I found out that it was Bill who was believed to be dead by Floppy - he had been attacked by Greyback and recovered slowly in the hospital wing with his family by his side. Fleur told Mrs Weasley fiercely that she would still love Bill no matter what, and it caused the two women to hug and make up, crying. 

All lessons were suspended, all examinations postponed. Some students were hurried away from Hogwarts by their parents over the next couple of days - the Patil twins were gone before breakfast on the morning following Dumbledore's death and Zacharias Smith was escorted from the castle by his haughty-looking father. Seamus Finnigan, on the other hand, refused point-blank to accompany his mother home; they had a shouting match in the Entrance Hall which was resolved when she agreed that he could remain behind for the funeral. She had difficulty in finding a bed in Hogsmeade, Seamus told me, for wizards and witches were pouring into the village, preparing to pay their last respects to Dumbledore. 

I rose early to pack the day of Dumbledore's funeral; the Hogwarts Express would be leaving an hour after. Downstairs I found the mood in the Great Hall subdued. Everybody was wearing their dress robes and no one seemed very hungry. Professor McGonagall had left the thronelike chair in the middle of the staff table empty. Hagrid's chair was deserted too: I thought that perhaps he had not been able to face breakfast; but Snape's place had been unceremoniously filled by Rufus Scrimgeour. I avoided his yellowish eyes as they scanned the Hall; I had the uncomfortable feeling that Scrimgeour was looking for me. 

Among Scrimgeour's entourage I spotted the red hair and horn-rimmed glasses of Percy Weasley. Fred gave no sign that he was aware of Percy, apart from stabbing pieces of kipper with unwonted venom. Him and George were both wearing jackets of black dragonskin, and Terry was staring at them both with a pink tinge in his cheeks. 

Professor McGonagall rose to her feet and the mournful hum in the Hall died away at once.

"It is nearly time." She said. "Please follow your Heads of House out into the grounds. Gryffindors, after me."

We filed out from behind our benches in near silence. I glimpsed Slughorn at the head of the Slytherin column, wearing magnificent long emerald-green robes embroidered with silver. I had never seen Professor Sprout, Head of the Hufflepuffs, looking so clean; there was not a single patch on her hat, and when we reached the Entrance Hall, we found Madam Pince standing beside Filch, she in a thick black veil that fell to her knees, he in an ancient black suit and tie reeking of mothballs.

We were heading, as I saw when I stepped out onto the stone steps from the front doors, towards the lake. The warmth of the sun caressed my face as we followed Professor McGonagall in silence to the place where hundreds of chairs had been set out in rows. An aisle ran down the centre of them: there was a marble table standing at the front, all chairs facing it. It was the most beautiful summer's day.

An extraordinary assortment of people had already settled into half of the chairs: shabby and smart, old and young. Most I did not recognise, but there were a few that I did, including members of the Order of the Phoenix: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks and Lupin, with whom she seemed to be holding hands, Sirius and Emily, Mr and Mrs Weasley, and Bill supported by Fleur. Then there was Madame Maxime, who took up two-and-a-half chairs on her own, the landlord of the Leaky Cauldron, Arabella Figg, my Squib neighbour, the band members of the Weird Sisters, Ernie Prang, driver of the Knight Bus, Madam Malkin, of the robe shop in Diagon Alley, and some people whom I merely knew by sight, such as the barman of the Hog's Head and the witch who pushed the trolley on the Hogwarts Express. The castle ghosts were there too, barely visible in the bright sunlight, discernible only when they moved, shimmering insubstantially in the gleaming air.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Kylie, Terry, Fred, George, and I filed into seats at the end of a row beside the lake. People were whispering to each other; it sounded like a breeze in the grass, but the birdsong was louder by far.

During the service, a little tufty-haired man in plain black robes stood in front of Dumbledore's body. I could not hear what he was saying. Odd words floated back to us over the hundreds of beads. "Nobility of spirit" ... "intellectual contribution" ... "greatness of heart" ... it did not mean very much. It had little to do with Dumbledore as I had known him. I suddenly remembered Dumbledore's idea of a few words: "nitwit", "oddment", "blubber", and "tweak", and had to suppress a grin... what was the matter with me? 

And after, Fred, George, Terry, and I walked slowly around the lake together, basking in the sunlight. 

"I can't bear the idea that we might never come back here." Terry said softly. "How can this banterful place close?"

"I'm not coming back even if it does reopen." I said. "At least not next year." 

The twins looked down at their feet, and Terry said sadly,"I knew you were going to say that, Softpaw. But then what will you do?"

"I'm going back to the Dursleys' once more, because Dumbledore wanted me and Harry to." I said."But it'll be a short visit." 

"But where will you go if you don't come back to school?"

"I thought I might go back to Godric's Hollow." I muttered. I had had the idea in my head ever since the night of Dumbledore's death. "For me and Harry, it started there, all of it. I've just got a feeling I need to go there. And we can visit my parents' graves, I'd like that, and I'm sure Harry would too."

"And then what?" George said.

"Then we've got to track down the rest of the Horcruxes, haven't we?" I said, my eyes upon Dumbledore's white tomb, reflected in the water on the other side of the lake. "That's what he wanted us to do, that's why he told us both all about them. If Dumbledore was right - and I'm sure he was, the absolute legend - there are still four of them out there. We've got to find them and destroy them and then I've got to go after the seventh bit of Voldemort's soul, the bit that's still in his body, and I'm the one who's going to kill him. And if I meet Severus Snape along the way," I added, "so much the better for me, so much the worse for him. Fuckin' asshole." 

There was a long silence. The crowd had almost dispersed now across the water. 

"We'll be there, Daze." Fred said.

"What?"

"At your aunt and uncle's house." Fred said. 

"And then we'll go with you, wherever you're going." Terry added. 

"We're with you whatever happens, mate." George said. 

"But, baby, you're going to have to come round our mum and dad's house before we do anything else, even Godric's Hollow." Fred slipped his hand into mine, his eyes twinkling. 

"Why?"

"Bill and Fleur's wedding, remember?"

I looked at him, startled; the idea that anything as normal as a wedding could still exist seemed incredible and yet wonderful.

"Yeah, I'm not missing that." I said finally.

My other hand closed automatically around the fake Horcrux, but in spite of everything, in spite of the dark and twisting path I saw stretching ahead for myself, in spite of the final meeting with Riddle I knew must come, whether in a month, in a year, or in ten, I felt my heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with my very best friends.