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Author: Cygnus Crux Story: Harry Potter's Existence After Life Rating: Teens Setting: AU Status: Completed Reviews: 3 Words: 158,815
Disclaimer: The concepts for the speech and letter belong to Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston respectively. I merely adapted them and added some of my own words. Author's Note: I'd like to take this opportunity to once again thank my beta for all her help. I couldn't have done it without her. Ashwinder is one of the better authors in know. If you haven't read her stories yet, I suggest you do so, and don't forget to review. I always do! Commander Donovan Ironheart paced around in his office, located at the top of the tallest castle spire. It was very large and circular, having a diameter of about fifty feet. Part of the wall was covered by large bookracks that held an assortment of books on dark arts and a host of magical trinkets he'd collected over the years, and others were covered with magical paintings and tapestries. An old Ranger in one of the paintings was watching his successor as he walked around restlessly. Mrs Ironheart had decorated his office in warm woody colours that made many visitors feel quite at ease. The furniture also lacked sharp angles, and everything seemed rather soft and curvy. The woman did have good taste, and Ironheart knew he was lucky to have her. He had done more than enough things that could have caused his marriage to end, but his wife was very forgiving, and in the end she won out over her rivals. Two weeks had passed since Potter's disappearance, and there seemed to be little indication of his survival. It was now noontime in Nomad Island, September 6th, a Wednesday, and the weather inside the magical dome was cloudy. The silvery haired man stood up straight until he stood at full height, and regarded his subordinates steadily. Forty-year-old Captain Irina Kovalenko, nicknamed the Ice Princess, but not to her face, looked extremely tired. She was nervously biting the nails on her beautifully manicured hands, and she had an uncertain glint in her otherwise cold grey eyes. Her relative youth had led to many questions about her recent promotion to Captain, and that was an issue she was still dealing with. She did so by being extremely demanding of her people, and extremely aloof towards them. Her nervousness was unfounded because she had nothing to worry about. She had done her job superbly. With the help of the Rangers, the Indian Ministry managed to remove at least ninety-five percent of the known bad apples. Lieutenant Diatta, also primarily an Intelligence Ranger and Kovalenko's immediate subordinate, held a huge stack of neatly organised documents. She had copies for every officer who would be attending the meeting. Ironheart's counterpart, Commander Nehanda Nomvete, a woman from Zimbabwe slightly older than he, stared out of the window, observing the peaks of the tallest hill now shrouded in clouds, where Phoenixes lived. She was waiting for Captain Matthias Faust, who was directly in charge of the team to which Potter had belonged. They heard a knock on the door. "Come in Faust," Ironheart answered, and a second later a panting and pink-faced German Ranger bowed and saluted to the two commanders. Ironheart smiled. "More exercise and less bratwurst for you, my friend." The German mumbled something under his breath and asked, "May I sit down?" Ironheart gestured to a round table, and the four more senior Rangers sat down while the lieutenant passed out the reports. "Have a seat, Lieutenant," Nomvete began. "Your insight into this matter is most crucial." Failing to conceal her surprise, Diatta sat down. "Yes, Commander?" "Irina relayed your words to us, about a memorial for Harry Potter." Seemingly sharing her mind, Ironheart continued, "At the time, we couldn't do anything about it. It would have alerted our foes to our presence. However, now that the matter has been resolved, we feel that a memorial service is in order." "So if I understand correctly, security is not an issue anymore," said Diatta "Indeed. Seeing as you were his last Team Leader, the task of organising the service falls onto your shoulders. Not all of Harry's classmates will be able to attend since most of them are out on missions of their own." Ironheart raised his hand, and three letters came floating over to the conference table. "These were letters from a Hermione Granger. I ran a check on her....Muggle-born...currently undergoing mediwizard training, and quite brilliant. Not quite as powerful as most of us, but she would make a fine addition to the Rangers. In fact," he nodded at Kovalenko, "Irina's been following her progress for quite some time." Diatta looked puzzled. "You want me to recruit her? What are we