McGonagall stepped up to the stage in front of the students in the Great Hall, the students that were left, that is. She sighed, and looked at the measly sized group that was left, all pure or half bloods of course.
"Today is a very sad day," She began, her heart hanging heavy in her chest, "Today we mourn the loss of one of our greatest students,"
The room was silent in grief.
"Professor Snape is not here to give or attend this assembly, however I would have preferred have conducted this ceremony myself anyway," She gulped, looking at the solemn faces that stared back at her with questions in their eyes, "Despite what the Daily Prophet has announced, Heidi MacAvoy's death was no accident. Heidi MacAvoy was murdered," She looked towards Alecto Carrow, who showed no remorse, "She was killed in action as she saved many Muggle born students from death or torture, and helped them escape. I am telling you this because it is the truth, I was there, I saw it happen,"
There was a murmur between the classmates and gasps of shock, but McGonagall carried on.
"If Professor Snape had been taking this assembly I fear his version of the events may be incredibly different to my own, and may match the lies that are currently being printed in the Daily Prophet. For those of you who did not know Heidi, well or at all, she was incredibly loyal, she was kind and good-natured and stood up for what she believed in. To me, she is the model student and in today's grave times we should all take a leaf out of her book – we must all remember that this is a war, and we need to stick together if we have any chance of overcoming You-Know-Who, no matter what our blood status…"
McGonagall exhaled deeply, there was not much more she could say.
"You are dismissed," She said finally, as the students wandered out of the Great Hall talking amongst themselves.
Left to bring up the rear was Draco, who pushed past the rest of the students and hurtled towards his Head Boy headquarters. He pushed open the door and stepped through, the whole room dancing with Heidi's aura. He sighed and stepped through the room towards Heidi's chamber, and pushed the door open. Her smell hit him immediately, and he had to close to before he tortured himself any longer.
He knew where he needed to go, and he knew what he needed to say.
He darted out of the room and almost half-ran the whole way through the school and out onto the grounds, down past Hagrid's hut and through to the forest.
As soon as he saw the pearl white headstone, he almost broke down. He gingerly walked towards it and knelt down, running his fingers across the white marble that read:
"Here lies Heidi Karen MacAvoy,
For Hogwarts, for Dumbledore, and for a better world,"
Draco sighed again, his eyelids heavy.
"Hey," He breathed, wondering quite how to get out what he wanted to say, "You know all those letters that I wrote to you, that Snape stole, I never got them back, but I remember every word," He said softly, looking around to see if anyone was watching him, "I think I owe you the truth, I'm sorry that you didn't know before. When I first came into your carriage, I didn't know you were in there – I just wanted to be alone, I was rude to you and for that I'm sorry. I was furious with myself, my father, everything that had happened and was going to happen, and that I was powerless. You were the first person to stand up to me, properly and you reminded me of Hermione Granger at first. I think I've always been in love with her, and it was wrong of me to start an affair with you when for a while, the only reason I did so was because you reminded me of her. I thought that with you, I could right those wrongs I did with Hermione, I could start fresh with you, and I did. While I was away, I thought about you loads and I realised that it didn't have anything to do with Hermione anymore, you were your own person and no matter what I did or said, or made you feel, you were going to stand up for what was right and I respected that so much. I wanted to tell you how I felt, but I've never been very good at being articulate. It's my fault you're here, it's my fault you're six feet under, Heidi, and I'll never forgive myself – you didn't deserve to die… it should have been me,"
Draco started to get a bit choked and decided to leave it there, he'd said his piece, but as he went to get up, Ginny Weasley stood behind him. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"You didn't hear that did you?"
"Every word," Ginny replied, with a shake in her voice, "That was very big of you, to admit all of that,"
"It's the truth," He shrugged.
"When are you going to realise Draco, that when innocent people die at your hand, it's time to give it up,"
"Give what up?"
"The Dark side, you're old enough to make your own decisions now, Draco,"
"It's whole lot bigger than you think; I told Heidi that from the beginning,"
"But what if it isn't?" Ginny interjected, "The war is over as far as I'm concerned, Harry isn't going to let us down,"
"He doesn't stand a chance and you know it,"
"Just because Heidi died, just because a good person died doesn't mean we need to give up," Ginny cried, "Plenty of people are going to die in this war, Draco, good innocent people like Heidi,"
"This war isn't even worth fighting!"
"How can you say that?"
"Without her, I have nothing left to fight for…" Draco spat, looking back at Heidi's grave.
Ginny was silent for a moment, "We could have used her The Battle," She said softly, "Such a beautiful soul, such a waste,"
"And all because she couldn't keep her mouth shut…" Draco said bitterly, tears cascading down his face, wondering if things would have been different if he hadn't poisoned the life of pure, delicate Heidi MacAvoy with his presence.
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