In the aftermath of the battle at Hogwarts, Madam Pomfrey drags herself out of an exhausted sleep and Floo-calls Severus at Prince Manor to check on Harry, hearing that the potions are finally undoing the damage he hid for so long. Back in the Great Hall and then at the Ministry, she and Auror Dearborn begin the grim work of identifying fallen students, signing death certificates, and sending bodies on to the morgue. Between Colin Creevey’s file, familiar names from every House, and the quiet loyalty of the house-elves, this chapter shows the cost of war through the eyes of a healer who refuses to look away.
