Ron had made up the spare bed in his bedroom for his friend to sleep on. Normally when the gang gathered at the Burrow he and Harry would sleep in sleeping bags on the floor while both Hermione and Serella slept on the beds, but tonight, they were the only two in the room.
"Thanks Ron." She muttered, standing back as he turned down the blankets.
"No problem Sere. Are you sure you're ok?" He was trying to search her eyes for a true answer, but he didn't know how good she was at hiding things. He didn't know her like Harry did. He gave up when she nodded and made his way over to his own bed.
"If you need anything, just let me know." She nodded again, slipping under the blanket and bringing the edge up to her chin. "Dumbledore has instructed Fred and George to go get Harry tomorrow." It was his last effort to get her at least a tiny bit hopeful, but it did no good.
Serella was lost to the world as soon as she closed her eyes. Molly wouldn't let her take another sleeping potion this time. She was too worried that it might have mixed affects with the one she took earlier, and Serella was no good at going to sleep at her own will.
She laid awake for what seemed like hours, watching the Chudly Cannon's team players fly around the posters that hung crooked on Ron's wall. She tried to think of it as a weird way of counting sheep, but it didn't help her drift into a peaceful sleep. She was scared to go to sleep more than she was upset by it. Even when her eyes were open all she could see was the burning car.
If only she had woken up earlier, then she could have done something more, she could have stopped it, she could have saved then and they wouldn't be getting ready to be put in the ground at this very moment. The thought of maggots and worms eating away at their corpses was the most disturbing thing she had thought of all night. The eating of flesh, the decaying body parts that no one would ever seen in the closed coffins.
Dumbledore had instructed the Ministry to burry them in secret, not even she was allowed to go to the site. It was too dangerous to go anywhere near there. He even changed his mind about letting her venture back to her house, instead, insisted that she make a list and have Bill go and collect her things.
Having not gotten any sleep, she found it hard to concentrate at the breakfast table where Molly had handed her a piece of parchment and quill. She was able to complete it before Ron and Ginny finished eating, having written down details of her school supplies, clothes, books, potions, and other things she normally took with her to Hogwarts.
Bill promised to be back as soon as he could, but she didn't care how long it would take him. Molly was trying her best to fill up her thinking time so that she couldn't dwell on the events that took place the previous night.
"Serella dear why don't you go shower and freshen up and then how about you and Ronald go out to the garden and gather some flowers for the centerpiece, the muggle way of course, can't have more ministry officials popping up here can we?" Serella appreciated that Mrs. Weasley was trying her best to help, but picking flowers and making herself clean wasn't the way she wanted to spend her day.
But crawling back in bed and staying there until she herself started to decay was obviously out of the question, so she did as she was asked.
Her shower took longer than expected. For the longest time she couldn't seem to remember how to undress herself. Eventually, after the hot water had completely fogged up the bathroom mirror, she remembered how to take her clothes off. She had heard that hot water, showers more like it, helped people that were hurting and sad. She stood under the water, waiting as patiently as she could, but that feeling that she had heard about never came.
After she was drenched in water, covered in soap, and finally squeaky clean, she didn't feel any better, or any cleaner. She was disgusted with herself more than anything and had to fight the urge to punch her own reflection as she walked past the mirror. Explaining how it broke was something she didn't want to do after the Weasley's had been so welcoming.
When she finally came downstairs, wearing the same pajamas she had put on the previous day, Ron was waiting for her in the kitchen. He stood up when he heard her approaching and never before had she really noticed how much he towered over her. Maybe it was just the small feeling she was beginning to have in light of recent events, but Ron looked intimidating.
"How was your shower?" He politely asked, holding open the door for her.
She shrugged, "clean I guess." She really didn't want to talk, but she could also tell that Ron was uncomfortable with long silences. When he was placed in them he tended to babble about the weirdest things, so she chose to try and direct the conversation. "I saw you have two more posters in your room. Why haven't you accepted that the Chudly Cannons are never going to make it into the World Cup?" She tried her best to keep her voice light and friendly, as far as she could tell, it was working.
"Because someday they will and then every last one of you will be eating your words." He was referring to how both she and Harry teased him about the team he was practically in love with. They were honestly horrible and never made it anywhere close to making it into the finals. But it was fun to have some friendly competition when watching, and playing, Quiditch.
"Whatever you say Ron, but I'm going to laugh when they fail to make the cut yet again this year."
"You just wait until we can start our summer games, not only am I finally going to beat you and Harry, but the Chudly Cannons are going to make it to the finals as well."
They continued their banter of Quiditch, a very safe subject for the time, while they picked some flowers for his mother. Serella couldn't quiet figure out why Mrs. Weasley had them picking flowers, but it was a beautiful summer day and the sun was nice and warm on her skin.
Her hair dried quickly and was soon smacking her in the face as the wind started to blow. Neither one of them had any idea how long they had actually been out there until they heard his mother calling them in for lunch. Despite the company, the weather, and the delicious food that was prepared, nothing was helping her get rid of the hole that had replaced her torso.
