The cold, dark winter dragged on toward spring. The days were supposedly getting longer, but at first it was hard to tell the difference.
The mood within the castle was as deadly as the weather. Tracey remembered how she had imagined her seventh year, when she was a little girl. She had looked forward to the time, years ahead, then, when she would graduate from this school, and there would be parties, gifts, celebrations, and no more homework. Now those things seemed non-existent, not of this world. It was even difficult to focus on the upcoming N.E.W.T exams; they did not loom as large as mere survival. I need to get out of this place, she thought, but there was no safety outside anymore, anywhere, not even on Skye, no place to go. And as the tension built within the castle, it seemed to her that everyone blamed the House of Slytherin for all the ills that beset them.
Herbology and her research team members were the one shining goodness in her life. For a few hours every week she could find escape within the walls of the greenhouses, could concentrate on the beauty and elegance of their research work, which temporarily drove the depression away. They began meeting in the library to work on their research write-ups, and although the other Slytherins ragged her about consorting with Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, nothing they said seemed important anymore.
Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle periodically bragged in the common room about how Slytherins would soon be in charge of everything and implied that they would be playing prominent roles in the new regime; there was nothing obviously substantial in their boasts, but Tracey passed the information on to Howe anyway.
Howe in turn was troubled by his inability to share his Skye-specific spells with his fellow Gryffindors, and Tracey tried to diminish his distress by reminding him that he had promised his father not to reveal them, and that a promise was sacred. –What would I do without you, Tracey?†he said. –This place is a living hell.â€
But bit by bit the snow was melting and the days were finally becoming perceptibly longer. The sun rose earlier in the morning and set later in the afternoon, and its noonday zenith was a little higher. The shadow of war was being counterbalanced by the return of the light. In April the buds were swelling on the bushes, but for the students of Hogwarts there was no glimpse of an assured future.
********
Tracey was wakened out of a deep sleep by the noise of hammering on her door.
–Get up! Get up!†someone was shouting. –War is coming!â€
It was Professor Slughorn. Tracey opened the door, dressing gown hastily thrown over her night dress.
–Get all the girls up! We’re meeting in the Great Hall. The castle will be evacuated. No time to dress. Just put on your cloak and come! Fast!â€
He disappeared down the hall, and Tracey turned her head to the other girls, still in their beds. –You heard him! Get up! Help me!â€
Together the seventh year girls roused the younger ones and got them into the common room as the boys were swarming out of their dormitory, shepherded by Blaise Zabini. –Quick! Quick!†he was shouting as they stumbled out into the corridor and up the stairs to the entrance hall. Disheveled students, some in cloaks and some only in dressing gowns, were pouring down the main staircase and up from the corridor that led to the Hufflepuff residence. Alarm was on every face.
–Into the Great Hall!†Blaise shouted. –Go to our table.†Jostling and pushing, the students rapidly filled the Great Hall, as a buzz of frightened conversation grew increasingly louder. Under her cloak, Tracey’s heart was pounding, and she felt disoriented, unable to comprehend how she could help. What was happening? Was anyone in charge?
Then Professor McGonagall stood up in front of the High Table and began to speak. Her commanding voice stilled all the frightened chatter. They were to be evacuated, though Tracey didn’t know by what means. Her eyes swept over the room; so many people, how could they be transported?
A few students called out questions, but in the midst of Professor McGonagall’s answers, they all suddenly heard, for the first time, the terrible voice of Lord Voldemort, threatening to kill them, demanding Harry Potter. Pansy Parkinson, sitting not far from Tracey, yelled something, and suddenly the whole hall was standing, and a moment later Professor Slughorn was ordering all the Slytherins to start walking fast, following Mr. Filch to some unknown destination. To the transport mechanism? As all the Slytherins rapidly drained out of the Great Hall, Tracey turned her head and looked back at the other tables, where the students were staring at her House with grim expressions.
