Chapter 12 – The Funeral

Hermione rose very early the next morning and found a cute little teddy bear in her arms, he was brown with a little button nose and she had no idea how it had gotten there. She looked at the pristine condition of it then had a thought

'Draco? Are you up?'

'Yes good morning'

'Did you put a teddy in my bed?'

'Yes I did, his name is Sidney and if you are finished with him could you bring him to my room please?'

She walked down to his room and knocked on his door

"Come in" he called she went in and found him tying his tie.

"So how did Sidney find his way into my bed?" she asked

"You were having another nightmare, and I thought he might comfort you, it seemed to work as well" he said

He finished with the tie and put his slytherin crested robe on.

"Thank you I appreciate that" she said

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for class?" Draco asked her

"I am not going to class today" she said "I have something to do"

"Ok" he said, he could tell he shouldn't press on the issue and he didn't try to read her thoughts either. He respected people's privacy well to important things. Matters of whether he looked nice grinning didn't count.

"Are you coming to breakfast?" he asked

"No" she said "I am going to order something from the kitchen, I fancy some porridge"

"Fair enough" he said and grabbed his book bag. "See you later"

"Bye Draco" she said as he left.

She placed the bear down on his bed and went back up to her room to find some black clothes.

Ten minutes later she was dressed in black trousers, a black shirt and a pair of smart black dress robes. She knew she didn't have to be so formal. But she thought that she should be.

She didn't have any breakfast she had just said that to appease Draco. She made her way to the headmasters office and both he and Professor McGonagall were there waiting for her. They both also wore black

"Come miss granger" Dumbledore said and led her to a carriage outside. It took them to Hogsmeade to the cemetery.

She saw the two mahogany coffins sat side by side to each other.

"Couldn't they have had a large one between them?" Hermione asked. "They would hate to have been separated. They were so in love"

Professor McGonagall gave a swish of her wand and Hermione's wish was granted.

"Thank you" Hermione said and walked over to the coffin. She lifted the lid and looked at her parents. She put her mothers hand into her father's hands and tipped their heads a bit so it was as if they were looking at each other.

"That's what they would have wanted"

She was quite calm until the vicar had finished his reading and started with the whole "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" stuff and they started lowering the coffins into the ground

She started crying uncontrollably and Dumbledore had to stop her from jumping onto the coffin.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed.

"Arghhhhh" Draco yelled and fell off his chair in history of magic class. Professor Binns eyed him and then ignored him.

"Sir I have to go to Madame Pomfrey" he said and fled from the classroom. Whatever was going on with Hermione was not good. She was in pain, he didn't know if it was physical or emotional. But she needed him he felt it.

He ran, he got as far as the entrance hall, when he realised he had absolutely no idea where she was.

Hermione was led back to the carriage by Dumbledore and McGonagall. They knew better than to try and cheer her up.

She needed to sort her own head out and whatever they could possibly say would not help.

They arrived back at the school and saw a blonde boy outside the entrance hall pacing and pacing like a madman. He turned and saw Hermione and stopped pacing. He ran up to her

"Are you ok?" he asked

"Yes" she said slowly

"You screamed so loud, I fell off my chair and I was really really worried" he said

Hermione laughed that he fell off his chair

"Well I am glad you find it so funny, I was worried sick. Did you not see me pacing? Malfoy's DO NOT pace" he told her

The Headmaster and Deputy Head laughed at Malfoy and then smiled at them and left

"Want to go back to the common room?" he asked her

"Yes please" Hermione said and they set off.

They didn't have too far to walk and when they got there Draco sat her down on the couch and took her shoes off her.

"God your feet stink" he said

"they do not!" she exclaimed
"I know" he laughed

"So I am guessing it was the funeral today?" he asked

She nodded her head in reply, she was rather ashamed of her childish outburst at the cemetery earlier.

