Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.
A Candle in the Dark.
Chapter 15: The Aftermath.
Harry stared in disbelief at the fleeing Death Eaters; he could not quite believe that the battle was over. He felt someone tugging at his arm; he turned round to see Hermione standing there, wild eyed with a deep cut on her left arm.
"We did it Harry, we survived." All Harry could do was nod dumbly. The DA were jumping around cheering, several of them came up and shook Harry's hand. The DA, children, had fought some of Voldemort's best troops and not one of the DA had been killed.
Hagrid ran up to Harry, tears streaming down his face and into his beard, and enveloped him in a bone-breaking hug.
"Yeh did it Harry, yeh beat them, Sirius and James would have been proud of yeh." Harry led the DA over to where the Professors were standing with Stilas Rackon, all around them the Aurors moved from body to body, checking the identity of the person.
Harry ignored the pain in his leg and shoulder as he approached the teachers. Professor Dumbledore saw him coming and smiled.
"I'm glad to see you survived." He said.
"It was a close call a couple of times," admitted Harry. He surveyed the sea of dead, "It was a bloody battle, there's a lot of dead." He pointed out.
"About one thousand five hundred dead Death Eaters, three hundred and fifty dead Aurors, fifty dead members of the Order. None of the teachers were killed," Dumbledore looked sad, "How many of the DA were killed?" He asked quietly. Harry let the question hang, adding to the tense feeling.
"None." Everyone around them looked surprised,
"None?" asked Professor McGonagall, looking as though she hardly dare believe it, "none?"
"None, not one DA member was killed." Harry said.
"But, how is that possible? You are only students." exclaimed Professor McGonagall
"It is possible-" began Harry,
"It is possible," interrupted Ron, "because we have the best goddamn leader. Even when we were surrounded by the Death Eaters, with no obvious way out, I wasn't scared, why not? Because I had faith in him, I knew he would get us out, and he did. I won't deny it, the DA are good, we are trained to fight, and we have been trained by the best, so we can fight, but it's no good being able to fight if you just throw yourself into a battle without any thought of what you are going to do. You would be killed immediately. But Harry led us, and what's more he led us well. No, he led us bloody well. So we were able to fight and kill and survive." The DA nodded in agreement, Harry was touched by the support of his friends and the DA.
The teachers looked surprised at this speech. But Moody spoke up.
"They're right, Potter is a good leader. I was watching him. When the Aurors on the left broke, Harry rallied them and they went on to beat the Death Eaters. The DA and him stood up to seven hundred Death Eaters and that takes a hell of a lot of guts. Sometimes those guts can only come from the leader, he held back the Death Eaters and rallied three hundred Aurors and commanded the DA all at the same time, and that takes a hell of a lot of will power." Stilas Rackon nodded.
"Mr Potter is better than most of the leaders we have in the Aurors." There was a lump in Harry's throat, and he felt close to tears.
"I will not pretend for one minute that it was solely me in the DA who fought Voldemort. Everyone in the DA deserves praise as much as I do." Dumbledore smiled at them,
"I am proud of you all, I cannot explain the pride that I am feeling for you all right now. All I want to say is, thank you. Thank you for being willing to give up your lives for Hogwarts."
"Thank you for letting us." Whispered Harry. And with that he bowed to the teachers turned around and strode away.
Lupin hurried over to Harry, after hesitating for a second he pulled Harry into a hug.
"James, Lily and Sirius would never forgive me if you were killed." Harry grinned up at him.
"I would never forgive myself if you were killed, I'm glad you survived, Moony." Lupin gave a short laugh before turning to Ron.
"Nobody in your family was killed." Ron breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"Was anyone we know killed?" asked Hermione worriedly. Lupin smiled.
"No, but Tonks and Kingsley will have to spend some time in St Mungo's but they'll survive." It was a strange feeling, standing there amongst the dead bodies, having survived a huge battle.
