No Shrinking Violet

Tragedy

It was the sixteenth of January when I heard the news. Fleamont and Euphemia Potter had contracted dragon pox and in their advanced age were unable to overcome it, Euphemia died first with her husband following hours later. I entered the Common Room to find Lily comforting a distraught James while Remus and Peter looked heartbroken.

'What's happened?' I asked Remus lowly.

The werewolf ran a hand down his face with a heavy sigh before responding.

'James' parents are dead.'

I could feel the blood drain from my face as I sank onto the arm of the chair and rested a hand on Remus' shoulder until I was finally able to think again.

'Where's Sirius?' I asked urgently.

'None of us have seen him since we found out.' he admitted worriedly.

'I'll find him.'

Remus gave me a weak smile of appreciation before I was on my feet and searching the castle. It took a while for me to locate the dark-haired boy, he was sitting in the astronomy tower looking to the sky with teary eyes.

'Sirius.' I said softly.

He didn't move from his position or give any indication that he knew I was there, I tentatively took a seat next to him on the floor. We sat in silence for a few minutes until he spoke.

'I spent every summer since I was eleven at their house and I've lived there for the past two years. They were more my parents than the people who gave birth to me and now they're dead. It's not fair.'

Tears filled my eyes as his voice broke, I hated to see him like this, Sirius Black was not someone who was prone to heartbreak and to see him in such a state caused an ache deep in my own heart. Forgetting for a moment about our dispute I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close to me, he cried onto my shoulder for the parents he had just lost, and I cried onto his for the pain he and James were enduring.

It wasn't long before he pulled away like I had bitten him, I glanced at him in confusion to see remorse in his eyes.

'I'm so sorry for what I said at the party Violet.'

'Sirius, that really doesn't matter right now.' I said as I squeezed his hand.

'It does. You're my friend and for me to throw something like that in your face...Euphemia would have smacked some sense in to me had she known. I am sorry, I hope you can forgive me.'

I rested my head on his shoulder with a sigh.

'Of course, I can forgive you, you dolt. I've missed talking to you.'

'Understandable. I'm a fantastic converser.'

'Converser? Really Sirius?' I laughed.

He shrugged slightly, careful not to displace my head which I continued to rest against his shoulder. I released a shiver against the night's chill and Sirius wrapped and arm around me to warm me up. For an hour we sat together, not speaking, just thinking about his and James' loss, until suddenly Sirius pointed to a small cluster of stars.

'See that bright one?' he asked.

I nodded my head sleepily.

'That's Sirius, the Dog Star. I was named for it.'

'Is that why your Animagus form is a dog?'

'How did you -?'

'You're not as stealthy as you might think, and Remus confirmed it when I told him I knew about him being a werewolf.'

Sirius shook his head with a laugh.

'You're amazing, you know that?'

'I know.' I joked.

We fell into silence again and as I drifted off to sleep I felt a soft kiss being dropped on my forehead.

^.^

I opened my eyes blearily trying to figure out what the steady thumping sound against my ear was, I glanced up to see I had been resting my head on Sirius' chest while he had his arms wrapped around me. I gently shook him awake and he sat up with a sharp intake of breath.

'That floor is not comfortable.' he said with a wince.

I glanced outside to see it was still dark.

'I don't think we slept for long, we should probably get back to the Common Room.' I said.

Sirius nodded and rose to his feet before helping me up and pulling me into a tight hug.

'Thank you for finding me.' he whispered.

I smiled against his shoulder and inhaled deeply, the scent of shampoo, cologne and...fireworks filled my nose. The two of us made our way back to the dorms to find our friends still sitting around the fire, James glanced up when we entered and jumped to his feet to hug Sirius.

'You alright mate?' he asked.

'Yeah, you?'

The two of them pulled apart and gave each other a look of sadness that I could never convey, Lily squeezed my hand as the boys sat down together to mourn the loss of their parents.

'When's the funeral?' Peter asked.

'Two days' time, you'll all come right?' James replied.

'Of course, we will.' Lily answered softly with a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

^.^

Euphemia and Fleamont Potters funeral was attended by an overwhelming number of people, at the request of James, Sirius, Remus and Peter helped carry the coffins to the grave site where Lily and I stood dressed in black with clasped hands and tear stained faces.

'How's James doing?' I asked her softly.

'He's coping well as can be expected but he's devastated. I mean they were his parents after all and he doesn't know how to deal with the fact that they're gone. What about Sirius?'

'About the same, I think he feels like he has less of a right to be upset because they weren't actually his parents.'

'James said he was going to talk to him about it after the burial.' she whispered.

I nodded my head and grasped her hand tighter as we watched the Potters being lowered into their graves. The boys stood at the edge of the graves and took turns throwing flowers in, James turned to us with a tear stained face and beckoned us over. I released Lily's hand, so I could place my flower on the grave, James had asked Lily and I not to bring roses like everyone else, instead he asked us to bring lilies and violets because his mother had commented on how pretty our names were. My bunch of violets landed on Fleamont's coffin and I grabbed Sirius' hand with my own.

The school had granted us leave to attend the funeral, but we would have to return in a few hours' time so once the ceremony was over the boys brought us to the Leaky Cauldron where they sat nursing their Firewhiskey's with sad eyes until it was time to return to Hogwarts.