Chapter Sixty
Harry couldn't help but notice that the Death Eaters were thinning out, and as much as he wanted to believe it was due to them killing them all, he doubted it. There wasn't enough bodies to start with.
He wandered passed a group of three dead, giant spiders from where they'd streamed from the forest about half way through the battle, their nest disrupted by something.
Suddenly his scar flared with pain, strong enough to send him stumbling into a wall and sliding to the ground.
"You have fought well." Voldemort's voice boomed, filling the air once again, "You have fought bravely and skilfully, there will be no shame in your surrender. Many of you have fallen, many more have been hurt. I have withdrawn my Death Eaters so you may collect and morn your dead, tend to your wounded and think about your choice. You have one hour. If Harry Potter does not deliver himself to me, alone, within this coming hour, the attack will begin again and trust my word when I say that we will show no mercy and you will not get another chance like this. One hour, starting now…"
Harry fought for breath for a moment before pulling himself to his feet and making his way to the Great Hall.
He knew that's where they'd be bringing the dead and he wasn't wrong.
It had been a long journey for him, taking far longer than it normally would of due to fallen walls and at one point a dead giant. Half way to the Hall he'd found a girl, her face and neck ripped open by a werewolf.
She was wearing the white robes the Hogwarts students had been, a small eagle embroidered at the neck in bronze. He doubted she'd been seventeen, he'd have put her closer to thirteen looking at the half of her face that was undamaged.
He'd picked her up and carried her to the Hall, adding to the time it took him to get there, not that she weighed a great deal, another thing that suggested to Harry she was far too young to have stayed to help fight.
Ten minutes after Voldemort's announcement, Harry arrived at the Great Hall and felt faint at the sight.
There had to be twenty or more dead, laying in neat rows across the Hall, some of them surrounded by family, but many alone, their families wouldn't even know they were dead yet. There were more dead being carried in behind him and it suddenly became painfully clear.
There was no way Harry could let this start up again.
"Where did you find her?" Ginny asked, coming over to Harry.
Harry blinked, not having heard the question, "Sorry, what?"
"Where did you find her? Nikki, I think her name was." Ginny asked, pointing to the girl.
"Oh… umm." Harry's mind grew blank, suddenly it felt as though he'd been carrying the dead girl his whole life.
"It's OK." Ginny said, guiding him over to the nearest line of dead and helping him lower her down from his aching arms, "You're not the first to forget. I guess it doesn't really matter either."
Harry looked around, his brain unable to process the loss in the room around him.
"Luna?" Harry asked, focusing in on the sobbing girl who was clinging to Draco two rows of dead over.
Ginny said something to him as he walked towards Luna but he didn't hear her.
Luna was crouched on the floor, clinging to Draco's arms as though he was the only thing holding her to the earth.
Xenophilius was laying before her. He'd been laid out neatly, eyes closed over, messy hair arranged behind his head and shoulders and his hands clasped gently on his chest. Harry watched him carefully, trying to trick himself into believing his chest might start moving any moment, knowing that it wouldn't.
"What happened?" Harry asked, flopping on the hard, cold floor next to Luna and wrapping an arm around her. She was freezing.
She didn't say anything, she hadn't made sound since Harry had spotted her despite her body heaving with sobs.
"Luna was out numbered, three against just her but she was holding her own." Draco said softly, running a hand over her hair, almost as though he was afraid she would hear him.
"Three against one?" Harry said, trying to hide how impressed he was, now really wasn't the time.
Draco nodded, "Crabbe, Goyle and Crabbe's mother. Crabbe's father came up behind her, she didn't see him. I did, I started running to help… but Xenophilius got there first."
"I don't…" Harry knew he shouldn't be pushing, that his need to know what had happened couldn't possibly be helping Luna, but he needed to know, and he wasn't going to have the chance to ask later.
"He'd sent a killing curse at her, Xenophilius got in the way." Draco whispered, "He said he'd do anything…" tears falling down his face into Luna's hair.