"Bellatrix Lestrange is dead." Harry said to Lupin. Lupin looked surprised,
"How do you know?" he asked.
"I killed her." Lupin smiled.
"I'm glad, if anyone deserved to kill that bitch it was you."
"Lucius Malfoy is dying." The DA and Lupin looked surprised at that so Harry continued, "I was duelling with him and I had just hit him with three slashing curses and he was just about to use Avada Kedavra on me when Hagrid shot him with a quarrel from his crossbow. It hit him in the side, I don't know if he died or not." Ron let out a low whistle.
"Draco Malfoy is going to love you and Hagrid for that one." Harry laughed.
"He is, but I'm not worried about that." Lupin looked at the sea of dead Death Eaters.
"This is going to hurt Voldemort." He said. Ron looked at him.
"How?" Lupin gestured with his hand towards the dead.
"His best lieutenants were in that battle, the Lestranges are dead, Lucius Malfoy is dying, Rookwood, Dolohov, Macnair, Trawson, Viscaar, Delaton, are all dead, several others are badly wounded, most of which will die, his best men were fighting in this battle and most of them are dead. It took him ages, at least a year, to gather an army to begin his takeover of the wizarding world and in about two hours it was virtually destroyed. Now he has to gather a fresh one and that's going to take a long time."
"Not enough have died to avenge Sirius," growled Harry.
"Maybe so, but enough have died to keep the wizarding world safe for a while. In general the battle was a complete victory."
"Not for me it wasn't, I didn't get to fight Voldemort." Harry said.
"Harry, even the best made plans can go awry in battle. The main thing is you survived."
"So did Voldemort."
"For now that doesn't matter, his army was destroyed." Harry nodded.
"Is Voldemort going to attack Hogwarts again?" Lupin looked thoughtful.
"You'll have to ask Professor Dumbledore." Harry nodded his thanks, gave Lupin one last hug, turned and hurried towards the teachers. As he got closer he saw Madam Pomfrey with the. As he approached, she hurried towards them.
"Let me heal those for you, Mr Potter."
"Heal the DA first, I need to speak to Professor Dumbledore." Harry walked up to the Headmaster.
"Sir, is Voldemort going to attack again?"
"To be truthful, I'm not sure. Madam Pince is searching the library for any book that will tell us how to get the wards back up. If she fails then yes, if she succeeds, then no." Harry nodded,
"Thank you." At that point Madam Pomfrey came up and healed his wounds. Harry turned and walked back to the DA.
He looked at them for a minute before speaking,
"I just want to say thanks. Thanks for being there, thanks for fighting along side me."
"We were proud to fight alongside you and we always will be, and, if need be, we would be proud to die for you." Seamus said, his voice filled with emotion.
"You all fought well, I have never been so proud of anyone. You fought the best Death Eaters Voldemort had, and you won. You fought bravely, hard and you came out on top. And no man can say that the DA were cowards. You were willing to die for what you believed in, something that a lot of full-grown wizards wouldn't do. You don't know how much it meant to me to see you fighting alongside me. Fighting for Hogwarts, fighting for wizardkind, fighting for what is right. You showed Voldemort that the DA is an army, an army that is to be reckoned with, an army that is to be feared by him." Harry had to close his eyes for a minute as tears threatened to overwhelm him,
"We gave Voldemort what he deserved, we gave him hell. And we did it on behalf of the wizarding world." The cheers from the DA deafened all the Angels in Heaven, they had survived a crucial battle and they had helped to win it, nothing could curb their relief and happiness at not only surviving but also winning.
Amidst the cheers, Harry and Cho sought each other out and walked over to the west side of Hogwarts where the sun was setting, away from the battle, the hate, the anger, the fear, the pain, the death. They sat down and Harry put his arm round her waist and held her tight. She rested her head on his shoulder. They sat in a content silence for a few minutes, the contented, loving silence that only lovers share.
"I was so worried about you before the battle, I'm so glad you survived." Said Cho quietly, breaking the silence a few minutes later.
