Chapter 24: A pack

Willow awoke the next morning to arms wrapped round her and something heavy resting on her back.

Twisting slightly, she smiled as she found Sirius snuggled up beside her, his head resting on her shoulders and his mouth slightly open. She then came to the realisation that she was in his bed, and, as she glanced round the rest of the room, the dorm was empty.

Realising what they had done for her, Willow smiled sadly and slowly slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Sirius, before heading down the stairs. Upon reaching the last stairs, she stared out at the scene that greeted her.

James, Remus and Peter were sprawled across the sofa and two armchairs. James was on his back, his head hanging off the edge of the sofa, his arms open wide. Remus was curled up on one of the armchairs, his arms folded and sleeping peacefully while on the other armchair, Peter's head was hanging over the arm rest, his mouth open and he was snoring.

Gently, Willow padded over to where they lay and placed their blankets back on them before stooping down and kissing each of their cheeks. James stirred slightly as she did this, but continued to sleep and leaving Willow to turn and head back towards the boys dorm, she stopped at the bottom and turned to face them again, tears filling her eyes.

She really did have good friends.

Walking back up to the dorm, she found Sirius still asleep, scrawling him a note, she left it on the pillow beside him and gently brushed her lips against his forehead, like James, he too stirred, mumbling incoherently before turning over, splaying himself across the bed.

Smiling at this, she grabbed a jumper that was spilling out of his trunk and slipped it on, thankful for its warmth before heading out of the dorm, slipping out of the common room and heading out of the castle and towards the lake.

Reaching the lake, she settled down by the side of it, pulling her knees up to her chest, encircling them with her arms and staring out across the lake, tears leaking freely down her face.

Moments later, arms encircled her, allowing her to bury her face into their chest, a hand rubbed her back soothingly and the deep voice she'd wanted to hear, spoke.

"I've got you," he said. "I've got you."

Willow replied by burying her face deeper into Professor Century's shirt.

The space beside him was empty, groaning groggily, Sirius bought his hand to his eyes, rubbing them and then raised his head. The dorm was empty and the only person occupying his bed was him.

Groaning once more, he rolled over, hearing the sound of paper crinkling as he did so. Frowning, he reached behind him and pulled a piece of parchment from behind his head.

Sirius,

Thanks for everything last night, I really appreciated it.

I'll be back soon, just needed to go for a walk, get some fresh air.

Tell James, Remus and Peter, thank you.

Love, Willow

Sirius sighed as he read the note and dropped back fully onto the bed, his hand falling over the side.

After lying there for several moments, he headed down stairs to find that his friends had awoken and that Lily had joined them, wincing as James cracked his back.

"How's Willow?" Lily asked as she saw him.

Sirius yawned and waved the note at her.

"Gone for a walk," he said, stretching as Lily took the note. "She told me to tell you guys thanks, by the way." He added, glancing at his friends, whom all nodded in reply.

"Do you think we should go find her?" Lily asked, chewing her lip as she read the note. "I mean, I know she said she'd be back soon, but still."

"Lily," Sirius said softly, taking the note from her. "Willow will be fine, if she doesn't return in," he glanced at his watch, "fifteen minutes, we'll go look for her, until then, I think its best we leave her be."

Lily nodded in agreement before sitting down next to James and allowing him to wrap his arm around her, she leaned into it and he kissed the top of her head.

The portrait hole opened and they turned to see Professor Century enter, his arm wrapped around Willow whose face was wiping tears from her face.

"…me like this, stupid." They heard her mutter.

Professor Century smiled, sadly.

"Willow," he said, gently. "You're grieving, it's natural. You don't have to hide it from your friends."

Willow nodded and Professor Century turned and blinked in surprise to find them all looking at him.

"Oh, your awake," Willow had noticed them too and Sirius turned to face her, noting, as he did so, that she was wearing one of his jumpers, his favourite one actually. It was a deep ruby red and he had to admit, it looked amazing on her.

"You alright, Willow?" Lily asked, rising from her seat and walking towards her, apprehension on her face.

Willow nodded and accepted the hug that Lily bestowed.

"I'm fine, thank you, Lily." She murmured.

Lily smiled and pulled back, glancing at Sirius.

Sirius took the hint, striding towards Willow; he pulled her into a hug, which she gratefully accepted.

Professor Century, Sirius noted, was smiling at the two of them.

"Thank you." He mouthed at him.

Professor Century nodded before ducking out of the portrait hole, leaving them to it.

"Do you want something to eat?" Sirius asked, looking down at Willow.

She nodded.

"Breakfast sounds good right about now." She murmured.

Sirius nodded and, keeping an arm wrapped around her shoulder, they headed out of the portrait hole. James, Lily, Remus and Peter followed behind.

The rest of the holidays passed quickly and Willow seemed happy to get back into the stream of things, it seemed to distract her from what had happened over the holidays. Her friends were told about what happened and each of them had comforted her in their own way before making sure she was fully distracted from it and buckling into work.

After a week back, however, Willow was sent a letter by owl telling her that the funeral had been arranged for her father. It was agreed that only one person could attend the funeral with her, and so, it was in the common room that Sirius found himself approached by her.

"Hey," he said, taking his feet off the sofa so that she could sit down. "Everything alright?"

Willow nodded.

"My dad's funerals been arranged for this Saturday," she told him.

"Oh," Sirius replied, unsure as what to say.

"Will you come with me?" she asked, looking at him. "Please."

Sirius nodded and scooted up the sofa, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"If you really want me too." He said.

Willow had nodded in reply and Sirius had lightly kissed her forehead before they had spent the rest of the evening curled up on the sofa in silence.