Tracey’s housemates marched rapidly through the halls, following Mr. Filch, while Professor Slughorn hustled beside them, breathing hard. Where were they going? To the roof? Would they be plucked off the roof by something? Up staircase after staircase they went, finally arriving in a corridor on the seventh floor where someone was motioning them in through a door, and they entered a larger room. On the far wall was another door and someone calling, –In here! In here!†Professor Slughorn moved up to the head of the line and shouted, so that all could hear, –We’re going through this tunnel. It takes us into Hogsmeade. Older students, keep care of younger students. Step lively. There are lots of people behind you who need to get through also.â€
Tracey grabbed the hands of two first year students whom she knew from the study table. –Stella, Cynthia, stay close to me. It’s going to be okay,†she said, as the younger girls seemed to be on the point of tears. Keeping close to the backs of the black-cloaked students ahead of her, she and her charges entered the torch-lit tunnel.
After what seemed like a long journey, half walking and half jog-trotting, they felt the floor of the tunnel begin to rise. The sound of the footsteps of the Slytherins in front of her told Tracey that they had arrived at a flight of stone stairs. The pace of travel suddenly slowed; there was some kind of bottleneck up ahead. Tracey and the two first years slowly made their way up the steps, and finally she could see the problem. There was a door wide enough for only one person to pass at a time, and, looking through the door, she could see that the floor of the room they were entering was several feet below the bottom of the door. Two Slytherin boys were standing there helping people get down onto the floor. They reached up their arms and lifted Cynthia and Stella down, then turned back to help Tracey. Once on the floor she could see that the door opened over a fireplace! What an odd and inconvenient place for a door.
–Go down the stairs and into the barroom,†one of the boys instructed them hastily as he turned back to assist the next arrivals.
–Where are we?†Tracey asked, hurrying down the stairs.
–The Hog’s Head Inn, in Hogsmeade,†he answered without turning around.
The barroom, not very commodious, was rapidly becoming crowded with students. Professor Slughorn and Blaise Zabini were conversing rapidly with Aberforth Dumbledore and with each other, while Theodore Nott stood nearby, just listening.
–They can’t go out into the street,†Aberforth was saying. –They’ll set off the Caterwauling Charm. There are Death Eaters out there.â€
–The whole school is coming through,†Blaise countered. –They won’t fit.â€
–We have to Apparate the students to their homes,†Professor Slughorn declared. –Side-along Apparation.â€
Blaise turned briskly around and addressed the growing crowd in a commanding voice. –Listen up! Everyone who has an Apparation license, raise your hand and step forward.†He looked around rapidly from side to side. –Where’s Malfoy and his two goons? Damn them! We need them!â€
The five seventh-year girls and Theodore raised their hands. –That’s not enough,†Blaise muttered.
Tracey spoke up. –Someone needs to go back into the tunnel, tell the other Houses what we’re doing, and fetch their seventh years who have licenses. I’ll do that.†Without waiting for assent, she turned and headed back toward the stairs. She did not want to leave the Hog’s Head until she had seen Howe again and knew that he was safe. As she started up the stairs, she could hear Blaise ordering, –Make a space here for the Apparators. Take the kids directly into their homes. Don’t stay to explain anything. Just get back here as soon as possible. We’ve got hundreds of kids.â€
In the upstairs room students continued pouring steadily out of the elevated door. Some did not wait to be helped but just jumped from the mantelpiece, making the floor shudder when they landed. Behind her, Tracy began to hear the Crack! Crack! sound of Disapparations. Every Crack! gladdened her heart; it was the sign that another student had been saved.
She pushed her way to the fireplace and ordered, –Help me up. I have to go back into the tunnel.†Once in the tunnel, she hurried down the steps, past the last of the Slytherins, and asked, panting, –What House are you?â€
–Ravenclaw,†several students chorused together.