"I'm glad you survived too, I wouldn't be able to live without you."
"Yes you would, it would hurt at first but you would get over it." Harry took her chin between his finger and thumb and gently turned her head so she was looking at him. Cho almost gasped out loud at all the emotions in his startling emerald green eyes. Fear, sadness, worry, loneliness were the most obvious but there was something else there, something that ran deeper then all the other emotions, love.
"No, I wouldn't, losing you would be like losing this." And he gently took her right hand and pressed against his heart,
"I can't live without you, if you die a part of me dies with you," tears were brimming in her eyes, "I love you more than I can tell you, if I had the tongue of an angel I still couldn't tell you how much I love you." Harry said, his voice filled with passion.
"I love you more than life itself." Said Cho. And with that she flung her arms around his neck and together they drowned in the beautiful passion that flooded them.
They sat clutching each other,
"It's out there somewhere." Said Cho eventually.
"What is?"
"The candle in the dark." Harry looked at her for a minute,
"No it's not," Cho looked at him puzzled, "It's right here, you're the candle in the dark to me, you always have been and you always will be" Cho looked at him again, they slowly leaned in and kissed, filling that kiss with all the love and passion they could muster and, for the second time that day, they drowned in passion.
A/N IMPORTANT PLEASE READ.
First of all I'm really sorry that this chapter wasn't uploaded in December, I had a load of problems with my computer that stopped me from uploading, then I went to Malaysia and I couldn't upload there so I'm really, really sorry! Thanks to all my reviewers, you have made this story worth writing and you have made it a pleasure to write. Especially to LogicalRaven and Anime-Master7.
The second part to this trilogy will be uploaded in about week; the second fic is called "The Second Darkness"
LogicalRaven- Thank you so much for all your reviews, your support and advice from the very beginning has meant a lot to me, cheers.
Keep reading and reviewing and check out the second part, 'cos I'm gonna keep writing!
Fireboy.
A Candle in the Dark.
Chapter 15: The Aftermath.
Harry stared in disbelief at the fleeing Death Eaters; he could not quite believe that the battle was over. He felt someone tugging at his arm; he turned round to see Hermione standing there, wild eyed with a deep cut on her left arm.
"We did it Harry, we survived." All Harry could do was nod dumbly. The DA were jumping around cheering, several of them came up and shook Harry's hand. The DA, children, had fought some of Voldemort's best troops and not one of the DA had been killed.
Hagrid ran up to Harry, tears streaming down his face and into his beard, and enveloped him in a bone-breaking hug.
"Yeh did it Harry, yeh beat them, Sirius and James would have been proud of yeh." Harry led the DA over to where the Professors were standing with Stilas Rackon, all around them the Aurors moved from body to body, checking the identity of the person.
Harry ignored the pain in his leg and shoulder as he approached the teachers. Professor Dumbledore saw him coming and smiled.
"I'm glad to see you survived." He said.
"It was a close call a couple of times," admitted Harry. He surveyed the sea of dead, "It was a bloody battle, there's a lot of dead." He pointed out.
"About one thousand five hundred dead Death Eaters, three hundred and fifty dead Aurors, fifty dead members of the Order. None of the teachers were killed," Dumbledore looked sad, "How many of the DA were killed?" He asked quietly. Harry let the question hang, adding to the tense feeling.
"None." Everyone around them looked surprised,
"None?" asked Professor McGonagall, looking as though she hardly dare believe it, "none?"
"None, not one DA member was killed." Harry said.
"But, how is that possible? You are only students." exclaimed Professor McGonagall
"It is possible-" began Harry,
"It is possible," interrupted Ron, "because we have the best goddamn leader. Even when we were surrounded by the Death Eaters, with no obvious way out, I wasn't scared, why not? Because I had faith in him, I knew he would get us out, and he did. I won't deny it, the DA are good, we are trained to fight, and we have been trained by the best, so we can fight, but it's no good being able to fight if you just throw yourself into a battle without any thought of what you are going to do. You would be killed immediately. But Harry led us, and what's more he led us well. No, he led us bloody well. So we were able to fight and kill and survive." The DA nodded in agreement, Harry was touched by the support of his friends and the DA.
