Dumbledore's Secret

Chapter 6

Tonks entered the Order's headquarters taking slow, deliberate steps. She had tripped one too many times over that bloody umbrella stand, and she was in no mood to make a fool of herself tonight. Of course, she wasn't nearly so clumsy when he wasn't around. Though she'd been an awkward child, she'd actually been getting a lot more graceful as she matured- well, she had been knocking over fewer and fewer things. But that was before she had met him. Now, anytime she thought of him - and that was far too often for her own good - she became a danger to herself and everyone around her.

"Tonks!" whispered Molly, who had come into the main hall. "Watch the table there!"

"Oh, right!" she whispered back, barely missing the sharp corner.

"Is everyone here?" Tonks asked as she followed Molly down the stairs and into the shadowy kitchen.

"Nearly," Molly replied. Tonks found herself immediately scanning the room for him. He was sitting alone, near the large table in the middle of the room. Biting her lip, she wondered if she should go over to him. What, and make an idiot of herself? How many times had she dropped hints, only to be ignored? He was always kind - too kind, she thought sullenly. She'd almost rather him brush her off; at least a sharp rejection would spare her the constant heartbreak that came with the vain hope that something, anything would happen between the two of them.

"Tonks," a deep voice beside her said. She looked up and managed a smile for her boss.

"Wotcher, Kingsley."

"Is everyone here? There's a lot to talk about tonight," he said, taking a seat near the back of the room.

With a last, hopeless glance at Remus, she went and sat beside Kingsley. "I know. I can't believe all that's happened..."

"How are you, by the way? All recovered?"

"Yep, fit as a fiddle." Tonks looked away. She didn't really want to talk about her injuries from that night at the Ministry. They made her think too much of Sirius. Looking around the room, she saw the same old crowd: Dung was chewing on his pipe, entertaining Fred and George with a story of his latest exploits; Minerva stood by the table, her posture as straight and stiff as always, though there was a kind smile on her face as she spoke to Molly and Arthur; Hagrid, head bent just below the low ceiling, appeared to be boring old Doge and Diggle with the latest dragon news he'd received from Charlie Weasley; Bill Weasley was engaged in a tense conversation with Mad-Eye (Tonks would have to remember to figure out what that was all about); and Professor Snape was sitting alone in the very back corner, the usual scowl on his pale face.

As Tonks turned her attention back to Kingsley, she asked, "Who's that?" She pointed to a woman in dark blue robes, sitting alone on the other side of the table. She was pretty, though rather unremarkable looking. Her hair appeared slightly red in the firelight, and Tonks wondered if she was perhaps related to one of the Weasleys.

Kinglsey shrugged. "I'm not sure. She came with Minerva." He paused, looked around, then whispered, "But I think I have an idea. When you were out of commission, Albus sent me to the States and..." Kingsley stopped when Emmaline Vance headed toward them. Also a senior Auror, Emmaline had been at odds with Kingsley on just about every issue.

When she saw them stop talking, she lifted an eyebrow. "Trying to figure out who the mystery woman is?" she asked. "Well, I offered her a cup of tea." Emmaline sat beside Tonks. "She seemed polite, but rather distant. And she had an American accent. A new recruit?"

Tonks shook her head. "I hadn't heard anything about that, especially not a Yank."

"There's Albus," Kingsley said, looking at the doorway. Tonks watched the old wizard sweep into the room; he always looked so majestic with his long but well-kept beard and dark, almost royal robes. Everyone immediately settled down as he made his way to the center.

"Thank you all for coming," Dumbledore said. "I think we should begin this meeting tonight with a moment of silence to honor Sirius Black."

Tonks felt tears sting her eyes. For the past week, she had tried to put all thoughts of Sirius out of her mind. But as Dumbledore bowed his head in honor of her fallen cousin, she could no longer ignore the truth. After a moment of silent weeping, she looked up and saw that Remus was staring despondently at the ceiling. Almost as if he felt her looking at him, he turned and glanced at her. Their eyes met, and she gave him a watery smile.

"To Sirius," Dumbledore said, breaking the silence.

"To Sirius," they all repeated.

They fell into another silence, no one quite sure how to proceed after such a solemn moment. Tonks took a deep breath and said, "I'd like to hold a memorial service for Sirius."

She hadn't realized, until that moment, that she had wanted to do any such thing.

