Shiro awoke one day toward the end of the year with a start. He had been having a nice dream, one about his siblings before they died… But Michael Corner shook him awake, muttering things too rapidly for Shiro to comprehend. He understood, though, that he was to get the heck out of that dormitory.
He found himself suddenly wide awake at the sight of all the people gathered in the hall. It seemed like every student from every House but Slytherin was there, all of them still clad in pajamas with confused, sleepy looks on their faces. Shiro narrowed out the Hufflepuffs, and scanned the crowd for his girlfriend. She was standing beside Hannah Abbott, wearing a nightgown that made Shiro blush. Deciding to avert his eyes, he started searching among the Gryffindors. He located Sakura, chatting nervously to Colin, but Blaze was nowhere to be seen.
"Mr. Shiro…? What's going on…?" a first year that looked far younger than 11 asked in a dazed voice, pulling lazily on Shiro's sleeve. A few of her friends stood behind, wearing the same expression as her but obviously too timid to approach Shiro.
"I uh, I dunno, I'm sorry," Shiro murmured, noticing Konata straying away from Hannah and toward him.
"Look, sweetie, stay with your friends, and make sure you're near at least one prefect, alright? You can stay by me for the time being."
"Is everything gonna be okay…?" the young girl squeaked. Shiro bit his lip lightly. How would he know, when he lacked any idea of what was going on? So, he answered honestly:
"I sure hope so."
Once she made it over to Shiro, Konata opened her mouth to speak. She never got the chance, however, for a fully clothed Blaze was diving through the crowds on the way to her friends. Her skin was so pale it literally appeared almost white, and she was quivering horribly. When she spoke, her voice came out sounding raspy. "Draco… He… He told me what he's been doing this whole time, just a while ago. It turns out, h-he's been developing a gateway, f-for Death Eaters to get into Hogwarts…" She brought her shaking hands up to her face on which her glasses sat askew. "All this time… Standing guard, making sure nobody interfered… I've been helping him let Dark wizards conquer Hogwarts…" Her voice was becoming so crackly that her words were barely able to be made out. "I had no idea… Shiro, you were right, I was stupid… I-I just thought I was saving him, I was so blind… And letting in Death Eaters isn't all he's got up his sleeve: Voldemort will only spare him if… If he kills Professor Dumbledore."
Now Shiro and Konata's skins lacked color as well. "Oh, Blaze… We… We know you only had good intentions, don't beat yourself up over it… A-and I know Draco would never go through with murder, he's gonna find a way around it…" Shiro insisted in a precarious whisper. He reached out to touch Blaze's arm, though he never got around to it. The first year girl that had asked Shiro what was going on let out a scream of utmost terror, pointing out of a nearby window. Everybody turned their heads simultaneously; the sight that met their eyes caused many other people to join in the girl's horrified scream.
Lord Voldemort's Dark Mark was towering sinisterly in the night sky.
A dry sob escaped Blaze's lips; the hearts of the trio were beating harder than ever.
"Shiro, Konata, Blaze! Come on, the DA's already down there fighting!" called the voice of Neville, emerging from the crowd of Gryffindors. Blaze didn't respond, though she did follow after her friends who bolted away in Neville's wake.
The scene that greeted them was terrifying. Draco's plan obviously had been successful: Death Eaters of all shapes and sizes were fighting members of both the Order and Dumbledore's Army mercilessly.
Finally regaining herself, Blaze dashed off to help Lupin duel a particularly large Death Eater that was overpowering him. Konata ran to aid Ernie Macmillan; Neville sprinted away to assist Ginny while Shiro looked around frantically, feeling horribly useless.
Before he could get his mind sorted out, he abruptly found himself knocked to the ground. Someone was kneeling on his chest, making breathing a difficult task. He felt a clawed hand grip his face, the revolting scent of dirt and blood meeting his nostrils. "You're quite a clean young man… You'll be delicious, I can tell," hissed Fenrir Greyback. Shiro struggled fruitlessly as the werewolf man bared his yellow fangs. A mere second later and his teeth would be in Shiro's flesh…
"Flipendo!" With a yelp, Greyback was sent flying a good ten feet backwards. Konata stood behind a shaky Shiro, her wand raised and a fury she'd never felt before blazing wildly in her green eyes. "You stay AWAY from my boyfriend, you bastard. AVIS!" she screeched. With a bang, a flock of tiny birds shot out of her wand tip, all set on pecking Greyback furiously.
