Harry Potter and The Quest for Merlin's Wand

Chapter One - The Aftermath

After the celebrations had fizzled out, following the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry went back to the burrow with the Weasleys, with strict orders from Professor McGonagall to get some rest. However Fred's funeral was scheduled for the following day so he volunteered to help the family prepare the house for the wake.

Harry woke up early, on the camp bed in Ron's bedroom. His first waking thought was how glad he was to be alive but then he remembered that at least fifty people were not going to wake up this morning. The Burrow felt different, it was normally filled with laughter, shouting and teenagers running up and down stairs, now the atmosphere was calm and subdued as if the house knew the family was in mourning. Harry sat, put his glasses on, and tried to creep out of the room quietly so he didn't wake Ron, who needed the sleep after yesterday's battle.

When he entered the kitchen, he found Mrs Weasley, sitting at the table staring at a photograph album. He watched her smile sadly as the Twins fooled around in a photograph. He put the kettle on to make some tea, anxious to do something for this remarkable woman who had become his second mother. She jumped, when he dropped a spoon, not realising that someone else was there. She bustled over to the stove,

"Sit down Harry, I expected you to sleep for days after everything you've been through recently, you must be exhausted."

"I woke up this morning early and I thought about everyone who didn't make it home after the Battle and decided that life was too short to spend it lying around in bed," explained Harry.

The door opened to admit Hermione who was staying until after the funeral. As she was already showered and dressed, Harry guessed that she felt the same way as he did.

"Sit down Mrs Weasley, let us make breakfast for you and the family." said Hermione, trying not to look at the photograph on the kitchen table, as it would make her cry again.

"It's okay both of you, I need to keep busy as well, or I have too much time to dwell on what I've lost."

Hermione and Harry sat down while Mrs Weasley started cooking breakfast with her wand. They could tell that her mind wasn't on the job, as porridge went into the frying pan to cook with the bacon, egg and sausage. When the whole lot ended up on their plates none of them complained.

George came into the kitchen and looked around absentmindedly as though he expected Fred to jump from one of the cupboards to tell him it was all a joke.

"Sit down George and let me get you something to eat, the next couple of days are going to be really tough so you need to look after yourself." Mrs Weasley said, trying to pull George back from wherever he'd retreated, to deal with the pain of Fred's death."

He smiled at her sadly, turned around and disappeared upstairs again. Nobody, even his family, could understand what George had lost. They had lost a son or a brother, George felt as though half of him had died with Fred.

Ginny came in next, with her father, who had his arm around her. It looked as though she had been crying all night as her face was red and swollen. Harry instinctively got up to comfort her but Hermione stopped him because she knew Ginny needed her father right now.

After breakfast, they were all given chores, to help prepare the house ready for the wake. Harry had never been to a muggle funeral let alone a wizard one before so he had no idea what to expect. When they were alone in the garden he asked the fount of all knowledge, Hermione.

"The mourners will start to arrive tomorrow which will be devoted to remembering happy times with Fred, praying, singing and talking about everything he achieved during his short life. When night falls, members of the family and close friends can sit with the body until dawn. During the night his family will be present to listen and watch for messages from Fred as the belief is that the spirit remains with the body even after death.

At dawn, at the time of the rising of the birds, a bard will sing a blessing then the body will be placed in the grave, at that time, every mourner must throw a handful or showerful of soil until the body is covered. The final task is to build a cairn by placing stones over the soil. Every stone is placed with a prayer for the deceased, for their kin and their spiritual family."

Afterwards there will be a feast with music accompanied by more fond memories and praise of his achievements. It will be a party to celebrate Fred's life."

"His life was too short and he should have had a much longer list of achievements." Harry felt guilty because he was meant to die, not Fred.

George came into the garden leaning on Ron, "Harry I'd like you to choose some things from Fred's stuff, that remind you of the good times you spent with him."

Harry looked at Hermione, shrugged and followed the brothers back to the kitchen. All of Fred's possessions had been bought from the shop and piled on the table. Harry chose an old bludger because his happiest memories of Fred were playing Quidditch for the Gryffindor team.

He left George and Ron sorting through some of the stock from their shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, to pick out Fred's favourite items

Mrs Weasley asked Harry and Ron, before dinner, to collect some mistletoe for the funeral. They walked in companionable silence to a nearby wood to collect some of the shrubs. Harry gave Ron the option to talk about Fred if he wanted to. As they were collecting some sprigs of mistletoe, Ron got something else off his chest.

"Nobody blames you Harry, if it wasn't for you and Neville, more families would have lost their loved ones!"

Harry turned around with tears falling down his face, he didn't realise that he needed to hear from one of Fred's family. They ended up crying and hugging each other..

After they had finished collecting mistletoe, they returned to the house to help out with the other tasks - they didn't want Mrs Weasley to overdo things. On the way back, Harry saw Ginny sitting by herself on a bench in the garden. He nodded at Ron, then went to sit with her because she looked so miserable. Her eyes were still red and swollen so he put his arm around her for comfort, he wasn't sure whether it was for her benefit or his.

"I can't find the right words to tell you how sorry I am Ginny. I know other people lost their lives in the Battle but Fred was different - more like family to me."

Then Harry found out why Ginny was inconsolable, "I had to sit out and listen to everyone else fighting. If I'd been there maybe I could have saved Fred."

"Ginny, if you had joined in the fighting, everyone would have been in more danger because you would have been a target for all the death eaters. Everyone would have focused on protecting you and not on fighting Lord Voldemort, which would have given him an advantage."

She stopped crying and dabbed her eyes with a tissue, "Do you really think so Harry?"

He smiled at her, "Yes definitely," then he grabbed her hand and towed her in for dinner.

