A/N: Look! I can write chapters that are less than 15,000 words. This one is short, because not much happens here, and I want to explore the Manticores in Hogwarts for the rest of this summer in one chapter. For now, let's follow the Manticores out of the Giantlands.

Chapter 33

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Sonya saw Ron go down with the last giant he had killed and knew what had happened. She'd seen the bodies of Rangers come home too often not to know what a spear to the chest meant and her eyes blazed as she targeted another giant.

She felt Anari burn her hand in her haste to change the overheating barrel of the 240b, and sent a warning down the link. As she did, the Hydra link felt something, a pain in their chest and they all knew that something had happened to Ron Stone.

Around the world, in America, in Beauxbatons, everywhere there was a Manticore tied to the Moondancer Clan and James with the Final Moments link, those people felt the sharp pain in their chest and they all knew that something bad had happened to Ron.

In Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore looked up from his scrying bowl with a sigh. He'd been watching the Manticores since they crossed the border. He had hoped that the training and equipment of the Manticores would allow them to circumvent the requirement that a life be paid for the amulets, but it had not happened. He bent down over his bowl to watch the end of the ritual.

The sounds of battle changed then, becoming something more than it was, as the Manticores stepped up the tempo. Restraint, fire control, all the things they'd learned over the last two years went away, eclipsed by the fear that they shared about Ron.

The 240b from the Sphinx team opened up again, and Sonya frowned as she listened to it. Something there had changed dramatically. It came to her, as she reloaded. Whoever was using it had changed the gas tube settings. The weapon was on its highest setting, pushing nine hundred rounds a minute at the giants.

The gunner was simply aiming at a giant and firing until the giant was down, and then going on to the next target without ever letting up, and Sonya frowned. That would quickly ruin the barrel and run the firer out of ammunition. She was about to call Richard on the ring when the fire eased off, and settled into a more reasonable pattern.

"Hydra one, Chimera one and two are inbound your location at high speed. Don't shoot them." May-ling's rushed message made Sonya turn to look back. Two large cats of some kind were bounding over the terrain.

One was jet black with only a single white stripe over its left eye relieving the sable coat. The other was the fiery red of a Weasley's hair, and had the same white stripe. They shot past Sonya's position and hit the nearest giant with teeth and claws. The giant went down quickly, and the two barely slowed as they attacked the next giant.

Sonya sent a warning over the ring not to shoot the cats as she reloaded. Between the fire of the Manticores, Rangers, and the two-headed buzz saw that had joined them, the remaining giants were soon in full retreat. The cats followed them back into the wood line, and after a few seconds, so did the Rangers.

Judging by the sounds that came from the woods, the hunting was good, for cats and Rangers alike.

Sonya raised her ring again. "All units report."

Sonya knew that Geri was burned already, and was sending for Hydra's medic as the other teams answered her.

"Dragon is amber, medic needed."

"Griffon is green."

Sonya was requesting Dragon's medic when the last team made their status report.

"Sphinx is red, medic requested."

Sonya closed her eyes. That had not been Ron on the ring. She told Daniel to watch over Hydra and walked over to Sphinx, dreading what she would find.

Four of the Sphinx team were standing around something on the ground. Richard March turned to look at Sonya as she came up, and she saw Ron lying on the ground. The gaping hole in his chest was obvious, and Sonya felt the tears start as she saw the proof of Ron's death.

Richard March reported the events that had led to Ron's death in a toneless voice. Maynard Winchester had been manning the machine gun until it jammed. He had panicked at that point and simply curled up into a ball in the position.

Ron had come out of his position in an attempt to cover Maynard and keep the giants from getting behind the lines. Sonya listened to Richard tell the story from the Sphinx team's linked point of view and wiped her tears away.

Richard finished up and looked at Sonya. "We are asking that you take the coward with you. We will not allow him anywhere near us."

Sonya looked at Richard and the savage fury in his eyes made her frown. "Where is he now?"

Richard looked at her and didn't even try to hide the lie. "He tripped, and hit his head on a rock. He's over in the gun pit."

Sonya looked at him. "Be glad I agree with you. You never could lie well."

Richard shrugged. "Be glad it was me. One of the others wanted to have an 'accident' with their weapon."

Sonya stared at Richard and her voice cracked like a whip. "You tell that other that if anything like that happens to anyone I am leading, he'll wish Tiffany had gotten to him with her spoon before I am done with him."

Richard blinked as Sonya visibly calmed herself. "I am responsible for every song under my command, even ones that go bad. Anyone that hurts one of those songs will answer to me, unless someone else gets them first, as Sphinx one did."