–Ravenclaws, listen up!†she shouted, imitating what she had heard Blaise say. –You’re coming to the Hog’s Head pub in Hogsmeade. The older students are taking you to your homes by side-along Apparation. We need more Apparators, to make this job go faster. Who in Ravenclaw has an Apparation license?â€
There were several cries of –I do,†–I do.â€
–Okay, all of you with licenses, go up to the front. Push your way through; don’t be shy. Tell them you’re Apparators. When you get into the pub, go down into the barroom. Hear those sounds? That’s what we need you to be doing!â€
As Tracey shoved past the Ravenclaws, deeper into the tunnel, the Apparation sounds became fainter. The students were not moving very fast now; the effects of the bottleneck at the exit were spreading farther and farther back through the line. Every few yards she asked the students, –What House are you?â€, and eventually they stopped answering –Ravenclaw†and started saying –Hufflepuff.†Tracey stopped and made the same announcement as she had done for the Ravenclaws, but this time there were only a few –I doâ€s.
Where are their seventh years? Tracey wondered. Wayne should be here. She looked for him as she made her way past the mass of Hufflepuffs but couldn’t spot him anywhere. Where is he? she thought with growing dread. Maybe he’s back with the Gryffindors.
The dim, torch-lit tunnel seemed endless, but the slow pace of the students made it easier to penetrate toward the back of the line. Here the sound of the Apparations could no longer be heard at all. Some of the younger students were crying; Tracey could hear them above the buzz of voices in the tunnel. After I have talked to the Gryffindors, I’ll come back to comfort them, she thought distractedly.
What House are you? Hufflepuff. What House are you? Hufflepuff…
Finally, –What House are you?†–Gryffindor.â€
Fear wrapped around her chest like a vise; she could barely breathe. It was the moment. Now she would know.
–Gryffindors, listen up! You’re going to the Hog’s Head pub in Hogsmeade, and we’re taking you home by side-along Apparation. We need all the help we can get. Who among you has an Apparation license?†Tracey shouted as loudly as she could, so that all the Gryffindors could hear.
She waited. There was no response.
Feeling her throat tighten up, Tracy shouted again with all the force that was in her. –Is there any Gryffindor here with an Apparation license?â€
A voice called back from somewhere in the middle of the group. –I don’t think so. I think they all stayed to fight.â€
Oh Merlin, Tracey thought, and she sank her face into her hands. She leaned against the cool stone wall, in between two torch brackets, and moved her head up enough to uncover her eyes and desperately searched the ranks of the slowly passing Gryffindors, seeking a head, or two heads, that rose up higher than the heads around them, seeking Howe or Neville, but they were not there.
By a little after two a.m., the younger students had all been Apparated to their homes, and the exhausted Apparators sat slumped at the tables in the barroom as the last few seventh year students returned from their final trip. Tracey had stayed in the tunnel until all the students were out, trying to avoid being asked to side-along Apparate anyone, even though she had a license, because she felt too distraught to do it safely, and she didn’t want to risk splinching anyone. Aberforth had left the Hog’s Head Inn to go down the tunnel, –to fight for the school,†he said, after the first House of students, the Slytherins, had cleared the tunnel, while they were still massed in the barroom and on the stairs.
–Butterbeer?†Blaise asked wearily.
–Yeah, I’ll take one,†Theodore answered. Blaise went behind the bar and brought out handfuls of bottles and passed them around. Tracey accepted one mutely.
–It appears that our job here is done,†Professor Slughorn observed, leaning back in his chair. –You all performed masterfully; I’m very proud of you all. Who knows what the night will bring, but the valiant efforts of all of you have saved hundreds of lives. I salute you,†and he raised his bottle of butterbeer.
–To us all,†Blaise said, and they all raised their bottles.
–I wish I knew what what was happening out there,†began Mandy Brocklehurst, but before anyone could respond, there was another loud Crack! and a new figure appeared in the middle of the barroom, one whom the students did not recognize but who was familiar to Professor Slughorn.
