(Y/N)'s POV

I bolted into the room, sprinting past the ministry goons in my way. I came skidding to a halt when I saw the commotion in the Veil room, I scanned the room to find what must have been at least ten Aurors swarming a cackling figure.

My heart dropped as I realised who it was, Antonin Dolohov, as I entered the room, his eyes met mine from the mass of bodies piling on top of him, his laughter intensified, only stopping as the Aurors managed to silence him.

A chill hit my spine like electricity as I saw Moody and Lupin standing over a figure and trying to rouse them awake, as my brain connected the dots, I thought I might pass out.

I couldn't even understand what was happening, just like with Hermione earlier my body comprehended it, but my mind was still trying to rationalise what was happening. I went into shock, my whole body going numb, there were only a few things left I could register.

The breath through my lungs making my mouth dry and my throat close. My heartbeat in my ears both beating so hard I feared it could tear itself apart or just stop altogether. And the clattering of my feet on the cold stone.

I was filled with dread step by step. "It won't be her; it won't be her" I repeated in my head, trying to will it to be true. But as I got closer, I had to come to terms with the fact that I was wrong.

"No!" I called out, almost expecting someone to tell me that it was a trick, a stupid prank she had pulled. But nobody did. I shoved past anyone in my way, nobody dared to try and stop me. "Mum please no..."

Collapsing to my mother's side I watched in horror as Healers swarmed to her side beside me, each of them doing something different, trying to get her conscious, looking for a wound.

This wasn't like the time with Hermione, there was no wound at all, at least nothing visible, it was as if she was fine, there was no injury, whereas Hermione had a faint purple burn.

A Healer speculated it may have been because it was the full force of the curse, which was designed to leave no trace. "How?" was the only thing I could get to come out my mouth as I looked over the room for what did this. Once I found it, I almost wished I hadn't.

Resting just a foot from Dolohov's hand was a very familiar wand that was almost the mirror image of mine on the floor of the room, freed from its owner and used against her. My stomach lurched and my heart tensed. So much it was physically painful.

I watched for what felt like hours as the Healers tried to help her, the whole time racking my brain, thinking of something I could do. But any logical thought I had was quickly drowned out by panic.

Moody was the first to me, he tried to lift me up and away from her, but I wouldn't let him, keeping a firm grasp on my mother's arm. "NO!" I managed to scream out as he attempted to heave me off her.

"There's nothing you can do now boy, just let them work" "Nothing I can do? Nothing I can do?!" The angriest, most hateful part of me bubbled up to the surface, not cynical, seething.

"Who does he think he is! Nothing I can do! Does he think I'm stupid? Of course there's something I can do! I saved Hermione, didn't I?" I kicked him off me and he fell to the floor. "There has to be something I can do!"

Thinking back to the wound Hermione had I repeated "Renervate" but this time, there wasn't an effect she didn't stir. So, it tried again, and again, and again, still nothing. "Say something...please..." I begged.

"Come on, normally I can't get you to shut up," I nudged her, no response, so I listened for something, anything that would indicate a sign of life. A joke, a scoff, even a swearing rant, anything.

Something caught my ear in that moment, I noticed it earlier but quickly dismissed it. But they were still there. It was a symphony of whispers, growing louder and louder and pouring from the Veil.

I still don't quite know why, maybe it was just me grasping at straws trying to find something, but I closed my eyes and let my mind wander to follow them. At first it was just the darkness of my eyelids.

I could still hear everyone around me, I could hear the healers each barking commands at each other trying to stabilise her, I could even still hear Lupin and Moody having a hushed conversation about what to do, but I drowned them all out, listening for only one thing.

Once it got to a point where all I could hear where the whispers, I had a sickening sensation hit my stomach, like I was falling, or a very slow apparition. I was taken out of the room in the Department of Mysteries, the whispers from the Veil were the only sound I could hear.

It was the sensation that clued me in to what was happening, I had felt it a thousand times before, by accident or not. I had just made a mental connection to someone's mind. I followed the whispers into a place I didn't recognise.

It was dark, I couldn't feel the ground beneath me, but it looked like ancient stone, same as the Veil itself. Everything was cold, like I was stepping out for the first time in winter. I breathed out a sigh and I could even see my breath as fog.

I waited there for a few seconds, trying to get my bearings, eventually I caved yelling out "Hello?" Suddenly they were there again, the whispers, in front of me, behind me, surrounding me entirely.

There were so many, I couldn't focus on just one, each of them were trying to divert my attention. Each speaking to me, each trying to tell me a story I couldn't hear, then a more familiar voice made it through. "Pay attention dummy!" Was all it said before it faded.

Then, like an epiphany I remembered everything, why I was here, who I was here for. "Mum!" I called into the dark, almost as soon as I got the word out something appeared in front of me.

