#d:sirius

[selinasapworthy]

The Dog Star | Post-War Drabble

@siriusblackstar

Setting: Post-War Britain

She receives the news of James’ death from a very calm and worn Pomona Sprout. Selina’s lips thin, but she says nothing. There is nothing to say.

And then the next morning, the Prophet is on her windowsill and she stares at a face that will haunt her for the rest of her life. Shock turns into indignation, which turns into outrage. How dare they, she thinks as her eyes darken and her nostrils exhale fire.

The incompetent arseholes at the Ministry refuse to listen to her. They tell her she is overwhelmed, stressed, and not privy to the details that they are. They say so with pity on their faces and annoyance in their eyes. They think she’s ignorant, woefully so. She smiles politely while calling them the bastards that  they are.

Not above using blackmail to get what she wants – she was raised by a Slytherin after all – Selina corners Auror Moody in his office. “I want to see him,” she tells him. She does not have to state who she means. He just knows. There is a steeliness in her eyes that he can’t help but respect. It seems as if he stares at her in silence for ages. Finally, he jerks his head in something close to a nod, gruffly tells her she has ten minutes, and leaves her outside the door where the holding cells are.

She sneaks in, reflexes she’s honed for years finally working in her favor for something other than quidditch. He’s the solitary prisoner there, in a cell that’s only marginally cleaner than what his cell in Azkaban will be.

Senses heightened, he rises and looks over at her, his face one of confusion. “How the fuck did they let you in here?” he asks her, looking nothing like the frantic man she saw photos of just that morning.

She wonders which face is true: the manic one from earlier or the one she’s seeing now. She decides that she doesn’t care. He is her friend and he has earned her loyalty dozens of times over. Loyalty is not just for Hufflepuffs.

“Blackmailed an auror,” she tells him. There is only one auror with the credentials, the honor, and the skill to guard him and his eyes shift as he realizes just who she is speaking of.

“And what kind of material would you have on Moody?” he asks, as if he isn’t sitting in a holding cell on his way to Azkaban. She blinks back her tears.

For a moment she isn’t sure if she should tell him, but decides that he should at least be allowed a touch of amusement. Who knows when he will have one again? “We made out in a Muggle pub a few years ago,” she says, waving her hand off to the side as if it’s nothing. “I guess even vaunted aurors are allowed their dirty little secrets.”

He snorts before his face goes placid, serious in a way she has only seen twice. “Why are you here?” He’s curious and she wonders if she’s imagining that yearning of hope she hears in his voice.

This time, it’s Selina’s turn to snort. “Because I know you didn’t sell James to him. You’d have died first.” She walks to the cell, her fingers moving to touch his hands, curled around the bars. He lets her. He’s always liked the physical connection, the reminder of his own humanity. He’ll need it in the coming months.

“I don’t think Remus will agree with you.” He’s resigned to the fact that Remus thinks him a traitor, thinks he’s able to throw away his best mate as if he’s nothing. He’s more concerned with this than the fact that his life is over. Selina squeezes his hand before running her own through his hair.

“I can handle Remus, thank you very much,” she says tartly.

“He won’t have any of us left. Take care of him. Please,” he says, his voice almost close to pleading. One thing Selina will remember for the rest of her days is being struck with how deeply Sirius loves even when he knows he will most likely spend the rest of his days as food for dementors. If she knew nothing else of Sirius Black, this would be enough.

“Of course I will. I’ll annoy the hell out of him if I have to.” They share a look – filled with so many things she can’t decipher – before the knock comes at the door. She squeezes his hand once more and presses a kiss to his forehead.

“I…” she is unsure of what to say. I’ll do what I can. I’ll speak at your trial. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I know you’re innocent. Please fight this. If I don’t see you again, know that you are loved.

He nods. “I know.”

She will think about this day for years to come.

She sends a letter to the Ministry each week for a year, asking when Sirius’ trial will be so that she can clear her schedule to testify. She continues to send them even after he’s been sent to Azkaban. After the first year, she goes to once every month. Eventually, a dumpy little witch who works for Cornelius Fudge –her name is Umbridge and she looks like a toad – sends her the same reply each time.

We are sorry, Miss Sapworthy, that you believe your quidditch prowess means that you have a say in dictating affairs that have been settled by witches and wizards of better stature than yourself. Inmate #XY390 has been remanded to Azkaban for the remainder of his lifetime. The Wizengamot will not be reviewing this case again.

