Beautiful
It was a beautiful day for a funeral.
It was ironic that this day was one of the most beautiful Hogwarts had ever seen.
An awe inspiring sunset stained the landscape, throwing a flattering light onto all objects transforming them from the normal to mysterious and beautiful. Even Snape didn't look so ugly, Sirius thought absently.
Lily Evans sank into the seat reserved for close friends. For her. Helena's mother Amandine and father Darius sat in the front row heads close together, leaning involuntarily towards each other, joined by the weight of their grief, needing support. Lily could not bear to watch. She turned away.
James and Sirius sat either side of her, James to her left, Sirius to her right – on the end of the row nearest the centre – nearest the exit. In the days following their drunken episode, Sirius and Lily had formed a unique bond of friendship. James was not jealous for he had no need to feel threatened; Lily and James had forged their own bond, similar in a way to the one between Sirius and Lily, but so much more at the same time. It was far more intense, complicated and indescribable. It was also unmentionable on Lily's part. Whenever any one of her close friends, including even Sirius, brought it up or pointed it out, she became defensive and deflected the topic of conversation away from herself. James was far too worried about destroying their fragile friendship to even consider defining it in his own mind.
The three of them sat in silence until Remus joined the group, standing by the seat next to James. He shifted nervously from foot to foot. It was so uncharacteristic of him, that three pairs of eyes turned to watch him. The closest, a pair of hazel eyes behind round glasses looked at him quizzically; the second, bright green and almond shaped watched compassionately through pink, blood shot orbs, obviously worried about him. Lily. The final and furthest pair of eyes looked at his feet, then slowly travelled up his body to meet his stare. Sirus' gaze was glassy and distracted, a flat grey colour, which darkened every time he looked towards the front. Remus shook himself and sat down.
Finally, Professor Dumbledore stood and addressed the gathered mourners with a sorrowful gaze, looking the century old that he almost was. He sighed heavily before he began. "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to-" but Sirius had already heard enough.
Ecclesiastes, he knew it well enough. Rage burned in his veins at the audacity of Dumbledore – "a time to die?"It had not been, was not Her time to die! He switched off and seethed in his seat whilst the service continued, furiously cursing in his head.
***
Finally it was over, the official, public mourning, the day when it was most acceptable to openly grieve. The sheer weight of the future without her best friend hung heavily in Lily's mind creating a severe headache. Despite being outside she felt claustrophobic and walked as fast as she could away from the group without running. She couldn't bear to look at the statue or read the plaque yet, that would take a while, it would take a long time for anything to become bearable again.
Lily raced down towards the lake; she had to feel connected to Hellie somehow. She stumbled and tripped over a stone around the edge of the lake, the momentum carrying her into the water which circled her ankles in cold rippling rings. She did not shiver from the chill, she shivered from the sense of peace that enveloped her and she gasped in relief. With shaking hands, she reached into her robe pocket and pulled out a small piece of parchment. On it was written in her own shaking handwriting:
-Hellie? Can you see me? I just want you to know that you were the best friend I could ever have asked for. You were an angel in disguise, I know it. I love you and I always will. If I ever have a daughter I'm going to call her Helen in your honour. I bet if you can hear me, you'll be laughing at how sappy I sound but I mean it, you are the best person I've ever known. I wish I had known you just a little bit longer. Bye Hellie. Miss you always. Love Lily xxx
She barely scanned it before folding it up and throwing it into the air. It fluttered slowly back towards the water's surface where it sat, barely a whisper of movement on the calm surface of the lake. There was an air of finality about this, she mused, this was truly goodbye.
She turned and waded from the lake back towards the castle. She took a deep breath of the cool clear air and pointed her wand at the bottom of her mourning robes silently muttering a drying spell. As she watched the steam evaporate from her robes she noticed a figure who she suspected was Sirius in the distance storming angrily away from the memorial towards the other side of the lake. Thinking he also needed a private goodbye, she continued across the lawn dreading the ensuing wake.
***
The beginnings of twilight were upon the grounds when Sirius finally extracted himself from the dozens of girls lining up to be his 'shoulder to cry on'. He turned away from the last, almost unshakeable girl and wandered slowly towards the plinth to commemorate Helena's life.
Due to the fact that no body had been found, there was instead a white marble lion standing on its hind claws imitating the Gryffindor crest. At the bottom, a shimmering plaque read: Helena Damask 10th December 1959 - Winter 1977, and beneath this the statement "Courage conquers all things".
Sirius laughed bitterly, "except death. Courage conquers all things except death."
A/N: Wow it's been a long time...review please!