Chapter 50

Aftermath

Harry hovered in mid-air, staring numbly at the spot where Voldemort had disappeared only a few moments before. He had not looked back down where Dumbledore stood and others had gathered. He didn't move. He couldn't bring himself to turn. He just sat there on his broom trying to block out the people and sounds around him. He could not, he would not believe it was really Ginny he had seen out of the corner of his eye flash in front of Dumbledore and fall dead. But who else could it be? Who else was so small and dressed in red and gold?

Harry vaguely registered someone calling his name but was so intent on what had just happened that he took little notice. His fog of despair was abruptly lifted when he heard and felt another broom sail up next to him and heard, "Harry! Harry! It's Ginny. I'm okay. Come on Harry. Let's land."

Ginny. Harry turned instantly and looked into her brown eyes. "Harry, that wasn't me. It's okay, I'm all right." With that, she leaned over and hugged Harry, tightly, balancing carefully on her broom. He felt hot tears streaming down his own face and tried to wipe them away. That was the last thing he wanted people to see, him crying. Ginny grinned at him and helped wipe his face. "Come on. The battle's over. Everyone wants to see you!"

Ron came gliding up with a troubled expression. "Are you okay, mate?"

Ginny spoke for Harry, who was feeling like a very big idiot. "He thought it was me."

"You? He thought what was you?"

Harry nodded and then pointed his wand at his throat, "Quietus. All right, now I can talk."

Harry explained why he had thought it was Ginny as they slowly began their descent toward Dumbledore, who was in the same place as he was before, looking out over the grounds of Hogwarts. Harry thought he looked much older than the last time he had seen him. "All I saw out of the corner of my eye was someone dressed in red and gold being hit by the death curse. Then I saw you, Ron, and realized that only left Ginny. I thought she was dead."

"Oh, it was Fawkes, Harry. Dumbledore's phoenix. Flew right in front and took the whole blast. Just like he did . . . last year, remember?"

Harry felt his face go red with embarrassment. He felt suddenly very silly. Fawkes, of course! He was also red and gold and it made a lot more sense. He should have thought of that himself. As they flew wearily over the lawns toward the castle, Harry looked around at the aftermath of the battle. He had been so focused on what Voldemort was doing, that he had missed a lot of action, apparently. There was a thick cloud of dust and smoke hanging low over the people on the ground, making it difficult for Harry to see very clearly. But he could see a lot of people lying on the ground, most tied up with the masks they had worn shoved up so they could be identified. Death Eaters. There was a centaur or two lying deathly still on the grass, and Harry felt a pang of regret at their loss. In the distance, he could see some defenders lying on the ground also, but most seemed to be getting help from Madam Pomfrey. The giants were still stalking around and Hagrid was trying to get them to sit in one place so they wouldn't hurt anyone accidentally. Harry didn't see Charlie right away, he hoped his burn had been minor. Harry felt terribly guilty at having caused him any pain at all. "Hey, Harry. Come on. Let's land. There are a lot of people who want to talk to you." The three of them landed next to Dumbledore who was holding a newly-reborn Fawkes. Dumbledore looked searchingly into Harry's eyes and then smiled.

"Oh, Harry. It's so good to have you back. We missed you."

"But I blew it. Despite all the planning everyone did, he still . . . I failed. Again." Harry felt like there was never an end in sight to his task. He suddenly felt as old and tired as Dumbledore. Dumbledore looked like he was about to answer Harry when suddenly they found themselves surrounded by a huge crowd of people, all yelling in excitement. And then there was a rush of people grabbing and hugging Harry, Ginny, and Ron. Harry felt himself being hugged and touched by many different sets of arms. He recognized everybody but was unsure what to say to them. They all had a million questions and Harry didn't even know where to start answering them. Finally, Molly Weasley was there and she hugged Ginny and Ron tightly, chastising them quickly for being rash enough to fly out and face the Death Eaters, but then she enveloped Harry in her arms and Harry gave up trying to speak at all. After a moment though, when she finally loosened her grip on him, he asked her a question. "How's Charlie doing?"

A look of utter confusion crossed Mrs. Weasley's face, then she went pale. "Charlie? What about Charlie?"