It’s the blood purity rhetoric wrapped up in the condescending way the Ministry has always had and for a brief moment, Selina wonders if perhaps Voldemort hasn’t actually won. Just not in the way he’d originally intended.

When she complains, Alastor reminds her that Sirius all but confessed. “Even Crouch’s lazy, pathetic excuse for a death eating son got a trial,” she replies. His jaw tightens, but he does not attempt to deter her.

She wonders if she will have to find another way.

She considers the fact that while wizarding Britain is autonomous, it does not mean that they are not, in fact, subjects of the Queen whose government has a few choice words and statutes about throwing men into prison without trials to have their souls sucked out.  (In all reality, she’s pretty sure that if Muggles knew what wizards did to each other, they’d be protesting that instead of animal rights or polling taxes or the spread of fascism that’s long dead.) Needless to say, the Ministry may pretend to be pro-Muggleborn, but it will never be pro-Muggle so she keeps that to herself.

Her first parcel is returned from Azkaban –the firewhiskey’s missing – with a form note that convicts are prohibited from receiving packages from those who do not reside on some arbitrary, approved list. There is, of course, no mention of how to be placed on this list.

Then her brain, always clever, finds the loophole. While convicts may be prohibited from receiving packages, Sirius Black is not actually a convict, for he’s never been convicted. She sends a scathing letter to that end with her next package and it does not come back. She’s no idea if any future parcels actually get to him, but she likes to imagine they do.

Life continues, unchanged.

Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban on a summer day in 1993 and the first thought Selina Sapworthy has is not a thought at all. She feels. Relief. She takes the day off of practice and has a full bottle of firewhiskey in celebration before she is called in and questioned. She really should have expected that, with all her letters and parcels and blackmailing of Ministry officials – not that she thinks he’d turn her in for that.

She’s long annoyed both Remus and the Ministry – in that order – with her assertion that Sirius is innocent. Though she has been unable to crusade for him in the way she’d like to, her loyalty is like a beacon. Strong. Unwavering.

Even years later, Selina is still unsure of why it is so difficult for Remus to think of Sirius as innocent. Perhaps it is because she mourned James Potter years before he died and Remus is still mourning him now. Perhaps it’s because she’s never liked Peter and yet cannot imagine Sirius killing him. Or perhaps it’s because, as an outsider, she’d often seen that the love Sirius held for James was more than the love he held for himself. He would have died before betraying him, she writes in her letters to Remus.

They come back mostly unopened – or opened and taped back together – but the packages she sends on days after the full moon do not. So, that’s something. She considers it a success.

She spends her time in questioning both irritated and hungover. She thinks that arse Auror Shacklebolt enjoys it. When she’s released, she goes to a Muggle park and bites her lip.

A bear-like dog wanders the streets, looking ever so thin and oh-so-familiar, and she rubs its neck and buys it a pound of sausage before she returns home.

As she lies in bed, looking through her window, she hopes that Sirius is enjoying his freedom.

The Dog Star is bright that night.

[selinasapworthy]

“Break Me”

Leave a “Break Me” in my ask, and I will write an angstydrabble about our characters.

@siriusblackstar

She still remembers the flash of fear that she’d seen crosshis eyes the second he’d been sorted. He’d been 11 and he may have disliked hisfamily, but he didn’t hate them yet and a simple hat had begun to harden thedivide. But he was brave, braver than most boys, and his chin jutted out as hewalked to their table to the cheers of red and the harsh unfeeling glares ofgreen.

He doesn’t think much of her throughout school. She’s pretty, he’ll admit to his mates after a full moon when Prongs wiggles hiseyebrows suggestively, but he doesn’t need anymore than he has. She’s too busywith her classes and quidditch to even consider a relationship, much less with him. His reputation is notorious and sheisn’t going to be another notch on that bedpost.

She has just turned 19 and he’s freshly graduated when she seeshim, alone – he was never alone – in adingy pub near Westminster. Three pints later and his fingers are tracingcircles on her hips, his stubble scratches her face, and he wakes up the nextmorning to paper cups filled with Muggle coffee in sheets that smell like lavender asher fingers move through his hair.

When he returns two days later, blood oozing from a wound onhis forehead, she lets him in without comment, brow arched, healing him with afew whispered spells, before breaking out the firewhiskey. She sets it in frontof him before turning to walk away, but then his fingers are on her waist, she’sin his lap, and his lips are pressed to her hair.

After that, he wakes up in those lavender scented sheetsmore often than not.

