What the Room Requires

Chapter Twenty-Two

            Draco was gone. He’d left with the Death Eaters after the raid—Harry had seen him. I had no idea where he would go. Perhaps he would return home and stay with his parents. Or perhaps, when the school was inevitably taken over by darker authorities, he would come back. But I wouldn’t be here, even if he did.

I lifted my eyes to the darkened sky. At the edge of the mountains, which looked like jagged black giants in the distance, the white moon rose. I saw just the edge of it. I shivered, gazing at its silvery brilliance, and wrapped my arms tighter. A song came to my mind—one I didn’t remember memorizing. But I knew every word.

“Once the sun did shine,” I whispered.

“Lord, it felt so fine

The moon a phantom rose

Through the mountains and the pines

And then the darkness fell

The moon's a harsh mistress

It's hard to love her well…”

            Harry was going after the remaining horcruxes, wherever on earth they might be. At first, he tried to tell Ron and me that he would be going alone, and he would send us word when he could. Of course, we assured him that he was barking, and that we were going along with him regardless of what he said or did or thought. He didn’t fight us too hard. I knew how he dreaded being alone. And his trying to convince us that he would go on without us to keep us safe was only a testament to how deeply he loved us. And I wasn’t about to abandon someone who loved me. I was incapable of it. So was Ron.

            I studied the shadows of the moon—the mountains and craters and bright white plains, and leaned my hands on the cool railing.

The nights were about to get deep and dark, and the days would grow harsh and bitter. I tried to imprint this image into my mind—the sight of the great, sturdy towers beneath me, the sparkling lake, and the ancient, unmoving mountains. My home—the dearest place to my heart next to my own house and family. I resolved to save this picture, right here, to pull up in my mind when I was lying out in the wilderness, unable to sleep, chasing after pieces of that demon soul, hoping just to survive from one day to the next until the task was done.

 “I fell out of her eyes

I fell out of her heart

I fell down on my face

I tripped and missed my start

I fell, and I fell alone

And the moon's a harsh mistress

And the sky is made of stone…”

VVVVVVVV

HERMIONE

Many dark and difficult days later…

            “That sword is meant to be in my vault at Gringotts—how did you get it?”

            I whimpered in response, agony dancing up and down my shaking left arm. Bellatrix Lestrange sat on top of me, her rotten teeth gnashing in my face, her ragged hair brushing my forehead, her bony hands clenching my wrists.

            “I…I don’t…” I shook my head, trying to speak through my uncontrolled sobbing.

            “How did you and your friends…” she hissed—and her voice built to a roar. “Take that from my vault?!”

            “I didn’t take anything!” I keened. “Please—I didn’t take anything!”

            Bellatrix hissed something at me—I couldn’t understand her—and then I couldn’t even think.