Pomona Sprout heard a noise as she passed the door of the great hall, at least she thought she did. She stopped to listen and heard it again, the faintest sound. Pomona gently pushed open the door, in the middle of the room on the floor sat Madam Pomfrey looking around the room.
"Poppy, whatever are you doing on the floor?" Pomona asked gently.
Poppy turned to look at her friend, delicate tears sliding down her face. "I heard Peeves in here and chased him out; I have not been in here since the battle. Is it right to keep using a battlefield as a school? Should we be here where so many people fell?" she said quietly to the ground slowly gesturing around her.
"Of course we should, he cannot take something so precious from us. It is now a part of the history of the school. Plus you heard the board, starting from scratch, building a whole new school would take a very long time, so many children would be behind in their studies. Just fixing the damage to the school has taken us all summer." Pomona said, then hesitantly added "The children need this, this is normal. And they need normal back in their lives, so do we."
"I know but it feels cheap. Like their sacrifice meant nothing. Just replace a few walls, put up some plaster, fix some windows and it never happened, their deaths never happened. We cleaned it all up and moved on." Poppy said her gaze frozen on one spot on the floor many feet in front of her.
"Nonsense" Pomona said firmly "Absolute nonsense. You know what happened here saved our world and the muggle world to boot. Their sacrifice meant everything and just because we do not wish to to…obsess over it does not mean we have moved on. Every one of them knew what they were fighting for and the risks"
"The risks? They died. And I see their ghosts everywhere in my mind." Poppy pointed to spot she had been staring at "Fred was there and he still is, they never leave, reminding me…" poppy hung her head as fresh mournful tears started falling again her voice full of pain "Reminding me that I failed them."
Pomona pulled her hands to her chest as she took in a deep breath "You did not fail them Poppy." Pomona sat on the floor next to Poppy and pulled her into a hug "You did everything possible to save them. If not for you there would have been so many more that had fallen that day. And there are some curses that cannot be countered. Sometimes there is nothing you can do but help the next person, and you did."
Poppy spoke between her tears "There were children fighting our war, how could we have allowed it? The students we have spent so many years with teaching and mending. Their silly little problems like acne, how I wish acne was the worst thing in life they had to face. But instead little Collin Creevy faced death eaters. That little boy so full of wonder at everything he saw. How I wanted to heal him and how useless I was to him in the end. Maybe I should have left him petrified by the basilisk, then at least he would not have died in a war."
Pomona patted Poppy's back.
"He made the choice; he came to the school of his own free will. Collin was not even a student at the school that year." Minerva said in the tenderest voice either woman had ever heard her speak in, then regretfully she continued, staring at the spot Poppy had pointed at earlier. "Bravery, that's the problem with Gryffindor's, we tend to have to say goodbye to so many of them so young. My house is full of pride and sorrow"
Pomona looked at Minerva and waved her over to join them, and Minerva gratefully did. The three women hugged for a few minutes crying deeply into each others shoulders.
"I may be no healer but I do know sometimes a hug is the best medicine." Pomona said as she gave the other two an extra tight squeeze.