𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒛𝒆 - pjo x hp [₂]

xviii. two drops

"𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐓 𝐔𝐏!" Raya cried out. "Just stop talking! He's not gone. He's coming — he's coming back. He's just— he's stuck... he's coming out the other side."

Remus held her close, swaying her softly as he did his best to calm her down. He had stopped trying to explain to her that her dad was gone, instead he did his best to give her some comfort, to show her that even if Alphanso was gone, she wasn't alone. It was what she needed right now.

Around them the battles continued, but Raya and Remus weren't paying attention to all of that.

Raya kept her eyes on the arch, waiting for her dad to come out, groaning about how he's 'gotten old', before jumping right back into the fighting. 

But he didn't come back.

Raya thought she was good at handling death — it was pretty much a given being a demigod. She'd been prepared to die in battle ever since she first went to Camp Half-Blood... but she'd never been prepared to see her dad die like that.

He was just a Quidditch player. The most magic she'd ever seen him use was today. He was supposed to live a long and happy life, passing peacefully in his sleep. He wasn't supposed to die like that.

Raya's knees buckled and she fell to the floor, her loud sobs barely being heard to anyone besides Remus.

"I've got you," Remus repeated. "I'm right here."

Raya could hear yelling and fighting and spells being flung all around the room. But she didn't care for any of it.

Not when her dad was dead.

Raya's mind was numb as she entered Dumbledore's office.

Remus had carried her out of the room once the Death Eaters left — after You-Know-Who had been discovered. She didn't remember the journey back to Hogwarts, but she was pretty sure they used a Portkey and he deposited her in the Hospital Wing. He'd told her he would take her back home, but he wasn't sure what injuries she was dealing with, and wanted to get her checked out. He gave her some chocolate and went to leave.

Raya asked him to stay for a bit longer.

So he put aside his duties with the Order, and stayed with the girl who just lost her father. The girl who perhaps saw Remus as something similar.

She heard voices one night, Dumbledore telling Remus he's needed at headquarters. Remus didn't argue with him, but he did apologize to Raya before leaving. She didn't think there was anything to forgive.

She'd spent the last week in the Hospital Wing, secluded from the others who'd gone with her to the Department of Magical Mysteries. Pomfrey was certain she was in shock, so she'd kept her away from the others and under constant watch in case she did something to herself. 

Once she was certain Raya wasn't a danger to herself, she allowed Raya's friends to visit.

Cierra, Cho, Elias, Nathaniel, Thomas, and Kayse had nearly broke down the door when they were allowed in. Raya noted Meredith's absence.

Her friends gave her chocolate and candy and Loki, filling her in on anything that what happening around the school. Besides the students finally believing Harry, the Wizarding World clearing Sirius of all charges, and Flitwick getting rid of the swamp, not much else had gone down.

The night of the Feast, her friends had tried to stay with her, but Raya convinced them to go. Remus had sent her some more chocolate and a book, to keep her occupied while he was gone. She, herself, wasn't feeling well enough to be surrounded by the entire school giving her pity looks and whispering about her.