–Good evening, Mrs. Longbottom,†he said to Neville’s grandmother. –What a surprise to see you here.â€
–Well, it shouldn’t be, Horace,†she returned crisply. –I’ve come to fight for our side. Were you planning to do the same?â€
–Good evening, Mrs. Longbottom,†Theodore offered. –We have just finished Apparating the population of the school from this room to their homes, and we are gathering our strength for whatever will be our next duty.â€
–I intend to walk down that same tunnel that all the Hogwarts students escaped through. Are you coming with me now?†the gray-haired lady asked. –No? Then I will seal the tunnel behind me, and I suggest that you children Apparate to your homes. I don’t know what further task you can do.â€
Blaise got to his feet. –I will assist you into the tunnel, madam,†he said. –The first step is rather a high one.â€
As Blaise and Mrs. Longbottom ascended the stairs, Professor Slughorn turned to the seventh years still sitting in the barroom. –She’s right, you know. You should go home. Your parents will worry.â€
Tracey hunched down in her chair, but the other four Slytherin girls rose to their feet.
–You coming, Tracey?†Pansy asked. Tracey shook her head.
–Suit yourself,†Pansy said. –He’s not coming back, you know, your farmer boyfriend.†She turned on her heel and Disapparated.
–Daphne,†Mandy said, –Tracey and I are staying for a while longer. When you get home, will you send owls to our parents and tell them where we are and that we’re all right?â€
–Okay,†answered Daphne offhandedly, and the three remaining Slytherin girls Disapparated. One by one the two Hufflepuffs and five other Ravenclaws left also, and only Professor Slughorn, Blaise, Theodore, Tracey, and Mandy remained.
The barroom felt very empty, the sky outside was black and the horror of the night settled like a pall over them all. Tracey thought about Howe and Neville and Wayne, and the hot tears started to well up behind her eyes, and her breath came in shuddering sobs. Mandy moved next to her and put an arm tightly around her quivering shoulders.
–Mandy, I’m scared,†Tracey sobbed. –What if they’re all dead?â€
–There, there,†Mandy said, still holding her around the shoulder. –You don’t know that. Don’t go borrowing trouble before you have to.â€
–He shouldn’t have been here at all,†Tracey went on, trying to choke back her sobs, hanging her head down and staring at her lap. –He didn’t want to come. They made him come. He wanted to stay on his croft. He loved his croft. And now look what happened!†She broke out in fresh sobbing. –And Wayne, and Neville, he just wanted to be a Herbologist. They were my friends!â€
–What you did in the tunnel, that was brave,†Mandy said soothingly. –We were all brave, and we can still be brave.†Turning her head to the boys she asked, –Can we see anything out the windows? Lights in the sky?â€
–No,†Blaise said. –They’re facing the wrong direction.â€
–I’ll open a window,†Theodore offered, and he got up to do it. –Maybe we can hear something.†With difficulty he forced open the rusty latch and pushed the creaking window open. Immediately the little group in the barroom could hear distant rumbles as if from thunder and random abrupt sounds like explosions.
–They’re still fighting, so they’re still alive,†said Professor Slughorn in a gloomy voice.
The candles were burning low. Mandy went behind the bar and rummaged around for a little while and then came back with four taller candles. –Aberforth won’t mind if we drink his beer and burn his candles,†she remarked, –not tonight.â€
They all continued waiting, although none of them knew for what.
Shortly after three a.m. the birds in their nests outside started singing, and their little chirps and tweets floated in through the open window. –Listen,†Professor Slughorn said. –The birds always know when dawn is approaching, even when the sky outside still looks perfectly black to us mortals.â€
Tracey looked around. The boys seemed to be nodding off, and she wondered how anyone could sleep. –Are you chilly?†Mandy asked. –I am.â€
Tracey nodded. –Let’s put our cloaks one on top of the other and then drape the double layer over both of us.†They moved closer together on the bench so that the doubled cloak would go around them both, and it was a little warmer.
