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, Vega saw, Dolores Umbridge... but Vega knew that Dumbledore would not have cared.
Vega tried to make a friendly gesture to Hagrid as he passed, but Hagrid's eyes were so swollen it was a wonder he could see where he was going. She glanced at the back row to which Hagrid was heading and realised what was guiding him, for there, dressed in 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. 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. Vega could not hear what he was saying. Odd words floated back to them over the hundreds of heads.
'Nobility of spirit' ... 'Intellectual contribution"'... 'Greatness of heart' ...
It did not mean very much. It had little to do with Dumbledore as Vega had known him, or the little that she did. She suddenly remembered Dumbledore's idea of a few words, the ones he uttered on their first night in this castle, many, many years ago.
'Nitwit' ... 'Oddment' ... 'Blubber' ... 'Tweak' ...
Suppressing a smile at the thought, Vega wondered what was the matter with her. There was a soft splashing noise to her left and she saw that the merpeople had broken the surface to listen too. She remembered Dumbledore crouching at the water's edge two years ago, very close to where Vega now sat, and conversing in Mermish with the Merchieftainess.
Vega hadn't known that Dumbledore could speak Mermish, and she wished she could've asked him sometime. And if he knew any other languages. But it was too late now. She could not ask him all sorts of questions that she should've done so many times.
And then, without any warning, it swept over Vega, the dreadful truth, more completely and undeniably than it had until now, sinking into her.
Dumbledore was dead, gone...
Hot tears swept out of Vega's eyes and she clutched the cold locket in her left hand so tightly that it hurt. She felt Fred try to comfort her by holding onto her other hand but Vega turned her face away from people, looking anywhere but the people, off to the lake and the forest...
The little man in black continued to drone on and on. There was movement among the trees. The centaurs had come to pay their respects too. They did not move into the open but Vega saw them standing quite still, half hidden in shadow, watching the wizards, their bows hanging at their sides.
That was when that Vega remembered her first nightmarish trip into the forest, the first time she had ever encountered the thing that was then Voldemort, and how she had faced him, and how she and Dumbledore had discussed fighting a losing battle not long thereafter.
It was important, Dumbledore said, to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then could evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated...
Vega wanted to finish it...
Vega wanted to finish it for once and for all...
And Vega saw, very clearly, as she sat there under the hot sun how people who cared about her had stood in front of her one by one. It had started with Carina Lestrange, and her own twin brother. She had also lost Sirius, the one person she felt she could relate to, and Dumbledore, the one person she felt had the answers to many of her problems.
All of them were determined to protect her and Harry.
But now it was all over. Vega knew that only her and Harry were left, and if it came down to it, she was more than willing to be the one to stand in front of her friend to protect him. Harry was someone who was supposed to put an end to Voldemort – Vega didn't even know if she had an ending in her Prophecy since it was lost to death.
Suddenly, Vega did not understand why she had been so hesitant about dying. There was no waking from this nightmare, no comforting whisper in the dark that Vega really was safe, that it was all in her imagination; the last and greatest of their protectors had died, and she was more alone than she had ever been before in this journey.
The little man in black had stopped speaking at last and resumed his seat. Vega waited for somebody else to get to their feet; she expected speeches, probably from the Minister, but nobody moved. Vega wondered if she should go ahead but she had no words.
Then several people screamed, and Vega looked up, startled.
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:
Vega 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.
It was quiet, then, and Vega remained still in her place.
On her right, Fred was silent and his hold on her hand was rather tight. On her right, Harry had tear tracks down his own cheeks. Next to him, Ginny was looking at him with a blazing look in her eyes. Ron's face was screwed up as though the sunlight were blinding him and Hermione's face was glazed with tears. It was all... very strange for Vega.
The feeling that was manifesting in her chest was something that Vega struggled to understand. It turned the cold inside into a burning hot substance, its only exit through the tears welling in her eyes. She tried not to cry, but it was hard to stop.
Time seemed to be frozen still – that everyone was frozen in their places, that Dumbledore still had her under his binding charm, that Dumbledore was merely frozen.
Everyone would move soon. Vega herself would move soon. Dumbledore would move soon. They would all move soon and leave this place, leave all of this behind, move as if everything was alright, as if everyone was alright, as they themselves were alright.
