𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒-ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣❥

𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐅 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄

Denial.

Anger.

Bargaining.

Depression.

Acceptance.

Those were the five stages of grief. In the space of the summer, Emily had only just reached the fourth stage.

Depression.

That night in the Ministry of Magic was caved into her head like a writing on an ancient piece of stone. Nothing she did or said could make her forget it, not even for one split second. His voice was always in her head. His face was always there. His laughter. His presence.

It took all the adults in the room including Dumbledore and the Minster of Magic to lift her from the floor beneath the veil and take her home.

She felt that if she left that veil, she was leaving her dad behind, she was betraying him.

The worst part of it all was that she was the one who had killed him. She was the one that had killed her father. She killed the man that loved her unconditionally. She took him away from his first and final love, she took him away from his two sons, and worst of all, she took him away from herself.

She hadn't left her room all summer, her pops and brothers would come in and sit with her but she was constantly in a trance.

Remus even tried to bring up the idea of Harry coming round but that didn't even sound amusing to Emily, to her it sounded like one more person wishing she was okay but Emily knew she didn't deserve to be happy anymore.

Remus had one final hope. If this didn't work then nothing would. It had to work or he feared he might loose his daughter forever.

Hermione Granger.

Emily's best friend since first year. The girl that meant so much to Emily, the girl that meant even more than Harry or Ron.

Said girl was now standing on the doorstep of the Lupin cottage. Her hood over her head and her bags packed and standing behind her.

Remus opened the door and straight away Hermione jumped up and hugged him, not saying a word but hugged him tighter and tighter.

As she walked through the cottage, she managed to hug both Ethan and Eric as well.

"How is she?" Hermione asked when they sat her down in the kitchen with a warm mug in front of her.

"Not good." Ethan muttered, leaning back in the chair.

Hermione looked at the three men, none of them looked good either. Their skin was pale and their eyes droopy, almost as if they hadn't slept in weeks.

"She can't sleep." Eric added, "She doesn't even talk. She's just constantly in a trance. She only eats a few bites of her food but it takes her hours just to do that."

"Can you go up and at least try and speak to her? Hermione, you're the only one who got through to her when she used to have those episodes. Please."

"Of course. I'll go right away." Hermione smiled sadly, to her the Lupin-Black family had been like a second home to her, seeing them like this broke her heart.

She walked up the stairs and too Emily's room, taking a deep breath and preparing herself to see what was behind the door.

She finally managed to slowly push the door open to see Emily sitting up, looking over at a spot on the wall, biting the skin from around her nails.

"Emily?" Hermione whispered, walking into her eye line.

Emily seemed to look at Hermione and tilt her head slightly.

But then something changed in her emotion.

Her eyes seemed to light up again, a half smile drawn on her face, her shoulders relaxed. Emily stood up slowly, "'Mione?"

Hermione smiled and took a large step forward, wrapping her hands around Emily's neck and pulling her into a large hug, "Hi Em."

Emily didn't let go, she couldn't, she hadn't realised how much she truly needed that hug, how much she missed and how much she needed her best friend.

A few hours later, Remus, Eric and Ethan all made there way upstairs and pushed Emily's door open.

All three of them let out a sigh of relief when they saw Emily finally asleep, wrapped up in the arms of Hermione.