talking about?" "Dear me, I strayed from the topic, eh?" Ironheart looked a little embarrassed. "No, these letters were for Harry. They were about to be forwarded to him, but when he went missing in action I kept them back. After it became apparent that Harry was no longer with us, I opened them." He ran his hand over his face and rubbed his eyes. "I just wish she'd written Harry sooner." "Why? Who is this Hermione Granger?" Faust asked "She was one of his best friends at school, and apparently, I gather from these letters, she never really blamed him for the unfortunate incident and the reason she never told him was out of loyalty to her boyfriend, Harry's other best friend. And according to her, the Weasleys realised that Harry really hadn't meant to put the Cruciatus Curse on his best friend," Ironheart explained. "What about that best friend? Did he forgive Harry?" Faust asked again. Ironheart slowly shook his head. "No. It seems he hasn't." Faust sighed in disappointment, and a pregnant pause ensued. Faust was stroking his moustache, Kovalenko started biting her nails again, her gray eyes fogging up, and Diatta looked dismayed. "The people he cared about forgave him, and he never knew about it?" "How cruel the universe can be," Nomvete said, bowing her head gently and pressing her fingertips together. Ironheart cleared his throat, forcing the lump that had been forming away. "I hereby bestow upon you the authority to do whatever it takes for you to give him a proper memorial service. I need you to travel to Hogwarts and ask permission from the Headmistress to erect a small monument there in his memory since we do not have a body to bury. Minerva McGonagall and I go way back, so that shouldn't be a problem. Convincing their Ministry of Magic will be a bit tougher. That is why you have to contact Padma Patil, Remus Lupin and Hermione Granger. In fact, you will hand carry the letter of regret to Mr Lupin. Since only our contact at the British Department of Mysteries knew what became of Harry after he completed his Auror training, you may have to answer some questions after he reads the letter." "I'm...I haven't gone on a mission like this before, sir. I wouldn't know...what to do," Diatta stammered. "It isn't a mission. It's a tribute." Ironheart leaned back in the high-backed chair and crossed his arms. "You may take eight Rangers with you, who will assist you in your efforts. Maximilian Wolfe, Caleb Mordecai and Okan Izzet are on their way back from their Basilisk mission. I'm sure they would want to join you, and as they are Harry's former teammates, I think it is highly appropriate that they accompany you. Heidi Gravenstein has also expressed her desire to participate in a memorial service and so did the Kelly brothers. Only Nathaniel will be able to go, however. Matt is scheduled to be patrolling Old Atlantis on a special request from the Atlantian merfolk. They're having some problems with a highly aggressive sea serpent." " I didn't think sea serpents were aggressive," Irina frowned. "Oh, this is no ordinary sea serpent. But let us not stray from the current topic." "I suggest you take the people who knew him best!" Faust nodded, steering the meeting back towards the original topic. "But are we certain that he's dead?" Diatta blurted out. Ironheart smiled sympathetically. "I realise this must be hard on you, and I understand your reluctance to accept the fact that he is dead. It's hard on all of us. But you know the potency of our current detection equipment. If he'd been alive, we would have known." Diatta hung her head. In the past twenty years, the Rangers had busied themselves with attaching magical monitoring devices to over eighty Muggle satellites. They were much better than the Muggle observation devices, and could detect wizards through over half a mile of solid rock, and pierce all kinds of magical barriers. That was how her predecessors in Intel had found out that the headstrong former Ranger Commander Lei Li had started training his great-grandson illegally in the ways of magic in a magic-shielded basement from the age of six. It explained why Wolfe was so good at wand-less magic. Recently, the magical monitoring artefacts were had been improved a lot, and now they were even able to detect animagi and most forms of wand-less magic. Of course, not even the International Confederation of Wizards was allowed to know about that. A lot of people would be very uneasy if they knew that they could be watched so closely at all times, and no doubt Ministries all over the world would try and disband the Order of Illumination. Understandable, for if they were to turn into an Order of Darkness, they would be infinitely worse than the Death Eaters had ever been. It was all a matter of preventing them from pondering 'Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?' Who watches the watchmen? Diatta heaved a sigh. Nomvete reached over and patted her hand. "You know, we are not only doing this for Harry, because he wouldn't care if his name were cleared or not. Well, he would, but only if it concerned the people closest to him. We have to do this for the wizarding world to point out their mistake so they may learn from it." The younger woman gave her a bewildered stare. Nomvete always said the strangest things at the strangest moments. " Pardon me if I don't follow you, but what are you trying to say, Commander?" "What Nehanda meant, is that you could look at it that way, if you want to see it like a mission," Ironheart clarified. "So you can distance yourself emotionally." "Thank you, Commanders, but I too feel a sense of loss, and I want to embrace it, not distance myself from it. I just wanted to be absolutely certain that Harry wouldn't reappear. It would make matters worse for his reputation. The people who hated him would then accuse us of rousing sympathy under false pretences." "I understand your concern, but you can be quite sure that it von't be the case," Kovalenko said quietly. "I had my teams sweep the planet three times. I too hoped for him to be alive." "Are you up to the task?" Faust asked. Diatta nodded. "Good. You are dismissed," Nomvete added, nodding. Diatta rose, saluted and retreated from the office. Ironheart looked at Nomvete. "Can you handle this meeting by yourself, Nehanda?" His counterpart nodded. "You have to be somewhere else?" Ironheart nodded wearily. "I have to mentally prepare myself to write that letter of regret. I've written so many of them these last few years that I ought to be getting good at it, yet I'm not. But I guess that's a good thing, eh? It proves that I care, right?" He coughed and cleared his throat again. "His team was my direct responsibility," Faust pointed out. "Perhaps I should write it?" he offered. "Thanks kid, but I need to do this myself." Nomvete and Kovalenko exchanged brief smiles. At times, Ironheart still called Faust 'kid', though the German was already fifty years old. "I am older than you were when you started calling me that, sir," Faust smiled. "Yes, well you'll always be a kid to me. You, Vassily and Avery Wolfe were my boys!" The brief cheerful expression that appeared on his face as he remembered those days vanished. "I had better get started." *** Ten hours later, Donovan Ironheart was sitting at his desk at home, on the 6th level of the city where the rich and prominent citizens lived. An empty parchment lay in front of him and an eagle feather quill stuck between his fingers. He took a sip of a Muggle drink he was rather fond of, a Cuba Libre. He had to bend a lot of customs rules to smuggle the components for the drink in, but in his opinion it was worth it. His wife had already turned in for the night. In the course of the afternoon, he had gone out to the market with her, and they ended up doing a lot of things carefree couples did together. He'd simply told her that he loved her as they sat in the city's most elegant five star restaurant, the Golden Griffin Palace, and made her blush like a young girl, after forty-five years of marriage. But he couldn't put it off any longer. The letter would be addressed to Remus Lupin, who was once again teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. He had never turned his back on Harry. Ironheart knew this was because the man had been a close friend to the boy's parents, his godfather, and later the boy himself. And a werewolf's life was a hard one, and gave a person insights that others didn't have. Lupin could therefore probably have identified with Harry better than most. Sir, I wish there was a way to soften the news... Ironheart shook his head and waved his hand, magically erasing the sentence. A beginning like that would only contribute to a sense of mounting dread for Lupin, before the rest of the letter would confirm it. He tried several sentences, and found something wrong with each of them. Then he found the correct one, and after that, words and thoughts were starting to come to him easily. An hour later, he looked down at the piece of parchment. He waved his hand and the many candles went out. He went to bed, knowing that he would get precious little sleep because he had to get up at four in the morning. But at least it would be five peaceful hours of sleep. *** Ginny had never been as diligent and ambitious as Hermione, so a career as an overly schooled mediwitch was not her thing. But she did like to take care of injured people, so training as a nurse was right up her alley. To her delight, she had been accepted as a nurse in training at Hogwarts, where she was assisting Poppy Pomfrey. She gave a first year