The Price of Peace

Chapter V

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Four Unforgivable Death curses were flung at nearly the same moment. Rastaban Lestrange's affected the most students. It flew over the backs of eight different students who had 'hit the dirt,' the backwash of the spell affecting three of them, especially Neville (who was lying on top of Ginny and partially covering a few other students as well), before slamming into a Fourth year Ravenclaw.

Bellatrix's second killing curse was coming almost straight at Harry and Ron, although Harry, trying to get off his own, was not really paying attention. Ron knocked Harry out of the way, so that the curse went past them, over a number of students without being close enough to affect them, and then hit two Second years, who had been too shocked to move.

Harry's spell, although he had tried to aim at Bellatrix, slammed into Rastaban because Ron had started pushing him just as he'd said it. Unfortunately, by knocking Harry out of the way of Bellatrix's spell, Ron was hit by Rodolphus'.

Shocked silence descended on both sides of the battle field. Suddenly there was a loud 'thump' from the top of the train. Trapped under Ron, Harry could not see that Edward had landed atop of the train carriage just behind him. Harry could barely hear Edward yell something he could not make out. Harry could just see Rodolphus' head fall off, just like the Death Eaters' had the previous summer.

Bellatrix had Disapparated before her husband's head hit the ground.

The students near the train were still silent, except for some soft sobbing.

"Got off me, Ron," Harry said. "Ron, get off!" Harry rolled over -- and Ron slid off his back.

"Ron? Ron!"

More cries went up, as the students realized that at least five students had been directly hit by the killing curse. Ginny was crying out for help: Neville was breathing, but it was shallow and irregular. The two other students' who had been grazed by the effects just as Neville had were also having difficulties breathing.

Harry was in shock. Ron was looking back at Harry, but he was not blinking, he was not breathing.

Ron Weasley was dead.

So were four other students, but Harry could not begin to register that yet, just as Ginny did not yet realize what had happened to anyone other than Neville.

From the top of the rail carriage, Edward surveyed the scene. He was horrified. He and the small group of advanced students had driven away half of the attacking dementors. Edward had even managed to destroy nine of the dementors. The slight thrill of triumph he had felt now made him feel ill.

From where he stood, Edward could see there were no longer any dementors visible on either side of the train, and apparently the three Lestranges had been the only ones directing the attack. He could see Hermione and Cho Chang returning from the engine, where they had gone to check on the crew.

Fortunately, they were not returning on the side where the bodies were.

'Bodies,' Edward thought, 'we should have realized an attack on the train was possible. We failed the students.'

Some of the Sixth and Seventh year students who were taking basic medical skills were seeing to the three seriously injured students, the students injured when the students fell to the ground to avoid the curses, and the just plain upset or even hysterical.

Some thirty yards away lay two more bodies. Rastaban's body bothered Edward nearly as much as the students'. Edward kicked himself mentally. He should have taught Harry the severing charm, if not some other way to kill. Anything other than Avada Kedavra.

Edward summoned Zabini and Chang to the top of the train, after telling Hermione to keep watch over the students on her side of the train. A few words were enough to put the two students in the picture.

Edward left the stunned pair to their feelings of shock, and Disapparated to Hogsmeade. "Dobby!" he cried out as soon as he appeared. Edward knew that some of the house elves would be present to move any luggage, and that Dobby would always try to be any place Harry was likely to show up.

Remus had been given platform duty, and he approached Edward just as Dobby appeared. "Dobby, I need you to take a message to the Headmaster," Edward commanded. Dobby nodded his head eagerly. "Dementors and Lestranges attacked the train, near the mouth of the valley some fifteen minutes from here. At least seven or eight students are seriously injured; two or more might be dead. The train crew are dead. The Lestrange brothers are also dead; I killed one, Harry the other."

Dobby's ears drooped, and his eyes and mouth opened wide from shock.

"Go on, Dobby," Edward said. "Remus and I are going back. The Headmaster must send help from the school and the village, as soon as he can organize it."

"Yes, Doctor Potter, sir!" Dobby blinked out of existence.

"Dead?" Remus said, as stunned as Dobby had been.

"I think Ron Weasley is dead," Edward said, panic in his voice. "Come on. We need to go."

Ginny looked up from her unconscious boyfriend, wondering where Ron, Harry, and Hermione were. She could not believe they would not be here for Neville.

At first glance, she could not see any of the trio, which she attributed to the milling crowd. Then, Ginny remembered Hermione was with the group on the other side of the train. A second glance still did not reveal Harry or Ron, but Ginny did at least finally see Luna, and knew that where Luna was, Harry was likely to be.

There was now too much crying and yelling for Ginny to try to shout to Luna. A Seventh year Ravenclaw came up and examined Neville, distracting Ginny for the moment. "He's got a fairly strong pulse, but his breathing isn't good," she said. She pulled her wand from her robe. "May I?"

