[Lake] Funeral for a Teacher

[Mandrake Black]

(( Click Here for the thread "Hiding" where Mandrake is killed. ))

Mandrakes body lay in the gleaming white marble coffin in the cold November sun as a breeze rustled the surface of the nearby lake. The coffin was set on a giant stone that had words engraved on the side in big bold letters. It read:

Mandrake Percival Black

March 23, 2073 - October 30, 2096

Teacher, Friend, Son and Beloved Father

His memory will carry on in those who new him best.

About twenty chairs sat before the marvelous coffin all empty waiting for occupants.

[Prof Brianna O'Donnell]

Brianna walked towards the lake dressed in a black dress. She had contemplated not going to this auspicious occasion. However, she felt a pang in her gut to pay her respects to a fellow educator. She looked ahead and saw the white marble coffin and the chairs and the emptiness.

She felt another pang in her gut as she approached and saw the emptiness. It hit her like a blow to the stomach. It was so sad to see that a teacher of her own subject would be alone even in death. No one should be alone, especially not a teacher. She sat in the middle of the the middle row and crossed her legs.

As she waited, Bree thought about how she would feel if so few were expected to come to her funeral. She felt up set about not being able to have so much as spoke to Mr Mandrake Percival Black. She would not know what his favourite food was, or how he took his coffee, or how many siblings he had; or what kind of relationship he had with his family, his students, or how he came to be deceased.

[rileybabe]

Andie walked quietly towards the coffin. She had never met Professor Black but from what she had heard he had been a well liked teacher and would be missed by everyone. She noticed one other person, a teacher by the looks of it and sat down next to her. She gazed quietly at the ground before raisng her head and looking at the teacher. "Was he a friend of yours?" she asked quietly.

[Prof Brianna O'Donnell]

Brianna did not remove her cool brown eyes from the coffin but shook her head at the Ravenclaw girl's question. Still with her eyes on the white marble, she said, 'nevertheless I thought I should come in any case as I have prospered from his demise. I know it may not be the nicest thing to say, but the truth is often truly harsh that way.'

For the first time, Bree looked at the Ravenclaw girl and smiled. 'And yourself? Did you know him?' She turned from the Ravenclaw and looked out over the lake. She waited for a moment, then turned back to the young girl.

[Prof Octavious Everritt]

Seeing the empty area surrounding Black's grave, Leigh carefully took note that he should attend. With a grim smile as he thought about the few encounters he had with the former Flying Instructor, all Leigh could up with was that Black was a decent man, sometimes wiser beyond his years, sometimes acting his age. Leigh walked down the slightly slope heading towards the empty rows of chairs, now a few occupied by visitors.

Upon seeing the tombstone, Leigh saw the carving's and found out something he never knew. Black was a father. With a gimace, Leigh knew what it was like to lose a parent at a young age. Realising how the mans child or children may feel, Leigh felt obliged to send them a letter to envoy how great their father was, if he could find them.

Leigh walked away from the tombstone and coffin before sitting on the closest empty seat he could find. The Defence Against The Dark Arts badge as well as his own Head of Hufflepuff insignia's were easily shown today, despite the grim circumstances.

[Prof Grace Marks]

Grace had been the first to know and it had been eating her inside. She strolled down towards the lake and the white tomb she could see glimmering in the morning sunshine. Only a small handful of people had come and this, to Grace, was angering. Prof Black was one of the best teachers she had had all her years at Hogwarts and now he was gone. She saw Prof Addis sitting in the front and, holding back tears, she sat next to him. She buried her hands in her lap and began to fiddle with a thread on her long jersey sleeve.

[Brian Chase]

Brian was dressed in all black, tears rolling down his facr. He never liked the professor since he had always been there when Brian got in trouble. He never thought that he would die, it just shows how quickly a life can go. He decided to sit down, which the closest seat was next to Professor Addis. When he reached his seat his head just fell into his hands when he read "Beloved Father." Brian knew how it was to lose family, and the fact that his children may not even know he's dead made his cry. "I'm sorry Professor." Brian said in a quiet tone hoping Addis didn't hear him.

