"Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone. The battle is won."
Minerva McGonagall heard these words as the reverberated loudly around the Great Hall. She stood quickly, her heart pounding in her chest.
No. She thought desperately. No. No, no, oh, Merlin NO! Please, please, PLEASE let him be lying. Not Harry. Of all my students, please not Harry.
She hurried toward the doors, praying fervently to whatever gods there were that the lunatic was lying. Her eyes snapped automatically to Hagrid, the largest and most conspicuous in the group. He was holding something. She squinted, trying to get a better look at exactly what it was. Her heart stopped.
"No!"
Not Harry. Not that boy. Not him. He had so much going for him. He was smart, he was kind, he was loyal, he was loving. He deserved happiness. He deserved to grow up, start a family, and be happy.
And he was dead. Her student, her favourite student for a long time, was dead. The death of a student, graduated or not, always, always, broke her in two. But this, this, this atrocious act! The raving, barking lunatic had murdered a child! She was angry. So, so very angry. This man, this disgusting man! Tears were running down Minerva's face, half in anger, half in agony. People were shouting all around her. You-Know-Who was talking now, spewing lies about Harry being a coward, about him running away. Minerva knew no one with half a brain cell would fall for that - the stupid, wonderful, idiot boy had given up his own life to save theirs. You-Know-Who was telling them to give up, now. To stop fighting.
How stupid could one man be? Did he honestly, truly believe that Harry's friends wouldn't try to avenge his murder? That his teachers wouldn't punish the man who had taken too many of their students? That the Wizarding world was going to sit down and take the tyranny, especially from a man who had killed so many of their own, including their most beloved hero? McGonagall gritted her teeth as the battle resumed. She hunted down the disgusting, revolting man who had murdered too many of her students.
She would end this carnage or die trying.