Remus turned and looked at her again. "I would like that, too," he said quietly.

Dumbledore nodded. "I think that it is a wonderful idea, Tonks. You and Remus can plan it."

"I think Harry should be here when we have it," Remus said.

"Speaking of Harry," Dumbledore said, turning to Arthur and Molly, "would the two of you be willing to host him again this summer?"

"Of course," they both said in unison. "You know he's like our 7^th son," Molly added.

Dumbledore smiled. "Good. I'm thinking that he can leave the Dursleys' near the end of July."

"Fantastic!" Fred said. "He can be with us for his birthday."

"I think it will do him good," Minerva said. "Remus, you and Tonks should perhaps plan the service for sometime after his birthday ... let him celebrate a bit before he grieves."

Remus nodded.

"And I think," Dumbledore added, "that you should probably plan on having it here at Grimmauld Place. I know it would be much nicer to have it outside, or at least some place less depressing, but as the entire Order will be gathered, along with Harry and his friends, I'm afraid it would be too dangerous to have it anywhere plottable."

Tonks nodded, though she couldn't help but feel a little bitter. Even in his death, Sirius couldn't escape this nasty old house.

"Now, Arthur, I believe you have some news from the Ministry," Dumbledore said.

Arthur stood up and cleared his throat. "Yes. I'm sure that those of you work in the ministry have heard the rumors ... Fudge's administration is on the verge of toppling."

"Alleluia!" Hestia Jones cried out, and Tonks looked over in surprise at the black haired witch, who had apparently entered a bit late. Tonks smiled at Hestia, who returned the greeting with a thumbs-up.

"Yes, well, I'm certainly no friend of Fudge," Arthur continued, "but we may actually be better off with him as Minister."

"What?" Emmaline Vance exclaimed. "That weak-kneed fool has spent the last year trying to block our every move!"

"True," Arthur conceded, "but we have to look at the alternative. What I've been hearing suggests that if Fudge gets a vote of no-confidence and has to call an election, the prime contender will be Tiberius Ogden, an elder on the Wizengamot."

Dumbledore sighed. "Yes, I know him well."

"Ogden might not be such a bad choice," Emmaline interjected. "He's always calling for more funds and resources for the Aurors, and the gods know we need that."

"Yes, but he's a bit of an extremist, isn't he?" Bill asked. "I was under the impression that he was rather backwards when it comes to some things."

"Such as?" Emmaline retorted, her color rising a bit.

Oh no, Tonks thought with a sigh, she could feel a political debate coming on. Her first instinct was to defuse it, but when she thought about Odgen and his political beliefs, she found herself entering the fray. "Look, I'm all for more Auror resources, obviously, but Odgen's anti-werewolf bill makes Dolores Umbridge's proposal look all warm and fuzzy."

Remus shot her a quick smile, and her heart beat a little faster.

"Well Tonks, we all know how you feel about werewolves," Emmaline responded, and Tonks's cheeks reddened. "But I don't think the purpose of this order is to forward some idealistic social agenda. If Odgen can better help us defeat Voldemort, then he's our man, whatever his other views."

Emmaline's comment set off a torrent of murmurs and whispers, which were only quieted when Remus stood up and said, "I'm obviously a bit biased against Odgen and his werewolf legislation, but I think his views about werewolves indicate a larger flaw, one that will actually hurt our cause against Voldemort."

Everyone settled down, and Remus continued. "Look, the way I see it, Voldemort has two strategies open to him at this point: fear and division. To scare the wizarding world, he'll perpetrate small but symbolic attacks, hitting muggleborns and muggles. But this tactic of fear, especially now that the wizarding world knows and accepts that Voldemort is back, this tactic won't be enough for total victory. He'll need to sway all those wizards and witches who don't really know what side they're on, and there are plenty of people just sitting on the fence. We in this room may see a clear line between good and evil, but the masses will turn whichever way they feel ensures their safety. Now, Odgen's plan, as I understand it, is to beef up the Department of Magical Law Enforcement , which is all well and good, but not in isolation. He has no plan to build alliances, and this is problematic. His belief that werewolves, along other sentient creatures, are somehow less deserving of basic rights means that the wizarding community - which is already divided- will be fighting the battle by themselves. Voldemort, on the other hand, already has an army of dementors, quite possibly the giants, and if we don't watch out, werewolves, vampires, goblins, and hags. Odgen would have us believe that wizards are superior to these creatures, but alone and isolated, our side can never beat the type of army that Voldemort is threatening to amass. We may win all the little battles Voldemort sends our way - such as the Ministry strike last week - but all it will take is one large defeat on our part, one loss to this devastating army, and all those witches and wizards straddling the fence will turn to Voldemort. He'll create chaos, then sweep in at the darkest moment, promising to save wizards from the very mess he's responsible for making. Our only possible counter to this type of attack is to create allies of our own. We cannot possibly go into this fight unilaterally, no matter what our views might be on the equality of werewolves or any other group. By supporting the rights of non-humans, we're not being idealistic so much as we're being realistic - it serves our cause wholly and completely to win non-humans to our side."