Oh, no. Harry had assumed that the Weasleys knew Charlie had been hurt. Now he had to tell them. And it was his fault. "Uh, a big fireball hit him and he fell down. Hagrid was going to help him, I think. I'm . . . ." but he couldn't finish the sentence. She had turned toward where Charlie had been at the beginning of the battle. "I think he was over there, Mrs. Weasley." Harry pointed her gently in the direction that he had last seen Charlie and she took off, fighting her way with surprising strength through the still-milling crowd. Arthur followed immediately, unsure of the problem, but knowing that his wife was greatly upset. The other Weasley family members followed in their wake, also unsure of what the problem was, but anxious to find out. Harry felt even worse. He wanted to follow them, also but he was unsure whether he would be welcome, especially if they found out that he had caused Charlie to be hurt, even though it had been an accident. While he was trying to decide, the crowd closed in around him again and he couldn't get out at all.

Dumbledore spoke up then, his voice quieting the madding crowd. "I know that everyone has questions for Harry, but now is not the time for lengthy explanations. Suffice it to say that he has been in hiding, hoping to surprise Voldemort enough that we could defeat him. He will be able to answer your questions in more detail later. Right now, we have work to do. There are wounded that need tending to and there are things that must be done." The crowd dispersed and Harry stood there by Dumbledore for a second.

"I guess I better go find out how . . ."

"Yes. I am sure they are anxious for you to join them." Harry wasn't sure about that, but he wanted to find out how Charlie was, so he started that direction. Then, he saw Neville running toward Dumbledore. He stopped Harry with a hand on his arm.

"Harry! I can't believe it! I thought you were a ghost at first, but then . . . Well, it's just unbelievable that you're here!"

"Yeah. I'll tell you all about it later. Look, I saw what happened, um, earlier, with the ropes and . . ."

Neville's face turned bright red. "Yeah. I was hoping no one saw me." Dumbledore stepped to the two of them. "Oh, hello, Professor. Um, thanks for . . . well, thanks." Harry looked quizzically at Neville. He didn't think that he would be thanking Dumbledore for trussing him up like that.

"You are too important to this cause to lose, Mr. Longbottom. I think you could have hurt Bellatrix LeStrange, but you certainly would have been killed by that stream of curses that was being aimed at your back at that moment."



"Yes, Professor. I saw them pass right over my head a split second after I hit the ground." Dumbledore nodded.

"I'm glad you're not angry. You are a good, strong fighter. We need you." He smiled kindly down at Neville and Harry was pleased that Dumbledore had noticed the vast improvement Neville had made in his magical skills in the past year. Having his own wand helped a lot, some increased confidence also had made a difference. Neville could now really hold his own in their practice dueling sessions and Harry was always glad to fight beside him on the few occasions he had done so. Neville hurried off on some other errand and Harry resolutely made his way toward the group huddled around Charlie near the Hogwarts' gate.

It was a subdued gathering. Charlie was laying there unconscious, his face contorted in pain, even though he couldn't feel it. His robes were burned and the skin Harry could see on his neck and arm was blistered and reddened. Madam Pomfrey had just arrived a moment before Harry and was administering a potion to Charlie. "He should recover nicely. It will take time, though. This potion will keep him unconscious so that he won't be in pain tonight." She was, as always, efficient, and mere moments later, Charlie was on a stretcher which was being carried up to the castle by some of the Order members who were helping transport the wounded, closely followed by Molly and Arthur. Hagrid, seeing Harry for the first time, engulfed him in a hug so big that Harry really wondered if the gameskeeper was trying to suffocate him.

"I jus' can' believe it, 'Arry! You're alive!"

"Yeah, Hagrid I'll have to tell you about it later, okay. How's Charlie?"

"Oh." Hagrid's face fell. "I think he's okay. After that spell 'it 'im, an' all, well, uh, I had Grawp pick him up and move him over here. 'E moved and stuff, so I spect he'll be all right. Dumbledore wouldn' let nuttin' 'appen to 'im. 'E likes Charlie. An' anyways, Charlie's used to fire. 'E trains dragons, after all." Harry thought that was probably a fair statement. Charlie was used to being burned. Of course, the fire could have been an enchanted flame of some sort. He really hoped that Madam Pomfrey could sort it out. "' Course, one of You-Know-Who's people tried to finish 'im off a few minutes after 'e fell down, 'e started to use an Unforgivable, but I . . . well, I didn't let 'im, did I? I couldn't let 'em kill a man when he's down." Harry looked where Hagrid was indicating and he could feel his eyes grow wide.

