Chapter 60: Chapter 60 The Funeral
The day after the attack, the news of Slughorn's death spread throughout the wagon.
Most of the students felt disbelief at the news; except for those who had entered the wagon at the beginning of the exile, the other young wizards had never experienced a life-or-death separation from any of the professors.
But the body of the defence against the dark arts professor, who was usually always smiling at the lectern, had already taken back to the wagon, and the sobering reality was in front of them, which the others could not refuse to believe.
When eating lunch in the great hall, Dumbledore also announced the death of Slughorn in front of everyone, and many students cried out on the spot.
The fat walrus may not have treated all students equally in the wagon, but he was a dedicated professor, whether it was the defence against the dark arts or the history of magic, he would never restrict his knowledge taught due to his preference for a particular student.
Plus, the majority of the students on this wagon are muggle wizards who have no family and no home, for them, everyone in Hogwarts is their family, and the few professors are like their parents.
But now, one of these individuals has left them forever.
During lunch, Dumbledore not only announced the death of Slughorn but also announced that there would be a funeral held for him tonight.
The students finished their lunch dully, all classes were suspended for the day, some went back to their dorm rooms, and some gathered in the common room.
Jon and Neville didn't go back to their dorm room, they joined Ron, Justin and Lavender, and made their way into the common room in silence.
About a dozen students were sitting there, but no one made a sound, only the cracking sound of the flames burning the wood in the fireplace echoed in this quiet space.
Even the twins George and Fred, who used to be the most active and lively, were slumped over the table with gloomy faces, without any desire to liven up the mood.
Jon also remained silent, but, of course, he was not sad about Slughorn's "death", he was just thinking about the last conversation Dumbledore had with him last night.
The content of the conversation was plenty, and at the end, he gave Jon the right to choose, but for a while, Jon simply could not decide, so he just expressed that he needed some time to consider.
Of course, Dumbledore will agree to such a request, he really did not want to force Jon to do what he wanted, and truly respected his choice, whether he would be willing to do it or not, his attitude toward him will not change.
However, Neville and the rest of the group are now unaware of this matter, in their eyes, in the freshmen, the relationship between Jon and Slughorn is the best, but now something like this has happened, then the most saddest person must be him.
"I can understand your feelings, Jon; when my mother left me back then I also thought I would probably never be happy again, but actually, no matter what, living people always have to look forward, after all, we're not living only for ourselves, but also for those who have died for us."
Neville whispered in a serious tone, Ron and the group also looked at Jon with concern, to which Jon showed a smile on his face and reassured them in turn.
"Don't worry, there is nothing wrong with me, I won't be sullen like this simply because of this."
Seeing he was not forcing a smile on his face, Neville and the rest of them were slightly relieved.
The whole afternoon passed in this way.
Near the end of the evening, Hagrid stopped the moving wagon, they have arrived at the edge of a cliff.
Dumbledore had reassured all the students that there would be no such attack, nobody would question this old man's words, and moreover, nobody would be afraid to step off the wagon due to fear of danger.
Below the cliff is a stormy sea, and the cold wind blew in the face of every student who stepped out of the wagon.
No one was fazed by the cold since most of them were stunned by the cluster of tombstones in front of them.
On the steep cliff, there were nearly a hundred tombstones, and almost everyone could find a familiar name carved on them.
A student silently took his wand from his pocket, and walked up to a tombstone holding the short old wooden wand, and bowed deeply as he looked at the name on the tombstone.
The wand he's now using to learn magic was inherited from the one buried under this tombstone.
More and more students discovered the tombstone of their wand's former master, the one who had been their predecessor and the one who had helped them on their magic journey.
The students held their wands in their hands, and, just like the student at the beginning, they bent down deeply and bowed, paying their respects to each of their predecessors who were buried here.
No one shed tears, even the usually most sensitive girls also pursed their lips not to make sob.
The bones of the martyrs were buried under their feet, and they could not show a single sign of weakness here.
The professors carried the coffin with Slughorn's "body" and stepped down from the wagon, most of them did not look grieving, McGonagall and Flitwick's faces were even a little gloomy.
The Ministry of Magic would not hide the news about Slughorn's defection against Dumbledore and returning with the philosopher's stone, and the Daily Prophet certainly reported the event in a big way early this morning.
For the safety of Slughorn, Dumbledore did not talk to anyone about the fact that he was actually going undercover, there were only two people, Jon and Lily, besides him were aware of it.
It goes without saying why Jon was aware of this, as for Lily, Dumbledore and Slughorn were worried that she would not be able to accept the fact that her most respected mentor would betray her.
Her mental state is already a bit unstable, they don't want her to suffer any more major stimulation, so in the original plan, she was the only person who would know about the truth other than Dumbledore.
The uninformed McGonagall, Filius and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix members, as long as they saw today's newspaper, almost everyone understood what had transpired.
Horace Slughorn did not die, but betrayed Dumbledore, betrayed them all.
Dumbledore forbade them from telling the students about it, and the purpose of this funeral was to at least leave the last bit of good memories of Slughorn in the minds of these children.
Jon imagined, the members of the Order of the Phoenix, who were unaware of the truth, along with McGonagall and the Filius, would have cursed Slughorn, but they couldn't blame anyone.
The professors buried the coffin into the ground, Dumbledore erected a gravestone with Slughorn's name carved on it.
The students bowed their heads in silence, the raging waves lapped at the shore reef under the cliff, and the wet, salty, cold sea breeze blew up the hem of their robes.
The seagulls chirped in the sky, before nightfall, Dumbledore read out the final line of the eulogy while carving a sentence on Slughorn's tombstone like every other headstone there.
---- [To the star that dares to shine in the darkness of the night]
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