He paused for breath, and Tonks stared at him, her mouth slightly agape. It was rare when he spoke like this at meetings, but when he did, his vision astounded her. Remus ended by mumbling, "Well, that's just what I think," then sat down abruptly, his cheeks flushing slightly.

There was a moment of tense silence before Dumbledore spoke. "Well said, Remus."

But Emmaline would not give up. "Yes, very eloquent, Remus, and perhaps a good case for not electing Odgen, but I do not see Fudge putting into action any of your ideas. Indeed, Fudge is so hemmed in by public opinion that he would never in a million years consider granting rights to non-humans. To be honest, I don't see much of a difference between the two men, except that Odgen will at least give us some resources for the necessary work of tracking down death eaters."

"You're quite correct about Fudge, Emmaline," Dumbledore said, "but you've neglected to mention one thing in his favor: he's a known entity. By now, we know how Fudge will act in almost any given situation. And, after the mess at the ministry last week, he's now quite pliable. While he won't be likely to pass any pro-werewolf legislation, he will, behind closed doors, be much more open to our suggestions about working with non-humans." Then Dumbledore sighed. "But, I fear this is all a relatively academic debate; it seems that Fudge is done for, and Odgen will be popular with his Auror proposal. Still, I think we should try, as much as possible, to support Fudge in this decision. Naturally, when it comes time to vote, you should vote your conscience, but I must be frank and say that, knowing Odgen as I do, I fear that his somewhat fanatical approach to things may be worse than Fudge's indecisiveness."

Tonks sighed and looked down at her hands. It seemed, no matter who was in power, the Order was always fighting against the current. Then she looked up suddenly and said, "Wait! This may be a rather simplistic suggestion, but why don't we run our own candidate? Professor Dumbledore, you could..."

The headmaster smiled. "No, Tonks, I could never leave the school, especially not right now. I have, though, considered the possibility of one of our members running, and though I think there would be several good leaders among us," she thought she saw his eyes flicker to Arthur, Emmaline, Kingsley, and Remus, "I don't think they would have the popular support needed."

"Besides," Arthur added, "Running a campaign would take away from our already small numbers." Then he smiled. "But Tonks, if you want to run, I'll vote for you."

Most everyone laughed, including Tonks. "I don't see that happening, ever," she said, smiling.

"Next order of business," Dumbledore said. "Kingsley, I believe you had some news for us."

"Before the events of last week," the senior Auror began in his deep, rich voice, "Mad-Eye, Tonks, and I discovered a connection between a series of muggle murders in various nations across Europe and North Africa. What is most surprising, and disturbing, I might add, is that these murders have continued to occur, even after Voldemort had been exposed at the Ministry. We thought that perhaps the Ministry incident would have slowed Voldemort down, but apparently, he has already set up a group of independent cells that act without requiring direct orders from him. These killings - all the victims show signs of immense torture followed by death through the killing curse - seem to be messages to the Order more than to the general wizarding community. The killings haven't been covered in any wizarding news sources; we've only found them by scouring the pages of muggle newspapers and following the most promising leads. A couple of weeks ago, Tonks managed to sneak her way into two of the muggle law enforcement agencies and look at some of the evidence taken off the bodies." He looked over at her. "Want to tell them what you found?"

She nodded. "The police - muggle Aurors - found what appeared to be blank sheets of parchment at both crime scenes. The police thought this rather odd since muggles use paper, not parchment. I used a simple revealer charm to uncover the same message on both parchments: Emergo et defaeco, primo muggles tunc muggleborns tandem proditorae - Rise up and purify, first muggles, then muggleborns, finally traitors - I think it's pretty clear that we were meant to find these, as the muggle police would never have been able to reveal the messages. Put somewhat crudely, they're toying with us, and the muggles happen to be the playthings."

