Chapter 34: Back to Hogwarts.
“My father was an honorable man, a man of principles. He never changed who he was to please those higher up than him, he never betrayed his family. He was humble, loyal, caring and forgiving. He was everything that I failed to be. He would not bend to the influence of evil for money or power like many have. His life was devoted to love and goodness. My father spent his entire life defending what he believed in. He died defending what he believed in, and I know we will all remember him for that.”
As Percy stepped down from the podium and went back to the first row of seats, giving his sobbing mother a hug, Harry felt his stomach give a nervous flop “ he was supposed to speak next. It was the day of Mr. Weasley’s wake. The sense of sadness and mourning was so strong Harry could literally feel it in the air. From the corner of his eye, Harry saw Dumbledore motion for him to go up. Harry swallowed hard; he didn’t know if he could do it.
I owe it to Mr. Weasley, he told himself as he stood up and approached the front of the room slowly. He reached the podium and looked out at the masses that had arrived for the wake. The men all wore suits and ties; the women, black dresses. The Weasleys had thought it would be appropriate if everyone wore Muggle clothing, in memory of Arthur’s lifelong fascination of the non-wizarding society. Harry took a deep breath before he began.
“Since I’ve known Mr. Weasley, he has treated me like a son,” he began, hoarsely. “He has always looked out for my best interests and I have never had anything but respect for him. I witnessed how much all his kids loved him, and how much he loved all of them. A lot of people dream of being rich and powerful “ but Mr. Weasley was happy just the way he was. He had a loving family, a job he enjoyed, and a cause worth fighting for. Mr. Weasley died fighting for that cause. Mr. Weasley was given a choice “ a simple choice. He could do what was easy; he could hand me over, protect himself and his family, and hope that I’d be able to fend for myself, as I’ve managed before. Or “ he could do what he believed was right,” Harry stopped, trying to prepare himself for what he was going to say next. “Mr. Weasley died to save me. He traded his own life for mine. And nothing I can say or do can ever repay him or his family...”
He trailed off Harry’s mind went blank. He knew he had planned on saying more, but he realized “ what else could he possibly say? He was silent. He felt everyone watching him, waiting for him to speak. But no words would come. After what seemed to be hours, Dumbledore walked up to Harry, putting his arm on his shoulder.
“It’s alright, Harry. You can come down now,” he whispered calmly in his ear. He then walked him back to where he was seated. Other people got up to speak: Kingsley, Moody, Lupin, Tonks... but Harry couldn’t hear any of it. He saw there mouths moving, he saw tears falling, but there was no sound coming out; he could hear nothing but the deafening thud of his heart beating against his chest. When it was all over, people came to offer their condolences to the Weasley family. Harry stood there with them. People hugged him and shook his hand as though he were, too, a son of Mr. Weasley’s.
“Alright there, Potter?” he heard Moody growl.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” a small witch squeaked mournfully at him.
“It’ll be okay,” cried Tonks.
It was like an endless stream. Harry could not remember ever feeling so miserable in his life. He looked at Mrs. Weasley “ he had never seen her look so lost. A memory suddenly flashed in his mind. He remembered Mrs. Weasley crying over the Boggart that had disguised itself as the dead body of Ron, the other Weasley children, Harry himself and Mr. Weasley. All of this was her worst fear come to life, thought Harry. The thought made him feel sick to his stomach. He watched Mrs. Weasley sob into Dumbledore’s shoulder.
“Touching speech, Potter.” a lazy voice said behind him.
Harry hardly dared to believe it.
He wouldn’t, not even he would sink that low, Harry thought.
He turned and found himself face to face with Draco Malfoy.
“What are you doing here?” Harry asked.
“My mother and I came to pay our respects,” Malfoy sneered.
Harry didn’t speak. He didn’t breath. He would have never imagined that Malfoy would do something this insolent. The rest of the Weasleys turned around. Harry saw them turn rigid with anger.
“Do you have no conscience, Malfoy?” Harry asked.
“I don’t know what you mean, Potter?” Malfoy said, smirking.
The atmosphere was tense; it had seemed it had just reached a breaking point when Dumbledore stepped up to Malfoy and his mother.
“I’m going to have to ask you and your mother to leave, Draco,” he said calmly. “Due to the “ nature “ of Mr. Weasley’s death, I do not think your presence here is entirely appropriate.”
“Whatever,” Draco scowled, turning around and leaving “ Narcissa, his mother, walking stiffly behind him.
“The nerve...” Harry heard Fred mutter from behind him.
“All right, everyone, we should probably head back home,” Mrs. Weasley said quietly. “You four have school tomorrow,” she added to Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry.
They all went outside, it was already dark. The climbed into the cars the Ministry had lent to them and traveled back to the Burrow, very quietly. When they arrive home, everyone went straight to bed. It had been a long day. Ron and Harry checked to make sure everything was packed for the trip back to Hogwarts the next day.
They had been lying in bed, quiet when quite suddenly, Ron sat up.
“Harry,” he whispered. “You awake?”
“Yeah,” Harry said. He had been nowhere near falling asleep.
“Can I talk to you?” he asked, tentatively.
“Of course...” Harry replied, he was now sitting up also.
Ron walked over and sat at the end of Harry’s bed.
“I laughed today...”
Harry stared at Ron, utterly bewildered.
“What d’you mean?”
“I mean, I laughed. Hermione and I were walking outside before the service, and she said something funny about this bloke who looked like he was trying to steal chocolate from this Muggle kid, trying to cheer me up, I s’pose; and I laughed.”
“And why are you telling me this?”
“Well, because I feel guilty. Dad died less than a week ago, I should be mourning him.”
