Chapter 6

When Harry entered the Weasley kitchen he was surprised to see the Weasleys were looking much more solemn than usual. Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron, Ginny, Charlie and bill were sat around the small table, their eyes red. On the table in front of Mrs Weasley there was a crumpled and wet looking piece of paper that had the ministry seal stamped in the corner.

"What's going on?" said Fred looking worried.

George rushed over and snatched up the paper from the table. Harry watched as his face turned paler as his eyes travelled further down the page.

"Perce…" he whispered to himself.

This set Mrs Weasley sobbing into her dirty handkerchief. The Weasleys all moved to comfort her. They all hugged together as Harry lingered in the corner not knowing what to do. George had dropped the paper and it now lay on the floor unnoticed, he scooped it up, dreading his fears would be confirmed.

It said;

Dear Mr and Mrs Weasley,

Early this morning the ministry of magic was attacked by death eaters. The aurors on call were greatly outnumbered so the staff bravely joined the fight. Percy Ignatius Weasley died fighting for the lives of others and went down bravely.

I am truly sorry for your loss.

Madam Amelia Bones.

Harry felt sick. Percy had always been his least favourite Weasley but he did not deserve this. He looked over at the sobbing family, his best friend among them, and felt anger start to grow inside him. He was angry at Voldemort, angry at the death eaters and angry at himself. He had let this happen, he had let Wormtail go, he had unleashed Voldemort back into this world.

Harry threw the paper to the ground and ran up the stairs into Ron's room. A sleeping bag was laid out next to his trunk. He threw it furiously across the room and flopped down on the bright orange bed. Someone knocked at the door and came in without waiting for an answer. His other best friend Hermione Granger entered the room.

"I gather you heard about Percy" she said timidly.

Harry didn't answer.

"It's not … your fault you know." She carried on "I know you blame yourself because of Wormtail in third year but…" she seemed not to know what else to say.

Harry turned to face Hermione; his anger had ebbed away slightly.

"They're all going to hate me."

"You know that's not true, Mr and Mrs Weasley see you as their own son."

She tentatively put her hand on his shoulder but said nothing more. They sat together in silence as they got lost in their respective thoughts.

Harry spent a week at the Weasleys', tiptoeing around trying to stay out the way of Percy's grieving relatives. Ron didn't want to play chess or quidditch like they used to do but Harry understood. He found himself spending more time with Hermione, the two were still sad over Percy's death but it was different for them, they weren't family.

About a week after he had arrived Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys were all getting into ministry hired cars that would take them to Percy's funeral. The silence during the journey was unbearable. The occasional sob from Mrs Weasley in the front seat was all that could be heard. Harry stared out of the window but didn't take in what he saw. Percy's death had not been as shocking as Cedric's nor as tragic as Sirius' but it scared Harry that this feeling he got when he realised that the person was never coming back was becoming almost normal to him now.

The drive was short and they were soon pulling up outside a graveyard and being ushered out of the car by Mr Weasley. The sky was stereotypically grey and gloomy and a gentle breeze swept past them as they made their way up to the crumbling church. Inside it was slightly warmer and they sat down in the front pews. Harry was sitting with Ron on one side and Ginny on the other, Hermione was next to Ron and Mr and Mrs Weasley had next to her. Bill, Charlie and the twins weren't around. Among the crowd Harry recognised a few people; Dumbledore and the Hogwarts teachers were together, many teachers were crying hove their old favourite student.

Also dotted around in various places Harry could see, Remus, Tonks, Kingsley, Mad-eye and lots of faces he recognised from the ministry.

Dumbledore rose from his seat and walked to the front to deliver his speech;

"You all know why we here today, so I will not be going into the details of Mr Weasleys death. I will not be informing you all on what kind of person he was, nor will I be talking to you all about how tragic and traumatic this event is. That is for those who knew him best" He nodded slightly in the direction of the Weasleys "I do, however, have this to say. Voldemort is here. He is powerful. He will kill again. In fact there's a good chance he is killing someone as we speak. I do not say this to upset you or to scare you. I say this because you must prepare yourself for this, it will get worse but no matter how dark these times become the most important thing we can do is to never accept that Voldemort can beat us and we must never resign ourselves to believe that he rules us. Now that is said we will proceed with this funeral."