Hufflepuff boy a dazzling smile and a kiss on his newly mended wrist. "All better!" The boy flushed crimson and muttered his thanks before he hurried out of the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey smiled kindly at her. "That was very good Ginny." "Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Ginny replied. "Oh, you can call me Poppy, dear. We are colleagues now, after all." "Oh no, I'm just a nurse in training," Ginny said shyly. "Nevertheless, you are also a staff member. You can even take off house points if you must." Ginny laughed. " I'd rather not do that unless I have no choice." "Neither would I, dear. Now go on down to dinner," Pomfrey said. "Aren't you coming Madam...I mean, Poppy?" "Oh no, dear. Winky and I have to get started on a new batch of Pepperup Potion," she said, nodding to the protective and nurturing elf, dressed in miniature nurse's clothes. Winky had finally come to terms with freedom, and was now officially a staff member, like Dobby. Ginny smiled as she remembered Dobby, coming up to serenade Winky three nights ago. The male elf had been wooing Winky ever since her seventh year, but Winky either wasn't interested, or she was just playing very hard to get. " I'd like to help," Ginny said. "It would be a good opportunity to practice." " We're making a second batch tomorrow. You can help me then." "All right," Ginny said as she went to the Great Hall. She was very hungry indeed, and her mouth started to water as her pert little nose caught the scent of food emanating from the great Hall. Once there, she sat down between Professor Lupin and Professor Flitwick. "So how did you like your first week as at Hogwarts, Ginny?" Flitwick piped. "I'm really learning lots of things from Poppy…you know, things they didn't teach me at Stonehenge." Ginny smiled. Bedside manners obviously isn't one of them. Poppy's is terrible. I caught one of my second years' doodling your name in hearts in his notebook." Lupin teased. Ginny's cheeks reddened. "Oh be quiet," she mumbled, taking a bite of chicken. She had always liked Professor Lupin, and the first thing she had done upon her arrival at Hogwarts, had been to go see him and tell him how she, her family, except for Ron, and Hermione felt about Harry and if he knew where Harry was. At first she had been afraid that he might reject her apologies, but he'd been very understanding. Apparently, Hermione had beaten Ginny to it, and Lupin had told her that Hermione had owled and explained the matter to him. However, Harry had departed without telling Professor Lupin anything. All he had done was leave Hedwig with him. Lupin told Ginny that he'd advised Hermione to go to the Auror Office at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, since it would be likely that they knew where he went. When she'd asked why he didn't try to contact Harry himself, he'd simply said that he believed Harry would seek contact when he was ready to. She chewed and looked around the Great Hall. Dennis Creevey, the new Head Boy, sat next to Gabrielle Delacour, a fourth year exchange student from Beauxbatons. Dennis wasn't bad looking, and he was a very funny and charming boy. Gabrielle was staring up at him with puppy dog eyes, which prompted a smile from Ginny. The girl definitely fancied him. A little more to the left, she saw Colin's ghost come floating out of the wall arm in arm with Moaning Myrtle, who hadn't moaned ever since she'd met Colin, and she was blushing silver as he whispered something in her ear, looking down on his younger brother. "Dear me, that's Padma Patil. And who is that with her?" Flitwick squeaked. Lupin and Ginny looked up from their dinner, and saw a man clad in black walk in, accompanied by Padma Patil. The stranger was wearing what looked like a medieval style high collared long-shirt. It was belted at the middle by a thick leather belt, to which a special wand holder was fastened. His lower body was clothed in breeches, which from the looks of them reached his upper calves and were overlapped by black knee-height fold-over boots. Two silver eight-pointed stars decorated the collar of his shirt, and a similar emblem decorated the upper left side of the vest he wore over his shirt. The legs of his breeches and sleeves of his shirt were trimmed with parallel silver lines. His right sleeve also had a bar just below the shoulder that probably represented a rank. It had three silver pips. Padma was wrapped in what looked like his cloak, for it had the same silver-star emblem where it would cover the wearer's upper left chest. Ginny found the man handsome, with his olive complexion, dark hair and eyes, strong jaw and symmetric features. She estimated his age at twenty-three or twenty-four. But his eyes looked old, as if they had seen so many terrible