Mean Spirits ⋆ Sirius Black

― xiii. "TO KILL A SALVATORE"

     You would've thought the conversations about the two's relatives would die down. But, no. The conversations multiplied and quickly, the surnames Salvatore and Monarda could be heard at least twice a minute.

     "This is fucking ridiculous," said Em. The four girls were sitting at angles that cut off the other students around them. Dinah looked like all her strength had been knocked out of her. Emilia could feel her own heart and stomach twisting and falling to the pits of hell. "It doesn't concern any of these pieces of sh—"

     "Woah, there, Em," said Melanie.

     It was almost as if Emilia and Dinah had switched bodies; Dinah, once the hot-headed girl ready to fight anyone at the drop of a hat, was now quiet and observant. Emilia, once quiet and observant, was now the opposite. Her best friend was upset, and she could feel intense pain because of that. And it pissed her off, seeing this happen to her friend.

     Dinah was poking her spoon at a bowl of cereal. Carmilla, ever the mother of the group, sighed and told her, "Try to eat something."

     "I'm not hungry," said Dinah. Well. It wasn't so much said, but rather, mumble. Mutter. Murmur.

     "You'll feel better with a bit of food in you," said Carmilla. "Honestly, Di. I know you're upset, and that a lot of people lose their appetite when they're like this, but you need to look after yourself."

     "What I need is to see my father again," said Dinah. "And for him to be out of prison... He used a muggle weapon, you know? That's why it took so long for them to figure out what happened, once the body washed up. It was a knife. My father fucking stabbed an old man. And not just any old man. My best friend's grandfather. I'm so sorry, Em, I—"

     "You don't need to feel guilty for it," said Emilia. She held onto Dinah's hand from across the table. "You didn't kill him. It's not your fault anything happened."

     "But, still," Dinah said. She was frowning at her bowl of cereal. Slowly, but surely, she began to eat it, but it was obvious her mind was elsewhere. The milk dribbled off of the spoon and made a little puddle on the table. Melanie quickly stopped her miming of biting, trying to encourage Dinah to eat, to grab a napkin and clear the mess up. Carmilla discretely moved the bowl closer to the edge of the table.

     It was sad. It was heartbreaking. Her best friend looked empty, and Emilia knew that there was a good reason behind this, but she couldn't help feeling upset for her best friend. Dinah had pretty much lost her father now. He won't get let out of Azkaban. He's stuck there until he's dead. She's never going to see him again.

     Emilia began to tune into all of it. The conversations on the topic of Rupert Salvatore and the man that murdered him. It freaked her out, how this was the way it was being discussed. She could hear people speak of her uncle with admiration like he was this grand old man with the sort of success students should strive to achieve one day.

     Bullshit. Capulet got a good job because of his father. He was smart, but that wasn't why he got the job. He got it because of the blood in his veins. But that was ignored, and instead, people believed that it was his own hard work and dedication that got him to where he was.

     They forgot the rest. They forgot how he was so dreadful his own goddaughter was convinced he'd been the one behind Rupert's murder. They forgot how he loathed muggleborns — but they never knew that he never made that clear. It was something Em had figured out. There was a reason he treated Carmilla differently, and she knew that now. And it angered her.

     "Yeah! Capulet Salvatore, the old head of a top-secret department in the Ministry... They say it's like the men in black. Like, the real-life version of them."