Just Plain Harry

Chapter 23 In Memorium

As bad as the holidays moping around Gryffindor Tower and the Quidditch pitch had been, Harry wasn’t looking forward to the start of classes. The memorial ceremony for Colin and Dennis would be on the evening of the first day, Professor Dumbledore would be certain to say something at breakfast, and, as a purely mundane problem, the first day back would include double Potions with the Slytherins. Ron hadn’t yet come up with the idea that Draco Malfoy could be behind the attack on the Creeveys, and Harry certainly wasn’t going to suggest it to him, but he suspected that Ron would think of it one day. And with Ron, the step from thinking of it and doing something about it was a short one, so Harry was dreading the revelation. But, as he’d found last year, time had a funny way of not behaving itself. All too soon, he was sitting down to breakfast on the first day of classes, Ron and Hermione bickering next to him.

"No one will ever think of that, Hermione," Ron said. "All right, maybe the Ravenclaws, but not everyone is as smart as you are."

"It doesn’t take cleverness, Ron, just compassion," Hermione said. "I think it’s a brilliant way to keep out the people we...the people who shouldn’t be there."

"Well, of course you think it’s brilliant - you’re the one who thought putting the Full Body Bind on Neville our first year was brilliant!"

Harry hadn’t really been listening to the conversation, but he thought he should step in at this point - Hermione looked murderous. Being a couple certainly hadn’t stopped their arguing; but then, Harry wouldn’t know what he’d do if it had.

"Actually, that was you, Ron," he said, grinning at the look his best friend gave him. "’Brilliant, but scary,’ I believe was the phrase." Oops, he thought. Now both of them were glaring at him. "What were you two talking about, anyway? What won’t people be smart enough to think of?"

Hermione stopped glaring immediately. "Oh, well, it’s the password for the Fat Lady for Colin and Dennis’ memorial."

"The Fat Lady? You’re not really going to let the whole school know where our common room is, are you?" How did I not know about this? he thought. Had they been hiding it from him?

Ron snorted. "Yes, she is, despite all my objections. She managed to convince Ginny, not that that was difficult, and even McGonagall. Oh, and Natalie MacDonald, but she doesn’t really count."

Harry must have looked puzzled, because Hermione told him, "She was Dennis’ best friend. And she does count, Ron - she’s been very helpful, even though she’s taken it very hard."

"But, Hermione," Harry said, "how can you let Slytherins into our common room? I don’t even like the thought of them knowing where it is, let alone actually seeing it."

Hermione tossed her head, but before she could say anything, Ron snorted again. "You think I haven’t told her that?" he said. "And Fred, and George, and half of bloody Gryffindor! I thought Lee was Petrified, the way he just sat there, staring at her. And you know Martin Sandwidge, that sixth-year whose family’s been Gryffindors for centuries? He tried to hex Hermione, and she was so shocked she didn’t even take off any points from him."

"I didn’t take any points off because I knew how upset he was," Hermione said. "And, Harry, Professor McGonagall said that she would give Gryffindor fifty points for this." Her eyes pleaded with him, willing him to agree.

Harry wasn’t sure what to say. He certainly didn’t approve, and even the fifty points didn’t really help, but it was obvious that Hermione wasn’t listening to opposing opinions.

"I’m really surprised you talked Professor McGonagall into it at all," he said, shaking his head. "She’s so...so rigidly Gryffindor, and you know she doesn’t like the Slytherins. I don’t see why she’d let them just waltz into our common room."

Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, Ginny moved over from where she had been sitting and entered the fray.

"Why shouldn’t they? What will it hurt?" she said, her eyes, which had seemed completely lifeless every time Harry had seen her since Christmas, actually alight. "Why do you think they wouldn’t mourn Colin and Dennis, just the same as we do?"

"Because they’re Slytherins, Ginny!" Harry said, staring at her in shock. It was like asking why a Weasley’s hair was red. "They’re Death Eaters, or they will be soon."

"Not all of them," she said. "Why are you so prejudiced against them? After all," she lowered her voice, "you know what Professor Snape is doing. Why do you think they’re automatically evil just because they’re Slytherins?"

Harry just sat there, unable to answer her. Ron, though he sounded like he’d had this conversation with her before, spoke up.

"How can you be so...so lenient, Ginny?" he asked. "After what Malfoy did to you?"