"Oh. Yes. Well. Um, good job, Hagrid. I'm sure Charlie appreciates it." There was a Death Eater, wand arm still raised except that he had fallen backward so the arm was actually pointing up at the sky like he was a strange doll. He looked amazingly peaceful, somehow, robes neat and mask still in place. There was only one strange thing about him. He had a very large arrow right through the center of his chest. Harry imagined, having seen Hagrid's crossbow shoot those arrows several hundred feet, that since it only went about 20 feet before stopping the man's curse mid-word, that it went all the way through and probably pinned him to the turf below. He really didn't want to find out.

"Well," Ron said. His face was pale and his freckles were more obvious than usual. "I guess we should, uh, . . .." He lost his train of thought half way through the sentence and he stopped talking, as if it was just too much effort. Ginny's face was also pale and pinched. Harry grabbed them both and steered them toward Dumbledore with the intention of having him tell them what to do. Ron seemed to come back to himself as they saw Dumbledore approaching them and he started looking around, as if searching for someone. At first, Harry wasn't sure what he was doing, but then he realized the Ron was looking for Hermione. Of course. Hermione and Cassie came up to Dumbledore at the same time that Ron, Ginny, and Harry did.



Hermione immediately grabbed Ron and squeezed him, hard. Harry tuned them out, only vaguely hearing the word "Charlie" and Hermione muttering something about how proud she was of the three of them. But he was paying attention to Cassie. She looked, well, shell-shocked was probably a good word for it. Her hair, which had been loose around her face when he had last seen her in the office, was pulled back into some sort of ponytail. Her face was dirty, smeared with soot and dirt and what he was quite sure was blood. Her robes were rumpled and dirty and if they were not black, Harry was pretty sure he would see blood on them, too. But it was her eyes that caught and held Harry's attention. They were haunted, now. Not the same defiant flashing blue that they had been earlier. They had seen too much for that. Maybe his eyes looked the same. He'd have to look in a mirror and see. He opened his arms and she fell into them, sobbing.

"I can't believe it. I just can't. It was horrible, and you were wonderful, and I can't believe you survived it. I thought you were . . ." Harry patted her back awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Ginny was talking to some friends who had come up to her as Cassie was talking, and Harry relaxed a little. After a few moments, Cassie backed up. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sob all over you. And now you're all dirty." She brushed ineffectually at his robes where her face had left smear marks on the scarlet cloth.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Look." He turned so she could look at his right side and she gasped in shock. The robes were torn and burned where he had been hit right at the end. His arm had bled a little, too. "Don't worry, Cassie. I've been hurt a lot worse than this before. Madam Pomfrey will fix me right up." She looked a little more appeased.

"She gave me some sort of painkiller potion thing to give to people who were hurt."

"Yeah, I recognized it. You looked like you were being pretty helpful."

"I was trying. I . . . It was horrible. So many people screaming and . . ."

"Yeah, that's their favorite trick. Crucio."

"What?"

"Oh, the Cruciatus curse. It just . . . makes you hurt. Bad."

"You mean that's all it does? It just makes someone scream like that - from pain?"

"Um, yes. Useful when you're a bad guy, huh?" Cassie shuddered in response and Harry wished he hadn't brought it up. He wanted to change the subject and glancing around saw Dumbledore standing nearby, directing some of the Order members as they dealt with the prisoners and the dead and wounded. "Come on, Cassie. I want to introduce you to Dumbledore."

"Okay. He was really amazing. When I saw him, he was like . . . so powerful."

"That pretty much sums him up, all right." They both approached the headmaster, Harry tugging gently on her arm as she seemed rather hesitant. "You'll love him, don't worry." And then they were there and Dumbledore turned his light blue eyes on the two of them. Harry started the introductions, "Headmaster, I'd like to . . ."

"You must be Cassie. I'm so pleased to meet you." He stuck his hand out and enfolded her much smaller hands in his. She looked as shocked as Harry felt.

"Who told you about her?" Harry imagined that either Ron, Ginny, or Hermione had mentioned Cassie while Harry was busy doing something else.

"Do you mean which of your friends, Harry? None of them, I can assure you."

"Oh, I know who it was. It was that Gottshawks fellow from the Museum, then."