It was a light, floating just above my eyeline. "That looks warm" I thought as I reached for it, remembering the day after the graveyard and the sparks that saved my life, when I did, I felt the familiar connection between two minds bridge the gap between me and whatever this spark was.

In front of me, there was a door, it was familiar, I knew that much, and I had seen it plenty of times before, but I couldn't quite remember where from, opening it and stepping inside, I was met with something very curious. But as soon as I entered, I knew where I was.

I was placed in her headspace, what I found was the living room of my house, but it was dark, as if the lights were faulty, the only illumination being the fading sunlight outside, it was just descending into the horizon, somehow I knew that once moonlight hit the window, I wouldn't be able to help.

I looked around frantically for mum, but found nothing, I tried to call out, but I didn't have a voice. Instead the only thing I heard was a light humming of a simple tune I knew from somewhere. Just like the whispers, I was compelled to follow.

I followed the tune into my room, calling for my mother any chance I got, only to be met with no sound. Inside my room I found her, she was sat, cross legged on a chair as she sang, she didn't even notice my arrival.

She looked younger, less worn from stress and age, her eyes slightly brighter than I had ever seen them. I tried to get her attention by tapping her shoulder, but I faded through her and then I understood.

She just kept singing, a simple, if slightly off-key lullaby, observing the scene closer, I noticed she was singing to someone. A young boy laid on my bed, no older than ten, and as he slowly drifted to sleep I noticed she was holding a tiny bundle in her arms and gently rocking it, by the time I realised who they were, the memory faded.

Just as a smile formed on my face, her eyes darted to the exact spot where I was and smiled, I went to talk "Mum we need t-" the breath left me as I felt like I was kicked in the chest, I opened my eyes again and I was left in the cold, dark nothingness, fearing this meant the worst. I found my voice again.

"Please, please I'll give you anything, please!" I begged into the void, suddenly, in a flash, I was somewhere else. I couldn't make out much of the surroundings, but I did hear a voice. I spun to meet it, seeing my mother in tears over a bed that I didn't recognise.

A figure laid on top of the bed, a sheet covering them, I watched as Mum sobbed into the air "Please! Please I'll give you anything, please" was echoed in my mother's voice, a visage of my father standing over her, weeping and shaking. Again, by the time I realised what I was being forced to see, it was gone.

The next memory was so eerily like the last that my stomach jolted, I saw my parents in almost the exact same position, this time I saw myself on a bed, unconscious. It was a room I recognised as the hospital wing.

Examining my own wounds, I soon came to realise what day it was. The lack of one of my hands was a big clue, it was the night I made it back from the graveyard.

Again, she begged, this time as she lightly stroked my face to comfort me as I slept, "Please, I'll give you anything, please..." she whispered, sobbing into the bed next to me, it was when I saw the image of Dumbledore appear in the doorway I realised It must have been minutes before I woke up.

I turned to shout at him for interrupting, but I was standing in emptiness again. I tried to force other memories forward, hoping it would help, that it would give me time to do something.

"Remember when you used to help me sleep with potions?" A memory of stirring a cauldron and the smell of lavender hit my nose. "Yeah, they tasted awful" "Remember when (B/N) taught me to ride a broom?"

The sound of laughter reverberated around me, followed by the pitter pattering of rain. Then an awful feeling hit me, what if this wasn't doing anything, these were memories that were important to me, not her.

"Remember how dad proposed to you?" The sound of clanging metal and joyous celebrations. Followed by some noises that I just wish I never heard, "Gross" I couldn't help myself from muttering, but laughter filled the space after that, a familiar laugh.

"The day I got my letter to Hogwarts?" the spell of muggle party poppers and slightly burnt cake, "I remember you being mad at dad because he said no magic fireworks" With each memory the room got slightly brighter, so I kept going.

"Remember the day you took me to get Bones?" This time it was my voice, clearly much younger, as Mum laughed and chortled in the background, hissing and spitting of a cat was present throughout.

"Ahhhh, get it off me! I can't see!... It's trying to eat me!" My little voice said, then Mums paused her laughter to say, " She's not trying to eat you, you just scared her" and I heard her pull the cat free and coo to it. My voice sounded confused "...she?"

"She was very expensive though" I snorted, Then my voice piped up "Look, she's so skinny and little, she must be hungry" "Yeah, to try and eat you, she must have been, poor things all skin and bones"

"This is the one!" I said brightly "I don't know (Y/N), how about an owl, Like Bob? Look there's a pretty snowy one just there." "Nope. I'm sure!" She sighed and said "Oh fine...here's the money, you can pay the lady for me ok?"

There was a beat of silence then a meek offering of "...welcome to the family..." followed by a hissing noise. Again, the room brightened a little. "Taking dad to Hogwarts? That was fun" surprisingly, it was neither mine nor dads' voices, it was Professor McGonagall of all people.

"(L/N) manners" echoed around the room, then a weird scared sounding noise, "Yes miss" I started laughing despite the circumstances and felt a sudden sharp pain on the back of my head as if someone had slapped me.