"I've suggested to my superiors that we begin watching over muggleborns and their families," Kingsley said, "as this is the group the messages suggest will be targeted next, but Madam Bones has said we simply have too few resources to deal with such a vague threat."

"Well, that's another reason to support Odgen," Emmaline muttered so that only Tonks and Kingsley could hear. Tonks rolled her eyes.

"Should we at least warn our muggleborn students?" Minerva asked. "I hate to frighten them unnecessarily, but ..."

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, given that we can't offer their families much protection, I think it might do more harm than good ... though I think, if we can spare any Order members, we should pay particular attention to the Granger family. As Harry's friend, Miss Granger and her family are perhaps more vulnerable than most."

Dedalus Diggle spoke up for the first time, his voice high and squeaky. "Surely we have some time, though ... those muggle murders may have continued after the Ministry incident, but as you suggested, Kingsley, this may be the work of independent cells that were already planning such attacks before Voldemort was exposed. I should think that, with the wizarding world alerted and on guard, the Death Eaters will have a harder time of perpetrating these kinds of things now."

"Unfortunately, Dedalus, you are too optimistic," Dumbledore said. Then he turned looked at the woman in the dark blue robes. After a few moments of silence, he said quietly, "Last Sunday, I discovered, quite personally, how little the Ministry incident affected Voldemort's ability to strike."

He was silent again, and Tonks wondered if he would elaborate. He stared at the back of the room, and Tonks realized he was looking at Snape, who gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head before Dumbledore continued. "Last Saturday, just after the Ministry incident, I received a message from Voldemort which, in essence, told me that he had discovered and captured my daughter."

Tonks, along with most everyone else in the room, gasped. She was shocked on so many levels that she could only stare dumbly at the headmaster. She suspected that, like most people in the room, she had never known that Dumbledore was a father. Dumbledore looked over at the stranger again, and Tonks craned her head around Diggle's stupid violet hat to get a better look at the woman's face.

Very quietly, Dumbledore said, "Guinevere was born to my first wife nearly 70 years ago, but she chose to leave the wizarding world during the war against Grindelwald. Voldemort murdered Guinevere a week ago today."

Tonks squeezed her eyes shut. Not another death, she thought miserably. Then, to her surprise, Fred or George - she wasn't sure which - stood up and said, "Then let us honor Guinevere Dumbledore with a moment of silence."

Tonks looked at George - now that he was standing, she knew it was him - with tears in her eyes. That a prankster such as George Weasley was now solemnly paying tribute to a dead woman he had never met made Tonks feel the gravity of this war more than anything except perhaps Sirius's death.

After a moment, George said, "To Guinevere."

"To Guinevere," they all repeated, and Tonks felt herself shiver. Two times in one night. Who would be next? She looked around the room rather frantically, studying everyone. Her eyes rested on Remus, and she had to blink away her tears.

"Thank you, George, you don't know how much that means to me," Dumbledore said. "I am very fortunate, however, that my granddaughter Charlotte, whom I didn't even know existed until last week, is safe and with us now." He smiled tenderly at the woman in the dark blue robes.

Suddenly, Mad Eye stood up and said, his voice gruff, "This will sound insensitive, Albus, but I have to ask you: are you absolutely certain that she can be trusted?" Albus's granddaughter, who had been staring at her hands for most of the meeting, looked up sharply.

"Alastor ..." Dumbledore's voice was low with warning, but Mad Eye raised a gnarled hand in protest.

"I'm sorry, Albus, and Merlin knows I mean no offense. But, if as you said, you didn't even know until last week that you had a granddaughter, how do we know for sure that she really is who she says she is? How do we know this isn't one of his ploys to infiltrate the Order? You can understand my fears, surely. Remember Barty Crouch ..."

"I am not likely to forget," Albus said, his voice steely. Then he sighed. "I know, Alastor, that you are right to ask these questions, but I, too, have considered these things. You must trust me when I say I have absolute confidence in Charlotte."

Mad Eye said nothing for a moment, and the two men stared silently at each other. Then the old Auror gave a nod. "Then that will be enough for me."

Dumbledore turned to his granddaughter. "My child, do you think you can tell us what Voldemort said to you that night?"

