Chapter Ten

(Break Me Down, Bury Me)

The shower didn't comfort Ember as much as it normally did; she had spent five minutes under the stream of water before she realized she wasn't in the mood to stand under the water. No matter how hot she turned the water, the chill that had planted itself in her bones couldn't be shaken. Ember washed as quickly as she could, and she shut the water off with a determined slap to the spigot.

When she walked into the dorm room, wrapped in her towel, she looked down to see Anna looking around frantically. When they locked eyes, the girl visibly relaxed; Anna didn't have to speak for Ember to know she feared the loss of someone else. Ember nodded tensely, and Anna stood, slipping past her silently into the bathroom. Ember noticed that Hermione and Ginny were milling about the dorm room, slipping into clothes that they had laid out the night before.

The light coming into the window of the dorm was the pale gray of a rainy day. Ember stopped to appreciate the sardonic way the weather seemed to mourn the loss of Albus Dumbledore. A frown pulled at her mouth and tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she thought of the Headmaster, once believed to be indestructible. Her eyes were glued to the window as the realization of his humanity set in, and left her with the same chill she had tried to fight with the hot water.

Anna coming out of the bathroom brought Ember out of her reverie. She started; she hadn't realized she had been standing motionless so long. The look on Anna's face told her the opposite – Anna hadn't felt like standing in the shower longer than necessary. They shared a mirrored expression of slight shock, and moved to their trunks to get dressed in their mourning clothes. Ember's hands moved stiffly, and she had the odd feeling that she was working on autopilot to do what she had to do.

The only sounds in the dorm were the ones of the girls dressing. Occasionally, Ember would hear one of the girls sniffling their grief back, but no one said a word. As they finished dressing in their mourning clothes, the girls wordlessly and simultaneously left the dorm room. Their footfalls echoed in the stairwell, and the boys barely looked up as they joined them in the common room. Ember's heart wrenched at the sight of the twins' dismayed looks, and Ron's scowl of despair.

Ember took her - seemingly normal, recently - place between Fred and George, taking both of their hands in her shaking ones. The boys nodded, and they led the way to the Black Lake, the shores of which would be the host of the funeral. They filed into their seats – hundreds of golden chairs sat facing a marble table. Fred, Ember, George, Anna, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all linked hands, watching vacantly as students, teachers, and wizards from all over filed in. Ember saw the Weasleys, the Callahans, and people she had met on the road to becoming a witch. Even Madame Maxime and some of her students had come for the funeral. They all fell silent as the Minister of Magic, who had a change of heart last year at their encounter with Voldemort, took the podium in front of Dumbledore's body. Ember felt tired, and sore, and like lead. Otherwise, she felt numb as she listened to his speech.

She watched as person after person made their way to the head of the gathering, each giving their respects to Dumbledore. She finally let her eyes settle on the table, and she felt her heart jerk violently in her chest. She buried her face into George's shoulder, and shrugged his hand away when he tried to stroke her hair. Ember finally realized that she didn't want to be comforted – she had much to mourn, and it was time for her to do so.

She felt her heart break a little more with each thing she mourned. The image of her brother being pulled away by Bellatrix Lestrange made her chest heave, and she had the strange feeling of needing to vomit. Her brother had caught her eye, and there had been nothing there but remorse and fear. She vaguely wondered if it would have been easier if he had killed Dumbeldore like he was supposed to, but the knowledge that he couldn't did little to ease the ache in her chest.

A familiar looking woman passed through her line of sight, and Ember started when she realized it was her mother. Ayr Malfoy's mouth was pinched tightly in what Ember knew was simmering anger, and her cheeks were sallow. Her eyes seemed a little too big for her face, as if her skin had shrunk to sling to her bones, leaving her features too sharp and defined. Ember frowned, and her tears started anew at the idea of leaving her mother alone this summer.

She thought about her father – had Lucius Malfoy heard of Dumbledore's death by now? Was he rejoicing, either out of sincerity or obligation? Or had he had a change of heart, as Draco had? She sobbed noisily into George's shoulder as images of her dysfunctional, disjointed family floated through her mind, taunting her. George wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and held her to his side tightly.