“Ron, you are mourning him... nobody expects you to be depressed every second of the day.”
“So it’s all right then? I mean “ when Sirius died, were you sad all the time?”
“When I was at the Dursley’s, yeah “ but that’s nothing unusual.”
Ron snorted a small laugh. Then...
“See I did it again...”
“Ron, it’s all right. In fact it’s good “ you’re dad wouldn’t want you moping around. Really, mate “ don’t worry about it.”
“Well, what about Mum? I mean “ you don’t think it would upset her if she knew...”
“If she knew what “ that you’re still human? I think she’d be a bit more upset if she found out that her son no longer new how to experience happiness...”
Ron sighed.
“You’re right. Alright then, mate. Thanks “ I feel better, really.”
“Glad I could help.”
After that, Harry noticed that Ron fell asleep quite quickly, as his loud snores were filling the room within ten minutes. Harry didn’t remember anything past that, because he too, drifted off to sleep soon after that.
The next morning, Harry and Ron were awoken by the sound of Fred’s voice “ or George’s, Harry couldn’t tell which.
“Up! Up! Oy! Up you two! Mum’s going to go mad if she finds out you’re still in bed...”
Harry rolled off his bed and hit the floor with a hard thump.
“Ow...”
“Stop complaining, Harry” said the unidentified twin with slight humor in his voice, as he left the two of them to crawl out of their beds. “Breakfast is ready downstairs, you have five minutes...”
Harry rushed about, changing into his clothes and gathering his things to bring downstairs.
“Sleep alright?” he asked Ron.
“Okay, I suppose...” he yawned.
They hurriedly ran downstairs with their trunks. Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, Bill and Mrs. Weasley were all up. Mrs. Weasley handed them plates with eggs and sausages; she had dark circles under her eyes.
“There you go, eat it up “ you’ll be leaving for the station in 10 minutes. Charlie’s driving you “ Bill, can you get the boys’ trunks into the car?”
“Yeah, mum?” he said, shoving his last sausage into his mouth and getting up to bring the trunks outside.
“Are you okay, Mrs. Weasley?”
“Oh, me? I’m fine dear. Didn’t sleep very well, but I’m alright. Don’t you worry about me,” she said, wearing her familiar warm smile; though Harry noticed that her eyes no longer twinkled the way they had always done before.
A few minutes later, they all said there goodbyes “ Mrs. Weasley urging them all to be careful, hugged each of them several times before finally letting them go. Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry climbed into the car with Charlie and they set of for King’s Cross. The car ride was nearly as silent as it had been when they traveled to the Burrow at the beginning of the holidays, though with obvious differences. Harry thought with a pang, of Mr. Weasley, glancing back at the four of them as he had that day.
Finally, they were back on the Hogwarts Express. The four of them found a compartment where they sat with Katie, Dean, Neville and Seamus. Parvati and Lavender, as well as many other students, such as the Creeveys and several members of the DA, stopped in to offer condolences, as they had heard of Mr. Weasley’s passing. It was getting quite repetitive. Ginny and Ron, along with Harry, began wishing people would just go away and leave them alone.
“I don’t see why we have to be reminded every five minutes, I have a hard enough time thinking about anything else as it is,” said Ginny wearily as they got off the train.
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” said Ron. “It’s not like I’m not grateful, but “”
Ron stopped suddenly, he was looking at something in front of them.
“Thestrals...” he said tonelessly.
Everyone turned to look at the carriages “ Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Dean, and Katie were all watching them with a kind of quiet trepidation. Harry realized “ they had all seen Mr. Weasley’s death, so now they would be able to see the thestrals for the first time.
“Oh, right...” Harry muttered.
As if they needed any more reminding, he thought.
The group watched the thestrals for a few moments, before finally moving on and getting into the carriages.
They had just arrived in the Entrance hall, and were headed upstairs when Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle walked by them, talking loudly; Harry noticed that Malfoy had regained his arrogant swagger.
“Yeah, my dad was pretty busy over the holidays,” Malfoy was bragging so that they could all here him. “Got quite a lot done, you could say.”
Ron dropped his trunk in anger.
“You’re father is a murderer...” he said furiously.
“My, whatever do you mean, Weasley?” Malfoy asked in mock confusion.
“Your scum father killed my dad in cold blood!” Ron shouted.
All the students who were near stopped to watch. Harry could feel rage pulsing through his entire body.
“He was doing the world a favor, Weasley...” Malfoy shot, his eyes glinting maliciously.
Ron couldn’t take it any more; he lunged for Malfoy, knocking him to the ground, hitting him with all his force.
“Ron, NO!” screamed Hermione. Ginny watched, fearful with tears in her eyes, but she did nothing. Harry pulled Ron off. Malfoy was bleeding from his eyes, and Ron’s eyes were watering.
“WHAT IS GOING ON?” shouted Professor McGonagall lividly as she came down the staircase.
“Weasley attacked me, Professor,” Draco said, Goyle pulling him off the ground.
“Is this true, Mr. Weasley?” she asked.
Ron just nodded. His face was red, he still looked as though he were on the verge of tears.
“Was it provoked?” McGonagall asked.
Hermione answered for Ron.
“Not exactly, Professor,” she said quietly. “Draco was bragging...about what his father... had been doing over the holidays “ and he said that he did the world a favor ...by killing Mr. Weasley...”
Professor McGonagall looked gravely at Ron.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to take five points from Gryffindor for this, Mr. Weasley.”
Everyone watching was astonished.
“WHAT?” yelled Draco. “Five points? That’s it? He physically attacked me! I’m bleeding.”
“Then I suggest you go to the Hospital Wing, Mr. Malfoy,” McGonagall said coldly as she turned and left.