"Well," Dumbledore turned his gaze to Harry, "In a way, you're right. He told me her name. But I already knew of her existence."

"What? How could you?" Harry had been so careful never to give any sort of hint to Dumbledore. "It was that stupid doorbell, wasn't it?"

"No, Harry. It was you."

"Me?"

"Yes, by what you didn't say. Your letters changed. You stopped begging to come back to Hogwarts. And I knew. Now, young lady," he turned his attention back to Cassie with a smile, "I am so sorry that you had to meet us today. Truly this is not one of our better times." His face grew grave and Harry saw the exhaustion settle again over his features. "Things weren't always like this, you know." Cassie was nodding. After a moment, Dumbledore let go of her hands. "I need to make a short speech, I'm afraid." He clapped and his voice rang out over the quiet people still standing on the lawns. Harry was amazed. He hadn't used a charm or a wand or anything. Of course, he was Dumbledore.

"Please, will everyone who can gather around me for just a few short moments and indulge an old man in his silliness." A few minutes later, there was a fairly sizeable group of students and teachers and others gathered around Dumbledore. "I can tell by the looks on your faces that there are many who are discouraged at this time, thinking that we once again failed in our mission. And yes, it is true, Voldemort has once again slipped from our grasp. However, please realize that despite that, I count it as a victory. For one thing, we have certainly wounded, killed, and captured a sizeable number of Death Eaters, I believe the current count is 25 dead, 15 wounded, and 12 captured alive and well. That is a total of 52 and that is certainly impressive. It will be a significant blow to him and we hope to get information from those that will be interrogated by the Ministry. But most importantly, we have kept Hogwarts out of Voldemort's hands. That in itself was worth the price we paid today in blood and pain. However, we have accomplished these things with an amazingly light casualty count on our side. The surprise was so complete that we were able to strike quickly and do a great deal of damage. I believe that we have lost four of our own fighters with a count of about 10 seriously wounded. There are, of course, many more who are hurt in various minor degrees. We have lost no students, which I consider nothing short of a miracle. For they fought bravely, with no thought of their own safety. All of us have been through a terrible ordeal today and there may be some of you who wonder how you will close your eyes tonight and sleep. Please, feel free to ask Madam Pomfrey for a potion to help you sleep without nightmares tonight. I am sure she has a sufficient supply. Severus has been making it for a week solid, I believe." Dumbledore looked around at the dead who still lay on the field. "If there are some of you who feel that you would like to help Madam Pomfrey with those who are wounded in the hospital, I am sure she would appreciate it. Especially if you have any training. However, for the rest of you, I want to invite all of you, not just students, to come and eat with us in the Great Hall. The House Elves have prepared a meal that will hopefully be to your satisfaction."

The crowd broke up slowly, almost everyone taking a moment to speak to Dumbledore about one thing or another. They were all exhausted and walked slowly toward the castle. Harry looked around for Ron and Ginny and, spotting them, started toward them with Cassie by his side. However, Dumbledore spoke up. "Harry, please send Cassie up to get some food with your friends. You and I need to speak."

"Oh." Harry tried not to be too nervous as he turned Cassie over to his three friends and all four headed up to eat. He wondered what Dumbledore wanted. He hoped he wasn't going to get yelled at. But when he stood in front of Dumbledore and dared to look up into his eyes, there was no anger there or disappointment. Instead, there were tears. And Harry had to blink to make sure they were not his own.

"Harry. You were brilliant. You did exactly what I wanted you to do."

"But we lost."

"No. We won. Decisively. Yes, it is true that Voldemort slipped through our net once again. The rear guard who were supposed to keep him from leaving out the gate once he was inside the grounds was delayed much longer than it should have been. I am unsure at this point what happened, but it is certainly not something you can blame yourself for. No. You fought brilliantly and bravely and I was, as always, honored to call you my friend." Harry could hardly believe this. He was unsure whether he should believe it. Maybe Dumbledore was just making this up, trying to make him feel better. "Harry, I want to talk to you in the morning about several issues. But for tonight, I just want to make sure that you know that you did everything I wanted and nothing that I didn't." They set up a meeting time in the morning, and Harry started up the long sloping lawn toward the main entrance of the castle. He was surprisingly hungry and although he wasn't sure how much he would actually wind up eating, he decided that he would find his friends and at least try to eat something.