The teachers looked surprised at this speech. But Moody spoke up.
"They're right, Potter is a good leader. I was watching him. When the Aurors on the left broke, Harry rallied them and they went on to beat the Death Eaters. The DA and him stood up to seven hundred Death Eaters and that takes a hell of a lot of guts. Sometimes those guts can only come from the leader, he held back the Death Eaters and rallied three hundred Aurors and commanded the DA all at the same time, and that takes a hell of a lot of will power." Stilas Rackon nodded.
"Mr Potter is better than most of the leaders we have in the Aurors." There was a lump in Harry's throat, and he felt close to tears.
"I will not pretend for one minute that it was solely me in the DA who fought Voldemort. Everyone in the DA deserves praise as much as I do." Dumbledore smiled at them,
"I am proud of you all, I cannot explain the pride that I am feeling for you all right now. All I want to say is, thank you. Thank you for being willing to give up your lives for Hogwarts."
"Thank you for letting us." Whispered Harry. And with that he bowed to the teachers turned around and strode away.
Lupin hurried over to Harry, after hesitating for a second he pulled Harry into a hug.
"James, Lily and Sirius would never forgive me if you were killed." Harry grinned up at him.
"I would never forgive myself if you were killed, I'm glad you survived, Moony." Lupin gave a short laugh before turning to Ron.
"Nobody in your family was killed." Ron breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"Was anyone we know killed?" asked Hermione worriedly. Lupin smiled.
"No, but Tonks and Kingsley will have to spend some time in St Mungo's but they'll survive." It was a strange feeling, standing there amongst the dead bodies, having survived a huge battle.
"Bellatrix Lestrange is dead." Harry said to Lupin. Lupin looked surprised,
"How do you know?" he asked.
"I killed her." Lupin smiled.
"I'm glad, if anyone deserved to kill that bitch it was you."
"Lucius Malfoy is dying." The DA and Lupin looked surprised at that so Harry continued, "I was duelling with him and I had just hit him with three slashing curses and he was just about to use Avada Kedavra on me when Hagrid shot him with a quarrel from his crossbow. It hit him in the side, I don't know if he died or not." Ron let out a low whistle.
"Draco Malfoy is going to love you and Hagrid for that one." Harry laughed.
"He is, but I'm not worried about that." Lupin looked at the sea of dead Death Eaters.
"This is going to hurt Voldemort." He said. Ron looked at him.
"How?" Lupin gestured with his hand towards the dead.
"His best lieutenants were in that battle, the Lestranges are dead, Lucius Malfoy is dying, Rookwood, Dolohov, Macnair, Trawson, Viscaar, Delaton, are all dead, several others are badly wounded, most of which will die, his best men were fighting in this battle and most of them are dead. It took him ages, at least a year, to gather an army to begin his takeover of the wizarding world and in about two hours it was virtually destroyed. Now he has to gather a fresh one and that's going to take a long time."
"Not enough have died to avenge Sirius," growled Harry.
"Maybe so, but enough have died to keep the wizarding world safe for a while. In general the battle was a complete victory."
"Not for me it wasn't, I didn't get to fight Voldemort." Harry said.
"Harry, even the best made plans can go awry in battle. The main thing is you survived."
"So did Voldemort."
"For now that doesn't matter, his army was destroyed." Harry nodded.
"Is Voldemort going to attack Hogwarts again?" Lupin looked thoughtful.
"You'll have to ask Professor Dumbledore." Harry nodded his thanks, gave Lupin one last hug, turned and hurried towards the teachers. As he got closer he saw Madam Pomfrey with the. As he approached, she hurried towards them.