Ginny huffed. "Just because one person in a group does something wrong doesn’t mean that all of them will. Oh, I hate this inter-house hatred! It’s not just Slytherin, it’s Hufflepuff, too - remember last year, with the tournament?" She looked apologetically at Harry, who, he had to admit to himself, reveled in it a bit. It was the kindest look she had given him since Christmas. "Why do we have this horrible separation? Professor McGonagall said that our houses will be our families at Hogwarts, but she didn’t say we couldn’t have any friends!"

Harry, Ron, and even Hermione just sat and stared in shock at this outburst, but Fred and George, who had sat down near them in the middle of it, stood up and applauded wildly.

"That’s our Ginny - protector of the weak and worthless!" Fred said.

"Defender of the puny and pointless!" George said.

"After all, look how she puts up with Harry, here," Fred added.

Ginny jumped up, looking so angry that Fred actually cringed, but all she said was, "Look how I put up with you!" before flouncing away to sit with Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Parvati.

Luckily, just then Professor Dumbledore entered the room and stood before the head table. Fred and George had to sit down, which was a good thing for Harry, because he knew his face was bright red, and he suspected the twins knew it, too.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts," Professor Dumbledore began as soon as the hall quieted enough for him to be heard. "I know all of you have heard the terrible news of the death of the Creevey family. I do not know if all of you have heard the cause. The Creeveys were attacked by Death Eaters, under orders from Voldemort." He paused for a moment until the murmur that always attended Voldemort’s name died down. "Now that Voldemort has returned to his full power, we must, unfortunately, expect many such attacks. However, that does not make each one less of a tragedy. We all mourn Colin, Dennis, and their family in our own way, even if we did not know them personally, because they were innocent, and killed solely because Voldemort had the power to do so."

His blue eyes seemed to bore into Harry from across the room, forbidding him to think otherwise. Harry knew it wasn’t that simple, though, and even a stern look from Dumbledore wouldn’t change that.

"I ask everyone now to stand and raise their glasses in honor of that family."

This time, as the students rose, Harry deliberately looked at the Slytherin table. Ginny was right - the vast majority of the students there stood and raised their glasses, looking just as subdued as the rest of the school. Malfoy and his group didn’t, but Harry certainly hadn’t expected them to do so. He looked over at Ginny, and found that she was watching him. He nodded slightly at her, and received her lit-from-within smile in return. It was all he could do to tear his eyes away from her as Professor Dumbledore continued.

"In a spirit that they believe that Colin and Dennis would approve, and which I certainly do, Gryffindor House wishes to invite the entire school to their common room tonight, at eight o’clock, for a memorial service for the Creevey family. Your heads of house will tell you how to find it." He leaned forward, emphasizing his last words. "Everyone is welcome."

As Dumbledore sat down, the hall burst into a babble of noise; the other three houses shocked that the Gryffindors would throw open their common room this way, and the Gryffindors looking around to see how everyone else would take it. Apparently, everyone else in Gryffindor had known what Hermione was planning, except Harry.

"Erm...Hermione?" he asked. "When were you planning on asking me if I was all right with this? You seem to have asked everyone else."

She turned to him, surprise written all over her face. "Ginny said you’d be fine with it, that we didn’t have to ask you, and I thought..." she trailed off at the look on his face. "I thought she would know," she finally muttered. When Harry still didn’t say anything, she jumped up and tugged on his and Ron’s arms. "Come on, we’ll be late for Potions."

Harry and Ron both protested against this, but Hermione refused to listen to their arguments, so they followed, grumbling. Harry did manage to snag a piece of toast on his way out. Despite the fact that he must have known it was pointless, Ron continued to argue outside the hall, eventually asking Harry to pull out his pocket watch so he could prove to Hermione that they still had plenty of time.

Harry did, shaking his head at his two best friends. Ron knew that his watch wouldn’t actually give the time - he’d been fascinated by it ever since Harry first showed it to him, and he just wanted to see what it would say this time. When Harry held the watch so both he and Ron could see it, they both burst out laughing.

It said, "You should have finished breakfast."

Hermione tutted, but even she couldn’t help grinning. Then they all watched as the words swirled and reformed into, "Heartsick and frustrated."

Harry stared at them in shock. He definitely couldn’t raise his head to look Ron in the eye, especially when Ron gave a great snort.

"Frustrated, huh?" he asked. "Frustrated. And why, pray tell, are you frustrated, Harry?"

Luckily, since Harry couldn’t have answered Ron even if he were threatened with the Cruciatus Curse, Hermione tutted again.

"Of course he’s frustrated, we’re all frustrated," she said.