They aren’t together. On that, they are both incrediblyclear. She refuses to attach herself to a reckless man that could die the nextday without so much as a goodbye and he won’t lower himself to be with someonewho won’t choose a side and plays them both.

But they are addicted to each other just the same. He is life and death, blood and sweat andtears; firewhiskey and cigarettes and motor oil. She is hope and escape, parchment, lavender, and sunlight; safe and strongand home.

He hates that she refuses to pick a side. She hates that he hasbecome a sycophant. He tells her she’s a disgrace to their house. She tells himhe’s a member of a band of ragtag vigilantes. They break the bed that nightwith their angry shagging and in the morning, the scratches on his back are avibrant red and the bruises on her thighs are a mottled purple. It is thebeginning of the end and, in their anger, the familiar blue charm is forgotten.

When he says goodbye that morning, she knows it is forever. Cantell by the urgency of his kiss, how his head hangs just a touch lower thanusual, and though he says he’ll be back after his mission – whatever the fuck that is – she knowsshe will never see him again. She tells herself it doesn’t matter – they weren’ttogether anyway.

Three weeks later, the Potters are dead, Pettigrew’s gottenhimself blown up, Sirius is in Azkaban – shewants to hate him but she can’t –and Remus has vanished. And then Moody kills Evan – she’s never hated anyone more in her life – Emma’s on thecontinent, and Selina has no one.

There is no one to look at her questioningly when she beginsto show. No one to hold her hair back when she spends hours wrapped around thetoilet. No one to ask why she goes on indefinite family leave. Her life continues,though she is incredibly confused when she finds that her vault in Gringott’s isfuller than she’d remembered, much fuller.One spring morning, Orion Black shows up at her door with a photo album andsome heirlooms. She understands then. She is alone, has been alone, and she letshim in. He’s been alone for a long time, too.

Their child has his eyes. Grey like the sea after a storm, easyto get lost in. She charms them blue. The charm will hold for years. Until it breakswhen their child finally displays accidental magic. Orion is so pleased thatshe gives him this one reprieve and doesn’t charm them again.

She sees a ghost when she looks at her child. She refuses tobrush that familiar black hair, making an elf do it as bile rises in her throat.And she hates herself for it.

Years pass. The tapestry is updated. She attends funerals,so many funerals. So much black. So much Black.She’s a half, her child is pure. It is enough. He would hate it. She can’tbring herself to care. Her child inherits a house, she gives orders to a houseelf that hates her, and one summer night, she gives into her emotions as crazedeyes gaze back at her from the Prophet.

The next morning finds them in Diagon Alley, his faceplastered everywhere. Ollivanders. Slug & Jiggers. Madam Malkin’s.Gladrags. Eeylops. Flourish & Blotts. Even on the best day of her child’slife, they can’t escape him.

Cassiopeia Lavender Black starts at Hogwarts. Black curls,grey eyes, slightly upturned nose. She is yellow, the best parts of both ofthem. And no one bats an eye save for a werewolf in professor’s clothing.

She spends the year wishing she’d sent her to Beauxbatons,the only letter she’s received from Hogwarts still grating on her. And at theend of the year, she allows herself to be convinced to push for a trial by aman with twinkling blue eyes she once looked up to and a boy with green eyesand black hair that she spent five years looking at and a decade trying toforget. The Black name, the one he’s always hated, helps. His family – what little he has – backs her and heturns himself in. He’s free within two months, is required to see a mindhealer, and she stands by the only remaining friend he has when he’s let out ofSt. Mungo’s in mid-July.

When he sees his eyes in a young girl, he breaks down. He’son his knees, his daughter’s in his arms, and he looks like he can’t believe he’screated something so perfect.

And she feels like she’s drowning with no one to pull herout.

[rlupin-rp-blog]

Seer: An event with our characters in the past or future.

