34 | THE PRICE OF POWER

                                    

                                          


                          
ACT FIVE, love
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR, the price of power

                          
           Voldemort's scream of agony sounded moments before Harry had killed him, as though he could feel the exact moment that Rhea died. There was a tumult of cheers and roars rent in the air. The fierce new sun had risen out of the horizon and beamed down on the castle. Harry was crowded by people as the Great Hall roared to life, but he pushed through them all with Ron, Hermione, Luna, and Ginny.
                          
"Where is she? Where did she go?" Harry asked frantically, glancing over his shoulder at the group that had gone with him. His heart thundered in his chest.
                          
"Where's Oliver?" Ginny asked, looking around for her boyfriend.
                          
The five of them dashed outside into the warmth of the May air. They stopped short when they heard the sobs coming from the center. It was a terrible sound, one of the worst that Harry had ever heard. He stared forward, looking at Iris's back. He could tell that she was holding onto someone because their legs were sprawled out away from her. And when he saw the top of the black head of hair, his stomach dropped.
                          
"Oliver . . . No . . ." Ginny took off running to Iris.
                          
The others, nearly too stunned to even move, rushed towards Oliver and Iris. Ginny fell to her knees crying when she saw her boyfriend and Ron moved to wrap his arms around his little sister. Wet tears ran down Hermione's face as she continued to stare at Iris and Oliver. Luna looked extremely sad. 
                          
Iris couldn't stop crying. She felt as though her heart had been ripped into two and she had nothing left. Oliver was the one person in the world who she thought would always be there for her and now he had left her too, and she was alone. 
                          
Iris didn't even notice or hear the five people that had come up to her as she held her brother closer, hoping that maybe some of her magic could go inside of him and revive him somehow. She didn't care that her fingers were pitch black like Dumbledore's had been, and she didn't care about the ghost of a woman who was standing a few meters away from her that she knew wasn't really there. 
                          
"Iris . . ." said Harry. He was closer to her than he had been before but he didn't dare go any closer. He didn't know how she'd react. They all looked at her fingers and exchanged curious glances but didn't comment because they were too shocked.
                          
Oliver was dead.
                          
"We should . . . we should bring him in with the others." Hermione said softly.
                          
Iris didn't respond. 
                          
A snake slithered on the ground between Harry and Hermione's feet. He went in front of Iris and did a double take when he took in the sight of her. Everything about her was darker than it had been before, but the thing that differed most were her eyes. Her eyes, once so vibrant and blue, were a deep shade of black like her fingertips.
                          
"Let them take him inside." Veles said softly. 
                          
Iris didn't respond.
                          
Ginny wiped her tears away and pushed Ron away, crawling closer to Iris. Iris turned her head when she saw Ginny.
                          
"I'm sorry," Ginny said when she looked at Iris. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know he left the Great Hall, I . . ."
                          
Ginny's face twisted. Iris's sobs lessened as she watched Ginny cry before her.
                          
Iris swallowed and stood up, not dropping her grip from her brother. Harry went to grab his feet but stopped when he saw the cold look Iris gave him. He backed away and she placed her hands underneath his arms and dragged his body.