Harry did look up at that, just to see the look on Ron’s face. As he had expected, it was a look of unholy glee.

"We are?" he asked Hermione.

"Yes, of course we are," she said. "It’s extremely frustrating to be stuck here at school, when so much is happening out in the world." She studied Ron’s face for a moment, then allowed herself a smirk. "Why, whatever did you think I meant, Ron Weasley?"

While Ron sputtered and tried to explain what exactly he had meant - without success - Harry turned his eyes back to his watch. He thought that ‘heartsick’ described how he was feeling exactly, no matter how much his friends tried to cheer him up. And, well, yes, he was certainly frustrated, in both senses of the word.

Suddenly, the watch was ripped from his fingers.

"A pocket-watch, Potter? How posh," Draco Malfoy said. He flicked the cover closed. "And Quidditch balls as the pattern - how quaint. Is that really all you think about? Perhaps that’s why the Dark Lord is gaining strength." He flicked it back open, and stared at the blank face. "Did the entire Weasley clan band together to buy you this watch? Pity it’s broken."

Ron launched himself at Malfoy, but before he could even grab the watch back, Professor Snape’s voice stopped him in his tracks.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Malfoy has my watch, professor," Harry said. He felt a horrible sense of deja vu. Was he doomed to replay this scene over and over until Malfoy finally grew up?

"Indeed?" Snape asked, reaching over and taking the watch from Malfoy. His lip curled as he saw the pattern on the watch. Harry was getting a little tired of everyone denigrating his father’s watch. Was there something wrong with liking Quidditch? Snape flipped open the watch and stared at the blank face, looking remarkably like Malfoy had a minute before. "A watch that doesn’t work, I see."

"It works just fine for me, professor," Harry said, plucking it from Snape’s unresponsive hand. As soon as he touched it, it said, "Barely on time for the worst class at Hogwarts," which made Ron snort, and even Hermione smile. Snape looked less than pleased.

"If you’re barely on time for my class, you had better hurry up, Potter," he said, reaching over to turn the watch face towards him. As soon as he and Harry were both touching the watch, the words swirled and reformed into, "Professor Snape still needs to keep his abnormally," and then into, "large nose out of other people’s business."

Ron burst into a guffaw that not even a strangled cough afterwards could hide, Hermione giggled nervously, and even Malfoy snickered. Harry would have been amused, but he knew that statement wasn’t something the watch would ordinarily say. He craned his neck to see around all the people standing near him, and saw Miss Stuart leaning against a wall, tucking her wand back into a pocket of her robes. Unfortunately, Snape noticed what he was doing, and saw her, too. His sneer intensified, and he took his hand off of the watch and took a step towards her. She stood up straight, crossed her arms over her chest, and raised one eyebrow at him. He gave a snarl, but turned away and strode off down the hall, his black robes billowing behind him.

Miss Stuart then turned to Harry, eyebrow still raised, and he lost it. He howled with laughter, holding on to Ron and Hermione, who were having just as much trouble staying upright. Even Malfoy, though he followed after Snape, could be heard laughing as he walked down the hall. Harry hadn’t laughed that much since before the Creeveys died, and he realized that he had needed it. So when he finally calmed down a bit, he walked over to Miss Stuart with a grateful smile on his face.

"Are you certain you won’t teach us how to do that?" Ron asked, following Harry over. "Think what fun we could have."

"Would it be worth it?" Miss Stuart asked, looking up at him perfectly seriously.

"No, I suppose not," Ron said, but he gave a huge sigh and shook his head, obviously thinking of all the pranks they could have pulled knowing how to send messages through Harry’s watch.

Both Hermione and Miss Stuart looked at him approvingly, but then Miss Stuart turned back to Harry.

"Could I have a word with you sometime today, Harry?" she asked.

"Of course," Harry said. "I’ll see you in our afternoon Seer session, anyway."

"Before that," Miss Stuart said. "Would you mind joining me for lunch? Alone," she added, looking significantly at Ron and Hermione.

"Of course," Harry said again, though he had no idea why she wanted to talk to him. He hadn’t exactly been making much progress in inducing visions.

Which turned out to be exactly why Miss Stuart wanted to talk to him. After she had served him with sandwiches and pumpkin juice, she started right in, without any preamble.

"Harry, I don’t think I’m going to be able to help you induce any visions," she said. "You definitely aren’t a true Seer, and none of my techniques for bringing out the talents of a Seer are working for you. I’ve taught you everything I know about remembering visions after you wake up, and all the usual techniques for recording them. The only other things you could learn are how to tell time and place in your visions, but, since your visions only seem to be of what’s happening at that exact moment, you don’t need to tell time. And, frankly, I’m not certain that the usual techniques for telling place would help you, since your visions are so different from what a true Seer does."

