the last verse ; harry potter [2]

twenty eight ; the galaxy untold

Diana let the question slip off of her tongue. It was all the words she had meant to ask and more.

Vera clutched her daughter's hands within hers. "All in time," she said. This was a wonderfully happy moment, but Diana saw something beneath her mother's eyes: it was a sadness, like the tears the woman was shedding were not tears of joy. There was something painful in her eyes. A kind of catharsis, like the sadness was also joy, and vice versa. "You have no idea how incredibly happy I am to meet you," she said. "This is all I've ever wanted. All I've ever dreamed of."

Diana smiled. Her head was airy. She was so happy. She wondered if it could stay like this forever; she knew it couldn't.

"We don't have much time," said Diana. She wanted just a few more minutes of this. She knew she couldn't. "Above us," she looked toward the ceiling, "people are dying. My friends, my family, they're all dying. I need you to help me."

It was a plead. Begging.

Vera's eyes seemed to fill with a sadness. Around her, a black hole emerged.

"You've been so brave," whispered Vera. "You've been so, so brave."

She said the words with a heaviness that only came when you knew more than you were telling. Vera knew something, something so devastatingly painful.

"I never wanted this for you," she whispered. "I wanted you to be happy. I'm so sorry."

Diana felt her bones crushing. "What do you mean?"

With an urgency, Vera leaned forward, her voice quieter. "Bring me to him. Let me end this for you."

Diana couldn't bear to tell her that she would be dying either way. That her mother's futile attempts would not stop fate.

Diana drew a tired sigh. "I will."

+

The Hogwarts castle was much too quiet. Students covered in ash and blood cleared rubble from the center of the corridors, shoveling paths. Bodies were being recovered from the rubble; she did not recognize any.

Luna was repairing the house hourglasses in the Great Hall. Her usual lively eyes were duller. Her hair was matted in blood and dirt.

"Luna?"

Luna turned. She had just finished returning each sapphire gem to the hourglass. "Diana? You're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," she said quietly. Luna's eyes turned to the woman who stood grandly next to her. Luna opened her mouth to speak, but Diana interrupted her. "Where is everyone?"

Luna's eyes fell. She pointed the doors of the Dining Hall. "I think you'll want to have a look in there, Diana."

There was something so defeated within her voice. So pained. Diana led her mother to the doors and opened them.

Inside, dirtied people busied about. Unconscious and dead bodies were laid to rest in rows where the House tables once were. She saw Professor Slughorn getting a small cut on his face tended to. She saw Madame Pomfrey bustling about with an ashen face, her eyes red, but she was much too busy to cry. She saw a group of red hair toward where the center of the Gryffindor table would be.

"Molly? Arthur?"

Diana's voice echoed throughout the quiet hall. The Weasley turned, sobbing and holding onto each other. Ron and Hermione were there, as were Bill and Charlie and George and Ginny and Percy. They surrounded someone. Diana began to cry.

"Oh god," she said, "Oh, my god."

She ran to the spot they were crowded around, falling to her knees. On a cotton blanket, Fred Weasley was dead.

Diana sobbed to herself. "No, no, no, oh god. . ."

She grabbed Fred's hand. Fred did not wake up. Diana's vision was blurry.

"Oh my god," she cried, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. . ."

"Hey," a feminine voice whispered in her ear. Hermione crouched beside her, holding the girl. "This isn't your fault," Hermione whispered, too quiet for the others to hear. "This isn't your fault."

"Who else?" said Diana thickly, nearly incoherently. "Who else is dead?"

She locked eyes with Hermione for a moment. Silently, Hermione pulled her up and led her a few spaces away. A pink haired woman and a scarred man were rested peacefully beside each other.

Diana freed herself from Hermione's clutches. The world seemed to melt away until it was only silent.

Diana could not breathe. She collapsed in between Remus and Tonks. She gasped for air as she cried. She screamed. She punched the floor until Hermione had to grab her bloodied fist. She yelled for her dead friends. Her dead family. Around her, the Weasleys and her mother stood next to her and cried.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, "I'm so, so sorry."

She thought of Teddy, who was now an orphan. Across the room, she cried for the still-bodied Colin Creevey.

"Harry," she yelled, "Where's Harry?"

"Diana---"

"Where is he?"

Hermione could not speak, so Ron did. "We couldn't stop him."

Diana's heart sank.

"He went to the forest," whispered Hermione. A tear trickled down her nose. "Voldemort called for him, and he went."

Diana felt as if she was dying. She was hollow. She was still sobbing, but it was silent now. She had nothing. She was nothing.

Outside in the courtyard, there was shouting. Dean Thomas poked his head into the room with a weary face. "Everyone, get out here, it's Harry. . ."

Diana stood, stumbling past them all and into the Great Hall. She followed Dean to the courtyard.

An entire army stood before them. Voldemort was at the head, with a howling Hagrid in chains, holding a body---

She saw the mess of black hair. She saw the crooked glasses. She began to run.

"Harry!" she yelled. Her feet were moving on their own. "HARRY!"

Someone snatched her around the middle. Aberforth Dumbledore held her to him as she struggled out of his grasp. "HARRY!"

The rest of the crowd began to file out of the castle to meet the Death Eaters.

"HARRY!" she screamed, crying now, manic. "Oh god, HARRY!"

"Shh, shh," said Aberforth. "It's okay, shh. . ."

Others were yelling behind her. Neville, Hermione, the Weasleys, everyone was yelling.

"Oh my god please wake up. . ." she sobbed. "Oh god oh god oh god. . . HARRY!"

"SILENCE!"

It was the horrible voice of Voldemort.

"Harry Potter is dead!"

The screams and cries behind her were nothing.

"NO!" she screamed. She tried to get out of Aberforth's grasp. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? WHAT HAVE YOU---"

"Silence!" he yelled again, laughing. "You foolish girl! You cannot save him!"

She was dead. She was nothing. She was hollow. She was empty.

Behind her, there were shuffles, then a large, collective gasp. Voldemort's smile slipped right from his face. The Death Eaters were wide-eyed.

Vera Beauregard stepped forward. This moment was the stuff of dreams. The stuff of far-flung hopes.

Voldermort's eyes flickered from red to brown.

"Hello, Tom."