Dandelions

~58~

Sirius was sat in the Gryffindor common room with his best mates, reminiscing on the past when Harper burst into the room. "Harper? Are you ok?" Remus asked, rushing over to the girls side. "H-H-He.." She could barely form a sentence because of the tears and worry which made everyone worry more. "Sit her down on the couch" James said before pulling Harper towards the couch and sitting her in between him and Sirius. "Is it a person?" Peter asked earning a nod from the girl back. "I'm going to name people and you say who." Sirius said growing angry over whoever would hurt his girl. The list of people went on and on until Harper could finally speak for herself, "Regulus. He went to the cave today. W-without me." Tense silence washed over the room as the boys waited for Sirius to react to the news of his brother. "You're joking right?" Sirius asked even though he knew it wasn't a joke if she was crying. Harper shook her head no as more tears began to fall down her cheek.

"Hey, he's going to be fine. Regulus loves you both so much and he wouldn't do it if he weren't capable. Yeah?" Remus tried comforting but ended up getting a look of dispair on both of their faces. Sirius pulled Harper into his chest as he planted kisses on the back of her head. How could Regulus be this stupid? He knew Harper and Sirius were going to come with him, why couldn't he just wait? Sirius rarely ever cried but he felt his heart shatter and tears couldn't help but slip down his face. James wrapped his arms around the two causing Remus and Peter to do the same. Graduation day went from being a joyous and celebratory day to being a worrisome and sad day. "Come on, let's go to our bedroom." James said helping Sirius up with Remus's help and Peter helping Harper. "Thanks Pete." Harper managed to sniffle out. Harper mentally felt drained and upset but physically, she wanted to pull herself together and go to the cave to help. "We- we need to go help him." Harper said as the arrived in the room.

Sirius seemed to regain himself at the words as his snapped around and he practically yelled, "No. He didn't want our help and decided to go on his own. It's his fault if something goes wrong." The rest of the boys stayed quiet as they got ready for their last night in Hogwarts which was supposed to be a good and relaxing one. Harper climbed into Sirius's bed and held on tight to him as she silently cried over Regulus. She was so worried about him getting injured or dying that she didn't fall asleep until 3 hours later. Sirius didn't go to sleep at all as his mind was filled with different worries like his brother, his future, and Harper. If Regulus died, would Harper be able to recover from that? Would he, himself, be able to recover? Sirius's family may have been fucked up but he never wanted his little brother to die, especially at such a young age. Night quickly turned into day and everyone was packing for the boat ride and train ride home. Harper had left to go to the Hufflepuff common room to retrieve her stuff and said she'd meet everyone at the dock for the boats. Really, she just wanted to be alone.

"I can't believe we're leaving already!" Peter said as he looked over the room once more to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. "I know. Feels like yesterday we were just planning our first prank in here." Sirius laughed as he wrapped his arms around Remus and James shoulders. "Come on. Marlene and Lily are probably waiting for us." The boys looked over the room once more before heading downstairs to see Marlene and Dorcas impatiently waiting. "Bloody hell you guys! Doesn't take the long to get down here. Come on or we'll miss the boats." Marlene grumbled as she pulled Dorcas out of the portrait hole who flashed an apologetic smile towards everyone. "Hi Lily-Flower," James said before kissing Lily. Remus and Sirius both faked throwing up behind them as Peter watched in amusement. "COME ON!" They heard Marlene yell from outside. Everyone pulled their trunks and looked around there common room one last time before leaving. The walk to the front of Hogwarts was upsetting that they'd be leaving the place that was there home for many years.

"Hi guys. Put your trunks there and let's head to the boats." Harper called as she saw them all walking towards her. Once they'd given their trunks in, they all hurried to the dock where they would be boarding their boat. Lily, Marlene, Harper, and Dorcas sat in one boat while James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter sat in the other. James and Sirius were rocking the boat to annoy Remus who was reading while waiting. Soon enough, they felt the boats start to glide across the river leaving Hogwarts. The castle loomed over them in all its glory as everyone waved goodbye to it. Even the Giant Squid peeked its head up almost as if it were saying goodbye to the best students Hogwarts had ever seen. Harper remembered her first day ever where she met Sirius, Amos, and Lily and that became instant connections. Harper would miss this place more words could explain but she was excited for her future. "I c-can't b-b-believe we're l-l-leaving already!" Lily cried into Marlene's shirt who rolled her eyes at the girl, "Can we get off the boat now please?" Harper laughed before being helped out of the boat by Sirius. "Hello, darling. Ready to go on our last train ride?"

Harper nodded before connecting both of their lips. "Yeah let's go." The group of teenagers walked to the train where they saw Hagrid directing the first years. "Yer all leavin'!" Hagrid smiled down at them. Harper quickly hugged the giant man before rushing onto the train to find their compartment. Luckily, nobody was inside it so she wouldn't have to kick anyone out of it. She still hadn't heard anything from Regulus which made her worry more and more for the boy as he couldn't handle such thing by himself. The compartment door slid open and all the friends piled in with their trunks already in the compartment. "We should carve our names under the seat!" James yelled as he took out a sharp knife thing and bent under the chair. Everyone took turns but as Harper grabbed the knife, she'd realized her name was already there. "Sirius Black + Harper Rossi/Black." She got up and smiled at the boy before being pulled down on the chair next to him. "I want to sleep. Didn't get any last night." He yawned before laying his head in her lap, she ran her fingers through his hair while smiling down. "Why didn't you guys get deep?" Lily asked in a stern-mother-voice. Remus gave her a look but that only interested her more in the matter.

James whispered in her ear about Regulus while Peter whispered to Marlene. Both of them looked horrified but didn't say anything else as they didn't want to upset either of the two who were closest to the younger Slytherin boy. A knock on the door came before it opened to show Narcissa who looked absolutely petrified, "Has anyone seen Reggie? Please tell me he's ok." The room fell silent once again only scaring Narcissa more, "No. He didn't,
h-he promised me." Before anyone could say anything to calm her down, she stormed out in anger that terrified everyone. "Bloody hell she's scary when she's mad." Dorcas said before returning to her game of exploding snap against James who kept complaining of losing. The rest of the train ride home was peaceful and exciting as they only talked about positive things like Lily and James's wedding. That would be coming up in no time.