When she was able to see clearly again, she watched as her mother deliberately leaned down and placed a kiss on Dumbledore's cold forehead. The image saddened Ember more than it sickened her, and she had the sudden urge to run to her mother's side and cry into her shoulder as she had when she was a child. When her mother turned, however, the urge left Ember as suddenly as it had come to her; her mother's eyes reminded her of her father's – cold, vacant, and apathetic. Ayr Malfoy walked back down the aisle, and disappeared without acknowledging her daughter's presence.

Ember was surprised when she felt her heart harden rather than shatter. The look in her mother's eyes had told Ember that her mother had made up her mind, and Ember wasn't sure she'd like the decision. Her mouth hurt as she set her lips to pull into a thin line of anger, and something cold reached inside of her to grip her gut. She shivered, earning an alarmed glance from George, and then the feeling passed.

Ember knew that Ayr Malfoy had let her bloodline choose her destiny, after all.

(xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)

Ember looked around her dorm room, wondering if it would be the last time she would see it. Hogwarts wouldn't be the same without Dumbledore. Hell - she didn't even know if Hogwarts would be safe without Dumbledore. She turned to face her Anna, Hermione and Ginny; the red-head's eyes were red, and Ember knew there was more there than Dumbledore's her trunk, and nodding, Ember led the way out of the dorm, stopping to glance around quickly before shutting the door behind her and her friends.

Fred, George and Ron waited for them in the common room, and Ember frowned when she noticed Harry's absence. A questioning look at the Weasley boys, returned with vacant stares, told Ember that they didn't know anymore than she did. With a resigned sigh, she gripped her trunk tighter and followed the boys out of the common room, and eventually out of the castle.

The seven Gryffindors climbed into one of the carriages pulled by the black thestrals. Ember vaguely wondered if Anna could see them now too, but said nothing, resting her head on George's shoulder and holding tightly to Fred's hand. As Ember watched the castle grow smaller with distance, she shivered with an odd walking-over-my-grave feeling. She blinked, and it passed just as quickly as it had gripped her. They boarded the train, and Ember looked out the window, feeling as if this were the last time she would see Hogwarts. She blew a kiss for some unknown reason. She settled back in her seat, and laughed cynically to herself as she realized she was kissing her innocence - everyone's innocence - goodbye.

The entire train was a silent and somber as their own compartment. Ember slept most of the way home, her dreams plagued with images of Dumbledore's lifeless body falling out of the Astronomy Tower. A cackling laugh echoed around her as she watched, and lightning that hadn't been there danced with the sound as if the laughter were thunder. She would wake up each time shaking, trying to brush off the blood that had been falling from the sky in her dream. She would sigh heavily as she readjusted her head on George's leg, and let her heavy eyes close again.

King's Cross Station was full of parents rushing to greet their children as soon as they had gotten off the bus. Ember noticed with dismay that there weren't nearly as many parents as there were at the end of her first five years; more students had been pulled from Hogwarts early than Ember had originally realized. Her friends seemed to notice this too; they huddled closer to each other, as if the closeness of each other was a way to remain safe.

"Is everyone ready?"

Ember looked up at George, who was looking around at the group of 'younger' students. As they all nodded, they circled around the two twins. Fred reached into his pocket and pulled out a small cup. Ember looked at him rather incredulously, and the boy rolled his eyes as he set it on the ground in the middle of their small circle. George cleared his throat and pointed his wand at the cup.

"Portus."

The cup glowed dimly for a moment, and then looked like a normal cup. Nodding to himself, George pocketed his wand and took the first step towards the cup. Ember took a breath and bravely joined him; to her knowledge, this was the first time George – or any of them, for that matter – had made a portkey rather than using one already made. She tried to settle her flipping stomach, and it helped a bit when Hermione was the next to step up.

"On the count of three," Fred mumbled to them. "One… two… three!"

The seven Gryffindors bent and placed a finger on the cup, which then seemed to suck the world away from under their feet. Ember's stomach immediately lurched into her throat, and it was all she could do to keep from vomiting. As suddenly as it had disappeared, the ground met Ember's feet with a sickening jolt, and she felt shaken to the core. She looked around in a daze, and relief washed over her when she saw the leaning Burrow not too far away from her. She let out a soft noise of appreciation, and was the first of her friends to make her way across the field towards the house.