And they did move. But not Dumbledore. Vega looked back at her friends and saw that Harry and Ginny were talking to one another quietly, whispering amongst each other. As she turned her face away from them out of respect for their privacy, Vega only caught the words 'We can't be together' escape Harry's lips and that put a stop to Vega.
Ron, Vega saw, was now holding Hermione and stroking her hair while she sobbed into his shoulder, tears dripping from the end of his own long nose. Vega watched as Harry suddenly stood up and started to walk away from them, off to the lake.
"I'll be back, love," Vega whispered to Fred before standing up and following after the boy, her back to the audience and Dumbledore's tomb. "Harry..."
Harry didn't say anything but didn't seem to oppose Vega's company as she reached him. She didn't say anything further either, knowing from his expression that he was lost in his thoughts. It was something that she could both understand and respect.
"There's still four of them left," Harry muttered, and Vega knew what he was thinking.
"Yes, and we will find them," Vega replied. "I'm not saying this... to comfort only. I'm going to find them and destroy them, and I will help you if you help me. I will help you defeat Voldemort, even if it is the last thing I have to do. I swear on my own life,"
"Harry! Vega!"
Both Vega and Harry stopped in their strides and when they turned around to look at the direction of the someone, they saw that Rufus Scrimgeour was limping rapidly toward her them the bank, leaning on his walking stick. They stayed put until he reached them.
"I've been hoping to have a word..." Scrimgeour said. Do you mind if I walk a little way with you?"
"No," replied Harry and with Vega, he set off down the path.
"This was a dreadful tragedy," Scrimgeour spoke quietly, following after them. "I cannot tell you how appalled I was to hear of it. Dumbledore was a very great wizard. We had our disagreements, as you know, but no one knows better than I –"
"What do you want?" Harry asked, cutting to the point.
Scrimgeour looked annoyed, but as before, hastily modified his expression to one of sorrowful understanding, "You two are, of course, devastated. I know that you were both very close to Dumbledore. I think you may have been his favourite pupils ever. The bond between the three of you –"
"But what do you want?" Vega asked, coming to a halt. Scrimgeour stopped too, leaned on his stick, and stared at her and Harry, his expression shrewd now.
"The word is that you two were with him when he left the school the night that he died," Scrimgeour told them, and Vega held her expression clear.
"Whose word would that be?" Vega inquired carefully.
"Somebody Stupefied a Death Eater on top of the tower after Dumbledore died," Scrimgeour replied. "There were also two broomsticks up there. The Ministry can add two and two, Vega,"
"Glad to hear it," Harry responded. "Well, where we went with Dumbledore and what we did is our business. He didn't want people to know,"
"Such loyalty is admirable, of course," said Scrimgeour, who seemed to be restraining his irritation with difficulty. "But Dumbledore is gone. He's gone,"
"He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him," Harry told him, smiling in spite of himself, and Vega nodded in agreement.
"My dear boy..." Scrimgeour began. "Even Dumbledore cannot return from the –"
"He's not saying he can," Vega interjected. "You wouldn't understand even if we elaborate. But we've got nothing else to tell you now,"
Scrimgeour hesitated, then said, in what was evidently supposed to be a tone of delicacy, "The Ministry can offer you all sorts of protection, you know. I would be delighted to place a couple of my Aurors at your service –"
Harry laughed.
"Voldemort wants to kill us himself and Aurors won't stop him," Harry told him. "So thanks for the offer, but no thanks,"
"So," said Scrimgeour, his voice cold now. "The request I made of you two at Christmas –"
"What request?" Harry asked. "Oh yeah... the one where Vega and I tell the world what a great job you're doing in exchange for –"
"– for raising everyone's morale!" Scrimgeour snapped.
"Released Stan Shunpike yet?" Harry asked and Scrimgeour turned a nasty purple colour.
"I see you are –" Scrimgeour began.
"Dumbledore's men through and through," Harry finished for him. "That's right,"
Scrimgeour glared at the pair for another moment, then turned and limped away without another word. Vega could see Percy and the rest of the Ministry delegation waiting for him, casting nervous glances at the sobbing Hagrid and Grawp, who were still in their seats.
