Never Is Our Always

The Battle Rages On

(Minnie pov)

"Fred..." I said, looking out to the Entrance hall, he followed my eyes to hear a faint sing of someone's voice.

"Potter is dead, Potter is dead~" we were all flooding the Entrance hall and out into the courtyard to see what the commotion was about.

Then the doors open, we saw Hagrid walking with the death eaters, Voldemort leading then down the bridge.

Hagrid was carrying someone— Harry Potter in his arms, rope tied around Hagrids neck as the Death Eaters surrounding him held a tail of the rope.

"Stop."

The Death Eaters came to a halt, they were spreading out in a line facing the open front doors of the school.

"NO!"

The scream was the more terrible because I had never expected or dreamed that Professor McGonagall could make such a sound. I heard another woman laughing nearby, and knew that Bellatrix gloried in McGonagall's despair.

The open doorway was filling with people, as the survivors of the battle came out onto the front steps to face their vanquishers and see the truth of Harry's death for themselves. I saw Voldemort standing a little in front of Harry's dead body, stroking Nagini's head with a single white finger.

"No!"

"No!"

"Harry! HARRY!"

Ron's, Hermione's, and Ginny's voices were worse than McGonagall's; the crowd of survivors took up the cause, screaming and yelling abuse at the Death Eaters, until—

"SILENCE!" Voldemort cries, and there was a bang and a flash of bright light, and silence was forced upon them all. "It is over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"

Harry was lowered on to the grass in the courtyard.

"You see?" Voldemort said, "Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"

"He beat you!" Ron yelled, and the charm broke, and the defenders of Hogwarts were shouting and screaming again until a second, more powerful bang extinguished their voices once more.

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," Voldemort said, and there was relish in his voice for the lie, "killed while trying to save himself —"

But Voldemort broke off, someone had broken free of the crowd and charged at Voldemort, I saw the figure of Neville hit the ground, then disarmed, Voldemort threw Neville's wand aside and laughed.

"And who is this?" he said in his soft snake's hiss. "Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"

Bellatrix gave a delighted laugh.

"It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord! The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?"

"Ah, yes, I remember," Voldemort said, looking down at Neville, who was struggling back to his feet, unarmed and unprotected, standing in the no-man's-land between the survivors and the Death Eaters. "But you are a pureblood, aren't you, my brave boy?" Voldemort asked Neville, who stood facing him, his empty hands curled in fists.

"So what if I am?" Neville said loudly.

"You show spirit and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom."