3Quidditch Season Two Round Two, Chaser Two for the Bats. Prompts: (15. "breezy," 8. "Hatred knows no bounds, huh," 4. "friction") Character: "Sirius Black". Action: "Talking".
If You Dare Challenge: 110. There is no Need to Shout
One Million Words Competition: 2976 words
Disney Character Competition: Thomas O'Malley the Alley Cat
Delirium Quotes Challenge: 9. "He who leaps for the sky may fall, it's true. But he may also fly."
Another
It's a breezy day. He smiles, taking a deep breath, trying to enjoy the good weather while it lasts.
"Yo Prongs, I'm bored. Want to go find Snivellus?" he asks nonchalantly.
"Nah mate... I promised Lily I wouldn't do things like that anymore," James replies, smiling back apologetically.
"You've grown boring..." he says in disgust.
"Whatever. Want to go down to Hagrid?" James suggests.
"I guess... I have nothing better to do anyway," he says, sighing.
James face brightens. "I'll tell Lily, wait right here, okay?"
"On second thought, never mind. You two love birds can do whatever you want by yourselves. I don't want to intrude. I'll go find a girl to bother or something."
"Whatever you say," James replies and turns on his heel to go find Lily.
He goes back into the castle, wandering the halls to find someone to make out with.
He recently broke up with Leah Sally, a pretty brunette sixth year in Hufflepuff, who had really thought that he had liked her.
He feels a twinge of guilt thinking back, but brushes it away quickly.
He finds a lone girl, trying to carry all her books but failing terribly. Blonde. Pretty enough, but very scrawny and obviously a Ravenclaw.
This should be interesting.
He moves in. "Would you like me to help you with that?" he asks, as he takes some of her books into his hands.
She looks up in surprise. "Thank you, but I'm quite alright," she says as she tries to take back her books, unsuccessfully.
"Oh come on. Just to the Ravenclaw Common Room," he says, smiling his million dollar smile at her.
"I'm not in Ravenclaw. I'm in Gryffindor!" she exclaims haughtily as she takes back her books and walks away.
No way. Gryffindor?
"Then to the Gryffindor Common Room," he says quickly. "What can it hurt?"
"Lily's told me about you. I don't trust you. Now leave me alone," she says as she walks away, back to him.
He stares after her in shock. He's never failed to pick a girl up. But this one is… ignoring him.
Then he does it. He sets his mind on her. He's going to get her to like him no matter what.
He smiles. This girl is interesting. This is going to be fun.
"Hey, Marlene," he calls.
He found out her name just a few hours ago, when he wheedled it out of Lily. How had he not noticed her before? She was Lily's best friend, and because of James, Sirius was always around Lily.
"Buzz off, Black," she says over her shoulder as she picks up her stuff from the desk in the library and starts walking away.
"Come on McKinnon, please. Go out with me once and I'll convince you how amazing and sexy I am," he says, grinning.
"Leave me alone," she says, turning to him. "What's your problem anyway? Go bother some other girl!"
Madam Pince comes right away. "There is no need to shout. Now please take your argument outside. Now, now go before I ban you both from the library!" she says, shooing them out.
"Hatred knows no bounds, huh," he mutters.
"I don't hate you," she whispers.
"What was that?" he asks, mouth perking up on one side.
"I said I don't hate you. It's just… I don't get you, and that frustrates me," she says quickly before she walks away.
"What do you mean you don't get me?" he calls after her.
She's silent. Then, she starts to speak. "You don't seem like a bad person, some of the time. But then you go around bullying Severus, and dating all those random girls and dropping them all of a sudden like they're nothing. They have feelings too, you know. You're nice sometimes, but you're not other times. I don't get it."
He's silent for a while. He starts to speak, but she interrupts him.
"You hurt one of my friends recently. Leah. Remember her? She was heartbroken when you broke up with her saying you two had no friction. As much as I want to like you, how can I?"
She walks away, leaving him standing there.
That's the start of the change in him.
"Padfoot my friend, why are you quiet? Normally you'd be bothering me to go prank someone or bother Sn-Severus," Remus says.
"I've rethought my ways," he says thoughtfully. "I'm a bad person."
Remus laughs. "You just realized?"
"No, actually. I realized a week ago," he says.
Remus stops. "You're serious, aren't you. Oh Godric save me, Sirius Black has met the day when he's being serious."
"Obviously I'm Sirius," he responds, grinning back.
"Oh Merlin not this one again," Remus rolls his eyes.
Weeks pass. Everyone has noticed the change in his behaviour, but he doesn't care. His one goal: to become a better person so that she will accept him. Strangely, what took James years to realize, has hit him in days.
"McKinnon, go out with me?" he calls.
She doesn't respond, and instead walks passed him.
"I've changed you know. I listened to what you said, and I've changed," he says.
She stops in her path.
"Prove it to me," she says.
"How?" he asks, voice cracking.
"Stay good for three more months. Then I'll go out with you," she says.
Three months. That would be the end of the school year.
"I'll do it," he says, smiling broadly. "I can do it. You better be waiting for me."
