Cameras flashed everywhere as her guards surrounded her.
"Ms. Obolensky, is it true that Lev Zograf proposed to you the night of his death?"
"Ms. Obolensky, how are you feeling with the death of five family members in less than a week?"
"Ms. Obolensky, where do you go from here?"
"Ms. Obolensky the speech you made yesterday has been described as one that will go down in history. How do you feel about having given such a life changing speech at only 15?"
Verina ignored them all refusing to comment. All she wanted to think about was the funeral she didn't really want to be at. He was to be buried in his home town in the same cemetery his ancestors had been buried in before him. The service was at his favorite spot in the village under a tent. Muggles could not enter nor could they see what was going on. Verina had visited the spot on numerous occasions, but it looked much different with a hundred people, cameras, flowers, and the like all under a tent. Verina looked around and felt immediately out of place. Her classmates were there all dressed in their uniforms, the Bulgarian quidditch team was there, some random fans were there too sporting the team colors, and then his family was there. Verina looked down her tailor made dress, her heels, her jewels, her hat. Yes, Ava had made this one especially for Lev's service so it was a bit more casual, but she knew she stuck out like a sore thumb. She had met some of his more immediate family, but none of those people were seated now. Surrounded by guards and escorted by her god father the village people stared at her, judged her, blamed her. She could feel it, and yet she didn't blame them. Yes, she blamed herself too. It was her party that got him killed, after all.
" Ms. Obolensky, I am Lev's cousin Zo, they have asked you come to the front they have asked that you sit with the family." A young man said to her.
Verina was taken back, but she graciously accepted and made her way to the front her god father and her guards close behind. She heard Severus instructing them where to stand and to not be too close. She heard whispers from the audience.
" Look at her hand. She's wearing a ring."
"They were to get married next year. Such a pity. "
"I heard it was completely for the papers."
"Just like her mother widowed so young. Well not widowed she never even got her chance."
Verina hadn't thought of that one. She supposed she was like her mother in more ways than one now. However, she envied her mother. Her mother got a child to remember her love by. Verina was left with nothing but a ring and broken promises from a boy she fell in love with way too late.
Severus sat her down and stood off to the side on the edge of the tent watching her.
Verina looked at the flowers and the pictures that moved of Lev. One very familiar one caught her eye. It was she and Lev at the Yule Ball. It was their very first date the one time he got up the courage to ask her out. She smiled at the memory, but that was soon lost. Music began and everyone stood. Verina stood as well and watched as Mrs. Zograf and her husband followed the casket holding their son.
A heaviness fell upon Verina as she realized he was in the wooden box. Yesterday her family was uncovered and then magically covered with stone. This was different somehow she realized Lev would be put in the ground. Her Lev her full of life Lev was dead and they were going to bury him. He was in a box. She didn't realize she had grown pale or that her breathing had become severely labored.
Lev's mother walked up to her and kissed her cheek. " He loved you so much. You made him so happy."
Verina looked at the woman underneath her wide brimmed hat and her cool demeanor was lost. She looked into the eyes so familiar and she couldn't stand it any longer. A tear slowly slipped down her cheek and then another and another and another. Her breathing became quick and her vision blurred. She looked at the casket, the pictures, the flowers, Mrs. Zograf, she clutched her chest and began to sob. "Mrs. Zograf, I cannot do this."
Mrs. Zograf kissed her hands and smiled through tears. " Go. He won't miss you."
Verina without pause walked down the aisle as fast as she could. Ignoring the whispers, the camera flashes, and the reporters Verina Obolensky ran as fast as she could away from the funeral.
It was hours before the funeral and Draco was preparing himself. People, press, and questions were going to be everywhere as he was trying to grieve the loss of those important to him. Draco came where he always came when he needed comfort. He remembered flooing here many times at all hours and Yavor was always there waiting with a smile. Draco sat in Yavor's chair and covered his eyes and leaned back. Tears hot and painful slid down his cheeks. He pounded his fist hard on the desk and screamed. He looked down at the desk and blinked his tears away. Underneath his hands was a stack of letters. Draco began to leaf through them. The one from Verina was funny she was describing something her professor had done in class and she recalled it with such comedic excellence it was hard not to laugh. There was one from him and Draco read it. He remembered this one very well. It was the one informing Yavor his father had been taken to prison. Yavor had come to Hogwarts himself that night and pulled Draco out of school early and brought him home to his mother. Then he read one from Cornelius Fudge.
I am sorry to inform you I have been relieved of my post and therefore cannot carry out our deal. I know you said if I could only release one of them to release Malfoy, but as it is I cannot release even one. I know you gave us your alliance based on faith and that I have failed you, but I seem to be doing that a lot. Maybe you can work something out with the new minister.
Draco crumpled up the letter and shot out of his chair. He unleashed every ounce of emotion he ever had on anything in sight. Briony came running in and stopped and let him go crazy.
Draco looked at her red faced and sobbing. " He made a deal with the minister to allie with Britain for my father's freedom He did it for me, Briony. He did it for me. He's dead because of me."
Briony gasped and took the crumpled up paper from the floor. " Merlin. Do not tell Verina this."
" She knows already. She tried to tell me."
Draco recalled this and the other events of the day before in the quiet confines of the gardens.
The funeral was a strange and very formal affair. what had been most shocking to him was Verina. One minute he was holding her on the floor as she sobbed in the middle of the entry way the next minute she is made of steel not showing any emotion at all. And that speech she gave at the funeral. Well that was just enough to blow your mind. She was absolutely amazing. Of course, he suspected someone wrote it for her, but when Dmitri brought him a slip of paper in her hand writing he was more than shocked. " Suppose she said all that from the heart?" he said handing Draco the paper with just one line: "Thank you for coming."
He couldn't even be annoyed because what she said was that touching.
He wondered how she was faring now. She had insisted upon attending his funeral alone, but Severus went with her any way. Severus and a slew of guards in a ministry car. He watched her leave this morning in her wide brimmed hat and her simple black dress. He had this lurking suspicioin she would still be over dressed and probably gawked at like a display case for all the word to see. For the first time he felt bad for her.
Heels clicking on concrete signaled the arrival of whoever was coming. He didn't feel like being noticed so he hung back in the shadows. He heard gagging and he took a peak to see who it was. Verina was holding her stomach vomiting. Her hat was on the ground and her once neatly twisted hair was a mess. She wiped her mouth and sank to the ground and began to sob.
" I can't do this anymore." She said tiredly " I just can't."
She had been putting on a show for the entire world to see. She wasn't okay at all.
Draco wouldn't reveal all her secrets and he walked away.
He thought about Yavor once more and all he did for him and he made a vow then and there to protect Verina no matter what it took. He would be her guardian like Yavor had been his and he wouldn't leave her side not once.
"Yavor, I don't know if you can hear me, but I won't leave her. I won't let your little girl suffer more than she has to and I will protect her as much as I can like you protected me. I'll be there for her. I owe you this."
He didn't know if imagined it, but the wind started to blow and Draco knew Yavor had heard him alright.
