In The Shadows² ★ Draco Malfoy

*One wedding and a funeral

All lessons were suspended, all examinations postponed. Some students were hurried away from Hogwarts by their parents over the next couple of days. And the castle began to fill with visitors, including Ministry officials, who were here to pay their last respects to Dumbledore.

Briar had been spending all of her time with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Henry, but even the company they brought her couldn't replace the loneliness she felt inside the castle. It seemed more students left each day, and without classes, quidditch and Dumbledore, and with exams over, she had nothing to occupy herself with except her thoughts

The day of Dumbledore's funeral was the final day of the year and students were required to wear dress robes, and the usually cheerful atmosphere at breakfast was gone. Everyone was lead down to the lake, where hundreds of chairs had been set out facing a marble table

Briar first noticed her dad sitting there already, seemingly holding hands with Tonks next to him, and she quietly split from her fellow Gryffindors to take the seat on his other side. She raised a knowing brow at him and Tonks, both of whom blushed furiously

She giggled quietly and leaned closer to him "I'm happy for you," she whispered and he pressed a kiss to her forehead with a smile. But then the procession began and his smile faded

As the speech was delivered by a little tufty-haired man in plain black robes, Briar couldn't bring herself to listen to him talk about Dumbledore's "nobility of spirit" due to the tight feeling in her throat 

Instead she focused on remembering all of the moments where Dumbledore looked out for her and the rest of the school, when he would give speeches at every large event, when he liked to match his spangled robes to occasions, and when he would never fail to make everyone at Hogwarts smile

The little man in black had stopped speaking at last andresumed his seat. Briar waited for somebody else to get totheir feet; he expected speeches, probably from the Minister,but nobody moved. 

Then several people screamed. Bright, white flames haderupted around Dumbledore's body and the table uponwhich it lay: Higher and higher they rose, obscuring the body.White smoke spiraled into the air and made strange shapes, but next second the firehad vanished. In its place was a white marble tomb, encasingDumbledore's body and the table on which he had rested. 

People began to get to their feet and Briar made her way to her friends to join them in their reminiscing of Dumbledore, and when Ginny came over she could see the redness in her best friend's eyes. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Harry standing alone further away watching Ginny with a look of regret and pain in his eyes.

So she made her way over to him

"What happened with you guys?" she asked him immediately

"We're done," he sighed "Next year everything will be different and I need her to be safe. This is the best thing for her"

"Harry," Briar chuckled "You can break up with her but we both know she's way too stubborn to let that stop her from protecting you."

"I know," he smiled sadly "But I won't be coming back next year and I don't want her to come with me. It's too dangerous"

"What are you going to do?" she asked

"Finish what Dumbledore started" he said "He told me about this horcruxes Voldemort split his soul into so destroying them means killing him. Two of them have already been destroyed and I need to find the rest"

"Can I come?" she said and his mouth opened quickly, and she knew what he was going to say "Harry, look, I don't expect you to let me or say yes, but I want to, so if you need my help then let me come"