The Potter Twins and the Half-Blood Prince {6}

27. Phoenix Lament

"I float in a boat in a raging black ocean, low in the water and no where to go. The tiniest lifeboat with people I know. Cold, clammy, and crowded, the people smell desperate, we'll sink any minute so someone must go" - Lifeboat, Heathers

"C'mon, Harry and Haylee."

"No."

"Yeh can' stay here...yeh Dad and Sirius are looking for yeh...Come on, now..."

Even though I don't want to leave him...even though my body aches with every movement, I rise to my unsteady feet, allowing Hagrid to hold me up with his shaking hand. I just want to see Dad and Sirius...

"Harry, come on," I say shakily.

"No," Harry says.

I open my mouth, but another voice steals my words. "Harry, come on."

Ginny has appeared, taking his hand and pulling him upward. He stops only to reach out for me, and I take his other hand tightly, allowing Ginny to lead us blindly back through the crowd and into the castle. Incomprehensible voices batter me, sobs and shouts and wails stab the night, but Ginny, Harry and I walk on, back up the steps into the entrance hall. at us. Faces swarm on the edges of my vision, people are peering at us, whispering, wondering, and Gryffindor rubies glisten on the floor like drops of blood as we make our way toward the marble staircase.

"We're going to the hospital wing," Ginny says.

"We're not hurt," I say.

"It's McGonagall's orders," says Ginny. "Everyone's up there, Ron and Hermione, your Dad, Sirius, Lupin, and everyone --"

Fear stirs in my chest again; I forgot about the inert figures we left behind.

"Ginny, who else is dead?"

"Don't worry, none of us are."

"But the Dark Mark -- Draco said he stepped over a body --"

"He stepped over Bill, but it's all right, he's alive."

But there's something in her voice, however, that I know bodes ill.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure...he's a -- a bit of a mess, that's all. Greyback attacked him. Madam Pomfrey says he won't -- won't look the same anymore..."

Ginny's voice trembles.

"We don't really know what the aftereffects will be -- I mean Greyback being a werewolf, but not transformed at the time.."

"But the others..There were other bodies on the ground..."

"Neville and Professor Flitwick are both hurt, but Madam Pomfrey says they'll be all right. And a Death's Eater's dead, he got hit by a Killing Curse that huge blond one was firing off everywhere -- Harry, Haylee, if we hadn't had your Felix potion, I think we'd all have been killed, but everything just seemed to miss us --"

We've reached the hospital wing. Pushing open the doors, I see Neville lying, apparently asleep, in a bed near the door. Next to him, is Riley, and on the far end of the ward, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Tonks, Dad, Sirius, and Lupin are gathered around another bed. At the sound of the door opening, they all look u. Hermione runs over and hugs us, followed swiftly by Dad and Sirius, and finally Lupin, the latter three looking anxious.

"Are you all right, Harry and Haylee?"

"We'll be fine..."

"You did this to you?" Dad demands, grabbing my chin to examine what I'd imagine is my swollen eye.