"All right," Harry said. "That makes sense, I suppose. Would I at least be able to come talk to you - oh, no, Miss Stuart! I couldn’t stop coming to your sessions - I want to be there when Ginny...needs me." He felt his cheeks turning red, but he knew he had to say this.

Miss Stuart’s eyes looked kindly but firmly at him. "Harry...I had hoped not to have to say this, but that’s another reason why I think you should stop coming to the sessions. Your presence is inhibiting Ginny. She hasn’t had a vision since Christmas, even though, according to what most Seers experience, she should be having them frequently at this point. She’s so nervous about what she might see - not that I blame her - that she’s blocking herself. And that’s really not good for her development, let alone the fact that she’s the only useful Seer we have on our side." Her eyes darkened, and she breathed deeply for a moment. "Having you there only makes it worse," she continued. "She can’t help but think about what she saw in her last vision, and what it could mean for you."

"But we don’t know what it means for me," Harry said. He stared down at his half-eaten sandwich, but he wasn’t really focusing on it. His presence was inhibiting Ginny.

"No, of course we don’t," Miss Stuart said. "But Ginny...part of her wants desperately to have another vision, preferably one with you alive and well. On the other hand, part of her doesn’t want to risk seeing anything more that shows you in danger."

"As likely as that is," Harry muttered. After all, he only had the most feared dark wizard ever as an enemy.

"Well, yes. So you see her problem."

"But why do you think it will help her if I’m not there? I mean, all of this will still be going through her mind every time she tries to induce a vision." Harry finally raised his eyes from his plate and looked appealingly at Miss Stuart, who sighed.

"I don’t, not really," she said. "Remember what I told you in our first session - this is a most imprecise science, really more of an art. It could have turned out that it would help Ginny to have you there - you obviously care a great deal for each other. But that’s not the way it’s working out. I think that not having you actually in the room with her will help her focus better, which is why I’m asking you to do this."

"Of course, I’ll do anything for Ginny," Harry said, staring at Miss Stuart. Did everybody know that he fancied Ginny? First Cho, now this. At this rate, Voldemort would know before Ginny did.

Miss Stuart looked relieved. "Good," she said. "Oh, and one more thing, Harry. Could you not mention this to anyone, and especially not Ginny herself? She’s very sensitive about her visions, quite understandably, and I don’t want anything else to block her at this point in her training."

Of course Harry agreed to that, too. He finished his lunch and headed off to Care of Magical Creatures, thinking hard. If so many people knew how he felt about Ginny, it really did seem silly not to tell her. If she was going to be in even more danger because of how he felt about her, she deserved to know. Of course, she was going through a lot right now, what with her problems with her Seer training and Colin, and he would have to think further about it. Especially since just the thought of actually telling her made him shiver with anticipation. What if...what if he had lost his chance with her?

The talk with Miss Stuart was the last time that Harry could think of himself and his problems that day. His afternoon teachers - Professor Sprout and Fleur - treated the Gryffindors as though they were made of glass, and it had the effect of reminding all of them what was going to happen that evening. Their collective mood became worse and worse, so that by the time they returned to prepare for the memorial service, no one was really talking. Herbology had run late, so that even though the fifth-years had rushed through dinner, by the time they made it up to the common room, there wasn’t much left to be done. Harry just had time to change into his dress robes before eight o’clock.

When he came back down to the common room, he found Hermione and Ginny standing near the portrait hole, looking worried.

"So, what is the password, anyway?" he asked, causing Hermione actually to wring her hands.

"It’s ‘I’m here to mourn Colin and Dennis,’" she said.

Harry stared at her. "You’re kidding, right? Ron’s right this time, Hermione, no one’s going to get that."

Ginny glared at him and put her arm around Hermione. "Or any reasonable variation of that," she said. "We’ve given the Fat Lady permission to accept anything she thinks is sincere."

"Professor McGonagall gave her permission, but...Harry, do you really think it’s too difficult?"

Harry was just about to tell her that, yes, he thought it was much too difficult, when the portrait hole opened. As they watched, three young Hufflepuffs climbed through the portrait hole and looked around apprehensively. Someone behind Harry gave a strangled cry and brushed past him, throwing herself on one of the Hufflepuffs and bursting into tears when the other two gathered round as well.