Drabble: Seer

February, 1972

Remus estava ligeiramente assustado. Era a primeira vez que ficava de detenção naquele ano. Na verdade, era a primeira vez que ficava de detenção em toda sua vida! Por nunca ter frequentado a escola, por conta de seu pequeno problema, o garoto nunca tivera a oportunidade de ser pego fazendo algo de errado. Óbvio. Agora, ali, acompanhado do homem magrelo e de Sirius, um garoto de cabelos bem escuros que havia se tornado seu amigo logo nos primeiros dias de aula, Remus caminhava em direção à sala de troféus, que nunca parecera interessante para o menino, e àquela hora da noite parecia ainda menos. Ele poderia estar estudando, melhorando seus feitiços, porém estava ali, segurando um pano velho e um balde de água. Remus se sentia tão injustiçado! Não era nem para ele estar ali. Sua punição havia sido um completo engano, porém Filch parecia bem determinado em não escutar os argumentos do menino. Tudo começou quando os três garotos estavam indo para o refeitório, e James, outro garoto com quem Remus logo fizera amizade em Hogwarts, resolveu pregar uma peça no zelador da escola, junto de Sirius. Até aí estava tudo bem, não era a primeira vez que os dois pregavam uma peça e saiam impunes, porém daquela vez Filch estava preparado e conseguiu identificar dois dos garotos. Infelizmente, Remus, que nada tinha a ver com a história, não consguiu correr rápido o suficiente e agora estava ali, enquanto James continuava feliz na lareira do Salão Comunal. Após receber as instruções do zelado, Remus virou-se para Srius, um tanto assustado. – Sirius. – o menino chamou, com uma expressão desesperada no rosto. – São muitos troféus e eu não… – “Shhhhh, Remus!”, o moreno interrompeu. “Eu conheço um feitiço que vai fazer a gente terminar tudo em cinco minutos.”, sussurrou, abrindo um sorriso confiante. “Eu esqueci de mencionar?”, a voz de Filch se fez ouvir, já na saída da sala. “Vocês vão limpar tudo SEM MAGIA!”, o zelador falou batendo a porta com força, fazendo algumas taças próximas à saída balançarem. Remus olhou irritado para Sirius que baixou a cabeça. “Espera, eu vou pensar em alguma coisa!” – EU NÃO FIZ NADA! – gritou Remus, esperando que Filch o escutasse. “Me deixa pensar!” –Eu tenho trabalhos para fazer! SENHOR FILCH! —,  “Calem a boca!” um quadro gritou do outro lado do salão. – Eu juro que.. – “SHHHHHHH”, chiou outro quadro. Depois disso, os dois se calaram e Remus, irritado com aquilo, e Sirius, tentando em meio de sussurros dizer que recompensaria o menino depois com vários doces da Dedos de Mel, começaram a trabalhar. 

[fairnarcissa]

Cerberus.

Cerberus: Our characters raising a little hell together

It was a bad idea. It was such a bad idea. Narcissa knew she should never have let Sirius talk her into it. She knew they would probably get in so much trouble. It was a lot of fun though, to be included in Sirius’s plan, so in the end she couldn’t resist. And Narcissa didn’t even have to do any of the dirty work. Her only job was to guard the door. “Stay here and don’t let anyone in,” was what Sirius had said and so Narcissa held her place. It was really boring, the only person to come along was her mother. All she had to do was smile sweetly, and her mother was satisfied that nothing was amiss. If it had been anyone else, Druella might have been more suspicious but Narcissa never did anything wrong. It was why she made the perfect person to keep watch.  

Narcissa was just starting to think that something had gone wrong when there was a large crashing sound. Before she could move, the door flung open and Sirius came skidding out. Looking about wildly, he finally caught sight of Narcissa. A huge grin on his face, both his hands raised into a thumbs up.  Sirius didn’t say anything, instead he just mouthed one word. Run. And with that he took off down the corridor, his curly haired head soon disappearing around a corner.

Narcissa didn’t wait to find out what happened. As fast as she could, she followed him. With his head start, and the fact that Narcissa was not used to exercise, meant that by the time she reached their designated meeting spot Sirius was stretched out enjoying a chocolate frog. He lazily tossed her one, which she just managed to catch. “Good effort Nar,” Sirius said, tilting his head to the side as if he was waiting for a sound.

It didn’t take long. There was a loud bang, followed a few seconds later by the sounds of angry screams.  Sirius just smiled wider, while Narcissa’s eyes widened in horror.

"Sirius what did you do?!"

[fairnarcissa]

Dragon :p

Dragon: My character guarding yours

If Narcissa had been told fifteen years ago that she would standing between her sister and her cousin as they tried to kill each she would have thought whoever said that was crazy. Back then, she still believed that nothing could overcome family. If she had been told the same thing one day ago, she wouldn’t have agreed either. Yesterday Narcissa was sure she had let her cousin go, that she had resigned herself to the fate he deserved as a traitor.

