After yelling and scolding, and getting no response, Harry walked back dejectedly. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Harry's head was still dizzy, and he looked around.

"Hagrid?"

He staggered towards the burning wooden house, when a huge figure stepped out of the flames, with teeth on its back. Harry cried gratefully, then fell to his knees; His hands and feet were shaking, his whole body aching, and every breath he took was accompanied by a tingling pain.

"Are you alright, Harry? Are you okay? Speak, Harry...... "Hagrid's large, bearded face blocked the stars, making Harry feel dizzy. Harry could smell burnt wood and dog hair; He reached out a hand and touched his teeth, it was still alive, and the warm body trembled beside him, which made him feel reassured.

"I'm fine," Harry said breathlessly. "What about you?"

"Of course I'm fine...... It's not that easy to kill me. Hagrid reached under Harry's arm to help him to his feet, and he was so strong that Harry's feet were off the ground before he could even straighten up. Harry saw a deep cut under one of Hagrid's eyes, blood running down his cheek, which was quickly swollen.

"We should put out the fire in the house," Harry said, "and the spell is 'Clear Water Ripple'......"

"I know it's a spell," Hagrid murmured, holding up a smoking pink flower umbrella and chanting, "Clear water ripples!" A stream of water shot out from the tip of the umbrella.

Harry raised his arm, which was as heavy as lead, and whispered with his wand, "Clear water ripples!" ": Together with Hagrid, he pours water on the house until the last flame is extinguished.

"It's not too bad," Hagrid said hopefully after a few minutes, looking at the smoking wreckage. "There's nothing Dumbledore can't put away......"

Harry felt a burning pain in his stomach when he heard the name. He stood there silently, fear building up in his body.

Hagrid ......

"I heard them bandaging the legs of the Tree Guard," Hagrid said sadly, still staring at his burnt cabin. "They've all been burned to twigs, poor little thing......"

Hagrid ......

"What's wrong, Harry? I saw the Death Eaters running over from the castle, but how could Snape be with them? Where did he go—did he chase them? ”

"He ......," Harry cleared his throat; His mouth was parched from panic and smoke just now. "Hagrid, he killed ......"

"Murder?" Hagrid exclaimed, glaring down at Harry. "Snape killed? What are you talking about, Harry? ”

"Dumbledore," Harry said. "Snape killed...... Dumbledore. ”

Hagrid just looked at him, and the small part of his face that could be seen was dazed and confused.

"Dumbledore what, Harry?"

"He's dead. Snape killed him......"

"Don't say that," Hagrid whispered, "Snape killed Dumbledore—don't be stupid, Harry. Why do you say that? ”

"I saw it with my own eyes."

"That can't be."

"I've seen it with my own eyes, Hagrid."

Hagrid shook his head; His expression was disbelieving, but sympathetic, and Harry knew that Hagrid must have thought that he had been hit on the head, that he had lost his mind, perhaps as a side effect of some evil spell...... "It must be so, Dumbledore told Snape to chase the Death Eaters," Hagrid said confidently. "I suspect he might have done that to you to cover his identity. Listen, now I'll send you back to school. Come on, Harry......"

Harry didn't try to argue or explain. He was still shaking involuntarily. Hagrid would soon find out, and he would be ...... On their way back to the castle, Harry saw that many of the windows were already lit: he could clearly imagine the scene inside, people walking from room to room, informing each other that the Death Eaters had come in, that the Dark Mark had risen over Hogwarts, and that perhaps someone had been killed...... The oak gates of the castle were open in front of them, and the lights paved the paths and lawns. Slowly, half-convinced, the men in their dressing gowns walked down the steps, searching for traces of the Death Eaters who had long since fled.

Harry's eyes, however, were fixed on the clearing at the foot of the tallest tower. He imagined he could see something black, curled up in the grass there, but it was too far away for him to see anything like that. As he stared at the place where he was sure Dumbledore's body was lying, he noticed that people began to move towards that place.