Moments later, for the second time that night, the air was suddenly pierced by the high, cold voice of Lord Voldemort, as clear in Hogsmeade as if he had been standing outside in the street. It woke the boys, and they were all instantly alert. The voice spoke of grievous losses and of disposing of their dead, and promised a one-hour cease-fire so that Harry could surrender himself. Otherwise there would be mass annihilation.
–Merlin, it doesn’t sound like we’re winning,†Blaise said.
–Don’t you believe it. He’s the master of lies,†Mandy retorted.
–Listen,†Theodore interjected. –The explosions have stopped.â€
–Do you think he’ll do it? Give himself up?†Blaise asked.
–If he does, or if he doesn’t, it’s disaster for us either way,†Professor Slughorn answered.
–You mean there’s no hope?†Tracey asked.
–There’s only one hope,†the professor answered. –We have to fight harder than ever. Even a powerful army can be defeated by one that’s bigger and more powerful.â€
–You mean we should go back and fight?†asked Theodore.
–They didn’t give you a choice, when they evacuated the castle, did they?†Professor Slughorn answered him. –And now we can’t go back through the tunnel or Apparate in, but when dawn comes, the Caterwauling Curse shuts off, and we can go back by the road.â€
–When will that be?†Theodore asked.
–The birds have told us,†Professor Slughorn replied. –In one hour.â€
An hour later the streets of Hogsmeade began to fill with people of all ages and both sexes spilling out from their houses, as the sky became lighter in the northeast and a faint yellow glow spread out above the horizon. Swiftly the little crowds grew to big crowds, covering the pavement from side to side, and a steady succession of Cracks! marked the arrivals of even more people from outside the village.
–Looks like this bigger army is more than just thee and me, Professor,†Blaise remarked, looking out the window and down the street.
The group in the barroom stepped out the door and walked down the side street in which the Hog’s Head was situated to the High Street, where the crowds were even larger, as if this morning were the opening day of a wonderful fair. Farther down the High Street, a well-built red-haired man of about thirty years of age was standing on a barrel, loudly addressing the crowd.
–Do you know who that is?†Professor Slughorn asked the boys.
–No, sir, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s a Weasley,†Blaise replied.
–Yeah,†Theodore agreed. –We’ve seen lots of them. It could be a Weasley.â€
–He seems to have assumed some sort of leadership role,†Professor Slughorn observed. –I should talk to him. You girls stay back. Boys, come with me.†He began pushing his way through the crowd toward the red-haired man on the barrel, with the boys close behind him. Tracey and Mandy moved to the side of the street, up against the wall of the Hogsmeade post office.
–I didn’t know there were so many people in Hogsmeade,†Mandy said quietly.
Even in the low, bluish light, Tracey could see the determined looks on the people’s faces. No one was smiling. From the crowd there emanated a feeling of high tension, like a tightly compressed spring. The people moved restlessly and spoke to one another in low voices.
The events of the morning were surrealistic. Tracey had long since given up trying to understand what was happening or predict what would happen next. The girls backed up against the brick wall of the post office, trying to stay out of the jostling multitude. The air was still and cool, and the sky was slowly becoming lighter. Tracey looked up, overhead, and saw that only the brightest stars were still barely visible, tiny points of light faint in the west against the pure velvet blue.
Because of the constant murmuring of the crowd, it was hard to understand what the man on the barrel was saying, and the frequent Cracks! further obscured his words to listeners at this end of the street, but apparently the people standing closer to him could hear him just fine because suddenly there was a big roar from the crowd, as if of approval of his words. The man jumped down from the barrel and the crowd began to surge down the street, away from Mandy and Tracey.
Within five minutes the street was empty except for some women and the very old; everyone else had headed down the road that led towards Hogwarts. Professor Slughorn, Blaise, and Theodore were gone too. Last night Tracey and Mandy had been in a school surrounded by hundreds of classmates and professors, but now their group was down to only two.
