| His glasses flew off and he felt his wand slide a little beneath
his robes, but he kept himself floppy and lifeless, and when he fell no ground for the last time, the clearing echoed with jeers and shrieks
of laughter
"Now," said Voldemort, "we go to the castle, and show them what has become of their heroWho shall drag the body? No - Wait - "
There was a fresh outbreak of laughter, and after a few moments Harry felt the 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, HagridAnd 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 gentleHarry 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 discounted gucci bag 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 drownedThe 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 tearsHarry wondered how many centaurs were watching their procession pass;
he dared not open his eyes to lookSome of the Death Eaters called insults at the centaurs as they left them behindA little later, Harry
sensed, by a freshening of the air, that they had reached the edge of the fake d |
| 