Chapter 12 - Black Roses
A faint knock sounded against Professor Snape's office door.
"Enter," was the simple reply. The teacher sounded depressed, almost wistful, as a timid student entered the dark room.
"Professor Snape? I know who killed Harry," a girl's voice sounded. Abby was not her usual perky self as she spoke to her least favorite teacher. She should have gone to the Gryffindor Head of House first, but Professor Snape would have direct access to the culprit.
The black leather chair spun around, and a ghastly white face shot a look of death at the smallish girl who was trying not to cower in the corner. "You what?" Snape queried.
"I know who killed Harry Potter, sir. It was Draco Malfoy."
"And how would you know that, young Hufflepuff?"
But before Snape had finished asking his question, Abby had fled the dark room in fright, afraid of what Snape might do next. It was time for Snape to do some questioning of his own.
Draco sat in a corner of the Slytherin common room alone. After the night of the dance he hadn't talked to anybody, even the boys he conversed with every day. He had entered a downward spiral of depression, and he wasn't sure he could control the spinning at all. Before Draco had a chance to do any harm to himself, he felt a dark shadow fall over his chair.
"A word, Mr. Malfoy."
Draco knew he had to listen this time. Whenever Snape used that tone of voice, Draco knew he was deadly serious. He silently followed his professor into his office, almost like a well-trained dog follows its master, and stood until Snape demanded his student to sit and explain his actions.
"What were you thinking, Mr. Malfoy? Do you know how serious your actions were?"
Draco started to slightly stammer, but quickly gained his confidence back, feeling certain that he had not caused the death of Harry Potter.
"Well, uh, you see sir, Potter's death was not entirely my fault." He knew his first response sounded lame, but it was the first thing he thought of saying. Draco still could not stop thinking of Abby, and now that Harry was gone, Draco could have her all for himself.
"Please explain yourself," came the response from the teacher.
"I was jealous of him, so I had to change things around a little."
"Well, you do know that many people are jealous of our little celebrity, but there is nothing you can do to change his status in our school. You know, as well as I, that Potter sits on his own pedestal here, much to our dismay." Snape added a sneer to this last statement.
"Well, you see, sir…"
"It's a girl, isn't it?"
A small sigh escaped the blond. How did Snape know he was in love? "Yes. But here's the bad thing – She's only a third year, and she's not even a pureblood! The Malfoy name will be tainted and I don't even care."
"Are you sure you're really in love, Draco?" Snape looked at his student pointedly.
"Yes, I'm sure. Ever since the day I knocked her over in the stairway I saw something special in her. I don't know what it is, but whenever I look at her, I want her for myself. Maybe it's jealousy; maybe it's something else. I'm so confused by it all. I don't know what to do!"
"Well, don't look at me. What do you expect me to do about your problem, Mr. Malfoy?"
Unable to get any help from his teacher, Draco stormed out of the office to try to find someone who would listen to him. He ran down the list in his mind – Crabbe and Goyle? No, too stupid to understand anything more complex than a lumos spell. Hermione and Ron? Why the hell would they want to talk to him? He had just killed their best friend. Abby? He figured that Abby was his best shot, even if she didn't want to talk to him, he could cast a silencing spell and make her listen to all he had to say. Finally having a plan, Draco took off in hopes of finding Abby.
He didn't have to look very hard to find her. She was sitting quietly in a corner of the main foyer, periodically glancing up to the ceiling.
"Hey!"
The sudden noise had startled the girl.
"Oh, it's you. What do you want with me now?" Abby mumbled, still feeling depressed.
"Listen, I don't do this often, but follow me. I want to talk to you."
"Why should I? You're probably going to push me down the stairs or kill me or something."
"No. Nothing like that. Just come with me or I'll have to use a Silencio on you."
"I'll tell Dumbledore you were threatening me and you'll be in lots of trouble."
"Bah, that old windbag, I don't care about him. Look, just follow me or there will be trouble." Draco proceeded to grab Abby's arm and drag her out of the castle, despite her attempts to free herself, to one of the empty grassy fields surrounding the castle.
Draco knew that if Abby wasn't convinced by what he was about to say that he would be the newest laughing stock at Hogwart's. Nevertheless, he began his explanation.
"I didn't mean to do it."
"Do what, the great mummy fiasco?"