She nodded and stood up. Quietly but steadily, she told them how she had been lured to her mother's house, bound, and tortured. "Just before Voldemort ... just before he killed my mother, he whispered some words to me that, at the time, I couldn't comprehend. A few words were in a different language, perhaps Latin. Then he said, 'one in one will triumph.' Does anyone know what this means?" She looked around expectantly, but Tonks could tell, by the confused looks on everyone's faces, that no one had any idea what to make of this little bit of information.

"How do we know," Elphias Doge asked, "that this wasn't some sort of curse or hex he put on her? Some dark magic that allows him to use her as a sort of tracking device?"

Tonks grimaced. Doge never had been one for tact.

"Really, Elphias!" Minerva said hotly. "Albus just said that he trusted her!"

Elphias said, "Well, I'm not saying it's her fault, though I think Mad-Eye backed down a little too easily ... she could very well be an agent. We can never be too careful."

Dumbledore's face had become stony, but before he could respond, Charlotte said quietly, "I understand and appreciate your need for caution, and there's very little I can do to prove that I am trustworthy. But I can say that I watched helplessly as Voldemort killed my mother, and I could do nothing when his death eaters murdered an innocent friend. I think I can safely say that I want to bring him to justice as much as anyone else in this room."

Elphias shrugged. "Be that as it may, you still may be dangerous to us. We don't know what kind of dark magic he might have used on you ..."

"For God's sake, Doge, shut up," growled Snape from his corner. Tonks looked at him in surprise. Snape never spoke at these things unless asked a direct question. "She's not been subjected to any dark magic."

"Well, Snape, as a Death Eater ... excuse me, former Death Eater, you may know a great deal about dark magic, but how can we be sure?" Tonks ground her teeth in frustration as Doge continued on a rant that surpassed even Mad-Eye's paranoia. "It's a perfect opportunity for Voldemort, when you think about it. Curse her, pretend you're going to kill her, let her go, and she leads the death eaters straight to us ..."

"Impossible," Snape bit out.

"How do you ..."

"How do I know?" Snape's voice was ominously low. "I know because I was there, you fool."

In the tense silence that followed, Tonks thought this discussion was thankfully over. But to her surprise, Snape continued. "There is no possibility that Miss Richardson was meant to be an agent or tracking device or anything of the sort because Voldemort never expected her to get out of that place alive. He ordered me to kill her."

Tonks' mouth fell open. Then that meant that ...

"Your cover is blown," Kingsley said quietly before she had the chance to voice it.

Snape nodded curtly.

"Shit," Kingsley muttered, and Tonks could hear several of the others curse as well.

Dumbledore said, "Severus had wanted me to remain silent about his role in my granddaughter's recovery, but now that he's spoken, I would like to give him public thanks for his bravery, not only for rescuing Charlotte, but also for his dangerous and difficult work as a spy."

Snape looked away from the group as they murmured, "Hear, hear." The response was rather weak; there were those, like Doge, but also Emmaline, Diggle and the Weasleys, who thought that Snape had gotten off rather leniently in the first war. While most of the other confessed death eaters had rotted away in Azkaban, Snape had been pardoned and freed because of his work for the Order. Tonks had been too young to remember much from the first war, so perhaps that's why she - as much as she disliked the greasy potions master - couldn't help but feel that the man had indeed served his time by being a spy. It was a job that no sane or willing person would want.

"By the way, Albus," Kingsley said suddenly, "I suppose now that your granddaughter is safe, we can drop the search for Nicolae Radu? Remus mentioned that there was a connection between him and your family. I had been taking care of it personally, but ..."

"Yes," Dumbledore said, "I suppose there's no longer a need..."

"No, wait," Snape cut in. "Voldemort mentioned something to me about Radu, something that didn't register at the time, but ... A few months ago, Voldemort gave me several potions to work on; I've already reported on these. I had no idea who had started the work, though. Last week, Voldemort told me that he did not want me working on any more of Radu's potions ... but he had never told me that I was working on any of Radu's potions in the first place. I think he must have let it slip. We've been assuming that Voldemort only recently found Radu, but he could have had the man for quite some time. Maybe he had both of us working on two different angles of the same problem. If I can find out what Radu was working on and compare my findings with his, I might be able to get a better of idea what Voldemort's planning."

