Sirius’ last words echoed through Ashley’s mind as she leaned her head against her chosen compartment’s window. Even with her gaze trained at the orange sky, her attention was entirely elsewhere while her fingers idly played with her new locket. It pained her to have left Sirius in such a broken state but what choice did she have? And it wasn’t like her soul-bonded would have actually allowed her to stay behind with them. Still, her soul ached restlessly from separating with Sirius and Remus at such a tragic time. It seemed that with the months they spent together, the bond they shared had grown somewhat stronger. It was something Griphook had failed to mention but Ashley’s on-going theory was that the stronger the bond was, the more in tune the participants would be to each other. Being that she was the stronger individual in the active bond, magically speaking at least, the emotional strain of learning about Regulus’ death affected her more than it normally would. This was due to her soul feeling both Remus and Sirius’ grief, thus producing the need to comfort them. Knowing that she couldn’t and that she was being taken away (albeit temporarily), it made her...uncomfortable, for a lack of better wording.