Shakespeare ❆ Sirius Black [1]

Chapter Forty Four

It was the middle of the night, but despite the late hour, a group of seven sat together in the Gryffindor common room. Their faces were marred by the sight of tear stained cheeks and puffy red eyes as they mourned over the loss of their friend.

Peter's tears had not stopped falling since Remus came to wake him up and tell him what had happened. And the Lupin boy continued to remain by his side, as a source of comfort and support.

Lily and Marlene, who had been just about ready to hex James when they saw him in their dorm room, had long ago forgotten their anger and clutched on to each other's hands tightly.

James stuck by Lily's side too, with his arm thrown around her shoulders, and squeezing Marlene's on the other side. He, like Remus and Sirius wasn't as close to the shy brunette as Peter and the girls were, but it was still a hard blow to take in.

A kind and sweet girl like Mary was just ripped from her friends. Her whole family forced to endure a punishment they did not deserve only because she took a stand against a cruel bully. When all of them learned the story of what happened, none of them thought such a thing would happen. Now they were all wishing there was something they could have done, any way they could've helped and saved their friend and her family. But all of them knew there was nothing, it was out of their hands as soon as Mary left the school.

At least the majority of them felt that way. Nadia sat on the sofa, with Sirius by her side, holding both her hands in his own and continuously sending her concerned and worried looks as she remained quiet. A distant look was on her face, and the girl was lost in her own thoughts. Sirius could only imagine what they were, and wished there was something he could do to help ease her pain.

Nadia was blaming herself. For more reasons than one. Not only did she have that dream and didn't do enough to interpret it or dive deeper into it, but she was the one to convince Mary to come forwards; she was the one to ask questions about how long Mulciber would remain in school, and in turn placed the idea of Mary going home into Dumbledore's head. The death of their friend was on her shoulders.

"She never got to read my letter." Peter mumbled, breaking the silence and making all eyes turn to him as they gave him sympathetic looks. While each of them felt sad and devastated over the loss of Mary, Peter felt it all in his own way. He had been dating Mary for two months, and it was visible that their connection was a very deep one. Both of the shy teens managed to let loose and be themselves around one another, completely open and honest, leaning on each other in times of need. Mary was Peter's support, she was his rock, and now she was gone. "I told her I loved her in it. For the first time. She'll never know that." Peter admitted, managing to bring on a new set of tears to many of their eyes.

"She knew." Marlene replied, with a sad smile on her face making Peter look at her with wide eyes, the look on his face urging her to continue. "She talked to me about it a couple of days ago, she didn't know whether she should let you say it first or should she do it. She loved you too." Marlene explained, making a new set of tears fall down Peter's cheeks.