Mrs. Weasley was waiting when they walked up the pathway, and past the garden, to the house. She hugged them all in turn before allowing them in. Mr. Weasley was already sitting at the table eating dinner, along with Bill and Fleur, whose wedding was coming up this summer - so George and Fred and said. Ember immediately felt at home; it was more homey than the manor, and ten times as welcoming.

"I've made some stew, why don't you all go up and put your bags away, and I'll dish you up."

Mrs. Weasley's familiar comment – as laden with sadness as it was – comforted Ember; in fact, it seemed to have an effect on them all. The boys began carrying on about who had to help their mother with the dishes, and the girls immediately bolted up the stairs. Ember followed Anna up to the room they would be sharing - across the hall from Fred and George, and down the hall from the room Ginny and Hermione would be sharing. She put her trunk by the foot of her bed, frowning as she thought that it looked a bit out of place anywhere other than her dorm room at Hogwarts. She sighed softly, following Anna out of their room. She almost smiled when George and Fred left their room, and she let them pull her into their arms. She could have stayed like that for hours, if Ron hadn't come by and cleared his throat, shooting them all an inquisitive glance. Ember found that she still had the energy to blush, and followed the boys down to the kitchen.

The stew smelled great, and tasted even better. She looked around, glad to be in a welcoming environment, but noticed how odd it felt without Harry there. She wondered after him, but lifted her spirits slightly by knowing they'd see him soon, whether he liked it or not. By the time she had finished her stew, her appetite had come back so much that she allowed Mrs. Weasley to serve her a second bowl. Ember watched in slight amusement as hunger seemed to become everyone's priority. Everyone, that was, except Fleur. The French pastry had herself plastered all over Bill, mumbling with pretty words about their upcoming nuptials.

Ember felt like throwing something at Fleur. Didn't she know that one of the greatest wizards ever had just been murdered? Not to mention by one of his trusted friends. She thought maybe Fleur's brain needed a higher resolution to see the big pictures. Halfway through her second bowl of stew, she pushed it away from her, sinking down into her chair and crossing her arms. Her stomach cramped on itself, and she suddenly felt as if she was going to be sick. A sudden paranoia overwhelmed her - if Hogwarts, the safest place in history wasn't safe anymore... Where was? The Burrow had been attacked before... She swallowed the lump and slid her hand into George's.

"Thank you for the stew, Mrs. Weasley," She smiled softly. "It hit the spot." And bore a hole in my gut, but she left that part out.

The compliment fell on deaf ears; Mrs. Weasley was staring through lowered lids at Fleur, who was caressing the air with her hand as she spoke with Bill. As soon as she noticed the scowl, Ember tensed; it seemed like the warmth left the room whenever Mrs. Weasley got angry.

"A great wizard has just died."

Fleur fixed Molly Weasley with a dead stare, her blue eyes wide and innocent. Her face formed into a pout that was half seductive and half ridiculous. Fleur placed her hand lightly on Bill's shoulder, and flicked her hair over her shoulder.

"I know zat," Fleur crooned in her accent. "I was just tryeeng to help left everyone's spirits after zees 'orrible tragedy."

The girl then batted her eyelashes at an unimpressed Mrs. Weasley. Bill was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, and Fred and George were wagging their eyebrows at each other. Ember shot them a scowl and kicked them both under the table. That was when she noticed that Ron's eyes were glazed over as he stared at the blonde. Ember thought she saw drool sliding down his chin, but it may have been her imagination cracking under the pressure of the past few days. She couldn't help it - she reached over and swatted Ron's shoulder, leaning towards his ear.

"Clean your drool up or I'll snog both your brothers tonight," She hissed.

She stood from the table, shooting a glare at Fleur, and walked outside the Burrow. The air was refreshing, cool against her skin. It cleared her mind, and for the first time in what seemed like ages, she was at peace. She let her knees give out from under her, and sat harshly on the stoop of the Burrow. She heard someone come out behind her, and she turned to look at Ginny. The red-head sat beside her, taking one of Ember's hand in her own before sighing softly into the wind.

