Chapter Eight; The Funeral

So Harry how was work?" Ginny asked him once he had gotten home for supper that day.

"Oh it was great, Lucky took his first flight. You should have seen him, he looked bloody brilliant." He told her with a grin.

"I think you have been spending too much time with my brother." She told him. Harry laughed.

"Well he is one of my best friends so that would fit." He told her.

"I'm glad to see you laughing again. You don't know how good that makes me feel. By the way, your father stopped by earlier today wanting to know if you wanted Katie. I mean considering that really was your mother's dog and she's too much responsibility for him." She explained.

"I'd love to help him out don't get me wrong, but they have a weight limit at this apartment and she's way too big. Besides, I'm not ready for another dog yet. I'll let Luna know though in case she's interested. She lives all by herself now and she's been wanting a dog for quite a long time now." He said.

"Well alright, I've just got to finish setting the table and then we can eat." She said escaping into the kitchen and finished gathering all the silverware together and placing them on the table before she grabbed a couple of plates and set them down behind the lasagna. "Alright good, now we can eat I'm starving!" she exclaimed pulling out her chair and sitting down before pushing it back in.

"Uh, uh, uh aren't you forgetting something?" Harry questioned as he sat down next to her. "We have to thank the Lord first." He told her as Ginny looked up at the ceiling.

"Thank you Lord!" she shouted dramatically. "Alright let's eat now." She told him as Harry grinned trying to hold in his laughter.

"Ginny,.. you know that I always have to say a blessing." He told her as she rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand

"Alright fine! The joys of living with a Sunday school teacher." She said as Harry grinned and lowered his head.

"Heavenly Father, we just want to thank you for this wonderful meal that you have brought before us_" he began.

"Amen! Let's eat!" Ginny exclaimed quickly dropping his hand as this time Harry really did laugh while she started digging into her dinner. "What?" she questioned looking back at him with uncertainty. "You wanted to say a blessing, so now it's been blessed and we can move on with our lives without having to worry about it." She said as Harry stifled another laugh.

"Boy, you're lucky you're so adorable." He told her before starting to serve himself.

….

Harry got up and showered Thursday morning before getting dressed in black robes and grabbing a bit of breakfast as he and Ginny walked down to his car. "So everyone knows that you're not going to work today right?" she questioned him as he unlocked the doors.

"Yeah, they know that both Aaron and I took the day off." He told her as they both climbed inside and slammed the doors behind them. They buckled themselves in before Harry turned on the engine and started backing down out of the driveway. Once he had finished he stepped on the gas pedal and accelerated before stopping at the end of the street again and hitting his turn signal turned to the left.

Then he steadied his grip on the steering wheel while turning on the radio and then hitting his brakes again at a red light. "Perfect timing." He said digging out his box of cigarettes while opening the window a little bit and stepping back on the gas again as the light turned green as he lit his cigarette with one free hand while the other one steered. "So what exactly are you going to be doing this morning?" Ginny asked him as he stopped and turned on the highway and started speeding up.

"I'm basically going to be quoting the Bible a lot and talking about a lot of memories I had with my mother. I asked Tobey if he wanted to come up there and read anything but he didn't want to. He hasn't been talking too much at all since our mother went home." He told her.

"Well yeah he's only twelve years old, I can imagine that it's pretty hard on him. On all of the kids actually." She said when suddenly Harry slammed on his brakes again and honked his horn as a car pulled out in front of him.

"Oh c'mon! Seriously!?" he exclaimed stepping back on the gas pedal as he pulled the car over to the side. "I can't believe how many assholes there are out on the road. Sometimes I wonder how they even got their license in the first place." He muttered under his breath while he continued to drive along the highway.

….

Harry pulled his car into the parking lot and placing his foot back on the brake put it in park. Then he took it off again and turned off the engine taking his keys out of the ignition. Then both he and Ginny threw off their seatbelts and climbed out of the car slamming both of their doors behind them. Harry clicked the button and made sure it was locked before they started walking a crossed the parking lot and heading up to the church.

Snape was there to greet them at the door. He wrapped his arms around Harry and embraced him tightly. Then they broke out of it again a few moments later. "Are you alright son?" his father asked him as Harry nodded with a sniff and blinking away his tears. "Good, you're going to do great this morning." He told him shaking his hand and patting him on the back before all three of them went back inside. Harry walked up to the front of the room where his mother's coffin was and turned to face the church.

