Crux Itineris
Chapter One: Internal and External
Wednesday's Due
Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley stood on the balcony of the Potter Estate, staring out at the sea of green grass that grew near every lake and pond that littered the grounds of the magnificent castle.
Ron set his hands down on the railing and lowered his head so that his shoulder-length, bronze hair fell down and shadowed his face.
"It's difficult, eh?" Harry said on his right, his breath coming out in a thin smoke, as the day grew cold.
"Those arseholes that call themselves Death Eaters are getting harder to escape and hide from," Ron muttered darkly, glancing up toward his friend.
"Snape said last night that he can give us a new place of shelter," Harry retorted.
"How do we know that we can trust the slimy git?" Ron asked, lifting his head up.
"Because he helped us in battle, and he stayed with us when we lost," Harry whispered.
Ron dropped his head once more as silence swept over the balcony.
Bill, Ginny, Ron, Fred, Molly, Tonks, Harry, Remus, Minerva, Severus, Neville, and Padma were all that were left.
The eleven Order members seated themselves around a table in the dining hall of Harry's protected (thought not enough) and recently bought (before his supposed demise) manor, some clutching steaming mugs of tea made by Ginny who appeared hasty, and some silently whispering amongst each other, as if afraid to increase their voices to a normal room level.
Harry sat at the end of the table, tracing the brim of his cup with a slender and pale finger, catching some of the tea inside and licking off the liquid mutely. He glanced toward Lupin and Snape, both of whom were sitting beside each other, near Bill and Minerva's end of the table. Snape looked displeased with the seating arrangement, but he did not say anything.
His eyes slid along those who had survived the battle, all possessing internal and external wounds that could not be healed. Neville had lost a leg, leaving only a stump where his knee was supposed to be, due to a rather gruesome curse from Bellatrix Lestrange. Padma had lost her twin sister, as Fred had lost his twin brother, and (oddly enough for one whom has not witnessed the war at all) it was a rarity for either of them to smile. And Molly had suffered the loss of her husband and three children. The rest of them had all lived through equally traumatizing and frightening experiences; some that made Harry mentally shudder with grief.
The "Boy-Who-Lived"'s scars were the worst of all. A type of indent had pushed itself into his shoulder blade, causing anyone who saw his bare back to grimace. His eyes had dulled to a blackish-green, his right-hand pinky was gone, and he had lost his best friend and a war that had put the wizarding world into an eternity of depression.
Hermione Granger. Her death (along with Dumbledore's) had left the remaining Order in a state of shock and absolute melancholy.
They had not found her body, but from what they learned from the Death Eaters, she was as good as gone.