He counts the days until three months pass. The days until he can finally go out with her. Time has never gone so slowly.
And suddenly, three months are over.
He rushes to her, grinning. "Three months are over," he says.
She smiles at him. "You've really changed, right?"
"I have," he replies.
Oh Merlin, he wants to kiss her right there. But she interrupts his thoughts.
"When do you want it to be?" she asks. "The date, I mean. When you convince me to like you. I mean, not that you will but I'm just saying oh Merlin I know I'm babbling just stop me or something-"
He stops her, by kissing her.
His mouth is on hers, and her hands are in his hair, and it feels ohsoright. She gasps for air, and then his mouth crashes into hers again. It's perfect. It's like he imagined it to be, just better.
At last, they're gasping for air, and breathing hard on each other. Somehow they've sunk to the ground, and she's sitting in his lap. She leans into him, and hugs him.
He hugs her back. It's finally here. They're together, finally.
They sit like that, holding each other like that for what feels like eternity. The feeling of her body against his is heavenly.
It's not safe anymore. Voldemort is out there-and everyone lives in fear. In fear of death, of pain, and of revealing what must stay a secret.
The Order of Phoenix is there to fight against him. Sirius fights with them gallantly; proudly. He loves the feeling of exhilaration when he shoots a hex at the enemy, and they go down.
He loves the feeling of success and being the shining knight in armour.
But it's dangerous. The Death Eaters are growing stronger and stronger every day, and so is Voldemort.
And one day, she's taken. Marlene. His lover; his soul mate. She's taken as prisoner. In fact, she's probably being tortured at the moment.
There's nothing that can stop him, he rages into Malfoy Manor and shoots hexes and anyone who stands in his way.
James and the others had tried to restrain him, but it was too late.
Now, he is sitting next to her, restrained. And all of it's worth it. Because all that matters is that he's next to her, and he can protect her-well maybe not protect her, but he can see to it that he's the one being tortured, not her.
Now she lectures him with her fiery temper, as he flinches but can't help but grin at her.
"You idiot! You could have died! What if they had killed you! What if they kill you now? What's going to happen then? What if we both die here? It could have been just me, but nooooooo, you had to the brave knight and come save me without a plan. I know Lily told you to wait, but what did you do? You came in! And now we're both captured, and-"
He cuts her off with a kiss. Their lips eat hungrily at each other.
After a while, he pulls away, breathing hard.
They sit next to each other, leaning on each other with their hands restrained. What's the point of restraining their hands when they have no wands to do any damage?
"Why do you do it?" she whispers to him.
"Do what?" he asks, looking at her beautiful face.
He once thought that her face was merely pretty. But now, he can see the truth. She is truly beautiful, and no one is more beautiful.
"You do reckless things, knowing you'll fail. You leap for the sky, knowing you'll fall," she whispers.
"He who leaps for the sky may fall, it's true. But he may also fly. I might do reckless things, knowing I'll fail. But there's always that chance that I might succeed. That one in a million chance. But knowing that that one in a million chance is there, I try anyways," he replies.
She's silent.
"Any second now," he says, a smile tugging at his mouth.
"Any second now what?" she asks, bewildered.
"For them to arrive," he replies, and at that second, they hear shouts and screams and bangs everywhere.
"They're here," he grins, getting up.
She gets up as well. "Anything you want to tell me?" she asks, raising her eyebrow.
"Well…"
"Sirius! Wait, we need to make a plan!" James shouts.
"Marlene's in there! They might be killing her, torturing her, who knows? I need to save her!" Sirius shouts back, trying to break free of James's grip.
"I get that! So listen to me for once! Go in there, and get captured. You still remember how to lockpick right? Most likely, they'll put you in some kind of place, locked up. When you hear all hell breaking loose, escape with Marlene. The guards will rush to see what's going on. You know the way. We've been in Malfoy Manor before. Escape through the back door, and then, Apparate to the front, and wait for us to get you," James says.
Sirius feels a smile growing on his face.
"Thanks mate," he says, grinning at him.
"No problem. That's what friends are for, right?" James grins back.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go," Marlene says, smiling that perfect smile of hers.
Sirius is quick and efficient at unlocking the door. They quickly slip through, and he grabs her hand and leads her to the back door.
"Going somewhere?" Lucius Malfoy's cold voice stops them in their tracks.
"Marlene go," he says, shoving her forward.
"Not so fast," Malfoy says as he crucio's her to the ground. She falls with a scream.
Sirius lunges for him in fury, and manages to punch Malfoy before Malfoy can attack him. They fall to the ground, and Sirius reaches for his wand.
He gets up, pointing the wand at Malfoy's throat.
"I'm s-sorry I didn't mean it," Malfoy quickly says.
Sirius looks at him in disgust. He would kill him here and now, but he knows that Marlene's watching. And he has changed since his old days, barely five months before.
"Petrificus Totalus," he murmurs, and tucks the wand into his pocket as he walks to where Marlene is.
She has pulled herself up into a sitting position, but it is obvious that she is still in pain.
