Another Casualty

Title: Another Casualty
Series: Last to Know
Author: Jinni
Rated: Pg13
Pairing: Willow/Percy (friendship, still)
Disclaimer: All things BtVS belong to Joss Whedon, et al. All things HP belong to JK Rowling, et al.
Distribution: The normal places.
Warning: Death.
Author’s Notes: #5 in the Last to Know series.
Summary: Willow and Percy lean on each other in the wake of a Death Eater attack.

~*~*~

Would the madness never end?

Willow put a hand to her forehead, trying to think past the emotions that were churning in her body, creating nausea where once there had been none. She felt sickened by the entire mess, heart-weary and drained.

Three dead students. One dead Auror. And two dead bystanders.

Katie Bell was a bystander and now Katie Bell was dead.

She’d only met Katie a handful of times, the first of which had been on an impromptu visit to the Weasley house with Percy. Katie was dating George, of all people, and she’d been visiting as well. They’d hit it off marvelously, meeting every so often in Hogsmeade for tea and chitchat. They’d become friends.

And now that friend was dead. Caught in the crossfire of a Death Eater attack on Hogsmeade.

Willow sniffled, wiping at the tears on her cheeks. Katie was dead. It was so hard to wrap her mind around. One minute the other witch was alive and looking forward to their next meet up and the next –

Dead.

Not just Katie, either. Three students had lost their lives. Willow refused to believe it was coincidence that led the Death Eaters to attack today of all days – one of the regularly scheduled Hogsmeade trips that they took throughout the year. The bustling little wizarding town had been filled with students out just to have a good time.

Now some of them would never have another good time again.

She sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve, not bothering with a tissue. Drawing her legs up into her chair, the young witch stared into the fire as if hoping to find the answers to this madness. The Death Eaters were getting more and more bold with every passing week. The Dark Lord’s resurgence was stifling the lives of every day witches and wizards, inciting terror where once there had been peace and happiness.

Willow shut her eyes, burying her head into her hands as tears flowed freely over her cheeks. She’d been supposed to meet the other witch there, in Hogsmeade, just as soon as she finished up grading the tests from earlier that week. If she’d been just a little quicker… a few minutes earlier…

Then what? Would she have made a difference? Could she have saved Katie just by being there, by lending her support to the witches and wizards that had tried to fight back? She was supposed to be a good witch, a nice and moderately powerful witch. Didn’t that mean that she could have turned the tide? That she could have saved at least her friend?

“Willow? Come on, now. Look at me.”

She blinked through a veil of tears, looking at the man kneeling in front of her. The door to the professor’s lounge stood open across the way, she could see the light from the hallway trickling in. She hadn’t heard it open nor footsteps making their way to her. She hadn’t been aware of anything until she heard his voice and felt his hand on her arm.

“Percy?” she whispered, voice breaking.

“Hey there, luv,” he murmured, reaching up to wipe at her face with a handkerchief he’d produced seemingly from nowhere. “You heard, I take it?”

She nodded, biting back the pain that radiated out from her heart at the mention of the events she’d only just been crying over. “Is George –“

“He’s all right,” Percy sighed, glancing over his shoulder. He pulled his wand from his pocket, summoning a chair from the other side of the room. “Or, he will be. He and Bell were getting quite close.”

“I know,” Willow mumbled, letting her face fall into her hands once more as she fought to hide the tears that were once again streaming over her face. “She owled just the other day to tell me about the date they’d gone on.”

Her words trailed off into silent sobs, grief wracking her body, leaving her shaking and filled to the brim with sadness.

“It was so pointless!” she managed after a few moments of silence during which Percy held her hand. “The students… Katie… that Auror and that poor elderly wizard that just couldn’t get out of the way quick enough!”

“There’s never any point to things like this,” Percy offered gently. “The Death Eaters serve no other purpose with these attacks than to create fear amongst the populace.”

His voice broke, causing Willow to look up, to really see him for the first time since he’d began to comfort her. His eyes were rimmed with red, still shining and wet from the tears he’d shed. There were tracks on his cheeks from the crying he’d done. She felt guilt join the other emotions in her chest. Here she was, blubbering on, and he’d lost a friend, too. Someone that he’d known longer than she had, for that matter.

“Oh, Percy,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

He gave her a thin smile, only his teary eyes betraying the sadness he was consumed with. “She was a good witch.”

“She was,” Willow nodded. “And a good friend… and a good girlfriend, as George found out.”

Percy’s smile wavered at the mention of his brother.

“You should go home and be with him… with them. One of the students was friends with Ginny. She and George will both need their family.”

“And what about you?” Percy frowned at her. “Who’ll look after you if I leave?”

She shrugged. “I’ll be okay.”

He rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “I will not leave you alone at a time like this.”

“Your family needs you.”

His eyebrows rose. “Come with me, then.”

“I couldn’t –“

“You could and you will. Someone needs to look after you.”

She tried to frown at him, tried to glare for what his words implied – that she needed anyone to look after her at all; but found that she couldn’t muster up the energy or desire to do so.

“Look – Mum will love to see you again, circumstances aside.” He slid off of his chair, once again kneeling before her, and took her hands in his. “Please? For me?”

Looking into his eyes, she found that she couldn’t say no.

Because she saw something that she’d not thought to see before.

He needed her right now just as much as she needed him.

~*~End Ficlet~*~