「 ☆ 」 -- 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬

Black Out Days by ISTERIF

"𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞."

~

Seven.

It had been seven days since Kamari had taken his last breath.

And here Laurel was, sitting in a train cart, that despite having five people occupying it, felt too big, Laurel could see it. The empty spot beside Dareen, who stared at his shoes, his eyes baggy and cheeks still wet with tears, if Laurel squinted hard enough he could see Kamari filling that spot, excited to start their final year at Hogwarts.

Then he heard the telltale muffled sniffles and hiccups, someone was crying. In the past week, Laurel had found himself becoming rather familiar with the sound of his friends crying, and he could tell it was Durga. Glancing over he found the girl leaned against the train window, her face obscured by her robe hiding her vulnerability from any curious on-looker. He hated the fact that she couldn't cry in the open, he hated the fact that she had to hide her grief, he hated the fact that he too had to hide his grief.

It all came back to how much he hated the fact that they had the need to grieve in the first place.

Laurel could feel tears pushing at the back of his own eyes and he bit the inside of his cheek, he turned his head away from the sight of Durga, leaving her to grieve in as much privacy as he could give her. The last of the privacy they would have to grieve before arriving at Hogwarts, if there was one thing Laurel learned following Kamari's death it was that they were all in danger. If the Death Eaters were willing to take out an innocent boy who besides his intellect posed no threat to them, then what is to stop them from taking out the teens who grieve for him?

Laurel swallowed the lump in his throat, it didn't sit right in his stomach how obedient he was being to the Death Eaters wishes, but he knew that was the only viable chance they had to find a way to avenge Kamari.

According to his father at least.

It was late when the group finally pulled themselves away from Kamari's home, having buried him and his parents as best as they could in their backyard. They lingered in their house for a bit, Laurel remembered hoping that the Death Eater or Death Eaters who killed Kamari would come back, perhaps they would be the ones left on the floor of the house, cold and lifeless. But the teenage boy knew better, even in all his grief he knew better, that a fight with Death Eaters would not be a viable fight to win in his condition.

And so, as night fell, he apparated to his home, clutching tightly to Alden's hand, they stood in front of their homes for a moment. Laurel recalled Alden, her voice warbling as she spoke, asking what they would tell their parents, and that's when he noticed there were no lights in Alden's home. Laurel's blood went ice cold, clutching onto Alden's hand he bolted into his home, he feared the worst, only to find Mr. and Mrs. Noyer, sitting on his couch, with his own father and stepmother across from them, they all were hunched over, and when they looked towards the pair of teenagers, relief washed over their faces, drowning the worry for their children, who they had expected back hours prior.

Laurel fought to speak, but all that came out was a garbled noise, the lump in his throat becoming too large to bear.

And so the boy burst into tears, popping the lump as Alden wrapped her arms around him as she began to cry as well; mere moments later, he felt warm arms wrapping around him. His father's arms, and Colette's as well, he could hear Mrs. Noyer muttering softly in French into Alden's hair. It felt like ages before Laurel could find his voice again and explain everything.