ϟ ψ ΡΣΓCY JΔCΚSΘΝ GΘΣS ΤΘ ΗΘGΨΛΓΤS ψ ϟ

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝔽𝕚𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟- 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖'𝕤 𝕊𝕥𝕚𝕝𝕝 ℍ𝕠𝕡𝕖

Breakfast at Grimmauld Place was a sombre affair that morning.

Most didn't know what to say. They had barely known Percy Jackson. It wasn't there place to call him a good person, to say he would be missed, not after only one brief encounter with the boy. Not a word was spoken as they ate, the only sound to be heard being that of clinking cutlery. Even Sirius was polite enough not to remark, keeping his opinions to himself, but clearly still suspicious about the whole affair.

Only three sitting had really known Percy, and his loss affected them in different ways. For Ron, it was guilt. He had treated Percy like vermin, certain he was no more than an evil traitor, only for him to be killed in resistance to Voldemort. Guilt coarsed through him like his blood was on fire, humiliation burning his cheeks; Hermione had been right all along, and he had been to stubborn and blind to see it. If they hadn't fought so consistently, if Percy hadn't been so alienated because of the horrifying secret he had been forced to keep under wraps, perhaps he would've never gone to America, alone and vulnerable, the perfect candidate for a surprise ambush.

Perhaps he would've still been alive.

Guilt ate away at Harry just as much. With grief it was always the same; the blame game was ruthless, and this case was no different. Voldemort was after only one person, only one prize; him. He had yet another person die for him, a death which could've been prevented if he simply stopped resisting and handed himself over. Why did he keep running, keep hiding, when in the end they all knew he was going to die anyway? There was no way he could win against one of the most powerful wizards in history, with his level of mediocrity? He wasn't special! They were just delaying the inevitable, and letting innocent people die all to keep him alive.

Hermione was the most broken of them all. There was no guilt there, but there most certainly was regret. She struggled to hold back the tears as she prodded the food absent-mindedly with her fork, staring vacantly at the mouldy, peeling wallpaper of the wall in her line of sight. Her eyes were red raw from the waterfalls of tears that she had been unable to restrain when Harry had, maybe a little too indelicately, broken the soul-destroying news. She had only just made sense of her feelings, truly acknowledged the love she felt more powerful than anything else, and now he was gone, and she never even got to tell him.......

Soon the absence of voices and accentuated ticking of the clock began to great on the nerves of those less affected by the current situation, and Molly decided someone had to address the elephant in the room.

"Someone will have to tell the poor boy's mother," she said quietly, voice filled with sorrow. "Squib or not, she deserves to know what happened, that her son died bravely." A murmur of agreement rippled through the room, understandably not many volunteers forthcoming.

"I'll go," Remus replied eventually. "I know where there appartment is and I'm the one who came for him in the first place, it might be easiest for me to explain matters." A few heads nodded once again; they didn't want to be burdened with the depressing task.

"I want to go." Everyone's head turned to face the origin of the voice. Hermione was looking at Lupin determinedly, pain and anguish filling her face. "I just.... I just feel its my place. He was such a good.... friend to me, I..... I have to do something. Consoling his mother, explaning matters.... its the least I could do for him." The desperate sobs began to wrack through her body again just as she finished her sentance. Tonks, who sat beside her, wrapped a comforting arm around her.

"It'll be alright...." she whispered soothingly, causing Hermione to retract, face painted with a strange sort of grief filled anger.

"But thats the problem, isn't it? Things won't be alright! Percy's dead, dead! Only 17, barely enough time to make his mark on the world at all! And I never even got to tell him......" Tears streamed down her face she took her head in her hands, elbows propped on the table, body trembling relentlessly. Silence overcame the room, nobody quite sure what was the right thing to say, probably because there was none. Harry straightened in his seat, heart aching at seeing Hermione this broken.