"McGonagall called everyone to the Great Hall to announce what happened.... They're going to bury him here, by the lake," Hermione said, holding back her tears.
                              
      "He'd want that," he whispered.
                              
      A silence followed, but it ended the discussion. Hermione drew herself up, and looked to Ron and then back to Harry.
                              
      "Harry... the Prophecy?" she asked cautiously and he looked up into her eyes, then at Ron and Ginny.
                              
      "It doesn't matter, anymore. Voldemort knows," Harry sighed painfully.
                              
      "Knows what Harry? Wasn't it destroyed?" Ron asked.
                              
      "No, Dumbledore heard it and told me after Sirius died. It is the reason everything is happening. It is why Voldemort is after me and why he killed my parents," he said, sadly and realizing that it was finally time to tell them.
                              
      There was no point not to tell them, now. Voldemort knew the prophecy. They did not interrupt him as he laid out his destiny to them and why he did not tell them. They reacted all right and they tried to reassure him, but he did not need it. It was just between him and Voldemort, now. There was no question about that anymore.
                              
      After two more days, he could leave the hospital wing and go to the funeral. It was a somber affair. The whole school was there and many people that Harry did not know showed up. Fudge and the rest of the Ministry were there, and even foreign officials. Some people choose to speak. Hagrid completely broke down in tears and a silently weeping Professor McGonagall led him from the podium. Harry could not go up there, and neither did Snape, who had isolated himself from everyone since they had returned. Ginny stayed with him the whole time and after all the rites were performed, they went back into the castle. He did not want to go to the wake.
                              
      Dumbledore's death had caused pandemonium to break out. He was their safety net. The shock from his death shattered the belief that Voldemort could be stopped. Their last hope, the only hope they had left, was Harry, "The Boy Who Lived". This grim knowledge placed an even larger burden on Harry. 
                              
      Voldemort was so strong and he did not do anything to him. How could he beat him? Dumbledore said it would be a battle of their minds. Good and love versus evil and hatred. He did not know if he could do it, but he was going to try. They were going home in a few days. His injuries had healed for the most part. The gash down his back had not fully mended, yet, and reminders of Voldemort's Cruciatus Curses hit him occasionally.
                              
      He had not seen Malfoy since they got back. He rarely came out of the Slytherin common room. Harry was not sure that he wanted to see him. However, one morning, they had just finishing eating lunch and were walking out of the Great Hall, when Harry saw Malfoy, half-hidden in shadows, near the entrance to the dungeons. He was staring directly at Harry. 
                              
      Harry looked at Ginny and then glanced at Ron and Hermione, who had not noticed Malfoy. Ginny nodded, and he said would catch up with them later. They reluctantly headed out the front doors, as he cautiously made his way over to Malfoy. He saw a healing cut on his head, and he had a black eye. Malfoy did not say anything at first and would not look him in the eye. He was clearly uncomfortable about this conversation.
                              
      Malfoy hesitated, but looked up into his eyes and simply asked, "Why?"
                              
      Harry did not know what to say. He did not have an answer when Ginny asked him and he certainly did not have one now.
                              
      "I don't know," Harry said, truthfully.
                              
      "I brought you to-to... him.... I-I knew what he was going to do," Malfoy rambled, completely at a loss.