"Where do you think he is?" She asked softly; Ember frowned and scanned the horizon.

"Somewhere close," She nodded. "He wouldn't leave without checking up his girl." She smiled softly at Ginny and nudged her shoulder.

"What do we do now?" The redhead asked.

Ember frowned and let her eyes drop to her feet. She put her head in her hands and shook it.

"I don't know anymore."

Ember accepted Ginny's hug, and the two girls sat outside a few moments longer. The wind carried a certain chill with it that was unusual for late Spring, and it drove the girls inside before too long. She debated sleeping in Fred and George's room, but didn't know how well that would go over with Mama Bear. Mrs. Weasley glared at Fleur whenever she so much as glanced at Bill. Then again, Ember wasn't a French horn with no tune. She cynically laughed at herself, and carried herself into the house, climbing up the stair to the bedroom. She looked at Anna, who was tossing on the bed, looking both frustrated and determined.

"What's up?"

Before Anna could answer her, they heard the beginnings of an argument downstairs. The girls listened to the thundering footsteps as the other children ran upstairs and into the small bedroom. Anna and Ember exchanged curious glances, but both knew that the only thing to do when Mrs. Weasley got angry was run, and run fast. Without saying a word, Ember slid over into George's lap as he sat down, placing her feet in Fred's. Hermione sat with her legs crossed at the foot of the bed, and Ginny pushed Anna over to lie next to her on the other bed. Ember vaguely wondered where Ron was, and then sighed, feeling useless.

"We've got to come up with a plan," She mumbled, more to herself than the other. "Some plan. Any plan."

"Well…" They all looked to Anna as she spoke up, picking at her jeans as she sat up. "I'm going to be looking for Draco this summer at Malfoy Manor." They all looked at her incredulously, but she pressed on. "Lucius will probably have returned, but I don't care – I can't let them have him. Not now that I've seen there's some good in him."

Ember scowled, but said nothing. She felt George and Fred tense under her, and Ginny immediately began whispering angry words to Anna. The girl's face didn't fall; Ember was surprised to see soft, angry lines forming as Anna's determination wrote itself across her features.

"He's nothing but a stuck up follower," Fred mumbled.

"A good-for-nothing scum bag," George agreed.

Ember listened silently as they berated him, and said nothing. He was a good-for-nothing scum bag. He had hurt Anna, pushed her away. But he was her brother, and he had finally let Anna in - trusted her. Didn't that count for something? She looked over at Hermione, who seemed to be having the same internal battle that she was having. Anna was chewing nervously on her lip, but she still looked determined. Ember sighed and almost shook her head at herself – she couldn't believe she was doing this.

"…ferret breath to take over the world," Fred scoffed.

"He'll kill us as soon as look at us," George concurred.

"I think we should go with her," Ember mumbled, receiving stares from the twins. She raised her chin up and scowled. "I don't like him anymore than you, and he's my brother. But Anna sees something, and she's going, and I think we should too. Draco probably knows about Voldemort's plans - we could help Harry! And we can't split up - the wizard world is going to be tearing itself up over Dumbledore's death - which is what Voldemort wanted. We can't split up."

Her reasoning had fallen on deaf ears. She looked up to see Anna, who was gritting her teeth and working her jaw. She fixed the twins with a scowl worthy of the Malfoy name, and crossed her arms dangerously over her chest.

"That good-for-nothing could have killed Dumbledore," She hissed. "But he didn't. I know, I know – he cursed Katie Bell, made Harry's year hell, poisoned Ron, and can be downright insufferable. I didn't see that in the Astronomy Tower, though. I saw someone who was just like us – scared, alone, and who didn't want to do what he had to do. He actually acted – if only for a second – like he cared. I can't just ignore that – I can't let the hope that he's human slip through my fingers. I know everyone hates him – you all have a reason to. For that reason, I'll go – alone."

"You're such a romantic," Ginny rolled her eyes. "It's becoming a troublesome flaw."

"You can't go alone, Anna," Hermione muttered. "It's too dangerous."

