We moved Voldemort's body and laid it in a chamber off the Hall, away from the bodies of Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Colin Creevey, and fifty others who had died fighting him. McGonagall had replaced the House tables, but nobody was sitting according to House anymore: All were jumbled together, teachers and pupils, ghosts and parents, centaurs and house-elves, and Firenze lay recovering in a corner, and Grawp peered in through a smashed window, and people were throwing food into his laughing mouth. The wolves tended to their wonded and mourned for their dead.
I kneeled beside the alpha, his clear blue eyes rested on me.
"I'm sorry, " I whispered, my breath caught in my throat. "I never meant for them to die."
They died by their own choosing. They will be remembered with honour
My eyes widened. "C-Can you understand me?"
Wrong question. You know I can understand you. You were supposed to ask if you could understand me. You may be different than most but human ignorance never changes.
"H-how?"
A part of you, said the wolf looking away, " resides in each member of my pack. And a part of each member of my pack, including myself, resides in you.
After a while, exhausted and drained, Harry and I found ourselves sitting on a bench beside Luna.
"I'd want some peace and quiet, if it were me," she said.
"We'd love some," I replied.
"I'll distract them all," she said. "Use your Cloak."
And before we could say a word she had cried, "Oooh, look, a Blibbering Humdinger!" and pointed out of the window. Everyone who heard looked around, and Harry and I slid the Cloak up over ourselves, and got to our feet. Now we could move through the Hall without interference.
We spotted Ginny two tables away; she was sitting with her head on her mother's shoulder. Nicholas was talking with a man I assume was his father. I saw Neville, the sword of Gryffindor lying beside his plate as he ate, surrounded by a knot of fervent admirers. Along the aisle between the tables he walked, and we spotted the three Malfoys, Draco was talking to his parents gently, while an auror stood a little while away. They were due for trial, but perhaps their actions at the end would change the outcome.
Perhaps.
Everywhere we looked we saw families reunited, and finally, we saw the three whose company I craved most.
"It's us," I muttered, crouching down between them. "Will you come with us?"
We stood up at once, and together Harry, Ron, Zoe, Hermione and I left the Great Hall. Great chunks were missing from the marble staircase, part of the balustrade gone, and rubble and bloodstains occurred every few steps as they climbed. Somewhere in the distance they could hear Peeves zooming through the corridors singing a victory song of his own composition:
We did it, we bashed them, wee Potters are the ones,
And Voldy's gone mouldy, so now let's have fun!
"Really gives a feeling for the scope and tragedy of the thing, doesn't it?" said Ron, pushing open a door to let Zoe, me, Harry and Hermione through. Happiness would come, I thought, but at the moment it was muffled by exhaustion, and the pain of losing Fred and Lupin and Tonks pierced me like a physical wound every few steps.
Most of all I felt the most stupendous relief, and a longing to sleep. But first we owed an explanation to Zoe, Ron and Hermione, who had stuck with us for so long, and who deserved the truth. Painstakingly we recounted what we had seen in the Pensieve and what had happened in the forest, and they had not even begun to express all their shock and amazement when at last we arrived at the place to which we had been walking, though none of us had mentioned their destination.
Since I had last seen it, the gargoyle guarding the entrance to the headmaster's study had been knocked aside; it stood lopsided, looking a little punch-drunk, and I wondered whether it would be able to distinguish passwords anymore.
"Can we go up?" Zoe asked the gargoyle.
"Feel free," groaned the statue.
We clambered over him and onto the spiral stone staircase that moved slowly upward like an escalator. Harry and I pushed open the door at the top. I had one, brief glimpse of the stone Pensieve on the desk where he had left it, and then an earsplitting noise made me cry out, thinking of curses and returning Death Eaters and the rebirth of Voldemort — But it was applause. All around the walls, the headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts were giving us a standing ovation; they waved their hats and in some cases their wigs, they reached through their frames to grip each other's hands; they danced up and down on the chairs in which they had been painted; Dilys Derwent sobbed unashamedly; Dexter Fortescue was waving his ear-trumpet; and Phineas Nigellus called, in his high, reedy voice, "And let it be noted that Slytherin House played its part! Let our contribution not be forgotten!"
But Harry and I had eyes only for the man who stood in the largest portrait directly behind the headmaster's chair. Tears were sliding down from behind the half-moon spectacles into the long silver beard, and the pride and the gratitude emanating from him filled me with the same balm as phoenix song.
At last, I held up my hands, and the portraits fell respectfully silent, beaming and mopping their eyes and waiting eagerly for us to speak. I directed our words at Dumbledore, however, and chose them with enormous care. Exhausted and bleary-eyed though I was, I must make one last effort, seeking one last piece of advice.
