Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 37

It was hard to say how long I sat in the grass and cried into the person that was holding me close to their chest. Time seemed to stop around me and nothing else in the world mattered than the shattered feeling that I had inside of me. It was like every nightmare I had just played out in front of my eyes and I just couldn't escape it. The worst part of it all is that I knew that it was all real and there would be no waking up into the sane world that I had known only one day before all of this.

When the tears finally stopped flowing down my face, I began to feel numbness as I settled myself. Sounds around me finally came to my ears that made me realize that several more people had come down toward us since I had collapsed. There were quiet, almost inaudible words exchanged between them, but I couldn't bring myself to care about what was said.

"Yer gonna need ter get out of here," I heard Hagrid's distinct voice rise above the others. "It isn't safe ter stick around."

There were murmurs of agreement around the group that stood near me. Finally, I decided that it would be best to raise my head and face the reality of the world around me. Even though every ounce of me just wanted to lie down on the grass and never get up, I knew there would be no way that anyone would allow me to do that.

When I finally did start moving, I noticed that the person that had been holding me in an embrace was George Weasley. I didn't say a word to him as he helped me off of the ground as he continued to give me a concerned look as if I was going to fall down again at any minute and lose my mind.

After I was up and began to walk back toward the castle in my zombie-like state, I noticed that he was not the only one that was looking at me like that. The crowd around, which consisted of Ron and Hermione on Harry's side and George and Hagrid next to me, all seemed to have their eyes fixed on either Harry or me.

We both ignored all of them as we stepped closer to the castle and noticed a crowd gathering around the other side. As soon as I saw it, my heart dropped once more when I realized what must have been the cause of it all. Dumbledore must have landed there and people were just now finding out what happened to him.

"What's going on up there?" Hagrid asked.

It took me a moment to realize that we hadn't told them what happened to our headmaster. Through the mix of it all and the pain we were already going through, we must have forgotten to share the news. No wonder they were all looking at us like we were mad – they had no idea what was happening.

Part of me wanted to tell them myself what happened, but the words just wouldn't come out of my mouth. I wasn't able to speak aloud and I couldn't give them any sort of warning about what they were about to witness.

When we reached the crowd, we had no trouble making our way through all of the people who had just discovered the news. Shock, tears, and confusion were on everyone's faces. As soon as our group made it to the front, it dawned on our companions who had been killed that day.

Seeing Dumbledore's limp body on the ground made me ill and I had to fight the urge to flee from the area so I could suffer by myself once again. No one managed to form a single word when they saw the evidence of what had happened. Dumbledore was dead. It was not a trick, not an illusion of the eyes and there was nothing that could erase this image from our minds.

It took a few moments for Hagrid to look back toward Harry and me with tears in his eyes and a sudden realization that we must have known the cause of all of this before we ran out of the castle.

"How did this happen?" he asked in almost a whisper.

"Snape killed him," Harry said. "We saw it happen."

It was almost a reflex that every part of me seemed to cringe at the sound of Snape's name. The image of what had happened in the Astronomy Tower flashed through my brain again and I felt myself become even number than I had before.

I was not the only one that had a strong reaction from the words that came out of Harry's mouth. Everyone in the surrounding area heard what he said and his voice seemed to echo forever in my head. There was a panicked murmur around and I immediately felt the eyes of our companions flicker toward me when they comprehended what he said.

I guess that my breakdown in the field was slowly beginning to make more sense to them.

When Professor McGonagall entered the clearing with a solemn expression, everyone seemed to make room for her to observe what had happened. She stepped next to Dumbledore's body and kneeled by his side with her hand brought up to her mouth to silence herself. When she turned her head toward ours, there was a deep pain in her eyes that seemed to match all of ours.

"Hagrid, will you clear the area?" she asked him in a strangled tone. "The Potters need to be brought to the hospital wing – Weasley and Granger as well."

"We aren't hurt," Harry spoke up.

"Do as I ask," she demanded.

Without another attempt at protest, Hagrid began to tell everyone who didn't need to be there to get out of the area. George grabbed onto my arm and helped me to move toward the entrance of the castle, but my eyes could hardly be brought away from Dumbledore's corpse lying on the ground.

Not knowing what was going to happen next, I walked along with the others toward the hospital wing without a sound and hardly acknowledging anyone's presence there. When we made it into the room, I noticed that we were not the only ones that had been sent to the hospital wing. There, alongside Madame Pomfrey, stood the Weasley family and Fleur all around Bill.

"What's happened?" Harry asked in shock.

"He was attacked by Greyback," Ginny answered her boyfriend.

"Does that mean that he's…?" Harry began.

