Solemn News
Harry sat on an outcropping of rock overlooking the lake below their tent. Hermione had of course been reluctant to set up camp in such an open place. The few trees around the tent offered little protection, but Harry had been willing to test their protective spells a little. He had spent much of the evening where he was; dropping stones into the water below.
Harry picked up a stone from his little pile and tossed it into the air. It fell thirty feet before making a small splash, the ripples widening out on the surface. He grabbed another stone, a smooth black one, and gave it a toss. It too made a splash, only smaller this time, with no ripples that Harry could make out on the black water.
"Harry?"
"Yeah Ron?"
"Do you remember the password for Potterwatch? I think it was something like griffin...Gryffindor...grindylow..."
"Hippogriff?" Harry offered, letting another stone fall into the water.
"Yeah, that's it! Hippogriff!"
"See Ron," came Hermione's scolding tone, "I told you it was hippogriff, but that 'didn't sound right'."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. 'You didn't get eleven O.W.L.s for nothing'," said Ron. This seemed to please Hermione, who stayed silent as Ron tried to fin d the right channel.
Harry tossed another stone.
Finally he heard the familiar sound of the old radio as it click on to Potterwatch.
"..and we will conclude with our list of confirmed death. Thankfully, the list is short today. Eleanor Shaul..."
Harry plunked a stone in the lake. The list always made him uncomfortable. He didn't like to think about Death Eaters killing while they hid out in their tent.
"Mirabella Clagg," Plop. "Ronald Plunkett," splash. Harry paid his homage to each of the dead by dropping a stone, as if to show their deaths made a ripple in the world. He started to faze out the names, knowing to drop a stone at a pause. It was easier to listen that way. His pile of stones was diminishing fast, only two left now. "Adrian Prince," Plop.
"And now we move on to the Muggle deaths, only one family today." These were the worst in Harry's mind. Innocent lives who didn't even know what they were being killed for.
"Or by," he thought.
"A Muggle family of three was found in a small abandoned cottage. Although all adults, we believe that two were the parents of the third, all of which were inhabiting the dwelling. Based on the condition in which they were found, it is believed that the son tried to stand in the way of the Death Eaters, who cut down all three easily. All three showed vague signs of being under the Cruciatus Curse prior to death. A moment of silence, please, for Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley, three more innocent victims in this terrible war."
The radio clicked off and it was a long moment before anyone said anything. "Hey Harry," Ron said. "Wasn't your aunt and uncle's last name Dursley?"
"No, Harry said. "It was Dodgson."
"Oh yeah, I knew it was one of those "D" names. Weird huh?"
"Yeah, weird." He heard Ron go back into the tent. He felt a warm hand on his shoulder.
"Harry, I'm sor-"
"I'll be in in a minute, Hermione." Her hand lingered for a moment before she followed Ron. Harry held the final stone in his hand. He barely felt it slip from his grasp and plummet down.
It seemed like an eternity later that it hit the water, sinking into the dark water forever.