Sometimes, the silence of the dormant village of Hogsmeade was deafening.

They all mourned here. What was once a vibrant and lively village, it was now one of sorrow, darkened by the looming shadow of death and war. This was no longer a village; this was funeral, lasting until the shock of Albus Dumbledore's death was no more.

It would never go away, Diana Riddle thought. This pain will never end.

Aberforth Dumbledore, the estranged brother of the fallen headmaster and the current barman of the Hog's Head, was no exception. Aberforth, eternally determined to despise his brother for things long left in the past, mourned with everyone else. Diana saw him once in his dingy bedroom below hers, his face tear-stained and his eyes staring at a portrait of a young girl. Ariana Dumbledore, encased in the portrait, sniffed along with her last living brother. Diana couldn't help but think of how many people Aberforth had lost; his parents, his sister, his brother. Even Vera Beauregard, who he had come to love like a daughter, disappeared without a trace.

Most thought she was dead. Now, Diana wasn't so sure. In the memory she had watched with Harry and Dumbledore shortly before the latter died, Tom asked if it was possible to create a Horcrux for another being.

Diana could not think about those possibilities now. There was only so many secrets she could hold.

Being alone was not new to Diana, nor was it bad. In fact, she preferred being alone, but this was different. This pain was not just loneliness: it was emptiness. She had been reduced to only a shell of her former self, torn to shreds by the wicked talons of darkness. Her heart did not beat anymore, nor did her blood rush in her veins. She was dead in the cruelest of senses, for this was so much worse. Death would've been preferable to this state of emptiness.

But death, she knew, would be coming soon, and she couldn't quite find it in herself to try to stop it.

A light knock on her door, thumping dully against the aged wood of the door, echoed through her room like church bells. Sound was not something she had been conscious of for awhile now; she had been living in a perpetual state of melancholy, blanketed in the deafening silence that tried to suffocate her.

Without invitation, the door swing open. The rhythmic thumping of something hard against wood echoed in her head, and the scarred, broken, and disturbing body of Mad-Eye Moody appeared through the door. His magical eye whizzed around in his socket before finally settling on Diana, intermittently twitching between her and her different areas of her room.

Immediately, she pointed her wand at his throat, and he did the same to her.

"When I tried taking you to St. Mungo's to visit Arthur after the snake attack, what did you do?" asked Mad-Eye firmly.

Diana could not suppress a small smile from gracing her lips.

"I panicked, Disapparated back to headquarters, and then we proceeded to scream at eachother."

"Come on, kid, let's get a move on, then," he grunted, a slight grin on his face. He thumped to her dresser and leaned on it idly, his eyes trained hardly on the girl. "Molly and Arthur are expecting you tonight. Granger is already there, along with the rest of the Weasleys, and we'll be traveling to get Potter soon."

She did not speak when she clutched the strap of her bag and put it around her shoulders, all of her belongings tucked safely inside. Her wand was in the left sleeve of her sweater, which was where she had taken to keeping it.

This was what war did to a person. It eroded them like stone until they were nothing more than bitterness and hatred and foreboding.

"You look like hell," he muttered to her as they stomped down the creaky stairs. Aberforth was tending to the grimy glasses at the bar, his face worn and tired.

"Are you going?" Aberforth asked, setting the glass on the counter and walking to the other side of the bar.

Mad-Eye muttered a quick 'I'll wait outside' and sidled out of the bar and into the lane where he waited.

"The Order," she said simply, her voice scratchy from lack of use. Out of habit, she spoke quietly, though the bar was entirely empty. "Harry will be turning seventeen soon."

Aberforth averted his eyes, his eyebrows furrowed slightly. "You don't have to help them, you know. This isn't your fight."

Diana's eyes dropped, a small, sad smile playing on her lips.

"You more than anyone should know that this is most definitely my fight."

He looked up at her, a small smile on his face. "You really are just like Vera."

He wrapped his arms around her for a quick hug, as did she, and he set a fatherly hand on her shoulder.

"Give 'em hell, kid."

Diana parted from him with the first real, large smile on her face for weeks. Moody's eye flew around in different directions, surveying their surroundings with everlasting vigilance, his wand firmly in his scarred hand. She held her wand as well, her index finger rubbing it lightly to calm her. Eyes peered from windows as they past, and they only passed a few brave souls who dared venture into the town just before dark.

"How're we getting there?" she asked, her other hand playing idly with the strap of her bag.

"Apparating," he grunted. "Not my preference, but it's the quickest, and traveling with you won't create as much of a hazard."

"The Burrow?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. They reached a small valley in the hills, hidden on all sides by the looming hill tops silhouetted against the sky. Rocks crunched under their feet as they climbed the dirt-strewn terrain.

"Here should do it," he murmured, stopping just at the lowest point of the valley. "Apparate to the village nearest to their house. We'll have to walk the rest of the way because of the Anti-Apparation spells on the place."

