If you want to read ahead by 10 chapters from her you can visit my Patre-on.
{P} {A} {T} {R} {E} {O} {N}
patreon.com/Your_fiction
-----------
At first, full of rage, he had not wanted to hear their condolences and righteous anger. When it faded, leaving behind an agonising sorrow, they had been welcome signs of support from his friends and shipmates. Now though, dulled after days of grief, he was sick of them walking on eggshells around him and looking at him as if he was a sick dog they'd have to put down.
He gave them a curt nod before pressing the door panel again, closing it before they would say a word.
He resumed his heavy walk, letting his feet carry him once again in search of a place where he could finally be alone. A place where no one would hover around him ceaselessly to offer the same stale platitudes he'd heard a thousand times.
He wandered for a while through the identical metal corridors until, finally, he came out of his brooding in a section of the ship he did not recognise. Though it was hard to tell with the smooth metal corridors looking so similar to one another, he was pretty sure he had walked all the way to the uninhabited part of the ship. It wouldn't be strange, really, what with more than three-quarters of it being repurposed as a storage area.
With the completion of the station, they had begun to empty those rooms and explore them from time to time, though they must not have reached this floor yet, as the room was filled with crates and large gas tanks. Neville closed the door behind him, advancing through the room in the dim light that came from a small window opening in the star-filled darkness of space. He went to sit on one of the crates lying in front of it, intent on losing himself in the view before he ended up lost to his own thoughts.
As he reached it, however, he found it already occupied. Susan made for quite a sorry sight as she sat on the floor with her back to the crate and held her knees to her chest. Her long copper hair were in disarray and her eyes were red from tears that had long since dried on her cheeks. He might have commented on it if he didn't suspect he would have seen the same thing, had he looked in a mirror.
For a moment, he stood there and looked at her with what must have been a dumb look on his face. Unsure of whether he should say something to the only person who could understand him right now, or just leave her alone with her thoughts. She had come here to be alone, as he had, but seeing her like this...it was hard to bring himself to simply turn back and find another room.
So he spoke, with a hoarse and uncertain voice, ignoring the part of him that called out his hypocrisy as he had fled the people ready to do just that for him.
"Hey..."
"Hey." She answered softly, her gaze still fixed on the sight outside the window.
"Can I...Can I sit here?"
At her weak nod, he joined her on the floor. They remained here in silence for a long time, a thousand words on the tip of his tongue, but none daring to pass his lips. No one had seen much of her since...since they'd heard the news. Thinking back, he was ashamed that he had begun to resent her for leaving him to be the sole recipient of the crew's overbearing considerations. Though he knew she must have been as sick of condolences and pity as he was. So they sat in silence, neither of them saying a word for what seemed like hours as they watched the stars and took comfort in each other's presence.
Until finally, she talked.
"You know...I don't remember my parents. Not really anyway." She began, her voice barely a whisper. "A few flashes of her hair, of his hands...my aunt's the only one that's always been here for me. It was just us, living in that big empty house, taking care of each other for as long as I can remember. And now she's just...gone. Just like that. And I didn't...I couldn't..."
Her voice died as she shut her eyes tight, trying to hold back the tears that swelled in her eyes once more.
He knew how she felt. Despite visiting the Janus Thickey ward of St Mungo's every year since he was two, he had never truly known his parents. He still loved them, but he couldn't escape the fact that he had only ever seen the pale husks of their former selves. And since Uncle Algie died two years ago, his gran had been his only real family.
"It's the little things that are the hardest, I think. To know that she won't be there, tidying up the house with a swish of her wand after I put mud everywhere coming back from the garden. That I'll never laugh as she sends another petitioner running after they tried to bribe her." She said with a little laugh. "It's weird, but I'd give anything to hear her scold me because I'm not sitting straight enough again."
That seemed to cheer her up a little as a smile crept up her face, small as it was.
"My aunt used to threaten me that she'd sick one of her aurors on me if I didn't behave during dinner. She nearly did once, too. I'd planted some chomping cabbages in the garden and smuggled a few in the kitchen on a night when we had guests from the Wizengamot."
That got a chuckle out of them both until the comfortable silence took back its place for a while, soon to be broken as Neville's brow furrowed and his tone became serious.
"I was furious when I learned. If they hadn't stopped me, I would have gone and...I don't know. I was ready to kill someone, anyone even remotely responsible."
-----------
If you want to read ahead by 10 chapters from her you can visit my Patre-on.
{P} {A} {T} {R} {E} {O} {N}
patreon.com/Your_fiction