Ch. 37: Dumbledore's Funeral

                                    

                                          
"Kiara Riddle."
                          


                          
Chapter 37: Dumbledore's Funeral
                          
Kiara didn't sleep that night. She lay in her bed, staring at her ceiling, reflecting and pondering over every detail that occurred hours before. Every time she closed her eyes, she pictured Harry yelling at her, Draco's saddened expression as he left the castle, Cameron's trembling and the tears in Fred's eyes.
                          
She packed earlier than everyone; the Hogwarts Express would be leaving an hour after the funeral. She walked downstairs by herself. She didn't feel like walking with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny purely because she wasn't sure how Harry would react in her presence. They sat next to her when they arrived however, even Harry whose eyes were very tired and emotionless but still met with her dark grey ones. There was a sadness in his eyes that seemed to extend past Dumbledore's death but she couldn't place her finger on it. Downstairs, the mood in the Great Hall was subdued. Everybody was wearing their black dress robes and no one seemed very hungry. Professor McGonagall had left the thronelike chair in the middle of the staff table empty. Hagrid's chair was deserted too but Snape's place was unceremoniously filled by Rufus Scrimgeour. 
                          
Kiara ducked her head down when his yellowish eyes met hers; remembering Fred's warning at Christmas that Scrimgeour wanted to interrogate her about Lucius. She didn't want to give him any curious reason to approach her and question her. She didn't feel like having such an interaction. 
                          
Kiara watched Professor McGonagall rise to her feet and the mournful hum in the Hall died away at once.
                          
"It is nearly time," She announced. "Please follow your Heads of House out into the grounds. Gryffindors, after me."
                          
They filed out from behind their benches in near silence. Slughorn took Snape's position as the head of the Slytherin column, wearing magnificent long emerald-green robes embroidered with silver. It was weird not seeing Draco in his House after six years. She wondered if he was okay and how Voldemort may have punished him for not killing Dumbledore himself. Lost in her thoughts, she noticed Cameron walking, his hair dishevelled with dark circles under his eyes. She bit her lip nervously, knowing that there will be a life-changing conversation between them in the near future. 
                          
They were heading out on to the stone steps from the front doors, towards the lake. Kiara smiled slightly, realising that Dumbledore was finding peace in the same place that she did. It was ironic, that the man who taught her how to control her Elemental magic was so similar to herself. She wished that she asked him more and tried to learn more from him. She couldn't now. She was alone with no one to guide her.
                          
Unlike the night before, hundred of chairs had been set out in rows. An aisle ran down the centre of them: there was a marble table standing at the front, all chairs facing it. It was the most beautiful summer's day.
                          
An extraordinary assortment of people were already settled into half of the chairs: shabby and smart, old and young. There were the members of the Order of the Phoenix: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks, her hair miraculously returned to vividest pink, Remus Lupin, with whom she seemed to be holding hands, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill supported by Fleur, followed by Fred and George, who were wearing jackets of black dragon skin. She smiled weakly at her best friends and they smiled back. She noticed George whisper something in Fred's ear and he responded with a sharp elbow to the ribs. She wondered what George could've said to make Fred's face tinge pink in the sunlight.
                          
The castle ghosts were there too, barely visible in the bright sunlight, discernible only when they moved, shimmering insubstantially in the gleaming air.
                          
Kiara filed into seats with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny at the end of a row beside the lake. She glanced at Harry apprehensively, opening her mouth to speak but he stopped her.