Resurrection (Rage Against the Dying of the Light)

Harry stood, shifting his feet and shivering in the early morning fog.

He hated the waiting and the silence.

Voldemort would be there soon, he knew. Today was the day that he had been waiting for, and dreading, since fifth year. It was the Last Battle, and Voldemort was here to take his life.

As he sat, trying to figure out what he was going to do, a flood of memories invaded his mind. The screams of his mother, which had echoed in his head for years now. "Have mercy... have mercy.."

His father, yelling for his mother to take herself and him out of there. He had died at the door of his home, betrayed by a man he considered a brother. Harry wondered if Pettigrew would have the stomach to come to the battle today, or whether he would skulk in the shadows.

He saw Sirius, falling through that awful veil. Falling so gracefully, that look of shock crossing his handsome face. Remus had to hold Harry back before he could race into the Veil himself. Harry's eyes burned.

--

Luna straggled behind everyone else, humming quietly to herself. Hermione feel into step next to her. "What's on your mind?" she asked quietly as they tramped through the woods.

"The song," said Luna nonchalantly, as if they weren't walking towards death and destruction. Hermione smiled; she knew the song very well. She began to snap her fingers in time, just as Luna had taught her.

"You know, we never did sing Harry the rest of the song," said Hermione softly. Ahead of them, Ron, who also knew the song, began to beat his hands against his hips, drumming the tattoo of the song as he walked. Ginny began to sing under her breath.

"We will," said Luna confidently. She began to sing louder, and where she had always left off before, she continued, singing in her thin soprano. Her voice seemed to weave a path between the branches of the trees, echoing in the Forbidden Forest. Hermione began to sing in time, clapping her hands together as Luna showed her the proper rhythm.

In front of Hermione and Luna, the students began to sing. They fell into perfect step. And they marched.

--

Harry smiled suddenly. In the back of his head, beyond the horrible memories there, he could faintly hear Luna's high soprano.

Harry was tossing and turning. He couldn't sleep. Ron was staring blank-faced at the wall, and Ginny had given up and was sitting against the wall, deep in thought.

"You should really try to get some sleep," said Luna dreamily as she and Hermione walked into the Burrow den, hair wild and cheeks flushed. Harry shrugged and rolled a bit to face the two girls. "I keep having bad dreams," he confessed.

Luna smiled her Mona Lisa smile, and sat down on the floor. Hermione joined her. "I believe," continued Luna, "that I may be able to help with that." She and Hermione pushed the three back onto their couches, then sat side by side in an armchair. Luna began to sing.

Harry fell asleep after a minute. He always did after that, when Luna would sing him to sleep. Hermione would hum alongside her, and tap out a pleasant rhythm on her knees.

Sing me the rest of the song, Luna," he had begged her one night. Luna smiled dreamily and patted him on the head.

"You will hear the end of the song, Harry, before the end. This much I promise."

Harry's heart warmed. Perhaps he would hear the song.

--

In the Forbidden Forest, voices sang with a power and a light that penetrated the trees.

The footsteps of determined soldiers were joined the gentle clip-clops of centaur's hooves. The voices strengthened.

--

Harry's heart glowed. Gone were the awful memories of his parents, and Sirius, and Cedric. Instead, he remembered Hermione and Luna, who once could barely stand one another, skipping down the grounds of Hogwarts, singing nonsense songs. He remembered winning the Quidditch Cup. He remembered Ginny and Ron tossing dungbombs at one another, laughing as they turned on the garden gnomes. He could feel Mrs. Weasley's warm hugs and hear Mr. Weasley's booming laugh. Sirius was walking down the corridors, singing "God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs." And for the first time....

He heard his mother croon to him.

"My precious boy... my baby boy... Mummy loves you, more than anything, yes she does." His father... "That's my boy... the most beautiful boy ever. Look at him, Lily, he grabbed my fingers! My boy!"

Harry wanted to cry tears of joy. And he did.

--

The students and the centaurs began to walk to the rhythm. A scuttling noise came from the side; Aragog had heard the call, and he and his children were walking alongside them. Heavy footsteps came from the other side; Grawp was grunting alongside them.

The voices grew.

--

Harry looked into the face of the man who had brought his life to this. Voldemort loomed before him, yards away. Harry's spine stiffened, but he would not give into fear.

"All alone, Potter," purred Voldemort, casually swishing his wand about. Harry stood defiantly, his wand gripped tightly in his hand. Do Not Go Gently Into The Night.

Harry had no intention to.

