The letter was just so formally written. The way it said Miss Eleanor S. Bennett at the very top in cursive writing and then how the margin was exactly two inches. Then the message followed, ending with a scrawled -

Madame Calliope M. Plathe

Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes

Everyone knew exactly what it was – the formal, yellow letter with a red seal only meant one thing. At first the Heads of Houses were in charge of notifying the students, but as the number of attacks increased, formal letters began to be delivered, exactly like the one Eleanor had received.

Suzanne left before the owl swooped in the window, landing on the sill with the letter. The only people left in the dormitory were Eleanor and Marnie. Eleanor had been planning to get out of the room as soon as possible, but with the arrival of the letter, all rational escaped her.

Surprisingly, Marnie stayed quiet while Eleanor had opened the letter and skimmed the message.

"What's wrong?" Marnie asked as soon as Eleanor folded up the letter and pocketed it.

But Eleanor was already halfway across the room. "Nothing," she answered quietly. She nervously played with the parchment in her pocket as she made her way to the common room, wondering what she was going to say about it.

It was only a matter of time before someone found out and put it in the Daily Prophet. And then everyone was going to try to sympathize with her and she didn't want it.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

Ivy worked for the Daily Prophet, so she wasn't supposed to be in any danger. Liam had said it was going to be fine and it wasn't.

But many people were getting the letters; there was no reason to get upset. Death was becoming a normal occurrence and there was no reason to throw a fit just because it happened to someone close. She was no one special.

Eleanor didn't want anyone to try to comfort her. She was fine. Liam got over the death of his uncle in a matter of days. He was strong. She could be too.

She could act like it never happened. Even if she felt like she was about to break down, she had to stop and remind herself that Eleanor Bennett did not cry.

"Hey!" Liam called from across the common room, startling Eleanor as made his way over to her with a grin on his face.

She struggled to take in a breath and then forced a smile on her face. "Good morning." She noticed Liam pause and look at her. "I'm hungry," she hastened to say to get Liam's attention elsewhere.

He gave her a strange look but followed Eleanor out of the common room without a single question.

-x-

"Why is everyone staring over here?"

Eleanor glanced up at Liam's words and found the whole Ravenclaw table looking at her, some behind books and parchment, but their eyes were all on her.

Biting her lip, Eleanor looked around for a copy of the Daily Prophet, finally seeing it next to an empty seat. She flipped through it quickly, looking for any headline that would say -

There was nothing. But then why was everyone staring at her? Watching one of her roommates closely, she saw one of the girls, Ophelia, look down as soon as she saw Eleanor staring back. Suddenly, Marnie leaned forward, whispering something in her ear. Ophelia nodded furiously, glancing up again at Eleanor.

Letting out a sharp breath, Eleanor looked down at her plate and tried to convince herself that Marnie hadn't done anything. No one knew anything.

"What is wrong?" she could hear Liam asking her.

She wanted to tell him so badly, but didn't know if it was the right thing to do. They were supposed to tell each other everything. He told her about his uncle.

Reaching into her pocket, Eleanor brought out the letter and looking determinedly at the table, handed it over to Liam.

He must have read only a few lines because it was almost immediate. "Are you okay?" he asked slowly, as if he was afraid she was going to start screaming hysterically, but she would never do that. Not in front of everyone.

"Yes," she said slowly, leaning over to take a bite of toast.

"Eleanor, you just got a letter."

Her fingers began to tear the toast into little pieces and she could only nod, her throat closing up at his words.

"Is – does everyone know?"

Eleanor looked up at him and caught sight of Marnie shaking her head in a sympathetic gesture. With a shuddering sigh, Eleanor nodded.

Liam looked behind him and then back at her, his eyes wide. Before he could open his mouth to say something, Eleanor cut him off. "No, I know what you're going to say. I'm fine, I promise. I don't need any sympathy and I don't care about Marnie."

Why was she lying to him?

He started shaking his head at her. "Why are you trying to act as if nothing's wrong?"

"You don't understand." Feeling everyone's eyes on her, Eleanor quickly scrambled out of her seat and bolted out of the Great Hall.

Everyone was going to start to apologize and try to hug her and she didn't want any of it. She couldn't stand any of it – the attention and the sympathy.

No one could help her anyway.

No one was going to bring back her dead sister. How was anyone going to change the fact that she was an only child now? How was an apology going to make everything better?

No one knew how to help her.

"Eleanor!"

Wincing, she turned around to see Liam running over to her. "Hey..." He took a moment to catch his breath and then Eleanor flinched when he gave her that exactlook of sympathy. "Are you okay? Have you talked to your family or-"

Eleanor let her bag fall on the floor. "I don't need to be reminded, okay? I'm trying to deal by myself and everyone keeps talking to me and I don't want them to!"

Turning on her heel, she quickly fled around another corner. She couldn't listen to Liam's "it happens to everyone" speech. She knew exactly what he was going to say and it wasn't going to make her feel any better.

Throwing her bookbag across the corridor, Eleanor stopped in her tracks and clenched her fists so tight she could feel her nails digging into her skin.

She couldn't deal with this. Ivy wasn't supposed to die. She was supposed to live. She was only nineteen and she was supposed to get married and they made a pact that they would be maid-of-honor in each other's weddings and if she wasn't here...

Eleanor made it a couple steps to where her bookbag was sitting before she fell against the wall, hiding her head in her hands.

Ivy didn't exist anymore.

She didn't have a sister.

She was alone.

She had no one left.

Her chest was too tight, her throat was dry and she was struggling to breathe. And tears were beginning to blur her vision. Tears.

She wasn't just crying; she was sobbing.

This wasn't supposed to happen to her. This wasn't supposed to happen to anyone. Who was this wizard who was killing everyone? Who were these people following him and carrying out his awful demands? How could anyone do anything like this?

Hugging her knees to her chest, Eleanor tried to disappear into the wall.

The bell rang for class but Eleanor ignored it for the first time in her life. She barely heard the footsteps of students passing by her as if she wasn't even there.

Refusing to open her eyes, she listened for everyone to leave, hoping no one could see her tears. Suddenly, she felt the presence of someone next to her and without even a word, she knew who it was. Immediately, she latched onto the warmth and didn't even try to hold it in as she sobbed into his shoulder.

How was she going to go to the funeral? How was she going to get through this? She couldn't do this alone.

"Liam..." Eleanor whispered softly. He 'mmm'ed in response and she continued, "Can you come with me to the funeral? Please?"

She didn't see his answer but felt the downward motion of his head. Choking back her tears, she brushed the salty water off of her cheeks. "Thank you."

They didn't say anything after that, just sat in a comforting silence. After a couple minutes, Eleanor unsteadily got to her feet and mumbled, "We have to get to class. I can't miss Transfiguration."

Before Liam could nod in response, Eleanor pulled him into a hug, mumbling a thousand thank yous into his cloak.

"It'll be okay..."

And all it took was those three words and she immediately believed him.

A lot of people wanted me to change the plot of NSMW so this wouldn't happen, but it happened, and here's the chapter that accompanies it. The next chapter is the funeral.

Thanks Nathpollen because her = Paige Railstone level of awesomeness. (Look Paige Railstone up, guys!)

Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope you liked the...really sad chapter.