Surprisingly Pure- mypseudonym
Chapter 29 The War
Severus and Brenna delighted in telling everyone of their engagement the following morning. Everyone seemed to be very happy for them. The happy couple agreed not to set a date at present because they wanted to get married after the war ended.
It turned out that they didn't have too long to wait. Shortly after their third anniversary that summer, the Order was called to Hogwarts on urgent business. It seemed to all that the school would be the site of the last great battle. The Dark Lord and his followers were organizing in the countryside beyond Hogsmeade. The Order was setting up camp inside the school. All of the Order members were gathered in the Great Hall awaiting Dumbledore's arrival with plans and battle strategy.
When the wizard finally arrived, he was not alone. At his side, looking thoroughly shamed was Draco Malfoy. Brenna jumped up as soon as she saw him and ran to embrace her younger brother. They held each other tightly for a moment.
"I've missed you so much." Brenna whispered.
"I missed you too." Draco replied. "I'm on your side now."
"You've always been on my side, Draco. I knew you were never a real Death Eater." Brenna said.
"How could you have known?" he asked.
"You're my younger brother. You can be mean and nasty, but you are not evil. You are not a killer," she answered. She led him over to the others and found him a seat with her and Severus.
"Mr. Malfoy has defected and joined our ranks." Albus said simply. He then began assigning different tasks to the Order members. Brenna already knew that she would be assisting Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing. Severus would be defending the school from the back, helping Albus coordinate the offensive. Harry was being protected near the middle. They didn't want him on the front lines, but they wanted to be able to get him to the Dark Lord in a timely fashion when it was appropriate.
Brenna distributed some of the potions she had created. There was enough for all of the Order members to have a dose of Fire Protection Potion and Strengthening Solution. Severus then distributed his nasty little gift to everyone. He had created a tablet that, if chewed, would afford the chewer a reasonably quick and painless suicide. It was created in case someone was taken hostage. Brenna sincerely hoped no one would need it.
After a brief pep talk they all moved to their respective stations to wait. They didn't have to wait too long. Within an hour, the Dark Lord's forces moved through Hogsmeade and breached the gates of Hogwarts. Before long, Brenna and Poppy were dealing with injured Order members. They were up to their elbows in bodily fluids and wounded fighters. After many hours a cheer went up, and they knew that the Dark Lord himself had been defeated. It was several hours later though, before able-bodied Order members reentered the castle without bearing the body of another.
The stress of dealing with all the injuries was immense. Brenna conducted triage, treated most of the minor injuries, and helped Poppy with healing some of the more complicated injuries. It was exhausting. After several hours, Brenna found that her long hair was both hot and cumbersome. For her own sanity, she cast a slicing hex on it, cutting it just above her shoulders.
Most of the Order members suffered some sort of minor injury. After the war was over, they extended the Great Hall into another hospital. This was where Brenna took charge of the less severely injured fighters. She distributed blood replenishing potions, pain relieving potions, burn healing potions, and every other type of potion she'd created to the patients lying in long rows of cots. She hadn't seen Severus or Draco, and she hoped that they weren't in Madam Pomfrey's ward.
She saw Severus in the wee hours of the following morning. By this point Brenna was beginning to feel exhausted. She was in a never-ending cycle of medical treatment. She had just finished giving Fred Weasley another dose of pain relieving potion when Severus came up and handed her a sandwich.
"Eat. You need to keep your strength up," he said simply. Brenna took the sandwich in one hand and hugged him closely.
"I'm so glad to see you. Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm as well as you right now." he replied. "It's over. We're finally finished with this war."
"Where's Draco?" she asked.
"He's in my quarters asleep. He is uninjured as well." Severus replied. He sat with her as she ate the sandwich and hurried back to work.
