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The flowers adorned the church. Crowds of people filed into the aisles, some clutching hankies, some crying silent tears. But the one she wanted wasn’t there. He couldn’t be there they wouldn’t let him.

The eulogy was brief, but the words rang true in everyone’s heart. Its speaker didn’t pause once to dry their eyes, they only stopped to let the persistent barking of a nearby dog die down. It didn’t. As the funeral guests left the church behind the coffin, it howled. The sound reverberated long into the night, echoing the pain felt by them all.

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James affectionately put his arm around his wife, Lily. Their baby, Harry lay in his bassinet peacefully. Their best friend Sirius and his fiancé, Georgiana were there, hands clasped in each other’s. Lily and James smiled to each other at the sight of the joyous couple.

“Come on Sirius, you sly dog. Tell us where you met. What was it, two dates and engaged already? Love at first sight, ay? Or is it puppy love and will everything blow over?” James grinned mischievously as he brushed the mop of black hair from his face.

“James! Stop it!” said Lily sharply. “You’re making poor Georgie embarrassed.” One look at Georgiana’s face told everyone that she was still unsure about this. She was only just out of Hogwarts. Sirius was older than her, but she knew that she loved him. Their chance meeting was the best thing that ever happened to her.

He clasped her hand tighter, “I was in Hogsmeade, paying a visit to Dumbledore and I thought I might stop off at Zonko’s before I left. And there I found her. Searching through a pile of dung bombs.”

“He forgot to mention that he threw a plastic cockroach down my robes!” Georgiana spoke up in her timid, but sweet voice.

James laughed. It was just like his pal Sirius, cracking jokes constantly. But James could tell that Sirius loved her. There was something about the way he held on to her, protective; loving, completely unlike the Sirius he knew but love will change you.

“We’re not setting a date for the wedding yet. With everything going on with Voldemort, we thought it best to concentrate on retaliation rather than celebrating prematurely.” Sirius informed James and Lily.

“Well,” said James raising his glass, “A toast to you, may all your dreams be granted by the magic that surrounds us all.”

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To make the story easier to understand and more economical I leave it to your own understanding to know what happens next. Voldemort murders Lily and James, Harry is forced to live at the Dursley’s and Sirius is sent to Azkaban for a crime he did not commit. To put it briefly.

On the night of Lily and James’s murder, Sirius came to their house in Godric’s Hollow. His quick brain had figured out that Peter Pettigrew had caused things to turn out like this. He wanted to take his Godson, Harry, but Hagrid was there on special orders from Dumbledore. He had to let go of the child. Someday he would see him again and someday he could raise Harry as his own, just like James would have wanted him to. Giving Hagrid his flying motorcycle, Sirius apparated to Georgie’s place.

“Sirius!” she cried, her eyes glistening with tears and a crumpled handkerchief clutched in her fist. “Is it true? Lily and James?” Georgie stopped. The look in Sirius’s warm brown eyes that reminded her of a puppy dog had turned stone cold.

“It was Peter who betrayed them. I convinced Lily and James that it would be ok if he were their secret keeper. But it wasn’t, was it. I’m going to get him. No one else but me knows it was him, not even Dumbledore. I have to avenge the deaths of Lily and James.”

“Sirius, don’t be absurd! You-Know-Who could still be around waiting to get you as well. I won’t let you die.”

“I’m going Georgie. I’ll come back to you my love. You’re the only woman for me. How ever long I take, just remember, I’ll be back someday.” He picked her up and engulfed her in a passionate, but sweet embrace, quite out of character for Sirius. As he turned on his heel and was walking out the door he whispered to the air, “I love you Georgiana.”

She crumpled to the floor, trying to fight off tears she knew would come anyway.

                                                           *******************

And so she waited. For her Sirius to return. Rumours flew around town that he had been the Potter’s secret keeper; he had betrayed them and killed Peter for the fun of it. She didn’t believe it. Sirius was sweet; he wasn’t in league with Voldemort. When the news of his arrest came, she couldn’t cry anymore. Georgiana simply vowed to wait for him like she had promised.

Tens years had passed and Harry began his time at Hogwarts. Georgiana was still waiting for Sirius in despair, knowing the chances of ever seeing him alive were non-existent. She would not leave the house. She barely ate. Georgiana was wasting away, pining for her lost love. Her friends and family had given up on her. She wallowed in the pleasure of her own company and the dream that Sirius would return, for another two years, illness consuming her due to her broken heart.

Georgiana no longer used magic, she didn’t believe in it. Nor would she associate herself with the Magical Community because they believed her fiancé was a murderer. When the Muggle news reported that a convicted murderer Sirius Black had escaped from gaol, she could hardly believe it.

The heavy burden lifted itself off her heart, but that afternoon, Georgiana passed away. Too weak to go on, she had waited for as long as she could and now had nothing to sustain her life. She was found by her neighbour, tucked up in bed, a peaceful smile on her cold, white face with a giant dog, howling by her feet.