Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and will never make any money out of this WHATSOEVER!
A/N: This is set roughly 2 year after the end of DH. Rating based on reminiscience of character death. Read on and please review!
The roughly hewn stone felt cold and gritty under my fingers; my calves pressed against the steep drop of the stair. The hairs on my arms were standing on end, but not from the cold air all around me, instead from the gentle whisper that was flowing ceaselessly through the cavernous room. The whisper seemed louder, clearer than the time I had been here before – maybe that was because the last time I had been here I had been under so much pressure that I couldn't properly listen, or maybe it was because the entire world had changed since then…
"Harry?" My eyes jerked open at the familiar voice which echoed, much louder than the whispering, through the room. His footsteps reverberated around, bouncing off all the stone steps and muffling the whispering. I closed my eyes again and sighed; I knew my solidarity couldn't last much longer. I waited, almost impatiently, until he had climbed down the tiers of stone and settled himself down beside me.
"You're not supposed to be in here." My voice was dry and weak from having been sat in silence for at least half an hour.
"Neither are you." I opened my eyes for the second time and looked straight into those of my best friend. I could see the shadow of apprehension in Ron's blue eyes. Momentarily I wondered whether that look of apprehension and concern would ever fully disappear from Ron's, and Hermione's, eyes… It was still present now, almost ten months from the end of the war and the beginning of the rebuilding of the wizarding world. I was sure that the rejuvenation would be a good thing, but I didn't think the true effects of it would be felt in my generation. Too many lives had been lost; too many friendships cut short; too many families ripped apart… A member of one of those families was currently sat next to me.
We sat in silence, apart from the whispering, and I recollected the first time I had looked down upon the archway, located upon the stone dais. I had heard them then too, so had Luna… A shiver ran down my spine as I remembered the impulse I had experienced – the desire to climb onto the dais and walk through the veil.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ron shift infinitesimally on the step.
"You didn't have to follow me down here." I stated plainly.
"I know I didn't." Ron replied, "I just didn't expect for you to come back here." The quiet bubbled up between us again; I knew that Ron's thoughts had flicked back to that night when Sirius had fallen through the veil in between the archway. Ron hadn't been there at the moment that Sirius had fallen through the veil when Bellatrix's curse had hit him. Ron had already been attacked by the brains, which had now been removed from the room next to this one; by the time Sirius fell through the veil Ron had been no more than a giggling, gibbering wreck.
"Harry…?" Ron's voice wavered with a note of uncertainty. I looked over at him; he appeared to be concentrating very intently on something. "Can you hear what they're saying?" He was staring down at the archway; goose bumps erupted all over my skin again.
"You mean the whispering?" I asked quietly and Ron nodded, for a moment I stayed very silent and attempted to decipher words, anything from the whispering. "No." I replied finally.
"Oh…" Ron sounded slightly disappointed. "Neither can I…"
"Wait…? You can hear the whispering?" I turned to look at him, he nodded solemnly. "When we were here in fifth year you couldn't hear it."
"I know." Ron answered. "Strange, isn't it?"
"Not really." I shook my head and gazed down at the dais; there was an uncomfortable lump in my throat. I remembered the conversation I had had with Luna after Sirius had fallen through the veil;
'"You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?...They were just lurking out of sight, that's all."' Even at the time I knew that Luna hadn't been parroting one of her father's eccentric beliefs… no, she had heard them whispering, and understood where I could not.
"The last time you were here you didn't know anyone who had died…" The words came out awkwardly; I screwed up my face at my own lack of tact.
"But now there's Sirius, Dumbledore, Remus, Tonks, Fred…" Ron's voice tailed off.
"Mad – Eye Moody, Colin Creevey, Cedric Diggory, Dobby, Snape…" My voice was thick, but the hot tears and burning pain in my throat that I had come to associate with grief were not present.
"Do you reckon if we can hear them…?" Ron paused; I knew he was trying to put his words in place. "If we can hear them, can they hear us?"
"I've never thought about that…" I said honestly. I relapsed into silent thought, wondering what I would say to each of them if I could. Well, I had already spoken to Remus, Sirius and my mum and dad when I went to Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest, on that night I had believed would be my last.
I was so deep in my own thoughts that I hadn't realised Ron was speaking – I brought my consciousness back to the present until I realised that he was speaking not to me, but to the veil in the archway.
"If only you could have seen your shop once the war ended, you wouldn't have believed how busy it was. I helped Verity out for a while cause George… Ginny keeps saying that you're probably celebrating more than we are; that you, Tonks, Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, Dobby and Harry's parents are having the biggest party ever…" Ron's face had broken into a reminiscent grin. "Is Snape any better? Or is he still a grouchy git?" Ron sighed, and I wished inside my head that I wasn't present; this was a private conversation between him and his brother. "Percy was really cut up when you died… Fred, I'd never have imagined that Percy would go to pieces – he was always the one of us who knew exactly what he was doing and where he was going, but he just seemed completely lost… Him and George, neither of them spoke for days. The first thing that Percy said was it should have been him… He's changed now, he says you got what he deserved and it'll always be his biggest regret. It's odd that we're not going to see you for a while I keep expecting for you to walk through the door at home… I hope Ginny's right; I hope you are having a good time." Ron fell silent, and I was struck with a sudden thought which made me laugh, Ron stared blankly at me until I could vocalise what I was thinking;
"I'm sure Fred will be having a good time!" I addressed Ron, "He's with the Marauders!" I couldn't stop myself from beaming at the thought – two generations of Hogwarts trouble makers in the same place. Now I addressed the veil as Ron had done, I took a deep breath. "If you can hear us… dad, Sirius, Remus, Fred – I'm sure that you're causing havoc up there. Just, keep some fun for when the rest of us can join you." Ron was nodding as the two of us thought about what I had just said.
"Is it just me… or has the whispering gotten quieter?" Ron questioned a few moments later; I considered.
"Maybe they can hear us, and they're listening." I said; the hard stone floor was making my legs go numb. It was time to leave – something inside me was telling me that it was. Slowly I moved to stand up, and Ron mirrored my actions. For a minute I stood, brushing the dust off my trousers, when I looked up, I realised Ron had approached the dais.
"Ron?" I asked, watching him standing transfixed near the archway. After a long pause he spoke;
"They're not really that far away, are they?" It was not a question, but a statement.
"No; they're just out of sight."
A/N: Please, please, please review! :D