Ari continued flying towards the gate, lowering himself and peering down whenever he saw a body on the floor, trying to see if it was Oma. Kingsley was trying to tell him something, but what was it? Kingsley's exact words were "She was". He got interrupted before he could say what she was. Was he trying to say that she was killed? Was she injured? Maybe Kingsley meant that she was very helpful? Ari wished that sentence was completed. Eventually, he reached the gates and still didn't find his grandmother.
Ari turned around and flew back to the castle, continuing to hover over each body to check if it was her. At one point, he found his wand and picked it up. Finally, he flew into the entrance hall and into the great hall. Madam Pomfrey was treating the injured on a platform. Dead bodies were in the middle of the hall. Ari started flying over the bodies.
"Goldstein!" he heard McGonagall shout. "Why are you flying a broom indoors?"
"I'm looking for my grandmother," Ari said.
"I'm right here," Oma called out. "Why did you summon your broom?"
"I had to get away from the giants," Ari explained, running to Oma.
McGonagall asked those who weren't injured to bring in the bodies from the grounds and castle. Ari remembered peering down at bodies and felt a wave of nausea at the thought of his next task. He instead levitated piles of rubble and extracted bodies from there. He hoped that anyone he pulled out would just be injured and not dead, but he wouldn't know for sure. Whenever it was a death eater body, he also took the wand. Ari realized that the reason there were so much fewer death eater bodies was because his side wasn't aiming to kill. They mostly stunned, and those who they killed were usually by accident. The other side, on the other hand, killed for the fun of it. He wondered what went wrong with them psychologically to cause them to be such miserable people.
Oma helped with healing the injured. Madam Pomfrey needed the help of anyone who knew healing spells, as there were many injured.
After fifty-five minutes, McGonagall called everyone together to regroup. Ari took out his wand collection so that anyone who lost their wand could use one from him.
"I thought you stopped collecting wands after a death eater had you in a headlock," Kingsley said.
"I continued when it became convenient again," Ari told him. "What were you trying to tell me about my grandmother? I was imagining the worst."
"I was going to say that she was very clever by fighting the death eaters from within," Kingsley explained. "She entered with them so they assumed she was one of them. When she started hexing them, they were surprised."
Before they could start fighting again, there was an announcement that Harry was killed while trying to run away. The dark idiot seemed to think that everyone would come out and bow to him.
"I bet Harry gave himself up," Ari told Michael and Terry.
"He probably thought the fighting would stop if he did," Michael agreed. "Obviously, you know who doesn't keep his word."
They all left the castle together to see Hagrid holding a dead Harry. Everyone was screaming the same time, so Ari knew his words weren't heard but that didn't stop him from yelling.
"You lied," he yelled. "You said nobody else will die if he gives himself up!"
Soon, nobody was able to talk anymore. Voldermort started giving a speech about how Harry relied on others to sacrifice themselves and the screaming started again.
"He's all mixed up," Ari commented. "Harry sacrificed himself for everyone else. He never wanted anyone else to be sacrificed and tried not to let us fight."
Once again, everyone was silenced. Neville charged at Voldermort and lost his wand.
"Dumbledore's Army!" Neville called, and Ari cheered with the rest, although he didn't know what Neville expected.
Ari watched in horror as Voldermort put the burning sorting hat on Neville and was amazed when Neville killed the snake. As giants tried to trample the crowd, Ari ran with everyone else back into the school.
This time, Ari stayed with his grandmother. She disillusioned both of them and they shot spells at any death eaters who seemed to be overcoming the people they were dueling. There seemed to be lots of skill on both sides, and Ari would have loved to sit back and watch the show, but Oma wouldn't let him. Everyone was surprised when Harry reappeared, very much alive.
Ari listened to the dialogue between Harry and you know who, not really understanding all of it. He watched as you know who was killed by his own killing curse.
"I'm taking Ari home," Oma told McGonagall. "Should I assume classes are finished for the year?"
"We'll have to arrange a time and place for NEWT exams," McGonagall said. "I'll send you an owl with any information we get."
As soon as Ari and Oma reached the gates, they apparated home.
"You realize that today is Shabbos?" Oma asked Ari.
"I'm sorry I called you away on Shabbos," Ari apologized. "Yesterday, I was getting ready for Shabbos, but when Harry came, I completely lost track of the time and day."
"That's understandable," Oma said. "Pekuach nefesh comes before Shabbos. We were allowed to be mechallel Shabbos to save lives."
Ari was surprised to see his mother saying tehillim in the living room.
"You're home!" Mommy exclaimed. "Are you both okay?"
"We're both fine," Oma said, "Just tired."
"Why are you up?" Ari asked his mother.
"I spent the whole night davening for you," Mommy said.
"I kept telling her to go to sleep," Tatti said, walking into the room, "but she insisted she has to say tehillim until she hears that you're safe."
"Did you sleep?" Oma asked curiously.
"How was I supposed to sleep?" Tatti asked. "Obviously, I was worried."
"Why didn't you come fight?" Ari asked.
"Oma came to help you," Tatti said. "There was no reason for both of us not to keep Shabbos."
"Why don't you get some sleep now?" Mommy asked.
"I don't want to miss shacharis," Ari said.
"We still have a few hours," Tatti told him.
Ari went to his room and put his wand in a drawer. After all, he won't need it again until he needs to tell his own kids that magic is real.
A few hours later, Ari woke up and went to shul with his father. He expected his family to sleep through the meal and was surprised when his father started singing zemiros. He sounded like he had enough sleep, and the whole family joined along. Ari was happy to be home. He knew that his journey into the magical world was finally over.