"I'm here to end this, Tom," he said, strangely calm. Luna's voice seemed to surround him, and he thought he heard Ron's tenor, Ginny's alto, and Hermione's soprano as well. It gave him strength. He knew he was doing the right thing.

And no matter what he did, he would end up with the people he loved at the end of the day.

Voldemort seethed at the impudence of this child who dared called him by his former name.

"Time to die, Potter," he hissed, all semblance of casualness gone. Harry smiled; it gave him a small comfort to know that he could get under Voldemort's skin.

His friends, his family, were calling to him.

--

Voldemort raged internally. He wasn't going to just kill Potter, no, he was going to make him suffer. Then he was going to go to that infernal school and tear the students apart, then blow the school to Kingdom Come. He was going to create a void of fire and chaos and -

What was that noise?

--

Luna's voice swelled. Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Neville, Dean, and Susan Bones flanked her, joining in the song.

It was time.

--

Harry stared.

Voldemort felt a twinge of something unfamiliar in his heart.

--

Dumbledore started at the sound of voices coming over the hill. He and the remaining Order members turned around. Gasps arose when they saw the source of the singing.

The students were coming.

Harry's family was coming.

--

They marched in line, their voices thundering from the ground. They marched in perfect time, staring straight ahead. The earth rumbled under their feet, and the trees seemed to sing with voices of their own.

Harry understood. They had come. And this was the rest of the song.

The Death Eaters could only stare. The first rays of the rising sun beamed upon the grounds, and the students glowed. And then they realized that they weren't reflecting the light; they were giving off the light.

And they sang.

Voldemort froze. The feeling in his heart, the strange, foreign feeling, intensified. The flicker of fire in Hermione's eyes, the strength radiating from Ron's soul... Voldemort felt strangely cold.

"Attack!" he screamed, throwing his arm out. "Attack! Kill all but the boy!"

The Dementors advanced, hands grabbing greedily. Without missing a step, the students brought their wands out. Continuing to sing, they cast an unspoken Patronus. The Dementors began to back away, but this time, it was different. The Patronus' ripped through their body, tearing them to shreds.

The singing of the students drowned out the shrill screams of the Dementors as they were obliterated. It drowned out the scream of rage from Voldemort.

On and on, they advanced. Singing.

The feeling in Voldemort's heart sprang to life. For the first time in his life, Voldemort was afraid.

--

Dumbledore had seen a lot of things in his life. But never, in his existence, had he ever witnessed an act like this.

It was ancient magic, akin to the charm that Lily Potter had cast. But this was the sun next to a matchstick. The ties of friendship, and family, and love flowed through the earth and the sky into and out of the students.

It was like watching the birth of the world. They glowed and marched, tears streaming down their faces. Backs straight, shoulders back. It was not pride that emanated from them, but love. For Harry, for the school, for the students.

For the world.

Dumbledore smiled. And then he wept.

--

Harry watched as the students began to approach him. Their steps quickened, still in time, and they began to run, Ron and Hermione leading the charge.

And still they sang.

Harry turned to face Voldemort. A smile of pure joy crossed Harry's face. Love is the maker, the creator, and the motivator. And he opened his mouth, and began to sing with the students. He knew the song, as well as if he’d sung it every day of his life.

He began to run in step, between Ron and Hermione. The students charged.

And still they sang. They screamed, and sobbed, and prayed for mercy within their song. They charged headfirst into the Death Eaters, firing off curses and jinxes.

And they were kicking biting screaming fighting punching flailing

But most importantly, they were living.

Tomorrow would be a day of sorrow, no matter the outcome of today's events.

But today was not tomorrow. Today was a day to fight. Today was a day to live.

Today was a Resurrection. So they ran.

And they sang.

Fin.

Gone are the days when life used to be so simple
And happiness was just like winning a game
When friendship bonds lasted more than a day
And looking in the mirror was so much easier
But now the time has come, quick as it may seem
To wake up, to wake up from this dream

Do not go gently into the night
Rage against the dying of the light
Don't ever forget what we used to be
For this is all we have
Just you and me

What is there to fear once the night passes
We've endured dark cold nights before
How could we say we felt safe within these four walls
If now we're so afraid to close the door

How can we look ahead if we decide there's no next best thing
How can we ever forget when we keep remembering

Do not go gently into the night
Rage against the dying of the light
Don't ever forget what we used to be
For this is all we have
Just you and me

But now the time has come, quick as it may seem
To wake up, to wake up from this dream

Do not go gently into the night
Rage against the dying of the light
Don't ever forget what we used to be
For this is all we have
For this is all we have
For this is all we have
Just you and me