I thought to more recent events, "What about Christmas at Grimmauld Place with the Weasley's?" the smell of fireworks and smoke, followed by Mrs. Weasleys voice in a conversation I had never heard.

"You haven't ruined it dear, its just slightly... singed is all" then they both started laughing. I took a breath before my next offering, somehow, I knew this one would be make or break "...Hey mum, remember the time we fought the boogeymen together?"

"Night Dolohov" Mum said triumphantly, so much so I half expected magical fireworks to appear, then it was my voice "Guess he couldn't take the heat" I was just about to make a comment about my own genius when the whole room went dark again and all I could hear throughout the chamber was Dolohov cackling.

This time just like with the first few, the world shifted into a memory. It was the Veil room in the Department of Mysteries, looking around I realised I wasn't in the memory, I turned to see Mum standing over Dolohov looking very smug.

That was when I realised what I was about to see, I tried to argue I didn't need to see this, but I was cut off my a booming, echoing voice that made the walls shake "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" my own voice screamed.

The memory of Mum clutched her head in pain, dropping to one knee, screaming in discomfort. Then I saw a shift as Dolohov's binds broke and he sprinted towards her, ripping the wand from her side and snarling. This time the memory was severed off by a forceful slash of purple light.

My heart sank, my vision blurred, as if I was about to pass out, everything was spinning. "It was me...I'm the reason he..." I started to hyperventilate. I was pulled out of the room as if a rope was tied around my waist. I was left looking into the darkness and falling to my knees on the stone floor.

I was left to my thoughts, "I gave her back the wand, all to save myself, it was my fault" Then, as I wallowed in sadness, a strong force hit me in the side of the face, a punch. A punch I felt I deserved, as payback for one I threw at Grimmauld place. But it did knock some sense into me.

That didn't matter now. The moment had already been and gone, I needed to get her back. This time I pleaded to her directly. "I'll be strong, I'll be strong I promise, please...I'm not ready yet..."

"You can't, you can't let him win, you said you wouldn't ever let him win. You promised. YOU PROMISED!" I shouted, finally breaking down and sobbing into the void. But there wasn't a voice there to comfort me, or the slow caress of a gentle hand on my cheek, no out of key singsong lullaby. I was alone

My eyes where wrenched open and I was back in the Department of Mysteries. As my eyes adjusted to the light again, I expected to see a set of eyes staring up at me and a crooked smile that looked like it was just about to burst into laughter.

Nothing happened. The Healers around her slowly lowered their wands. I don't know how much time passed after that, it could have been a minute or an hour, I didn't care anymore. Moody pulled me to my feet, his face uncharacteristically red and pulled me into a hug.

But it meant nothing. It changed nothing. There were only a few things I remembered after that. The first was being handed a wand, my brothers, by a figure with pink hair that I couldn't make out through my dizziness.

The second was Lupin shouting "Tonks, NO!" as I took it in my hand, pushed past them and rushed to him. As Dolohov was pulled away in chains, I caught sight of him, I clattered to my feet, sprinting at him.

He turned along with the Aurors that were leading him to see a green spark at the end of the wand. "AVADA KEDA-" was as far as I got before the wand flew out of my hand, I tried my best to keep a grip on it, but I guess I couldn't even do that right.

Five Aurors all tackled me, trying to wrestle me to the ground. I tried my best to fight them off, screaming at the top of my lungs, trying to explain to them how much he deserved it, but they wouldn't let me go.

I wanted to transform and rip his throat out, but I couldn't concentrate, I just hated him so much, I wanted him to die so much. Then I heard it again, just barely, laughter. It was muffled by chains, but he was laughing.

He had just ruined my life and that was all he could do. I was finally pinned to the ground, but even though I couldn't see him, I could still hear it, that laughter. In my rage I focused on it. My only connection to the person I hated most in the world.

"Don't worry, I'm going to leave you with something to laugh about." I burned a connection into his head, I didn't even need to see him, I would never forget that face. "I'm going to take my time with this" I promised inside his sick, twisted mind.

As promised, I took my time, digging up all his fears, everything painful, every time he felt cold or alone, every nightmare, all his discomfort. The time he was in Azkaban. I brought it all to the surface, bubbling up as waves of utter terror.

And I left it there, burned into the forefront of his mind. Haunting him, forever, a melody of his life's agonies that he would never be able to get out of his head. He would be tormented with horrors until the day he died or until he begged for the Dementors kiss.

But it didn't stop. He kept laughing, only stopping for a second, then it devolved into a broken howl, almost crying, his voice faltering and spluttering. It made me feel sick just hearing it. I stopped fighting.

Collapsing to the floor and bursting into laughter myself, I realised, if I had just killed him earlier none of this would have happened. One more kick, one more punch, a lucky spell, and the world would have made sense again.