Dawn Rivera

After the Burial

Patches of bright blue sky are beginning to appear over the castle turrets, but these signs of approaching summer do not lift my mood.

"For the last time, just forget about Draco," I tell Harry and Danny firmly.

We are sitting with Ron in a sunny corner of the courtyard after lunch. Hermione and Ron are both clutching a Ministry of Magic leaflet: Common Apparition Mistakes and How to Avoid Them, for they are taking their tests this very afternoon, but by and large the leaflets have not proved something to the nerves. Ron gives a start and tries to hide behind Hermione and I as a girl comes round the corner.

"It isn't Lavender," says Hermione wearily.

"Oh, good," says Ron, relaxing.

"Harry Potter?" says the girl. "I was asked to give you this."

"Thanks..." Danny says, when Harry doesn't answer.

My heart, too, sinks as Harry takes the small scroll of parchment. Once the girl is out of earshot he says, "Dumbledore said we wouldn't be having any more lessons until I got the memory!"

"Maybe he wants to check on how you're doing?" I suggest, as Harry unrolls the parchment; but rather than finding Dumbledore's long, narrow, slanted writing I see an untidy sprawl, very difficult to read due to the presence of large blotches on the parchment where the ink has run.

"Look at this," says Danny, handing the note to Hermione and I.

DEAR HARRY, DANNY, RON, HERMIONE AND DAWN,

ARAGOG DIED LAST NIGHT. HARRY, DANNY AND RON, YOU MET HIM, AND YOU KNOW HOW SPECIAL HE WAS. HERMIONE AND DAWN, I KNOW YOU'D HAVE LIKE HIM. IT WOULD MEAN A LOT TO ME IF YOU'D NIP DOWN FOR THE BURIAL LATER THIS EVENING. I'M PLANNING ON DOING IT ROUND DUSK, THAT WAS HIS FAVOURITE TIME OF DAY. I KNOW YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE OUT THAT LATE, BUT YOU CAN USE THE CLOAK. WOULDN'T ASK BUT I CAN'T FACE IT ALONE.

HAGRID

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Hermione says, scanning it quickly and passing it to Ron, who reads it looking increasingly incredulous.

"He's mental!" he says furiously. "That thing told its mates to eat Harry, Danny and me! Told them to help themselves! And now Hagrid expects us to go down there and cry over its horrible hairy body!"

"It's not just that," I say. "He's asking us to leave the castle at night, and he knows security's a million times tighter and how much trouble we'd be in if we were caught."

"We've been down to see him by night before," says Harry.

"Yes, but for something like this?" says Hermione. "We've rushed a lot to help Hagrid out, but after all - Aragog's dead. If it were a question of saving him - "

" - I'd want to go even less," says Ron firmly. "You didn't meet him, Hermione and Dawn. Believe me, being dead will have improved him a lot."

Harry and Danny take the note and stare down at the inky blotches all over it. Tears clearly fell thick and fast upon the parchment...

"Harry, Danny, you can't be thinking of going," I say. "It's such a pointless thing to get detention for."

Harry and Danny sigh.

"Yeah, we know," Danny says. "I s'pose Hagrid'll have to bury Aragog without us."

"Yes, he will," says Hermione, looking relieved. "Look, Potions will be almost empty this afternoon, with us all off doing our tests...try and soften Slughorn up a bit then!"