Mandy put one arm around Tracey’s shoulders. –We’ve got to stick together. We’re all we’ve got now.â€
–You’ve been such a good friend to me,†Tracy said. –I’m just sorry I didn’t get to know you better before now.â€
–Me too,†Mandy agreed, and then they stood there in silence, as the women and old men began to go back into the houses and the street became even emptier.
–Are they going to fight?†Mandy wondered. –I don’t hear any explosions. Maybe Harry gave himself up.â€
–I don’t know how to fight,†Tracey reflected. "I just got an ‘A’ in Defense Against The Dark Arts because I couldn’t do the spells very well; I haven’t practiced in years. I never wanted to be a fighter; I just wanted to be a Healer.†She turned her head toward Mandy. –Do you suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has won? What happens now?â€
–Maybe if we walk a little closer, we can tell what’s going on,†Mandy suggested. –Let’s try that.â€
As the two girls started down the road in the same direction that the crowds had gone earlier, the sky became ever lighter. As the hidden sun glided along its appointed path below the rim of the horizon, moving ever southward and ever closer to the line of the eastern hills, the brightest and most golden part of the sky also moved southward. Soon the sun would break over the hills and the new day would commence.
–Do you know which members of your House stayed to fight?†Tracey asked Mandy softly.
–I know which members of my year didn’t come through the tunnel,†Mandy replied. –I didn’t see Terry, or Michael, or Anthony.â€
Dear Merlin, Tracey thought, Let them be alive. Let them all be alive, Blaise, Theodore, Howe, Neville, Wayne…
They had not trudged very far down the road when Mandy suddenly said, –Stop!â€
–Why? What?†Tracey asked, halting in the middle of the road.
Mandy held up one hand. –Do you hear something?†They both stood still and listened, and Tracey believed she could hear a faint roaring. Absurdly, it brought to her mind the memory of crowds roaring in the stadium during a Quidditch match.
–What do you think it is?†she asked breathlessly.
–I don’t know. Something. Let’s run!†Mandy exclaimed, and she seized the fabric of her nightdress in both hands to keep it out of the way of her feet, and began to run forward in the direction of the sound. Tracey ran after her as fast as she could. She didn’t know if this was a wise or foolish course of action, but she felt an overwhelming need to do something, and she matched her Ravenclaw friend pace for pace.
When they were still a ways from the school gates, both girls were winded and breathless, and Tracey had a sharp pain in her side. She slowed her speed and gasped, –I gotta stop for a minute, Mandy. I can’t run any more.†Both girls stopped in the road and leaned over, hands clutching their thighs just above their knees, their lungs heaving.
They panted for a few minutes until they had got their air back, and then Mandy said, –I’m too tired to run. But let’s keep walking,†and they continued their journey along the road to Hogwarts, not knowing what lay at the end of it, and dreading what they might finally see. There was no trace of the multitude of people from Hogsmeade who had traveled this road earlier in the dawn, no stragglers left behind or messengers coming back with news.
–Mandy, that noise that we heard, it’s not there anymore,†Tracey exclaimed. The two girls stopped walking and listened as keenly as they could, but sure enough, only silence prevailed. Not even the rustling of leaves on trees or the chirping of birds broke the uncanny stillness. They stared at each other with wide, uncomprehending eyes, fear filling their hearts. Was it all over? Was everything lost?
Long moments they waited, listening, willing that something, anything, should happen, and then suddenly the air was split by an enormous –Boom!â€, like the report of a giant cannon.
In instant unspoken accord they snatched up the skirts of their nightdresses and began to run with all the strength that was in them, and the hems of their cloaks swirled in the air behind them. With no thought of fatigue or rest any longer, they turned their wills towards only one goal, to reach the gates of Hogwarts, and the ground seemed to unroll beneath their feet in a blur, and their shadows stretched out long before them, because the sun had finally risen.
