It was eerily silent, and all you heard were gut-wrenching sobs that sounded far away. You swore you heard someone sobbing, "Percy, what am I supposed to do? I lost both of them. I can't...I can't survive this..."

Everything felt hazy and distant, and there was an odd ringing in your ear. You couldn't make sense of what you were hearing and feeling. What just happened?

You opened your eyes and found that a hazy blue bubble had formed around Fred and yourself. You were sitting on the floor, slumped against Fred's shoulder who was sitting beside you with his eyes still closed. You blinked slowly and realized that there was a bright light shining below your eyes.

You looked down to see that your locket from Sirius was glowing a bright blue. His words echoed in your mind: "Keep it close to your heart always, and it will protect you in your most dire moments."

Fred stirred from beside you. You looked over at him to find him staring at you with wide eyes hidden underneath his soot-coated face. You were certain you looked the same. He gulped, "Are we dead?"

You shook your head at him and scanned your surroundings. You murmured, "I don't think so."

Fred pinched his arm and yelped quietly when it hurt. You stepped forward and wondered, "Is that...rubble?"

The ginger-haired boy began to examine that space outside the blue bubble as well. He nodded and confirmed, "It is rubble. We're surrounded by it. I think the wall blew up next to us."

"But my locket protected us," You vocalized.

Your discoveries came to a halt as retching sobs from somewhere outside the dome of debris became even louder. You and Fred made panicked eye contact as you both recognized the sobs' owner.

You screamed, "George! George! Can you hear me?"

Neither George nor Percy seemed to hear you as Percy panicked, trying to figure out how to comfort his younger brother amidst his own grief.

You and Fred both began screaming louder at George's horrible cries, tears gathering in your own eyes to hear George so broken. Your voice cracked as you called for George, hoping someone would hear you and realize that you were alive.

You kept screaming for George and Percy until Percy questioned, "Do you hear that? I swear I just heard something from inside there."

George began frantically yelling, "Fred! Y/N! Can you hear me?"

You both screamed out the affirmative as you tried to move as close to his voice as possible.

Percy promised, "We'll get you two out of there, just a minute."

As you and Fred were waiting to be unburied, you heard Thelma frantically demand, "What happened? ...My God, where is Y/N?" Her voice cracked at the end as she took in the destruction in the room and the tears still streaming down George's face.

George and Percy quickly recruited her to help, and you nearly cried when light began to break through. You cheered, "I see light! You're close!"

It took only a few more minutes before the three of them had moved away the last of the debris, all of them in tears once it had been cleared away enough to see you and Fred standing inside your bubble of protection.

As the last chunk of the wall was shoved away, the necklace stopped glowing and the shield dropped.

George jumped into your circle then and crushed the two of you into a hug as he cried about how scared he had been. You kept apologizing for how badly shaken he was, but he wouldn't let you apologize for it. He was so glad you were both okay.

Thelma put her hand to her forehead once she saw the two were safe and unharmed amidst the wreckage. She couldn't believe her eyes, and all of the chaos was starting to get to her. She stood back as George enveloped the two of you in a hug, still trying to process the loss she almost had as well.

Fred pulled away from your three-way group hug minutes later and stared at you seriously. He sighed, "I don't know how I'll ever repay you for this, Potter. I should have been dead. If not for your necklace, I would have been crushed in all this wreckage."

That comment made another sob tear through George's chest. You pulled him close and rubbed your hands up and down his sides. You gave Fred a gentle smile to acknowledge his comment, but you knew that George was your primary focus now. You kept rubbing his sides and running your fingers through his hair until he calmed down again. You kept whispering, "It's okay, love. We're both okay. See?"

George fluttered open his eyes and relaxed at the sight of both you and Fred standing beside him. He tried not to think about what almost happened anymore because he couldn't bear the thought of it. He didn't know what he would have done if he had lost his best friend and his soulmate in one terrible moment. Once he began focusing on the fact that you and Fred were still here, he regained control of his emotions.

Just in that moment, Voldemort's voice rang out in all of your minds, telling Harry to come to the forest alone and shaming him for the deaths that weren't his fault. He was guilting Harry into foolishness, and you became instantly terrified for your brother.

You let go of George's hand and immediately demanded, "Thelma, where is he?"

Thelma shook her head and admitted, "I was trying to find both of you in the chaos, but I only made it to you. No one knew where Harry had gone off to."

You put your hand to your mouth and breathed, "I have to find him." You sprinted away from the group as the death eaters all apparated away at Voldemort's command. You kept your wand drawn still as you raced down the halls, asking every student if they knew where Harry was. Everyone shook their head at you sadly.

You reached the Great Hall and found all the students on stretchers who had lost their lives in this war, and you felt vomit rising in your throat. Laying right in front of you was June. You backed out of the Great Hall rapidly with your hand over your mouth.

There was too much going on. Too much death. You just needed to find Harry.

You finally found Hermione and Ron. Hermione had tear stains down her cheeks, and Ron's cheeks were completely drained of color. You sprinted up to them, dirty from dust, smoke, blood, and a few tears, and demanded, "Where's Harry?"

Hermione had a few more tears slip from her eyes as she just stared at you, unsure what to even say.

You knew the answer from this reaction, but you didn't want to believe it. You couldn't believe it. After a few moments of dead air between the three friends, you choked, "He didn't even say goodbye."

You put your hand over your face and hurried away as tears began to cloud your vision. Ron and Hermione called for you, but you ignored them and tore down the corridors of Hogwarts, racing towards the side of the school that faced the forest.

You couldn't breathe as you met the rest of the students outside in front of the school. Everyone was silent and sullen as they stood there, waiting for terrible news. You found George in the crowd and choked, "He went to die, and he didn't even tell me, George."

George pulled you into his chest, just as Voldemort and his inner circle returned to face the crowd. George tried to hold you against his chest more tightly, but you sensed this and ripped from his grasp. Your heart shattered and splintered into an unimaginable number of pieces inside your chest when you looked upon Harry's limp form in Hagrid's arms.

Harry was gone.

//AN: I hope you all have been enjoying the story. There is only one more chapter and the epilogue left, so I'm really excited to conclude this journey with all of you.

I also hope you remember her locket from chapter 27, but I tried to set that up early for those who were paying very close attention haha.

Love you all, and see you in the final chapter soon.

-Lizz//