Richard nodded. "Still, we would ask that you take him away. I am not sure I can keep him safe."

Sonya looked at Richard. "Then you had better learn to control your team better, team leader."

Richard sighed "It's not the team I am worried about. When I knocked him out earlier, it took me a minute to convince myself that I shouldn't just keep hitting him, until he paid for taking Ron from us."

Sonya winced as his words brought back a memory. "You can't do it you know," she said absently, lost in the memory. "No matter how many times you hit them, it's never fair again." She shook the reverie off and frowned. She really didn't have the resources for this. "Phoenix one, this is Hydra one. Would you join me at Alpha point for a minute?"

Jerrick sounded harried as he answered her. "Roger that, Hydra one. ETA five minutes."

Sonya looked at Richard. "I will deal with Maynard. I assume you will be taking your fallen with you?"

Richard nodded. "Sphinx made promises to each other that I have to carry out. We will take Ron back to his family and I have a letter to deliver to them."

Sonya and Richard spoke as they waited for Jerrick. When Jerrick joined them they told him about Ron and Maynard. Jerrick sighed. "He was good man and he will be missed. I'll get a couple of my people to pick up the other one, but I will keep him asleep until we get back and Sphinx needs to keep quiet about this until we are back. You two do remember who came out of her books long enough to go to the last dance with him, don't you?"

Sonya groaned. "Just get him back in one piece. After that, James and Professor Dumbledore can take care of it." Emily Kitchen was the Phoenix researcher, and a good friend of Ron's.

Jerrick nodded and looked at Ron again. "Good bye, my friend."

Sonya sighed and turned back to Richard. "Collect the weapons of the giants Ron killed, all of them. They are his, and will go back to his family with him." Sonya joined the other Sphinx team members around Ron's body. She knelt beside the body and closed her eyes for a minute, remembering Ron. She opened them and looked at Ron for the last time. "Your song was too short, but it was glorious while it lasted and I will sing it often." Sonya pulled her knife out and cut a lock of hair.

She started braiding it into a strip of leather as she spoke softly to the Sphinx team. "It is a Borderer custom to send a bit of yourself with one who's song ended, so that they will remember you in the afterlife, and so that you can meet again, somewhere beyond the Veil." She had barely gotten started on the braid when someone tapped her shoulder.

Looking up, she saw the Finnegan twins. Both of them had a lock of hair in their hands. "We cannot braid," Frank said quietly. "Would you add ours to your braid, please?" Sonya nodded and took the locks.

The other members of Sphinx followed suit and soon Sonya had the braid finished. It was a short braid and Sonya sighed. She fastened it to Ron's uniform and stood up. She bowed to Ron, a final Borderer salute to a fallen comrade. "We would have sung well, my friend. You will be remembered."

Sonya started back toward the Hydra positions. She looked around at the other teams. Judging by the expressions there, and the looks most of them wore, she didn't need to tell them about Ron. She resolutely pushed Ron out of her mind for now. She had work to do. Later, she would allow herself to grieve. She was talking to Daniel when she noticed that the Rangers were returning. She went to meet Blade and Eagle.

Martin was limping slightly and Alexander had a first aid pack wrapped around one arm. "Those two idiots pushed the giants too hard. Three got away from us."

Sonya blinked. "What about your scout team? Can they catch up to them?"

Alexander shook his head slowly. "They could, but but James is still hunting the giants, and I'm not risking my people until he calms down."

Sonya sighed. "I do not blame him," she said quietly. "Sphinx will need a new team leader."

Alexander closed his eyes. He'd been a soldier for twenty years and it never got any easier to lose someone you'd trained and fought with. "He was a good man."

Alexander pushed that news away, focusing on the mission to be finished, much as Sonya had done a few minutes earlier. "I need a medic for a couple of the Rangers, and then we need to be packing up, in case we have to go after those two."

Sonya nodded, relaying what Daniel had told her. "Phoenix is packed, with Chimera bundled for litter carry. As soon as they find out if they'll be carrying James and Tiffany, they can be ready to go in three minutes."

Sonya and Alexander were walking around the giant bodies as Alexander checked to be sure that they were dead and Sonya got reports from the Manticores. Alexander flipped the cloak that had fallen to cover one giant back and made a noise, as if someone had punched him hard.

Sonya looked at him and froze. She'd never seen the Borderer veteran look anything like this. In fact, she'd never seen anyone with so many conflicting emotions on their face. Alexander stood there, staring at the body for almost a minute and then his face went blank.