"Oh, I’m glad Natalie has someone," Ginny said, speaking so softly that Harry had to lean towards her to hear it. He watched as the Hufflepuffs drew Natalie away from the entrance and towards a sofa by the fire. The crowd of Gryffindors parted to let them pass, then turned as one to watch the portrait hole again.

The next person to climb through was Cho Chang, followed by Brenna, Padma Patil, and several other Ravenclaws. Cho looked around the crowded room, but made her way directly over to Harry’s group. He thought she was coming for him, but, instead, she put her hands on Ginny’s shoulders and said, "Can we talk?"

Ginny tried to draw away, but as Harry had discovered, Cho was much stronger than she looked. "There’s nothing to talk about," Ginny said after a moment, when it became clear that Cho wasn’t going to let her go. "You’re...you’re mistaken in your assumption."

"And so are you," Cho said, her eyes boring into Ginny’s. Ginny gave a gasp, and her eyes widened in surprise. Then she nodded, and followed Cho to a secluded set of chairs.

Harry didn’t have any time to think about what had just happened, because the rest of the Ravenclaws crowded round him, offering sympathy and, in some cases, hugs. He still wasn’t used to being hugged - the only people to have ever hugged him, that he could remember, were Hermione, Ginny, Sirius and Mrs. Weasley. As first Padma and Brenna, and then several Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw girls that he barely knew hugged him and murmured words of sympathy in his ear, he realized he did feel better, every time one of them did it.

Without meaning to, Harry and Hermione had seemed to form a welcoming committee of sorts, so that all the people who came through the portrait hole came to them first. Harry wasn’t surprised that Ron didn’t join them - he had made his objections to the opening of their common room quite plain - and when the first Slytherins made their way through the entrance, he was glad. He could almost feel Ron’s glare from where he was standing with the twins, and he was happy the poor Slytherins, a quartet of third years who looked very apprehensive, didn’t have to face that the very first thing.

It felt like no time at all before almost the entire school was crowded into the Gryffindor common room. Tiny Professor Flitwick was beaming approvingly at Ginny’s fairy charms, which Hermione had asked her to reproduce in the common room. Hermione herself was talking to Professor Vector, her Arithmancy teacher, in one corner, looking nervous. Miss Stuart had entered, looked around, obviously for Ginny, and smiled when she saw her talking to Cho. Professor Dumbledore seemed to have found a place surrounded by Fred and Angelina, George and Brenna, Lee and Alicia, and Katie and Theo. He wasn’t quite smiling, but his eyes twinkled as he looked out over the assembled throng. Several house-elves, including Winky and Dobby, sat on the floor in a corner. Even Professor Snape was there, actually without his sneer for once, though he wasn’t mingling; in fact, all of the Slytherins were sitting together on some of the extra chairs that had been conjured up.

All of the Slytherins who were there, that is. Harry couldn’t help but notice that Draco Malfoy and his little coterie were nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t at all surprised - he doubted that Malfoy could say that he mourned anybody convincingly, let alone two Muggle-born wizards and their family. Not even to see the Gryffindor common room.

After it became apparent that everyone who was coming was there, Professor McGonagall and Hermione went to stand near the fireplace. In almost no time, everyone in the room fell silent.

"We are gathered here this evening to mourn," Professor McGonagall said. "We’re mourning many things. The end of a time of peace, the end of a time of blissful ignorance, the end of innocence." Harry watched her lock eyes with Professor Dumbledore for a moment before she continued. "But, most importantly, we’re mourning people. We’re mourning two young wizards who brought more than they could possibly have known to our community - their eager embracing of all the wizarding world has to offer brought new understanding to many of us." Harry heard someone begin to cry at this, and turned to see tears streaming down Natalie’s face again. "I’m very proud to have had Colin and Dennis in my House," Professor McGonagall continued. "They embodied the true Gryffindor spirit - courage, a keen sense of justice, and a love of life in all its forms."

She paused for a moment, and Harry wasn’t surprised to see many Gryffindors staring at the floor, as though they didn’t want anyone to see their eyes. He wasn’t ashamed that his own eyes were burning - he distinctly remembered Colin and Dennis trying to fix Malfoy’s enchanted buttons during the Triwizard Tournament, because they believed in him, and they knew that what Malfoy had done was wrong. They hadn’t succeeded, but for some reason that thought made him even more sad.

