Friendless » Fred Weasley

clxvi. the funeral

Hagrid was walking slowly up the aisle between the chairs. He was crying quite silently, his face gleaming with tears, and in his arms, wrapped in purple velvet spangled with golden stars, was what Tori knew to be Dumbledore's body. A sharp pain rose in Harry's throat at this sight: for a moment, the strange music and the knowledge that Dumbledore's body was so close seemed to take all warmth from the day. Both Fred and George looked white and shocked. Tears were falling thick and fast into Tori's lap.

They could not see clearly what was happening at the front. Hagrid seemed to have placed the body carefully upon the table. Now he retreated down the aisle, blowing his nose with loud trumpeting noises that drew scandalised looks from some, including, Tori saw, Dolores Umbridge... but Tori knew that Dumbledore would not have cared.

Tori glanced at the back row to which Hagrid was heading and realised what was guiding him, for there, dressed in a jacket and trousers each the size of a small marquee, was the giant Grawp, his great ugly boulder-like head bowed, docile, almost human. Hagrid sat down next to his half-brother and Grawp patted Hagrid hard on the head, so that his chair legs sank into the ground. But then the music stopped and she turned to face the front again.

A little tufty-haired man in plain black robes had got to his feet and stood now in front of Dumbledore's body. Tori could not hear what he was saying. Odd words floated back to them over the hundreds of beads. "Nobility of spirit"... "intellectual contribution"... "greatness of heart"...

Tori suddenly remembered Dumbledore's idea of a few words: "nitwit", "oddment", "blubber" and "tweak", and had to suppress a grin.

There was a soft splashing noise to her left and she saw that the merpeople had broken the surface to listen, too.

And then, without warning, it swept over her, the dreadful truth, more completely and undeniably than it had until now. Dumbledore was dead, gone.

Tori looked away from the man and the others and stared out over the lake, towards the Forest, as the little man in black droned on... there was movement among the trees. The centaurs had come to pay their respects, too. They did not move into the open but Tori saw them standing quite still, half-hidden in shadow, watching the wizards, their bows hanging at their sides.

And Tori saw very clearly as be sat there under the hot sun how people who cared about him had stood in front of him one by one.

The little man in black had stopped speaking at last and resumed his seat. Tori waited for somebody else to get to their feet; she expected speeches, probably from the Minister, but nobody moved.

Then several people screamed. Bright, white flames had erupted around Dumbledore's body and the table upon which it lay: higher and higher they rose, obscuring the body. White smoke spiralled into the air and made strange shapes: Tori thought, for one heart-stopping moment, that she saw a phoenix fly joyfully into the blue, but next second the fire had vanished. In its place was a white marble tomb, encasing Dumbledore's body and the table on which he had rested.

There were a few more cries of shock as a shower of arrows soared through the air, but they fell far short of the crowd. It was, Tori knew, the centaurs' tribute: she saw them turn tail and disappear back into the cool trees. Likewise the merpeople sank slowly back into the green water and were lost from view.

Tori looked at the twins. George's face was screwed up as though the sunlight was blinding him. Fred was pale and looked nervous.

Slowly one by one, people began to move towards the coffins to pay their final respects. When it was Tori's turn she closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath.

One last memory coming back to her rather fast.

"Our family doesn't define who we are, but our choices and what we do to them."

It was something Tori had always remembered.

With that in her mind, Victoria Silvers grabbed Fred and George's hands and turned away from the coffin.

next up? dealthy hallows

dun dun dunnnnnnn

not me posting this on my computer cause my parents took my phone for whatever reason