Ginny nodded. The witch used a spell to help Neville breath. "How . . . how's Harry?" Ginny asked. She knew Harry would be at the center of this.

"Ah . . . Potter's fine, Weasley." The witch moved off to examine another injured student.

Ginny sighed in relief for a moment. Then she realized what the implications of the witch's statement might be. Ginny tried to look, and for a moment the shifting group of students moved and showed the tableaux. Luna was now kneeling, massaging Harry's shoulders and seemed to be whispering words of support or comfort in his ear. Harry was crying -- Harry, crying! in public! -- over a body.

Ginny no longer had a crush on Harry, but she had spent over four years thinking about him, and three years watching him very closely. She knew there were only three or four people at most whom Harry would allow himself to cry over in public, and there was only one in this situation who was likely.

Ginny started to hyperventilate. She somehow managed to lay Neville's head gently on the ground and tried to stand up. She was dizzy. Her vision tunnelled, and Ginny finally stood straight and staggered towards Luna and Harry.

She could not bear to focus on the . . . body.

Luna looked up and saw her childhood friend coming. She gave Harry's shaking shoulders a final squeeze, and stood to intercept Ginny.

Ginny did not really see Luna. She did not feel Luna grab hold of her; did not notice that while her feet were still moving, she was not moving closer.

"Ginny!" Luna said for the fourth time, finally snapping Ginny from her hazy fugue. Ginny finally looked at Luna, her eyes wide with terror.

"Oh, Ginny!" Luna cried, pulling Ginny into a hug.

Somewhere deep in her mind, Ginny realized that Luna, nearly as reserved as Harry, would only act like this if someone very close to them was . . . gone.

"Ronnie?" Ginny asked, in a very frightened little-girl voice.

"Yes, Ginny," Luna said gently, "Ron is gone."

Ginny fell fully into Luna's embrace, sobbing.

Edward and Remus apparated on the carriage roof.

"Oh, hell!" Remus growled. The first thing that hit his brain was a crying Harry rocking Ron's body in his arms and next to them, Ginny crying in Luna's.

"There are more bodies than just Ron's," Edward reminded his friend. "Do you want to deal with them, or do you want to break the news to the group of students behind us, including Hermione?"

"Now that's a pair of choices I don't like," Remus acknowledged. "I guess I'll see who else was . . . hit." Remus moved to get down from the top of the carriage.

Edward turned to Cho and Blaise. "You two keep watch up here. The Headmaster should be sending help soon, but there's always a chance Bellatrix might hit us again. So, keep alert."

The two students nodded. Edward took a deep breath, and climbed down the other side of the carriage.

The ten students looked up as Edward climbed down and then approached them. Edward could not bring himself to look directly at Hermione.

"The students on the other side drove off the dementors," Edward told them. "However, three Death Eaters, the Lestranges, were directing the attack. They threw the Killing curse at least two or three times, maybe more."

The students gasped. "I killed one of the Lestrange brothers, Harry Potter killed the other." Hermione and another student shivered at that.

"Now, I know you're all worried about who was hurt, or killed. But I need most of you to stay here until the Headmaster sends us help, just in case they come back."

The stricken students nodded. Only Hermione noticed Edward's qualifying 'most.'

"I couldn't see exactly who was hurt, with one exception." Edward sighed, and then finally looked at Hermione. She blanched. "Hermione, I need you to come with me."

"Harry?" she asked softly.

Edward shook his head. "Harry's . . . well, he's not injured, but. . . ."

"Luna?" Edward shook his head. "Ginny? Neville?"

Edward shook his head. "Neville's hurt, I think, but he's not . . . that is, he's alive."

Hermione did not fully faint, but she did swoon a bit. Edward caught her. After a moment, Hermione asked in a whisper, "Ron?"

"Yes, Hermione; I'm afraid Ron was hit by the Killing curse."

After a moment, Hermione opened her eyes and stood up straight, her jaw set. Hermione Granger came from a regular middle class Muggle family, and not part of the old Muggle gentry. But the traditions of the British middle classes were much much more than what Muggles like Vernon Dursley represented. Hermione, at that moment, represented the active virtues of her kind, the kind that might not have conquered or even created the greatest empire in world history (that was for the most part younger sons of the upper classes), but the kind that actually made the ramshackle series of conquests and acquisitions function as the largest empire ever for well over a century. She was the heir of the British citizens who had defied Napoleon and Hitler, and faced down all the problems in between.

"I must go to them," Hermione said calmly, although with a quivering lip.

Edward smiled grimly as he saw her upper lip actually stiffen. He had always admired the 'phlegm' of many British Muggles, and was impressed at Hermione's possession of it.

