Farewell
FAREWELL
Disclaimer : None of these characters are mine, they all belong to J.K. Rowling. Okay, I just was suddenly in the mood to write this. It is completely out of character for me, and I know Bria, if you read this, you'll yell at me for writing it. But, I was in the mood, so, here it goes . . .

Harry crouches in the newly overturned earth. The hem of his black graduation robes gets soaked with the brown mush, but he doesn't care. Nothing that small matters now.

Harry looks at the row of tombstones in front of him, like stone shoulders in a parade. He stands up and walks among them, deep in thought. He reads the chiseled letters.

Harry puts a small token by the stone of his lost comrades. Parvati Patil, a daisy. Seamus Finnegan, a four-leaf clover. Harry looks at the picture before he puts it in the dirt at the foot of Colin Creavey's headstone. The picture is of Harry and his love, the picture that Colin had been begging for for years, ever since he discovered Harry's relationship.

Harry leaves the student section of the small graveyard and enters the teachers. Harry's heart tugs at the names he reads. Minerva McGonagall. Sybil Trewlaney. Harry can't take it anymore and falls to his knees by one particular grave.

The name : Remus Lupin, stairs back at him. Harry's tired eyes close in pain, as Harry's heart skips a few beats. The pain is so bad, and this isn't even the worst of it.

Harry stands up again, refusing to let the tears fall. He continues on, reading the names of a few people that pass through his mind. Then, Harry gets to the stone he has really come to see.

Harry takes off his graduation cap and holds it in his pale hands. The cold, cruel wind blows through his dark hair, making it even messier than usual.

Severus Snape. The man that was the most important in the final battle, the man that in the end, made the greatest of sacrifices. Harry's fingertips trace over the name. Only he, Dumbledore, Sirius, and Draco know all that Snape truly gave to their cause in the end.

Harry shivers in the cold, and pulls his robes closer to him. He walks over to the last two tombstones. His body shakes with sobs before he even reads the names emblazoned forever on the dark tombstones. Harry had insisted it be this way. His two best friends wouldn't have wanted anything but the plain, practical stone of everyone else.

Harry's pain and sorrow forces him to kneel down in the dirt. Through his tears, he makes out the names Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. At this point, Harry doubles over in pain and finally lets himself cry.

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A dark figure exits the big oaken doors of Hogwarts. He looks searchingly about him, his eyes falling on what he is searching for.

His heart tugs when he looks down from the grassy hill. The place is perfect really. The tombstones look beautiful, if tombstones can, in the little glen outside the forbidden forest, on the other side of the lake.

Draco' silver-grey eyes see the dark figure among the stone. He sighs deeply, knowing the pain Harry is going through right now.

Draco walks silently across the grounds to the edge of the forbidden forest. He takes off his cap respectfully as he walks through the graves. He stops silently at one or two of them, listening to Harry with half his mind.

"Well guys," Harry says softly. "I've graduated. I'm a true wizard now. But, it's not like we pretended. It doesn't feel special. And, now, I don't feel like doing all the funny spells we always said we would. They don't seem important. This day doesn't seem important, without you here. The ceremony yesterday was beautiful. Albus conducted it, and I almost didn't cry, almost," Harry says, wiping his eyes. "I miss you two so much."

Draco steps out at these words, not being able to bare Harry's pain any longer. He walks up behind him and places his hands on Harry's slumped shoulders.

"Harry . . ."

Harry nods. He traces the names one last time, and stands up. He turns around and allows himself to fall into Draco's waiting embrace.

"It feels so odd, Draco, without them here," Harry whispers into Draco's robes.

"I know, I know," Draco answers soothingly.

Harry pulls away and wipes his eyes. "Well, I guess we had better get back to the ceremony."

Draco twists his fingers with Harry's. "Sirius and Albus were worried about you."

"Were they mad that I left?"

"No, they understand."

"Draco, will this awful, raw pain ever end?" Harry asks, his breath coming painfully in his chest.

Draco holds Harry's hand tighter. "In time, my love, it will ease. But, it will never leave you, it will always stay as a reminder of their sacrifice."

Harry nods and rests his head on Draco's shoulder. The two boys walk up the green slopes together as the rain starts to fall on their fallen comrades below.