"You're brilliant, you are," Shiro breathed, scrambling to his feet.
"Correct. Now come on, we have some Death Eater arse to kick," Konata responded, already quickly striding away.
Meanwhile, something else caught Blaze's attention: a flash of white-blonde hair in the darkness. A teenage boy, his skin pale gray in the moonlight, was being dragged along by a bat-like man in all black with hair to match. Both of them were too familiar: it was immediately that Blaze recognized them as Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy. Draco…. The boy who she loved dearly, and knew returned her affection, but had no choice but to murder their headmaster and help to overthrow Hogwarts. As she watched him run toward the Hogwarts gates, everything seemed to play in slow motion. Hagrid's hut bursting into flames and the screams that followed went completely unnoticed by the blonde Gryffindor. The only thing her blue eyes saw was the form of Draco… He glanced over his shoulder, an almost childish fear glazed into his face. For a fleeting moment, the couple's eyes met… And then time was moving at its normal speed, Draco and Snape were off of Hogwarts ground, and they Disapparated away.
The only thing that snapped Blaze out of her trance and into reality was the sound of Konata and Shiro sharply shouting, "NO!" Closing her slightly agape mouth, Blaze forced herself to investigate her friends' distressed cries. When she caught up with them, the sight that greeted her was enough to wipe her mind of everything that had occurred in the past few minutes- hours, even. Konata was collapsed against Shiro, both of them shaking and crying silently: lying at the foot of the Astronomy Tower was the dead body of Albus Dumbledore.
Dumbledore's funeral was an incredibly poignant event. Words to send his soul to rest were spoken, but few people heard them. Many simply refused to believe their lifeless, beloved headmaster was lying in that white marble tomb, never again going to share his odd yet comforting wisdom.
The Creevey brothers were both crying visibly, Sakura with her head on Colin's shoulder and eyes shut so tightly she couldn't help but wonder if she was making herself go blind; Blaze simply had her head bowed, expertly masking her remorse; Konata was sniffling into a handkerchief, letting her tears fall as Shiro hugged her tightly with one arm and didn't even bother to prevent himself from crying; Satoshi sat in the back row with his usual group consisting of Jeffrey, Lee Jordan, plus the Weasley and Lumbach twins- Catherin was crying shamelessly into Satoshi's shoulder, Caitlyn was latched onto Fred with the same expression of dread as the ginger boy, his twin was gripping his shoulder lightly, Jeffrey and Lee tried to listen to the speaker despite their emotional pain, and even Satoshi was allowing tears to drip down his face. The countless other funeral attendants were in quite similar states.
"You ready to go, Saki?" Shiro questioned weakly at Hogsmeade station later that day, rubbing his puffy red eyes, as people started to head off. Sakura gave a halfhearted shrug, watching Colin help Dennis haul his luggage onto the train. Had it been any other day, this sweet brotherly scene would have made anyone smile at the least.
"I guess… But, we didn't get to say good-bye to Sato…Come to think of it, he never even acknowledged our presence," Sakura noted leisurely. Shiro sighed gently.
"He was just out of it, I'm sure… And I'll bet he had somewhere to go."
"Yeah, you're probably right. I'm gonna go meet up with Colin… …Oh, and Shi?"
Shiro felt his heart stir, not aware until now that they had been using their affectionate sibling nicknames for each other. "Hm?"
Within a second, Sakura suddenly appeared a great deal younger. She lunged forward, burying her face in Shiro's chest and tightly wrapping her arms around him. "I love you…" she whispered. As Shiro gently hugged her in return and assured her that he loved her too, it all came crashing down on him that this was all too similar to their parents' funeral. Still feeling miserable, two of the surviving Ueda kids had headed back home in sniffles only to find their big brother was nowhere to be found, leaving just a note saying he'd be home by 6:00. They later discovered he had gone off to the Lumbach household to weep openly. Had he done something similar this time?
"Oy, Shiro, there you are," Konata called quietly once Sakura had climbed onto the train. Blaze followed behind her, looking remarkably solemn.
"There you girls are… I've been meaning to talk to you about something," Shiro began, casually walking toward the train with his fingers entwined with Konata's and his other hand on Blaze's shoulder. "You may want to pack your bags when you get home, because if it's okay with you and," he turned to Konata, "your parents, you girls will be living under my roof this summer."