Chapter Thirteen

Returning

"Harry? Harry, are you all right? Harry! Speak to me!"

Draco was kneeling in the dirt, shaking the other boy, trying to wake him up. Draco had pulled Harry to a half-sitting position, Harry's head resting in Draco's lap. Draco looked up at Severus Snape, tears in his eyes. "Can't you do something, sir?"

Severus' normally sallow, stony face had fallen into a look not many had seen on him before. His skin had gone so pale, it looked as though his face had never seen the light of day. His usual severe look had melted, and the proof of that was welling up in his eyes as tears threatened to take a roller coaster ride down his crooked nose. He looked down at his prized student and shook his head helplessly. "I can't do anything, Draco. I'm sorry."

Ron Weasley was sitting a few feet away looking even worse than Snape, and that was quite a feat. He, too, as rosy-cheeked as Nearly-Headless Nick, and as cheerful as Moaning Myrtle. He kept throwing horrified glances toward his best friend, and shaking his head as though he were trying to shake the vision into nonexistence. He was rocking back and forth, mumbling something to the effect of "He can't be gone. He can't be gone…."

Albus Dumbledore's eyes had no twinkle to them. Whose would, though, considering the one boy on whose shoulders rested the lives of the entire wizarding world was currently laying completely limp on the knees of his least favorite peer? For the first time in an age, Dumbledore stood powerless and hopeless.

A sudden, odd-sounding giggle startled them all out of their mourning states, and six eyes turned angrily on the giggler.

Ron looked sheepishly back at his companions. "Sorry," he started. "I-I just got back the memory of Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret." He snorted again while receiving an especially dirty look from the ex-ferret in question.

Then Ron's face fell again as the somberness of the whole situation fell upon him again. Ron looked directly at Draco. "He's not…. Is he?"

Draco and Ron stared at each other for a long moment, tears welling up in each boy's eyes. After a while, Draco just looked down at Harry's slack face sadly and brushed a stray lock of hair off the face of the boy in his arms. He let out a choked sob, bowed his head, closed his eyes, and prayed to any and all the gods he could think of…. "Please. Please bring him back to me," he whispered.

~ " * " ~

Hermione, Pansy, Seamus, Blaise and Parvati followed the path back to the clearing they'd run from just hours before. They tread quickly but carefully, just in case the three men they had run from had gotten the better of their classmates and were on the way to find the rest of the group. When the quintet reached the clearing, though, they saw they had no need for fearing Lucius Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew, or Lord Voldemort.

Each teen's eyes scanned the clearing and each took in the same scene. Lucius Malfoy was laying face-down in the dirt, completely rigid and obviously still stuck in a Full-Body Bind. Peter Pettigrew was laying on his side, completely lifeless. And Lord Voldemort was laying spread-eagle on his back. A little way away from the three villains was a clump of sober-looking men.

Hermione was the first to realize why everyone's faces appeared so grave.

"Harry!"

She ran to Draco's side, her eyes wide in fear and grief. "Oh Merlin," she cried, "What happened?"

Hermione stared from one gloomy face to another, looking for answers. "What happened?" she repeated frantically.

Dumbledore moved around the group and set a hand on her shoulder. "He and Voldemort dueled. Harry fought valiently, as always, and then-. They hit each other at the same time with deadly blows."

"No," she said, shaking her head in disbelief. "No, he's not dead. He's not. Harry Potter is the Boy Who Lived. He can't- He couldn't be- There's no way he's-"

Ron got to his feet and folded her into his arms. "Shh, 'Mione. Shh. I know."

Hermione's knees collapsed under her, and she and Ron dropped clumsily to the ground. He rocked her back and forth, running a hand over her hair in what he hoped was a soothing manner. Nonetheless, her sobs echoed off the trees of the clearing.

Behind the pair, the other four students were gaping, horrified, at the bodies around them and at the sad faces of their classmates and professors. Parvati buried her face in Blaise's chest, and Pansy in Seamus'. The two boys put comforting arms around the girls, Seamus slightly more gingerly than Blaise.

After a long time, Dumbledore took a deep breath. "We had all better get back to the castle. It is getting late, and none of us wants to spend our evening here in the Forest tonight." He conjured four stretchers and started levitating the Death Eaters' bodies onto them.

When it came time for Harry to be put on a stretcher, Draco shook his head. "No, I'll carry him." Both Dumbledore and Snape started to protest, but Draco stayed resolute. "I'll carry him," Draco repeated insistently.

Dumbledore nodded, quelled a second objection from Severus with a stern look, and made the fourth stretcher disappear. Snape closed his still-open mouth, letting out a sigh as he did. But he let Draco slip his arms under Harry's back and knees and heave him up. Snape sent a worried look at Draco as the boy got up awkwardly, but said nothing.

Once Draco was steady on his feet, the whole group started trooping out of the forest. The stretchers with the elder Malfoy, Pettigrew, and Voldemort on them were out in front, Dumbledore following closely behind. Then came Draco carrying Harry. Ron and Hermione were next, Hermione's arm draped around Ron's neck and his arm around her waist, helping her walk on feeble legs. Hermione had stopped crying for the moment, but she looked to be on the edge of more tears. Then Blaise and Parvati, and Seamus and Pansy, both girls crying quietly and both boys trying their best to be comforting. Severus brought up the rear, keeping an eye out for any beasts that might have the intention of attacking their rag-tag group.