Ember rolled her eyes. "You and Harry must have been separated at birth or something."

She leaned back into George's chest, nodding as Ron walked into the room, sitting on the floor by Hermione's feet.

"What's going on down there?" Anna asked, and Ron grimaced.

"Fleur's calling mum a wicked witch and mum's calling Fleur an insensitive bag of hot air. What did I miss?"

Ember rolled her eyes and pointed at Anna.

"Little Miss Vigilante wants to go to Malfoy Manor this summer. Alone. George and Fred are being insufferable prats, pointing out flaws that Miss Rosey Glasses can't swallow, and now we're waiting for her to realize that we're going to come with her whether she wants us to or not." She gave Ron a look: one word against me and I'll rip your tongue out. She swatted Fred as he started rubbing the arches of her feet. "I can't be determined when you're massaging my feet, nit."

The weight of her own words settled on her shoulders, and Ember had a moment to appreciate the irony of sneaking into her own house. All she would have to do was march into her house, grab Draco by his hair, and drag him out. However, the idea of seeing her father made her stomach turn sour, and her mother's cold ignorance at Dumbledore's funeral made Ember's blood run cold with bitterness. She would do this as destructively as possible, if only to spite her family which had done so much to spite her. She was pulled out of her reverie when Anna sighed in resignation.

"How do we get there?"

Ember frowned, and then Ron lit up, looking wildly around the room.

"The car!"

George and Fred rolled their eyes. "It's broken," They observed together.

Ron glared and then pointed. "I'm sure Hermione knows a spell that can fix it up, and you two can drive, so one of you will do it! It's brilliant - no one will notice it missing, because everyone thinks it's broken."

Ember lifted an eyebrow - it was a surprisingly good plan.

"It'll be a tight fit," Hermione mused. "But I'm sure I could slip a spell in there to make the inside mgically more roomy. That's the least of my troubles, when I'm helping you steal your parents' car - again."

Ron snorted at Hermione, but nothing was taking the light out of his eyes. Ember nodded, her lips pulled into a tight line as she began mapping the route to her house from the Burrow. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Good. We leave tonight when everyone's in bed. For now, we're doing nothing but getting ready for bed, so... off to bed with you then."

Everyone stood up, making a rather noisy show of moving through rooms to get to their beds. Ember suddenly grinned as she watched them leave the room; it felt good to be doing something useful again. She and Anna fell back onto their beds, not bothering to change into their night robes, knowing that they'd only be changing again soon. Ember heard Anna's sigh and the sound of the bed creaking as her friend rolled over. Ember frowned and stared at the ceiling.

Returning to Malfoy Manor had once been a joyous occasion to Ember – and to her twin brother. She remembered the countless cranes they had charmed to each other on the train rides home, gushing about new hiding places to explore and old staff to torture. They had, in all truth, been rotten children, but they had begun to outgrow until their father revealed he had been at Voldemort's side.

Perhaps it was the news that had began to drive Ember and Draco apart; their mourning methods had been different, naturally. Ember, in the end, and kept with her original disdain of blood status, taking after her mother. Draco had grown to think like his father – he was of the noble blood, and felt he was entitled to special treatment because there were no muggles in his blood line.

The twins had grown distant, but hadn't quite grown hostile. It wasn't until the summer before her sixth year that Draco had begun spitting hateful words to her, slapping her if he felt she overstepped her bounds or forgot her place. Her cheek stung with the memory of his first slap, and then she realized it was the angry tears that were leaking from her eyes.

And her mother, Ember scowled silently. Her mother – sweet, caring Ayr Malfoy – was acting as cold and distant as her father. It almost stunned her into stupidity, but she told herself that it wasn't so surprising, after all. She didn't know the reasons behind her, but her mother had joined the dark side of the war with her family – excluding Ember, of course. Her fists clenched as she thought of her mother's corruption. Ayr Malfoy was supposed to be the voice of reason in her family – now, she had no voice of her own at all.

"I'm glad you were right," Was all she could think of to say to Anna. "About him not going through with it."

Anna said nothing, and the girls waiting together in silence, as they had grown so used to doing.