The Squib and the Werewolf

46. When The World Comes Crashing Down

**trigger warning, this chapter deals with death, so if you are in a fragile place, I suggest skipping it for now**

Raya spent every day for the next few weeks riding on Sirius's motorbike with him.
Sometimes it was just the two of them, other times the other 3 boys would squeeze into the sidecar together.
Luckily Fleamont had no objections to them tearing around his grounds on a motorbike, like a group of madmen.
Sirius even bought them all personalised helmets, to protect them in case they fell of the bike at any point. Which happened a lot when the boys thought it would be funny to turn into their animagus forms, while on the bike.
But Sirius made sure to drive carefully when it was just him and Raya, because he didn't want to hurt her.

Even though Raya was having fun with Sirius every day, her mood always dropped the second she got home.
Hope could no longer leave the bedroom for she was too weak, and the Healers proclaimed that there was no more that they could do for her.
There was nothing left to do but sit and wait.
When Remus woke Raya up in the middle of the night, she could tell by the look on his face that something was seriously wrong.
She flung herself out of bed, and hurried into her parents room, with Remus at her heels.

Lyall was knelt on the floor beside Hope, and he was holding her hand while silent tears streamed down his face.
"Mum" whispered Raya, as she made her way across the room.
"Hello sweetheart" mumbled Hope.
Raya climbed onto the bed, and took hold of Hope's other hand, squeezing it tight.
"I love you mum, and I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like I didn't care about you" admitted Raya.
"I know you love me, and I've always known it... I know that being a part of the magical world, without being able to do magic is hard. But I want you to promise me that you will find happiness in this life" replied Hope.
"I promise, mum. And despite how hard it is being a Squib, I wouldn't ever give up my knowledge of the magical world. Even though it's a tough life, I am happy with who I am"
"I'm glad".

"Dad, should I get a Healer?" Questioned Remus.
"There's no point, son. There is nothing they can do" answered Lyall.
"There must be something we can do. We can't just sit here and let her die" replied Remus.
"I don't want anyone to take me from where I am safe and happy. This is my home, here with you three, and I don't want to die anywhere else" announced Hope.
"But I don't want to let you go" admitted Remus.
"I know. And I know that you would fight my illness for me, if you could, my brave boy. But this is not something you can fight" sighed Hope.

Lyall kissed Hope's hand softly, "You're my wife, and I will love you until the day I die. I will never so much as look at another woman when you're gone".
"I would never ask you to do such a thing. But if you do remain loyal, then I shall wait for you to join me in the next life" replied Hope.
"I will wait patiently until we are reunited" promised Lyall.
"Don't try and join me too soon though, for someone has to look after our children"
"I promise that I will raise them well in your absence"
"I know you will".

Remus joined Raya on the bed, and Hope let go of Raya so that she could stretch out her hand to stroke Remus's face.
"I love you, my brave boy. I want you to also promise me that you will find happiness" said Hope, weakly, as she dropped her hand.
"I promise" replied Remus.
"And I want you to promise to look after your sister when I'm gone" continued Hope.
"I will, I swear"
"Good... Then I can leave this world knowing that those I love will be O.K without me"
"I don't want you to go".
Hope's eyes began to flutter as her heartbeat began to slow down.
"I love you all" she whispered.

The room was silent for several moments as Hope drew her final breaths.
"She's gone" announced Lyall, as he took her pulse one last time.
"No!" Cried Raya.
Remus lowered his head as tears began falling down his face.
Raya jumped off the bed and fled from the room before anyone could stop her.
She ran out of the house, not knowing where she was going, but just needing to get away from what had happened. Raya didn't even care that she was still in her pyjamas.
It was pitch black outside, so the only things lighting up Raya's path were the sparsely dotted streetlamps.
But luckily as it was August, it was not raining and the temperature wasn't too low.

When Raya stopped to catch her breath she realised that the one place she wanted to be was the Potter manor.
But walking there would take hours, and she couldn't get there using magical transportation since she was in the middle of a Muggle street.
Because of Remus's monthly transformations, her family had moved to the countryside when she was young, to limit the amount of people seeing him. So even getting to Diagon Alley would have been too far for Raya to walk.

But there was one place in her town where she liked to go to clear her head, which was the old childrens playground, where she used to play as a kid.
Once she made her way there, she climbed up the plastic castle fort in the centre of the playground, and sat down, using its high walls to shield her from the world.
Then, when she was finally able to process what had happened, she broke down into tears and couldn't stop.

****
Raya wasn't even aware that she had fallen asleep until she woke up to the sound of someone shouting her name.
She pushed herself up into a standing position, and her body ached, as sleeping on the hard plastic had not been very comfortable.
After stretching out her arms and legs she looked over the side of the castle fort and saw Sirius entering the playground.
"Siri. What are you doing here?" Questioned Raya.
Sirius looked up when he heard her, and relief washed over his face.
"Raya! Thank Merlin I've found you. Everyone has been so worried about you" admitted Sirius.

"How did you find me?" Asked Raya.
"I remember you saying on one of our dates, that you liked to hang out here. So, this is just one of many places that I've checked tonight" answered Sirius, as began to climb up the fort to join her.
"But what are you doing here anyway? Why were you looking for me?" Questioned Raya.
"When you ran away, Remus came straight to the Potter manor, to see if you were there. When we found out you were missing, we all wanted to join Remus in the search. Fleamont, Euphemia, James, and Peter all decided go join the search, so that your father could stay with your mother... I'm really sorry about your mum, Raya".

Raya threw herself into Sirius's arms, and he held her tight, making sure that she felt safe.
"Now that I've found you, I need to let the others know that you are safe" admitted Sirius as he took out his wand and pointed it at the sky.
"Expecto Patronum!" He shouted, causing a dog Patronus to explode out of his wand.
"There we go. Now the others know that I've got you, they will either go home or wait at your house for me to bring you back" continued Sirius.

"I don't want to go home just yet, because I can't face everyone" Raya said quietly.
"That's O.K. We don't have to go anywhere, until you are ready. But just know that I am here for you, and I love you very much. I know you're in pain right now, but you are not alone. You have me, and a whole bunch of people who care about you" reminded Sirius.
"Yes. I know. And I feel bad that they all came out in the middle of the night to look for me" admitted Raya awkwardly.
"And they would do it again in a heartbeat. You are our family, and we couldn't bare it if anything bad happened to you. I've been apparating all over the place like a maniac, for the past few hours, desperately trying to find you. So, please don't run off again, because I'm not sure my heart could take it"
"I promise I won't"
"Good".