Dear Mr. Sirius O. Black,
We regret to inform you of your brother, Regulus C. Black's,death. Mr. Black was a known Death Eater, but it was discovered that he died trying to come back to the Light. Therefore, we are returning the body to you, if you wish to receive it, for burial. We offer you our deepest condolences.
Sincerely,
Melinda Parker
Department of the Missing and Deceased
One letter can change your entire life. One single piece of parchment, with simple ink, lines that form together to make words that could break you into millions of pieces.
He shouldn't have cared what happened to Regulus C. Black. The man had been dead to him for years. He shouldn't have cared.
But he did.
Rain poured from the sky, which seemed to be sharing his grief, reflecting his cloudy mood with gray replacing blue.
The leaves on trees bent, trying to drain the water off of their leaves, trying not to snap off under the downpour. There were some that could deal with the rain, that could withstand it. Others broke under the pressure and were swept away haphazardly from their mother tree.
Sirius Black wasn't sure which leaf he was.
The park was empty, of course. Nobody in their right mind would walk through the park in a storm like this. But Sirius had never been exactly in his "right mind".
His jeans were stained dark with the water, his white shirt protected from the rain by his worn leather jacket. His jet black hair, usually well brushed and kept, was a messy tangle around his face and dripping with water. Tears mingled with rain drops, wetting his cheeks, as he cried for the brother he'd lost yesterday, but truly lost years before.
He cried for the opportunities missed, for the stupid fights, for the cold glares. He cried for what could have been but never was. He cried for a forgotten friendship and a wasted relationship.
He cried for the lost boy trapped inside of a handsome man's body. He cried for the cold mask that hid a helpless soul.
He cried for Regulus C. Black.
But he was the only one.