Hey Everyone, here is the epilouge. I'll miss you all, well, except for those annoying lawyers. Lawyers : Yeah...Hey! If you want to read my other material, mine not mandi's, go to Earth Angel. For more mandi, you need to read and review!
Disclaimer: Lawyers: Just check the other chapters.
Chapter 14
Saying Goodbye
"We are gathered today, to remember those who gave their lives, to protect us. To protect this school. And to protect the entire wizarding world," Dumbledore said solemnly as he stood before the slightly less crowded Great Hall. "The war is finally over, but many internal battles are still being fought. We are all overcome with grief for our lost loved ones. But know that they died for a most noble cause, and that someday we will all rejoice when we are reunited with them at the end of our own lives. Alas, that is little comfort for the pain we feel now. We have lost friends, family, teachers, and fellow students. People we have known all our lives and people we only feel as if we've known them all our lives. I will now read a list of these people..."
It had been only two days since Voldemort was defeated but it felt like forever to Claire. The past couple of days had been spent removing the bodies, cleaning the mess from the battle, and repairing the castle.
Only when they had finished did they learn of the extent of the damage and of all that had gone on.
The death eaters had succeeded in breaking into two of the three sealed common rooms. In the face of danger the young Gryffindors and Ravenclaws had fought bravely, despite their lack of experience. A few students in the area had come to their aid and managed to defeat the death eaters before too many young lives were lost. Unfortunately there were still casualties and everyone felt for the loss.
The young Hufflepuffs, however, had remained safe and everyone was grateful for that.
All the giants had been successfully taken down, but unfortunately that included Grawp. Hagrid was very upset about the loss of his little brother and it showed.
In total four teachers had been killed. Professor McGonagall, Professor Sinistra, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Snape. Their positions were not yet filled.
Many students had been killed. A lot of them were friends of Claire, Ron, and Harry. They included Hermione, Neville, Luna, multiple Weasleys, Cho, and others.
The death eaters that had survived by the end had all been sent to Azkaban, without trial, for a life sentence.
The witches and wizards who had died had all been buried in a cemetery newly built near Hogsmeade. The previous day the entire student body went there to pay their last respects to their friends and family. There were flowers by every gravestone.
And now they were all gathered in the room where the battle had started, listening to the names of those who were lost. People could be heard crying throughout the room. Some had their faces buried in their arms. Others just stared up at Dumbledore with clouded eyes.
Claire sat between Ron and Harry. Ron had his arms around her and Harry sat next to them, occasionally glancing at the two when a name of one of their friends was called.
A few of the people who had been killed decided to come back as ghosts. They stood behind Dumbledore as he read his list. There were about ten of them in all, some who were just to afraid to move on, and others who felt they should stay behind to tell the story to future generations after all the others had gone.
Luna was one of them. She had come to Harry the day after the war ended to speak with them.
"Luna!" Claire had screamed when she saw her semitransparent friend.
"Hello Claire." Luna had replied, smiling slightly.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked her.
"I've decided to stay behind and join the other Hogwarts ghosts."
"But why?"
"To tell the story. Besides, I don't really have much reason to move on."
"It's very nice to see you then." Harry had told her.
Now she was behind Dumbledore in the Great Hall. She gave a small wave to the three.
When the assembly was over everyone returned back to their dormitories. Some went and spoke to the counselors that had been assigned to stay at the school for the remainder of the year for anyone who needed guidance. Claire, Ron and Harry simply made their way up to bed.
The rest of the year went by in a blur for Claire. Before she new it she was taking her final exams and appreciating her last few days in Hogwarts.
"Can you believe there's only two days left?" Harry asked as the three of them sat under their favorite tree by the lake.
"I'm really going to miss it here," Ron said.
"It's really too bad Hermione's gone," Claire said, "she'd be enjoying every last minute of this. Didn't she want to teach here after she graduated?"
"Yeah," Harry replied.
"I still will," a voice said behind them. They turned around to come face to face with Hermione's ghost.
"What...?" Harry said.
"What're you doing here Hermione?" Ron asked.
"I decided to come back," she replied, "I just wanted to wait awhile, I couldn't stand to come back so soon. It hurt too much."
"We missed you a lot," Ron told her.
"I missed you guys too. But I'm really glad to be back, even if I am... dead."
"What did you say about still being able to teach here?" Harry asked.
"I spoke to Dumbledore and he said I'll be allowed to teach Muggle Studies. Not my first choice but since I'm no longer able to use my wand I was all for it," she smiled.
"Congratulations," her friends said smiling back.
"And luckily I'll have some friends. Luna's here and so are a couple of students that were in my Arithmancy and Ancient Runes classes. Myrtle's a bit more easy to deal with these days too. I believe I'll be just fine."
"That's so good to hear," Claire said.
"I cannot believe it's over." Ron said as they sat on the Hogwarts express for the last time.
"I know what you mean," Harry told his best friend, "it feels like just yesterday that Hagrid was bursting through the door to tell me I was a wizard."
"It feels so weird to know that we're not coming back next year," Claire said.
"Yeah," Ron agreed.
"But think about it," Harry said, "now we have our whole lives ahead of us."
Read and Review, oh and yey, Hermione died! At least, I think that that is good?
