Fallen Angels

Chapter 8

The white light that surrounded everyone and everything glowed brightly for a few seconds and then winked out of existence. It was hard to imagine that it had been there just a few moments before.

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Ron woke up in his bed in Gryffindor tower. He tried to remember what he had done the previous night, but unfortunately he kept drawing a blank. Strange that he couldn’t remember drinking and his head certainly felt fine, but that was the only way that he had ever blacked out before. He didn’t think he had been possessed by Lord Voldemort seeing as how he was certainly in Hogwarts and was supposedly safe from such things here. It was just strange to know that he was safe and warm and comfy in his bed. He had never felt so well protected and loved before. Even at home with Molly Weasley to hold and cherish him he had never felt this way. It was as if he knew with absolute certainty that all was going to be well with the world. No doubts and no questions as to what would happen next. For the first time in his life he was just going to lay back, close his eyes, and dream in peaceful bliss.

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Little did Ron Weasley know however that at that same moment all over Hogwarts people were waking up and feeling the same things that he was. In the hospital wing there were two people crowded together on a single bed. Holding one another so tightly that their knuckles had blanched. Strangely enough they had wings. One set of a midnight black and the other of a white so pure that it burned your eyes to look too closely. They were radiating the comfort that was enveloping the castle at the moment. It was washing off them in waves. Slowly cleansing the castle of all hate and impurity. Today would be a strange day for all. One where houses meant nothing. One where the insecurities in children would be dissolved and new friendships would arise. One where finally after a thousand years of bickering and slowly developed hatred, all evil would disappear for a time. It was to be a time of new beginnings; where, arising from the ashes, would come a united front so powerful that all would quail before its might. One where love ruled and a young boy with raven black hair and bright emerald eyes would wake up to be the hope and future of the wizarding world.

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Albus Dumbledore was shocked to wake up. He thought that he had finally passed on from the land of the living. Just to say that 193 years was a very long time for a wizard to live and he felt that he should be going to sleep soon, because as well as everyone should know, death truly was just the next great adventure.

No, the honest to goodness reason why he was so shocked was because at the foot of his bed stood someone that he had not seen for a very long time.

“Hello Aberforth. What might you be doing here at this time of the morning?”

The strange looking man with the be speckled eyes and bright magenta robes answered, “No, the question is, why are you back in mums house dear brother?”

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The great hall stood empty at 9:00 am for the first time in the history of the school. In fact the house elves were so worried that no one had come to eat their delicious food that they were scrambling all over each other trying to find a way to rouse the students from their beds. They must be starving by now. And what was even stranger was that none could find a professor anywhere. The whole school seemed to be empty of anyone over the age of 18. Needless to say they were quite distraught.

However one house elf was not participating in the ruckus. He was sitting in his little corner observing the panic around him. Dobby was not a stupid house elf. In fact, he believed that he was one of the smartest ones their. He thought he might know what all of the hubbub was about, but he was not about to mess around with the funniest scene that he had witnessed in a very long time. They would all figure it out on their own very soon. But until then he would laugh to himself and enjoy the merry feeling of bliss that had settled in the atmosphere. Let the food get cold. There was always plenty more for when the students chose to appear.

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The garden was beautiful, but something was amiss in it. Marut couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. There was the usual contentment at being surrounded by grace and love, but she felt that she shouldn’t be here at the moment. That there was some pressing issue that she had forgotten and had not repaired. It was like a forgotten homework assignment, god forbid. Or forgetting to pay a bill on time. Something that is always there in the corner of your mind, but sometimes slips out the back window in the frenzy of everyday activity, and then comes back to haunt you later. She felt something pulling her backwards towards the other place. Something that she hadn’t tended to. Well perhaps this time when she returned she would finally be able to sleep. To belong with the one that she loved and needed for the rest of the time that there was the garden. Maybe this time they would be forgiven and all would be well again.

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The edge of the world is always there. Some people fall off, others cling to it desperately hoping that there is some way of stopping their eventual drop. And some people willing leap off into the dull void, diving towards the great rest with all hope before them. For no one truly knows what lies beyond the veil, only that those who go there never return, that they are just almost within touching distance and yet an eternity away.

Sirius Black was one such person. An anomaly caught between the two. He was desperately clinging to the one and only thing that he had ever wanted or known. He needed to return, but the fae would not let him. He had to force his way back beyond what no one had ever overcome before, and yet there was the pulling need of the abyss below him. Calling his spirit forth, to come and join the rested. That he had done as much as he possibly could and their was no reason to keep clinging to a hope that would never be fulfilled. A beautiful love filled Sirius’ mind. He felt a need dragging him upwards. Giving him the strength to claw his way back up the ledge. If only he had listened to the old man. He needn’t have given up life so rashly, and that’s when it happened unfortunately. He felt the tug of the dark grow unbearably strong and his last hold of life wrenched from his grasp. The world above him melted and a new one opened up before his feet. And then a slivery light surrounded him and he knew no more.

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The dark forest was Grawps’ home now. There were good dear to eat and the smallish one with whom he shared blood was good to him. It was nice to be loved again. Very nice indeed. But, he really wanted something to care for. The smallish one had an even smaller one. It had fur and was very soft to pet. As long as he did it very very carefully and was gentle. He wanted a smaller one. And so this was why he was quite pleased when just such a smaller one appeared with a loud crack at his feet. This smaller one was even larger than the other smaller furry one. And it was soft. Oh so soft. Grawp very gently picked up the smaller one and placed him in his pillow. There now the smaller one was comfortable. Grawp then decided it was perhaps time to go and find another good deer. Maybe the smaller one would share it with him when he returned.