The Burning of the White Wisteria

EPILOGUE

Sirius Black disappeared two weeks ago and he hasn't come back.

He hasn't shown up to class, to games, anything. I've had numerous professors, friends, and even enemies ask me if I knew where he was. It was humiliating to say that I didn't. What kind of a girlfriend doesn't even know where her boyfriend is? Either way, I knew one thing:

He's left Hogwarts.

James refused to talk to me and, somehow, he seemed to be the only one who knew anything about Sirius' disappearance. Remus didn't know anything either, or that's what he told Luci when she asked but he could have easily lied to her too. The three of them were as thick as thieves, I think they will be until the day they die.

Regardless, there's only one day left of the year and he hasn't come back yet. Clearly, he had no plans of popping in to say goodbye to everyone-- to me.

It made my heart feel incredibly heavy. The last time we spoke we had fought. The worst part is, I wasn't even angry with Sirius in the first place. I knew he had made a mistake. Sirius Black was angrier with himself than I was.

I wish I could've told him that before he left.

I'd thought about sending him a letter. Maybe my owl would be able to find him somehow?

... Or maybe he didn't want to be found.

A cold sweat ran down my back at the thought. The fact is that there is a great chance Sirius has left Hogwarts because of me. That our argument had changed his opinion of me so much that he felt he had to get away from me.

Stop.

I shook my head as if it would shake the thoughts right out of my head. I tried my best not to think about these things but they arose in my mind every now and then.

Don't just make assumptions, Alexa. You'll hear from Sirius why he left-- even if it's years from now.

I sighed, pulling my notebook out of my drawer. I ran my fingers over the leather backing of it: worn and torn from repeated use. It makes sense. I'd almost used up the whole thing by now. Sirius' name had appeared more than ever inside of it after he disappeared. Maybe I thought it would bring him back to me somehow.

"I still don't understand what that's for."

I laughed lightly, putting the book into my trunk. "You don't need to, Ms. Nosey. Now, will you stop procrastinating?"

Mara groaned, rolling around on her bed. Her brown hair split across her pillow as she looked over at me, brown eyebrows furrowed. "I despise packing."

"Trust me. I know." I laughed, kneeling down to my drawer to pull out more of my clothes. "Aren't you excited to see your family though? You've been talking about going home for weeks."

"Sure am!" She finally brought herself off of her bed, energized by the idea of seeing her family. "I can't wait to see my little sister. I spoke to them not that long ago through the fireplace and she's grown so fucking much." Mara sighed loudly, walking over to her own dresser. "I feel like I've been missing out on everything," she said lightly, her voice terribly sad.

"Mara, I cannot believe you!" I tossed a shoe at her.

She yelped when it hit her, turning around frantically. "What? What did I do?"

"You spoke to your family without telling me again?" I huffed, turning my back to her. "I've always wanted to meet your family, you know that."

"Y-Yeah, right. Sorry."

"Well, you're not forgiven."

I laughed to myself, opening the next drawer. I pulled my clothes out in handfuls, wordlessly casting a charm to make them fold themselves. I stopped. Is that...?