The battle was over and across Hogsmeade people were huddled together - some gazing at the golden sign of the phoenix glowing above them before slowly making their way towards Hogwarts, others clutching their wounds, many holding the bodies of the lost as they lay still on the ground.
Hermione glanced in the direction the phoenix had come from, her heart pounding in her ears. He had been alive when he cast the phoenix. It was all she knew and there was no time to find him now, she had put plans into place for this moment and knew that they would be needed. With a flick of her wand a quill and parchment of three columns appeared in the air before her, simultaneously in the hospital wing and Great Hall of Hogwarts, the ministry of magic and St Mungos, identical pieces of parchment and quills appeared with clear instructions spiralling across them in her neat, careful script.
She pushed her hair back from her face and bent down to check the body on the ground nearest to her. Recognising the face she blinked and quickly wrote the name Colin Creevey in the deceased column before casting a spell to send his broken body to the makeshift morgue at the school. She moved on and worked her way through the crowds, noting down all that she spoke to, all the injured and all those deceased as she edged ever closer to Hogwarts. As she worked she encountered others willing to help and with a flick of her wand many others began the solemn work of identifying the fallen and those who remained. She greeted Neville with a fierce hug and choked back sobs as he silently took the quill from her and inscribed another name to the growing column of deceased. Arthur Weasley. They held hands silently as they looked down at the body of the man who had acted as father figure to their best friends, a man whose loss would be felt keenly throughout the magical community, but would rip apart the lives of some of those they loved best. They soon felt the need to move on and as Hermione paused to add Neville's own name to the list of the living he stopped and took the list from her.
"You're not on here!" He exclaimed, scanning the list of the living. She started, and realised that in her haste to begin and in her desire not to distract herself searching for the name she most needed to read she had excluded herself from the list. Neville took the parchment from her and quickly began to write her name. She smiled suddenly and placed a hand over his to stop him as he placed the quill on the parchment to form the G of her surname.
"Actually, it's Potter. Hermione Potter", she said quietly with a soft smile.
Neville looked up at her in shock as their eyes met, and the smile seemed to spread from her face to his.
"Congratulations" he said, before completing her name on the list and returning the parchment to her. They moved on together towards the next group of people in the darkness and continued to work.
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In the Great Hall, people began to gather in increasing numbers around the parchment pinned to the wall adding their own names and waiting with baited breath as names appeared before them, eyes searching eagerly for friends and family, quiet tears of joy could be heard intermingled with tears of despair amidst the noise of hundreds of people talking and moving in the cavernous hall. The hospital wing had overflowed further into the school, and healers from St Mungo's were working alongside Madam Pomfrey and a team of volunteers to treat the injured and move the seriously ill.
In the cold and quiet dungeons of Hogwarts lay the silent. Guarded and tended to respectfully and quietly by the remaining staff of the school were those who had died for the light or the dark. Separated by a thin curtain, each body was identified once more and listed carefully alongside a cause of death. Filius Flitwick furiously brushed tears from his eyes as he noted yet another former student tortured and killed by the unforgiveable curses. Pomona Sprout laid a comforting hand on his shoulder before continuing her work.
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In the forbidden forest, Harry Potter sat panting on the ground, the body of the most feared wizard of all time lying metres away from him on the spell-scorched ground. As the enormity of the moment began to dawn on him, the pain he had suppressed through sheer adrenalin began to spread quickly through his body. Every part of him seemed to ache; his scar was screaming at him and bleeding profusely down his face, his left arm hung slightly useless at his side as he remembered that he hadn't quite dodged all of that sectumsempra earlier on. He tore a strip from his robes and grimaced as he tightly wound it around his arm. He had work to do. Knowing that if he lived to see this moment he would be too fatigued to think clearly he had written the instructions out and shoved them in his back pocket. He gingerly twisted his right arm to retrieve them now, and with shaking steps he stood, and stepping forward he completed the necromancy ritual to prevent any individual from attempting to return Tom Riddle to life of any form. Once completed he banished the body to a holding cell within the Department of Mysteries and sinking once more to the ground he gathered his breath once more. He needed to find her and that meant gritting his teeth against the pain and walking the seemingly endless distance to the castle. It was as he forced himself to his feet once more he heard her voice echoing in his mind, 'honestly Harry, are you a wizard or not?'. His mind had captured her tone so perfectly that an unbidden smile crossed his face, and stretching his wand before him spoke the words that had saved him more than once over the years: "accio firebolt".
