The Disgraced of the House of Black - A Multi-Character Fanfiction - Part Two

210. Mysteries Unravelled

"Well, you do," Ron said slowly. "But if she jumps out at you unexpectedly, like then..."

"It's pathetic," Hermione said furiously, moving as far from Ron as possible.

"You don't really want her around forever?" Ginny asked Ron incredulously. When he shrugged, Ginny said, "Mum's going to put a stop to it if she can. I bet you anything."

"How's she going to manage that?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Ginny said. "She keeps having Eliana and Remus over. I think she's trying to show him what a good relationship is supposed to look like. I like having them around better anyway. At least they're a laugh."

"They haven't been much of a laugh lately," Ron retorted. "Every time I've seen Madam Black lately, she looks like Moaning Myrtle."

"Ron," Athea sighed, rubbing her eyes wearily as Hermione snapped, "That's not fair. Neither of them have gotten over what happened at the Ministry. I mean, he was her cousin! And Amara was her best friend!"

Althea felt her heart sink. Looking over at Harry, she saw that he had begun shovelling eggs into his mouth, determinedly looking anywhere but at them.

"They hadn't seen each other in years!" Ron retorted.

"That isn't the point!" Hermione insisted. "Eliana thinks it was her fault they died!"

"How does she work that one out?" Harry asked in spite of himself, looking at Althea for an answer.

She was studying her hand, however, leaving Hermione to explain, "If she hadn't stayed behind to watch Minnie, Bellatrix couldn't have killed Amara."

"That's stupid," Ron said.

"It's survivor's guilt," Hermione said. "I know Lupin's tried to talk her round, but she still seems really down."

"Okay, can we please talk about anything other than my parents?" Althea snapped with uncharacteristic harshness. "I don't want to talk about Sirius and Amara and I'm absolutely positive Harry doesn't either, so please just-"

Before she could finish, however, the door opened again, revealing Sadie. Although she looked tired, she looked much more put together than she had the previous night. She had fixed her curls, leaving them to tumble down her back in much more defined ringlets.

"Ginny, your mum wants your help with lunch," Sadie said.

"But I'm talking to this lot," Ginny said.

"Mother's orders," Sadie said with a shrug, but none of them missed the sudden tension in her shoulders. "I'll help too, I promise. You won't be alone with Phlegm."

With an irritated sigh, Ginny got up, swinging her hair in a near-perfect imitation of Fleur before she pranced across the room with her arms held like a ballerina.

When she reached the door to join the now smiling Sadie, she added to the others, "You lot had better come down quickly too."

Sadie actually let out a laugh as she held the door open for her cousin before shutting it again, giving the others a small wave.

"That's the most cheerful I've seen her since..." Ron began once the door had shut.

"It'll get better," Althea said quietly.

"'Face tomorrow when tomorrow comes,'" Harry quoted quietly. "You don't survive pain by magically getting over it. You survive by facing each day and getting through to the other side.'"

"What's that from?" Hermione asked with a small frown.

"Amara," Harry said. "It's what she said to me the night Voldemort came back."

"It's what McGonagall told her when her parent died," Althea added. When Harry looked up in surprise, she explained, "She told me the same thing."

Harry managed a small smile but found he could not speak. He didn't want to talk about Amara. He didn't want to talk about Sirius. He wanted the pain of losing them to be gone. He wanted to go back to the moment they had died and hit play because that was what life felt like, like the world had continued moving when it should have stopped for Amara and Sirius because that's when his world seemed to stop. Quickly, he went back to his breakfast as Hermione began looking through the boxes Fred and George had left. Ron was staring dreamily at the door while Althea played with her thestral ring.

After staring at it for a moment, Harry asked, "Heard from Neville lately?"

Althea smiled softly, looking up at him as she said, "I have actually. His grandmother bought him a new wand to replace his old one. By the sound of it, she's really proud of him after what happened at the Ministry."

"I'm glad," Harry said with a grin. "She should be proud."

"Yeah," Althea said softly, brushing her thumb against the ring he had given her last Christmas, the ring made from the leaves of the first plant he successfully bred.

Harry raised his eyebrows, giving Hermione a look. She rolled her eyes, mouthing something that looked suspiciously like 'hopeless' before turning back to something in the box she was looking at.