SOFIA | ❨ NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM ❩ UNDER MAJOR EDITING!

Chapter Seventy Four.

The last week of May.

"Sof... you okay?"

Sofia looked over. Her eyes had been glued onto the picture that hid in her locket. She hadn't been able to take her eyes off of it for the last two weeks. Every time she looked at it, her heart seemed to ache.

"Fine. Are you okay, Lily?" she asked in response, her friend propped up against the entrance of the dorm. She nodded slightly,

"Yeah. I think so."

Lily slowly made her way over to Sofia, who let her eyes fall right back onto the picture. "Did your Dad write you again?"

The image of her Mother's most recent letter popped into her mind, leaving her eyes to swell from tears.

"No. My Mom did, though..." she sighed, "The doctors say he's too weak to write anymore."

Lily frowned, noticing the single tear that fell from Sofia's eye. She sat down next to her on the bed, the springs making a quiet noise below them.

"I'm sorry, Sof."

Sofia shook her head, "I saw it coming. My Mom said she would always take him to the hospital if—you know... if he ever got to this point."

Lily nodded, not really knowing how to respond. She wished she could help her best friend. She wished she could comfort her in some way, but, she was aware that no amount of comforting could ever drag Sofia out of this.

"You think he'll get better? It's the last week of school... maybe you'll get to see him next week."

Sofia let the question flow through her mind, and she found two different answers for it. She could lie, or she could tell the truth. The hard truth that she knew would be her reality by the time she got back to the train station the next week.

"No... I won't, Lily."

Sniffles erupted from Sofia. As much as she didn't want to cry, she knew keeping it down would only suffocate her.

"Oh, Sof..." Lily muttered, pulling her friend in to her side.

Sofia began to cry softly, finally letting go of her locket. She clung onto Lily's side as if she depended on it. Everything she needed was right there beside her.

"You did good, Sof."

Lily don't know why she said it, but she felt the need to let Sofia know how brave she actually had been. The bravest person Lily Jacobson would ever come to meet.

The two stayed like that for a while. Silent, only the sounds of Sofia's crying filling the dorm. Until, she wiped her tears.

"It just—" Sofia choked out, "It feels like the end of something."

Lily leaned Sofia up, making them looking at each other. She wiped the remaining tears that continued to fall from Sofia's cheeks, and sent her a small smile.

"All good things must come to an end."