ATHENE {remus lupin}

SIXTY SEVEN

Athene Malfoy sat in between the bodies of Nymphadora Tonks and Fred Weasley sobbing. She was clutching George's hand and leaning into his shoulder whilst he quietly sniffed. Although she was surrounded by the people she loved, she had never felt so empty.

Suddenly all of the pain that she had endured when she was younger felt minuscule and irrelevant. As if the suffering that she had ran away from was nothing compared to what she currently felt. She felt as if she was dead, or as if she could never be happy again. 

No one had spoken any words since Harry left. Ron and Hermione were sat cradling each other in a corner, whispering to each other through tears, and Ginny was sobbing silently on her own. Remus was watching Athene, despite his constant thoughts about Harry, and how he was really all that was left of his oldest friends, his eyes didn't leave the woman once. He had said to her once that she was all he had left, and now he realised that that was the complete truth. His heart hurt for her, he felt everything that she was feeling. Not through his own pain, his own loss, but through hers. He had never felt so close and heartbroken for someone.

He wanted to go to her, to comfort her, but he had no idea what to say to her. All around him was devastation. He felt as if he was reliving Halloween 1981, or reliving the night in the Department of Mysteries. The Battle of Hogwarts was like every heartbreak and death he had witnessed, but amplified. Part of him was glad that James and Sirius weren't alive to see this. He wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Athene met his eye and his heart stopped, as it always did, he didn't know what to say to her, or what to do, so he looked away. When he eventually looked back she was sobbing onto Tonks' lifeless body. Fleur was trying to pull her away but failing.

"Remus," Molly whispered from where she sat beside Fred. Remus looked at her, she looked broken, as if a part of her was missing. But she looked ready to fight, he had never had more respect for the woman. "Go to her," she said. He admired her. Her son was lying dead on the ground, yet she was still worrying for Athene. He thought that only an immensely strong and caring person could do that. He smiled at her sadly.

Remus got up from where he sat and went to kneel next to Athene, the witch didn't so much as look at him or acknowledge his presence. He desperately wanted her to realise that he was there.

"Athene," he muttered to her, trying to grab onto one of her hands. "Come on." The woman pulled away from him and continued to grip onto Tonks, ignoring the sound of his voice.

"Athene, please..."

Still nothing. Fleur was looking at him desperately, mouthing incoherent words at him. There were tears falling from his eyes as he struggled with the woman.

"'thene, please," he begged, taking one of her hands and managing to pull her slightly away from the body. She sat opposite him, cross legged, staring at the floor. There were tears dropping from her cheeks onto the cold, hard, stone.

"Everyone's dead," she croaked, still not looking at him.

Remus swallowed the lump in his throat and shook his head.

"They aren't, Athene, not everyone."

"And I'm a murderer," she whispered shakily. "That makes me just as bad as the death eaters who have killed the people I love..."

Remus was taken aback by her words, he cupped her face and forced her to look at him, she still didn't meet his eye properly "no you aren't, Athene. Never say that. You had to. You saved my life."

Athene sobbed harder at his words and leant into him, "I thought you were dead."

He wrapped an arm around her and sighed, "I'm not, because of you. I'm here, because of you."