Title: Silence
Author: NiennaTru
Summary: Stillness in the aftermath of battle.
A/N: This came to me while I was at work. It's dark, dark, dark, and not at all how I want to see the series end, but it was something I needed to write.
I hold him as his body shudders, my eyes roaming over his broken form. So small. So very young. The sound of the effort it is costing him to move oxygen through his failing lungs rends the silence that has fallen in the aftermath. Somehow he still clings to life; each minute a battle in a futile fight for life.
His eyes are open, but unfocused; I don't think he knows that I am here. The thought angers me. I begin to slowly rock him, whispering. He needs to know he is not alone; he needs to know I am here with him.
Blood has begun to leak from his mouth; each inhalation brings it forth. I watch, transfixed, as it trails a gruesome path down his pale cheek before silently falling to the ground beneath us. Each rattling gasp of air is louder and more frightening to me than the last.
I hear someone calling to me; I freeze but do not answer.
I cannot leave him.
I cannot move.
I carefully wipe the blood away and begin to rock him once more; he seems to calm at this. Brushing my hand across his forehead, I murmur soothingly to him. The words I speak sound empty to me: Promises of all that he will never have or experience, but I know my Harry has never had such comfort. I will not deny him that now.
A gentle breeze whispers through the trees.
It is so quiet now.
So quiet.
finis