Funeral

The sun gradually rose, its warm light falling across everyone's faces.

Nearly a hundred chairs had been set up by Hogwarts' Black Lake, with an aisle down the middle and a marble table at the front. Every chair faced it.

Silvan sat in the last row, along with Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, and the others.

Bill and Charlie sat in the row ahead. Sirius, Remus Lupin, Mr. Weasley, and most of the Order of the Phoenix were there as well. Further ahead sat Cornelius Fudge, McGonagall, and two unfamiliar people.

Fred said they were two department heads, though no one knew which departments they were from.

"What, aren't they on the Order's side?" Silvan asked.

"No idea. We've never seen them before," Fred said after trying hard to identify them, then shook his head. "But they came with Fudge, so they should be trustworthy."

"If there were anything wrong with them, Mad-Eye Moody wouldn't have let them in," George said.

They noticed that everyone around them was one of their own, but surely more than this handful of people wanted to see Dumbledore off for the last time.

This was also to prevent anyone with ill intentions from slipping in and ruining Dumbledore's final funeral.

To ensure nothing went wrong, they had not even invited a band. McGonagall had taken several portraits down from the castle walls and hung them from the nearby trees. The figures inside held instruments and played mournful, subdued music as everyone waited.

Besides that, Hogwarts' ghosts had come as well: Nearly Headless Nick, the Fat Friar, the Lady Gray, the Bloody Baron, Moaning Myrtle—they rarely left the castle, but today they had all gathered outside.

Silvan also spotted Peeves hiding behind some branches, desperately avoiding the Bloody Baron's gaze.

At last, everyone had taken