The iron gates stood open, but blasted and twisted, and the girls realized at once that this was but the first of terrible sights that they were fated to see. The fields on either side of the road leading to the castle were torn up and gouged with pits and craters, the signs of powerful spells that had been used here in the recent hours. The closer they approached the castle, the closer together and more numerous these scars were, and then they began to see bodies, bodies of human beings and of other creatures.
–Look, Mandy!†Tracey cried out. –People are dead!â€
–Let’s keep going,†was Mandy’s reply. –Get your wand out.â€
As they neared the castle itself, they almost froze in horror. From a distance they could see that the stately, ancient structure was blasted almost beyond recognition. Great chunks had been torn out of the walls, and broken stones were scattered all around the ground. Fragments like gravel had been splattered everywhere, and broken glass littered the ground. But of living people they saw none.
–Come on, Tracey!†Mandy cried, and then they began to hear sounds coming from inside the castle, as if the excited babble of hundreds of voices. They ran closer, and they started seeing a few people spilling out of the broken and splintered main doors of the castle, and the girls shouted, –What happened? What happened?â€, and the people screamed back joyously, –We won! We won! He’s dead!â€
Tracey could not endure the suspense; she had to know for sure. –Who’s dead?â€
–You-Know-Who!â€
Howe! Tracey thought, and she sprinted for the doors.
Inside the entrance hall all was chaos and destruction. Spell blasts had left their scars all over the walls, tapestries and paintings were charred, the marble steps were broken like a Grecian temple of antiquity, the hourglasses were shattered, and broken glass, jewels, and stone fragments made a gravelly carpet over all the floor, mixed in some places with blood, and the air was thick with smoke and stone dust, Everywhere, scores of people, many bloodied, were crying out with relief and joy and embracing one another. It was a mad scene. How could she find a single person in the middle of this human maelstrom?
She pushed through the throng in the entrance hall to the Great Hall, and here the chaos was even greater, more people, bigger crowds, more laughter and crying and excited voices. She looked wildly around her. From their dress and their apparent age, she could tell that most of these people were not students; they were strangers. Where were the Gryffindors? It was not like before, when you could find someone quickly by looking at their House table. There were no tables now, just a seething mass of excited people. Great knots of people were clustered here and there; it was impossible to identify individuals in those masses.
Tracey frantically kept threading her way through the crowd, slipping through narrow spaces between rejoicing figures, until suddenly she spotted Theodore, and she forced her way up to him.
–You’re alive!†she exclaimed and threw her arms around him. Crazy, I never particularly liked him, she thought, but I’m so glad to see he’s not dead. I never wanted anyone to be dead, well, maybe nobody but You-Know-Who.
–What happened?†she cried to Theodore.
He had staggered back a little, startled at the force of her embrace, but he gained his footing and said, –Harry Potter dueled him while we all watched, and then they shot spells at each other that collided with a big explosion, and he died.â€
–Is Blaise okay? Have you seen any Gryffindors?†she went on, breathlessly.
–They’re all over. I think Harry’s there,†and Theodore motioned toward a particularly large mass of people crowding around a central point.
Tracey let go of Theodore and plunged back into the crowd, and within a few minutes she saw Wayne in a little group of Hufflepuffs. She didn’t recognize him at first, battered and filthy with black smudges of soot, his clothes charred in places, and gray-white rock dust all over his shoulders and head.
–Oh, Wayne!†she exclaimed, and hugged him too. –Are you hurt? Are you okay?†What a miracle! Her friends were still alive!
–Tracey!†Wayne exclaimed. –We don’t have to study those tentaculas any more! They’re all gone!â€
–What? Where did they go?â€
–We threw them at the Death Eaters!†Wayne was absolutely jubilant, giddy, almost hysterical with joy.
–Where’s Howe? Where’s Neville?†Tracey asked desperately.
–Neville was a hero.†Wayne exclaimed. –You should’ve seen him!â€
–Wayne! Are they okay?†Tracey cried .
