Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Lina returned to school with the others while Tonks had questioned her countless times to make sure she would be alright to go she had insisted.
The truth was Lina didn't want to be anywhere else, her other options were to be with a grief-stricken Remus, who she didn't think she could face or Cedric and while he would undoubtfully make her feel better she would still be left alone with her thoughts. To replay Sirius's death over and over again.
At least at school, she would be distracted with lessons and homework, of course, she hadn't taken into account that since exams had been, lessons were more of a do as you please thing. So Lina was left at the back of the class staring off into space doing the one thing she was trying not to do.
She had really made the wrong decision.
It was also becoming a pain to avoid Harry who was actively seeking her out, but she couldn't face him, she was scared of what she would say to him when she did.
"Lina!"
Lina froze mid-step on the way to lunch from Transfiguration, Harry had finally found her. "Go away Harry" she croaked.
"Lina, come on," he said helplessly "we haven't spoken since we got back."
"There's nothing to say" she whispered.
"What have I done, why are you avoiding me?"
Lina spun around to face him, her face full of disbelief and anger "how dare you say that" she hissed "how dare you stand there pretending like your not the reason why I don't have a dad anymore!"
Harry stumbled back "what?"
"You're the reason he's dead" she repeated, "I don't know how else to work it."
"No, I'm not," Harry said shaking his head.
"Yes, you are," Lina said sobbed, "I told you we shouldn't go to the Ministry, I was the one who wanted to check to make sure he was still at headquarters, I was the one who wanted to double-check where he was because they didn't believe Kreacher. Not you, me. And yet you had the audacity to say I didn't care about my own dad."
"I - I wasn't thinking."
"No you weren't and because of that, I lost my dad for the second time. I don't have any parents anymore" as she finally said the words out loud it hit her, she was an orphan. Lina choked on a sob and placed a hand over her mouth.
"I lost him too," Harry said quietly "he was my godfather."
"He was my dad!" Lina screeched, not caring that other students had stopped to watch the argument. Lina took several deep breathes to calm down "Harry, this isn't about you," she said calmer now but her voice still cracked "for once. this isn't about you."
"And it's about you!" He snapped.
"Maybe, I don't know but you're not the only one that's hurting. Dad wasn't yours. Remus is hurting too, have you given him any thought because I have, I can't stop thinking about him well when I'm not replaying dads death over and over and over again in my head. Or Andromeda, who lost the only family member that was still talking to her when the rest disowned her for falling in love with the 'wrong' person. And in between all that I keep thinking how dads never going to walk me down the aisle when I get married to Cedric, he's never going to meet my children. He missed out on so much of my life, and I thought we'd have more time but you ruined it." Lina started to sob again, she went to walk passed Harry but he caught her arm.
"Lina..." he said desperately.
"Get your hands off me," she said snatching her arm back "I kept thinking what I would say to you if I saw you and after everything I've said all I've got left to say is that...I hate you, I hate you for taking my dad away from me and I just...I need you to stay away from me until I'm ready to look at you again without wanting to hit you." With that Lina sobbing harder than before ran out of the castle.
Being outside didn't help, sure it was less crowded and away from Harry but wherever she looked she was reminded of Sirius.
Lina screamed falling to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. This wasn't fair, why did Sirius have to die, he didn't deserve to die he had barley loved, he had missed the entirety of her childhood and now he was going to miss her life as an adult.
She leaned forward burying her face in her hands, sobbing still. What was the point in Sirius coming back for two years, for Lina to have false hope that he would always be there for her and then to be cruelly ripped away from her while she helplessly watched on?
Lina felt a hand on her back, she reacted immediately spinning around, if it was Harry she was fully prepared to yell at him to push him off her, to scream at him some more but it wasn't Harry.
"P-Professor McGonagall."
The professor smiled sympathetically at her and helped Lina to stand "come with me, Miss Lina."
"Where are we going?" Lina sniffed.
"To Professor Dumbledore's office," she said leading her through the castle, they both ignored the stares and whispers of the other students.
"I don't want to talk to him," Lina said, she almost blamed Dumbledore for Sirius's death as much as she did Harry.
"That's not why we're going there. You're going home, Miss Black."
"What?" She whispered.
"Miss Lina you are in no state to be here, you need to be surrounded by loved ones who care about Sirius as much as you did."
Lina nodded and didn't speak anymore, she didn't want to go down the road that sentence would lead to, she didn't want to speak about Sirius, not when his death had happened only two days ago.
When they reached the office McGonagall knocked on the hard wooden door, barely a second later Dumbledore told them to enter.
Inside the office, Dumbledore was sat at his desk the tips of his fingers together and standing by the fire rather tensely was...
"Uncle Remus!" Lina gasped, she rushed forward straight into his arms and started sobbing again.
"Where ever you decide to go, your possessions will be sent to you," McGonagall said gently.
"Thank you, Professor," Lina said pulling away from Remus to look at her "thank you for everything over the last seven years."
"It's been my pleasure, Miss Lina."
Lina then turned to Remus "I want to go Cedric, but I don't want to leave you alone."
"I'm not alone, don't you worry about me," Remus said gently "I'll explain later."
"Alright."
Remus let got of Lina to grab Floo powder and threw it in the fire calling out Lina and Cedric's address before disappearing.
Lina took her own handful of Floo powder and stepped into the fire, before she yelled out her address she took one last look at the office, after seven years of calling Hogwarts home she was finally leaving. She thought she would feel more than she did but all she felt was overwhelming grief at the loss of her father. With one last forced smile at Professor McGonagall, who she swore she saw a tears building in her eyes, she yelled out her address and disappeared.