Harry closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, "You said you were running to help, would you of…?"
Draco nodded, "Yes." he said quickly, not even a hint of hesitation, "I would of gotten in the way as well, if I'd have been faster."
Draco felt Luna's fingers tighten against his skin and held her a little more tightly. He didn't tell Harry he'd been fighting of the image of Luna being the one laying there, not breathing. Just the thought made him feel like his heart was being ripped from his chest.
Harry tried to take one of Luna's hands in his own, but she was holding too tightly to Draco and either didn't want to let go or, more likely, didn't even realise Harry was there. Instead he knelt up and kissed her damp cheek.
"Where are you going?" Draco asked.
Harry watched as the Hall filled more, there was at least forty bodies laying out now, and goodness knew how many more in the hospital wing.
"I… I should go and find my mum." Harry said, numbly.
Draco nodded frowned at his friend, "Harry…"
Harry forced a smile, "You know she'll be freaking out until she sees me."
"All right. I saw Hermione and Neville helping to collect people, not sure where Pansy, Cho or Daphne are, let alone all the others…" Draco told him, "I'll see you later?"
"If I see your parents, I'll send them in." Harry offered.
Draco smiled but shook his head, "No need, I ran into them carrying Xenophilius and helping Luna get here. They're with Corvus, Gemini is dead and no one seems to have seen the younger Rodolphus leave with the others. Apolline took out both of the elder Lestrange brothers. Corvus is… it's a big shock."
Harry nodded, running a hand through his hair, everyone seemed to be hurting. The pain was almost physical, crashing into him as it floated through the air throughout the castle, but he was just numb.
He wandered through the rows of bodies, trying not to look at the faces, all of which looked far too young. Maybe everyone just looked too young when they died.
The stream of people carrying the dead in had slowed. He checked his watch, it had been nearly twenty five minutes.
This hour, his last hour, was ticking away far more quickly than he would of liked.
He didn't know where to start looking for his mother, not really. The castle was huge, far too big to be searched in less than twenty minutes, he'd need the rest of the time to find Voldemort through the forest.
Harry headed for the hospital wing, it seemed a good a place as any to start.
He heard his name called and spun round to see Nikka rounding the corner after him. She threw her arms around his shoulders, squeezing him tightly. His body ached at the contact but he didn't mind, the pain reminded him he was alive, with all the cruel irony that that entailed.
"You're in one piece." Harry said, forcing a smile.
"Just about." Nikka laughed, before shaking her head, "How about you?"
"Bumps and bruises." Harry shrugged, "Luna lost her father. The Hall is filled with people…"
Nikka nodded, "I know. I saw Pansy and William. He's a little worse for wear, got caught with a curse on his side but he kept fighting rather than getting it seen to, Madam Pomfrey said it'll just leave an interesting scar. He got lucky."
"Daphne?" Harry asked, ticking off his friends in his head, giving a silent prayer every time he found out one of them was alive, "And Cho? And your brothers and Dad?"
"I saw Daphne." Nikka said, "She's lost most of her hair, it's all burned off above her shoulders where a fireball caught her ponytail but otherwise she's fine. I've not seen Cho, I'm sorry. So far my family's whole."
"What about Mum and Dad?" Harry asked, feeling the time ticking away and realising he might not see anyone other than Nikka he could ask.
Nikka gave him a sad, sympathetic smile, "I'm sorry Harry, I've not seen 'um."
Harry forced himself not to react, "Thanks."
"No worries." Nikka said, pulling him into another hug, "I'm heading for the Great Hall, see if I can help and I'll keep my eyes open for anyone else."
Harry nodded, "I need to find mum and dad."
"I could come with you?" Nikka offered.
"NO!" Harry said quickly, too quickly.
Nikka's face flashed with worry, "Harry you're not even thinking of handing yourself over to Voldemort, are you?"
Harry shook his head, "No. Course not."