"The thing that was hidden in the Snitch," I began, "we dropped it in the forest. I don't know exactly where, but we're not going to go looking for it again. Do you agree?"
"My dear girl, I do," said Dumbledore, while his fellow pictures looked confused and curious. "A wise and courageous decision, but no less than I would have expected of you. Does anyone else know where it fell?"
"No one," said Harry, and Dumbledore nodded his satisfaction. "I'm going to keep Ignotus's present, though," said Harry, and Dumbledore beamed.
"But of course, Harry, it is yours forever, until you pass it on!"
"And then there's this." I held up the Elder Wand, and Zoe, Ron and Hermione looked at it with a reverence that, even in his befuddled and sleep-deprived state, I did not like to see.
"I don't want it," I said.
"What?" said Ron loudly. "Are you mental?"
"I know it's powerful," I said wearily. "But I was happier with mine. So . . ."
I gently pulled the pouch hanging from my brother's neck, and pulled out the two halves of holly still just connected by the finest thread of phoenix feather. Ollivander had said that they could not be repaired, that the damage was too severe. All I knew was that if this did not work, nothing would. I laid the broken wand upon the headmaster's desk, touched it with the very tip of the Elder Wand, and said, "Reparo."
As his wand resealed, red sparks flew out of its end. I knew that he had succeeded. I picked up the wand, and held out my hand. Empty as Draco got his wand back, Harry gave me a glowing look and handed my wand back. I accepted the phoenix wand and felt a sudden warmth in my fingers, as though wand and hand were rejoicing at their reunion.
"I'm putting the Elder Wand," I told Dumbledore, who was watching us with enormous affection and admiration, "back where it came from. It can stay there. If we die a natural death like Ignotus and his, its power will be broken, won't it? The previous master will never have been defeated. That'll be the end of it."
Dumbledore nodded. We smiled at each other.
"Are you sure?" said Zoe. There was the faintest trace of longing in her voice as she looked at the Elder Wand.
"I think Emma's right," said Hermione quietly.
"That wand's more trouble than it's worth," said Harry.
"And quite honestly," I turned away from the painted portraits, thinking now only of the four poster bed lying waiting for him in Slytherin Tower, Draco's sweatshirt and wondering whether Kreacher might bring me a sandwich there, "I've had enough trouble for a lifetime."
----
The next day:
- Emma would sit Harry and Draco down and make them sort out their rivalry. With Ron, Nicholas, Zoe and Hermione as very amused witnesses
Emma: Right, so you are my boyfriend and you are my brother. I would like it if you got along.
Nicholas: You may as well have asked Granger to give up books.
Ron: Shut up!
Hermione: It's true. . .but shut up!
Emma: if all your comments are like that then go snog Zoe, Nick.
Hermione sniggers
Harry raises his eyebrows
Ron side-eyes the couple in question
Nicholas blushes red
Draco smirks
Zoe plans her friend's murder.
Emma: Right, Harry, what's your problem with Draco?
Draco: He hates me because I'm better than him.
Harry: *looks at Emma* can I punch him with a knife?
Ron: I'll help!
Zoe: Me too!
Draco: We were friends first, Anderson!
Zoe: Yeah, 6 years and you still call me Anderson. That's not my real name you know.
Emma: The only person who has the liberty to punch someone with a knife is me-- *ignores protests*--and just answer the question, Harry.
Harry: My problem is that he is dating my little sister--
Emma: For the last time---WE'RE TWINS
Harry: Same difference.
Draco smirks and puts an arm around Emma's waist and pulls her closer to him.
Emma *blushing red*: NOT the time.
Draco: You're my girlfriend. It's always the time.
Harry: Kreacher!
Kreacher *appears*: Yes, Master.
Harry *with an angelic smile on his face*: Please get me a knife.
Emma: NO! Kreacher do not get him a knife! I'm sorry to have bothered you, you can go.
Kreacher leaves confused.
Harry *glances at Zoe and Ron*: We can kill him with a gun
Hermione: NO.
Ron/ Nicholas/Draco: What's a gun?
Emma: NEVER MIND. Harry, don't kill my boyfriend. And apart from him being my boyfriend, what's your problem with Draco.
Harry: he is an annoying, blonde git.
Draco: Yeah?
Harry: Yeah!
Draco: Well you're a--scrawny, specky. . .idiot!
Hermione is torn between wanting to laugh and rolling her eyes.
Ron is bored.
Nicholas is fed up.
Zoe doesn't know what to do.
Emma *glances at Hermione*: Kill me, kill me now.