When Brenna had been awake and working for nearly 48 hours Albus announced that there were enough of them that were well that they could take care of themselves for a while. He dismissed Brenna and Severus both to sleep for a few hours. They were both so exhausted. Brenna wasn't able to take in Severus' personal quarters at all, though she'd never been there before. She barely noticed Draco asleep on the couch. She simply followed her fiancé mindlessly to bed. All she noticed was that her fiancé's bed was very comfortable. She was fast asleep within minutes, as was Severus.
Brenna awoke ten hours later feeling refreshed. She was now able to feel the joy of their victory. Severus was still asleep. She snuck out of the bed and found her way to his bathroom. She'd heard bathrooms in bachelor pads were notoriously disgusting, so she was grateful that the house elves kept everything at Hogwarts clean. His rooms were in some ways exactly what she would have expected- mostly black, green, and silver, very masculine furniture, and a tendency toward dark stained hardwood. What surprised her though was how comfortable everything was. She was in the dungeons of the school, but she didn't feel cold or trapped at all. The furniture was all very comfortable. There were very few personal effects in the space, as Severus wasn't a fan of brique-a-braque. Everything was organized neatly and effectively.
Severus woke up while Brenna was still exploring his quarters. They changed clothes and walked back upstairs to go back to work. The mood in the Great Hall and changed a lot while they were gone. There was now a note of celebration in the air. Everyone had gotten a chance to rest now, and healers from St. Mungo's had come in to move some of the severe patients and treat the less severe injuries in Brenna's absence. The four houses common rooms had been raided during their sleep, and the Hall now resembled a huge lounge and game room area. Where there were cots a few hours ago there were now sofa, chairs, and poufs. All around people were talking, laughing, playing chess or cards. Draco came up to them almost as soon as Severus and Brenna had entered.
"Isn't it great?" Draco asked.
"What happened?" Brenna replied.
"Well, it was Potter's idea actually. He said that since the war was over and we had won, we should be celebrating, not moaning about. So, all those who are able are now relaxing and celebrating the end of the dark days." Draco said. Brenna nodded. She understood the desire to celebrate, but there was so much work to be done. They had to identify all of the deceased and bury or cremate them. The grounds needed to be searched thoroughly or anything that would disrupt the existence of Hogwarts as a school. The world needed to be notified. She turned and walked to the front doors, Severus right behind her.
Outside the work was just beginning. The Ministry had come to Hogwarts. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement was vigilantly working on identifying the bodies of deceased Death Eaters and notifying families. Other Ministry officials were combing the grounds, finding abandoned wands, trinkets. suicide caplets, and the occasional severed body part. There was nowhere for them to help here either, so the couple went back inside. They found Draco just after he lost a game of Exploding Snap to Bill Weasley.
"Draco, have you talked to Mother?" Brenna asked.
"Not since before I left." Draco replied. Brenna gasped.
"Come on then, we're going home," she ordered, grabbing his arm and practically dragging him to the fireplace.
Malfoy Manor was oppressively quiet when you were alone there. When Draco, Brenna, and Severus stumbled out of the fireplace the quiet was all that met them. Brenna knew it would take them a long time to search all the rooms of the house for Mother, so she decided to call for a house elf. They had a way of knowing where everyone was.
"Tippy!" Brenna called. In a moment the elf appeared, bobbing in happiness.
"Miss Brenna has returned. Tippy is so glad to be seeing you, she is. What Tippy can do for you, Miss?"
"I need to know where Mother is please." Brenna said kindly.
"Mistress is being in her room, miss. Mistress is in her room for last three days." the house elf responded.
"Thank you Tippy." Brenna said before leading the way out of the office and up to the third floor.
*****
Narcissa Malfoy was in a state. Her husband had been thrown in Azkaban. Her daughter had been in hiding for a year, and her son disappeared suddenly days ago. She knew that the war was being fought at Hogwarts. It bothered her to know that she could be of no assistance. She didn't even know if her beloved children were still alive. There was also the lingering fear that, depending on how the war played out, she may not live much longer either.