[Prof Grace Marks]

Grace knew that she would be able to hold her tears if no one else cried. But that was asking too much. A slytherin boy who she had not spoken to before set her off. First a single tear fell off her cheek and onto the back of her hand. She looked at the tombstone and read it again and could feel nothing but empathy for this children. She had lost her father too recently and she knew there was nothing worse then loosing a parent.

She tried her best to smile at the slytherin boy but his tears brought hers flowing freely. She sniffed and wiped her cheeks with her sleeves. She hated funerals, they were always sad and she always cried ... always. Where is everyone else? she thought, looking around for anyone else she knew.

[Prof Octavious Everritt]

Leigh's eyes narrowed slightly as Brian Chase and Grace Marks sat beside him. With little reaction to theirs, he spoke softly. 'Cry now, grieve now, don't cry later, don't grieve later, just remember who he was and what he meant to you as a person, regardless of what he did.' Leigh said, his words hopefully inspiring those that heard him.

[rileybabe]

Andie paused before answering. "No" she replied. She smiled sadly at the teacher and continued, "But I'm sure I would have liked him." She looked down at the ground in silence. After a few moments she began to shiver slighty. She had negelcted to bring her cloak and the weather was slowly but steadily growing colder. Either that or it was the fact that she was at a funeral.

[Caleb Black]

Caleb walked stiffly to the site of the Funeral. He wore long black robes that blew with the chilly wind and his hair did also. He noticed a few people in the front row, so he decided to sit in the back so they didn't hear his tears. He let them run freely down the side of his face and staining on his black cloak but he paid no heed on the account of his brothers death. He just wished he knew how it happened and why. The thought of murder ran through his mind more and more frequently. He didn't know if it was murder yet but he decided it probably was. Caleb sighed and in a choked voice he let out barely louder than a whisper, " I will find them. When I do they will pay. Pay with their lives!" and his tears overcame him again and he sat in the cold November day his tears leaking out of his eyes like a Muggle sprinkler.

[Prof Grace Marks]

Grace was tired and had since finished crying. She looked up at the professor. "What will happen now?" she asked, "with his body, I mean? And who will inform his family?" She was feeling terribly guilty about having lost him and him leaving his family with out so much as a wink.

[Henry Boggleworth]

Boggleworth had known Mandrake only a little and that most definitely hadn't got on well, but the passing of a human life even one who had tried and very nearly succeeded in killing Boggleworth, he still hated. So he came with a rather light heart consdiering the circumstances to the funeral to pay his respects to a man he had respected, admired and feared just a little. Seeing Grace he walked up to her quickly and took his seat not glancing almost casually at the words on the side of the coffin, as he had something rather urgent to say
"Grace, I think the family already does know, if I'm not mistaken his nearest blood relative is stood right before us,"
Boggleworth looked Caleb Black intensely in the eye with much the same gaze he had given his father, or so Boggleworth believed.

[Prof Grace Marks]

Having seen Bog, Grace tried to smile at him with shining eyes, but didn't quite manage it. She sniffed and on hearing that a relative of Mandrake's was there, she wheeled around. She saw a man that resembled Mandrake and looked back at Bog. She kissed him lightly on the cheek and smiled and him better this time. She walked to him and sat next to him. "I'm sorry for your loss, sir," she said, solemnly turning to him, "he was a fine teacher and ... he helped me through so difficult times. I truly am sorry!" At this point, she was staring intensely at the man next to her and was frowning deeply.

[Caleb Black]

Caleb sat staring ahead in stony silence. He heard the girls voice and looked at his side to find her sitting there. "Yes he was a great man. We had so many great times! Thank you for your grief. He left me a will you know. He gave me alot of items and he left a few in the possession of a Grace Marks. Do you know where I can find this girl?" He asked staring coldly ahead of him once more as he watched the Sunlight play across the Marble coffin.