Both of them, securing their belongings and tightening their grip on their wands, spun on their heel and were squeezed through the familiar tube, their stomachs tightening and twisting and their body stretching through the limbo. Their feet hit dusty ground on the outskirt of the small village on the other side of the hill from the Burrow. Even here in this small Muggle town, the darkness loomed above in the form of gray skies and quiet, whistling wind. The town seemed dull and lifeless, and even the Muggles seemed to be able to feel Voldemort.

They began their trek up the hill, the wind drying Diana's eyes and creating goosebumps on her arms. The walk was long through the rocky terrain and the dusty foothills, grass splattered here and there and insects crawling and burrowing around their feet. They were silent, but it was not awkward. Both were perfectly content in silence which made the atmosphere exponentially less tense.

The Burrow rose into sight in the valley, in between rolling hills and peculiar plants of all kinds and a small pen with muddy pigs. This place, unlike the Hog's Head or St. Mungo's, where she had stayed for so long, was the house of a family who loved. Diana had never felt such a thing, other than the few stays she had had with them.

Mad-Eye dropped a handful of protections against intruders just long enough for them to stride through the barrier.

Mrs. Wealsey slammed the front door open, startling some crows in the near field.

"Diana, oh my--"

Mad-Eye, in the blink of an eye, had his wand pointed at Mrs. Weasley and his magical eye whizzed in its socket.

"When was the last time the both of us saw Albus Dumbledore together?"

"This is silly--"

"Molly--"

"You're the ones intruding into my house anyway--"

"Molly--"

"Fine!" she huffed. "A meeting, here, with all of the Aurors and guards."

Mad-Eye lowered his wand. "Don't worry, I already checked Diana."

"I wasn't worried," she muttered to him, with a soft, annoyed glare hardening her eyes. She turned to Diana now, her eyes lighting with joy.

"Diana!" she said brightly. "Come in, come in, everyone's up in their rooms."

She ushered Diana through the grass, with Mad-Eye thumping rhythmically behind them. The door opened with a creak and they crossed the kitchen threshold.

"Dear, are you hungry? I could make--"

"Oh, no, thank you, Molly," said Diana. Mrs. Weasley halted for just a moment, the softness and quietness of Diana's voice being entirely startling. "Which room should I sleep in?"

"I'd say you'd ought to join Hermione and Ginny," she babbled, the kettle on the stove whistling. "People will be arriving any day now, you know, for Order things and the wedding."

Diana stared blankly. "Wedding?"

"Yes, yes," Molly muttered absentmindedly, fiddling with the kettle and conjuring two glasses for tea. "You know, Bill and Fleur's wedding. Don't tell me you forgot, did you?"

"Just for a moment," Diana said quietly. "Its just so odd that something as ordinary as a wedding could be happening. . ."

"Oh, don't I know it," she agreed. With a small 'goodnight' to Mad-Eye and Mrs. Weasley, she trodded lightly up the stairs all the way to Ginny's room, where the light seeped from the crack beneath the door and voices wandered out into the hall.

As she opened the door, the hall flooded with lamplight and the voices hushed abruptly, but upon seeing who it was, Diana immediately was nearly pushed to the ground with the force of a hug.

"Diana!" said Hermione into the girl's hair, her voice muffled. "We didn't know you were coming!"

"Neither did I," she replied, now being attacked in a bear hug by Ginny.

"We're so glad you're here!" Ginny cried, and once she let go, Ron and Diana hugged with much less bone-crushing force.

"A bunch of the Order are coming tomorrow," Ron told her as they all settled into a circle on the ground. "We're going to fetch Harry soon, since it's almost his birthday."

"Bill and Fleur are already here," added Ginny, "and Fred and George will be coming tomorrow and staying until the wedding."

"What's it been like?" asked Diana. "Here, I mean, after. . ." she trailed off, not quite knowing what to say. The strap of her bag dug into her back, so she took it off and set it beside her.

"Mum's been cleaning and cooking so much, probably to distract herself," said Ginny.

"Everyone in the Order has just been so quiet," said Hermione, with a furtive glance toward the closed door. "No one's really talked about it too much, mostly because I think they don't want to scare us."

"It's ridiculous, we're seventeen!" Ron cried.

"I'm not!" Ginny shouted indignantly.

"Old habits, I guess," said Hermione. "They're not used to us being of age yet."

After a few more minutes of talking, Ron bade them goodnight and padded up the stairs, and Hermione, Ginny, and Diana climbed into their respective beds.

Diana tucked her wand securely under her pillow. She'd taken to doing that lately.

Ginny clicked the light off on her bedside table, and they were plunged into thick darkness, broken only by the soft moonlight streaming through the window.

Ginny's voice, slicing through the silence like a knife, quietly echoed off of the walls.

"Are you guys afraid?"

It was silent for a few more moments. Subconsciously, Diana wrapped her hand around her wand that was beneath her pillow.

"Yes," said Hermione quietly, and now they waited for Diana's response.

"I'm always afraid, I think," she muttered.

They were once again overtaken by silence, and a gray cloud floated of the moon, obstructing any light from passing.

Diana did not sleep tonight, for every time she closed her eyes, the image of Albus Dumbledore falling from the Astronomy Tower plagued her thoughts relentlessly.

ok wow chapter one!! I hoped you all liked it, and thanks for reading!!