It was really enough to make her wish she could go fight. Narcissa knew that she would be standing on the sidelines while others did the work though. She wasn't even capable of fighting. It pained her to think of it, but Narcissa Malfoy was not a powerful witch at all. She got along well enough in school, but she barely got any NEWTs. Marrying well hadn't helped either. She hadn't really needed to do much magic as the wife of Lucius. He did almost everything that a house elf couldn't do, so Narcissa herself did very little magic anymore. She could charm hair and makeup and perform a few organization tricks, but she didn't know any defensive or offensive magic. She certainly would be of no help in a battle, not to anyone.
Instead, Narcissa did what she knew how to do. She waited. She holed up in her room waiting for something. She wasn't even sure exactly what she was waiting for. It could be the return of Draco, the arrival of Aurors to arrest her, or anything in between. She didn't know what she wanted or how she wanted things to end. She would just wait and accept whatever happened. The waiting, however, was torturous. Her thoughts grew more peaceful when she heard thundering footsteps up the stairs. It was certainly more than one person. In all likelihood, these were Aurors to arrest her on suspicion of being a Death Eater. She'd be sent to Azkaban to live out the rest of her days. It wasn't the happiest of endings, but at least the waiting was over.
The surprise came when Brenna hurried into the room, quickly followed by Draco and Severus.
"Brenna!" she cried.
"Mother!" her daughter responded. The two witches ran to each other and hugged tightly, crying and laughing at the same time.
"The war is over, Mother." Draco said.
"What happened?" she asked. There was really no other unbiased way to ask who won.
"The Order won. The Dark Lord is dead, truly destroyed this time." Severus replied.
"Praises be." the older witch replied.
"Wait! What?" Brenna asked, looking at her mother stunned. "I thought you were a supporter!"
"Your father was a supporter of the Dark Lord. I agreed with his stance on the issues when he first started rallying followers. Times were different then. But after a while things started to change. They started killing and torturing innocent people. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named started making more radical statements. Eventually it got to the point where he controlled our lives. I no longer agreed, but I couldn't say anything or give any reason to believe that I didn't agree. If I had, your father and I and eventually you two would have been killed. That man dictated our lives for far to long, so yes, I'm glad he's gone."
"Oh Mother!" Brenna said, hugging her closely.
"Now, I think we need to move to another area of the house and catch up." Narcissa said. She led the way out of her personal rooms and downstairs to the sunny sitting room that she knew Brenna preferred.
They spent an hour or so just talking before Narcissa noticed the engagement ring on her daughter's finger.
"Congratulations. How long have you two been engaged?" she asked.
"Six months. We were waiting until after the war to marry." Brenna replied.
"I suppose you'll be getting married soon then?" Draco asked.
"We hadn't really talked about it. It's been so busy you realize." Severus said.
"I think we should get married this summer. I don't want to have to wait until Christmas time." Brenna said.
"That seems like a wonderful idea to me." Severus replied.
"Excellent. I suppose you'll need her dowry then, Severus. I'll have the money sent to your Gringotts vault first thing tomorrow." Narcissa smiled. Severus nodded.
"W-wait. I have a dowry?" Brenna asked.
"Of course you do. All Pureblooded girls have a dowry. Yours is a bit larger than most, I suppose, but we're a bit wealthier than most."
"How much is it?" Brenna asked.
"Five hundred thousand galleons." Narcissa replied. "And don't you say anything about it. I'll be paying for your entire wedding too."
Brenna gapped like a fish for a few moments, but she didn't say anything. Eventually conversation moved on. Severus and Brenna returned to Hogwarts late that night. Brenna was tempted to move back to Malfoy Manor, as her mother and brother expected, but she felt that she was still needed at Hogwarts. Students weren't allowed to be in residence during the summer months, but fiancées were perfectly acceptable.
AN: Hope you enjoyed it. All sources say that I'm going to be snowed in this weekend, so there will likely be at least one more chapter posted in the next couple of days. We've only got one more chapter and the epilogue left to go now.