She didn't answer, but went incredibly pale. There was uncertainty with everyone in the family and George seemed to be clutching onto my arm rather tightly as he looked ahead at his older brother. It wasn't until he looked down and noticed that he was doing this that he let go and walked toward the hospital bed next to his mother.

While George stepped over to talk to his family, I noticed that Neville was sitting in the bed on the far side of the room and I decided to go join him. When I got there, he sat up more firmly as I took a spot next to him on the side of the bed. Up close, I noticed that he was bruised and cut up pretty badly and was wearing a cast around his arm.

"Are you all right?" I asked him quietly.

"I'm fine," Neville said. "I was just thrown around a bit – it's nothing to worry about."

I nodded and he gave me a weak smile. It didn't take him long to notice that there was something off and I knew that he would expect me to answer, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to without having another break down.

"Emily…" he started. "I saw you chasing after the Death Eaters earlier…and Snape was with them…"

I nodded again and hung my head as I looked toward my feet to avoid his eyes.

"Why was he with them?" he whispered.

It took me a moment to say anything, but I practically choked it out when I said the words aloud. It was one thing hearing the retelling from Harry, but actually saying the words aloud was nearly impossible to do.

"He has been helping them all along," I said in a hardly audible tone. "Neville…he killed Dumbledore…I-I saw him do it…"

With that, I couldn't hold back anymore and I felt the tears began to form in my eyes once more. Despite his fragile situation, Neville moved over toward me and pulled me toward him in an embrace. He didn't ask me to explain any further as he tried to hide the shock on himself and try to comfort me instead.

"I just don't understand," I cried softly. "I thought that I could trust him…I thought that he was different than what everyone else said he was.

"I know you did," he murmured. "I'm so sorry."

"Now I guess that everyone else is right," I whispered.

"No one knew that this was going to happen, Emily," he said. "Even if we weren't fond of him, we never could have thought this was going to happen in the end."

"Draco was there too, you know?" I murmured. "He was the one that was supposed to kill Dumbledore."

Neville closed his eyes and let out a small sigh before looking down at me with the most pitiful look on his face. Out of anyone I could talk to about this, Neville would be the only person that would understand the full extent of how upset this made me. He was the only one that wouldn't criticize me.

"He brought all of the Death Eaters here," I murmured. "But he couldn't do it – he couldn't kill Dumbledore."

"So Snape came in to finish the job," Neville said.

I nodded as I saw the image of the light leaving Dumbledore's eyes once more and every ounce of hope and faith draining from me. I blinked quickly to get it out of my head and let the feeling of numbness to take over again.

I wiped away the tears that had fallen from my eyes and sat back away from Neville and looked toward the door to the hospital wing as I noticed a couple of people walking through the door. Much to my shock, it happened to be Lupin and Tonks.

"We just heard the news from Minerva," Lupin announced as he closed the room to the hospital wing behind him.

"How is everyone else?" Tonks asked. "Was anyone else hurt?"

"Some were injured," Madam Pomfrey said. "But there haven't been any more reports of death."

Tonks nodded and then joined the group around Bill. Shortly afterwards, I decided to step over there to see what was going on. When I did, I took Neville's hand and brought him over with me without even thinking about why I was doing it. By the time I got over there, Harry was explaining the story of what happened in the Astronomy Tower.

"We saw Snape making his way up there," Hermione said in a horrified tone. "He told us that we had to go help out on a different floor – he must have been trying to get us out of the area…"

"The Death Eaters were up in the room before he was," Harry explained with his head hanging low. "Malfoy was the first of them to appear."

"Malfoy?" Lupin asked. "I thought that he was in Azkaban?"

"Draco Malfoy," I corrected softly as I held on tighter to Neville's hand. "He was the one that let them into the castle through the Room of Requirement."

"The Room of Requirement?" Tonks asked. "But how?"

"It was a Vanishing Cabinet," I murmured. "Its twin was in Borgin and Burkes."

When Bill started to groan in pain in his bed, everyone's attention returned to him as Madam Pomfrey walked over toward him with a potion for him in her hands. After he drank the entire vial, he laid still once more and fell back to sleep. Despite the cuts on his face, he didn't seem to be in pain.

"Do you think that he'll…change now?" Fred asked as he looked ahead at his brother.

Everyone looked toward Madam Pomfrey for an answer, but she seemed unable to come up with a sure answer for the question that we all had running through our minds.

"I was told that Greyback wasn't transformed when he attacked," Madam Pomfrey said. "It's difficult to tell what is going to happen to him right now."

"I doubt that he will become a true werewolf," Lupin said. "But it might effect him in other ways, but the cursed wounds will most likely remain due to contamination."

