"Of course, I don't know, but I think it'll get darker before it gets lighter." -The Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz

"Dead? What do you mean dead?" Lupin asked as Tonks gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

"Snape killed him. He used Avada Kedavra at the top of the Astronomy tower. It probably wouldn't have mattered what spell he used, actually. Dumbledore was blasted right off."

"Dumbledore's always trusted Snape," Professor McGonagall said, "and the rest of us always wondered why he trusted him so much."

Suddenly, the doors burst open and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley burst in, along with Fleur Delacour. I had forgotten that Harry had mentioned Fleur's engagement to Bill. I hadn't even thought that she would be coming.

"Oh, Bill," Mrs. Weasley said. She rushed to her son's side and began rubbing his forehead. "He was so handsome, too."

"Was?" Fleur asked, still staring down at her fiancé. "He still is, is he not?"

"Of course he is," Mrs. Weasley stuttered. "I just—"

"You didn't theenk I would want to marry him if he looked like thees?" Fleur asked. "Well, I do. I can handle the scars."

Mrs. Weasley paused and she and Fleur shared a look before Mrs. Weasley spoke again, after sharing a quick glance with her husband. "Our great Auntie Muriel has a beautiful goblin-made tiara that would be perfect. It would look so lovely with your hair."

"Yes, that would be very nice," Fleur agreed with a tiny smile. "Thank you."

"See?" Tonks suddenly hissed, turning to Lupin. "She doesn't care that he's been bitten."

"This is different," Lupin whispered. "Bill won't be a full werewolf."

"I still don't care," Tonks said. "I don't, really I don't!"

"She's made her mind up, Remus," Mr. Weasley said.

Lupin didn't answer and there was a pause as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley both looked around to see the rest of us staring back between them and Lupin and Tonks. I had a slight smile on my face. It was nice to see something lovely happen during this mess.

"Mum," Fred began, "not to kill the moment or anything, but Dumbledore's dead."

"No, that's not possible," Mrs. Weasley said at once.

"Dead?" Mr. Weasley asked, his eyes wide.

"Dead," Harry said. "It was Snape. He used the killing curse and blasted him right off the Astronomy tower."

"No," Fleur whispered with a gasp.

Harry nodded. "I was just about to ask what happened with everyone else while I was off with Dumbledore." He sank down on a bed and looked around the room.

"Well," Ginny began, "Neville, Ron and I went to wait outside the Room of Requirement. Malfoy came out, just like you said. All the Death Eaters were following him. When he saw us, though, he set off Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. None of us could see except Malfoy of course. He had his Hand of Glory, which was providing him light."

"Then they ran into me and Tonks," Lupin said, "and told us what was happening."

"We started fighting after that and we lost track of each other," Ron added. "Neville was hurt. I don't know with what exactly-,"

"Sectumsempra," I said, glancing at the bed where Neville was sleeping a few feet away. "I found him not too long after it happened."

"So," Harry said, looking from me to Hermione, "if Ginny, Ron and Neville were in front of the Room of Requirement, then you were—"

"In front of Snape's office, yes," Hermione said. "But I was so stupid. Luna and I planned to ask Snape about our Defense Against the Dark Arts grades if he came out of his office. We stood out there for an hour or two before Professor Flitwick came running down the hallway yelling about Death Eaters in the castle. He ran into Snape's office and then Snape came out and said Professor Flitwick had collapsed and we should help him, but-,"

"We don't think he actually collapsed," I said, glancing at Hermione. "Actually, Hermione noticed it first and I had to agree with her. Snape definitely Stunned him."

"He probably did it to get him out of the way after he had found out the Death Eaters were in the castle. Then he went off to help them," Harry said. "He must have gone straight to the Astronomy Tower."

"Maybe not straight there," I said. "I don't know, I mean, after Hermione and I left his office, we ran upstairs and found Ginny and she caught us up on what was going on. Then, I ran off and found Neville and soon after that, Malfoy ran up to the Astronomy tower with a bunch of Death Eaters and Snape came a few minutes later."

"When they came back down," Tonks said, "I just thought Snape and Malfoy were being chased by the Death Eaters. We had no idea Harry and Dumbledore had been up there as well and we had no idea that Snape and Malfoy were actually working with them."

"Yes, I thought the same," Lupin said. "We just let them go right past."

"Oh, and don't forget the barrier," Hermione said. "She turned to Harry. "When Malfoy ran up with all the Death Eaters, the last one through blocked the doorway with a curse."

"That's why we couldn't get through to chase after them," Tonks said.

"But Snape went right through it?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, he did," Tonks said.

"I'll bet you need a Dark Mark to get through it," Harry said, standing up and pacing.

"So," Mrs. Weasley said after a short pause, "what are we going to do about Dumbledore?"

"What do you mean?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I think she means a funeral," I said.

"There is going to be one, isn't there?" Harry asked.

"I—well, it depends. We'll have to see if we can make some arrangements for a place and-,"

"What about here?" Harry asked.

"Bury him here at Hogwarts?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Harry answered.

"Well, he did always want to be buried here…" Professor McGonagall looked around at everyone.

"Then I think he should be buried here," I said. "If that's what he wanted, then why not? And I think a lot of people will want to go."

"Yeah, all of the students will want to—to say goodbye," Harry said quietly.

"Yes, I think they'd like that very much and I think Dumbledore would be happy with that decision as well." I smiled around at everyone. "What does everyone else think?"

The others nodded in agreement and Professor McGonagall gave a small smile. "Alright, then, we'll have the funeral here in a few days. I'll take care of everything." With a nod, she left the room, most likely to start planning the funeral.