Once everyone had arrived and started settling down he began to speak. "Good morning." He began as the room fell silent. "We're gathered here today for the funeral services of my mother Lilly Anne Evans Potter Snape. Now I'm asking that you please forgive me ahead of time, I'm going to try and keep it together and get my message a crossed." He said with another sniff before he started rubbing his eyes.

"You see even though we are all here grieving of the loss of such a beautiful and wonderful person, the angels up in Heaven are rejoicing." He said.

"Amen!" a lot of them exclaimed with a nod of their heads.

"Now there are many stories in the Bible that talk about Jesus raising people from the dead. And what does He always say? They are not dead, they are merely sleeping. All Jesus had to do was say Lazarus come forth, and he stood up and walked right out of His tomb. Time and time again Jesus talked about that whosoever shall believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Now it's not up to me to judge for those without Him, God is the only one true judge, but I can tell you ladies and gentlemen that my mother loved the Lord.

And I thank her from the bottom of my heart that she took me to church every Sunday when I was a kid and introduced me to Christ. Because I wouldn't be where I am today without Him. I can't tell you enough what a wonderful and peaceful feeling to know that my mother is with the Lord and that she is no longer sick. For my father even said it to me in the hospital. She is not dead she is merely sleeping. The only part that died was her body. For the last breath that she took here on earth was the first breath that she breathed in Heaven." He said as a bunch of other Amens broke throughout the crowd.

"That's when I realized that I wasn't crying for her I was crying for me and how much I would miss her. But did you know that God said that there will be a day when there will be no more tears? He will wipe away every tear from our eye and there will be no more sorrow." He told them.

"Amen, that's right." Aaron said with a nod of his head.

"Now as horrible as it is knowing that my mother has left this world and that she is no longer with us. It gives me great comfort to know that she's with the Lord and she's back in the arms of my father James Potter. And the truth is I really don't know all that much about Heaven. I was only there for a few seconds and I really didn't see all too much of anything. I just know that God has promised us a land flowing with milk and honey, with having the streets and mansions made out of gold.

Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't enjoy this life. After all, life is God's gift to us and we should make every second count and be thankful for every breath that we have to breathe. I'm also not saying that we should always look for something better to occur, because if you just go through life doing that then you're basically wasting it.

All I'm saying is that I don't care about all the gold, milk, and honey. Just as long as I have Jesus in my heart and I know that I'll be able to see both my parents again someday, and knowing the fact that they are not dead they are so alive, they really are, then that's all that really matters to me. Please bow your heads and pray with me." He said as everyone bowed their heads and closed their eyes.

"Heavenly Father we come before you today Lord just to thank you for the wonderful life of my mother. She brought so much joy and kindness to us and we ask that you just simply stay with all of us. For even though we know she is with you, we ask you to understand that all of us are still grieving for such a horrible loss. Although we know that we have truly lost somebody very special and precious to us, we also know that you have received her in Heaven. Until we see her again someday we ask that you watch over her and protect her with all of your glory. This we ask in your name, amen." He said.

"Amen." Everyone else echoed as they all opened their eyes again.

"Now at this time I'm going to sing a song and then some of my family members will come up here and say a few words before we close and head down to the burial services. After that we will come back up here for lunch and be dismissed." He said when all of a sudden Johnny woke up and started to cry. Fleur hushed him and comforted him while removing him from his car seat before taking him into the bathroom with her to change him and apologizing to Harry.

Harry nodded before he gestured to the pastor to turn on the music and started singing inside his microphone. "We read of a place that's called Heaven. It's made for the pure and the free, these truths in God's word He has given. How beautiful Heaven must be. How beautiful Heaven must be, sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary, how beautiful Heaven must be.

In Heaven no drooping nor pining, no wishing for elsewhere to be. God's light is forever there shinning, how beautiful Heaven must be. How beautiful Heaven must be, sweet home for the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary, how beautiful Heaven must be. The angels so sweetly are singing, up there by the beautiful sea. Sweet chords from their gold harps are ringing, how beautiful Heaven must be.

How beautiful Heaven must be. Sweet home for the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary, how beautiful Heaven must be." He finished singing as everyone applauded and Fleur returned with her baby before sitting back down and starting to feed him as Harry returned to his seat as well.