Meeting Destiny

He wandered through the headstones, barely noticing the inscriptions engraved on the marble surfaces. There were graves here dating back hundreds of years, but Harry didn't care about any of these. His goal was the near-dozen graves of those he knew in the large, multi-acre graveyard just a few kilometers from Hogsmeade.

Neville Longbottom
b. August 1st, 1980 - d. December 25th, 2000
Beloved Grandson, Friend, and Father

Good old Neville. He might have started school out clumsy and underconfident, but he more than made up for it in his later years.

He fought bravely to the last, defending his pregnant wife of a year, Luna Longbottom. Enjoying their second Christmas together, they were surprised when a small group of Death Eaters broke in. He recognized all of them. He took on the three Lestranges - Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Bellatrix - and won after a surprisingly short, but vicious, battle. Unfortunately, he had been hit by a great many curses, and didn't survive.

According to Luna, his last words were 'Always believe.'

Minerva McGonagall
b. May 11th, 1925 - d. November 14th, 2004
Beloved Mentor and Friend

It was strange. They had been working together for six years - thirteen if one counted the time that he was a student in her care. Yet in all that time, he had never called her by her first name. In his mind, it was always 'Professor McGonagall', even after he left Hogwarts. He had come to know the Transfiguration teacher to be an outwardly strict woman with a heart of gold.

It wasn't often that people smiled after it was announced that the self styled Lord Voldemort had returned. It was even rarer than the Scottish-born professor allowed her stern visage drop and her lips quirked into a smile. But when it did, it was usually a sign that she felt deeply for the person she was smiling at, and Harry was proud that he got as many smiles from his mentor as he did.

He would have liked to see her smile more, but it was too late for that now. She had died in an attack on the village of Hogsmeade during a quiet Sunday morning in mid-November just two years previous. She was determined to take her duties as Deputy Headmistress very seriously; as Hagrid ushered the few students still lingering, she - with the help of the townsfolk - battled with numerous dark creatures. Giants, dementors, trolls, lethifold, and Death Eaters themselves all did battle there that day. Many people fell on both sides, maybe more on the side of the villagers, but they held out until relief arrived from the Ministry.

Half the village had been destroyed and Professor Mcgonagall and a few dozen residents had been slain. Not a single student was injured. They all received the Order of Merlin, Third Class, posthumously.

That was the day Hogwarts had been closed to students.

Molly Elizabeth Weasley
b. October 30th, 1951 - d. January 30th, 2003
Beloved Wife and Mother
We Will Miss You

Here, Harry stopped. There was no way he could just glance at her grave and walk away. He just couldn't.

Molly Weasley was the most overbearing, loud, protective mother of all time. She was also the most caring, most loving, most understanding woman Harry knew, bar Hermione. She had taken him into her home every summer since his second year, treating him as she would any of her other six sons.

The day she had passed into the next life was a sad one for all who knew her. The Burrow had been stormed by at least several dozen dementors and quite a few Death Eaters. At the time, there were a handful of Order members visiting, as the Burrow had become somewhat of a second base for the Order of the Phoenix. Several of them knew the Patronus charm, and did what they could to keep the dementors at bay while the others battled.

Most of the dementors had been pushed far enough away that they didn't effect anymore. Only a few Order members were injured, and only one dead, while the majority of the Death Eaters had fled or been incapacitated, and everyone was looking forward to ending the battle. No one had seen the garter snake slithering through the grass. No one had seen it transform into a smirking Draco Malfoy until it was too late.

With a feral grin and a manic look in his eye, he had sent an exploding hex right into her chest, straight at her heart, which exploded under the effort. She was dead instantly.

Harry killed for the first time that day.

Fred Weasley
b. April 1st, 1978 - d. February 9th, 2004
Beloved Son and Brother
You Will Be Missed

George Weasley
b. April 1st, 1978 - d. February 9th, 2000
Beloved Son and Brother
You Will Be Missed

After Molly's death, the twins disappeared into their shop over Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes for over a week. When they came out, they both looked tired and distraught. They had believed them to be mourning the loss of their mother, as the rest of the family and Order were. They couldn't have been more wrong.

While they were mourning their mother, they had also been scheming and building wizarding weapons. They invented exploding gobstones which sent off blasting, severing, blinding, and other more severe jinxes and curses. There were poisoned foods - breads, fruits, and meats. They even bottled certainly deadly potions that, when mixed, became a poisonous gas that ate at any skin they came into contact with.

