Selenophile // Marauders

|132| Euphemia and Fleamont Potter

22nd of October, 1978

Riley exited an order meeting as quickly as possible. The names and the attacks they talked about made her feel terrible, and she wanted to escape the room.

The fresh air made her feel better. Soon, the others came next to her.

"Merlin... this was stressful," said Sirius. "I never wanna attend a meeting again."

"Same here," said Peter briskly.

"Hey, what about we go to our flat and have a drink?" offered Sirius. "We'll all feel better."

"Yeah, that'd be nice," said Riley quietly.

Remus suddenly looked at James who didn't respond. He was usually one of the loudest and most talkative people in the group, but he was so silent now.

"Mate, is something wrong?" asked Remus. James looked at Remus quickly then shook his head. Lily put her arm around her husband.

"Yeah, no. Just... stressed," he replied.

"You're never like this," said Peter. "Come on, tell us."

James looked at Lily, then she smiled wryly yet encouragingly. "Mum and dad are... sick."

Everyone went silent. Riley gasped quietly, Remus bit his lip nervously. Peter looked at James and Lily.

"They've caught dragonpox," said James softly. "And — well — since they are old in age, the healers say they might not have long to live..."

Sirius looked the most shocked in the group. He shook his head in denial. "But — they can't not survive — this is Effie and Monty — they've got to survive—"

"Pads, that will probably not happen," said James wryly. "They got diagnosed last week... and I honestly didn't know what to do."

Rikey could feel the pain James was in. She looked down, not knowing what to do to comfort her friend. Euphemia and Fleamont Potter had to live, a world without them didn't seem right.

***

7th of November, 1979

Euphemia and Fleamont Potter were strong. They had now lived longer than the healers had predicted. According to them, they only had a couple of days before the disease took over their body.

Maybe it was the denial they were in, just like Sirius. They didn't want to see themselves as ill, they wanted to go back home from the hospital and live their normal lives.

Everyone was at St. Mungo's. James was visiting his parents.

"They seem strong," said Peter, trying to sound optimistic. "They won't just.. die, right?"

Riley thought, great way to put it, Pete. Especially with Sirius and Lily in the room. She knew deep down dragonpox wouldn't let the couple live very long. It was known that it affected elder people the most, and that it would spread quicker in the body, making them weak.

"I don't know, Peter," said Lily quietly.

***

28th of November, 1979

And it happened. Euphemia and Fleamont Potter passed away.

The funeral was taking place just a few days after. Riley got flowers on the way, a nice bouquet of them. Even though Riley didn't get to know them very well, she knew they were one of the purest people she had met.

Their loss was felt immensely by lots of people. The funeral was crowded, there were people from the order, professor from Hogwarts, ministry workers, and people Riley had never seen before.

She spotted James greeting the guests along with Lily. Riley had never seen him this upset before, he didn't smile, he didn't say anything unless he was asked to.

"Hi..." said Riley as she walked next to James shyly. He looked at her with tears shimmering in his hazel eyes.

"Hi," he said shortly, yet his voice cracked. Lily also waved shortly as she wiped her eyes.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," said Riley from the bottom of her heart. She slowly handed him the flowers, and he took them kindly, without throwing them away like someone else.

"Thanks," he said and swallowed back his tears.

"It's never easy to attend a funeral, especially when it's your family," said Riley and looked at James. "Try to think of the happy memories you have with them... It doesn't sound easy, but it helps."

James nodded, then smiled wryly. Riley hugged James, and that was when he started crying. She hugged him tightly, letting him let it all out.

"How do you deal with this?" she heard him muffle. "I don't know how to deal with this..."

"It will get better over time," said Riley as she tried to sound optimistic. "Take your time to grieve."

James let go, Riley realized she was also crying. She wiped the tears off her cheeks.

She then gave Lily a warm hug.

***

31st of December, 1979

James wasn't the same, although he tried his best to put a smile on his face as he attended a meeting or went outside of home.

Riley also knew Sirius wasn't acting the same way as before. Remus had told her that Sirius had locked himself in the bathroom for a very long time after the funeral.

The end of the year didn't feel very joyful. They planned a small gathering for New Year's, but they didn't do much. James and Lily were now at the Potter Manor all by themselves.

Riley noticed Lily was acting a bit strange. James seemed a bit happier, but nobody knew why. Everyone knew Lily was emotional, but they didn't understand why she almost cried at little things now.

On the other side, there was a weird thing going on in Pine Road which Riley didn't know about.

She had started to work at the grocery store, trying to make some extra cash, just in case. She didn't spend the money that was left from her family much, only bought and got the things she severely needed, but she didn't just want to live off that money.

Another reason she wanted to take the job at the grocery store was because she couldn't stand doing nothing but play around with potions all day. She went to the death eater meetings to spy on them, attended the order meetings full time, tried inventing new potions... but she never got appreciated for the things she did. At least by working at a grocery store, she could earn some money.

Working at the grocery store in Pine Road, she knew about all the things going on in town. She had seen a blonde woman earlier (who oddly looked like Valerie Medley,) who seemed to be going in and out of town a couple of times each day. Riley assumed it was Valerie's mum. But Adelaide and Poe Humphrey were also doing the same thing at the same time of the day.

But Valerie and Ethan weren't in town, ever.

———

A/N:

I updated the cover of this fanfic!! What do you guys think? Do you like this one or the old one more?? Also, last 6 chapters!!