✧ ｡ﾟ･ ❝ nothing's going to be
the same now, is it? ❞ ✧ ｡ﾟ･
ALL LESSONS WERE SUSPENDED, and all examinations were postponed. professor dumbledore's death had caused a great stir— especially since he was killed by professor snape. some students were even hurried away from hogwarts by their parents over the next couple of days that followed. the patil twins were gone before breakfast on the following morning, and zacharias smith was quickly escorted from the castle by his haughty-looking father. maeve couldn't say that she was too upset to see him go.
some excitement was caused among the younger students, who had never seen it before, when a powder-blue carriage the size of a house, pulled by a dozen giant winged palominos, came soaring out of the sky in the late afternoon before the funeral, and landed on the edge of the forest.
everyone else though— (the seventh years, sixth years, fifth years, fourth years and third years) recognised the carriage to be of the ones that the ladies of beauxbatons had travelled to hogwarts in two years prior. a gigantic and olive-skinned black-haired woman had descended the carriage steps and threw herself into the waiting hagrid's arms.
meanwhile, a delegation of ministry officials, including the minister of magic himself, were being accommodated within the castle. harry had been diligently avoiding contact with any of them. he was sure that, sooner or later, he would be asked again to account for dumbledore's last excursion from hogwarts.
"do you think draco would've done it?" hermione asked. the four friends had gathered at the astronomy tower the next morning, just as the sun was beginning to go down, casting an orange light across the sky.
"no." harry shook his head. "no, he was lowering his wand. in the end it was snape. it was always snape..." harry breathed in, his hands clutching the railing. "and i did nothing." he passed the locket into hermione's hands. "it's fake. open it."
hermione did so, clicking it open and pulling out an old sheet of parchment. "to the dark lord. i know i will be dead by the time you read this, but i want you to know that it was i who discovered your secret. i have stolen the real horcrux in an attempt to destroy it as soon as i can. i face death, in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more. signed, r.a.b." she frowned. "r.a.b?"
"i don't know." harry shrugged. "but whoever they are, they have the real horcrux. which means it was all a waste. all of it."
"there are a couple of reasonably well-known wizards with those initials— rosalind antigone bungs... rupert 'axebanger' brookstanton... but they don't seem to fit at all." the muggle-born shrugged. "judging by that note, the person who stole the horcrux knew voldemort, and i don't think i would ever be able to find even a shred of evidence that bungs or axebanger ever had anything to do with him..."
"you could do," maeve encouraged softly. "i mean, you were sort of right about the half-blood prince business."
harry looked confused, so hermione opted to explain. "it's just that i was right about eileen prince once owning the book. you see... she was snape's mother."
"i thought she wasn't much of a looker." ron joked.
"when maeve and i went to the library the other night, we were going through the rest of the old daily prophets... and there was an announcement about eileen prince marrying a man called tobias snape. and then, another announcement saying that she had given birth to a—"
"—murderer." harry spat.
"well, yes... so... i was sort of right. snape must have been proud of being 'half a prince'. tobias snape was a muggle from what it said in the prophet."
"yeah, that fits," harry nodded. "he'd play up the pure-blood side so he could get in with lucius malfoy and the rest of them... but really, he's just like voldemort. pure-blood mother, muggle father... ashamed of his parentage, trying to make himself feared using the dark arts, gave himself an impressive new name—lord voldemort, the half-blood prince— how could dumbledore have missed i—" he broke off, looking out at the landscape. harry could not stop himself dwelling upon dumbledore's inexcusable trust in snape... but as hermione had just inadvertently reminded him, he, harry, had been taken in just the same. in spite of the increasing nastiness of those scribbled spells, he had refused to believe ill of the boy who had been so clever, who had helped him so much.
"i still don't get why he didn't turn you in for using that book." maeve shrugged. "he must've known where you were getting it all from?"
"he knew," harry nodded bitterly. "he knew when i used sectumsempra. he didn't really need legilimency... he might have even known before then, with slughorn talking about how brilliant i was at potions..."
"but why didn't he turn you in?" ron asked.
"i don't think he wanted to associate himself with that book." hermione suggested. "i don't think dumbledore would have liked it very much if he'd known. and even if snape pretended it hadn't been his, slughorn would have recognised his writing at once."
"i should've shown the book to dumbledore,' the potter boy sighed. "all that time he was showing me how voldemort was evil even when he was at school, and i had proof that snape was, too—"
"you're putting too much blame on yourself, harry. it's not your fault. you didn't know." maeve assured her best friend.
hermione hummed in agreement. "i thought the prince seemed to have a nasty sense of humour, but i would never have guessed he was a potential killer..."
"none of us could've guessed snape would... you know.." ron mumbled.
silence fell between them, each of them lost in their own thoughts.
"what do you think next year is gonna be like, ron?" maeve asked quietly, looking up at her friend. "i have a bad feeling about all of this."
the red-headed boy shrugged. "i'm not sure. but this is the start of something new."
"ron's okay with it, you know." hermione told harry. "you and ginny." she glanced back at ron and her girlfriend, who were conversing quietly. "if i were you, when he's around, i'd keep the snogging to a minimum." she smiled teasingly.
harry chuckled a little, but then his face went stoic. "i'm not coming back, hermione. i've got to finish whatever dumbledore started. and i don't know where that'll lead me, but i'll let all three of you know where i am, when i can."
"i've always admired your courage, harry." hermione nodded, hair waving in the wind. "but sometimes you can be really thick. you don't really think you can find all those horcruxes by yourself, do you? you need us, harry."
maeve got up from her seat, with ron following after her, approaching the pair. "all we've got is eachother. we've got to stick together."
"we're all here for you."
harry nodded solemnly, and hermione clutched her girlfriend's hand, the four friends all looking out at the horizon for the last time.
"i've never realised how beautiful this place is."
fawkes, dumbledore's flaming-red phoenix flew through the cloudy sky, cawing loudly.
"nothing's going to be the same now, is it?"