𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕 | ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟚 𝕠𝕗 ' 𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕔𝕝𝕚𝕔𝕙𝕖 ' HIATUS

lxxi

"C 'mere, Harry..."

"No."

"Yeh can' stay here, Harry...Come on, now..."

"No."

He did not want to leave Dumbledore's side, he did not want to move anywhere. Hagrid's hand on his shoulder was trembling. Then another voice said, "Harry, come on."

A much smaller and warmer hand had enclosed his and was pulling him upward. He obeyed its pressure without really thinking about it. Only as he walked blindly back through the crowd did he realize, from a trace of flowery scent on the air, that it was Ginny who was leading him back into the castle.

Incomprehensible voices battered him, sobs and shouts and wails stabbed the night, but Harry and Ginny walked on, back up the steps into the entrance hall. Faces swam on the edges of Harry's vision, people were peering at him, whispering, wondering, and Gryffindor rubies glistened on the floor like drops of blood as they made their way toward the marble staircase.

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

"I'm not hurt,"

"It's McGonagall's orders," said Ginny. "Everyone's up there, Ron and Hermione and Lupin and everyone —"

Fear stirred in Harry's chest again: He had forgotten the inert figures he had left behind.

"Ginny, who else is dead?"

"Don't worry, none of us."

"But the Dark Mark — Malfoy said he stepped over a body —"

"He stepped over Bill, but it's all right, he's alive." There was something in her voice, however, that Harry knew boded 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..."

So out of it, Harry was barely aware of the couple that followed behind him. Evelyn and Sirius cast each other worried looks, " Did you see him die, Evelyn?" whispered Sirius.

" No," she said, not exactly lying but also not fully telling the truth.

She felt him take her hand and squeeze, " I'm proud of you, Sirius," she whispered, " I know it's been hard, but you don't have to deal with it all by yourself you know?"

He said nothing, but the grip he had on her hand tightened, " I can't imagine what it was like, but I'm here now,"

" We both are,"

Despite herself, she smiled.

Her russet eyes moved across the floor until they landed on Eurielle. Who walked stiffly bide them, not looking their way as they all followed Harry and Ginny to the Hospital Wing.

" Come here," said Evelyn, extending a hand toward her.

Eurielle seemed hesitant, almost too scared to take it. Evelyn knew why and she couldn't blame her. Though she had been only a baby when both she and Sirius were taken away, a part of her remembers the feeling.

The fear and grief. Not knowing where mummy and daddy were and why they never came home.

Evelyn knew what her daughter feared most in the world because she too had been afraid of it.

The fear of loving and being loved.

At the same time, they couldn't help but let love into their lives, and they couldn't stop caring about people. So with a trembling smile, Eurielle took her mother's hand, allowing herself to be comforted by the woman she had never really known but had always loved so much.