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Molly Weasley could not let herself look at the list on the wall behind her. If she read any of the names she feared may appear then her heart would break and she would be no use to anyone. Poppy needed all the help she could offer as they tended to the wounded and ascertained whether patients were critical or non-critical. She found herself on autopilot as she approached the next bed, not glancing at the patient, simply marking the paper at the end of the bed as non-critical and beginning work on the deep cuts spilling blood onto the sheets from the leg before her. It was a raspy voice which stopped her in her tracks. Her hands stilled as the voice once again said 'Mum?' Looking to her right she saw the face of her patient and quickly gathered her youngest daughter into her arms as if she would never again let her go.
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Luna sat silently in the darkness. Somewhere in her heart she knew it was over and that she should move from this spot, but moving from this spot would mean accepting that the rest of her life would never be the same. Her hands moved to softly stroke the red hair away from his face, forcing the memory of the feeling into her tired mind. She would never again have this moment, never again hear his voice, and never again see him spill food in his lap or his face light up when she entered a room. A tear fell gently down her face, past her nose, from her chin and landed with the smallest of sounds upon his cheek. Gathering him close to her once more she kissed him for the last time.
Harry saw the blonde hair shining like a beacon as he slowly skimmed over the grounds towards Hogwarts, he would know her anywhere, and he flew to the ground beside her. Her wide eyes looked at him across the body of the man floating in the air beside her, their hands clasped together. No words were spoken, no words could be enough. The pain in Harry's heart suddenly obliterated every other pain in his body. With his broom tucked under his arm, he grasped Ron's free hand and they continued their solemn march towards the school with Ron suspended between them, no light in any of their eyes.
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She just needed a few moments to herself. It was overwhelming being amongst so many people after so long spent with just Harry. The two of them in an old battered tent, no noise but their own. Hermione snuck away under a quick disillusionment charm, and made her way up the sweeping main staircase, wandering the halls without thought. She smiled when she found herself on the third floor corridor as her feet led her to the spot where a trapdoor had once lain. She sank to the ground cross-legged and placed the battered parchment on her lap, allowing herself to scour it for names at last. Tears coursed down her face as she recognised names amongst the deceased and her breath stalled in her lungs as `Weasley, Ronald' appeared at the bottom of the list. Her eyes flitted to the L's and relief flooded through her as she spied Luna's name appear in another column. Her willpower gone, she looked at P. He was injured (non-critical). He was alive. She couldn't cry anymore, she couldn't smile; she just sat and gently traced the letters of his name with her index finger for a moment as she composed herself.
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Luna was safe in the arms of Lavender. Ron lay in the morgue. Poppy had patched him up tearfully and despite disapproving a look he had fled the hospital wing and the curious gazes of patients and family, everyone keen to simply see or congratulate the saviour of the wizarding world. He didn't take them in though, his mind was like a slide show of photographs; first that moment in the forest, seeing Luna's blonde hair, Ron's lifeless body, and finally seeing Hermione's name on the list of the living. He walked with purpose through the halls, a stained and well-loved piece of parchment held loosely in his hand as he walked towards the dot reading 'Hermione Potter'.
The Great Hall was full and people had overflowed into the entrance hall and surrounding corridors, families and friends making makeshift bases, the noise was incredible. Harry kept his head down and quietly made his way through the maze of wizards and suddenly there she was, at the top of the staircase. Her hair was bushier than when he had last seen her all those hours ago, his eyes scanned her looking for injuries and finding none his eyes looked to hers. She was scanning the crowd. She hadn't seen him yet. He smiled as he reached the edge of the crowd and stepped onto the staircase, looking up as her eyes found him. He made it only another four steps before she had run down the stairs and flown into his arms, her arms wrapped tightly around him in a trademark Hermione bear hug, her lips pressing urgent kisses to the top of his head as he buried his face in her shoulder.
They were oblivious to the world around them, the flash of a camera, and the eyes of the wizarding world seeing what had been kept from them for so long. Harry finally opened his eyes once more and taking her hand he sat on the steps, pulling her into his lap. They sat curled up together as close as possible as she silently handed him the list, her finger gently pointing towards Ron's name.
"I know... "
Hermione nodded sadly and they relapsed into silence. The crowd below the staircase seemed to respect the couple sat silently together and did not venture onto the stairs.
Harry had no idea how long they had been sitting there, only knowing that it would never be enough and that he was never letting go of her ever again. A movement at the bottom of the stairs caught his eye and he saw Neville looking up at them, his arm around Luna, Lavender following behind. Harry squeezed his wife's wrist and as she looked up he beckoned to Neville to join them. The five remained silent and contemplative as they sat sprawled across the staircase and Harry's mind flitted suddenly to another defining moment in his life which had occurred right here as Hermione had walked down the stairs before the Yule Ball, looking more beautiful than he could have imagined. He glanced across at her now as she sat curled into his side, Luna's head resting in her lap. It was as if she could feel his gaze and her head turned so their noses were almost touching, and he kissed her softly.
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