Loud Silence

Chapter 1

The quiet in the castle seemed at odds with the day before. Solitary footsteps could be heard echoing in various locations. The stairs continued to shift around, a grating hissing sound, as if to confound students who already departed the school. The mutterings of Argus Filch, the caretaker, reverberated from an unknown spot along with Mrs. Norris' sometimes reply. Here and there a ghost swept through without making a single noise. Even the pictures lining the halls and stairwells seemed quiescent. Without the students, life appeared to slow to a crawl inside Hogwarts.

"Dennis?" Professor Flitwick asked with the name when he spied the young man sitting on the main foyer steps.

Dennis glanced up.

"I thought you left yesterday?"

"I did," Dennis replied as his gray eyes studied the short professor. "But I apparated back this morning."

"Does McGonagall know you're here?" The mixed-blood man inquired.

Dennis nodded. He wore dark brown cargo shorts, something his father seemed to think he always needed, a gray tee-shirt bearing an American rock band logo, and black Keds trainers with white ankle socks. No one would ever mistake him for a wizard in the outside world.

Professor Flitwick eyed him for a few moments, and then joined him for a sit. The two did not speak for several long seconds. The elder male sighed.

"You did well, Dennis, and I'm proud of what you achieved. You were the best in my class from your year... and a top contender for best charms pupil since the war."

Dennis flinched at the mention of The Battle of Hogwarts.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to remind you of... well, that," Professor Flitwick, dressed as usual in his oddly formal teaching attire. The man patted the younger one on the knee. "We all still feel it."

"Sometimes... I wonder if it was worth it," Dennis quietly mused as he glanced around the empty stone corridors. It all seemed airier and lighter without the oppressive crush of young bodies fighting to get class as the castle did its level best to get in the way. The openness appealed to him as he thought of what it looked like following the battle.

His former professor huffed and said: "Of course it was worth it! How can you say such a thing? Do you think it'd be any better if Vol... he was in charge?"

Dennis gave the man a flinty gaze.

"Yes, I know you suffered after the battle and these last few years. I know how much you miss Colin. Yet if the Dark Lord managed to win, any meaning to Colin's death would be lost," Professor Flitwick replied in a voice that grew softer with each word. "Do you know how I know your brother thought it was worth the sacrifice?"

"How? I've been trying to figure it out ever since," Dennis spat the words with an anger and resentment that built over the preceding three years.

"Because he's not here, Dennis. Colin isn't a ghost roaming the castle grounds. His death... there was purpose in how he fought and died. It means he went to his end satisfied he didn't do so in vain. It's a cold comfort, but there is truth to be found there."

Dennis felt his eyebrows draw together. Of all the teachers in Hogwarts, Professor Flitwick became a mentor to him, despite being the Ravenclaw house master, following the war and the personal events in the succeeding years. The young man felt indebted to the diminutive man for the comforts and wisdom he offered, some of the only ones Dennis received from the living inside of Hogwarts.

"I'm trying to understand that," Dennis admitted a few moments later. "It's hard... it... why didn't he bring me back with him? I would've fought... maybe could've saved him."