In the Melancholy Moonlight, Part 5: Dark Matter

Chapter 242: Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince

LUCY:

"DID YOU KILL HIM?" I screamed as I sprinted after Greyback, the second I knew I was out of earshot of the castle. "DID YOU KILL HIM?"

Greyback merely laughed and tossed a spell at me over his shoulder, which I dodged. "As fun as this has been, I do not have time for you right now. I will find you later, though. You are mine."

"DID YOU KILL HIM? DID YOU KILL HIM? ANSWER ME, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

"Kill who?" Greyback asked, still laughing as he cast another spell at me without even looking. I dodged it again. "I've killed so many, you know — "

"YOU KNOW WHO I MEAN! MY DAD! DID YOU KILL MY DAD?"

Greyback laughed louder, not answering me. "I really am sorry to go," he said. He suddenly stopped and turned on his heel, waving at me and flashing a wide blood-soaked smile. "Until next time, pup."

He slashed his hands at me, and I was too slow to dodge him that time. I was launched backwards off of my feet, and I hit the ground so hard the world around me went black.

When I opened my eyes again, all I could see was stars. I lazily traced the constellation directly above me with my eyes, trying to ground myself. I had been in the middle of something, I was sure of it, but my body was aching so much my mind was fuzzy.

I was jolted from my daze by the smell of smoke.

Right. The fight. Astronomy Tower. Darkness. Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. Greyback. Greyback got away. Harry. I had to protect Harry. Where is Harry? Where is the fire?

I squeezed my eyes shut for a long moment and summoned every last ounce of strength that I had, then pushed myself to my feet, fighting to keep my balance as the world below me pitched and swayed. I lifted my nose to the air and focused on the direction of the smoke. My eyes remained closed as I staggered in the direction my nose was guiding me.

When I first felt the heat from what I assumed was the smoldering remains of what had once been a fire — even with my eyes closed, I could tell it was out, since there was no light shining through my eyelids — I opened my eyes. I stared at the blackened mound for a moment, not quite sure of where I was.

Then I saw the pumpkin patch, and the world seemed to pitch and sway beneath me again, and not because of the head trauma I'd sustained.

It was Hagrid's hut. It had been Hagrid's hut.

"TUCK!" I screamed hoarsely. "Tuck! Tuck, come here, please come here, it's me, it's Lucy, it's me, it's me, it's me, please come here, Tuck, please, please, please, please! Tuck, please! Tuck!"

I staggered closer and closer to the ashes, but nothing stirred. No one stirred.

Hagrid hadn't been in there, I could tell, I could see his footprints in the mud that surrounded the remains of his home. The fire had been extinguished with conjured water, I could tell, but as I studied the mud, I couldn't see any paw prints. Not Fang's, not Tuck's, just two sets of footprints, one Hagrid-sized, one human-sized. I was going to be sick.

"Tuck, please," I croaked, coughing on the smoke I'd inhaled, choking on the sense of doom that was crawling up my throat. "Tuck, baby, please, come here, Tuck, please..."

I lifted a trembling hand. I was out of options. If Tuck was trapped under there, still alive, unconscious, maybe, or maybe somewhere far away, maybe he had run, he would come to me if I summoned his collar.

"Accio collar," I whispered.

The rubble shifted, ever so slightly.

But rather than Tuck emerging from the ashes, rather than a collar emerging from the ashes, only one little piece of him remained. The little metal heart-shaped tag he had worn on his collar, reading TUCK in letters I had carved myself under Mum's careful supervision. I closed my fingers around the little heart, still scorchingly hot from the fire that had taken my Tuck from me, and crumpled to my knees.