The Empress of Magic

Chapter 122 : Bury your Sorrows

Hunter let out a long, tired sigh, ( something that was occurring more frequently as the days passed and Pendragon castle prepared itself for a mass funeral to take place ) letting his uninjured hand run through his hair while he cast a grim glance at the seemingly never-ending piles of paperwork that were stacked on his desk.

He'd never have guessed that planning a bloody funeral could be this excessive.... not to mention time-consuming....

,, Remind me to crawl into a ditch when it looks like I'm going to hit the bucket anytime soon so the only thing left that you'll have to do is shove the hole full with dirt and be done with it." he said, craning his head back to look at Barty and Remus, who were sitting at their own desks with similar piles taking up their time.

Since he had been given the clear on his health two days after waking up, he'd all but moved into Pendragon castle's library to assist the Werewolf and former Ravenclaw in taking care of the more bureaucratic aspects of the planning to take some of the workload off of Celestia's and Tom's shoulders. A decision he had come to regret almost instantly as he was met with the sight of the two half-dead figures of the two men when he had first gotten there, a vision of what would soon become of him after being stuck by their side for over three days.

,, If it spares me from having to plan a funeral for you, I'd do so quite happily." replied Barty, glaring at the offending piece of parchment before him. ,, I'm getting sick and tired of having to look at flower arrangements........"

,, Don't remind me..." muttered Remus, clutching at his mug of hot chocolate like it was his sole lifeline. ,, I just got finished with that pile on my desk..... and I'm never going to be able to look at Chrysanthemums without the word 'funeral' popping into my head because of it...."

, Too bad that they're one of Celestia's favorites then......' thought Hunter, wisely deciding to not mention this little fact about the half-Veela out loud and ruin the Werewolf's mood even more. Though Barty visibly deflated, seemingly coming to the same conclusion as him.

It wasn't exactly hard to guess, since she especially liked to have one weaved into her hair to act as the centerpiece..... Not to mention the fact that Regulus had grown into the habit of letting them and other kind of flora appear wherever the two of them walked over the past week since he had become more aware of his surroundings, like the lovesick ice prince that he was.....

He would have probably done the same with Spider Lilies, but unlike the other flowers he grew for her, they simply refused to wither away or die, meaning that Pendragon castle now had several spots where the Lilies permanently resided in the aftermath of not having realized this little bit of information related to Regulus' new powers sooner.

, At least we won't have to pay any actual money toward the flowers.....' thought the Ravenclaw, taking the next piece of parchment from the piles on his desk that required his attention. , .... Who knows how much we'd have to bloody spend in the end if that were the case......'

He squinted his one good eye and let out a tired sigh, dropping his head against the table in defeat as he was met with yet another request for a coffin small enough to comfortably fit the body of an eleven-year-old......

,, I fucking hate the Gods...." he muttered into the table, eye moving upwards at the sound of heels softly clicking against the marble floors until they reached him.

,, Then it's a good thing they don't like you much either, boy." spoke Gellert as he picked up one of the papers, and lazily let his eyes roam across its contents. ,, Flowers, huh? One would think my dearest granddaughter was above such useless displays and tokens of affection after having buried the majority of her loved ones without so much as an actual body, but oh well...."