Chapter XXI: The Fallen Heroes
"Who's that?" Hagrid softly asked as he spotted a small, black figure flying toward him.
"Harry!" Hermione screamed. "Over here! Harry!"
He slowed down a bit as he approached the towering half-giant, a weeping girl and a limp, red-haired boy. After his broom came to a halt, Harry jumped. However, he was nowhere near the ground when he did this, a good twenty feet at least. As he tumbled onto the mossy ground, fragments of sticks and glass cut into his face-it became encased in dirt and blood. These few cuts produced streams of red, as if he had been fatally wounded.
"Oh my… What…" He was speechless. Harry did not even notice his injury. Instead, black smog clouded the air. It was so thick that Harry could only make out the shadows of centaurs and giants. A tint of burnt red shaded the lining of the sky. Its richness filled Harry's mouth with the taste of bloody death. It was a most horrid pallid that he would never forget.
"It's awful!" Hermione's face fell onto Harry's right shoulder and chest. He immediately woke from his trance and stared at Hermione in a daze. Thick droplets of blood fell into Hermione's hair. Harry tried to brush it off with his left palm, carefully trying not to startle her from her already shaken state.
As he did this, Harry noticed that Hagrid not only clutched what appeared to be Ron but also swayed near another body. It was lifeless. Suddenly, it hit Harry. That belief that he held onto, that people die for a reason, it was gone. His parents died to save him; Sirius died for him; but Grawp… Why him? For what reason? And as if Hermione read Harry's thoughts, she said,
"He tried to save him."
"Pardon?" Harry said quietly.
"Grawp. He caught Ron. As he fell. But He killed him. Grawp's dead, Harry!" Hermione moaned. She let out such a painfully dreadful screech that even Hagrid stopped staring at his brother's corpse momentarily.
"Where is He?" Harry asked, biting down on his teeth. He clenched hard, so that no foul words could be said, those terrible words he wished to curse. The muscles in his neck tensed. Blood rushed to his brow, letting more blood trickle down his face.
"Dumbledore was Voldemort. That is to say, he possessed him or used some enchantment on him. I'm not quiet sure," Hermione stumbled for words. "I think he's gone now."
"No! I feel him. I know I do!" Harry shouted. "Right here." He held his gut tightly and let out a groan of utter pain.
"Harry, I think you're hurt. Much more than you're willing to admit."
"I'm better than Ron at least… He is," he paused. "He is alive, isn't he?"
In all the chaos, it didn't fully occur to him that Ron might be dead. His body looked so peaceful in Hagrid's arms, so restful, so deadly pale.
"For now, he is. But if we don't get him help, he may not be for very long. Harry, you're bleeding everywhere! You're not all right."
"Hermione!" Harry gripped her shoulders, forcing her to look at him in the eyes. "No one is all right! Not Ron, not you, not Hagrid, not me… No one will be all right! As long as he is a live! Do you hear me? No one!" His voice echoed eerily.
"Stop it! Stop it, stop it." She cried. Harry never wanted her to shed a tear because of him. And there she was. Wetness stained her beautiful face. "Why can't you just believe in the hope of something good will happen?"
"I can't, because I've seen the truth." He stared down. "I've tasted the death of others. Not just now. Did you have to see Cedric die? Face Voldemort? Did you see the only family you had left fall right in front of you? Have you? No." Harry's blood poured out of his wounds; most of his face was no longer visible. His robe was soaked.
"Yes, Harry! I have seen death before! Look, right there!" She pointed at Grawp. "And that's not at all." Harry rolled his eyes slightly, but just enough for Hermione to catch him. She continued. "You actually think that Sirius—"
"Don't say his name! What right do you have?!"
"That Sirius was your only family? If you believe that, then I pity you. I'm your family. Ron is. Hogwarts is. If you can't see this now, then…"
Harry fell. His body smashed into the ground, his blood smothering his face. His chipped face was buried into the dirt below. Hermione's heart shot up. She felt a pain in her heart and twitching inside her stomach.
"Harry!" Hermione screamed. Her yelling would do no good. "Somebody! Help us!"
Hagrid was stuck in a remorseful trance. He did even flinch when he heard Harry hit the ground. Hermione's glossy eyes raced around her. She could not see anything but black smog. Slowly, she lay down head next to Harry's back. She wept, believing she had just lost Harry to the other side and soon Ron as well. Her body shed away all the love of life she had. And then she closed her eyes.
Every bed was full. Madame Pomfrey washed the foreheads of dozens of young wizards with wet clothes. Centaurs walked about with arms in casts and patches over eyes. They too helped out healing the severely wounded. Ron lay still in his corner. White sheets and a canopy of white curtains shielded him from all around him.
