Next morning, Amy awoke feeling awful. She sat up in bed a moment,

then remembered. Hugging her knees to her chest and rocked back and

forth for a moment, before finally drawing a deep breath and getting

dressed. After waiting for Claudia, she walked down to breakfast,

neither saying a word. They were just as subdued as they sat down in

their usual spot, Claudia eating slower than usual and Amy just

picking at her food, a far-away look about her.

"Amy," said Claudia, "Aren't you going to eat anything? You'll need

your strength today."

"I know, I know," replied Amy. "I'm just not too hungry right now."

Just then, she saw Draco approaching. "Professor Snape told me to talk

to you some more. Would you follow me, please?" Amy nodded, and turned

to her friend. "Claude, if I'm late for first period, will you save me

a seat? I don't know how long I'll be." Claudia nodded, and Amy

followed Draco back to their common room. They sat on one of the

couches, and Draco looked Amy in the eye.

"I know you'd prefer it if your mother or dad told you all this, but

they thought it would be easier if you heard it from someone in

person, preferably someone you're semi-close to. Dumbledore says that

he can't let us go home, not even this weekend, as much as he'd like

to. Sadly enough, if he were to let students go home for a couple of

days, there would be a lot of absences that most people would rather

not explain.

"Tammy is being cremated as we speak. They said that funerals are too

depressing and, to be honest, are very boring. Tammy hated being

around people who were in distress, and couldn't stay still for very

long during her waking hours. Like that time she made my dad spill his

coffee on himself, because she didn't want to wait any longer to go to

the park."

"Yeah, then she tried to cheer him up by giving him a bouquet of ant-

infested roses." This drew laughter from the both of them.

"Also, your parents told you to stay here this Christmas. It's not

that they don't want you at home, but they're going to the States to

visit some relatives and spread Tammy's ashes on Friday, and plan to

stay until some time in January. I know you probably want to see them

again, but there's nothing that can be done right now. They were

already obligated to do this before all this happened, I think."

"Yeah. Is that all?"

Draco smiled knowingly. "Yes, that's all. Why don't you send an owl to

your parents? They're probably anxious to hear from you."

Amy smiled back, gratefully. "I think I will. Would you tell Professor

Quirrel and Claudia where I am?"

"Alright."

Amy smiled again and went to her dorm to write letters to her family,

forgetting all about classes for the time being.