Dark Side

Presumed Dead

Harry

I wake up, smell pine, feel my face pressed against the forest floor.

"My lord.. do you need help?" I hear Bellatrix's voice ask.

"No." He replies, voice uneven, he must have been knocked out too. "The boy- is he dead?"

I hear soft footsteps, muffled by the forest floor, someone sent to check. Hands, gentler than I had expected, reach down and find my pulse. I think it's over, that I'm found out, but the woman crouches over, her hair covering my face.

"I'm in the order, undercover, can't believe you're alive."

I don't know who it is, but I am so relieved.

"He's dead." She stands up and pronounces.

There's cheering, hollering, then Voldemort orders everyone forward, and huge arms pick me up off the ground, so lightly, cradling me gently. I hear Hagrid's noisy tears of utter greif, he clutches me to him, crying.

I wish I could show him I'm alive, I want to end his suffering, his tears wrench at my heart. I want to yell, Hagrid, it's okay, I'm alive, don't worry, I want him to give me one of his bone-crushing hugs, but he will give me away, he was always a terrible liar.

So I stay completely still, limp in Hagrid's arms, as he carries me out of the forest. Every sob shoving an icy dagger farther into my heart, but also setting ablaze my hatrid of Voldemort.

We stop at the edge of the forest, Voldemort magnifying his voice across Hogwarts to adress everyone again.

"Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone.

"The battle is won, you have lost half your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman, or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. Come out of the castle, now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live, and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together."

There was silence in the grounnd and from the castle, and they started moving again. After a couple minutes, they came to a halt again. A reddish glow came over the insides of his eyelids, the light from the entrance hall.

"NO!" Came a scream, all the more terrible, because I had never expected nor dreamed that person could make such a sound. Professor McGonagall had screamed, her voice high and cracking, a cry of despair.

Another woman's voice sounded, Bellatrix cackling, reveling in McGonagall's despair.

I squinted again, and saw the doors to the entrance hall flooding with people, the survivors of the battle all arranging on the front steps. I see Voldemort a little in front of me, stroking Nagini draped over his shoulders.

"No!"

"No!"

"Harry! Harry!"

Ron, Hermoine, and Ginny's voices were just as terrible, and again I wish I could call out to them, but I force myself to stay still.

Everyone else picked up, screaming, yelling abuse at the Death Eaters. I hear Lex's voice, screaming very creative, very explicit, extremely furious things.

"SILENCE!" Cried Voldemort, there was a bang, and a flash of bright light against my eyelids, and the crowd was silenced. "It is over. Set him down Hagrid, at my feet where he belongs."