Harry told Ron and Ron told me and the pair of us told the Professors while Harry flew off into danger. We didn’t realise, at the time, that was his plan, but we really should have. It’s fairly typical of him.
I suppose we were too busy wondering what exactly had happened. And it was important that the Professors be informed, though I have a feeling they received a message from the Aurors around the time we were blurting out our second-hand information, which was vague and practically useless. And then somehow we became errand-boys for the entire staff. Tell Professor Trelawney. Gather the prefects. Get Hagrid. Help round up the young ones. Take this letter to the Owlery. Prepare the house-elves. Cup of tea would be nice while you’re at it.
It’s not that I mind being useful – it was worse when I was twiddling my thumbs – but I was split up from Ron and I didn’t have a clue where Harry was, and then I remembered where Ginny had been. And I couldn’t talk to anyone, because we’d been told to keep it quiet to avoid a panic, because it was unlikely anyone else would notice. Harry blamed it on his connection with Voldemort, says there was a flare in his scar that drew him to look towards Hogsmeade. I think he was just looking for Ginny.
Thank God it wasn’t a Hogsmeade weekend. If the village had been full of Hogwarts students, I doubt many would have survived. I don’t know if we would have. And of course Harry would still have been sitting waiting in Faber’s office, and if Ron and Ginny and I had all died… It worries me, sometimes, that we have the power to break him. I really think we might. He draws a lot of strength from us, and I think losing that strength would hurt him badly. It’s possible it would drive him into a killing rage, but I wouldn’t count on it.
The prefects herded fourth-years and below into their common rooms and changed the passwords on them. The rest of us waited in the Great Hall for news, and to deal with the refugees when they finally came. Night had fallen by the time the first of them arrived. Mostly they were just suffering from cold, exhaustion, shock and grief. I suppose the ones that were seriously injured went straight to the Hospital Wing, if not to an actual hospital. Counter-curses aplenty must have been done on site – unsurprising when you consider the mass of magical talent that must have been present in that village. But then there must have been a similar amount on the other side to cause that much damage. I dread to think what would happen if it came to a pitched battle.
For most of the people it was a night’s shelter before returning to their homes or imposing on relatives. But at my last count, there were seven homeless families, eighteen more elderly dispossessed and three orphans.
Harry was sitting with them this morning.
I wanted to cry when I saw. Ron found me huddled in a corner, and he just sat with his arms around me until I quieted. It was oddly comforting, as though despite everything that’s happened, we’re still the same. And even though he kissed me yesterday, we’re still the same together. And we are. Together. And we’ll get through this.
Together.
I’d just gone back to the dorm to fetch another roll of parchment – and I was taking my time about it, trying to work out how to start “that conversation” with Hermione – when Harry burst in, grabbed a couple of things, thrust the Marauder’s Map in my hand and told me to tell the Professors that Hogsmeade had been attacked. No “Ron, something’s happened”, no “I’m sure your baby sister is safe”, just “tell McGonagall”. Still, the first person I found was Hermione, because I’m pretty well useless alone. I didn’t exactly soften it much myself, but I told her the news before I told her what we had to do with it. I didn’t say anything about Ginny, but I’m sure she understood why.
About half of them were congregated in what I assume is the Staff Room, so we headed that way. I should really have noted it down for future reference – Fred and George would probably pay dearly for that information, though I’m surprised they never thought to use the Map for it themselves. I suppose the password will have changed, though. We got in by banging on the wall and yelling at the tops of our voices. They weren’t too pleased with us until they heard what we had to say. I had half-expected them to fly straight off to the village, but they sorted us out first. Maybe they have a plan in case something like this happens. Maybe they made it up on the spot. Either way, they gave us both lists of things to do and people to fetch, then tossed us out the door to do them.
Not a word, not a single solitary word, even though she had to have known that Ginny wasn’t back yet, and she was the one that sent my only sister into danger. Not one word.
Once the door was closed behind us, I lost all reason. I just grabbed Hermione and kissed her. I thought she would curse me. Then I turned and walked away. I made it round the corner unharmed. Totally astonished me.