He bent over the giant and began unhooking the sword there. "I am claiming this sword." Sonya blinked and looked at the sword. It was a good one, what humans would call a bastard sword, with a worn dragon hide grip and a crossguard that looked like dragon wings. Sonya blinked, looking at the sword across Alexander's back.

As near as she could tell from here, they were identical. Blade spoke, and the tension in his voice did not the blank calmness on his face. "Long ago, when Fire Worker perfected the art of making Magically forged swords, twenty of his finest blades were chosen, and paired. He did something to them, and when he was done, if two Rangers wore them, and were bonded in any way, they could do things together that they could not do alone."

He stood up from the giant's body and began strapping the sword across his back with the other one. "This sword is the mate to my own. I claim it for that, and because I know this sword. The last time I saw it, Sable was wearing it."

Sonya's eyes went to the vaguely Celtic style knot on Blade's leather that proclaimed his Lifemate status. Blade and Sable's story was well known along the borders, and it was a tragic one. They had met years ago, in the Ranger training and it had been love at first sight. Their careers, in the Rangers and the American Ranger Army had kept them apart for more than ten years, only able to meet once or twice a year.

When they finally had mated, they had done the Lifemate bonding. One step higher than marriage, Lifemates would never remarry, even if their partner died young. Few swore the oath, maybe ten couples in a generation. They had been married barely a year at the end of the Voldemort war, and settled down to walk the Borders.

Two years later, Sable had gone into the Giant lands on a routine mission and never come back. Blade had searched, and still searched in fact, but not even rumour had sung her song in five years. Sonya hissed in surprise. "This clan was started at the end of the Voldemort war. Sable might have heard something and gone looking for them."

Alexander nodded. "I will be back to ask the Firestarters about her, soon. Very soon." He looked at Sonya and she shivered as a chill ran down her spine. Alexander looked a lot like James just then, and she could see the tightly controlled fury in his eyes. "If these beings have kept Sable from me, they will shortly regret walking that path."

Alexander walked back toward the other Rangers as Sonya stared after him. She shook her head, and brought her mind back to the business at hand.

She got on the ring, calling the other teams and telling them to fill in the holes and pack up to leave. She also told them to keep a minimal guard and get ready to leave in a hurry. When she was finished, she saw Longstrider waiting for her. She told Daniel to continue with Hydra and crossed over to him. He was sitting on a rock and Sonya sat down nearby.

Longstrider watched her for a minute. "You have lost one of yours today and it was your first loss."

Sonya nodded as she adjusted Savignon. "I failed him."

Longstrider snorted derisively. "Failed, you say? Are you the Singer of Fate then, to always win without loss?" He pointed at the battlefield in front of them. "You faced odds that would have made many run, and with troops that had never fought for blood. That you won at all is a gift of the Singer of Fate, and will make a glorious song. That you lost but one will insure that today's song will be sung for years to come."

He looked at Sonya. "It is right that you grieve for the lost one, but do not let it destroy you. Talk to your war leader, or to Blade, else you will become the next Doombringer."

Sonya looked up, thinking about what he was saying. "I will."

Longstrider nodded. "Now, we must discuss the debt before you leave."

Sonya blinked. Honor was a very touchy subject among the giant Clans and she had to be careful here. She thought quickly. "You did allow us to stay in your lands when you could have told us to leave, leaving us in your debt."

Longstrider agreed. "A debt which was paid when you gave us Iceheart and the other giants for ransom." He looked at her gravely. "Then you defended us, without regard for your danger. At least that is the way Shadowstalker and Treebreaker see it. In addition to that, while you were the Defender, you lost one of yours, leaving us under a Lifedebt."

Sonya thought about it and finally sighed. "True. This debt is high, for the one that was lost was good." Sonya couldn't find a way out of the giants owing Manticore Lifedebt, not that she tried very hard. Using Ron's death as a bargaining chip was wrong, and Sonya refused to do it.

"Shadowstalker has taken this debt on her own shoulders, so that the Clan may start without debt. She says that you may call on her for a future favor."

Sonya nodded. She fingered the braid she wore absently as she thought about it. "Tell her that I will think on"

Sonya's words were cut off by the scream of a big cat and she whirled. The two cats that had passed her earlier had finally returned, and they were streaking toward Longstrider. Sonya jumped up and got between the cats and Longstrider.

Sonya cast about for a way to slow the cats, but they were coming quickly, and she was left with a single option. She pulled her rifle off her back and triggered a burst into the ground in front of the cats.

