"Have you seen the Potters' epitaph?" Pomona heard someone passing by say. "What does 'the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death' mean?"
"Obviously, they were the final 'winners,'" someone in the crowd said resentfully. "They defeated the Death Eaters, didn't they?"
"I don't think that sentence means that," a third person said.
"What else could it mean? The Potters didn't choose those words for themselves." Someone took a sip of Champagne. "But they celebrated too soon."
"What do you mean?" asked the person who had first raised the question.
They lowered their voices and muttered among themselves, and Pomona could not make out what they were saying.
"What are you doing?"
Pomona jumped and looked up at the culprit.
"Nothing," she said, feigning composure.
"Eavesdropping is not a good habit," Snape said.
She pursed her lips and took a sip of punch.
"At least don't make it so obvious," he said dryly, then walked past her.
Pomona watched him return to Malfoy and the others.
This party was being held to celebrate England taking second place in the European Pegasus Racing Competition. The championship had gone to Beauxbatons' Abraxans. Of course, if Hogwarts had been willing to lend out its Thestrals, they would certainly have won—provided the judges could see them.
Irritated, Pomona took another drink, only to find her glass empty. She headed toward her original destination—the punch fountain by the buffet table, where two miniature swans frolicked in the drink.
She watched the red liquid fill her glass and shut out all the noise around her.
Lily had not chosen her own epitaph. Nor had she expected to die so young.
The words came from First Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 26, a letter written by the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth. At the time,