Escaping Darkness [Book 1 of Through Darkness and Light]

Chapter 32: Recovering

A/N: Super short chapter, but it's almost over...will be posting the epilogue in a few minutes. Then...*drumroll* The sequel! I may or may not have it up by the end of the week. If not, it will be two weeks before y'all get it. Sorry. :3

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It was impossible to tell that there had been a wedding not a few hours before. Smoke billowed from piles of ashes, where human beings once stood. Dark rain clouds threatened to crowd out the dying sunset, and spill their contents over the dismal scene below.

In the hastily dimming light, grey figures could be seen picking their way gingerly amongst fallen friends and family members, looking for any injured amongst the dead. Here and there, there was a muttered curse, and the body of a much-hated Death Eater was ruthlessly kicked.

A few of the figures slowed, then bowed their heads mournfully, continuing past the most devastating sight of all.

Draco was now alone, with the body of his new husband clasped in his arms. Hermione, Blaise, and Pansy had all gone to join the search for survivors, knowing he needed to be alone in his grief.

And so he was. Alone. Utterly alone.

He quietly keened his Inima's name, feeling the grief breaking him. Pain, such as he'd never known before, overwhelmed him, and he clutched Harry's cold body tighter to him. "Why?" he cried. "Why did you do this? Harry, you stupid git! You left me...you promised we would be together forever...you broke your promise...you can't leave me..."

"Draco."

He didn't look up, his eyes staring blankly in front of him, as black robes billowed out in front of his line of vision. Severus, his godfather, knelt in front of him, his face lined with a sadness Draco had never seen before on him.

"Draco, I...I'm so sorry."

No response from Draco, except another anguished sob. Severus sighed, and he gently reached out, drawing Draco and his burden into his arms. He rocked the distraught boy in his arms, murmuring soothing words of comfort.

"He's gone," Draco whispered, after a while. "He's gone...I didn't marry him, just to come to this...why did he have to die, Severus? Harry never hurt anyone...he never wanted to be the bloody Savior of the bloody Wizarding World...why him?"

"I don't know," Severus replied quietly. "I don't know..."

"Severus?" The Potions Master looked up, to see Dumbledore's shocked, and horror-stricken face. "What happened here? I just managed to get here with reinforcements...was it Voldemort? Is he still here?"

Severus shook his head. "It's over, Albus," he said slowly. "We won. I can't return to the ranks of the Death Eaters...they know my secret. They learned it, when Harry killed the Dark lord."

Dumbledore knelt down haggardly. "How did he die?" he murmured, his blue eyes not twinkling as he gazed at Draco, who continued to have a firm grasp on Harry.

"He killed himself," Draco rasped. Both men recoiled in shock. "Professor Dumbledore...you know we had yet to find the seventh...thing, yes?" Dumbledore nodded. "Harry...he could always sense them, somehow. It's how we found each one. When he killed Voldemort...he felt something enter him. He was the final one. He destroyed himself...to destroy Voldemort."

Severus had no idea what they were talking about, but he understood the gist of it. "He sacrificed himself, to save us all," he muttered. "Bloody Gryffindors and their masochistic heroism."

Dumbledore bowed his head out of silent respect for their fallen hero. "Voldemort probably had no idea," he sighed. "Otherwise he wouldn't have been so haphazard in attempting to kill Harry."

Draco nodded slightly. "I can't believe he's gone," he breathed, his chest aching. Now he knew what heartbreak felt like.

Dumbledore and Severus stood, the latter pulling Draco up with him. Harry sagged against Draco, who hugged his body tightly.

"Draco, come. The survivors will need all the help they can get...it's time to say goodbye. We must bury him."

"Let me...let me say goodbye alone." Draco's voice was heavy with resignation and loss. The two older men looked at each other with hollow expressions, then walked away silently. Draco took Harry up into his arms, bridal-style.

"I never thought that my wedding day would be the saddest day of my life," he murmured softly, beginning to walk towards the Burrow. The building had miraculously escaped major damage, only being singed in a few places from a few stray spells. "I never thought that I would lose my husband, before I ever got to truly be married to him. I know why you had to kill yourself, Harry...but couldn't there have been a better way? One where I didn't have to lose you?" Tears streamed down his cheeks. "Harry, I love you...there's a hole where you should be...but you aren't." He looked down at the pale face, with closed eyes and slightly parted lips. Slowly, Draco leaned down, and brushed his lips across the cold skin of Harry's. "I will never love another," he whispered. "Goodbye, my beloved Inima. Goodbye, Harry."

~ + ~

It was a sad day for everyone, but it was Mrs. Weasley who was hit hardest. Less than a year after losing her youngest son, she had also lost another son in Harry. In the chaos of evacuating people, Charlie had been lost too. The twins were more solemn and grief-stricken than ever before, as they were struck with the loss of Ron, Harry, and Charlie alike. Bill sought his solace in his fiancée's arms, while Mr. Weasley miserably consoled his wife, while Hermione and Draco attempted to find comfort in each other, looking through the album Hermione had presented Harry with a week before.

Pansy and Blaise found themselves powerless to do anything, except sit, and occasionally run around getting whatever someone needed. Severus and McGonagall tallied the total of deaths and wounded.

It was heart wrenching. Blaise was one of the few who had received minor wounds, and were still able to move around. Others weren't so lucky. Tonks had been badly mauled by Fenrir Greyback, though the wounds hadn't been infected with the werewolf gene. Mudungus Fletcher was currently unconscious, lucky to have survived the Sectumsempra curse. Lupin was being rushed to St. Mungo's for nerve damage caused by the Cruciatus. Many others had yet to receive help.

And many others no longer needed the help. The death toll was low, for such a large battle, but it was devastating, nonetheless. Mad-Eye Moody, for all his constant vigilance, lay peacefully resting amongst the dead. Kingsley Shacklebolt, and his own fiancée, lay dead as well, happily nestled in each other's arms.

Many Death Eaters were dead as well, and their wounded were roughly piled up, and left to wait for medical treatment. There were a few well-known Death Eaters amongst the dead: the Carrows, Selwyn, Nott Jr. and Sr., Rudolphus Lestrange, and a few others.

But the most dangerous had escaped. Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, Antonin Dolohov...they were all still out there.

The war was over, but its consequences would linger on.