things, reminding her very much of Harry. Whenever Harry used to have that look in her fifth and sixth year, she would just put her arm around him and tell him that he had to be strong, and that she would always be there for him. Her heart shrank as she remembered. She hadn't been there for him, because she hadn't wanted to upset Ron. She wondered where Harry was, and whether he was happy. McGonagall, no doubt alerted by Filch, hurried into the great hall and overtook the young man, demanding who he was and what he was doing at Hogwarts. "I beg your pardon for barging in unannounced, Headmistress," he said in a raspy baritone voice. He cleared his throat before continuing. "I am Maximilian Wolfe, Ranger Fifth Class of the Order of Illumination. I am carrying a message for Remus Lupin." He nodded towards Padma, who wrapped herself more tightly, in his cloak. "I take it you remember Ms Patil?" McGonagall smiled and nodded. "A Ranger at Hogwarts, I should have recognised your dress uniform! How is Donovan doing? Donovan Ironheart...Is he still a Ranger?" she asked, and Ginny wondered why the Headmistress blushed as she said that name. The man nodded with an impassive face. "Ranger First Class, ma'am. I 'm under his command. I 'm carrying a letter from him." "But what is it about?" "I'm not at liberty to say, ma'am," the Ranger said, stony faced. Padma couldn't mask her features as well as the Ranger could, and Ginny didn't think it was good news for Remus. Maybe Remus would have to register himself with this Order as well, so they could keep an eye on him. Ginny only knew a little about the Order of Illumination. She knew they were wizards who patrolled the world to fight evil, but they couldn't honestly believe that Remus was evil, could they? After all, if he were, why would they be letting him teach? McGonagall walked him over to the table and pointed Remus out, and Padma stood a couple of paces behind him, smiling weakly at a few seventh year Ravenclaw girls who were trying to get her attention. The Ranger looked at Padma. "The letter is in the left pocket of my cloak. Could you please hand it to me?" Padma reached into the pocket and gave him the letter with a trembling hand. Now cold worry was really starting to nibble at the back of Ginny's mind. What was this about? Lupin had taken the envelope from the Ranger. "Should I read this somewhere private?" The Ranger's face remained a mask of control. " Perhaps it would be better if you did". "Do you want me to come with you?" McGonagall asked. Ginny wasn't used to seeing her this nervous or curious. The Ranger looked at the floor, seeming to think it over. Then he looked at McGonagall. "I've been told to include you in this matter as well, even though the letter is for Mr Lupin. Is there somewhere we can discuss this privately?" McGonagall pointed to the room to the right of the teacher's table, and Lupin rose from his chair and strode towards the adjacent room, followed by the Ranger, McGonagall and Padma. Ginny concluded that Padma knew about this too, and her curiosity and apprehension continued to increase. After a minute, which might as well have been an eternity to Ginny, she could no longer temper her curiosity and she walked over to the room. She could feel the students looking at her expectantly. No doubt they were just as curious. She knocked and pushed the door open, and just as she opened the door, Lupin let out a howling scream, grabbed a heavy chair and smashed it to pieces against the wall before punching the wall with his fists repeatedly. Then, like a candle that burned out after a moment's flare, he sank down against the same wall he tried to break with his bare hands. "Professor Lupin!" she gasped and slammed the door shut behind her. She hurried over to him and knelt down beside him. She was about to ask him what was wrong, when her eyes caught the words on the letter that was lying on the floor in front of him. Sir, it is my sad duty to report to you the death of Ranger Seventh Class, Harry James Potter. While on assignment in India to help purge their Ministry from enemies within, Harry's team encountered and defeated a numerically superior foe, a vampire's nest under the leadership of Hannibal Skaras and allied with local dark wizards. Harry personally defeated Skaras when going in after a fellow Ranger who had remained behind to delay Skaras, so the rest of the Ranger team could get out safely with the vampire's captives and a captured dark wizard, who proved invaluable to the breaking of the conspiracy against the Indian Ministry. Harry died in a cave in, fighting to delay ghouls responding to Skaras' death scream, so his comrade could escape to fight another day. Had he not done so, neither of them would have got out alive. In the time that Harry served