End of the Storm

Disclaimer: Everything Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own Hail Storms and Mitchell Johnson.

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Hail bounded up the stairs in the Death Room and blasted a Death Eater off his feet. Grinning triumphantly, she began dueling another with ease, and he fell too. She suddenly heard a door burst open and something that sounded like Dumbledore. Sure enough, Dumbledore was speeding into the room, trapping Death Eaters as he went. Hail heard scuffling down below and peered over the railing to see Sirius battling Bellatrix. They were still dueling, both unable to defeat the other.

“Come on, you can do better than that!” he yelled as he dodged her jet of light. Hail was about to jump the railing to join him when, unexpectedly, Sirius was hit in the chest by a spell. He began to fall back, a look of surprised fear on his face. Hail stood rooted to the spot, too shocked to move. Sirius looked up at her, a devastated look on his face as his hand reached up as if to grasp her hand. Hail was finally able to move; she threw a leg over the railing. His necklace glinted in the eerie light, turning blood red. Sirius fell through the black, tattered veil, which fluttered for a moment, then fell back into place. Sirius was gone. Everything seemed surreal, even Harry’s cries for Sirius. Hail stared down at the veil, her companion necklace to Sirius’ turning from red back to blue.

“Sirius! Sirius!” Harry’s voice rang out. “Sirius!”

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Hail woke up in a cold sweat and sat up. No Department of Mysteries, just Grimmauld Place. Was it all a dream? The bedroom door creaked open and Hail half expected Sirius to come in. It was only Mitchell. Hail sighed and let out a sob.

“Hail-no-please don’t.” Mitchell crossed to the bed and put her arms around Hail.

“So he’s really gone.”

“Shh, Hail-“

“I let him die, Mitchell!” Hail shouted.

“Hail, there was nothing you could do! There was nothing any of us could have done!”

“Yes, there was! We could have stopped him from falling into that veil! We were too busy watching him fall, weren’t we!” Hail cried harder than ever. Just then, Remus walked into the room.

“What’s going on?” He noticed Hail’s furious tears and bit his lip. “Hail…we know how much Sirius meant to you-“

“No, you don’t! You don’t!” Hail gasped and looked down at the floor. “I’m sorry, Remus. It’s just that-“ Mitchell tightened her grip on Hail’s shoulders.

“You love him with all your heart, don’t you? I should know, I’ve known you since you were ten,” Remus said. Hail nodded sadly.

“We had plans. I can see why he was so eager to get out of London with me.” She waved a hand around the dismal bedroom.

“Just remember, you’re not the only one who’s suffered a loss. There’s us. And Harry,” Mitchell said softly. Hail looked out a grimy window to avoid saying anything.

“We know how sudden Sirius’ death was and we don’t want you to do anything stupid,” Remus put in.

“Like going after Lestrange?” Hail spat. Remus gave Mitchell a swift glance.

“Well, yes. We don’t want to have you getting seriously hurt, or-“

“Killed?” Hail laughed sourly. She looked at Remus, who was very pale, and Mitchell, who was on the verge of tears.

“Hail, please,” she whispered. Hail wiped the remaining tears off her cheeks and nodded.

“I won’t. I’m sorry.”

“All right. We’ll leave you to rest.” Remus helped Mitchell to her feet and led her out the door. Hail stared blankly as the door closed behind them.

“I won’t go after her. Yet.”

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Did everyone have a Happy Christmas! Hope you did! Thanks for R&R!