Broken Dawn

by Pyre Feather

For a day and a night, all have been dust and blood. In the outcome of Hogwarts' Battle, all was left to build anew. A school in ruins, an administration without government, a society shattered by civil war. Dark forces are lurking, tending their wounds, waiting to attack. But the shadows to be most feared are the ones that grow inside.

Prelude

The sun has arisen on Hogwarts Battlefield. For a whole night, all have been dust and blood, blood now shining in the morning dawn.

She is standing in the middle of the ground, corpses all around her. Living or dead, she has no idea. It has been a dreadful night, a frightful night. A night of fear, a night of death, a night of war. She has been fighting for her own life, for her friends, her family, and every ideal she believes in. But in the middle of the battle, there is nothing left. Only curses and deaths.

She has fought, with all her anger, all her strength, all her fear. There have been tears running along her cheeks. Tears for friends, tears for enemies, tears for children dead too young, for soldiers who will never come back. Silent tears for lives, and deaths. Burning tears for her fear, her anger and her wounds.

Now, in the first beam of the morning sun, she stands alone, there is nothing but her. She knows some others must be alive, somewhere, not far. But she doesn't want to know who. Because knowing who is alive would tell her who is dead.

So she stands, as the sun rises. Alone. And Silent. Living. Fully alive. Incredibly alive.