"Let me heal those for you, Mr Potter."
"Heal the DA first, I need to speak to Professor Dumbledore." Harry walked up to the Headmaster.
"Sir, is Voldemort going to attack again?"
"To be truthful, I'm not sure. Madam Pince is searching the library for any book that will tell us how to get the wards back up. If she fails then yes, if she succeeds, then no." Harry nodded,
"Thank you." At that point Madam Pomfrey came up and healed his wounds. Harry turned and walked back to the DA.
He looked at them for a minute before speaking,
"I just want to say thanks. Thanks for being there, thanks for fighting along side me."
"We were proud to fight alongside you and we always will be, and, if need be, we would be proud to die for you." Seamus said, his voice filled with emotion.
"You all fought well, I have never been so proud of anyone. You fought the best Death Eaters Voldemort had, and you won. You fought bravely, hard and you came out on top. And no man can say that the DA were cowards. You were willing to die for what you believed in, something that a lot of full-grown wizards wouldn't do. You don't know how much it meant to me to see you fighting alongside me. Fighting for Hogwarts, fighting for wizardkind, fighting for what is right. You showed Voldemort that the DA is an army, an army that is to be reckoned with, an army that is to be feared by him." Harry had to close his eyes for a minute as tears threatened to overwhelm him,
"We gave Voldemort what he deserved, we gave him hell. And we did it on behalf of the wizarding world." The cheers from the DA deafened all the Angels in Heaven, they had survived a crucial battle and they had helped to win it, nothing could curb their relief and happiness at not only surviving but also winning.
Amidst the cheers, Harry and Cho sought each other out and walked over to the west side of Hogwarts where the sun was setting, away from the battle, the hate, the anger, the fear, the pain, the death. They sat down and Harry put his arm round her waist and held her tight. She rested her head on his shoulder. They sat in a content silence for a few minutes, the contented, loving silence that only lovers share.
"I was so worried about you before the battle, I'm so glad you survived." Said Cho quietly, breaking the silence a few minutes later.
"I'm glad you survived too, I wouldn't be able to live without you."
"Yes you would, it would hurt at first but you would get over it." Harry took her chin between his finger and thumb and gently turned her head so she was looking at him. Cho almost gasped out loud at all the emotions in his startling emerald green eyes. Fear, sadness, worry, loneliness were the most obvious but there was something else there, something that ran deeper then all the other emotions, love.
"No, I wouldn't, losing you would be like losing this." And he gently took her right hand and pressed against his heart,
"I can't live without you, if you die a part of me dies with you," tears were brimming in her eyes, "I love you more than I can tell you, if I had the tongue of an angel I still couldn't tell you how much I love you." Harry said, his voice filled with passion.
"I love you more than life itself." Said Cho. And with that she flung her arms around his neck and together they drowned in the beautiful passion that flooded them.
They sat clutching each other,
"It's out there somewhere." Said Cho eventually.
"What is?"
"The candle in the dark." Harry looked at her for a minute,
"No it's not," Cho looked at him puzzled, "It's right here, you're the candle in the dark to me, you always have been and you always will be" Cho looked at him again, they slowly leaned in and kissed, filling that kiss with all the love and passion they could muster and, for the second time that day, they drowned in passion.
A/N IMPORTANT PLEASE READ.
First of all I'm really sorry that this chapter wasn't uploaded in December, I had a load of problems with my computer that stopped me from uploading, then I went to Malaysia and I couldn't upload there so I'm really, really sorry! Thanks to all my reviewers, you have made this story worth writing and you have made it a pleasure to write. Especially to LogicalRaven and Anime-Master7.
The second part to this trilogy will be uploaded in about week; the second fic is called "The Second Darkness"
LogicalRaven- Thank you so much for all your reviews, your support and advice from the very beginning has meant a lot to me, cheers.
Keep reading and reviewing and check out the second part, 'cos I'm gonna keep writing!
Fireboy.