It had already been one week since she had been back at school. Time really did move fast.
Ophelia woke up like normal and got out of bed to get ready for school. She noticed that none of her dormmates were there, which she thought was odd but shrugged it off. She probably just slept in a bit late and they were already down at the great hall eating breakfast.
She put on her Hogwarts robes, brushed her hair and teeth, and went down to the great hall. She sighed a short breath of relief when she saw all of her friends sitting together at the Gryffindor table. That relief quickly drained, however, when she saw their faces.
They looked miserable. James had puffy eyes, Peter couldn't stop fidgeting, Remus had deep eyebags indicating that he hadn't gotten any sleep lately. Lily was crying, her face as red as her fiery hair. Alice looked almost robotic, no emotion in her face at all as she stared at the wall far in front of her. Marlene's head rested in her hand as she pushed the eggs around her plate, her eyes seemingly red and puffy as well.
Ophelia rushed over to them, highly concerned at her friend's lack of usual enthusiasm.
She sat down in between James and Marlene, looking around at all of her friends with her eyebrows furrowed. Not a single one of them acknowledged her presence, as if they didn't even register that she had even gotten there. She quickly took a piece of toast off of one of the golden plates in the middle of the table, and took a bite before having to stop herself.
"Hey," she said hesitantly, not quite sure what to say.
None of them said anything, none of them acted like they even heard her.
She looked around the table and the room, trying to spot the source of their misery. Her heart dropped a bit when she realized something was missing. Not something, but someone. Her brother had been missing from the table, and even though it took her a moment to notice, it didn't make her any less anxious.
She had hoped for the best, hoping that whatever was causing the rest of the group pain, he had been feeling it too and chose to stay up in his dormitory. She hoped, but somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that that just wasn't true.
"Hey, um- where's Sirius?" She asked no one in particular, her head turning to face everyone in the group one by one until finally Peter gave in and spoke up.
"Ophelia, you- you can't-" he started before bursting into tears once again.
"Peter? What's the matter? What happened? Is it something with Sirius?"
"Ophelia," Lily started. "You have got to accept it."
"Accept what?" asked Ophelia, starting to get panicked.
"You can't keep acting like it never happened." Peter said, finishing what he had started to say earlier.
"Peter, Lily, you're scaring me. What's going on?"
"I'm sorry-" Peter said, his voice cracking.
"Please, what happened? Where is Sirius?" she asked again, the urgency showing through her tone of voice.
"Ophelia, you've got to accept that he's gone," said James, wiping the tears from his already red and puffy eyes.
"What?"
"He's dead, Fia," said Alice, gently taking her best friend's hand.
Ophelia pulled her hand away quickly, her eyes widening in panic.
"No," she stood up from the table.
"No, no, he- he can't be!"
The Gryffindors who were still seated shared a look of despair and pain.
"But- but I just saw him! Just yesterday! How can he be dead?"
"He's been gone for months, Fia. You told us yourself," Remus said quietly, wiping his eyes with his unused napkin.
"No. No, that's- that's not possible-"
"Phee, please sit down," pleaded Peter.
"He can't be dead! I talked to him yesterday! He just can't be dead!"
"Ophelia, you can't keep denying it and running away. I know it hurts, I do, but you've got to at least accept it. That doesn't mean that you have to stop grieving or move on, but please, at least acknowledge that he's gone," Lily said in a small voice, barely more than a whisper.
"No, I won't! I won't! He's not dead! He's still alive. Please, where is he?" Ophelia had tears streaming down her face, not feeling able to even wipe them away.
"Please, Phee," whispered Remus, looking as if he had a hard time even looking in her eyes, his eyes already blurred and glossy.
"Fia," said Lily, gently extending a shaking hand towards her friend, as if begging her to sit back down.
"Fia," cracked Peter, burying his head in his hand and letting out a trembling sob.
"Fia?"
"Fia," Alice gently placed her hand on Ophelia's shoulder, trying to carefully wake the girl up without upsetting her even more.
Ophelia jumped awake and quickly sat up in bed, saw Alice next to her and wiped her tears in the hopes that her best friend didn't see her crying.
"I- I'm sorry Alice," Ophelia murmured. "Bad dream, that's all."
"That's alright," smiled the short haired girl, her eyes glowing with concern. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it."
Alice looked deeply into her best friend's eyes, darting back and forth trying to uncover how she was feeling. After a moment, she realized that what Ophelia needed more than anything right then was comfort, so she pulled the girl into a tight embrace.
Ophelia tensed at first, but wasted no time hugging her back, putting her forehead onto Alice's shoulder, trying her best to stifle the sobs coming from her, but eventually became unsuccessful.
Alice sat down on the bed, not letting go until Ophelia was completely ready. For what felt like hours, Ophelia cried into Alice, silently releasing all of her worries of Sirius' death, and Alice just sat there, running a hand through Ophelia's hair, and holding her friend, nonverbally letting her know that she would never let anything happen to her.
Holding her as if there was no one else in the world, letting her know that everything would be okay, and that she would always protect her.