O0o0O

Sirius went to the Order meeting after coming home from Taryn's house and grabbing his flying motorcycle and some papers he was supposed to hand in. He arrived at the meeting a few minutes late, but nobody seemed to care.

The meeting ran hours longer than it was supposed to. The plan stated that they were only going to discuss three topics, but earlier that day, a Death Eater was captured, and after interrogating him, the members had a new topic to discuss, which led to a question that nobody could seem to solve. After the meeting, Sirius decided to stay a little longer to watch them further question the Death Eater. He didn't leave Headquarters until after midnight.

Leaving the Headquarters, Sirius bumped into Peter, knocking him over. "Oh, sorry Wormtail." He said tiredly, holding out a hand to help him up.

Peter took the hand and got to his feet. "It's okay, Padfoot." He said. "Long meeting today, huh?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah. Ran three hours longer than scheduled!"

Peter sneezed. "Why'd you stay longer?"

"Wanted to watch them interrogate that Death Eater. Why'd you stay longer?"

"Decided to help clean up." He shrugged.

"Why were you going back in?"

"I think I threw out my money bag." Peter said quietly.

Sirius laughed. "Well get it back before Prongs steals it! You know how he is about searching threw the garbage…"

And Peter scurried back into the headquarters.

Once the door slammed shut, Sirius began to walk back to his motorcycle. He looked at the sky, now clearer than it had been earlier. Deciding it would be safer to ride home on ground, he got on and put on his helmet.

As he rode off down the street, he looked back and saw Peter leaving Headquarters, twirling a dirty moneybag on his finger, then bending down to pick up the money that fell out.

O0o0O

Taryn spent the day doing basically nothing. She must have walked around the house eighteen times before she got hungry and ordered pizza.

As she sat on the couch with a box of pizza on her lap, watching the weather for the umpteenth time that day, she thought of something remotely interesting to do. After giving up, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

When Taryn woke up, she walked upstairs to get a book from her room. "Ugh, I hate days off." She muttered, opening the door. "I should get another job for Tues- Hello?"

There was somebody sitting in her big armchair, facing away from her. 'Typical scene from one of those cliché muggle action movies…' Taryn thought as the person stood up and turned around to face her.

It was a Death Eater.

Instantly, Taryn apparated out of her house with a soft Pop!. She ended up outside the local library. A few seconds later, though, the Death Eater appeared a few feet away. Instantly, she apparated away again, this time to Sirius' house.

The Death Eater appeared a meter away from her almost instantly, and she started to run upstairs, dodging the red beam of light coming toward her. Taryn burst through the door to Sirius' bedroom. He wasn't there…

'Perfect, just perfect…' She thought sarcastically and ran back downstairs, the Death Eater haven thought that she had went to a different room and now behind her again.

Taryn pulled out her wand and exclaimed the first spell that came to her head, "Expelliarmus!"

The Death Eater's wand dropped out of his hand but he picked it up instantly. "Avada-" He was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Taryn opened the door and screamed "Go away!" at the person that was standing there, before running out and running around the house to Sirius' backyard.

She was shocked to see the person who was at the door standing there now. "I told you to go away!" She yelled to Sirius' ex-girlfriend.

But it was too late. The Death Eater was already in the middle of his spell. After getting hit by a green beam of light, Emma fell down onto the grass. She was dead.

Taryn ran back inside quickly, now tired from all that running. After catching her breath, she turned around to see where the Death Eater was, only to see a bright green light and drop onto the hard floor.

O0o0O

The ride home on ground seemed to take forever. Upon arrival home, Sirius dragged himself to the backyard so he could put the motorcycle away in the shed. He guided the bike across the backyard in the dark, looking down at his feet to make sure he didn't step on anything.

Sirius stopped abruptly and stared down at what was in front of his feet. "Emma?" He asked questionably, dropping the motorcycle, kneeling down beside his ex-girlfriend's head and staring down at her.

He poked her. She didn't move. "Emma…" He whispered. "Is she… She can't be…" He picked her up and brought her to the one light shining in the backyard. Her face was pale and he recognized the look on her face. She was dead. Someone had used Avada Kedavra on her.

Sirius carried Emma inside so he could call the Order and tell Dumbledore that they had killed Emma. He was too busy trying to see where he was going to see the body that he tripped over until he actually tripped over it.

He turned around to see what he had tripped over, and then the rest passed by in a blur- Silently staring at Taryn for a long while, taking the two bodies to the Headquarters, explaining what happened to Dumbledore, slurring his words as he spoke.

James and Lily came to the Headquarters as soon as they heard the news. Lily's face was red from tears, though Sirius wasn't sure if she was still crying, because it had started raining again, and both she and her husband were soaked with water.

"Sirius…" James said, walking over to him. "Are you okay?"

Sirius shook his head silently. He was far from okay. He felt like he'd never be okay. Never.

Sirius continued to stare forward at the wall. Just a few hours ago he had been staring at the same wall, but out of boredom. Now, he was staring out of pure emptiness.

"Sirius, I know how you feel…" Lily whispered, wringing the water from her hair.

Slowly, he turned his head to look at her. "No, you don't." He stood up. "Nobody does."

"Sirius, we understand that-"

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW I FEEL, JAMES! I FOUND MY GIRLFRIEND DEAD IN MY HOUSE, NOT FAR FROM MY DEAD EX-GIRLFRIEND. DO YOU KNOW WHAT ONE OF THE LAST THINGS SHE SAID TO ME WAS?" He yelled. "SHE SAID THAT SHE WISHED SHE HAD NEVER EVEN MET ME!"

Lily stared. "Taryn would never say that.." She said quietly, but neither James nor Sirius paid attention to her.

"OH, YOU THINK IT'S SOOO HARD FOR YOU, RIGHT, SIRIUS? I HOPE YOU HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN THAT JUST A WEEK AND A HALF AGO, THE DEATH EATERS KILLED BOTH OF MY PARENTS. AND I'M NOWHERE NEAR FROM RECOVERED FROM THAT, AND THEN I GET THIS CALL THAT MY FRIEND DIED. YES, TARYN WAS MY FRIEND TOO, IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED!"

"OH YEAH? WELL I LOVED HER, OKAY?"

'WELL SO DID LILY AND I! I KNOW I MAY NOT HAVE BEEN AS CLOSE TO HER AS YOU WERE, BUT SHE STILL WAS MY FRIEND. SO DON'T YOU THINK THAT YOU'VE GOT IT SO HARD, 'CAUSE YOU DON'T."

Sirius, not able to think of a clever reply, sat back down on the floor and resumed staring forward at the wall.

Lily looked at James, who was trying his best to calm down now. Then, she kneeled down next to Sirius and calmly and quietly started talking, "Sirius, I know how much Taryn meant to you. She was my best friend. Remember when I told you to accept the fact that others understand you. This is one of those moments where that comes in handy. Think about it."

O0o0O