Professor Snape would have been proud.

Three days later, the twins sneaked out of the house while the others were sleeping. They didn't learn of this until later that morning, when they found notes on their beds. Harry could still remember what they said, as it was a simple three-word phrase.

'They will pay.'

And pay they did. They learned from Snape that nearly a tenth of the Dark Lord's army had been decimated. The twins had gone out with a bang, much like the way they lived their lives. It was reported that they had used gathered intelligence to locate and storm a Death Eater base camp somewhere in the Scottish mountains. Before they were shot down, they managed to kill over three dozen enemies with only their wands and newly-made pranks.

Two days later, another report came in, stating that another six dozen Death Eaters had succumbed to a rare poison, one that the twins shouldn't have even known about. Somehow, they had managed to swap the Death Eaters' food supply with their own supply of poisoned food. They never did figure out how they did that.

They were each awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class, posthumously.

Severus Snape
b. November 19th, 1960 - d. October 23rd, 2005
Valued Mentor and Compatriot

Harry had never liked the man personally, but he had devoted his life to the Order; he had in fact made the ultimate sacrifice just a year earlier, protecting a mixed group of first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. He may have been sarcastic, rude, and bitter most of the time, but he had always been one to protect his students.

Nymphadora Tonks
b. April 5th, 1974 - d. November 5th, 2005
Beloved Wife and Compatriot

Remus John Lupin
May 15th, 1960 - d. November 5th, 2005
Beloved Husband and Compatriot

Shortly after Snape's death, Riddle had somehow managed to defeat the Fidelius charm that Albus had placed on Grimmauld Place, and attacked. Many good people died that night, including the last link Harry had with his parents and the woman he considered his older sister.

A lot of bad people died that night too.

Rubeus Hagrid
b. April 16th, 1928 - d. January 3rd, 2006
Gentlest of Friends
You Will Be Dearly Missed

Hagrid was shunned by many 'pure-blooded' wizarding families, the kind of people who considered him unworthy of using magic, given his unusual parentage. Harry never did understand how the gentle half-giant's father, a rather average-sized wizard by all accounts, and his mother, an rather tall giantess, could ever mate, and he wasn't sure he wanted to understand.

He was Harry's first real friend, ever, not just in the wizarding world. He had rescued him from his minders, the cruel Dursleys, his family. He had given him his first birthday present, his beloved snowy owl, Hedwig. He had given him more photos of his parents than he had even known existed. He was the first person Harry had ever loved as a friend.

The side of the Light won a great victory that day in Diagon Alley, mostly due to Harry's phenomenal efforts. No one had understood why Harry had fought so hard that day; not until they found the body of Hagrid, dead from what was unmistakably the work of the Killing Curse, in the alley leading into Knockturn Alley.

Harry would never consider it a victory. The elation the others felt at defeating so many of Voldemort's army couldn't compare to the pain he felt.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
b. June 21st, 1846 - d. February 9th, 2006
May He Enjoy the Next Great Adventure

Unlike so many those days, the kindly headmaster and leader of the Order of the Phoenix passed peacefully in his sleep. Harry had felt grateful for that at least, even if it did leave the Order without a leader.

Ginevra Molly Weasley
b. August 11th, 1981 - d. June 6th, 2006
For Sweetly She Sleepeth Now

Ronald Bilius Weasley
b. March 1st, 1980 - d. June 6th, 2006
Beloved Son, Brother, and Friend

Here, a single tear left Harry's eye, sliding down his cheek, and falling to the ground in front of the gravestone. If Tonks was his older sister, then Ginny was his younger and Ron was his brother; his twin, even.

While Ginny hadn't been much a part of his life the first four years he'd known of her, he still felt that she and Ron shared equal portions of his heart. They were the best friends one could ask for, and he missed them dearly.

They would be avenged.

Hermione Jane Potter
b. September 19th, 1979 - d. June 6th, 2006
Beloved Daughter, Friend, Wife, and Mother

The day his wife, his unborn daughter, and the last of his friends died, Harry knew it was time to end it. There was nothing in this existence to live for anymore. It was time to face his destiny.

Tom Riddle was going to pay. Dearly.