The Dreamer's Curse

A Necessary Sacrifice

[Chapter 27]

‘For the greater good’ was never a phrase Matt thought he would have to repeat to himself before going to bed at night. Everything he did was morally upright…

To a certain religion…

Probably not Buddhism…

Was Atheism counted? 

Nevertheless, here he was about to commit murder—he could not even convince himself that this was a just kill. 

No. 

This was murder. 

This was murder in the first degree.

XXX

Cato had just come back from his three day hunt. He was perched on the windowsill, looking quite pleased with himself. He was supposed to be on his way to the Burrow, but of course, he was taking his time. He gave a loud hoot after I’d gotten dressed.

“Don’t be that way,” I frowned and let him nip my finger. “We’ll see each other soon.” 

Cato gave my finger one last nip before pushing himself off the windowsill and soaring out the window. 

He’ll be fine.

The morning of Harry’s departure from Privet Drive ought to have been only just tinted with anxiety, but when I came down to the kitchen, Draco and Alice were avoiding my eyes, and the newspaper fluttered on the cleared table before them. Danny was sleeping in Draco’s arms, soothed by the quiet.

“What’s going on?” I asked suspiciously.

Draco cleared his throat.

I peered at the newspaper.

“No,” I whispered. There, underneath the main story, with a smaller headline — a slur of other words — was a picture of Papa and Mum and a young Henry. Muggle family murdered, it read. 

The floor disappeared from underneath me, and the pain of shattering glass filled my chest. An eerie sort of silence filled my ears as I struggled to comprehend the paper before me.

“Jane—”

“I…They were just…”

“I know, Jane,” Alice moved to put an arm around my shoulder. “I know.”

“Alice, this can’t be happening…I didn’t even…I didn’t…Get to say goodbye…”

“I know.”

The desolate feeling in my chest was replaced with a fiery loathing. “I’m gonna kill them. Every death eater…I want to…”

Alice shook my shoulders. “Jane, nothing rash.”

“Jane,” Draco said concernedly. He’d taken to wearing short sleeved shirts since the cleansing incident. The Dark Mark had been burned off, and all that was left of it was a white scar shaped like a ring ‘round the place the Mark had been.

“I know,” I muttered, sense taking hold through the fury. “Tonight cannot go wrong.”

“Jane, darling, you must keep going, do you understand?”

I nodded.

“Here,” she reached into her robes and took out a golden pocket watch. “I was saving it for your birthday, but given the circumstances, I should think that it would be of much use to you now.”

I took the watch in my hands. Its hands were like the arrows of my compass, one pointing towards north instead of towards the two dimensional dancing teacups that have replaced the clock’s numbers. The other pointed towards enchanted words etched into the watch—where the number six ought to have been. It currently said ‘time for a proper goodbye.’ That made perfect sense.