Mrs. Weasley started to cry next to her son and her husband stepped over and held her to him with a pained expression on his face. Then, Fleur stood up from where she was standing and looked at all of us.

"You are all acting as though he 'as died," Fleur said. "Bill vill recover and ve vill all be there to love him even if he becomes a verewolf! It makes no difference! Ve vill still be wed and ve vill all love 'im ze very same!"

Everyone began to nod and tried to not look as though we were mourning for Bill. After all, she still did have a point. Even though Bill's life would most likely never be the same, it didn't mean that we should treat him any differently than we had before. He would still be the same man that he was before and no curse could make any difference. With all of that said, Tonks made a pointed look at Lupin and my father's old friend held his head down as she began to speak to him.

"Do you here that, Remus?" she asked him in a strained tone. "You act as though I am ridiculous for accepting you the way you are, yet I am not the only one that thinks like this. Can't you see that it doesn't matter to anyone that you are different?"

Suddenly a new sort of confusion washed over me. What was Tonks going on about? Why was she suddenly so angry at Lupin?

"His situation is different," Lupin sighed. "I am dangerous where he has a chance to lead out a normal life."

"And so do you," Tonks said. "Can't you just accept that I love you even as a werewolf?"

It felt like I had just been hit with a brick as those words came tumbling out of her mouth. Suddenly her entire attitude since the summer all began to make sense – she was in love with Lupin. And, judging by the path of the conversation, he was afraid to make anything of it because of he thought he was too dangerous to be around.

Just as Lupin went to say something else, the doors to the hospital wing opened up once more and Professor McGonagall and Hagrid came walking through to see us all. Although McGonagall seemed to be attempting to keep herself composed, it was no mystery that she was as distraught as everyone else. Hagrid, on the other hand, didn't hold anything back as he blew his nose into a rag as he continued to cry.

"We have moved him out of sight until we can have a funeral for him," McGonagall announced to us in a shaky tone. "The Ministry has been informed of the situation, but I am keeping the children here under supervision until further notice."

"When are we going to be able to have the funeral?" Lupin asked.

"Soon, but not until everything has been sorted out," McGonagall said just before she turned to Harry and me. "On a different note, I wish to speak to one of you two shortly."

My heart sank when I realized that we were going to have to go through it all again. She was going to want to know every detail of what happened so that she would be able to inform the Ministry and I wasn't sure if I was ready to relive what happened all over again. With a look from Harry, I could tell that he was in the same position.

"I can come with you," Harry said to her while his eyes flickered over toward me.

"Harry, you don't have to – " I started.

The look he gave me said everything that he was thinking and it was no mystery to me why he wanted to take over for me. He didn't want to talk about it any more than I did, but he was right. It wasn't that likely that I would be able to tell all of the details without losing my mind again. While Harry was just as effected by the loss of Dumbledore, he knew that my mind wasn't in the right place because of two certain people that were involved in the scenario. In a sense, I knew that Harry was just trying to help me.

"Just try to get some sleep," Harry said as he walked over toward Neville and me.

I nodded and let go of Neville's hand so I could hug Harry. Harry held onto me tightly and I tried to not let myself start crying again – I had already cried so much tonight that I wasn't even sure if another tear was possible.

"I'm sorry, Emily," Harry said so only I could hear. "I know how much he meant to you."

"Well, maybe if I had listened to you before then none of this would have happened," I murmured. "It was my fault for trusting him – I should have known better."

He pulled out of the hug and looked at me with pain in his eyes. Everyone else in the room carried on a separate conversation to give us some time to speak, but it wouldn't have mattered to me if they listened in anyway.

"This isn't your fault for trusting him," Harry said honestly. "You know that I didn't like him, but I expected this as much as you did."

"You said yourself that he had no reason to be trusted," I said.

"That doesn't mean that I thought he would go off and do what he did," he said. "Both you and Dumbledore trusted him and I thought that meant something – even if I didn't like the idea of it all."

"I thought it meant something too," I whispered. "I thought I meant something to him…but I was wrong…"

"You weren't the only one he tricked," Harry said. "He had a lot of people fooled."

I nodded and had no idea what to say after that. He squeezed onto one of my hands and then sighed as he looked over to McGonagall, who was currently consoling a blubbering Hagrid. When he stepped over toward her, they both exchanged a few words before leaving the room to discuss what needed to be discussed.

"I do not mean to be rude," Madam Pomfrey sighed. "But I do believe I need to allow my patients to get some rest."

There was a small murmur amongst the group as they all began to move around to make their way toward the exit. Neville was shooed back to his bed and, shortly afterwards, I began to start my walk toward the door.

"Miss Potter, where do you think you're going?" Madam Pomfrey asked when she noticed me leaving.