"What are they looking at?" Hagrid said that he and Harry had approached the front door of the castle, teeth pressed against their ankles. "What's lying on the grass?" Hagrid hurriedly added as he walked towards the foot of the tower, where a group of people had gathered. "See, Harry? Right at the foot of the tower? Underneath the Dark Mark mark...... Oh, my God...... Wouldn't it be someone who was thrown down? ”

Hagrid was silent, the thought obviously too terrifying to speak out loud.

Harry walked beside him, his face and legs aching excruciatingly, and there were wounds from the various curses he had struck half an hour earlier, but the feeling was strangely distant, as if someone around him was suffering from the pain. And the real and inescapable feeling was actually a terrible feeling of oppression in his chest...... He and Hagrid sleepwalked through the whispering crowd to the front, flanked by stunned students and teachers making way for them.

Harry heard Hagrid's groans of pain and shock, but he didn't stop; He slowly walked over to where Dumbledore was lying and crouched down beside him.

Harry knew there was no hope from the moment the Total Body Binding Charm Dumbledore had cast on him was gone, and he knew that this would only happen if the spellcaster died; But he wasn't ready to see him lying here on all fours, scarred: the greatest wizard Harry had ever met, and probably in his life.

Dumbledore's eyes were closed; But because of the peculiar angles of his hands and feet, he looked more like he was sleeping.

Harry stretched out his hands, straightened the half-moon glasses on the bridge of his towering nose, and wiped a drop of blood from his mouth with his sleeve. He stared down at the wise old face, trying to make sense of the astonishing, uncanny fact that Dumbledore could no longer speak to him, could no longer help him—the crowd whispered behind Harry. After what seemed like a long time, he realized that he was kneeling on something hard, and he looked down.

The box pendant they had managed to steal so many hours ago had fallen out of Dumbledore's pocket.

Maybe because it hit the ground, the box has been opened. Even though Harry couldn't feel any more shock, fear, and sadness, when he picked it up, he noticed that something was wrong - he rummaged through the box in his hand.

It wasn't as big as it had seen in the meditation basin, nor was it marked with any ornate "S" mark from Slytherin. Besides, it was empty, except for a small piece of parchment, which was supposed to have a portrait.

Harry involuntarily took out the fragment of parchment, unfolded it, and read it through the light of the many wands that had been lit behind him: To the Dark Lord, I know I may have been dead before you read this, but I want you to know that I discovered your secret. I have stolen the true soul fragment and intend to destroy it as soon as possible. I face death with hope that by the time you meet that opponent of yours, you'll be mortal again. ――R。 A。 B。

Harry didn't know or care what this message meant.

Only one thing is important: this is not a Horcrux. Dumbledore had weakened himself by drinking the horrible poison, though with Duten's help, the weakening itself had been reduced to the extreme. But in the end, nothing came of it. He crumpled the parchment into a ball, and the teeth behind him began to wail, and his eyes were full of hot tears.

There was silence, no one spoke, no sound, only dead silence.

I don't know how long it took for the sound to finally reach Harry's ears.

"Come here, Harry......"

"Nope."

"Harry, you can't stay here...... Let's go......"

"Nope." He didn't want to leave Dumbledore's side, he didn't want to go anywhere. Hagrid's hand on his shoulder trembled as another voice said, "Harry, let's go." ”

A much smaller, much warmer hand grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him up.

He obeyed without thinking.

It wasn't until he blindly stepped out of the crowd and smelled a floral scent in the air that he realized it was Ginny who was leading him back to the castle.

Inexplicable sounds struck him, and weeping, shouting, and wailing began to appear, and quickly converged, and then pierced the night sky, but Harry and Ginny continued on, stepping over the steps and into the foyer: people's faces slipped over the corners of Harry's eyes, and they looked at him, whispering, puzzled, and as they walked up the marble staircase, the Gryffindor rubies on the ground glittered like drops of blood.

"We're going to the school hospital now," Ginny said.

"I'm not hurt," Harry said.

"It's McGonagall's order," Ginny said. "Everybody's there, Ron, Hermione, Lupin, everybody......" Fear churned in his chest again: he forgot the dying man he had just left behind.

