Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Note: Elvish Fairy will be writing the sequel to this little drabble.

Sweet Silence

I don't why I had let my feet carry me back to this place. He had sent the invitation after months of solitude locked in his private hell, and I had been caught entirely off my guard. Maybe I'm losing my touch as a Slytherin, or maybe something happened to change him. I don't even know anymore.

He nods his head in somewhat polite greeting, and I catch sight of the long battle scar down his left cheek. The scar had been caused by a blade, which had nearly cut him in half. Longbottom had stepped in to take the blunt of that particular blow. I had never seen anyone go into such a violent rage as Ronald Weasley had when Neville sacrificed his own life to save his comrade.

I don't when I stopped thinking of the Weaselys as the poorest purebloods in the wizard community. It might have been when Fred and George nearly died to save everything they believed in. It might have been when I saw Ginny holding in her screams from the Cruciatus until the very end. It might have even been when Ron saved me from Father when Father attempted the cut me clean through. I even saw Charlie give his life to save a Slytherin.

The worst thing of all wasn't the death that surrounded us. The worst thing I saw was the crumbling of Hogwart's walls. The enchanted ceiling screamed as it fell upon the tables below, and I screamed with it. I saw tears leak out of the corners of Hermione Granger's eyes as Harry triggered the spell to release the ceiling from its holdings.

No, it wasn't the ceiling itself. It's what the ceiling had landed on. As Harry Bloody Potter's wand lay useless in Voldemort's hands, Snape had jumped in front of the killing curse shot at Potter in the last possible second. Harry pull himself toward the professor and closed his eyes as the ceiling fell. He cradled his bleeding stump of an arm and smiled at me almost sadly as the ceiling crashed upon the three of them.

Ron and I had to drag Hermione away from the crumbling mess as the rest of Hogwarts began to rain down on us. The battle came to a temporary cease-fire as they watched the old school fall to its foundation. When Fawkes fell into the Great Lake below, we knew we had lost more than Harry and Professor Snape.

The battle raged around us still, but I slumped down on the ground and pounded my fists onto the ground until they bled. My lip was split, and my side was a bloody mess, but I ignored the pain as I threw myself back onto the battlefield. My mistake was the cause of Hermione's death.

Ron turns to look at me, but he's holding his voice in. I didn't think I would be able to face him again after Hermione's death, after people had to hold him back as he screamed at me in desperate tears for getting Hermione killed. I couldn't meet with him again after I had seen how much the loss of his two friends had hurt him.

I shake my head slowly and look over the reddish waters of the Great Lake. Fawkes had turned the murky, gray waters into a fiery pit after his fall. The fire now compares to dull red Ron has let his hair grow to now. I can't say I blame the poor bloke, but he hasn't been able to take care of himself now.

He opens his mouth to speak, but he notices my mood and turns to gaze out over the waters as well with the ruins of Hogwarts behind us. I finally notice what's different now about this place since the end of the war. There's no wind anymore. We bathe and revel in the noises around us, and I smile at the irony. There are no sounds.

Sweet silence.