The World and Her Stars

Chapter Sixty-One

ROSE POV

Monday

"Are you ready, darling?" Draco asked, coming up behind me as I stood by the bathroom counter.

I nodded and swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Yeah, I think so," I sighed, "Do I look alright?"

Draco smiled adoringly at me and cupped my face in his hands.

"You would look drop dead gorgeous wearing a paper bag, love." He kissed my lips softly, "You're beautiful, as always."

Even when I felt my worst, he made me feel like I was still the brightest shining diamond he'd ever laid his eyes on.

"You look rather handsome yourself." I smiled, pressing my lips again to his as he smiled back at me.

There was a small knock at the door, and Blaise peaked his head in.

"Ready?" he asked, his voice already sounding a bit solemn already.

Draco and I both took a simultaneous deep breaths and nodded. I helped him put on his coat and we were headed out the door.

Draco squeezed my hand with a small smile of his own as before we apparated away with a snap.

We now stood in front of the Riley estate, which already seemed to be missing some of the awe and dazzle it had when I would come here as a kid.

One step at a time, I approached my fears. As we got closer to the house, memories of long summer days and even longer nights started replay in my head.

I needed to remember to get those polaroid photos before I left.

Both Draco and I were pleasantly surprised to see Silas had been discharged from the hospital. It made me feel better because I knew it made Celia feel better to have him with her. I could see it by the way she was standing.

He sat in a wheelchair, most of his face and right side of his body covered in bandages, but his hand was still grasping Celia's just as tight as she needed it.

There were a lot more people here than I thought there would be.

Leo would be overjoyed to see the crowd he had amassed. Surely, he would call them all fans, and insist that he must have been famous to some extent, because going to someone's funeral must mean you admired them in some sort of way.

Every single person that knew Leo, loved him, so I guess the large crowd shouldn't really surprise me.

Each person that was in that bunker was in attendance, sending me small waves and kind smiles from where I was sitting with Draco.

Catherine Riley sat on the other side of Celia, holding a death grip on a couple of tissues. Celia looked like she was feeling a bit better today. Probably a mix of having her husband by her side again, and I'm sure Leo's words that he wrote to her in the journal he left to her had an impact as well.

A group of men walked in wearing dark red and fur, and I immediately recognized them as Durmstrang boys.

McGonagall, Sprout, Hagrid, Flitwick, Trelawney, and Pomfrey all arrived as well, and I never thought I would be so relieved to see any of their faces before now.

Young children and their families showed up, and I could only assume they were the ones that Leo helped out of the Great Hall that day that everything ended.