Saturday had come and Sirius had dressed in a black muggle suit and tie, Willow having informed him that due to muggles attending the service, it would be a muggle ceremony. Biding goodbye to his friends, he had descended the stairs to find Willow waiting at the bottom for him. She too wore black, a pair of tights and a sleeveless black dress covered with a black cardigan while a pair of simple black heels completed the look. Her dark hair was pulled back into a bun and Sirius noted she looked quite pale.

"Hey," he said, squeezing her hand. "Everything's going to be alright."

Willow nodded and smiled tightly before heading towards the portrait hole and towards Dumbledore's office where a portkey had been arranged for them.

"Are you ready?" Dumbledore had asked them, holding out what appeared to be an empty sweet wrapper.

Both Sirius and Willow had nodded before touching the portkey, it had glowed and the two of them had felt a tug in their navel before they were transported from Dumbledore's office into the drawing room of some fancy home.

"Willow!"

Sirius had seen a blur of brown and black before arms had embraced Willow, holding her.

The person then pulled out, tears glistening in their eyes, and Sirius could see it was a woman. She was around the same height as Willow, with light brown hair that was also pulled off of her face and brown eyes, she, like Willow, was wearing a black dress complete with a cardigan.

"Hey Francis," Willow said, smiling slightly. "Where's Nate?"

Francis made to reply when the double doors across from them opened and a tall man with dark blond hair and bright green eyes entered the room, he too was dressed in a black muggle suit with a green tie that complimented his eyes.

"Nate," Willow murmured, walking towards him.

Nate immediately accepted her hug and Sirius heard her begin to cry.

"Oh, Willow," Nate said, tears in his own eyes. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there."

Willow shook her head and pulled out, wiping her eyes.

"It's not your fault," she said, squeezing his hand. "Dad wouldn't have wanted you to blame yourself." She sniffed and turned back to Sirius. "Sirius, this is Nate, my godfather. Nate, this is Sirius, my boyfriend."

Sirius held out a hand towards Nate who took it with a firm shake.

"Sirius' friend is the one I told Dad about," Willow informed Nate. "He knows all about werewolves, and he doesn't care."

Nate grinned.

"Good," he said, looking Sirius dead in the eye. "Cause you are going to be in a group mostly made of them."

Sirius just nodded and Nate turned back to Willow.

"They all came to the funeral," he told her. "When an alpha of a pack dies, well, the whole pack feels the loss."

Willow nodded in understanding.

"Who's the alpha now?" she asked.

"I am," Nate told her before grimacing. "Fenrir is beta."

Willow shuddered while Sirius chocked in horror.

"Fenrir Greyback?" he asked.

Both Willow and Nate nodded. Willow looked repulsed while Nate was grimacing.

"You know Greyback?" Nate asked.

Sirius growled.

"He's the one who bit my friend." He informed them.

Willow's eyes widened while Nate shook his head.

"He's always been uncontrollable, the only one he ever actually listened too was your father, and now, well, now that he's gone, I don't know whether or not Greyback will want to discard the pack, run solo." He said.

Willow just shrugged, looking disgusted.

"I don't care," she said. "I never liked him anyway, he's creepy."

"No denying that." Nate muttered. "Shall we?" he added, gesturing to the doors.

Willow nodded and offered Sirius her hand; he took it while Francis and Nate walked in front of them, their hands interlocked.

"Willow," a man approached Willow, he too was dressed in black. "I'm so sorry for you loss."

Willow smiled and embraced the man.

"Thanks, Damien," she said.

The man nodded before conversing with Nate and Francis.

"Willow Briar, is that you?" a sickly sweet voice cut through the crowd and Willow shuddered before turning, out of the corner of his eyes, Sirius saw Nate tense before he too turned.

Walking towards them was a big, rangy man with matted dark hair, he was grinning showing yellowing teeth.

"Fenrir." Willow said as polite as possible.

Sirius tensed at the name, his hand tightening on Willow's hip, his other in his trouser pocket, grasping his wand.

Greyback's grin widened.

"You do remember me," he said.

Willow snorted.

"How could I forget." She said her voice hard.

Greyback laughed.

"Such a pretty thing," he said, reaching up and caressing her face.

"Don't you touch her!" Sirius snapped, glaring at Fenrir.

Fenrir turned to face him and smirked.

"Well, well, if it isn't Sirius Black," he said. "I know your cousin Bellatrix very well, shall I tell her you said hi."

Sirius growled.

"Bellatrix may be a filthy death eater, but I doubt she spends her spare time hanging around scum like you. She'd think it beneath her." He spat.

Greyback's face turned into an ugly sneer.

"I'd be careful what comes out of that mouth, Black," he hissed. "We wouldn't your pretty little girlfriend to be hurt now, would we."

Anger coursed through Sirius and he clenched his wand hard, but Nate intervened.

"Greyback," he said, stepping between them. "Do not think you can enter my house and threaten Willow," he told him, looking down at him, for he was slightly taller. "She is Jay's daughter, and we will protect her."

As if to emphasis his point, several other men and two women stepped forwards glaring hard at Fenrir.

Fenrir snorted.

"Fine," he said. "But you can't always protect her, Simons."

Nate snarled, baring his teeth and leaned in towards Fenrir.

"You touch her," he told him quietly, but so that the whole room could hear. "I will tear you to pieces."

Fenrir glowered but said no more, he shot a leer at Willow who gave him a hard stare before turning and walking away. Nate waited until he was out of sight before turning to Willow.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

Willow nodded.

"Fine, thanks." She managed a small smile which Nate returned before glancing at the clock that stood in the hall.

"We'd best get going, funeral's due to start."