The two cats pulled up short and then broke apart, trying to circle the girl that faced them. Sonya triggered a closer burst in front of James, making him come to a stop. Before he could do anything, Sonya raised her ring. "Chimera one, this Hydra one."

The cat cocked his head and Sonya repeated the call. The cat looked at her as the red cat joined him. They shimmered and Sonya gasped. James and Tiffany were covered in drying blood and other things, but that was not what startled Sonya so badly. When she'd seen them just three days ago, they had looked like teenage adult, maybe seventeen or eighteen.

The man standing there was about twenty-five, and had a white lock of hair just over his left eye. Tiffany looked at least as old as James did and had the same white lock. That was startling enough, but they both had the pinched look of people who had not eaten in quite some time.

Both of those would have caught Sonya's eye, except the burning fury rolling off James as he stared at Longstrider captured her attention completely. She snuck a look at Tiffany again and groaned. Usually, she was the brake on James' temper, but now she looked as furious as James did and the green flames of her Pyromancy flickered along her skin.

Sonya raised the ring again, speaking slowly and carefully. "Chimera one, this Hydra one."

"Knock it off." Sonya blinked again. She was not certain which of the two in front of her had spoken. She relaxed slightly as the green flames flickering in Tiffany's eyes went away, but kept her eye on James. He was still staring at Longstrider.

"James, Longstrider is under my protection, and since I am here at your word, that means he is under yours. It would not be a good thing to eat him."

James looked at her, and Sonya tensed. The maelstrom of emotion surging through his eyes mirrored the turmoil she felt. Tiffany moved up to stand next to him, and James raised an eyebrow at Sonya. "I am not that hungry."

He turned, surveying the battlefield. "How many?"

"Eighty-four enemy with magical assistance. Until this last assault Manticore kept them behind the alpha point."

James nodded, and turned back to Sonya. He looked at her, and his eyes were distant, unfocused. "You have done well, now take them home." James' words were slurred and he was leaning drunkenly to one side. He had barely finished speaking when the two of them fell, dropping like puppets with their strings cut.

"Chimera nine, this Hydra one. Chimera one and two need you at Alpha point." Sonya crossed to James and began examining him. She found a gash along his ribs that was still bleeding slowly and began bandaging it.

May-ling came up and watched her for a second. "Keep going, I'm going to check Tiffany." May-ling began going over Tiffany, and found the gash in the ribs that James had. Since it was no longer bleeding, she continued to check and muttered something when she found a puncture in her thigh, as if an arrow had gone completely through.

When the two of them had finished the first aid, May-ling examined them again. Sonya cocked her head, waiting for May-ling to say something. What May-ling said though, was in her native Chinese and did not sound good.

"Excuse me," Sonya said impatiently, "but would you mind filling me in?"

"My brother is a hotheaded idiot." May-ling snapped. Sonya waited a second. "Sorry," May-ling said, as she stood up. "I don't know where they were for the last three days, but they are drained of all resources, as if they hadn't eaten in a month or more. Magically, they're just as bad off, and the fighting and injuries from the giants is not helping. I am going to keep them unconscious until Melissa or Madame Potter can look at them."

Sonya winced. She had been hoping to have James' advice at least. She got a status report from Manticore as May-ling and three other Phoenix people bundled James and Tiffany in the netting used to carry people who were unconscious or unable to fly.

"May-ling, we'll be moving out as soon as I tell our hosts goodbye. Pass the word, would you?" Sonya waited for May-ling's nod and turned back toward Longstrider. "I offer Manticore's apologies for the actions of our Clan leader. He is emotional, young and under some stress right now."

Longstrider studied her for a minute. "He is also bound to you all somehow. For three days, he touched the Earthstone, but he knew of your loss. His is a powerful song, and that you would face him to protect another leaves me in your debt."

Sonya grimaced. She was just piling debts up. At this rate the whole giant nation was going to owe her, which would lay some serious obligations on her. "I don't suppose you could forget it?"

Longstrider just looked at her. "You know better, Hydra."

Sonya sighed. "Yes, I know. Manticore has to leave though. May I hold the debt until I return?"

"I can wait, but I would prefer that you not hold it too long. I am old, and would prefer to meet the Singer debt free." Longstrider watched the Manticores gathering to leave. "These friends of yours are a strong song. I hope you are as strong."

Sonya shrugged. "I have to be. None of the other Manticores is a Borderer, and you know as well as I do that even the Borderers make mistakes in dealing with giants."