After Professor McGonagall left, the room fell into silence. I made my way back over to Neville and sat in a chair by his bed, holding his hand. I was exhausted, but I couldn't leave Neville just yet. I was almost positive I could get Madam Pomfrey to allow me to spend the night in the hospital wing. I'd just have to ask her.

I brought my knees to my chest and continued to hold Neville's hand as, one by one, the room emptied of people.

"Will you be staying the night?" Madam Pomfrey asked, cleaning up Bill's bedside table.

"Yes, if that's alright," I said, looking up. I was surprised that she had been the one to suggest it.

She gave a small nod before heading back into her office. Tucking my legs under me, I rested my head on the arm of the chair and finally let myself sleep.

"I slept through the whole thing?" Neville asked the next day. I was sitting on the end of his bed, drawing a picture of the hospital wing windowsill with its bright flowers and the puffy white clouds in the sky outside.

I shrugged. "You didn't miss much. All that happened was that Harry barged in here announcing that Snape killed Dumbledore."

"Was he doing a lot of yelling?" Neville asked. "Because then I'll be really surprised that I slept through it. It's kind of hard to sleep when Harry's yelling."

"No, he was kind of in shock. We all were. The funeral's going to be tomorrow, though. Harry and I thought it would be best if Dumbledore was buried here at Hogwarts and everyone agreed. Professor McGonagall said it was what he wanted."

"Yeah, that sounds nice," Neville said. "Where else would he be buried, anyway?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "He could have been buried where he was born."

"Yeah, but honestly, I can't picture him anywhere else but Hogwarts."

"That's because you didn't know him anywhere else but at Hogwarts," I said with a laugh. "Unless, of course, you saw him frequently over the summer."

"No, I didn't," Neville laughed, "but you're right. I've always just associated Dumbledore with Hogwarts."

I shrugged. "You aren't the only one."

"He loved Hogwarts, though," Neville said. "That's why he should be buried here."

"Yes, I agree," I answered. "I agree completely."

Neville was released from the hospital wing in the early morning on the day of the funeral. I had stayed in the hospital wing with him for another night, so after he was ready to go, I helped him down to the front lawn of Hogwarts, where the funeral was being held.

"I'm sure I could walk on my own," Neville assured me as we slowly made our way across the lawn to the rows of white seats set up by the lake.

"I'm sure you could, but I don't want to take any chances. Your leg is still kind of weak, according to Madam Pomfrey. And anyway, I don't mind helping you."

"I don't mind it either, really," Neville said with a smile.

I helped him into a seat on the end of a row in the middle before slipping past him and sitting in the seat next to him. I took the opportunity to scan the crowd.

"There are a lot of people here," Neville noted, obviously scanning the crowd as well.

"Yes, but that's expected. Dumbledore was very popular, as you can see."

"Not surprising," Neville said, looking sad. "He was brilliant."

"Very," I agreed with a sad smile.

Soon after that, the funeral began. Hagrid carried Dumbledore's body to the front and placed him in a marble casket. Then, a small and very old wizard from the Ministry made a speech. It was all very touching. About halfway through, tears began spilling down my cheeks and I couldn't stop them. I sniffled and Neville glanced over at me.

"It'll be okay, Luna," he whispered, and I noticed that his eyes were teary as well. He took my hand and held it.

"Things are going to be so different," I whispered. "I can't imagine what things are going to be like. Things are going to get worse with You-Know-Who and now Dumbledore's gone."

"I know what you mean," Neville said. "Things felt so safe with him around. Like You-Know-Who couldn't get us as long as Dumbledore was here."

I nodded. "Which really isn't true. You-Know-Who would have done his thing no matter what."

"It just seems more real now, doesn't it?" Neville whispered. "Things really are about to get a whole lot worse."

"Harry's not even coming back to school next year," I said, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand.

"How do you know that?"

"Ginny told me. He broke up with her this morning because for one thing, he's going to be off looking for something that will help destroy You-Know-Who and secondly, he doesn't want You-Know-Who to realize they have a close relationship and go after her."

Neville sighed. "I suppose Ron and Hermione will go with him."

I nodded. "Most likely."

"So, it'll be me, you and Ginny left of the DA. Well, not technically, but you know what I mean. We're the only three left who want to keep going with it. It meant something to us."

I nodded again. "Yeah, it'll be the three of us."

"Luna," Neville whispered as the funeral ended, "I think it's up to us, then."

"It's up to us to do what?"

"Things are going to get a lot worse, aren't they? We're fairly sure of that."

"Yes," I said slowly. "So, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that with Harry, Ron and Hermione gone, you, Ginny and I are going to have to hold the fort here. There are going to be changes and while Harry, Ron and Hermione are off doing whatever it is they have to do, we're going to have to manage things around here and fight off anything You-Know-Who tries to put on us the best we can. Agreed?"

"Agreed," I said at once, squeezing his hand. "Yes, I rather like the idea of, what was the phrase you used? Oh, yes, 'holding down the fort'."

Neville nodded. "It gets more serious by the year, doesn't it? The things we have to do."

"Yes, but I think we're prepared. We're only going to get better at it. Fighting, I mean. Fighting off You-Know-Who."

"I guess so, but it makes me a little nervous about what's coming. I mean, it has to get darker before it gets lighter, doesn't it? You know, worse before it gets better?"

"Positive thinking, Neville," I reminded him.

"Right." He took a breath and nodded.

"Think of it this way," I said. "It may have to get worse before it gets better, but it will get better eventually. It has to."

Neville nodded. "It has to," he repeated. "It has to," he said again, his voice a whisper.

A/N: Wow, we're already going to be starting Deathly Hallows next chapter! Please leave a review and let me know what you think or if you have any comments or suggestions. I love reading them and they make my day!