"You asked everyone to – " I started.

"I asked those who were not patients to leave," she interrupted. "I was informed that you are to stay in the hospital wing and get some rest."

"I was not injured," I explained to her.

"Physical injuries are not the only type, Miss Potter," she said. "Now chose a bed and I will bring you some medication."

Part of me wanted to just leave the hospital wing regardless of her insistence, but I didn't know where else I could go. If I went back to the dormitory to my bed, I would be bombarded with questions from other students and there would be no way I would ever get any rest. Then again, with everything that was going through my mind, I doubted that sleep was going to come easily tonight.

When Madam Pomfrey returned, she pointed at the closest bed I was standing next to and handed over a vial of Dreamless Sleeping potion and another one that contained Sleeping Draught.

"Please, take these," she said to me.

"I'm not sure if I can sleep right now," I said.

"Miss Potter, I have been trained to recognize when a person is in need of help," she stated. "And I do believe that I am right in saying that you have been severally traumatized by the events of this day and, as a medical professional, I am telling you that you need to sleep."

Not feeling the need to argue any further, I took both vials away from her and drank the amount required before lying down in the bed that I was standing next to. Looking satisfied with herself, she stepped back into her office to return the vials that she was holding.

Just when I began to wonder how long it would take for these potions to take effect, the room around me suddenly began to go out of focus as I fell against the pillow and every thought seemed to leave my brain.

…

It seemed centuries had passed by before I found myself conscious once more. In reality, it was only the morning after I had fallen asleep, but everything seemed peaceful at first because of my needed sleep.

There were only a few moments of peace that remained in my head before the events of the previous day flooded into my memory.

When I sat up to see what was going on in the room, I noticed that I had fallen asleep in two beds away from Neville, who was still fast asleep in his bed. When I looked to the other side, I saw Bill's mutilated face sitting closer to the nurse's office before I noticed that Harry was walking around the room.

I didn't speak to him at first because I was still in pain from having the memories of the night come back to me so vividly. I just had a small ounce of hope that it had all been a horrible nightmare. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be the case.

When my brother noticed that he was not the only one awake, he turned toward me and revealed that he had a locket in his hand. It was when he turned to face me that I realized how pale and sick he looked in the face.

"It wasn't the real Horcrux," Harry said as he walked up toward me.

My mind came to reality and I looked over to my brother with confusion. He stepped over toward my bed with the locket held in one hand and a note that he had pulled from it in the other. When he handed the parchment over to me, I unfolded it and read what the note said inside:

To the Dark Lord:

I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I wanted you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.

I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more.

R.A.B.

"It was all for nothing," Harry murmured hopelessly.

"Do you really think so?" I asked. "It may not have been the real Horcrux, but that doesn't mean that it was worthless."

"But what are we supposed to do now?" he asked shakily. "Dumbledore's gone…I don't know what to do anymore."

"We're going to look for the rest of them," I told him.

"Where would we even start?" he asked.

"Looking for that locket," I said. "Find out who R.A.B. was."

"I don't know if we can – " he started.

"We're going to be able to do it," I said firmly. "It might take a while and we'll probably go mad looking for them all, but we have to. Otherwise Dumbledore died for nothing and Voldemort wins – is that what you want?"

"Of course I don't – " he said angrily.

"Then stop telling me how difficult this is going to be," I said. "We have to finish what Dumbledore started – that's what he would have wanted us to do. That's what he's been preparing us for all this year."

It wasn't going to be an easy task for us to do, but we were going to have to search for the Horcruxes that were keeping Voldemort moving around. From our meetings with Dumbledore, we could try to figure out where and what he would use to keep bits of his soul in, but we couldn't stop until Voldemort was brought down. Even if we didn't succeed, I was going to make sure that I destroyed every piece I possibly could of Voldemort on my way out.

We just couldn't let Voldemort think he won because Dumbledore was gone.

Thanks for reading – I apologize for it being late! Since I was so late with this one, I'm going to try to have another one up while I'm on Thanksgiving Break to make up for how long it took me to get this one up. The next chapter might end up being the final chapter of this book, but there is a chance that there might be two more – I'm not entirely sure at the moment. So, until then, have a great holiday (and if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, then have a great day!)

By the way, a lot of people are asking if I plan on continuing into the Deathly Hallows and, if you didn't know already, I am planning on finishing up the series. However, I might be changing things around a bit with the way that Emily travels so it doesn't end up being the same events that Harry goes through so I can keep it interesting. I already have a plan in mind for what I'm going to do with that and I hope that you all will enjoy it!

If you have any questions or comments that you don't wish to put in a review, feel free to contact me on here or through the following social networks.

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