Percy's Wizarding Heritage

Chapter 36 - Final Chapter

Chapter 36

Even for a funeral, Percy thought that it was sombre. There had been discussions the day after the fiasco that was the Horcrux trip, and it was decided that Dumbledore would have his wish, and be laid to rest on the school grounds, and that the students would be able to say goodbye to their headmaster. Tomorrow the train would come, taking the students home to their families, though some had already been taken in the last week by families that no longer trusted the schools wards.

Percy barely payed attention during the ceremony, only catching a few words here and there.

He vaguely heard the merefolk singing in the lake, saying in song that they would miss the deceased headmaster, and that they would support the school anyway that they could, though he was pretty sure he was the only one who could understand them.

He vaguely heard the guy at the podium say something about “Nobility of spirit”

“- intellectual contribution -”

“- greatness of heart -”

He mostly ignored it though, in favour of remembering the Dumbledore he knew. A strange man who could find the good in any soul, and stare at the darkest the world had to offer with a twinkle in his eyes. None of what the short, goblin-like man said was like that.

He understood why he was reacting this way. Most people would think the war with Kronos had made him tougher, less likely to be so affected by death, but that wasn’t true. In the titan war he had expected death, and while it didn’t deaden the pain, it certainly numbed it down enough that he could keep going. On that night he had, at the worst, expected a few scrapes and bruises, at most some time in the hospital wing.

He was broken out of his thought by the screams of several people around him. Snapping up his gaze he saw Dumbledore’s body engulfed by flames. It stopped as suddenly as it started, leaving a cover to the tomb, as pale white as the marble tabletop he had been laying on.

Several more screamed as the centaurs let lose with some arrows, but they fell short, as they were the centaurs tribute to the man who had given his life to equal the rights of all creatures, as little as that succeeded. The merefolk sank below the waves as well, ending their near silent watch.

Percy turned to look at the others. Ron had his faced screwed up as though the sunlight was blinding him, but Percy could see the tears that were glistening, unshed, in his eyes; Hermione’s face was glazed with tears. Jenny was openly crying, as she knew it could well have been Harry’s funeral just as much as Dumbledore’s. It was Harry’s face that caught his attention. He was determined, the glint that he got in his eyes shining. It had finally sunk in just how dangerous the job he’d been left was, and now he was offering us a way out. Percy knew he couldn’t take it, if he did he’d never forgive himself, always thinking ‘What if I’d Stayed? What if I’d helped?’ Percy turned to face him and told him straight out