"Ginny, who else is dead?"

"Don't worry, none of us died."

"But the Dark Mark ...... Malfoy said he stepped over a corpse......"

"He stepped over Bill, but it's okay, he's still alive." There was something in her voice, and Harry knew it wasn't a good sign.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure...... He's just a little -- a little messy, that's all. Greyback attacked him. Madam Pomfrey said he wouldn't—it wouldn't be the same again......" Ginny's voice trembled a little. "We don't know what the side effects are - I mean, Greyback was a werewolf, but it wasn't deformed."

"But the others...... There were others who fell to the ground......"

"Neville is in the school hospital, but Madam Pomfrey says he'll be fully recovered, and Professor Flitwick is knocked unconscious, but he's fine, but he's still a little weak. He insisted on taking care of the Ravenclaw students. There was also a dead Death Eater, who was struck by a death curse shot by a tall blonde Death Eater - Harry, if we hadn't drunk your Flyers, I think we would all be dead, and all the spells didn't seem to hit us-"

They arrive at the school hospital: Harry pushes open the door and sees Neville lying on a bed by the door, apparently asleep.

At the other end of the room, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Tonks, and Lupin gathered around the other bed. They all looked up when they heard the door open. Hermione ran over and hugged Harry; Lupin also came over, looking worried.

"Are you alright, Harry?"

"I'm fine...... How's Bill? No one answered. Harry looked over Hermione's shoulder, and Bill had an unrecognizable face lying on his pillow, very badly cut and torn that made him look oddly shaped. Madam Pomfrey was applying a pungent green plaster to his wound. Harry remembered that Snape had easily repaired the wounds he had inflicted on Malfoy with his wand.

"Can you fix it with a spell or something," he asked the head nurse.

"No spell can work on this," Madam Pomfrey said. "I've tried everything, but werewolf bites can't be cured."

"But he wasn't bitten during the full moon," Ron said, staring into his brother's face as if that would cure it. "Greyback is not deformed. So Bill doesn't turn out to be a ...... A real ......"

He looked at Lupin uncertainly.

"Yes, I don't think Bill will become a real werewolf," Lupin said, "but that doesn't mean there won't be any damage." It is impossible to completely heal such an injury, and ...... And Bill might take on some wolf traits from now on. ”

"But Dumbledore might know something that works," Ron said. "Where is he? Bill followed Dumbledore's orders to fight the madmen, Dumbledore owed him, he couldn't let Bill go on like this......"

Ron...... Dumbledore is dead," Ginny said.

"No!" Lupin impulsively looked at Ginny and then at Harry, as if hoping that the latter would contradict her, but Harry didn't, and Lupin suddenly spread out on the chair next to Bill, covering his face with his hands. Harry had never seen Lupin so out of control before; He felt that this seemed to be an indecent invasion of other people's privacy; Harry turned his face to Ron and they silently exchanged glances to confirm Ginny's words.

"How did he die?" Tonks whispered. "What happened?"

"Snape killed him," Harry said. "I was there, I saw it. Because the Dark Mark had been placed on the Tower, we rushed there...... Dumbledore was uncomfortable, he was weak, but when we heard footsteps coming up the stairs, I think he realized it was a trap. He held me in place, I couldn't do anything, I was in the cloak of invisibility...... Then Malfoy walked out of the door and disarmed his weapon......"

Hermione covered her mouth, and Ron groaned. Luna's mouth trembled.

“…… More Death Eaters came...... And then there was Snape...... Snape killed him. Avada's Curse. Harry couldn't say any more.

Madam Pomfrey began to weep. No one paid attention to him but Ginny, who whispered, "Shhhhhh Listen! ”

Madam Pomfrey gasped, covered her mouth with her fingers, and her eyes widened. Outside the window, in the night, a phoenix was singing in a way Harry had never heard before: an elegy of utterly poignant wrath. As he had heard the phoenix sing before, Harry felt that the music was coming from within, not from without: it was his own grief that magically turned into a song, echoing across the playground and through the castle windows.