The Betrayal of Hayley Potter {UNDER MAJOR REVISION}

Ch. 18 ~ Funerals, Horcruxes and Forgiveness

A/N: Why, yes, my pals, I do realize that I made a huge booboo on the last chapter. I haven't read the sixth book in a while, so I absentmindedly used what they did in the movie instead of the book.  I haven't checked the comments to see how many people actually caught that, but I'm sure there were some, because someone already PMed me. Sooo yeah, just thought I should tell you that...

Enjoy the chapter!

~A

Also, follow me on Twitter!! I don't even know why I have a Twitter account when I think that Twitter is really useful for a stalker sometimes, but, hey, that's me! A hypocrite!

Another thing, and I know this is LONG OVERDUE, but thank you to hellenj16 for the cover!!! veryone keeps saying they love it soo... yeah, thanks!! :)

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Dumbledore's funeral was completely unbearable.  I don't think I would've gone if it hadn't been for Ginny practically dragging me there.  She said it would give me closure, or something.  If you ask me, I think it just made the pain in my chest worse.

Albus Dumbledore was there when I needed him the most.

After Voldemort killed my parents, Dumbledore sent me to an extremely nice girl's orphanage.  He would write to me every other day, explaining things that I needed explanations for.  He also visited me a couple times each month to watch me grow up, or at least that's what he said.

He even personally handed me my Hogwarts acceptance letter when I turned eleven.  But, it wasn't until the evening before the beginning of the school year that he told me about Harry.  He said he wanted to give me something to be excited for school about because I was extremely nervous and dreading the thought.

And it did.

Dumbledore was the father I never had.  He was there for Harry and I after Sirius died.  He was there for us so many years ago, back when we had no clue that our lives had changed forever. 

And now, he was gone.  And all because of that backstabbing git named Severus Snape.

But, all throughout the ceremony, I didn't cry.  Not one bit.  Not one bloody tear fell from my eyes.  I think that's what he would've wanted.  He would've wanted us to be strong and to not cry for him, because wherever he was at, it was better than being in this dimension.  Where Lord Voldemort was.

I gripped Ginny's hand tighter as I watched Professor McGonagall and all the other staff and students weep.  But, I, I tilted my head up higher, trying to be strong enough for all of us.

I failed miserably.

*~*~*~*

Harry, following right after Dumbledore's funeral, told me about Voldemort's seven horcruxes and how he already destroyed one -- Tom Riddle's diary.

At first, I didn't really get the whole gist of it, but then Harry took me to Dumbledore's memory thingy (I wasn't listening when he was talking about it), and showed me Slughorn's memory.

I watched as the young Tom Riddle stood there and asked Slughorn what a "horcrux" was.  And I scowled at the fact that Slughorn explained to him what they were.  Of course, the professor couldn't possibly know that Tom would become the most powerful wizard/most feared murderer when he grew up, so I didn't blame him.  But I couldn't help and get mad when he didn't do anything about the fact that Tom told him he went into the restricted section of the library.

Look at me!  Calling my parents' killer by his real name, as if he were still a man.  Voldemort wasn't even close to a man.  Sure, he walked on two feet and could speak English, but  he was more like a serpent to me.