Dumbledore nodded enthusiastically. "Absolutely. Kingsley ..." he said, looking at the Auror.

"I'll stay on it."

"Good, that's one lead we have. Now, Hagrid," Dumbledore continued, "you've heard from Madame Maxine? Any news on the giant front?"

The half-giant shook his head. "No, not much to say 'bout the giants, though I'm havin' some luck getting' Grwap to speak English. Figured that might come in handy, maybe he could be an envoy or translator or somethin'."

Dumbledore was about to respond when Minerva suddenly jumped from her seat. "Albus!" she said, her voice full of anxiety as she pulled a coin out of her pocket and showed it to him. Tonks and Kingsley exchanged looks of confusion.

Dumbledore rose swiftly from his seat at the table and said, "I have to go. I think something may have happened at Hogwarts."

Nearly everyone got up at once. "You're not going alone!" Hagrid boomed, and both Tonks and Kingsley made their way toward the door, wands already in hand.

"Please, everyone just stay calm," Dumbledore said loudly. Tonks stopped moving and looked back at the headmaster.

"You cannot go alone. Poppy would only have used the coin if something was very wrong ..." Minerva began.

Dumbledore nodded and said, "Severus, Hagrid, and the Aurors, let's go. Everyone else stay and continue the meeting."

Tonks was just about to leave when she looked back and met Remus's eyes. "Be careful," he mouthed silently. She nodded then hurried outside to apparate.

*

Albus didn't have to wait long to find out what had happened. They had apparated just outside the Hogwarts gates. And there, waiting in the dusky twilight to greet them, was a pale and distraught Poppy Pomfrey. At first, he didn't realize what was wrong. He only saw Poppy crying. She stumbled toward them and said in a strangled voice, "I was on my way to Hogsmeade for some supplies and ..." Then she looked back at the gates, and Albus finally understood. Hagrid and the Aurors stood gaping; only Severus moved forward, rushing at the gates almost madly.

Albus could not move. She seemed to be staring at him with those eyes he knew so well. Her arms were spread wide, tied with invisible bonds to the bars of the gate. She looked so much older, yet somehow he still recognized her as if she had never left. He had always wondered if perhaps she had walked right past him in the streets of Diagon Alley or London or Hogsmeade or Paris or Rome or Salem or Sydney or Moscow or Bejing or Alexandria or Jerusalem or Rio or Toronto or ... somewhere ... could she have passed by without him recognizing her? Now he knew she could not have, that even as an old woman, she still looked exactly like Guinevere Dumbledore.

Severus was standing directly in front of her, aiming his wands at her limp wrists. "Finite incantatum!" he shouted, and her body tumbled forward, nearly knocking the potions master down.

"Gwen!" Albus called out. And he ran toward her. "Gwen are you all right?"

It was only when he saw the look on Severus's face - pure and total terror that he had not witnessed since that night Severus had admitted he had joined Voldemort's ranks - that Albus snapped out of his daze. Severus, with Gwen's dead body still leaning against him, said gruffly, "Albus, Albus, she is dead, I'm sorry."

"Of course, forgive me, Severus, forgive me." Gently, he reached for his daughter's body, but as he pulled it away from the younger man, he felt so sickened that he dropped her to the ground. Albus had to turn away. She had been dead nearly a week now, and her flesh had begun to rot.

"Albus," Alastor said, limping toward him. "Albus, let me help you. Let's go inside and..."

He shook his head. "No, I'm fine." Then, with a control borne of a long, difficult life, he turned back toward the corpse of his daughter.

There was a blank parchment attached to her torn and bloody robes. Tonks bent down and gently removed it. Holding it up to the darkening sky, she pointed her wand at it and said, "Aparicium."

Red ink seeped onto the page. Albus reached for it and read aloud, "A gift for Albus Dumbledore. You were not able ..." He stopped speaking. He couldn't say the words. You were not able to protect her. You'll find the same to be true with the half blood and the traitor. Their time will come soon.

Albus reached out and grasped Severus's shoulder. The younger man's eyes widened, and Albus said quietly, "I will not fail you. I cannot." Then he bent down and lifted his daughter's body into his arms. Immediately, Hagrid and Kingsley came to his side and tried to take her from him, but he held on to her, saying, "You can help me by digging her grave."

And then the group of them trudged up the hill toward Hogwarts to give Guinevere Dumbledore Richardson a proper burial.