Trigger warning for suicide. Ash and Aaron are Dean and Lavender's children. Aaron David Thomas (a year above James) and Ashlynn Violet Thomas (Al and Scor's year and best friend).
Ash looked at the picture, her throat closing up as it blurred. It was of her and Aaron, each wrapping into thick sweaters their mother had given them, and holding each other closely. Aaron was her big brother, her everything, the rock in her life that she could always count on.
But she wasn't his, otherwise he wouldn't have taken his own life.
Ash closed her eyes to the images that assaulted her mind of walking into Aaron's room, finding his wrists cut, the screams that tore from her when she realized what her brother had done.
That her brother had left her. Selfish girl, a voice whispered in her mind. You always have to make everything about you.
A sob escaped her before she even realized that it was there. The tears were coming fast and furious now, and Ash could do nothing to stop them.
She was vaguely aware of someone entering the room she had hid herself in, as everyone else offered her parent's their condolences. She was more aware of them wrapping their arms around her, and she leaned into them. It was almost like she could forget everything.
Of course, she never could.
"I'm sorry," they whispered, and she realized it was James Potter.
What he had to be sorry about, she didn't know.