Harry slept a few beds to the right of Ron. Hermione sat on a wooden stool at his side. Behind her was Draco. His head was badly gashed open. However, that did not surprise Hermione. She had seen dozens of wizards within the last hours come in with nearly fatal wounds. Snape, the McGonagalls and Dumbledore were nowhere to be found or seen. Lucius and Marcus Malfoy were discovered both unconscious on the battlefields along with a few dead centaurs, now resting in a warrior heaven, and one giant.
"He's not awake yet?"
Hermione turned to see Ginny. Her hair was nicely straightened and make-up smeared across her face. Perhaps she was trying to impress her dying love. Too bad for her he wasn't actually dying.
"No, Ginny, he's not. And neither is your brother." Hermione could not believe Ginny that Ginny was more concerned for his crush than her own blood brother.
"Oh, Ron. I saw him earlier. Pomfrey said he's in some sort of coma. I don't really want to think about it. Well, since Harry's not up yet, I might as well go. Good day."
Hermione watched as Ginny left with a hint of disappointment in her eyes. Hermione knew that Ginny liked Harry a lot, but she loved him.
"Am I dead?"
Hermione gasped. She spun her head around to see Harry's eyes wide and mouth wide open. His jaws widened even more when he narrowed his sight onto Hermione's face. He was unaware where he was or why. The last thing he vaguely remembered was seeing Ron, Hagrid and Hermione off in the distance on some field.
"No, Harry, you're not dead!" Hermione said in a sweet voice. "You're very much alive."
"How did I get here… And where is here exactly?"
"Oh, you don't remember do you. Of course not, you were unconscious. After our little talk, you collapsed, Harry. Gave me a heart attack by the way." She giggled but Harry did not, his skin growing pale. "Oh, that was joke. I was kidding. I didn't really have a heart attack. You just scared me with the whole collapsing thing. Anyway, you lost a lot of blood. It was awful. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up, I was floating here thanks to Madame Pomfrey and a few centaurs. You were floating right next to me for most of the time. I was treated for a few bruises here and there, but nothing serious. I helped out a bit too. But poor Ron…"
"I think I remember… Ron wasn't moving."
"No. And he still isn't." She was silent.
"Dead?"
"Almost. He should be though."
"Hey! What do you mean by that?" Harry asked.
"Oh, no, I mean he was supposed to be hit with the killing curse. That's how Grawp died. I think Ron still was hit with some of it. Luckily for him, Grawp most of it."
"Yes, Grawp, I remember that. How's Hagrid holding up?"
"He isn't. He went off into the Mountains. Oh, not permanently! Just for a little while."
Harry sighed and said, "Who will take over for him?"
"He'll be back next year, Harry, don't worry."
"No, I mean for now."
"You don't know, do you? Oh, how could you know."
"Know what?"
Hermione took a deep breath. "They're closing down Hogwarts for the rest of the year. That's what I've heard."
"Why?" Harry leaned forward and then grabbed his side, still in obvious pain.
"I haven't seen it for myself, but almost half of Hogwarts has been damaged or destroyed. The Hufflepuff tower has crumbled to the ground. There must have been more Giants than we knew about."
"But they're going to fix it right? Dumbledore will—"
Hermione shook her head. "We don't know where he is. I heard a centaur named Lucas say he was sending Theodore back to Azkaban Prison."
"Where he belongs."
"It scares me, Harry."
"I'm sorry, what scares you?"
"That He, Voldemort, could so easily take control of someone. If He could get Dumbledore, there is no stopping him."
"He didn't get us," Harry said. "He's not coming back."
"Oh? How do you know?"
"I don't. Not for certain. It's just a feeling I have."
"Feelings lie, Harry."
"No, not this time…" Harry stopped when he saw Kimberly Hooch enter the room. He thought for sure she was there to see him. However, she didn't go to Harry's bed. Instead, she went to the one right next to him. She leaned over Draco's body and kissed his cheek.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "You brave boy." Her flushed forehead and rosy cheeks rang bells in Hermione's ears. At least Draco has someone, she thought.
"Hermione," Harry faintly said.
"Yes?"
"I made you cry."
"I know. It's okay. We said some things, both of us… It's really okay."
"I never want to make you cry again."
"You better not."
Harry smiled and so did Hermione. In a room of pain, stitches, bandages and bleeding wounds, the two wizards stood out with gleaming grins. Two glimmering diamonds in a field of aching dust. Despite all of the despair they went through recently, the goodness was still alive and strong. They had each other, and that was more than they could ask for.
-Last chapter completed and will be posted at a later time. Please review!-