Sonya and Longstrider talked for a minute, comrades taking leave of each other. Sonya asked Longstrider to convey her regards to Shadowstalker and Treebreaker. Their ritual was going to take another few hours and Sonya wanted to be far from here when the sun rose. She wanted to keep the Manticores busy so they wouldn't have time to dwell on Ron's song, and its end.

"Hydra one, this is Phoenix two. Manticore is ready to go." Jerrick sounded the same as he always did, cool and unperturbed, and Sonya strove to match his tone as she answered him.

Sonya rejoined the Manticores and placed the Unicorn team on point. With Pegasus running the rear guard, Manticore lifted off, heading for the Border.

They were flying a bit higher this time, just over the tree tops and slower as even with matching Broomsticks some of the Manticores simply didn't fly as well as others, and flying at night only made that worse.

Sonya had the team leaders checking on their people regularly, and it was a good thing, because just after midnight, they had to stop and wait for two Phoenixes that had gotten off course. The Dragon team soon brought them back without incident and Manticore continued on their way. They holed up just before dawn and Sonya put out the guards and got everyone settled in.

When she returned to Hydra's positions after everyone else was settled in for the day, she found her team waiting on her. Daniel met her, looking at her closely. "It's time for you to sleep."

Sonya started to protest, but Daniel stopped her. "Sonya, you're running on too little sleep now. This is not a game. You cannot be sleep-fogged when you make decisions." Sonya winced, and and Daniel put his hand on her shoulder. "Listen to me. We've been listening to you wondering if you could have saved him all night, and you have to stop. Geri is nearly in tears, and the rest of us are not much better. For our sake, will you please go to sleep? I promise to wake you if anything happens."

Sonya stared at him, and then looked at Hydra. Geri wouldn't meet her eyes, and the rest of Hydra had rings around their eyes. She sighed, becoming aware of just how tired she really was. Physically, she had done no more than any other Manticore, but physical strain is not the only way to be worn out. The mental stress and worry of leading was telling on her, and through her, on her team. "Fine. You had better wake me though if anything happens."

Sonya got out her gear and tried to sleep, but she kept thinking about the final battle, and sleep avoided her. She laid there tossing restlessly until a voice came from the darkness. "I didn't sleep for two days after I had one of my people die."

Sonya sat up and looked toward Alexander. "There had to be something I could have done."

Alexander sighed, and his voice was heavy with past regrets. "I will not say that there wasn't, and you will think of things that might have worked. What you have to remember is that hindsight is perfect. You had a situation then, and you did all as well as I would have, or I would have said something, you should know that."

Sonya sighed. "I know that with my head, Blade, but my heart is not listening."

Blade nodded. "I know what you say, and I know how you feel. Think about this. You know or have heard most of the Border songs. How many of the songs of war have no endings? If you can find a dozen, I will be surprised. That you cannot find twenty, I will bet a future favor on."

Sonya thought about it. "I cannot think of any right now."

Blade stood up. "The Rangers are still following you, and so are the Manticores. Think about that, when the doubts get too high. Every Ranger and all those team leaders are trained to lead and take care of their people. Do you really think they would be following you if they thought you were dangerous to their people?" Blade turned and disappeared silently into the night.

Sonya lay back down, and sometime after that, drifted into sleep.

Sometime later, she was awoken by a nudge on her foot. She sat up and tried to wipe the sleep from her eyes. "What time is it, Daniel?"

"It's just after noon, but I am not Daniel." Sonya was reaching for her wand before recognition caught up with reflexes, and Hydra was scrambling toward them, because that voice belonged to no Manticore.

Sonya sat there, still tangled in her blanket, with her wand pointing at the Ranger sitting calmly at the foot of her bedroll. She stared at him, noting Hydra circling the two of them, all pointing weapons at the stranger. "Hold off, Hydra. I vouch for this man."

Hydra looked at her dubiously, until Sonya waved them off. She frowned at the man smiling at her. "Enigma, your sense of humour is going to get you killed one of these days." Sonya frowned at the Ranger. "How the hell did you get though the lines anyway?"

"You have known me long enough to know I won't tell you that," he chided her. "I did need to talk to you before you leave the lands though, so I dropped in."

Sonya shot him a look. "How did you know we were here, anyway? I couldn't get a hold of you to ask to come with us."

"I visited your mother a day or so before you left for the lands, and she told me what you were doing. I simply followed you when you crossed the border." Enigma grinned at Sonya's expression. "You should know I can follow anyone by now."