They emerged from the Forest slowly and made their way to the castle, just out of sight around the edge of the Forest. Over their heads, the sky was fading and stars were beginning to make their happy arrivals one by one, shining brightly. Several members of the subdued group glared disapprovingly at the stars' cheerful dancing and twinkling. And at Snape's icy glare, it seemed the stars faded in their intensity, stepping back into the shadows of the darkening sky.

~ " * " ~

When the motley crew entered the Hospital Wing, they found Madam Pomfrey with her slippered feet up on her desk, her eyes glued to the newest romance novel, Waltzing with a Werewolf.

Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly and nearly scared the poor woman out of her skin. As soon as her eyes fell on not only the stretchers but the limp body laying across Draco's arms, she cried out. Throwing her book aside and dropping the fuzzy pink slippers to the floor, she hurried over to the group.

"Oh my!" she cried as she took in who was on the stretchers. "Well, put those three on beds. I'm glad I got Hagrid's students out of here in time! Longbottom is still out cold, but that's only one bed, thank Merlin.… I don't believe it…. You-Know-Who! Here, of all places!" She waved at Dumbledore, indicating which beds to put the patients in, also waving in Draco and Harry's direction. "Do put the poor boy down, will you?"

Everyone who wasn't hurt was milling around, trying to get close enough to Harry so they could judge for themselves whether or not he was alive. Pomfrey had different ideas, however. She tried shoo out everyone, but no one seemed in the mood to leave. After a great deal of persuasion from the headmaster, Pomfrey allowed him, Draco, Ron, and Hermione to remain in the wing to wait for the results of her tests.

Pomfrey bustled over to Peter Pettigrew first, waving her wand slowly over his body and checking for signs of life. With a frown, she shook her head. "He was such a nice boy when he was in school," she mumbled to herself. "How he got caught up with You-Know-Who, I'll never understand."

She moved on to Lucius Malfoy and removed the Body Bind.

"Where is he? Where is my son? I'm going to strangle him for defying me! I'll have his neck for this!" roared Lucius furiously. He sat up quickly, spotted Draco a second later, and started to lunge for him. He stopped in his tracks, though, when he realized where he was and who was still present. "Oh! Professor Dumbledore! How are you, Headmaster?" A sour, completely fake smile formed on his lips.

Dumbledore turned cold eyes on the elder Malfoy. "I am just fine, Lucius. But I am afraid you are not. In fact, I believe you are in a great deal of trouble."

Mister Malfoy stayed silent for a few moments, looking around at five glaring faces. Then his eyes landed on the bodies in beds around him. He took in the immobile bodies of Pettigrew, Voldemort, and Harry with a look of mild curiosity. "Are they all-?" Mister Malfoy stared around at everyone.

"You needn't worry about them. You shall find out the same time we do." said Dumbledore as he stepped forward and pushed Mister Malfoy roughly back into the pillows of his bed. He drew his wand and conjured ropes around Malfoy's wrists and ankles. "Now, Lucius. Since we've found you in less than proper company, I'm afraid we will have to keep you restrained until the Minister comes to have a chat with you."

"What? This is an outrage! Let me go! I'm a Malfoy, for Merlin's sake! I'll have your-" But what exactly the elder Malfoy would have of Dumbledore's was lost as Dumbledore cast a Silencing Spell over him.

"Now then, Poppy, please continue with your examinations," said Dumbledore, raising an eyebrow at the nurse who was busy glaring angrily in Lucius Malfoy's direction.

"Yes," she said, glaring once more at Mister Malfoy, "Yes, on with the exams."

She moved toward Voldemort hesitantly, as if she were afraid he was only pretending to sleep, and was about to jump up to grab her around the throat. She waved her wand over the Dark Lord the same way she had with Pettigrew. A second later, she let out a sigh of relief. She turned shining eyes to the rest of the people in the ward and nearly smiled. "He's- You-Know-Who is-is dead! He's finally gone for good."

"Are you sure, Poppy?" asked Dumbledore. "Absolutely certain?"

She performed the Life-Seeking spell again, just to be sure. She nodded fervently. "One hundred percent positive. You-Know-Who is dead." She hazarded a small smile. "V-Voldemort is dead." In a fit of excitement, Pomfrey ran to Dumbledore and threw her arms around his neck.

The surprised headmaster chuckled softly, but unhooked the nurse's arms and ducked out of her embrace. "Yes, yes. Marvelous, Poppy. But you still have one more patient to attend to, do you not?"

"Oh!" cried Pomfrey. "Yes! Potter!" She rushed to the boy's side, her joy over the final fall of the Dark Lord ebbing away quickly. At first glance, Pomfrey found the gash on the upper part of Harry's wand arm. She tore apart his shirtsleeve, scoured the cut clean, and magicked an ace-bandage around Harry's arm to stop the bleeding. She frowned as she was dressing the wound. "That's deep enough to give the poor boy another ghastly scar," she muttered.

Then she performed the same wave of her wand that she did when examining Voldemort. A grave look clouded her features. Finally, after several long, tense moments, she turned to face the others.

"He's alive," she started, and Ron, Hermione, and Draco let out the breaths they didn't even know they were holding. "But only just," she continued. "He's in very serious condition. If Harry Potter survives the night, it will be a miracle."

~*~TBC~*~