𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟏𝟐𝟕 - 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜

𝙉𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘿𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙒𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙙𝙖𝙬𝙣, by then Dumbledore's body had been moved to a place out of sight from anyone with any sense of morbid curiosity and suspicions had arisen regarding who was responsible, by that point most of the people present in the wing were faculty and Order members though woefully, neither sets of of their parents were present.

Harry sat in complete silence, feeling numb to absolutely everything including Ophelia who was rubbing his back reassuringly but it did very little but make him feel worse about putting her name into the mix with the likes of Snape and Malfoy, but what choice did he have? They duelled, his last night on this earth he and Ophelia duelled ferociously and were seen barrelling into the school -- he couldn't even recall who drew their wand first within the cave, he replayed it over again in his mind repetitively and every time he thought of a new angle, something he might've missed or his imagination was filling in the blanks of what he didn't know with what he presumed -- that Ophelia had been the one to draw first, and she was the one to end it.

To end Dumbledore.

He couldn't even ask her why she drew her wand, with so many people present who might take the information as an admission of guilt and he couldn't lose her to go to Azkaban, he couldn't bare it -- he loved Ophelia deeply and with every ounce of his soul -- the thought of being responsible for her being sent back to the one place that tormented her every waking moment was surprisingly a more frightening than the inclination she was a murderer.

But the thought of her being a murderer...

"You will love again, you will find someone within the world you will save." Dumbledore had told him mere hours ago as though he were talking about anyone else, anyone but Ophelia "I will not let you throw away your destined fate for a girl with no time for her own consequences!" She had all the time, he could see the ghost of the time she spent dealing with the consequences haunting her every lost moment — for a moment he thought Dumbledore to be possessed by something inherently evil within the cave but there was something so incredibly genuine about his anger towards her that just unsettled him.

The person who brought the news to the group was none other than Regulus Black who was sporting a shiner and a magnificent bruise on his jaw, yet the instant he stepped into the room Sirius was rendered completely still as the sight of his younger brother, his dead baby brother who looked almost exactly the same as the last time he saw him, the same youth and same haughty look he had all those years ago when he had lost him, he took a step back, feeling accosted in his own feelings as Regulus approached him with increasing impetuosity swooping to embrace his brother before Sirius had a chance to appropriately react.

Sirius rested his face in Regulus' neck as he realised this was so real, his brother had returned back to him -- his brother who he failed to protect.

"Reg--" he began but Regulus shook his head, "Reg you're--- you're back -- I never knew what happened to you I always hoped that you were alright--!" he said with a growing teary smile as the relief was evident on his handsome aged features, Regulus couldn't bring himself to tell him at that moment that he was far from it so instead he brought his older brother back into an embrace, "Where were you? I tried looking --"

"I'll fill you in," said Regulus looking over Sirius' shoulder at Ophelia.

Oh sweet darling Ophelia.

Staring at the wall with what appeared to be semi-permanent tears wedged in her big saddened doe eyes, her lips which were often resting in a soft smile were pulled downwards into a melancholy moue as she withdrew her presence from the current moment -- she was dormant, a mere shell of the true Ophelia Le Fay who seemed to have vanished into thin air.