"Gratitude" by Redcandle17

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and elements from the Harry Potter series belong to J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.

Warning: dub-con, "Voldemort won" scenario, general misery.

"I expect you to be grateful," Warrington says. He gives her wand back to her.

Alicia is too numb to answer him, to do anything other than Disapparate away from the bloody battlefield. Two years ago the grounds of Hogwarts were filled with youthful exuberance. One year ago all that life was replaced by fear and the students deserted. Today it's the scene of a slaughter.

She goes home and curls up on her bed in her empty house. Her mother was killed during a Death Eater assault on the Magical Law Enforcement headquarters last year. Her father died of a heart attack during an Inferi attack four months ago. There's no one to disturb the gloomy silence.

She drifts to sleep and when she awakes, Alicia can think and feel again. She takes a long, hot shower, scrubbing her skin until it chafes and shampooing her hair three times. It's a hot summer night, but she pulls on her favorite winter pajamas.

Then she heads downstairs. She hasn't eaten since breakfast, but she's not hungry. Besides, it'll take longer to get drunk if she has a full stomach. Alicia opens the liquor cabinet and pours herself a glass of brandy. Just as she raises the drink to her lips, she hears the sound of someone Apparating in.

Her wand is on the floor of her bedroom. Alicia doesn't run upstairs. She takes a sip of her brandy and waits to be found. She can't muster any interest in who her unexpected guest could be.

It's Warrington, her old Hogwarts classmate and Quidditch rival from back when such things mattered.

He doesn't say anything, just looks at her.

She knows what he wants, why he let her live. She finishes her drink in one gulp and walk towards him. The alcohol hits her bloodstream as she reaches him and she stumbles. He steadies her. She doesn't even have a moment to catch her breath before he grabs a handful of her hair, jerks her head back, and kisses her roughly.

He fucks her hard and fast on the floor of her living room. Alicia stares at the family portrait on the wall, at the painting of a dense jungle landscape, at the framed photo of herself the day she left Hogwarts.

When he's laying breathless next to her, she finally cries. She doesn't know whether she's crying for herself, for her parents, for her friends whose cold bodies now littered the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, or for a world that has seen its Chosen One die at the hands of a dark wizard whose name they dared not speak.

At first she's not even aware of Warrington pressing his lips to her forehead. He strokes her hair, but he doesn't say anything.

She doesn't try to stop the tide of tears streaming onto his chest. He carries her up the stairs. She doesn't tell him where it is, but he finds her bedroom. He deposits her on her bed and she expects him to leave. She's surprised when he lays next to her.

For the first time that night, Alicia looks into his eyes. Warrington looks away. He mutters a spell and the lights go off. He cuddles her and kisses her cheek. "Go to sleep, sweetheart," he says gently.

She didn't expect gentleness and comfort from a Death Eater, and she's not certain she wants it. But she needs it and she's grateful to him.

End