–Everything’s okay now!â€
–But did you see him? Where is he?†Her voice was rising in a panic, and then she felt a firm hand clapped onto her shoulder. She whirled around to see who it was, and there was Howe.
His brown hair was frosted white with stone dust and his clothes were filthy, but he stood tall and uninjured, with a look of shocked surprise on his face.
–Howe!†she screamed.
–My God, Tracey, where did you come from?†Howe asked in apparent disbelief.
–We ran back from Hogsmeade, Mandy and me,†she answered him, the words tumbling out as fast as she could speak.
–You didn’t go home? I thought you went home.â€
–I couldn’t leave you,†she said, beginning to cry with overwhelming emotion. –We waited and waited after all the students were gone. We waited all night. Half the time I thought you were surely dead because that voice said that people were dead, and half the time I thought you couldn’t possibly be dead because you’re the boy I love and the boy I love can’t die. Fate wouldn’t let you die, not my Howe.â€
He put his arms around her and pulled her close to him, and she could smell the odor of rock dust and soot on his clothes as she pressed her face into his chest.
–I was so worried and there wasn’t anything I could do about it,†she went on, in a strained, muffled voice.
–Some people did die,†she heard him say.
–I saw bodies,†she told him.
–Some students died.â€
–Oh, no!†she cried out, pulling her head back and looking up at him. She snaked her arms out from under her cloak and held him as tightly as ever she could, around his lower rib cage. He felt so solid, so warm, so alive, so unbelievably alive.
–I’m never going to let you go, never ever,†she vowed forcefully.
–You’ll have to,†he answered gently. –I think the school year is over.â€
********
Later, the crowds began to thin out, as most of the Hogsmeade citizens went home. The floor of the Great Hall was magically cleared of rubble so that it was safer to walk around, and the House tables were put back in place, but since there were few actual students there, people sat wherever they wanted. Howe and Tracey had gone back to their House residences to wash and put on clean clothes; Tracey was glad to get out of her nightdress and put on something more dignified. Then they reunited at the Gryffindor table, where a simple meal had appeared. It had been many hours since anyone had last eaten.
–Is it true, what you said?†Howe asked as they sat and ate, side by side.
–What?†Tracey asked.
–That I’m the boy you love.â€
–Oh, Howe, we’ve been through terrible, terrible times, but right now there’s nothing more important than that.â€
–Then it’s true?â€
Tracey wrapped her left arm around his upper right arm. –It’s been true for a long, long time.â€
–Maybe I’ve known it for a long, long time,†he told her.
–Why do you say that?â€
–Because you’re the girl I love.â€
The faculty urged the students whose parents were not present to go home as soon as possible. Their possessions would be sent to their homes promptly, and they would be receiving owls concerning the final status of their school year.
But Tracey and Howe lingered at the table.
–What will you do after you go home?†Howe asked her.
–Recover at home. I expect the N.E.W.T.s will be scheduled for later in the summer, so I’ll have to study. If I do well enough in them, I’ll apply for a place in the Healer class that opens in the autumn. What about you?â€
–I’ll be going back to Skye, to our croft, of course.â€
–It will seem tame after what has happened here,†Tracy suggested.
–I wanted to do something I’d never do otherwise,†Howe said. –Looks like I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.â€
–Do you have an Apparation license?†Tracey asked.
–My parents taught me how to Apparate when I was fifteen, but I never got a license,†Howe answered.
–You’ve been doing it illegally all these years?â€
–I only ever Apparated within the boundaries of our own land. I don’t know if that’s illegal.â€
–Maybe not,†she said. –But I’d better go with you, just in case. We don’t want to get into trouble.â€
–Trouble? Heavens, no!â€
Laughing, they stood up, holding hands, and walked out through the splintered main doors into the bright sunlight, spun on their heels, and disappeared.
The Crofter and The Snake by Oregonian
Chapter Endnotes: The words of Tracey when she encounters Howe again at the end of the story were inspired by my feelings when I feared that my daughter had drowned in the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004.