good things fall apart • sirius black

Stumbling blindly

    "How is she?!"

James and Sirius were swarmed with questions as soon as they walked through the portrait door into the Gryffindor common room.

Remus, Peter, Lily and Marlene had all been waiting rather impatiently for their return, desperate to get some first-hand information on the friend they were missing so dearly. The two black haired boys had perhaps only been with the beautiful girl for two days, but they'd be able to explain better than any of Euphemia's letters could do, for they really knew Ellie Gryffin inside out.

By now, most of the population of Hogwarts was talking about the girl who was missing. If it wasn't read in the Daily Prophet, someone told you about the death of Adelaide Gryffin, and the suddenness of it all had everyone speculating. Especially when Ellie had been gone for so long. People had expected her to return by now, but then James Potter and Sirius Black had been noticeably absent for two days too, and everyone had to know why. Remus and Peter had been bombarded with question after question whilst the other two boys were away, but they refused to speak on the matter, hardly emerging from their dorm. Whilst all the Marauders were used to being spoken about for pranks and bad behaviour, this time felt different, and the prying eyes and ears of every other student was starting to become difficult to handle.

This is why James nodded for them all to go up to the boys' dorm before they said anything, for the whole common room seemed to have fallen into whispers so people could hear their conversation.

There wasn't time for the messy haired boy to revel in the fact Lily Evans was in his room once more, for there were more serious matters, and he had no energy to start a spat. Moving straight to sit on his bed, everyone else filed into the dorm behind him, all finding their respective spaces to sit and listen. Peter on his bed, Remus with Lily on his, and Marlene crisscross on the floor.

Sirius was the only one who didn't seem interested. Despite him knowing everything James was going to explain, they all expected him to join in, but instead, he just went and curled up in his bed.

He was sure the universe was playing a sick joke, the way his clothes were engulfed in the intoxicating scent of coconut shampoo. After spending just two days back with the beautiful girl, he'd been all-consumed by her everything, and leaving her behind was one of the hardest things he'd ever done. It hadn't mattered how hard he'd begged yesterday, how hard he'd begged this morning; no one would let him stay. Euphemia and Fleamont told him that it was for the best that he got back to school, and Cyrus had been adamant about not letting either boy be crushed by the weight that was Adelaide's absence at home. Already, Sirius longed to be back sat in the Orangery as Ellie sketched his face into her sketchbook, or lacing his fingers through hers as soon as he knew she were asleep. It felt cruel abandoning her back there whilst they all continued with their lives.

"The funeral was nice... as nice as funerals can be." James began, bowing his head a little, "She didn't cry, but she already had when me and Sirius arrived."

"How is she though, in herself?" Remus responded quickly.

"It was hard to gage really. One minute she looked a broken, like she hadn't been eating or sleeping properly, and then the next it seemed like she could be trying to find a way to move forward. I'm worried though..." No one said anything as they waited for James to elaborate, all of their hearts breaking slightly to hear their friend was going through so much pain, "You know how obsessive she can get, but all she's doing is her art. I'm glad she's got some form of escape, but isolation isn't good for her. She needs company, but I'm not really sure she wants it."

Sirius shuffled uncomfortably, rolling over to face away from his friends - James' words were a reminder of how they'd just left her to be alone.

"Did you get her speak about how she was feeling? It seemed like she tried to avoid it as much as possible in everyone's letters."