Edward escorted Hermione through the train and out the other side. He knew that, while she seemed fully in possession of her faculties, it was a very difficult illusion for her to maintain. Edward cleared Hermione's way through the milling students, and then a smaller circle of students.

Hermione walked over to Ron's body, which was still being cradled by the rocking, still-sobbing Harry. She looked at the scene for a few seconds, for she had never really seen Harry cry, and then turned and touched Luna on the shoulder. Hermione patted Ginny, and turned the sobbing girl over to Dennis and Colin. "Take her over to Neville," she commanded. "Stay with them."

Hermione took Luna and then knelt on the ground by Harry. "Harry. Harry!"

Harry looked at her blankly. "You've done everything you can, Harry" she said softly. "Let go." Hermione drew Harry into a partial hug.

Harry managed to blink a little. "Harry, dear," Hermione said lovingly, sounding a little like Mrs. Weasley, "let go. He's gone."

Harry stopped crying, but started shaking. He looked at Ron, and then back up at Hermione. "You did everything anyone could do, Harry," Hermione said even more lovingly, stroking his hair. She knew only he could understand her own grief, just as she knew he would understand hers, when she allowed it to take over from her duty. "Let him go, Harry. We have to move Ron."

Harry somehow managed to stand, still holding Ron in his arms. "Where?" he managed to croak.

Hermione conjured a stretcher, and Harry laid Ron on it. At that moment Dumbledore and Snape walked up to them. "What's Weasley managed to do to himself this. . . ." Snape started, then stopped, as he saw Ron's body. "Oh, God!" he whispered. No one noticed the tears spring into both professors' eyes.

"Miss Granger," Dumbledore said gently, "space as been cleared in the second baggage car."

Hermione walked towards the train, bringing Ron's body with her.

Harry walked up to Dumbledore and Snape. "We guessed there might be a dementor attack," he forced himself to report. "We were right. We drove off the dementors that attacked this side of the train. Then Bellatrix Lestrange shot a Killing curse. Then all three Lestranges each shot off a Killing curse, and I felt I had to shoot one back." Dumbledore and Snape closed their eyes in pain. "Ron knocked me over just as I shot it off, so I missed Bellatrix and hit one of the Lestrange brothers instead. Ron knocked me away from at least one of the curses, but one hit him."

"We should never have listened to the sources that said that any attack would come in several months," Dumbledore said, opening his eyes and looking at Snape.

Snape was so surprised, he spoke openly. "My sources said they didn't know!"

"Ministry sources," Dumbledore spat. "Percy Weasley, to be precise."

Twenty minutes later, the train continued its journey to Hogsmeade. Luna and Harry were alone in their compartment.

"Harry!" Luna spoke sharply to get Harry's attention. Harry looked up.

"Harry, do I love you?"

"I hope you still can," Harry said, "but I don't deserve it."

"Harry, the death of Ron and the others, well, I know you feel responsible for their deaths. It will take you a long time to accept that it wasn't your fault in any way. I love you, Killing curse or no. I hope you still love me, even if I never foresaw the attack." She now wished she had insisted on reading Ron's tea leaves.

"You can't foresee most things, let alone everything!"

"I know; this wasn't my fault anymore than it was yours." Harry almost looked convinced. "I need you to listen to me, my love. I love you, and I trust you. We both know we're life partners. But Hermione will really need you over the next few days or even weeks, and you need her. Be there for her, no matter what she needs. Don't feel you're hurting me or us by comforting Hermione. She might cling to you for the next few weeks; let her. We will still find ways of being together. Both of us will comfort you."

"What about Ginny?"

"Ginny has Neville. She will help him recover, and that will help her recover. Hermione has spent over five years caring for you and Ron; loving you and Ron, if in different ways. Except for her parents, you two have been her life. Only you two have lived in her heart. Ron is gone. Only you can help her now."

Harry hugged Luna tightly. "I killed someone. Again."

"I know, my love."

"Edward was right; when the Killing curse takes a life, you feel a surge of power, righteousness, and. . . ." he paused to think of the right word, "euphoria. I can see why it's addictive."

"As we learn more, we'll learn better ways to deal with situations like these," Luna said serenely. "We did the best we could. It wasn't good enough, but even if we have much to regret, we have nothing to feel ashamed or guilty about."

Luna's voice calmed Harry as always. His trust in her was absolute. The stress inside him since they had guessed the attack might come left him, even if the over-powering grief remained. It felt even worse than Sirius' death hard, which Harry wouldn't have believed possible. Luna hugged Harry tightly.

The train finally pulled into the station, 45 minutes late.

Luna helped Harry move to the last train carriages. The injured were moved quickly by volunteer residents of Hogsmeade, alerted by the staff. An informal guard of honor started forming around the five dead students.

