Hark, a solemn bell is ringing
Clear through the night
Thou, my love, art heavenward winging
Home through the night
Earthly dust from off thee shaken
Soul immortal shalt thou awaken
With thy last dim journey taken
Home through the night
-All Through The Night
"Shay, Shay, c'mon, please, not you, too, God, not you, too..."
The tears streaking down Charlie's face were hot, clearing pathways through the dirt and grime that had settled there. They clung to his lashes then fell to the dust, in Shay's hair. "Come on, Shay, breathe..."
His hands fumbled for a grasp on her shoulders. His palms cupped them, his thumbs drawing desperate circles, as if that could help her. "Please."
"Charlie..." One of his brothers said from behind him - Charlie turned halfway to face the voice, angry and terrified and sad all at once.
"No! All due respect, Bill, but get the HELL away from me."
"Charlie...?"
The tiny, rasping voice somehow managed to cut through Charlie's bellow. His head whipped around, eyes meeting hers instantly. She coughed and winced, whimpering as pain shot through her. "Charlie..."
"I'm here, Shay, shh, it's alright...I'm here..."
He lifted her up gently, holding her close to his chest. Her weak fingers lifted, trembling, to press against him, right over his heart.
"I always...loved...that," she said, eyes flickering up to his. "Your heart is so loud, Charlie...so loud..." Her eyes were drifting closed again, eyelashes casting shadows on her too-pale skin.
"No. No, no, Shay, nonono, don't do that. Come on, look at me."
Her eyes blinked open, shocking blue against the grey and black of the ruined battlefield, shocking blue against the grey dust that smeared her face like charcoal. She looked confused.
"Why do you keep...waking me up...Charlie? I'm so...so tired."
Suddenly she grimaced, the gesture contorting her face, and every muscle tensed. She arced her back and wailed. When she fell silent again she was trembling uncontrollably.
"Merlin," Charlie hissed, "Merlin, what did they do to you?"
Panting, Shay looked up at him blankly.
"Everything...hurts, Charlie...everything...hurts."
"I know, darling, I know. I wish I could help..."
The best he could do was hold her closer, kiss her forehead, whisper nonsense about staying with him and surviving, about going home to Dracul and Cadfael.
"Char...lie?" She began to cough again. A trickle of blood ran down from the corner of her mouth. Charlie stared at the crimson streak in horror. "It's alright...it's all...the way...it should be."
Her fingers had crept up from his shirt. They were now tracing the line of his jaw, playing over the trails his tears had left.
"It's alright," she whispered again.
"What are you talking about? You have to fight, Shay, for me, please...for Cat, for Cad..."
"Charlie, I...I want to but I don't...don't think I can."
She was gasping for the breath to say each word and wincing with every inhale. "It hurts...just...to breathe. It never said it would...be like this."
"Shay, what are you...?"
"The proph...prophec...cy,"
"What...?"
"Shh-shh" Shay's fingers fluttered over Charlie's mouth - he grasped the hand and pressed his lips to her palm, as if he could anchor her. "Talk to...Luna...she knows."
Shay laughed, and it rattled in her throat, gurgled with blood. Charlie cringed, stroking the hair back from her face.
"Charlie,"
He turned at the new voice, finding Madam Pomfrey leaning over his shoulder with a bottle of some kind of potion.
"Try this."
Charlie grabbed the bottle and hastily poured some of it into Shay's mouth. She winced and swallowed, seeming to choke on it halfway down. Yet nothing happened. Charlie twisted desperately to look at Madam Pomfrey.
"I'm sorry, Charlie," she said, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes "All I could do was dull the pain."
"But..." Charlie looked at Madam Pomfrey, then to Bill (who shook his head), and then to Cat, dissolved to nothing but a puddle of tears in the arms of an older Hufflepuff boy Charlie didn't recognize. He held out a hand to her and she fell into them, Charlie's arm around her shoulders, crying into Shay's.
"H-hey, Kitten," Shay murmured, placing one of her hands on top of her sister's head, then wiping the tears from her face. "I'm so glad you're alright."
"Shay..."
Shay shook her head and the young girl bit back sobs.
"Shh. I love you, Cat. With all of my heart."
"Love you, too, Shay,"
"T-t-take care of...Mum and...and Dad, for me...okay? And...and Tur...nip, too."
Cat nodded, whimpering slightly as her attempt to not cry began to fail.
"It's...going to be...alright, Cat. I...I promise. Don't...cry too much, al...alright?"
Shay was wheezing, the air hissing in her lungs. Charlie swallowed a rising lump of his own tears as she reached up for him again, her hand falling through his hair to rest on her shoulder.
"It's so c-c-cold, Char...Charlie."
A sob pulled through his throat - it felt as if it could rip him apart. He pulled her closer, kissed her jaw, stroked her hair, trying to make her remember what it felt like to be warm and safe.
"I'm so sorry, Shay, I'm so sorry. I failed you, I let you die..."
"No." She coughed, afterward, but the word was the strongest she'd spoken yet. "Don't...don't say...that. Ever. It's not...not your fault. You...were the greatest thing to...happen to me."
Charlie's tears escaped again, and it was only then that he realized she was crying, too. One of his tears landed on her face, mingling with the ones she was shedding.
"I love you, Shay," He said simply. She smiled and then, to his surprise, began to sing.
"Then the lion and the dove
Mingle tears and mourn their love
In the day war meets its end..."
The effort proved to be too much for her - her voice cut out, leaving Charlie to try and assemble the sense behind her words.