She is trembling.
He crouches in front of her, with his back to her. "Get on," he says, and she does.
He carries her to the back of the house, and quickly Apparates to the front, where Lily is waiting worriedly.
"Is she okay?" she asks.
"Crucio'd. She's in bad condition, but she'll be okay," he says quickly. "But she needs immediate treatment."
"Let's get her to Godric's Hollow," she says quickly.
"Lily, stay here. James is still in there," he says, knowing that she is still worrying about him. "We'll be okay. Besides, Dumbledore is waiting for us there."
She gives him a grateful smile. "Thank you Sirius."
"How are you feeling, McKinnon?" he asks, sitting next to her bed.
"Not bad," she replies, smiling at him. "You?"
"Not good," he responds, smiling at her affectionately. "If you're hurt, how can I feel good?"
"Oh shut up," she laughs. "I'm perfectly fine. I don't even know why I'm still in bed."
"It's raining," he says, looking outside.
"Get to the point," she says, laughing.
"What? I'm just stating a fact," he says, bewildered.
"And you only make mentions about the weather when you're nervous about saying something. So get to the point!" she says, smirking at him.
He shakes his head. "You know me too well… anyway… I was… oh Godric this is a terrible proposal. Will you marry me?" he holds out a ring and looks away, blushing.
"Of course, Sirius," she says, eyes shining with tears.
He looks at her in surprise. "Really? You really, really mean it right? No going back, okay?" he says, grinning.
"Okay," she responds, as she leans over to him and hugs him tightly.
"Don't joke about stuff like that," he says, laughing it off.
James is crying. His acting is pretty good, but he won't fall for something like that. Why would Marlene and her family be dead?
"I'm not joking, Sirius. I'm serious," James says, tears streaming down his face silently.
"I told you not to joke about something like that," he says, still smiling.
Remus bursts into the room, wide-eyed. "Sirius-" He looks around, and evaluates the situation. "You already know? I'm so sorry Sirius. And you guys were going to be married in a month too. I'm so sorry."
"Knock it off guys, it's not funny anymore," he says, smile fading.
"It's not a joke, Sirius," James says. "Lily is at home crying her heart out right now. Sirius, I'm telling the truth! Marlene is dead!"
"S-stop lying," he says, sinking to the ground, eyes wide in shock. "You guys almost fooled me just now," he says, beginning to laugh again.
"STOP IT! It's the truth," James says, as he inhales a deep breath.
"Sirius we're not joking," Remus says quietly.
"STOP LYING!" he screams.
The room is silent.
"You promised. No going back. You promised you would marry me. Why did you lie to me?" he whispers.
He refuses to cry. Not now. And not then. Not a year ago, when he had first heard that she had died. And not every single day between her death and now when he visited her grave.
"I miss you, Marlene. Come back, won't you?" he asks.
He ducks the blast that Bellatrix sends at him.
He laughs. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he shouts at her, laughing at her, taunting her.
Suddenly he's flying backwards. He realizes that Bellatrix has hit him. His eyes widen in shock. He feels himself being sucked into the veil.
He looks around, and sees that it is very light, and that he has no clothes on. He pulls himself up into a sitting position. He needs clothes.
And suddenly, clothes appear next to him.
He puts them on, and realizes that he's at Hogwarts, in the Gryffindor Common Room. His home.
The place where he finally fit in. Where he finally found people he cared for, his friends.
He looks around, and sees a woman with blond hair sitting on a couch by the fire. She turns around, and he can't believe his eyes.
"Marlene?" he asks, unsurely.
"Sirius," she smiles at him.
"Aren't I dead?" he asks, going to her and sitting beside her.
"Well yes, kind of," she says.
"What do you mean, kind of? Besides that, how can you be here? Oh Merlin I've missed you so much!" he reaches for her, hugging her tightly.
"I missed you too," she says softly, hugging him back.
"So… where is this place, exactly?" he asks, pulling away from her.
"It's the gateway between heaven, paradise, the after life, whatever you want to call it-and earth," she says, smiling at him. "You're not exactly dead-yet. Not until we leave."
"And how do we leave?" he asks.
"Floo," she says, smiling at him. "There's always a way out, you know. Always."
He smiles back at her. "What happens after this?"
"We live on," she says, grinning at him. "You know what that means, right?"
"What?" he asks.
"We can marry! You know, I've been waiting so long for you. You're finally here, and I can finally kiss you again!" she smiles at him fondly.
She tucks a strand of his unkempt hair behind his ear, and leans in, kissing him.
He smiles into her. He finally feels whole again.
Life is like dominoes. Once one goes down, they keep on going down. But if you put the domino blocks a certain distance apart, the dominoes will stop.
First Marlene. Then Peter, or at least the Peter he knew. Then James and Lily. Then Alice and Frank. It was scary. They all went down, just like that.
There were only a few left standing. But something like that is not something you can plan. Once you are placed, and one domino is knocked down, they all go down, unless you were originally placed apart from the others.
But in the end, they all go down, anyway.
~End