And yet here she was. With Bella on one side and Sirius on the other, their wands pointed directly at each other. Narcissa stood in the middle facing her sister, her wand hanging loosely by her side. She still wasn’t sure how it had come to this. All she knew now was that she couldn’t let her cousin die. And there was no way she could let Bella be the one to do it. Narcissa had watched as her sister’s obsession with the Dark Lord had grown into an all-consuming passion that had chipped away at Bella, until nothing remained but the crazy eyed figure in front of her. Narcissa was sure that if Bella did this, if Bella crossed this line, there would be no going back. “Bella, please don’t do this,” Narcissa pleaded, trying to make eye contact with her sister.

Behind her she heard Sirius laugh, a hollow echo of the laugh she remembered. “Narcissa she’s been waiting for this moment for years,” Sirius said, his voice raspy. “Now move out of the way. I can handle myself.”

Bella finally met Narcissa’s eyes, a smile somehow fixed as she spoke, “For once I agree with that filth. Move Narcissa. Now!” Bella’s last word was a harsh bark that contrasted sharply with the delight on her face.

Narcissa didn’t understand of neither of them seemed to be taking this seriously. How could they be laughing or smiling. She wanted to stomp her foot or hurl her wand or just scream, anything to get through to them. Anything to make it all stop.  Instead Narcissa bit down hard on her lip, to stop herself from losing it. As hard as it was she needed to be calm. She tried once again to reason with her sister, “Bella, he’s more use to us alive.”

Sirius obviously didn’t agree. “Fuck that. I’d rather die right now baby. Go out with a bang,” he retorted. Even now he sounded so confident.

It was the final straw. He had no right. Didn’t he understand what she was trying to do? Narcissa angrily swivelled around to face him, her wand swinging out. “Be quiet, don’t you-“

Narcissa never got to finish her sentence.  

[fairnarcissa]

Bugul Noz

Bugul Noz: Our characters committing an act of charity together

“Come on Nar.”

Narcissa glared at her cousin, her arms folded tightly against her chest. Sirius was smiling down at her, in what he probably thought was a reassuring way. It wasn’t, it just made Narcissa uneasy. He was a third year, so he towered above her. And just because he was a third year, apparently he thought he had the right to interfere in Narcissa’s life.

Like this little attempt to try and expand her friendship circle. Just because he was friends with the other girl’s brother – Narcissa hadn’t bothered to learn her name- didn’t mean he had the right to do this to her.

But because she was feeling charitable, Narcissa forced herself to stop frowning. She looked back at Siri, trying to keep a blank face. This whole situation was ridiculous. Apparently her cousin thought it was a good idea though, so Narcissa let out a sigh, “Fine, I’ll go say hello.”

Siri grinned back, apparently unaware of how fake her smile was. “See, it’ll be great. You’ll love her,” he said, looking almost proud. Maybe he thought this would actually work.

Which of course it didn’t. Narcissa didn’t love her. But it was the attempt that counted, in her opinion at least

[fairnarcissa]

‘✉’

‘✉’ for an unsent letter from my character to yours.

Dear Sirius,

I still can’t believe you left. You couldn’t even tell me yourself, how messed up is that? Do you know what it felt like to hear the news from my father?  Everyone else knew before me, just like always. I’ve been the one who you confided in and I don’t deserve to hear this from you? But that’s all secondary to the fact you’ve abandoned us all.  Just walked fucked off and left us to clean up the broken pieces.  I hate you for it.

No that’s not true. I just don’t understand. You promised me Siri. I don’t know what to do now.  

I feel like you think you had no other options. I don’t think that’s true. Don’t hide behind that. You choose this path Sirius. You were the one cut yourself off from us. I know we kept having round about conversations that took us nowhere. You just didn’t want to hear what I was saying. You’ve probably been set on leaving for years.  You probably couldn’t wait to get rid of us.

I still keep hoping you’re going to just saunter back in one day. I don’t know if I’ll ever stop hoping that. If I send this I don’t want a reply. More than anything I just want to forget you Siri. It’s too hard.

You left us Sirius. And I can’t begin to tell you how much I wish that wasn’t true. I still love you. I just wish I didn’t.

Your cousin, forever,

Nar.  

[volansvance]

siriuslypaddedfeet replied to your post: Vanceypants! Where the hell were you this summer? You missed far too many parties. I do hope you have a good excuse, because I was absolutely devastated by your absence.

New broomstick, eh? Still won’t be enough to get Ravenclaw the cup.

I'd think again Sirius, I'm Captain this year.