It was weird, though, because it was nothing like what I expected – though I didn’t think I was expecting anything. But I remember thinking how glad I was that her hair had grown out some, so I could tangle my fingers in the curls. And I definitely want to do it again. And she didn’t yell at me next time I saw her, so I’m guessing she wouldn’t object.
Next time I saw her, mind, was two hours spent sitting in the Great Hall waiting for news – any news – not knowing where Ginny was, where Harry was, anything that was happening. Turned out we could have known the first if anyone had actually thought to tell us – her brother and one of her friends, hello? We were sitting there nervous as anything, and Ginny was being fussed over by Madam Pomfrey and attended by the twins!
She says she wasn’t lucky. She’s alive, isn’t she?
We’re not going to stay lucky. We can’t. It just doesn’t work like that. But we dodged it this time.
It’s probably a good thing classes were cancelled today – it’s not like many of us could work. I don’t think anyone here got much sleep last night. The rumour mill was working overtime in the dorms. Most of the people in the Great Hall had just witnessed the murder of people they knew, if not loved. And this morning they went back home to pick up their lives again.
Mum wrote. Told me to take care of Ginny. As if I can.
There were a lot of owls this morning. For a moment they blocked out the light. An awful lot of owls.
One in ten. They killed one in ten. They literally decimated the village. One in ten.
Some of them were scattered around the village – in the streets, the shops, the houses. I guess they were the ones that fought back. Faber was just at the end of the path back to the school. They were mostly young adults – twenties, thirties as far as I could tell. The sort that would resist. But there was a heap of bodies in the centre, near where the survivors were held. Ginny said they weeded out a few specific people – Madam Rosmerta was the only one she recognised – and then the ones that had stood up to them the most, caused them the most hassle. I think she was supposed to be one of them. I don’t know why they stopped, but I can’t begin to describe how glad I am they did.
Still, twenty makes a fair-sized heap. And right next to it was a crowd of hundreds of people, all trying not to look but you just can’t help yourself, and they couldn’t move away because they were trapped inside some kind of ward that shimmered green as the light hit it… It seemed wrong, somehow, that they attacked in daylight. An army of… monsters, they said, beings, not human, just a few Death Eaters keeping them in line while they herded everyone to the centre.
Ginny was lying outside the wards, between the living and the dead. She was so still. But she came to quickly enough, not all that long after I got there – and I was one of the first to arrive after the Mark was sent up. There were some people who lived near enough to see it, and the first wave of Aurors Apparated in about ten seconds after I touched down. It took them three hours to take the wards down, even with all the Professors helping. Except Faber, obviously.
They evacuated the entire village to Hogwarts. There probably wasn’t much point, because it’s hardly likely they would attack again straight away – but then they would expect us to expect that. And I suppose it gave the Aurors time to clear up the bodies. God. There were so many of them. And some of them – they just looked like they’d fallen asleep, right then and there, but then there were others splayed on the ground with their eyes… Their eyes open and looking at me, like it was all my fault. Two sacrificed for me wasn’t enough? There had to be another one, another two, another fifty? When will it end?
The answer, of course, is that it won’t. It won’t end until evil is gone, and so it will never truly end. But this part of it will end sometime, when Voldemort is killed. When I kill him.
It seems that this will be my destiny. I don’t want to believe in it, but it feels like I have to. It has a neatness to it, that as a baby I crippled him and as an adult I will kill him. But I’m not an adult, yet. Another two years. Two years until I can kill him. He’s not going to wait that long. Why should he?
Ron and Hermione have been clinging to each other the entire time. It hasn’t left much for Ginny, really, since I’ve been somewhat preoccupied as well. I saw her coming down from the Hospital Wing flanked by the twins, though, so I guess she’s OK. She’s tougher than she looks. Still, Crucio’s no joke – she shouldn’t have been trying to help. I’m kind of glad she did, though. Shows she’s still her.
We have to stay true to ourselves. We can’t let fear and pain change us, cow us, leave us hiding in our beds waiting for the end to come. We can’t. We can’t let them win.