Draco was slightly surprised at how bitter she was; almost like him in a strange way.
"If that's what you wish to call it, yes. I didn't want to kill Potter. I just wanted to hurt him somehow."
"Oh really? It didn't seem that way as it was happening. Hermione told me everything."
"You really believe everything that bushy haired bookworm tells you?"
"Yes, I do. She's my friend, unlike you." Draco jumped a little at this last statement. "You're nothing more than a bully. All you do is beat on other people who have something that you want."
"But I want you, Abby. I love you. I wanted Potter out of the picture so I could have you for myself."
This was obviously the wrong thing for Draco to say, since it caused Abby to burst into tears. He tried to awkwardly comfort her, but she pushed him away in disgust. As she turned away to run inside and escape this nightmare, a small spark was seen coming from Dumbledore's office. All of the property of Hogwart's had turned either a shade of gray or black – the funeral service was about to begin.
Abby didn't have any time to prepare herself for the service, which was held in the Great Hall. All of the tables had been cleared, and Harry's serene body had been placed on top of a handsome carved stone table in the middle of the room. Small groups of students were scattered throughout the room, and the entire faculty sat in a row along the shorter side of the room, close to where Harry's head rested. Abby was panting as she crept into the almost silent room. She spotted Ron and Hermione almost immediately and hurried to join them.
"This is terrible," Abby began.
"Tell me about it. I just lost my best friend," Ron mumbled, almost crying again.
"No, Ron. That's not what I meant. Draco just had me outside."
"What did that creep want with you? You're too good for him," Hermione said.
"He told me he loved me. That's when I ran. I don't want anything to do with that jerk."
"Good idea," Ron said. "He's not worth it. You've got friends here."
The room silenced as Dumbledore rose to say a few words.
"As you all know, our school has suffered a great loss in the past few days. This is not the place for a lengthy speech of rules and reminders, so I will try to keep it short. Instead of remembering the shortcomings and constant absence in our lives," he paused to wait for the sniggering Slytherins to silence themselves, "we need to focus on the good memories of Mr. Potter." Hermione and Ron began weeping together again at the mention of their friend's name.
Dumbledore continued his speech, "There are too many memories to list them all right now, but just take a moment to remember your favorite thing about our former student, and concentrate on sending it to another person in the room." He then muttered something under his breath, and slowly, as people thought, the room began filling with smoky images of Harry and various other people in his life. Abby glanced up as she thought, and was the first student to notice the images. Quickly the others began noticing the smoky wisps of thought and a hushed whisper filled the room as they reminded each other of the different events in Harry's time at Hogwart's.
After a short time, Dumbledore stood up, having taken a seat to watch the memories dance across the room. "Since we will have to send Harry back to Little Whinging, to his aunt and uncle's house, we must say good bye here. We will form a line for any of those who wish to bid farewell to Mr. Potter. Those in the back may file forward first, and staff members and those students who wish to remain," he looked at Ron and Hermione, "will be among the last to pay their regards."
As everybody filed out of the vast room, some of the Gryffindor girls began to weep. There almost seemed to be a fan club for the fallen legend at the school. Abby and Hermione followed Ron past the raised dais. The two girls were the last students to exit the Great Hall. On their way up to the table, Hermione had transfigured two tissues into roses so the girls could leave Harry something to remember them by. Eventually, standing in front of her long-time best friend, the stress grew too big for Hermione to handle. She placed her flower in between Harry's hands, not noticing the black rose that was already there, and ran out of the room. Professor McGonagall, who had recovered from her fainting spell, accompanied her favorite student out to comfort her.
After watching her friend leave, Abby turned back to the boy she loved. Carefully leaning over his body, she put her flower right next to Hermione's, but frightfully noticed the black rose. She glanced over her shoulder in fear just as Dumbledore was approaching the dais to stand next to her. He could tell by the expression on her face that she wanted to ask him something. The wizened professor answered her question without hearing it first.
"The flower in question was put there by none other than Draco Malfoy. I suspect that his actions surprised even him. I'm sure he will come to realize the severity of what he has done."
He continued after taking a deep breath, "Harry is in a better place now. Let him go and maybe someday you will be reunited with him again." The elderly teacher shuffled out of the large room leaving Abby by herself with her friend's body. All she could do was sit on the edge of the dais and cry.
