Burning Down | Harry Potter

78.

Mipsy ran in from between everyone's long legs and fell down crying at the sight of her fellow elf.

Harry rushed over to Cordelia as soon as he felt Sirius' grip loosening on his shirt. He kneeled down in front of her before quickly encircling his arms around her trembling body.

"He- he's dead" she cried in Harry's chest who couldn't help but let  a few tears slip at the sight.

Remus stepped forward before he picked up the motionless body of Billy.

"Where are you taking him!" Cordelia demanded when Remus stood up straight with the elf in his arms.

"Outside, we can bury him there." Remus told her with a sad voice.

Harry stood up with Cordelia standing beside him as she leaned herself against him for support.  Her legs feeling weak.

Harry led her to the living room where Sirius gestured him to sit down on the sofa. He had a first aid box in front of them as he gently grabbed her arm that had blood gushing out of it.

Cordelia felt something thread like slipping out of her fist, which made her jerk her hand back and wince due to the pain that followed.

Sirius was trying to grab the strands of hair in her fist.

"I need these" she told him desperately, which made Harry tighten his hold onto the girl.

"But— fine fine, I'll keep them safely" Sirius sighed as he kept the strands of curly hair in a neat paper napkin. Before he took her hand in his and cleaned the wound.

"I don’t know much about cleaning...." Sirius trailed off as he wiped away the blood from her cut.

Harry, who was taking in each and every wound and splotches of blood shuddered at seeing the gash. He could feel his heart beating in his ears rapidly. He blamed himself for Cordelia's condition.

"I'll do it" Remus muttered as he came in and took Sirius' place at wrapping up the wound. He performed a number of healing spells before wrapping up the gash in white bandages after applying a healing ointment.

Cordelia could feel the tears slipping from her eyes one by one as she laid her head on Harry's chest.

"What happened?" Remus questioned her softly.

"Voldemort" Cordelia whispered in a broken voice.

Harry tensed up under Cordelia, so did Sirius and Remus. The three shared a look of worry and concern before Remus spoke up again.

"Billy.... is ready to be buried" Remus reminded them as he stood up.

As Remus lowered the elfs body, Cordelia remembered all the time she had spent with the elf. How he had begged her not to free him after her grandfather's demise. A dry cry escaped her lips at the sight. Harry had his arm coiled around her waist as he rubbed her back in soothing circles. He had been uncharacteristically quiet throughout the whole ordeal.

-

Cordelia woke up feeling a bit nauseous. She had fallen asleep after Billy's burial, the hot shower had acted as a catalyst to her falling asleep.

Getting out of her warm soft bed, she winced slightly when her warm feet touched the cold floor, it took her back to the dungeons for a moment before she shook her head. Reminding herself that she was home, safe and sound.

Walking downstairs with light footsteps, Cordelia could very faintly hear the clutter of utensils from the kitchen.

"Sirius!" She heard Remus' soft voice hiss, "Don't bang the pans around. It'll wake Cordelia up!"