We Will Shine {Book 6 in the Star of Gryffindor Series}

Chapter 64 - Shining Brighter

~Astra~

The next morning, the headline in the Prophet said, HARRY POTTER KILLED IN UNDER-PREPARED VIGILANTE RAID. It went on to demonize the DA, as well as list the dozens of people who were killed or missing from the previous night.

Albus and I weren't mentioned. Wren was, very briefly, almost as an afterthought. It said she had "disappeared as well, and the public could only guess as to why." At least, that's what Colette said. I couldn't bring myself to even look at the paper.

The Quibbler also talked about the raid, telling the whole story (minus the fact that Albus, Wren, and I had been there) and highlighting the nine children the DA had rescued and the fact that there were dozens more still there. Faith also put in two full pages holding Mr. Potter up as a martyr and a hero, not a rash, glory-hungry vigilante.

Needless to say, the Great Hall was quieter than I'd ever seen it.

Luckily, Haverna and Albus managed to intercept Lily before breakfast. I think Mrs. Potter might have come up to the school, too, though I don't really know. I don't remember a lot. The next few days were a blur of confusion and avoiding everyone. A lot of people were giving Albus and James and Lily and everyone else who had lost someone their condolences. A lot were avoiding anyone remotely connected to the DA.

Ciara and Wren's final patrol had been scheduled for Friday night. Albus volunteered to go instead. I don't know how much they were patrolling and how much they were just helping each other process. Thank goodness they had each other for that, because I had been going through the days in a numb fog.

I was shocked at how easily everyone had accepted Wren's disappearance. Even Kimmel hadn't been questioning any of us. It wasn't like the DA had even said anything about her, either. Part of me wondered what people were speculating. Part of me didn't want to know.

Haverna must have decided it was all right to tell Poppy what had happened. It might have been because she had been so close to Wren, or it might have been because her brother was now safe. Maybe it was both. Albus briefly explained that the children we'd rescued had all been whisked away to DA safe-houses until they could find homes for them, except Jack, who was already with his and Poppy's grandmother in Belfast.

It felt like things were just happening around me, but I wasn't actually there. The world was moving too quickly, and too many things were happening, and I just wanted to curl up in some forgotten corner and stay there for the next three years, at least. People talked to me, and I think I answered, but it was all a blur, my mind working on autopilot. All I could see was that flash of green before Mr. Potter fell to the ground. All I could hear was Wren begging me to kill her.

Eventually, I think on Saturday, James pulled me aside. We walked in silence up to an empty classroom on the seventh floor. I was grateful enough for the quiet that I didn't ask what he wanted, and once we'd sat down next to the window, James didn't seem to be in any hurry to tell me. We just sat on a bench, shoulder to shoulder, leaning against the desk behind us. James had Wren's mirror in his hands, and was turning it over and over, as if somehow it might bring her back. This was where James had come after he and Wren broke up, I remembered. The view was very pretty; you could see the wind moving the trees in the Forbidden Forest, students strolling along the shore of the lake, hills ringing the horizon. It was a good place to cry.

"Can you tell me what happened?" James asked, breaking the silence and making me jump. I glanced over at him, but he was still looking at the floor. "With Wren? If... if it's not too hard, that is."

"Didn't you hear it?" I asked softly.

Now he looked up, and there was such a deep pain in his eyes that I wanted to do anything else except make that worse, even though that was exactly what he was asking me to do. Why was he torturing himself like this?