"Well at least you have gotten it out of the way, it's never a good thing to go through and sometimes its easier once it's done" he told her

"You could be right" she agreed, "it just seems so hard to let go of it now"
"it will be" he nodded "I don't think people ever truly let go anyhow they just learn to live with it"

Draco ordered them some lunch from the kitchen,

"You could have told me you know, I could have come with you"

"I know, I just felt that I should do it on my own" she said "I am not sure why it was just a feeling I got"

"I understand" he said

The food appeared a minute later and he got tucked in. Hermione picked at an omelette. And Draco frowned at her

"This you're new way to plan on killing yourself?" he asked "starvation?"
"That was low" Hermione glared at him

"Sorry, I just think you should eat more than you have been. Your going to make yourself ill you know"
"I know but I just don't have any appetite" she said

"Well try at least" he said "please"

Hermione managed to eat half her omelette and Draco looked please

"Happy now?" she asked

"Yes" he said and looked smug

Draco went over to the marble tablet and sent a message. A moment later a message appeared in return.

"Who were you messaging?" Hermione asked

"Dumbledore" Draco told her "I am staying off class for the rest of the day to keep you company"

"Thank you" she said "I wonder if Harry and Ron will come up later, they don't come to see me so much anymore"

"I think they just don't want to upset you" Draco said trying to be sensitive

"Yeah I guess your right" she sighed

"I am always right" he smirked,

'Sexy smirk' she thought to herself

'Really?' he thought at her

'Oh good god' she thought and blushed

"Draco, just because I think you have a sexy smirk doesn't mean anything" she said "every girl in the whole school thinks that"

"Ah but every girl in the whole school also happen to think I am gods gift to women and would love to be with me" he said

"I doubt it" she said "you just love yourself too much!"

"I most certainly do" he agreed "if you don't love yourself why should other people?"

"That's an interesting theory" she said "and only you could come up with something like that"

They talked for a while about all sorts of rubbish, Hermione was still thinking of her parents a lot but Draco was trying to help take her mind off it and it seemed to help quite a bit.

After Dinner that night Harry and Ron did come up

"What was wrong with you in class Draco?" Ron asked, they had been a bit concerned that he had fallen off his chair and they hadn't seen him for the rest of the day. They assumed he had spent the rest of the day in the hospital wing

'Please don't tell them' Hermione thought

'Ok'

"I had a really bad headache" he said "had some disgusting potion and it went"

"Good, everyone thought you had gone mad" Harry said "Blaise thought it was funny though"

"He would" Draco mused "wait till I get hold of the little runt"

They all laughed at this.

Hermione went and sat on the sofa.

"I haven't seen the daily prophet in about a week, what's going on with the world Ron?" she knew Ron had taken out a subscription to the newspaper last year and kept it up. She had cancelled hers due to lack of funds, not that it mattered now. She was considerably wealthy.

"Not much you know random attacks from death eaters. Muggles being attacked the same old really" Ron said he sounded sad, most of the wizarding world was though

"I just wish he would give us something we could fight properly" Harry said slamming his fist on the coffee table, "I am sick of sitting here waiting"

"Not much else you can do" Draco said "he will not strike himself until he is a lot stronger. He's only a shell of what he was in comparison really"

"Did they have any idea how long it would take for him to get his strength back?" Hermione asked

"Not really" Draco said "I don't really know much about it. I tried not to pay attention. I am sure if it was mentioned Snape will have told Dumbledore though"

"I guess so" Harry said "I never did tell you guys the prophecy did i?"

"it got destroyed Harry" Hermione said

"It did" he said "but Dumbledore was the one the prophecy was spoken to, so he knows it, and he told me at the end of the year"
"and you didn't tell us?" Hermione and Ron asked

"I was a bit upset at the time" Harry said "or did you forget?"
"How could we have forgotten that?" Ron asked

"We liked Sirius too remember" Hermione said

Harry went on to tell them the prophecy about how it had to be him who went up against voldemort and how only one could survive

They were all shocked. Draco didn't really believe in prophecies so much, but if voldemort had wanted to hear it so badly he obviously did,