Ground trembling beneath him.

"You carry him," Voldemort said. "He will be nice and visible in your arms, will

he not? Pick up your little friend, Hagrid. And the

glasses - put on the glasses - he must be recognizable - "

Someone slammed Harry's glasses back onto his face with deliberate force, but

The enormous hands that lifted him into the air

were exceedingly gentle. Harry could feel Hagrid's arms trembling with the force of his

Heaving sobs; great tears splashed down upon him

As Hagrid cradled Harry in his arms, and Harry did not dare, by movement or word, to

Intimate to Hagrid that all was not, yet, lost.

"Move," said Voldemort, and Hagrid stumbled forward, forcing his way through

The close-growing trees, back through the forest.

Branches caught at Harry's hair and robes, but he lay quiescent, his mouth lolling open,

His eyes shut, and in the darkness, while the

Death Eaters croed all around them, and while Hagrid sobbed blindly, nobody looked to

See whether a pulse beat in the exposed neck of

Harry Potter. . . .

The two giants crashed along behind the Death Eaters; Harry could hear trees

Creaking and falling as they passed; they made so

Much din that birds toes shrieking into the sky, and even the jeers of the Death Eaters

Were drowned. The victorious procession marched

On toward the open ground, and after a while Harry could tell, by the lightening of the

Darkness through his closed eyelids, that the trees

Were beginning to thin.

"BANE!"

Hagrid's unexpected bellow nearly forced Harry's eyes open. "Happy now, are

yeh, that yeh didn't fight, yeh cowardly bunch o' nags?

Are yeh happy Harry Potter's - d-dead . . . ?"

Hagrid could not continue, but broke down in fresh tears. Harry wondered how

Many centaurs were watching their procession pass;

He dared not open his eyes to look. Some of the Death Eaters called insults at the centaurs

As they left them behind. A little later, Harry

Sensed, by a freshening of the air, that they had reached the edge of the forest.

"Stop."

Harry thought that Hagrid must have been forced to obey Voldemort's command,

Because he lurched a little. And now a chill settled

Over them where they sood, and Harry heard the rasping breath of the dementors that

Patrolled the other trees. They would not affect him now.

The fact of his own survival burned inside him, a talisman against them, as though his

father's stag kept guardian in his heart.

Someone passed close by Harry, and he knew that it was Voldemort himself

Because he spoke a moment later, his voice magically

magnified so that it swelled through the ground, crashing upon Harry's eardrums.

"Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while

You lay down your lives for him. We bring you his

Body as proof that your hero is gone.

"The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters

Outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived 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 their family. Come out of the

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 524