"We’re also mourning a family," Professor McGonagall continued. "A family that included Muggles and wizards, for Colin and Dennis were just as much wizards as anyone here." She glared at the Slytherin contingent for a moment, and then let her eyes sweep the rest of the room. Several of the students couldn’t hold her gaze, and not all of them were Slytherins. "A family who supported our friends even though they had a talent that the rest couldn’t share. This is what family should be. This is what our family should be - we shouldn’t let petty rivalries and feuds come between us now, because we’re facing a threat greater than all of us. Colin and Dennis were a part of our family - our wizarding family - that we will greatly miss. We’re all a little weaker, a little less, because they are not with us anymore." She stopped abruptly, and Harry could see the tears in her eyes. He had never heard Professor McGonagall this passionate about anything before.

Hermione then stepped forward. "I didn’t know Colin or Dennis as well as some people here did," she said, her eyes finding first Natalie and then Ginny in the crowd. "But I knew them well enough to call them both friends. They would come to me for help with classwork -" Several students giggled at this, letting out pent up tension, and Hermione smiled before she continued. "But not just for that. They truly wanted to learn - to become a real part of this world that they were thrust into so suddenly. I know what that’s like, and we helped each other with the constant struggle for acceptance. I will miss Dennis’ straightforward happiness at everything in life, and Colin’s quieter, but no less sincere, excitement in the wizarding world. I’ll even miss Colin’s camera."

At that point, the flash of a camera interrupted her, and everyone laughed. Dean, who had taken the picture, smiled sheepishly.

"I know I can’t ever take Colin’s place," he said. "But Gryffindor needs a photographer." Harry saw Ginny smile at him from her seat across the room, which made him wish, for an insane moment, that he had his own camera.

After Hermione finished, many other students and teachers stood and spoke of Colin and Dennis. Harry learned more about the two of them than he ever had known before: that Dennis had been quite good at Potions, which Snape shocked everybody by saying, that Colin had been a willing tester for some of Fred and George’s wilder schemes, and that they both disliked butterbeer and had tried to persuade Madam Rosmerta to stock root beer in the Three Broomsticks. He knew he should stand up and say something - these boys had died because of him, after all - but he couldn’t. He knew he’d break down, thinking of what their deaths meant and of all the deaths that would most likely come. He was glad when Ron stood up and exhibited his photo album, pointing out some of Colin’s best pictures.

After Ron sat down again, Ginny stood. She had moved over to talk to Natalie, and she seemed to have been trying to encourage the younger girl to say something, but Natalie just shook her head. As soon as Ginny stood, the room, which was still buzzing from some of Ron’s comments, quieted.

"Colin was one of my best friends," she began. Harry noticed that she wasn’t looking at anybody, instead keeping her eyes fixed on the wall above everybody’s heads. "And, even so, I never really understood him. I never understood his passion for life, his love for absolutely everything that life had to offer him, even Potions classes." She glanced down at Snape for a moment and gave him a small smile, before fixing her eyes back in the same place. "I never really understood his feeling of belonging in this world that, as Hermione put it, he was thrust into. Up until recently, I had problems believing that I belonged here, even with all of the...advantages I have. Colin never had that problem, though - he felt at home everywhere and with everybody. His favorite piece of writing, which I also didn’t understand, I think I do better now. It’s from John Donne’s Meditation XVII."

When Ginny said this, some of the students, realizing that she was about to recite, shifted in their seats a little. Ginny seemed to realize this, for she smiled and removed her eyes from the wall. To Harry’s surprise, she locked eyes with him, making him feel as though her gaze bored into his soul as she began to speak.

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."

Ginny’s clear, sweet voice faded away into quiet. Everyone seemed to feel the weight of those words, but none more than Harry. This poet had known exactly how he felt, and Ginny was telling him, not only that she knew how he felt, but that Colin had known as well. Colin, whom Harry had always dismissed, in the back of his mind, as just a kid, a tag-along, and, which he hadn’t realized before, not worthy of Ginny. Now he felt not worthy of her, because Colin certainly had been.

Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet, breaking the long silence. "Thank you, Miss Weasley," he said. "I think we all needed to hear that." He looked around the crowded room at the collection of students from all four houses, his eyes twinkling again. But before he could speak, he was interrupted by the sounds of an altercation outside the portrait hole. Professor McGonagall strode over to the entrance and opened it to reveal Argus Filch, looking even wilder than usual. Filch hurriedly climbed through the portrait hole, his eyes searching for Professor Dumbledore.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir," he said, his chest heaving. "I just received news...it’s Hagrid, sir. He’s dead."