with us, I found him to be an excellent Ranger, superior wizard and magnificent human being. His talent with snakes allowed the Indian mission to run much more smoothly, and I have no doubt that his team's casualties would have been much higher had he not thought of using this talent. Even among our ranks, there are few who show the amount of courage and dependability he showed as a matter of routine. I cannot begin to appreciate your loss, but in reflecting on his death, I realise that his passing has effected me greatly. I no longer believe that the momentum of a life headed in a worthwhile direction ends when that life does. Harry Potter defeated Skaras and countless lesser vampires, all of which served evil. If he hadn't acted the way he had, their actions would have led to further evil, but his actions take their place instead, acting as a firebreak to prevent the spread of evil into future generations. Harry Potter saved his fellow Rangers with his talent and devotion. As such, a bow wave of suffering that would have rippled out, scarring survivors and leaving nothing but loss behind, was prevented. In the future, while I look at people relaxing in the company of friends, and people living without having to fear for their lives, I will never know how much good around me is a legacy of Harry's life. His future will be invisible to me. But invisible is not the same as non-existent. I will know that his deeds and accomplishments still move among us, phantoms that represent everything good he stood for, and I am grateful for it. With respect, Commander Donovan Ironheart. Ranger First Class, Order of Illumination. Ginny's mind had gone numb after reading the first sentence. For a hundred heartbeats she could only stare into nothingness, her mind struggling to remain conscious. When her force of will finally won out, she was not prepared for the storm of conflicting emotions that swept through her. Anger, loss, despair, hopelessness...guilt. An icy knife of anguish plunged deep into Ginny's heart. Hot tears started spilling down her cheeks. The last thing she had said to him was to get out of her sight. She hadn't meant it, but he would never know that now. Wracking sobs shook her as she got up and stumbled away, out of the room and into the Great Hall. ** That night, the sky was full of owls carrying news of Harry's death from Hogwarts to many homes across Britain. The following morning, the Saturday edition of the Daily Prophet had a lengthy article written by Padma Patil, with statements from several of Harry's fellow Rangers, though they had to remain nameless. Everyone who wanted to attend Harry's memorial service, which would take place on Hogwarts grounds, had to be there at seven P.M. All of the students, with the exception of some Slytherins, were present, as well as many others, including a tearful Hermione, who had been fetched from Eldorado by Rangers Lilia Rosaria and Nathaniel Kelly, and transported to Scotland by Port Key. She rushed over to where Ginny was standing, and looking like her heart had been ripped out of her chest. Lenoir was trying to comfort Ginny, and doing a very poor job of it. Hermione also saw that the Frenchman was extremely annoyed at Ginny for his lack of success, like a spoiled baby who wasn't getting the attention he wanted. This would have made Hermione very angry, if her grief for Harry hadn't been so exhausting. She was also hurt by Ron's refusal to change his mind. *** "Come on, Hermione. Please forgive me? It won't ever happen again." "That's not enough, Ron. I want to you realise that Harry isn't an evil maniac. There is no room for compromise here!" Heavy knocking on the door interrupted them. Not expecting anyone, Hermione asked, "Who is it?" "My name is Nathaniel Kelly," a booming voice said in an Australian accent said. "I am a Ranger of the Order of Illumination. I trained with Harry Potter. I'm sorry if this is a bad time, but this is urgent." Hermione opened the door to be confronted with a hulking man that dwarfed even Ron. He was wearing a strange black uniform with silver trimming. "Please, come in." The big man shook her hand and gestured towards a plump woman about as tall as Hermione, with short and spiky black hair and black eyes. "Lilia Rosaria, also a Ranger, and she's also a mediwitch." A delighted Hermione was totally ignoring an ever more angry Ron. "How nice to meet you! How is Harry? I suppose he's a Ranger too, then? I knew he'd do something like that. He's on a mission right? Otherwise he'd be here to see me and..." She spoke very quickly, as only Hermione Granger could. The big man, Nathaniel, produced three letters, and Hermione quieted down as she saw them. He held them out, not looking Hermione in the eye. "Harry..." He had trouble breathing and couldn't