A/N: This is my gift for Xmas Eve. Hope you like it!
Before Moody could warn her otherwise, Joanna disapparated out of headquarters to the McKinnon's house. It was a two-story brick house with ivy all around. Her first time walking through the front yard, she was welcomed by two rowdy little boys playing with a garden hose.
Lily was already soaking wet before the girls had even set a foot inside.
Standing before Jo now, no brothers were in sight. The ivy was a pile of ashes on the floor. It was hard to see with all the smoke. A small hose wouldn't have stood a chance anymore.
Still, Joanna shouted at the burning bricks, "Marlene!"
And again, "Katie, come out here right now!"
The dark mark was on full display above in the sky and the rainy weather she had grumbled about earlier was long gone.
She covered her mouth with her sleeve, her coughing was getting more frequent. If her robes caught on fire, she wouldn't care. She had to get them out even if it was getting harder to concentrate. Her feet splashed on the wet asphalt as she got closer to the house. She just had to be quick enough. Merlin's sake, why wasn't anyone else helping?
"Katie!" was met with no response. At least not the desired one anyway, Moody and the others had probably been telling her to get away. No one dared to enter the house. She couldn't hear them over the roaring of the flames and the blood pumping in her ears as she tripped over some rubble.
"Katie please," she cried out right as someone held her back from entering the unrecognisable building. She clutched tightly onto the sweaty shirt, nestling her face into his chest with big tears rolling down her cheeks.
Finally, the only sound she could distinguish from the raging sparks beside them and the Aurors all around arose. And it was telling her she couldn't go in to save her friends. Her family. His arms wrapped around her did nothing to truly lessen the impact of those two words that escaped his lips.
"They're gone," he whispered in her ear.
With the building ablaze before her, eyes barely closing to blink, she echoed, "They're gone."
* * * * *
"I told them to leave," Jo whispered to herself. Sirius suddenly let go of her hand and turned around. They hadn't spoken much after that night, they weren't on good terms yet, but a truce seemed most fitting. For the funeral, at least.
"What?"
"I told them to leave. A-and-and then we fought. And then they died." She rambled, staring at the ground. Her shoes were mud-ridden. The rain had made a reappearance during the burial.
She was met with silence so she continued, "I never got to... I was going to apologise. I was going to tell them I'm sorry."
A ball had lodged itself in her throat. No matter how hard she swallowed it wouldn't go down. Its edges were pressing on the narrow passage, making it hard to breathe or swallow or talk. It was the only thing she could think of, other than her dead best friends.
"You couldn't have known they were going to-to die... You can't blame yourself for something out of your control," Sirius replied. Jo was staring at the new mounds a few yards away.
They stood there for a few minutes, indifferent to the drizzling rain. Dumbledore appeared holding an umbrella.
Jo preferred not to look him in the eye.
YOU ARE READING
The Other One | Sirius Black
Fanfiction"I'm sorry, I just... remembered something," she muttered as her fingers traced the scars on her throat. He placed his hands on her shoulders before whispering, "It's just me." "It's just you," she sighed. ...