"Good, because you know it wouldn't do any good. He wouldn't really stop." Nikka said, trying to read Harry's eyes, which were worryingly blank.
"I know." Harry smiled, "I wont go to him." he lied.
Nikka nodded and watched Harry walk away from her down the corridor.
Harry didn't dare look back, he was sure that if he saw her staring at him, which she was, he could feel it, then his resolve would crumble and he'd tell her everything, and she'd stop him, and then many, many, many more would die.
He made it to the corridor that held the hospital wing and quickly realised there was no chance he was going to be able to get in there. It was filled with people, asking questions, injured or both.
Many when they saw him reached out, shook his hand and patted him on his back. Which just made Harry feel awful and claustrophobic.
Hermione was fighting her way to the hospital wing holding up a young man who was bleeding heavily and crying, saying how much he didn't want to fight any more, that he just wanted to go home.
Harry thought about calling out to her, seeing her face one more time, but he couldn't deal with being around so many people any more, their touch and kind words were like acid on the inside of his skin, boiling him from the inside out.
He turned as quickly as he could, fighting his way through the people that had come up behind him into an empty corridor.
Harry leaned heavily against the wall, his chest heaving as he gulped in the air that had seemed to be missing from the previous corridor. He threw up, his body retching until he was once again gasping painfully for air.
He seemed to have throw up more in the last twenty four hours than he had in his life.
He took a few minutes, wiping his mouth, and the tears that had appeared on his cheeks before setting off again, walking almost aimlessly to fill the ten minutes he had left until he would have to head for the forest and Voldemort.
He rounded another corner and saw Cho, walking the other way.
Harry opened his mouth to say something, call out to her and get her to turn around and see him but no sound seemed to want to come out.
It didn't matter though. She turned around anyway, feeling his presence and froze for just a second before stumbling over to him and kissing him forcefully.
Harry held her tightly, one hand finding her neck, the other clamped firmly on her back and let the moment fill him before she pulled away.
"You're OK." Cho said, slightly breathlessly.
Harry nodded, although he was very far from OK in reality, "You're OK as well."
Cho nodded, wrapping her arms around herself, "I had a few close scrapes, hurt my leg when the northern tower collapsed."
"It collapsed?" Harry asked, pulling her to the wall as a group of Lions of the North rushed passed.
Cho nodded again, "Yep. One too many spells at the base would be my guess. Umbridge is dead."
Harry didn't feel anything but a flicker of relief at the news.
"She was locked up about four floors from the top," Cho continued, "Didn't stand a chance, so far they've found several bloody chunks and little else."
Harry wrinkled his nose at the unpleasant image, pulling Cho into another hug, breathing in the scent of her hair.
There was a call for help from nearby, causing Cho to whip her head around towards the noise. Harry used the excuse to check his watch, he had to go.
"I'll go." Harry offered, "You need to get your leg seen to and there's a huge queue outside the hospital wing."
Cho looked doubtful, holding his hand tightly, "I don't want to leave you… feels like I'll never see you again."
Harry forced a smile, "You can barely walk." he pointed out.
Cho conceded the point and gave him another kiss before hobbling away from him.
Harry made sure she was round the corner before walking off as well. He felt slightly guilty about not helping the person calling, but the last thing he wanted was to be late. Someone else would go to them anyway.
It would be far too late by the time Cho realised he was missing, it would be too late by the time any of them did.
Harry didn't bother disillusioning himself, or using the invisibility cloak, everyone was too distracted anyway. He walked through the nearly empty corridors, stepping around the fallen Death Eaters and pools of blood.
He worked at cleaning what he could off his robes as he walked, some strange bit at the back of his mind telling him he should look good when he died.
He was so distracted in fact, he barely noticed leaving the castle, or tucking the scram sax at the edge of the old stone castle steps, and didn't notice the girl sitting on the steps, watching and waiting for him until she spoke.
"Took you long enough, Harry." she purred.
Harry jolted, snapping his head around to face her, "Tracy?"