aspirate to produce sound and it affected his ability to say any more. "Harry was killed in action before Ranger Command had a chance to forward your letters to him. I'm sorry!" Lilia said, she too was looking at the floor looking at the floor as well. Hermione started shaking her head. "That...no! You're lying! Get out!" she yelled. She started shoving and beating against at the big man, who easily took her punches without moving. "Noooooo," she wailed, sinking to her knees. Lilia knelt down beside her and threw an arm around Hermione's shoulder. "You were right about him! Hermione's head snapped up. "What do you mean, I was right about him?" she demanded through her tears. "How do you know that?" Nathaniel suddenly looked very uncomfortable, but Lilia seemed unperturbed by Hermione's question. "We know about the letters you sent to Harry." "What? Those were private! How dare you?" Lilia's gave her a small apologetic smile. "The Commander opened them after...we were certain that harry was no longer with us," she said, her soprano voice roughening with emotion. "But he had to know...I mean, Harry never got mail, and we thought it was because everybody hated him...so the Commander, well, he wanted to know the contents of those letters. If it had been hate-mail, we wouldn't have bothered coming here to find you." Hermione's insides went icy cold with guilt as Lilia's words reminded her that she should have contacted Harry much sooner. "He proved everybody who believed him a monster wrong, by joining the Order of Illumination to fight evil and protect the innocent." Lilia continued. "I am proud to have known him." Ron snorted in disgust. "So he had you fooled too, huh? Harry was just doing that to cover himself." Nathaniel growled. "Keep your comments to yourself if you want to keep your face the way it is! I can't believe Harry ever made friends with you! You're petty and resentful!" he said emotionally. "You don't know anything about how Harry felt! He was safely out of the danger zone during the mission that killed him, but he went back in to save a fellow Ranger, who was stuck fighting an ancient vampire called Hannibal Skaras." Hermione gasped as she heard the name. "Harry destroyed Skaras...!" Nathaniel continued. "Of course, it takes a monster to beat a monster!" Ron interrupted. Lilia Rosaria, already a volatile personality, whipped out her wand and pointed it at Ron. "That's it, you fucking asshole. You're gonna to pay for that!" Nathaniel grabbed her wand arm and yanked it out of alignment so she couldn't hex Ron! "Eager to curse are we?" Ron smirked. "Birds of a feather..." Lilia was struggling to get good aim, but Nathan calmed her down. "Lilia, he's not worth it, and Harry wouldn't have wanted you to do it!" He turned to look at Ron. "I recommend that you make yourself scarce, sir." "Yes, go away!" Hermione sniffed softly, wiping her eyes with a hanky Lilia had given her." Ron's eyes narrowed. "You believe two strangers over me?" He growled, both anger and hurt evident in his voice. Oh bloody hell. You know, maybe you're right...and we should end it. I don't know why I've wasted my time with you!" He shrugged. "Oh well, it wasn't a complete waste. You were a good lay," he said bitterly, before Disapparating. Hermione looked up at Nathaniel. "He wasn't always like that, you know," she choked out, unbelievably hurt and embarrassed now by Ron's parting words. The big Australian nodded. "But that's no excuse for his behaviour." "He's fighting his inner demons, but it looks like he isn't doing too well," Hermione muttered. *** No words were needed for the two young women. They both cried freely as they clung to each other. George, Angelina, their children, and Mrs Weasley, her face also tearstained, walked over to them. She was holding her eldest grandson by the hand, while Angelina held their youngest child. George was holding the girls' hands. Charlie and Percy also came over, Percy arm in arm with Hannah, and the members of the press didn't miss the opportunity to snap pictures, until Amos Diggory, the interim Minister of Magic shooed them away. "I am so sorry, Hermione," Molly Weasley said softly as she hugged Hermione. "About everything." Hermione knew the woman meant that she was sorry about both Harry and Ron! Hermione hugged each of the Weasleys in turn, and also Gabrielle Delacour, who came over to offer her condolences. She too had a bond with Harry, after he went out of his way to get her out of the lake during the Tri-wizard Tournament Hermione was surprised to see Bill and Fleur, and their daughter show up. She hugged him fondly. "I didn't think the goblins would let you come." Bill smiled, though it was subdued. "Actually, they're here too!" He nodded at a cluster of five goblins. "They reckon they would have gone