"I know you can," said Sonya in exasperation, only to stop as Enigma's shirt bulged and a ferret popped its head out. The ferret climbed down and crossed to Sonya. It chittered and bounced at her knee until she picked it up. "Hello, Furball. What's a smart ferret like you doing with him?" The ferret climbed up her arm and chittered at Enigma. Sonya grinned at Enigma. "So you followed us." She narrowed her eyes, remembering how the humans of the Firestarters had died. "Were you hunting this week as well?"

Enigma shrugged. "I may have been doing a bit of hunting, but you weren't going anywhere and I was annoyed that they were coming."

Sonya started to say something, but Enigma interrupted her. "My time is short, Hydra."

Sonya dressed slowly, thinking about the things Enigma had said. She had known the old Ranger her entire life, and he'd always been different, but this was bizarre even for him. She went to join Hydra as they ate. The team leaders soon joined her and they discussed the route and where the teams would be.

When the team leaders left to get their teams ready, Sonya's team moved up. Daniel took the lead, as he did most of the time when Sonya was not available. "Who was that, what did he say that has you so upset, how did he get in the lines unseen and how did he leave?"

Sonya grinned at her team, and then turned serious. "That was Enigma, the oldest Ranger alive. He's the borderer equivalent of Professor Dumbledore. He got into our lines because he has forgotten more about sneaking around than all of us know. He got out the same way."

Sonya sighed, chewing on her lip. "As to what he said, I cannot talk about it yet. Let me think about it, and do some research when we get back to Hogwarts, and then we will talk about it."

Daniel frowned at her. "That was remarkably uninformative, even for you, Hydra."

Sonya smiled at him. "Ask any of the Rangers about him. That is about what any of them can say."

Geri was watching Sonya closely. "All they can say, maybe. I think that you could say more, if you chose to."

Sonya smiled. "I could, he is an old family friend, but then I might spoil his reputation." She frowned, as sadness flickered in her eyes. "He was my father's trainer, and my parents and he are close friends."

She shook it off and stood up. "Right now though, we have more important things to do. We're on the right side of the formation today. Daniel's in charge if I get called away."

Manticore's trip was uneventful, and they reached the border maybe an hour early. Manticore set in, and waited. At the appointed time, A single figure crossed the border from the human side, and Manticore linked up with Falcon, one of the Rangers, and Sonya's mother.

Within two hours of the linkup, Manticore was back at Hogwarts, and Sonya was talking to Professor Dumbledore in the infirmary. Madame Potter was examining Chimera and having the Manticore Mediwizards spooning potions into them.

She came to the two of them after an hour or so, when Sonya was telling Professor Dumbledore about the last fight. Madame Potter listened quietly as Sonya told them about Ron. Professor Dumbledore nodded. "I will take Sphinx to return Mr. Stone's body." He noted Sonya's involuntary flinch. "You should come with us."

Sonya winced again. "I will." She sighed. "Will James be up in time to join us?"

Madame Potter shook her head. "Not a chance. All of Chimera is worn out, but James and Tiffany are as close to being burned out and Squibs as I have ever seen, or heard about. I'm not even going to let them wake up for three days."

Professor Dumbledore sighed. "We cannot delay taking Mr. Stone back to his family that long."

Sonya winced again. Borderers did not name the dead, believing that to name them would delay their crossing the Veil, and make them stay on the material world as ghosts. To hear Sphinx one named twice in a few minutes raised the hackles at the back of her neck and she had to resist the urge to turn around and look for Ron.

Sonya nodded. "I will find Sphinx and we will be ready when you are, Professor." She slipped away, looking for Sphinx.

Professor Dumbledore looked at the infirmary. Chimera was in eight beds, sleeping, and two other Manticores were there also, to have injuries attended to. This was more people in the infirmary than the headmaster had seen since the ball when Tiffany's Pyromancy had manifested, and he did not like the sight.

Two hours later, Sphinx, Hydra and Professor Dumbledore took a Port-key to the Stone house, landing just outside of it. Sphinx picked up Ron's body and they all started towards the door. An older man was working in the garden and looked up. He saw the group, their faces and the burden they carried.

He stood, and met them at the gate. H e looked at them and seemed to age twenty years in seconds. "You'd best wait a minute. His mum will take it better from me." He turned and started up the path to the house.

Sphinx and Hydra followed him silently, stopping at the door while he went inside. Sonya would never forget the anguished cry that came from the house, as Mr. Stone told his wife that their oldest child was dead.