"We're going to need all the help we can get."
Remus stood tall at the head of the dusty table stationed in the dimly-lit room of 12 Grimmauld Place. His fingers tightly latched onto the back of the chair he was standing behind.
"And where do you ex...
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J U L Y 1996, C O R D E N R E S I D E N C E
Thirteen days. It had been thirteen long days without Sirius. Adelaide could barely eat. She could barely sleep. Most days she felt like she could barely breathe. She had only been granted three days off from work – after all, it wasn't like she could tell them the specifics of why she was requesting off. She had simply told her supervisor that there was a death in the family and that she needed time to grieve as well as make the proper arrangements.
Her heart broke every time she thought of Sirius not getting a proper burial. There was no body to bury, she knew the logistics of it, but she still wanted to have something for him. He deserved it. He deserved much more than what he got. It just wasn't fair.
Waking up after sleeping two hours, at most, Adelaide hated looking around and seeing her childhood bedroom. Her sheets smelled like cinnamon – her mum's favorite scent. Adelaide was almost certain that she smelled cinnamon just at the thought of her mum. The scent was nice – but it wasn't the calming cedarwood smell that Sirius' sheets had.
Rolling over onto her side, Adelaide slipped her hand along the cool pillow next to her. She had slept alone for so long that she never realized she had taken waking up in Sirius' arms for granted the way she did.
With a soft sigh escaping her lips, the healer stretched her arms up above her head before rising from the bed. Luckily, she had off from work and had agreed to accompany Tonks to The Burrow later in the day.
Her clothes were already hanging from her body loosely, and her hair had lost its shine. With each step forward, Adelaide felt the dizziness rise back up in her head which caused her to stop and lean against the dresser on the side of her room.
Still suffering from the feeling of profound loss, Adelaide sunk into the chair at her vanity and stared up at her reflection. She was sickly looking. It made her feel sick to her stomach. The dark circles under her eyes had never been this bad and the overall haggard look she was sporting would certainly cause concern from her friends and family. She couldn't remember the last time she ate a proper meal. Now that's not to say that her mother, and Molly, didn't try to hand feed her as often as possible.
After staring at herself for another silent moment, Adelaide made her way to the bathroom to shower. The scalding hot water cascaded down her face as well as the rest of her body as she raised her arms to prop herself up against the wall. It felt nice and almost relaxing enough to where she started to doze off, but she quickly came to when she heard the bathroom door opening.
"Hello?"
"Wotcher Addy, it's just me." Tonks called out softly, leaning against the doorframe as billows of steam wafted through the air.
