Rosabella Black|Daughter Of Sirius Black|(Book 7)

The Forest Again

Rosabella's Point Of View:

Neither Harry or I spoke.

I didn't believe what I just heard. My hands were trembling. No, thus can't be happening. It isn't fair!
My thoughts were in turmoil as I tried to comprehend what I just found out. I then suddenly felt someone grab my shoulders gently and spin me around. Harry then placed both of his hands on either side of my face and he has never looked at me that way before. The way he looked at me scared me. Like he was mesmerising every aspect of my face. As if this would be the last time he sees it . . .
    "You're so beautiful. I haven't told you that nearly enough times. I should of told you that every day but now it's too late." Harry said so quietly I barely heard him.
Tears fall from my eyes.
     "Harry . . . I would not change anything between us. Anything." I sobbed.
Harry rested his forehead against mine and I felt his hands trembling. I grabbed both of his hands and squeezed them tightly.

Harry pulled away and looked down at the battered gold watch he had received on his seventeenth birthday. I looked at it too. Nearly half of the hour allotted by Voldemort for Harry's surrender had elapsed.
Harry looked at me again before he pulled my face to his and kissed me fiercely.
Harry then started to walk away but I ran towards him and grabbed his hand, holding it tightly.
    "Ro, you can't come with –" Harry started to say.
     "Not all the way. I – I know I can't stop you. I know that ultimately this is your choice and what choice is there really but I'm not going to let you walk to your –" I said, my voice breaking with sobs.
I couldn't say the last world. 'Death.'
     "I'm going to let you walk to it alone. At least . . . not the whole way." I said and looked up at him pleadingly.
Harry hesitated before he kissed my forehead and then pulled me along with him as we left Dumbledore's office, Winter following behind us.

Harru did not look back.

The castle was empty. The portrait people were still missing from their frames. The whole place was eerily still, as if all its remaining lifeblood were concentrated in the Great Hall where the dead and the mourners were crammed.

Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak over us and we descended through the floors, at last walking down the marble staircase into the entrance hall. I couldn't stop the tears as they fell heavily down my face and I didn't try to stop them.
Some tiny part of me hoped for us to be sensed, to be seen, to be stopped. For someone to help me stop him. But the Cloak was, as ever, impenetrable, perfect, and we reached the front doors easily.

Then Neville nearly walked into us. He was one half of a pair that was carrying a body in from the grounds. I glanced down and felt another dull blow to my stomach.
Colin Creevey.
Though underage, must have sneaked back. He was tiny in death.
    "You know what? I can manage him alone, Neville." Oliver Wood said, and he heaved Colin over his shoulder in a fireman's lift and carried him into the Great Hall.

Neville leaned against the door frame for a moment and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He looked like an old man. Then he set off on the steps again into the darkness to recover more bodies.

I saw Harry take one glance back at the entrance of the Great Hall. I glanced back too, wondering if he'd seen someone. People were moving around, trying to comfort each other, drinking, kneeling beside the dead.

Harry moved down the steps, his hand gripping my mine like it was his last life line. We walked out into the darkness. It was nearly four in the morning, and the deathly stillness of the grounds felt as though they were holding their breath, waiting to see whether Harry could do what he must.
Harry moved toward Neville, who was bending over another body.
   "Neville." Harry said.
   "Blimey, Harry, you nearly gave me heart failure!" Neville said.
Harry had pulled off the Cloak but made me stay under.
   "Where are you going, alone?" Neville asked suspiciously.
   "It's all part of the plan. There's something I've got to do. Listen – Neville –" Harry said.
   "Harry! Harry, you're not thinking of handing yourself over?" Neville said, looking suddenly scared.
   'Yes! He is! Help me stop him!' Is what I wanted to yell at Neville but I remained quiet. Crying in the darkness.
   "No," Harry lied easily.
   "'Course not . . . this is something else. But I might be out of sight for a while. You know Voldemort's snake. Neville? He's got a huge snake . . . Calls it Nagini . . ." Harry said.
    "I've heard, yeah . . . What about it?" Neville said.
  "It's got to be killed. Ron, Hermione and Ro know that, but just in case they –" Harry said and swallowed.
    "Just in case they're – busy – and you get the chance –" Harry said.
   "Kill the snake?" Neville clarified.
   "Kill the snake." Harry repeated.
   "All right, Harry.You're okay, are you?" Neville said.
   "I'm fine. Thanks, Neville." Harry said.
But Neville seized his wrist as Harry made to move on.
    "We're all going to keep fighting, Harry. You know that?" Neville said.
    "Yeah, I –" Harry said.
Harry didn't seem to be able to go on. Neville did not seem to find it strange. Neville patted Harry on the shoulder, released him, and walked away to look for more bodies.
I swung the Cloak back over Harry. He grabbed my hand and we walked on. Someone else was moving not far away, stooping over another prone figure on the ground. We were feet away from her when I realized it was Ginny.