Ginny hesitated between the two groups. Luna went and spoke to her, and Ginny went with Neville in the first group of Hogwarts carriages. Luna next spoke for a moment with Dobby, who then went on to help get the injured back to Hogwarts.

Harry stood off to the side for a moment, unsure what to do.

Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley were conferring with each other, and then talked with Dumbledore. The Headmaster agreed with whatever their proposal was. The two boys split up and talked to the other students gathered around the bodies.

Justin then approached Harry. It took a few attempts to fully engage Harry's attention. "Yes, Justin?" Harry finally asked.

"We're going to be walking the, well, the victims to the castle. Would you please lead us, Harry?"

"Why?"

"Harry," Justin said slowly, "I can't imagine how you feel right now. I feel awful, and I just knew these five students as acquaintances at best. And I might not know you terribly well, but I do know you well enough to know that even if the worst someone had come out of this with was a scrapped knee, you'd still feel responsible, and of course this is a lot worse."

"It certainly is," Harry acknowledged.

"So, you feel hurt, angry, and responsible. That's how good leaders feel. I know you hate being our leader, but you are, Harry. We'd like you and Dumbledore to lead us. If you don't want to be too far from Ron, we'll send him up first. But we need you with us, and ahead of us."

"Alright, if Hermione doesn't mind," Harry said.

"She doesn't; she suggested it to Ernie."

Harry took a deep breath and buried his feelings and did his duty. Although he would never know it, at that moment he was less an heir of the magical Potters than he was the true great great-nephew of a squib captain named Evans, about to lead his few remaining men back from having gone 'over-the-top' of the trenches in World War I. Justin's great-grandfather had done much the same, as had his grandfather in the Battle of Britain and his great great-grandfather in the Sudan. Justin recognized and honored the trait in Harry. Justin knew it was not difficult to lead when times were easy; it was when the world had crashed around you that you needed true leadership. Justin, and many of the others, knew there was just one person whom they could trust to lead them in the times ahead.

And it was not Albus Dumbledore or Edward Potter, let alone someone like Cornelius Fudge.

Harry walked over to the others gathered around the bodies. "We're going to march to the castle with our friends. If anyone wants or needs to go ahead, go on. Otherwise, let's divide up fairly evenly, okay?"

Harry knew four other students had died. Now he saw they had been a Fifth and Second year Hufflepuff, a Fourth year Ravenclaw, and Ron and a Second year Gryffindor -- Ron's favorite 'midget' in fact. While many of the students had left, there were enough for five students to surround each body, with three left over. Ron would be the only one totally surrounded by his House year.

Harry asked Cho and Blaise to end the procession and to make certain everyone kept up. The cortege started its way on the nearly two mile walk to the castle.

It took some 50 minutes, and went in total silence.

As they approached, Harry could see a silent crowd gathered around the great front doors, torches burning. He didn't look to see who they were as they got close. Harry was afraid that if Draco Malfoy was one of the crowd, he could not refrain from making some snide comment.

And Harry knew, as badly as he felt about killing Lestrange, he still would not be able to stop himself from killing Draco Malfoy if the ferret said the wrong thing. Fortunately, Draco had not yet returned to the castle.

Harry was not certain where they would take Ron and the others, but it was immediately clear that Dumbledore knew. Instead of turning right into the corridor leading to the great hall, a matching door appeared on the left, which Harry had never seen. The door swung open, and they were soon in a smaller version of the great hall, right down to the enchanted ceiling.

Dumbledore waved his wand, and five small raised platforms appeared. The students set the stretchers down, and they were transformed into biers. Another wave, and the biers were decorated with House colors. The four House ghosts appeared, followed by a wizard and a witch dressed in black.

"I know some of you may wish to stay with your friends," Dumbledore said, "but there are certain necessities which much be performed tonight, to ready the bodies. I will take care of all the notifications that are necessary. Please wait and send any personal owls tomorrow morning."

"I also know that you all feel you cannot possibly eat or sleep this night. The house elves have never-the-less prepared some easily digested food, and placed it in your common rooms, should you prefer not to eat in the great hall tonight."

The students slowly started to move away from the bodies. Luna took Harry's hand. "I'll keep my diary open, if you need to talk. I'll see you in the morning." Harry had given her one of a pair of enchanted diaries the previous August. They could write to each other, without anyone seeing them pass letters back and forth, or bothering with owls.

Harry nodded. Luna left, leaving just Harry and Hermione.

Nick glided up to them. "I'm sorry, children, but the undertakers have their sad duty to perform."

Hermione, still looking quiet and calm, nodded. Harry followed her out, and the Bloody Baron shut the door behind them, leaving only the two undertakers as the living in the hall.