Harry moved quietly towards the dead. The rest of the castle was still bustling with people, tending to the wounded and talking with one another. This part of the castle though was earily quiet. A few people milled around, the sounds of the grieving echoing softly off the walls. Thankfully, they paid little attention to him.
Harry approached a pair of bodies. He looked down at the smaller of the two. Tonks. The first thing he realized was her hair was no longer bubblegum pink, but a mousey brown. She had a cut above her eyebrow that must have clotted up before her death. He noticed her hands, folded on her chest, where her wedding ring seemed to twinkle in the light.
She looked so young. It was then that Harry realized just how young she and almost everyone in that room was. How young he was. She would never laugh again, never smile at a joke again. Would never see her son grow old.
“Harry Potter.”
Harry jumped. He looked towards the voice and almost threw up. A woman was sat beside Remus Lupin’s body. Remus’ body was in worse shape that Tonks’. His leg was bent at a weird angle and had a large blood stain on the side of his head. When Harry had seen them in the Great Hall, which seemed like years ago now, he hadn’t allowed himself to think on it. Think on any of them, the deaths.
The woman wiped at her face. She was about Remus’ age he assumed. Her curly hair was pulled back into a bun, her brown eyes were bloodshot and puffy. In the back of his mind, something clicked in recognition but he couldnt place where he’d seen her before.
“I…” Harry tried. “I’m sorry, I didnt expect anyone else to be here.”
The woman looked at him and it made him want to squirm. She was looking at him like she knew him, knew all his secrets and wants and fears.
“Did you know Professor Lupin?” he asked.
That made her laugh. She looked back at Remus and reached a hand up to his face.
“Yes, yes I did. We went to school together.” The woman smiled sadly at Remus.
“Oh,” is all Harry could think to say. He knelt down on the other side of Remus. Remus’ hands were folded on his chest, matching his wife’s. His wedding band shimmered in the light. As Harry looked at his old teacher, he noticed another ring but it wasnt on his finger. A necklace hung around his neck with a ring on the chain. It was black like obsidian and seemed to have something engraved on it.
Harry reached forward and picked up the ring. On it, stars wove around the band like they were actually moving. Harry turned it over in his hands and noticed another engraving on the inside.
Anything for our Moony
“Sirius got that for him,” the woman said.
Harry looked over at her. She was smiling, that sad smile that everyone who had lost someone had.
“Right before he went to Azkaban actually.”
“Oh.” Harry knew he should say something more, but he was so tired. He didnt know if he even had anything to say. So much of his godfathers and teachers lives was a mystery. He wished he had had more time with them both.
“You were there werent you?” the woman asked. “When Sirius…”
Harry placed the ring back down.
“Yeah, I was.”
She closed her eyes in pain. “I’m so sorry Harry. You never should have had to see that.”
“You said you went to school with Professor Lupin,” Harry said, trying desperately to get away from the memories of Sirius’s death. “Did you know Sirius too?”
She nodded. “He and Remus were in my year. I knew your parents too.”
His parents. Just like their friends, his parent’s adolescents was lost to him.
“Your mom,” the woman continued, “she was my best friend.”
Harry stared at her. He had met a lot of people who said they knew his parents. Sirius and Remus had been his father’s best friends. Wormtail too, at one point. But no one had ever said they were his mother’s friends.
“I’ve never met any of my mom’s friends,” Harry told her.
She smiled sadly at him. “I imagine its because most of us didn’t make it out of the last war.” She seemed to consider something before speaking again. “After your parent’s death, well, you can imagine I was quite a mess. Remus and I both were. I ran from the wizarding world. Hid amongst Muggles for years. Tried to forget.”
She reached and unclasped Remus’ hands to hold onto one of them.
“What are you doing here then?” He asked.
“Min- McGonagall told me he had… that he was gone.” She chocked on the last word. “I-I had to see it for myself.”
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
“Oh Harry, no. It’s me who should be sorry. Sorry that you have had to see all this bloodshed. That you didn’t get to know your parents. I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through all of this. We never wanted this for you.”
They were quiet for a moment before the woman spoke again.
“You look so much like your dad, you know.”
Harry nodded. “With my mother’s eyes. I’ve heard.”
She smiled. “Its quite uncanny, I’ll be honest. You even have his glasses. When I saw you at the Ministry I thought I was going mad.”
There, said the voice in his head, you see now?
“Mary Cattermole.”
“I was MacDonald when I knew your parents.”
They sat in silence for a few moments. Mary brought Remus’ hand to her mouth and kissed it before placing it back on his chest. She rocked forward and kissed his forehead. Harry moved to help her stand.
“I must be getting home.”
She began moving towards the door and Harry said, “Wait. Please, let me walk you out.”
Mary smiled at him. “Come on then.”
Together, they made their way towards the front doors of the castle. As they walked people would nod at him and occasionally stop to shake his hand. Mary smiled at a few people too, the professors and a few others who seemed to recognize her.
As they reached the front doors, Harry heard someone call his name. He turned to see Ginny, along with Neville, Luna, Hermione and Ron making their way to him.
“Where have you been?” Ginny asked.
Before Harry could answer, Mary said “Sorry, that would be my fault.”
Hermione gasped. “Mrs. Cattermole! From the ministry!”
Ron turned almost as red as his hair. Mary smiled.
“We met in the…” Harry tried.
“I was visiting an old friend,” Mary finished for him. “And what my luck, I found more than one.”
His friends looked at him for an explanation but they could wait.
“I really must be going. It was nice to see you three again.”
Mary looked at him for a moment. She reached up and cupped his cheek. His skin tingled where she touched. From somewhere deep in his memory, a voice that sounded almost like Mary said “Come here Haz!” and he heard laughing.
He stared at Mary as she moved her hand from his face.
“It was nice to see you again Prongslet. Goodbye.”
She pushed open the doors and was gone
Harry stared after her.
Ginny came up to his side. “Who was that Harry? Harry?!”
Harry didnt even realize he was moving until he was. He pushed open the door and jogged towards the bridge. He heard his friends following from behind but he didnt pay them much mind.
He couldnt understand it. This woman, he didnt know her. But she knew him, knew his parents. And she was walking away. He was letting her walk away. Maybe it was that last bit of childish want, for someone who knew him. Maybe it was the extreme exhaustion finally catching up with him. But he felt the need to follow her.
He stopped at the foot of the bridge. Most of the bodies had been removed, but debris still littered the path. A large chunk of statue was laid across the bridge, blocking his view. He began to climb.
“For gods sake Harry,” he heard one of his friends say.
He stood atop the statue and looked out over the bridge.
There.
Mary Cattermole was already nearing the other end of the bridge. She’d taken her hair down from its bun. When she reached the other side of the bridge, she turned and looked back up at the castle. For a moment, he thought she wouldnt see him. But, as Neville was helping Luna climb uptop the statue, she held up her hand in one last wave.
Harry blinked as the air around her shimmered. He squinted against the setting sun and almost fell off the statue, probably would have if Ron hadn’t been there to grab his arm. Around Mary, he saw figures. Not ghosts, but also not real people.
Later, he would realize it was probably residue for the resurrection stone. But at that moment, all he could think of was how much he wished he had known them.
His parents, who stood on Mary’s right. Two girls, one with her arm around the other girls waist on Mary’s left. Remus and Sirius standing next to Harry’s father, holding hands.
The wind blew. That laughing, the laughing he’d heard in the long lost memories, swept through the air and as it died away so did his parents and their friends.
Harry lifted his arm to wave goodbye as Mary Cattermole turned and began her journey to Hogsmeade, taking that laughing wind with her.