They hesitated at the door. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lauren stood at the doors to the Great Hall, where everyone from the battle had come to regroup. Finally, Hermione gathered the courage and opened the door. As they entered Lauren immediately ran through a checklist in her mind. 

Sirius? There- sitting on one of the bleachers with a worried expression on his face and his hands clasped with his elbows resting on his knees. He wasn't hurt, as far as Lauren could see. 

Remus? There- two rows behind Sirius with one leg propped up and wrapped in bandages. He had one arm slung around Tonks who was curled up beside him. She went through the list, breathing a small sigh of relief as she spotted each person. Marian, running around with Fawkes, helping to heal the wounded. Kingsley, having a heated discussion with Mcgonagall. But then she spotted the Weasley's. The red-headed family was crowded around one of the bodies on the ground. Lauren went one by one, counting them until she realized who was missing. No. she thought as Ron rushed over to his family. He can't be. I protected him! No! But the Thestrals couldn't save everyone. George's cries became clear in her ears and she felt her eyes filling. Fred was dead. Pushing away the grief, Lauren searched frantically with her eyes. Searching for the person that she knew she could lean on. There. In the corner of the room, tucked away from the rest, was Colin. He too, looked around anxiously, searching. Lauren ignored everything else in the room after she spotted him. She made her way towards him, the grief she was holding in growing larger by the second. He jumped to his feet when she reached him, his eyes staring into hers, seeing all the emotion she was holding in. In another scenario, she might've laughed at how they looked. They were battle-worn alright. Colin's clothes were covered in dust and dirt and they were torn. His face was smudged with ash and dried blood. Lauren wasn't any better. She had a large bruise and a decent cut on her face from her duel with Dolohov. Her knife was still stained with his blood and others. Her wrist was practically slit open and was still bleeding, even though it had been at least an hour since the duel with her father. Her hair had streaks of blood and dirt running through it and it had grown long in the months she'd been on the run. Her eyes were clouded with sadness and despair. 

"Who?" Colin asked. Forcing the word past the lump in her throat was one of the hardest things Lauren had done all night. 

"Fred." she gasped. Wordlessly, Colin pulled her into a hug and she collapsed into his arms. She sobbed into his shoulder as the rest of the world died away. My brother is dead, she kept thinking, but Colin is here. Colin will make it better. Indeed he did. He provided the shoulder she needed to cry on. He didn't say anything, but he held he close, and that said more then his words ever could. After a while, Lauren recomposed herself and took a deep breath. Now was not the time to wallow in grief and despair.

 "Who else is dead?" she asked in a shaky voice. 

"Lavender Brown," Colin said slowly. "Those are the only two we knew." Lauren nodded. 

"I should probably let Sirius know I'm alright." she said, reluctant to leave Colin's presence. He nodded.

 "Do you want me to come with you?" he asked. She shook her head. "Alright. Well, I'll try to get Marian over to you. You're going to need stitches on your arm." he noted. Lauren frowned and glanced at her arm. She didn't remember cutting it, but now it stung painfully as she walked towards Sirius. He glanced at her as she approached, then did a double-take and lept to his feet, barreling into her. 

"Oh thank Merlin." he said in  relief. "I thought - I was afraid for a minute that you - that you'd - Oh forget it, I'm just glad you're alright." Lauren offered him a small smile as his eyes widened. "Are you alright? No you're not, well, you're better than Remus, but still! What happened to your face? and your arm! Oh Merlin." he rambled on. Lauren smirked at his worried rambling, and as he ran on, she examined him, thankfully making sure that he was fine. Remus looked on with a small grin, noting how Sirius's chatter sounded a lot like Lauren's worrying. 

"I'm fine Sirius, Really! It'll heal."She insisted. He looked at her skeptically, a look so much like Lauren's that Remus wondered if he got it from her or she got it from him. "There's something I have to tell you though," Lauren continued. "I killed Wormtail." Sirius and Remus froze. After a moment of silence, Sirius spoke. 

"I told you not to go after him." he said softly. 

"I didn't! I just saw him and one thing led to another and next thing I knew I was hanging out a window on the seventh floor with him holding on to my ankle and I lost my grip and was caught by a hippogriff and he wasn't so lucky." she recalled. 

"Hold up. What happened?" Tonks said in shock. Sirius stared at her in horror. 

"Stop it Sirius, I'm fine, aren't I?" Lauren proclaimed. 

Later.....

After talking, crying, recalling, and hugging with everyone, Lauren left the Great Hall in search of Harry. And she knew exactly where to find him. 

"Take them," Snape's dying voice rang in her head. "Please." There were memories in his tears, and there was only one place in the school one could look at them in. Sure enough, Harry sat alone in Dumbledore's office, breathing in gasps as he realized what he was. Lauren caught the look on his face and stopped. 

"So." she began, breaking the silence. "You know." Harry stared at her. 

"You knew?" he said in disbelief. She nodded. He stared at her for a moment, hurt covering his face. 

"Why - why didn't you tell me?" he demanded. 

"Harry," she began. "Think about it. If you had known your entire life that you were going to die, would you have made friends? Would you have fallen in love? Would you let anyone you cared about get close to you?" He shook his head. "Exactly. You would have been miserable. Dumbledore only wanted the best for you, and so do I. You wouldn't have gotten this far on your own. You needed to know what if was like to be loved and to care for people. It kept you from turning out just like You-Know-Who. That's why we didn't tell you." she explained. Harry took a deep breath and stood up. 

"I'm going to the forest." he declared. Lauren nodded, and put out a hand. 

"If you don't come back," she said slowly. "Then, It has been an honor to call you my friend, and my brother." Harry ignored her hand and hugged her. 

"I'll miss you." he said sadly. "Little sister." Lauren sniffled and hugged him back. "The others," he continued as they broke apart. "Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Sirius - take care of them for me." Lauren nodded. 

"That's a promise I will always keep." she vowed. With that, they walked out of Dumbledore's office. 

A/N: Wow this is the longest part I have ever written in this story. Huh. Well, just wanted to say... 1.6k Reads!! You guys/gals/dragons/muggles/wizards/witches are awesome!!! I just want to say thank you to all the people who comment on how amazing they think my writing is, Thank you so much! I love that you love Lauren and her story!