𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟗𝟔 - 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬

"𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙨𝙖𝙬!" Harry yelled, his fist slamming down onto the table, "It was Phee, and I know it's her, I just know it—" He was wasting time, time that Phee didn't have — and they were standing there debating it for what?! He wiped his bloody nose swiftly as he glared at Snape, every single atom in his body tensing in desperation.

"That may be," said Snape with his dulcet tones levelled, "But it may also be another trick the Dark Lord is using to taunt you, to let you fall into his hands — you have fallen for it once before, that resulted in the very predicament we see before us now."

"I know that! I know that already, but it was her!" Said Harry running his hand through his hair as he turned to face his parents, his mother was sat down beside Gwen who was tearily hanging onto his every word, Remus clutching her hands tightly as he too watched him. "Please, you have to believe me — it was her, I know Phee better than I know myself and it was a sign — she's trying to get through to us, she forced Voldemort's hand - why would I lie?"

"Why would you lie?" Repeated Snape, his voice seething, "Why wouldn't you lie?" He countered as he gave the young teen a look of disgust, before turning the the rest of the Order that were present.

"Do we have to satisfy that question with an answer?" He said, turning to face Harry, "You are stricken with grief and riddled with guilt, your mind whether your own or not can conjure what you wish to see — did you see anything else that could be of use aside from her eyes? Anything that could tell us of her whereabouts, was there anyone else in the room?"

"HE WAS - He was in the room with her, how else would I be able to see it?! Well what part of "she's alive" are you not understanding?!" yelled Harry as the vein in his neck bulged from his neck, "She is out there with him and I'm not going to stop until she's back here, home, safe."

"And how do you suppose you're going to find her?" Snarled Snape, "You're going to prance around the country yelling her name? If the Dark Lord did have her she would be protected heavily with intense dark spells, plenty I would assume are for the sole purpose of warding people away from her — "

"We can use that crystal that Kingsley got last year, when she went missing, can't we?" Said Harry, turning to Kingsley who was standing rather stoically with his arms folded, "You can get the crystal again can't you?"

"I suppose, I would have to be discreet... it's not often a gem of that value gets taken out of the vault... even with all the disappearances going on, there are very few blood relatives left to get an accurate response." Said Kingsley before turning to the grief sticken pair, Remus and Gwen, "The last thing I would want to do is give you false hope, if you wish for me to retrieve it then I shall but only at your request."

Remus nodded once, and Kingsley left with utmost haste.

Tonks stepped closer to the table as the door closed once more, her pink hair had long lost its colour and the tiredness on her features were present, making her overall appearance quite morbid as she prepared herself to ask this question.
"If the possibility was there in the beginning that she may be alive, or might return. Then, why didn't we prepare for that?" She said, putting her hands on the table, "Why did we bury her in the first place? If she came back whilst under there... she'd have to drag herself out again."

"Dumbledore insisted upon it." Said Gwen quietly, sitting forward, with Remus' hand still clasped in her own she looked back at him, they looked absolutely heart-broken, "He said "to act accordingly" to not draw any suspicion over why we delayed a funeral... so the public would be at ease, and by extension Voldemort himself."

Remus rubbed his thumb soothingly over Gwen's knuckles, an act Harry watched with melancholy as he remembered Ophelia doing that with him - must've been where she learned it from, the ball in his stomach increased in density as the bite of bitterness built in the back of his mind - but he shuddered it away, he'd have her back soon enough.