"That's...Shay, that's the lullaby, why..."
She simply smiled, eyes slipping closed slowly, the fingers tracing his face slowing their motion.
"Shay, don't do this..."
"Promise...me..."
"Anything,"
"...That you won't...always...be sad. Be happy...Charlie...please. And take...care of...them."
"Of course. Shay, of course, of course I will."
"I love...you."
"I love you, too."
Her breathing was labored, her eyes glazing over.
And then she went still, her head falling back over his hand, eyes staring unseeing at the sky. Her hand slipped from Charlie's face, fell to her lap, and then slid off of her jeans and onto the dust beside her.
"No. No, no...no!" His last no turned into a howl he couldn't contain, silencing those murmuring around him. He knelt in the dust, holding Shay's still body as close as he possibly could, tears falling fast, now, and freely. Cat tugged on his arm and he held her close, too, as he would Ginny, resting his head against hers as they mourned Shay's death.
Somewhere deep in the woods, Harry Potter opened his eyes to the world again. As Charlie and Cat continued to mourn, Hagrid brought his body back to the castle. Charlie was sure his already mangled heart froze at the sight of the dead hero, as every sense of hope slipped from the battlegrounds. As if brought to him on the breeze, Shay's lullaby played in his mind.
After all is said and done
And the dark meets with the One,
Then the lion and the dove
Mingle tears and mourn their love.
In the day war meets its end
Then, the dove, it will be penned
To meet its fate, no more to sing
As freedom's sacrifice takes wing.
Only then when her time's done
Shall dark surrender to the sun
The prophecy. He realized what it was with a start, as sudden and sharp as a knife to the ribs. It had been her prophecy, and she hadn't known it until Luna and Harry and the rest came back from the Ministry. It seemed so long ago. He remembered, with a swift jolt of pain, the way she'd taken to sitting still and silent, lost in thought, for days after their return.
He had been the lion. She had been the dove. A symbol of peace sacrificed to attain what she symbolizes. Sairose, whose name meant freedom, had been sacrificed to attain just that. It was like some horrible riddle. He'd never believed in prophecies, never paid them much attention. But tonight...
Harry was battling Lord Voldemort, their voices mingling in Charlie's numb mind like two separate strands of music. Then, as the sun rose red and light burst across the enchanted ceiling, both wizards shouted different spells - Voldemort's to kill, Harry's to disarm. And then Voldemort was sent flying, hit the floor, and Harry was left standing above the corpse holding two wands. The Hall went silent for just a moment and then, relieved and joyful beyond all comprehension, the crowd began to cheer, pressing in on Harry to touch him, to talk to him. But Charlie couldn't move, still paralyzed with the death of Shay and the realization of the prophecy and these new events happening in such quick succession. He didn't much notice the crowds celebrating and mourning around him. He remained sitting by Shay's body, her face so peaceful as to be sleeping. He hardly noticed when Harry sat down beside him.
"I'm sorry, Charlie," he said, and his voice was so sincere that Charlie felt nothing but acceptance of the sentiment.
"There was a prophecy," Charlie said, voice unnaturally low and level, "She had a prophecy: Only then when her time's done /Shall dark surrender to the sun. And that's exactly how it happened."
"What d'you..."
"Her prophecy called her a "dove," and "freedom's sacrifice" in the last day of the war. Today. Those were the last lines. And that's what happened. She died. You killed Vol...Voldemort. And the sun rose." He laughed bitterly, and Harry put a hand on his shoulder. "And Fred's gone, too. And Remus and Tonks." Charlie shook his head, as if he could shake the thoughts straight out. Harry remained silent and stood.
"I'm sorry," he said again. "I'll be back, Charlie."
Charlie nodded, but did not watch as Harry disappeared into the crowds to do the duty of a hero. He leaned against the wall, tilting his head up to watch the sun continue to rise across the enchanted ceiling.
They buried her on a windy day - the Weasleys and the Morse family, Harry, the Lovegoods, Claire, Ana, Shay's friends from the horse farm and a few of her favorite horses.
The thestrals, for Charlie, were particularly hard to bear. They seemed to weep, heads bowed, shoulder-to-bony-shoulder with each other. Charlie stood over the freshly-covered grave with nothing to give, with Cad perched on his shoulder.
"Goodbye, Shay," he whispered as the rest slowly headed down the hill, mingling together in tight little knots.. "Of all the people to die, it shouldn't have been you. I wish that the prophecy didn't have to come true. I love you. We miss you already. Take care of everybody out there for me, alright, love? You always were good at that."
Cad shrieked, and a more mournful sound Charlie could not imagine.
"I know, little one," he said as he scratched the dragon beneath the chin. "Me, too."
With matching tears in matching sad eyes, man and dragon moved out to start their lives without Shay - a broken little family who would have almost rather lost their freedom, if it meant getting to keep the sacrificial lamb.
"—time is a tree(this life one leaf)
but love is the sky and i am for you
just so long and long enough"
-as freedom is a breakfastfood
e.e cummings
((And there you have it. I really enjoyed the experience of writing this with/for all of you...your support has been incredible. Thank you so, so much for all of the reviews, favorites, and alert adds. It has really meant a lot!
I hope you don't mind the ending too much - it has been planned this way from the beginning. The idea of all of those prophecies shattering is what inspired it.
You're all amazing - thank you for sticking with this story until the very end!
And If you're at all interested, you will be seeing more from me in the near future... : ) ))