Falling, Fallen || Remus Lupin

Chapter Seventeen

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Defense Against the Dark Arts was the last place the boys wanted to be in this very moment, yet it seemed as though they had no other choice.

No matter how strongly they argued to stay with Rosemary as she took time away from lessons to speak with Professor Dumbledore and a handful of representatives from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, strict orders from Professor McGonagall kept them stuck in this afternoon's useless lesson.

Lenna was the one to break the news to Rosemary, apparently. The boys had no clue how things had gone given that they couldn't have access to the girls' dorm, so, they had only learned about Rosie's reaction afterwards, once the damage had already been done.

Marlene had noted she'd never seen anyone's face turn as white as it did in her lifetime the moment Lenna broke the god-awful news to their friend.

Understandably so, Rosemary wasn't able to comprehend what was going on at first, but once she realized the severity of the situation, it was getting harder for her to actually breathe. Luckily, Lily was quick to think on her feet and give Rosemary some calming drought to relax her extreme hyperventilating. Minutes later, once the girls felt as though Rosie was finally ready to meet with Professor McGonagall and the others, they thought it would be best to apparate her directly to Professor Dumbledore's office, wasting no time while they had her calm enough.

Normally, apparating was against the rules on Hogwarts grounds. In fact, students didn't have the ability to do so without first needing to unveil the protective spell that Dumbledore had cast over the entire castle, and only he had the power to do that.

However, considering the fact that now, for the first time, a Hogwarts student had been directly affected by these disappearances, Dumbledore made the exception. Not to mention, sooner or later, news was going to break that a Hogwarts alumni had now become linked to the ever-growing Muggle family vanishings, resulting in journalists from the Daily Prophet swarming the grounds of the school to get an exclusive from the source itself.

Marlene had stated very clearly to the boys that it was for the greater good that they weren't there to witness any of Rosie's emotional processing of the news, as it was unbelievably heartbreaking to see.

But Remus and the others disagreed strongly.

No matter how upset Rosie was at them for always meddling in her battles, or no matter how distraught she was after learning about her parents, they knew they should've been by her side the moment she was made aware of the news. After all, if the roles were reversed, they knew Rosie would never abandon them in their time of need.

Time felt like it was ticking away very slowly, almost painstakingly slow, Sirius thought to himself.

Looking around the room was all he could do, the striking voice of Professor Rooks bouncing off the walls weren't enough to distract him in this moment.

It was a strange feeling for the boys to know that at this time, their friend was being given the worst news imaginable, and nobody else in the room besides them had a clue.

Once Sirius' eyes fell on James, he had a feeling something was brewing in that concussed head of his.

"I know that look, what have you got in mind?" Sirius whispered eagerly to James, who looked as though the gears were turning quicker than ever before.