Rough Waters |Sirius Black

Chapter Ninety Three

On the morning of Dumbledore's funeral, it was to be expected that no one would be in a cheerful mood. It was one of the hardest moments when it came to Nixie trying to convince herself to get out of bed. Death was certainly not something the woman would ever get used to the idea of and it always seemed to hit her hard. Even if she wasn't the closest with Dumbledore at the time of his death, it didn't make a difference in her mind because she knew of all the impact he had on everyone. Sirius believed that he was going to have to nearly drag her out of bed, but surprisingly as he returned to the room, he found her sitting up. The idea of being there for Harry had motivated her enough to at least get her up in a timely manner.

They were to meet at the Burrow and from there, leave to Hogsmeade, but Nixie wasn't sure if she could handle seeing all the sad faces before they had to travel to the castle. 

"You know, we don't have to go to the breakfast," Sirius said as he sat down beside her on the edge of the bed. "We know what time everyone is meeting at Hogsmeade, we can just go straight there when the time comes."

"What about Harry?"

"He's already left to the Burrow," Sirius told her, "I figured he might want to be with his friendS. I don't think he'll be up for much eating, but I'm sure if anyone can get him to eat, it'll be Molly."

"I can't believe this is happening," she sighed. "I keep going to sleep and thinking that I'll wake up and it'll all be a bad dream of some sort. But every time I wake up, it's like the news just hits me again that he's really dead. I mean, how...how could he be dead?"

Sirius frowned as f it was like Nixie was talking about her father all over again. Unfortunately, he didn't have much to say that would comfort his wife, no matter how hard he tried. He knew that Nixie didn't handle death well and her dwelling on it, wouldn't be good for her health.

"It is hard to believe that he's gone," Sirius said, " but we know he died in order to make things right. He may not have gone about it in the right way all the time, but his intentions were always good. He always wanted what was best for the greater good."

"Oh I hate those words, the greater good," she scoffed. "There is no such thing as a greater good, at least not on a universal level. What one sees as the greater good, doesn't mean that others will see it as that."

Suddenly, she was caught off guard by Sirius as he started laughing, causing her to turn to him with a baffled look. "Why are you laughing?"

"I'm sorry but what you were saying and the face you were making, it reminded me of McGonagall. She was always scolding Dumbledore, remember? Always trying to keep him on task when his mind wandered to something else."

Nixie couldn't help but chuckle along with him as she shook her head and looked down. "Well, I always respected McGonagall, so to be compared to her is honestly a compliment."

While Molly had prepared a beautiful breakfast for everyone at the Burrow, it seemed no one was interested in eating that morning, leaving the woman to wrap it all up and save it for another day so that it didn't go to a complete waste. She honestly didn't expect anyone to eat but the cooking had left her distracted, which she definitely needed during the time being before they were all to leave to Hogwarts.

Nixie had a firm grip on Sirius' hand, holding onto him before they apparated with Harry. Hermione and Ron kept close to him as they arrived at Hogsmeade, trying to offer as much comfort to Harry as possible. 

"Goodness, seeing Harry crushed like this," Nixie began, "I can't even imagine how Hagrid is feeling right now."

The two knew that the greatest impact in Hagrid's life had always been Dumbledore and the large man had admired Dumbledore as a mentor and a friend. He had dedicated his entire life to do whatever Dumbledore had asked of him and with the man gone, they weren't sure how Hagrid would handle himself.