The Years of Riddle

Chapter Sixty-Nine | Hogwarts, May 2, 1998

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Hogwarts, May 2nd 1998

         Morning light was nearing, and Silas was weary of fighting. He had already lost so many, had been horrified to see Violet and he family among them, his father and Hal – all gathered to fight to protect their home, to protect each other, to end it all, once and for all.

But where was Harry?

The question bothered him as they fought, friends falling like petals from flowers, white and glassy eyed. He watched Molly and Arthur lose their son, cried in the arms of their other children. He had found Remus and Tonks, laid them beside one another in the hall. He sat in the Great Hall now, Ivy's head in his lap as Inesa stitched a gash in her arm. She was one of the few healers around, and was very busy aiding people. She had tear tracks on her cheeks, and she insisted Ivy keep her eyes closed so she didn't see the new ones forming as she aided her youngest daughter.

He watched Orson with his fiancée, Sybil, Anthea with her husband Rolland, and wondered if he would lose them all. Magnus had never made it to the Room of Requirement, instead fighting alongside them, as had Ginny. Inesa had been furious, but admitted she was proud – their children were brave, and good fighters. Silas wished they had never had to fight at all, but here they were.

Anthony came to sit beside him, as Ivy had dropped off into a fitful sleep. Silas ran his fingers through her blonde curls, remembering what she had been like as a little girl. He had never imagined this is what she would be doing, at only nineteen years old.

Silas' father had gone completely silver now, and his glasses were always a little crooked; he had a scruffy beard and two worn wedding rings – well, one was a promise ring to Hal, but everyone called it a wedding ring anyhow. Silas was comforted by Anthony's presence, as he always had been.

"I think..." said Silas finally, slowly, "That I will see him tonight."

Anthony sighed. "I think, my son, that you are right. I wished, when you were a child, that you would never have to be anywhere near him."

"But I was," he said softly, "That day, a year after Mamma died – he came to the London apartment, looking for her. You asked me to trust you."

"And you did, for as long as you could." Anthony frowned, "I wish it had all been different, I spent years wishing – but the past cannot be changed, I have learned to accept what I have, and realized it is more than enough. I have the most wonderful son, the best grandchildren – because of a monster who manipulated a beautiful woman, who deserved only the best. But beauty blooms in the worst conditions sometimes, as we have learned." He gave Silas a one armed hug, and then stood. "I am going to see if Inesa needs any help, okay?"

"Okay Pa – I love you." Silas added, and Anthony smiled.

"I love you, too Sy."

Silas watched his father walk away, and Ivy stirred in his lap. That's when they heard it, someone was shouting –

"They're coming!" someone cried, "From the forest, they're coming – all of them!"

Everyone left the Great Hall in a wave, leaving the dead beneath the fabricated rising sun; they poured out the front doors, Silas and his family pushing to the front, with the Weasley's and Hermione, countless others. Silas gripped his wand, thought of his mother kneeling by his bed, saying a prayer. What he would do for a God in this moment.

The Death Eaters approached like a grounded storm cloud, moving steadily towards the castle. And at the front, Hagrid – and in his arms....

Silas felt a chill settle through him, his throat closed up – it couldn't be, not now, not after all they had lost already.