After dinner Mr Weasley went to the cupboard to get some glasses and a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey that he'd been saving. He poured out generous measures, everyone took a glass and lifted up their glasses for a toast.

"To Fred, who lived life to the full and would hate to see us being miserable. Tomorrow we will celebrate his short but eventful life, cheers everyone.!

Chapter Two - The funeral

The day of the funeral dawned and promised to be a perfect summer's day. The sky was a cerulean blue and there was a faint mist that would burn off as the temperature rose - It seemed like an insult, the weather should be more in tune with the emotions of the mourners, raining, gloomy and wet.

Harry got dressed early as he wanted to give the Weasleys some space to mentally prepare themselves for the day ahead. They were expecting a lot of mourner to pay their respects as Fred was so popular. Mrs Weasley had cooked up a storm yesterday so every surface in the kitchen was groaning with huge plates of food: sandwiches, cakes, pies, fruit, pizza and fried chicken. Nothing would go stale as all the food was protected with a stay fresh charm.

He went outside for some fresh air. It wasn't long before Hermione joined him, wearing her dress robe. She looked at his jeans and t-shirt and wagged her finger,

"Harry, people are going to be arriving soon and you're not dressed yet."

"It won't take long for me to change, Mrs Weasley ironed my dress robe last night and left it hanging on the back of the door."

About an hour later the mourners started to arrive. Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny were kept busy making sure everyone had food and drink and replenishing the trays, when they were empty. At noon the contingent from Hogwarts arrived; Professor McGonagall arrived first on the Knight bus with two representatives from each year to represent Gryffindor. The teachers who taught Fred apparated in a nearby field so they didn't get in anybodies way.

Professor McGonagall spoke to Mrs Weasley first, "Molly, I'm so sorry for your loss, Fred was such a high-spirited, popular boy, it's so difficult to accept that he's gone.

"Minerva, I can't allow myself to feel anything, I think that if I allowed myself to let go of my grief, I wouldn't survive the heartache."

"They died so young, I would have sacrificed my life to have saved anyone of them, it seems wrong that I'm still here, I've had a good life! There are so many funerals to attend in the next couple of weeks that I seem to be constantly crying.""

Professor McGonagall broke down and sobbed as though her heart was physically breaking. Mrs Weasley joined her and they both held on to each other, as though they were drowning in grief.

When the house became very crowded, Harry and hermione took some of the younger students outside to run around, . They watched the staff from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes file past on their way to the house.

"What's next?" asked Harry.

Hermione replied, "The all night vigil, are you going to do it?"

"Yes, I want to show the family that I love them all and I share their loss, what about you?"

"The same, I'm going to stand between Ginny and Mrs Weasley, to help and support them

As the day edged towards dusk the crowds of mourners began to thin, until the family and a few of Fred's closest friends from Hogwarts were left. Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Oliver Wood and Katie Bell had asked to stay for the vigil. Percy, Charlie, Bill and Fleur apparated into the garden just before nightfall, they were already dressed for the vigil so they stowed their luggage in the house and joined the rest straight away.

George, Charlie, Bill, Percy, Ron, Harry and Mr Weasley went into the house to carry Fred's body to the bier near the grave. The remaining family and friends walked behind in a dignified procession. When they reached the grave site, they gently placed the body on the bier followed by the female mourners scattering handfuls of sacred flowers and herbs over the area. After the rituals were complete. they lit the fire, which Mr Weasley and Ginny had prepared earlier. For the first hour everyone was quiet and reflective, then they began to talk about their favourite memories of Fred.

"Everyone come and eat, we packed the leftovers from today, so help yourself." shouted Mrs Weasley.

George and Percy struggled to carry the huge crates, containing bottles of Butterbeer for the younger mourners, while Mr Weasley carried one box with something a little stronger for the adults. After everyone had eaten and toasted Fred, the atmosphere changed, it became more like a party.

Harry noticed George leave the fire and go over to the bier, he nudged Hermione: "Do you think we ought to go with him or give him some peace to have his last chat with Fred."

"The latter, I think he wants to spend some time with Fred alone." said Hermione wisely.

Throughout the night, people drifted off to sleep, then woke up again to reminisce and to have another drink, all the food disappeared before dawn.

Just before sunrise a distinguished wizard with a long grey beard, wearing simple white robes joined the mourners who had remained in vigil through the night. Mr and Mrs Weasley went across to meet him and receive his blessing.

The other mourners stood up and brushed themselves down, then tidied everything away and dampened down the fire and walked over to the graveside. The Druid-wizard took out his wand and waved it at the bier. Fred's body levitated slowly and floated across to the grave, then it hovered just above. The priest started to sing a mournful song in Gaelic, although many people didn't understand the language they understood the emotions.

All the male members of the family, plus Harry, formed a Guard of Honour at both sides of the grave with wands raised. Each wand brought forth a luminous shower of brightly coloured stars as Fred's body was lowered slowly and gently into the grave. Soon after, the mourners took it in turns to pick up a handful of earth and scatter it over the body. When the grave was level, everyone picked up a stone from the piles nearby and placed it on top of the grave while whispering a prayer.

When the cairn was completed, the priest was just about to deliver the final blessing when there was a gasp of surprise from the mourners. A perfect hologram of Fred appeared above the grave,

"If this hologram has been activated, I'm dead. I hope I went out in a blaze of glory but knowing me, one of our pranks blew up. I refuse to have a miserable funeral, from this moment you will treat the rest of the day as a party and I order all of you to have fun, including you George. There will be a surprise just for you when you get back to our flat."

George was the first one to start laughing then everyone joined in. Harry grinned at Hermione, now they knew what George had been doing behind the grave. There was a loud bang and an enormous rocket set off from behind the coffin, this was followed by hundreds of rockets, some of them were packed with little notes with a picture of Fred with the words,

'Always look on the bright side of life."