Taking Over Me

Chapter 9 - Year 5 - 1942

     It was my fifth year at Hogwarts. Final exams loomed closer yet I couldn't focus. I sat in my dorm room, reading and rereading the letter Headmaster Dippet had given me less than an hour ago.

         Dear Mari,

          I know that the Ministry of Magic informed us that your father was missing on one of his                

          assignments for them. I wanted to let you know that earlier today i received word from the       

         Department of Magical Law Enforcement. They found your father's body yesterday. He was killed 

         in pursuit of a dangerous wizard. Do you remember when I wrote to you telling you about the 

         horrible muggle bombings that we'd heard about a few months ago? Your father found his 

         fugitive during that attack. He was killed by one of the bombs. The muggle authorities have just 

         discovered his body underneath a collapsed building. They are sending his body to us soon and 

         we can have his burial after you get back from school. I'm so sorry you had to hear about it like 

         this. I know you're right in the middle of studying for your exams, and I didn't want to tear you 

         away from studying, but I knew you would want to know. I'm so sorry darling. I wish there was 

         something i could do to help you there. If you need anything, don't hesitate to send an owl 

          to me, or talk to your professors. Good luck on your exams.

          Love,

          Mum

     I curled up in a ball on my bed, trying to shut out the emotions before I broke down. I couldn't help but cry when I realized that I would never again see my father's smiling face, never again have anyone to save my from my mother's rants about being a proper pureblood.

     Ronnie found me sobbing into a pillow a few hours later. She sat on the edge of my bed and hugged me. I drenched her shirt with my tears. She didn't ask what was wrong, just sat there and held me like I wished my father could do one more time. She stroked my head and whispered that she was here for me and that I would get through this.

     When she heard what had happened to my father, she started to cry with me. My father had loved Ronnie. Whenever she was around, he treated her like a second daughter. We'd had such fun over holidays together, but that wouldn't happen again. My father would never be a part of my life again. The two of us huddled on my bed and silently cried for all of the things my father would never again do.

     Several days later, we were getting closer to our O.W.L. exams. I didn't feel like studying, but I knew if my father could see me, he'd have hated that I wasn't myself. So I forced myself to study for my exams as hard as I could, dedicating my diligence to his memory. Studying didn't fill the void he had let, but it allow me to get out of bed every day.