out of business, if it hadn't been for Harry. I don't think they actually feel gratitude, but they probably think it's good for business or something, if they are seen here." Hermione and the Weasleys moved towards the front of a crowd of about two thousand, as the ceremony was about to begin. One of the Rangers, a man with light brown hair and a weathered and tanned complexion, stepped up on a podium and pointed his wand at his throat, activating the Sonorus Charm. He let a piercing hazel gaze sweep over the crowd, before he focussed on a monolith that looked to be about as tall as a man and half as wide. " I am Caleb Mordecai, Ranger Fourth Class, and I was the most senior Ranger in Harry's team." He gestured at the veiled monolith. "This monument has an unmarked twin in India, that stands over Harry's grave. He does not rest easy in that grave." He paused for a moment, letting the silence remind everyone of the true purpose of the ceremony. "Harry Potter was never truly at ease, except when he was fighting. He does not rest easy now, because there is yet much to be done." Mordecai brought his head up to face the crowd. "Harry Potter was not a man who gave up, no matter how slim the chances of success. He took upon himself the responsibility to deal with a threat to his fellows, and the world in general. Heedless of his own safety, he fought overwhelming forces, and by sheer force of will and courage and spirit, won through." He looked up into the twilight sky. "Each of us who knew him has, in our hearts, dozens and dozens of examples of his concern for others, and courage, and his ability to distinguish what was right from what was merely easy. He wasn't perfect, but he sought to be the best he could be! In his case, it was an even greater achievement, because he believed there was nothing in it for him. I refer to the way many of you have shut him out of your hearts. Most of us, when we fight, do so for the people we love and the people who love us. Yet Harry received no love. He was content with giving it, so others in the future who otherwise might not, could receive it. And Harry didn't even know happiness in his brief time as a Ranger. Indeed, he was unable to produce his once so awesome Patronus anymore, for all his happy memories were tied to the wizarding community that rejected him. But he fought on anyway!" Many people were staring at the grass guiltily. Nodding towards the monolith again, Mordecai continued. "Harry is now gone. The burdens he bore have been lain down. The responsibilities he shouldered have been abandoned. The example he set is no more." By now, half of the crowd was crying. Hermione had mixed feelings about all this show of emotion. She knew that many of the people who were present had their own agendas, wanting to benefit from their presence and not caring less about whether or not Harry had redeemed himself. They were only pretending, and Hermione suppressed a surge of anger at their opportunistic behaviour. Her own insides squirmed guiltily as well. She should have stood by Harry from the beginning, like Professor Lupin and Aberforth Dumbledore had. A werewolf and a suspected lunatic weren't very credible, but as former Head-Girl, Hermione felt she could have contributed a lot to Harry's defense. Not to mention how much her support would have meant to him. "His loss is tragic, but a greater tragedy would be to let him be remembered as a faceless and nameless hero. He was a fighter as all of us should be and none of us will probably ever be. The things he took upon himself were more than enough to crush any one person, but we can all accept part of that burden and bear it together." The Ranger stepped down, and nodded to another Ranger, this one higher in rank, having one gold pip on her uniform, instead of several silver ones. She pulled the veil off the monolith as the speaker joined the ranks of the other Rangers. "Aim...fire!" he shouted, as they raised their wands, and a booming display of fireworks erupted from their wands and shot into the sky. "Aim...fire!" Again the process repeated itself, and twice more after that. Then the Rangers saluted and broke rank, moving towards their craft that resembled a manta ray. The Monolith read in magically glowing letters: Do not stand at my grave and weep; I am not there. I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glint on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain; I am the gentle autumn's rain. When you awaken in the morning's hush, I am the swift uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft star that shines at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry. I am not there. I did not die. Honouring the memory of Harry James Potter (Mary E. Frye 1932) ***
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