Dawn Rivera

The Flaw in the Plan

Voldemort speaks, his voice magically magnified so that it swells through the grounds, crashing upon my eardrums. A horrible sense of dread fills me.

"Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away with Dathaniel Rivera, trying to save themselves while you lay down your lives for him. We bring his body as proof that your hero is gone.
The battle is won. You have lost half your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you and the Boy Who Lives is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of your family. Come out of the castle, now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live, and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together."

There is silence in the grounds and from the castle. Danny. Danny, dead? Danny and Harry? No, not them. Never them.

The Death Eaters come to a halt. They spread out in a line facing the open front doors of the school. Light streams upon them from the Entrance Hall. Any moment, we will see them, lying dead. No, we won't. My eyes won't look upon their bodies. It's some sort of trap, a trick, they would never desert me like this...

"NO!"

The scream is more the terrible because I never expected or dreamed that Professor McGonagall can make such a sound. I hear another woman laughing nearby, and I know that Bellatrix glories in McGonagall's despair. The open doorway is filling with people, as the survivors of the battle come out to the front steps, to face our vanquishers, and see the truth of Harry and Danny's deaths for ourselves. Voldemort stands a little in front in front of them, stroking Nagini's head with a single white finger.

"No!"

"No!" I say.

"Harry! Danny!" Misty says. "HARRY! DANNY!"

Ron, Misty and I's voices are worse than McGonagall's, and our cries act like a trigger, the crowd of survivors take up the cause, screaming and yelling abuse at the Death Eaters until -

"SILENCE!" cries Voldemort, and there is a bang and a flash of light, and silence is forced upon us all. "It is over! Set them down, Hagrid, at my feet, where they belong!"

Harry and Danny are lowered onto the grass. Danny. I feel tears come to my eyes, and they spill uncontrollably down my cheeks. Harry's death is like a blow to the stomach, and I can't breathe, but I can hardly think of it when I look at Danny. Danny, my brother...my brother is...after all we went through he's...dead. I wail out loud and sway on the spot, clutching at my stomach, and someone pulls me into an embrace I can hardly feel; I can't feel, there is nothing, nothing, not without Danny.

"You see?" says Voldemort, and I see him striding backwards and forwards right beside the place where Harry and Danny lie. "Harry Potter and Dathaniel Rivera are dead! Do you understand me now, deluded ones? They were nothing, ever, but boys who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"

"They beat you!" yells Ron, and the charm breaks, and the defenders of Hogwarts are shouting and screaming again until a second more powerful bang extinguishes our voices once more. I feel the person holding me shift, and I look up instinctively to see Neville. He has turned himself to look down at me. There is a look in his eyes I can't read, but I know whatever it is means revenge for these cruel deaths, the deaths that cause me such unbearable pain. He looks back at the bodies, and then at Voldemort, and his eyes harden.

"They were killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," says Voldemort, and there is relish in his voice for the lie, "killed while trying to save themselves - "

But Voldemort breaks off: my comforter pulls away from me, I hear a scuffle and a shout, then another bang, a flash of light and a grunt of pain; I look up. Neville has broken free of the crowd and charged at Voldemort: I see his figure hit the ground, Disarmed, Voldemort throwing the challenger's wand aside and laughing.