On God?

Chapter 35

in which she yells at an old coot.

"....gathered here today, in loving memory of Blair Stevens." My eyes shot open and I was greeted by the arching dome of a church cathedral. I wasn't religious. I blinked once, twice. Jesus, this headache hurt almost as much as dying.

"As many of you may already know, she was a victim of Bellatrix Lestrange, heroically sacrificing herself in hopes that a loved one would survive." Dumbledore's voice was strangely subdued, none of his quirky spark present in the tone.

I heard a quiet sniffling, and it hit me. I was at my funeral! They were holding a funeral, for me!

"Now wait just a moment!" I sat up, glaring at the audience.

There were several loud gasps, a shriek or two, but my eyes zeroed in on the first row of seats.

Tonks, Emma, Blaise, and Theo, were all sitting looking like stone statues, the same look of disbelief and shock on their face. Emma and Tonks had faintly shiny cheeks, evidence of crying.

"I'm not dead!" I cheered, only to be greeted by silence.

"Blair, how is this possible?" I heard, and turned to look at Dumbledore, climbing out of my coffin.

"I'm just glad you didn't bury me, that would've been bad." I chuckled. "Being dead kinda sucks. My head is killing me-oh, sorry that wasn't a good analogy." I said, giving an awkward chuckle.

"Blair? You're really back?" Emma's voice cracked, and my heart did as well as I turned to look at her.

"Yeah, I'm back. You don't think some spooky lady can keep me away, do you?" I chuckled, and a second later I found myself hugging my younger sister, smoothing my hand over her back as small sobs wracked her body.

"Blair? We all thought you were dead!" Tonks said hoarsely, moving forward quickly. "How-"

"Death brought me back. That's sounded weird, let me rephrase. The being, Death, brought me back. Said it wasn't my time yet."

"And Sirius?" She asked, glancing around. "Is he...." She trailed off once she was my expression, but swallowed and moved to envelop me in a long, tight hug. "If you ever do that again, I'll bring you back myself just to kill you." She murmured into my hair.

"Blair?" I heard a soft voice ask, turning to see who it was.

"You look like shit." I said with a quiet chuckle. I wasn't lying, Theo and Blaise both had dark eyebags that their expensive suits did nothing to hide.

"You arse!" Theo surprised me, punching my arm, hard, before his face crumpled, and we both moved towards each other, hugging each other tightly before Blaise pulled Theo away, and I was pulled into another hug. He buried his face in my hair, taking deep breaths as if to ground himself before kissing the side of my head and pulling back.

"Blair, what happened?" Dumbledore stepped forward once I had taken Emma's hand again, and she gripped it tightly.

"I died. I talked to Death...and Sirius. Death sent me back. Said it wasn't my time yet." I said, glancing at him. Dumbledore looked thoughtful, and he dipped his head once in my direction.

"I will leave you all to...catch up. It is good to have you back." He said, giving me a smile before moving towards the door of the church.

"Let's get out of this church, it's making me weepy." I said, pulling all of them along, and Blaise nodded, glancing around.

"I've been to enough funerals. I don't wish to go to any more."

After most of the dust from my funeral crashing had settled and I had assured most of my friends, that I was indeed not dead, I found out I had one more problem to deal with.