Tears of sorrow~ R.BLACK

6

From the other side of the great hall, Regulus watched Remus chase Persephone out the door. He clenched his jaw and turned away, not looking in their direction again.

The halls were quite empty since everyone was huddled together in the great hall, enjoying their dinner.

He had somewhat lost her for a moment, but as he turned the corner, he found her sitting on the windowsill, her knees were brought up to her chest, and she rested her chin on top of them.

She wasn't crying. She didn't feel the need to. But there was a pain in her throat that she couldn't quite explain. Her eyes were swollen, and colder than usual.

He stood in front of her looking down and observing her. She kept her gaze forward, not even acknowledging his presence.

Persephone loved Remus. She considered him her best friend. He understood her in ways no one else ever would. But Persephone never understood why he always stayed. Considering the amount of times she's hurt him and shut him out. But she was grateful for him.

Their relationship was undeniably stronger then the rest of the groups.

It started on their very first day on the Hogwarts express. Persephone was sat alone in the compartment, reading. She was startled when the door opened and through it came a light brown-haired boy, with scars spread across his face.

His eyes where bright and his smile gentle and genuine.

"Mind if I sit here?" The young boy asked, gesturing towards the seat in front of her.

She shook her head, not speaking, but offering a small smile.

"I'm Remus."  He held out his hand offering a handshake.

The girl shook his hand. "Persephone."
They sat together for a good 20 minutes talking about Hogwarts and their families. Then later the other boys joined, and to this day their bond is still going strong.

20 minutes might not seem long but it's what shaped their friendship and Persephone will forever be grateful for that day.

"Tell me what's wrong, Persephone." Remus said, sternly, not taking his gaze of her.

She bit the inside of her cheek, not knowing what to say.

"Sephie, I'm worried. You've been all weird since the first day back. Did something happen at home?" Remus asked, "Did they hurt you?"

Persephone finally looked at him. There it was. Those four words always hit her right in the gut.
The way he looked at her made Persephone want to embrace him so hard and bawl right into his arms.

"I don't want you to keep worrying about me. I'm fine." She finally said, breaking the eye contact.

"Why do you keep shutting me out Sephie?" He asked in a serious tone.

Persephone chewed on her bottom lip not knowing what to say. She started fiddling with her rings and purposefully trying to avoid Remus' eyes contact. But she could feel him studying her. His worried eyes wouldn't leave her face for a moment.

After moments of silence she finally spoke up, "I'm not shutting you out. I'm okay. Really."

Remus let out a small breath, and shook his head slightly. "Fine then, don't tell me. I'll see you later."

He stood up leaving the girl alone in the middle of the empty halls. Persephone watched as he walked away, after he was gone, she groaned and buried her head back into her knees, annoyed with herself.

Remus walked back into the great hall and sat back down next to his friends. James and Sirius looked between each other, waiting for Remus to say something. Remus could feel them both staring at him, he pursed his lips, and turned to face them.

"She's fine." He muttered, both Sirius and James unconvinced.

The three of them sat there in awkward silence for several moments before Remus decided to gather his stuff and head off.

"Moons?"

Remus looked at James who was looking at him all confused and concerned.

"Are you okay?" James asked. The full moon was days away and it was clear to Remus that James was hinting at that.

Remus never liked talking about the moon with his friends. They would always go all quiet and pity him. He hated it. He hated the way they treated him. As if he was different during the moon. Remus knew it wasn't easy for his friends to understand what he was going through, but they always stood by his side.

Remus threw his bag over his shoulder; heavy with books and assignments. He looked at the floor and then back at James, "All good. I'm just tired. Decided I'll go to bed earlier." He replied forcing a small smile.

James smiled back at him and nodded, knowing that Remus wasn't going to tell him the truth either way- so it was just better to let it go.

After dinner, James, Sirius and Peter decided to head back up to the common room.

"James!"

All three of them turned around to see Persephone walking towards them.

"Hey what's up?"

"Remus. Do you know where he is?" She asked them frantically.

"He went up to the dorms during dinner," James replied.

"Great, thanks!" She called out already feet ahead of them.

James grinned at the sudden change of emotion, he looked between his friends who seemed to just shrug it off.

Persephone hurried up the moving stairs, and she must have been in luck, considering she passed them all in time without having to wait.

When she reached the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, the Fat Lady didn't seem very happy to see her.

"Hello again," Persephone said boldly.

"Mhmm," The Fat Lady replied dragging her reply.

Persephone narrowed her eyes trying to remember the password that Pete had given her the first day back.

Oh!

"Wattlebird!" She whisper-shouted, quite confidently.

The Fat Lady ignored her, "I think you and I can clearly tell by the colour on your uniform that this isn't your common room, girl."

"No," she said slowly, "but the passwords right. I know it is."

She grinned as the Fat Lady rolled her eyes at her, before swinging the door open.

She stepped into the common room, the warmth of the fireplace making her shiver. But not in bad way. She loved the Gryffindor common room more than anything. It was homely and comforting. Unlike the Slytherin common room.

The Gryffindor's were used to seeing her in their common room by now, so she didn't receive as many dirty looks as she used to.

Persephone walked up the curved staircase, into the guys' dorm.

Christ, why so many stairs. She sighed, out of breath, from hurrying up what felt like thousands of stairs.

She prepared herself, before knocking on the old- wooden door.

She waited for a couple of seconds before the door in front of her was pulled open.

Remus looked at Persephone, clearly not expecting her to be on the other side of that door.
"Can we talk? Please?"

Remus ran a hand through his hair, moving aside, to let her in.