Forgotten Black

Chapter 6 - A week of despair...

Emily sat by the gryffindor table, reading through one of her textbooks, until professor McGonagall came up to her with a distressed look on her face. "Miss Black, can you please come with me?" she asked, and Emily nodded, taking a waffle loaded with nutella with her, eating it on the way to the professor's office.

Professor McGonagall indicated her to sit down, and she herself sat down behind her desk. Lucky sat down next to Emily, and Phoenix sat on the desk. "I am very sorry to hear this news, and I am so sorry to be the one that needs to tell you this." Emily was getting slightly worried. What was going on?

"Noah..." this caught Emily's attention. 

"What about Noah?" Emily asked.

"Noah... he's... dead..." Emily stared at the professor with an open hanging mouth staring at her, unable to process the information. "Wait, what?" tears were starting to form in her eyes, finally understanding what the professor had said. "Noah, is dead?" Emily repeated, her voice barely above a whisper. Professor McGonagall looked at her sadly. She too had respected Noah, and was deeply hurt by his sudden death. Emily was about to break down, but somehow managed to choke out one last question, "When... How?" was all she could manage with the tears streaming down her face.

"He was found yesterday, but he was probably attacked a week ago. By werewolves. The house is in alright state, but the werewolves broke through a window, which can't be fixed because of the curse that they have..." McGonagall whispered. Emily nodded and walked out of the office without another word, not seeing the worried look that McGonagall had given her. Emily walked up tot he commoon room, but she couldn't muster the strength to even mutter the password. Her legs succumbed underneath her weight and she started crying, unable to keep it in. She cried and cried, until someone came up to her. "Em? Whats wrong? Are you hurt? Do you need help?" someone asked, and Emily looked up to see Cedric's face, laced with worry. 

Emily couldn't choke out the words, but just sobbed. Cedric immediately knew that this was about Noah, because who else? He was here, Lucky and Phoenix were next to the sobbing girl, so who else could it be about? Then he thought about that one time when Emily said that Noah was on a mission. Was it about that? had something bad happened to him? He wasn't sure, btu he wasn't going to let Emily stay here.

He grabbed her up and carried her over to his common room, putting her down on his bed, and sitting next to her.

"It's ok. What happened?" Cedric asked softly, wiping away the tears. Emily couldn't bring herself to say it, so she grabbed a spare piece of parchment and a quill and wrote it down, passing the piece to Cedric.

It said:

Noah's dead. Werewolves killed him.

Cedric felt incredibly sorry for her. Emily's father figure, her only last bit of family was gone. Killed by werewolves. Cedric hugged Emily tighter as another wave of sadness submerged her, leaving her there, feeling alone. Lucky climbed on the bed, and Phoenix joined him, both of them trying to make Emily feel any better, but it didn't work.

Meanwhile, Harry was in his dorm, looking at the marauders map with a frown. Why were Cedric and Emily together in his dorm, in close proximity? Why? Why wasn't she in her dorm? Why wasn't she at breakfast? Questions swirled around his head, and he biggest one was: 'Why was he thinking about her?'. 

He had absolutely no idea.

Emily sat at the hufflepuff table, her head resting on Cedric's head, looking at the last thing that she had of Noah. The book Hamlet. She stared at it longingly, bags under her eyes. Cedric was feeding her something, while Emily stared at the book. It was the last this thing Noah had given her.