidays.

That was four years ago now.

"You're the best kind of stubborn, my love," Delphia nodded slightly, a smile on her lips as she looked at her daughter for what would be one of the last time's. "And I'm so proud of you. Your mother is so proud of you, do you hear me?" A single tear rolled down her cheek.

A sob had Wren's whole body shake heavily before a gut-wrenching cry escaped her mouth. Her body gave in on itself as she fell over her mother's, vigorously shaking her dead body in hopes she wasn't dead, after all.

As I kneeled beside her, and her arms wrapped around me quicker and with more force than I had anticipated, I realised that this war was as unpredictable as it could get.

You didn't know how long after you had comforted one of your peers for loosing a loved one, it would be you who needed comforting for loosing one yourself.

And you didn't know how long after you broke down for losing a loved one, you had to pull yourself together to seem strong for your friend who had lost one, too.

And it was awful and twisted, and I was sick of seeing anybody else's loved ones die. 

A/N: Justice for Delphia <3

It's funny because the cursed child just doesn't exist to me, and therefore I completely forgot they had a Delphia in there LOL don't worry; they are very much separate characters or whatever 

I had this idea around a month or two ago and cried writing It down in my notes idek just the fact wren spent the last months with her mother still alive hating her </3 pls that's so sad 

Anyway, once you read this, my new book will be out!!! go read "Moira." khjgfnjkbh 

Going live on my Instagram silksel in like half an hour or something <3

ALSO, tomorrow is our last official chapter up in this bitch :( Only the epilogue following on Saturday IM SO SAD WTF IT JUST HIT ME (I hope I'll be seeing some of you in Moira to make the comments as good as they are on potter, but no pressure hehe) 

Love you <3