Ron and Hermione were hurrying toward Vega and Harry, passing Scrimgeour going in the opposite direction. Vega and Harry walked slowly away, waiting for them to catch up, which they finally did in the shade of a beech tree under which they had sat in happier times.
"What did Scrimgeour want?" Hermione whispered.
"Same as he wanted at Christmas," Vega answered as she leaned against the beech tree. "Wanted Harry and I to give him inside information on Dumbledore and be the Ministry's new poster kids,"
At this, Ron seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, then he said loudly to Hermione, "Look, let me go back and hit Percy!"
"No," Hermione told him firmly, grabbing his arm.
"It'll make me feel better!" Ron said, causing Vega and Harry to laugh, and even Hermione grinned a little, though her smile faded as she looked up at the castle.
"I can't bear the idea that we might never come back," Hermione spoke softly and Vega looked toward her. "How can Hogwarts close?"
"Maybe it won't," Ron said. "We're not in any more danger here than we are at home, are we? Everywhere is the same now. I'd even say Hogwarts is safer, there are more wizards inside to defend the place. What d'you reckon, Harry? Vega?"
"Vega and I are not coming back even if it does reopen," Harry said. Ron gaped at him and Vega, but Hermione said sadly, "I knew you were going to say that. But then what will you do?"
"I'm going back to the Dursleys' once more, because Dumbledore wanted me to," Harry said. "But it'll be a short visit, and then I'll meet with Vega and be gone for good,"
"But where will you two go if you don't come back to school?" Hermione asked.
"I thought I might go back to Godric's Hollow," Harry muttered as he looked at Vega, who nodded comfortingly. "For me, it started there, all of it. I've just got a feeling we need to go there. And I can visit my parents' graves, I'd like that,"
"And then what?" Ron asked.
"Then we've got to track down the rest of the Horcruxes," Vega told them, her eyes upon Dumbledore's white tomb, reflected in the water on the other side of the lake. "That's what he wanted Harry and I to do, that's why he told us all about them. If Dumbledore was right – and I'm sure he was – there are still four of them out there. We've got to find them and destroy them, and then we've got to go after the seventh bit of Voldemort's soul, the bit that's still in his body, and Harry's the one who's going to kill him,"
"And if we meet Severus Snape along the way," Harry added. "So, much the better for me, so much the worse for him,"
There was a long silence.
The crowd had almost dispersed now, the stragglers giving the monumental figure of Grawp a wide berth as he cuddled Hagrid, whose howls of grief were still echoing across the water.
"We'll be there, Harry," Ron said. "For you, with Vega,"
"What?" Harry asked.
"At your aunt and uncle's house," Ron told them. "And then we'll go with you wherever you two are going,"
"No –" Vega responded as she tore her eyes from the tombs and towards Hermione and Ron. Harry gaped at them as well. Vega and Harry had meant them to understand that they were undertaking this most dangerous journey by themselves. "You can't,"
"You said to us once before," Hermione said quietly. "That there was time to turn back if we wanted to. We've had time, haven't we?"
"We're with you two whatever happens," Ron said. "But mate, you and Vega are going to have to come around my mum and dad's house before we do anything else, even Godric's Hollow,"
"Why?" Vega asked him, confused.
"Bill and Fleur's wedding, remember?" Ron said.
Vega looked at him, startled; the idea that anything as normal as a wedding could still exist seemed incredible and yet wonderful. She looked down.
"Yeah, we shouldn't miss that," Vega spoke finally. "Yes... Harry and I shouldn't miss that at all... I would like that too..."
Harry looked at the tall girl but it was hard to understand the look in her grey eyes – they were cloudier than ever before. Still, he nodded in agreement.
On the other hand, Vega's fingers had closed around the fake Horcrux, but in spite of everything, in spite of the dark and twisting path she saw stretching ahead for herself and Harry, in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort she knew must come, whether in a month, in a year, or in ten, she felt her heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Harry, Ron and Hermione. These people were the ones who proved to her that she was willing to sacrifice herself for their happiness. The ones she wanted happy. They're the ones she wants to sacrifice herself for, and the future that awaited them.
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