Even You-Know-Who can’t split himself into seven.” Harry caught Hermione’s eye and looked away at once.

Harry wondered whether they had fallen asleep holding hands. The idea made him feel strangely lonely.

And Percy was shaking his brother, and Ron was kneeling beside them, and Fred’s eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face.

walking had given the illusion that they had a goal.

It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it.

It was not, after all, so easy to die. Every second he breathed, the smell of the grass, the cool air on his face, was so precious: To think that people had years and years, time to waste, so much time it dragged, and he was clinging to each second.

Harry’s voice was still saying, “Dobby . . . Dobby . . .” even though he knew that the elf had gone where he could not call him back.

It gave him an odd, empty feeling to remember those times; it was like remembering a younger brother whom he had lost.

Harry felt as though something inside him was falling, falling through the earth, leaving him forever.