Darkness Falls
It was nearing midnight when Alexis awoke from a dreamless sleep. She sat up, suddenly wide awake for reasons yet unknown to her. The dormitory was still and quiet aside from Gilly's snores, though even that usually raucous sound was strangely muffled. It was as if Alexis had not woken up at all, but was still trapped in a dream, for nothing seemed real.
Alexis looked around her, the half moon casting an eerie bluish glow about the room which sillhouetted the four-posters against the walls around her.
Slowly, she slipped down from the bed and started toward the door. She couldn't understand why she was doing it, her mind felt befuddled and she wasn't thinking straight. Still, she pressed on, opening the door wide enough so that her slender form passed through soundlessly because one thought rang clear in her head: don't draw attention to yourself.
Somewhere far in the distance, a bell tolled with each step she descended.
One.
Alexis felt with a thrill the cold stone beneath her bare feet and it sent shivers up her spine.
Two.
She strained to see in the darkness of the stairwell, though she knew there would only be light once she reached her destination.
Three.
Again, the question of why and where she was going sprang into her head, but it was quickly silened with the words: don't draw attention to yourself.
Four.
A breeze drifted up to meet her already cooled face. It gently lifted her hair, curling it in soft tendrils before disappearing as suddenly as it had appeared.
Five.
Behind her slept dozens of girls, all as oblivious as herself, the thought of which did little to console her.
Six.
She was nearly there now. But where was 'there'? Don't draw attention to yourself.
Seven.
Alexis vaguely registered that the feeling of unconcerned complacency she was suffering from seemed to have a slight resemblance to the effects of the Imperius Curse.
Eight.
A faint smell of smoke rose to meet her and she thought bemusedly for a moment of the House Elves bustling about, preparing the castle for the chilly winter weather that was fast approaching.
Nine.
Her pace dropped slightly and she felt, with a sudden defiance, compelled to turn and go back to her warm and welcoming bed.
Ten.
She contined on, disregarding the idea of escape, for in her heart she knew her efforts would be fruitless.
Eleven.
Her heart skipped a beat as she thought she heard footsteps to echo the sound of the bell, but they stopped so abruptly, she wasn't quite sure whether or not she had actually heard them.
Twelve.
Alexis' feet met carpet and without warning, her legs buckled and she fell to her hands and knees in the flickering light of the common room. A calm, cold voice rudely tore her from her delusional euphoria and she was thrown back into reality.
"Well, well, well. Look who's come crawling back.
Slowly, Alexis turned her head upwards to meet the eyes of the boy who had spoken, but his eyes were shadows and his body was a sillhoute in the blindingly bright fire behind him. But she didn't need to see his face to recognize him.
"Sirius."
To his pleasure, her voice was a mixture of fear and puzzlement. In his determination, however, he missed the loathing she had subtlely added to her tone.
"I knew you would," Sirius continued, setting an empty glass on the mantel and taking a few steps forward, kneeling in front of her.
"I'm not--" Alexis began, sitting up on her knees, but he cut her off.
"Oh, but you are, my love, " he murmured, his tone silky and low. He grabbed her bare forearms and she became painstakingly aware that her pajamas were, though not at all revealing, very thin.
"Sirius, let go!" she said, but he took her hand and pressed her index finger to her lips.
"Don't draw attention to yourself, darling," he said softly, though he knew no one would hear her through the silencing charms he had placed around the common room.
Alexis glared at Sirius, her dangerous green eyes meeting his dark ones, staring hungrily at her.
Slowly, he slid his warm broad hands over her wrists and up her pale, cool arms and pulled her roughly to her feet. Alexis made as if to move away in indignation, but he tightened his grip and leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers with so much force, that she felt her teeth cut into the inside of her mouth.
Angrily, she pushed him, but his fingers dug painfully into her arms. She managed to turn her head away and his kiss fell sloppily across her cheek. Suddenly, she smelled it.
"Sirius, you're drunk. Stop it," she said softly. Her eyes had begun to prickle as blood slipped across her tongue and his fingernails made ever deeper imprints on the insides of her arms.
He didn't reply, but caught her by surprise and kissed her again, this time his tongue darted inside her lips before she could protest and he licked up the blood trickling from the small cuts, reminding her in a strangely erotic way of a dog licking his wounds. She was about to protest again when he pulled away, dragging her past the couch, to an area of open floor between the furniture and the fireplace. He let her go and she slid to her knees.
She looked around and spotted the portrait hole, dark and abandoning. If only she could get there without him noticing.
Sirius, meanwhile, was drawing his wand and setting it on the mantle alongside the empty bottle of firewhiskey. He pulled his shirt over his head, his bare chest illuminated by the fire. As Alexis looked up, she was blessed with the vision of herself pointing a wand directly at that proud and leering chest and uttering a curse so foul she would never have to worry about him again.
Before she could say or do anything, he had grabbed the wand and turned to her, the lust in his eeys sending an unwelcome thrill through her body. As he knelt down before her, Remus' face appeared before her mind's eye, innocent, naive, and most of all, hurt.
"NO!" she yelled suddenly, turning and starting to get up. Sirius had been ready for this. He grabbed her hips and slung her painfully to the ground. As she cried out in frustration, he grabbed both of her hands in one of his and pinned them to the floor above her head. With his other hand, he pointed his wand at her wrists, binding them one after the other to the floor.
She began to scream her protest, but as he threw his wand aside Sirius silenced her witha deep kiss that nearly choked her. Hovering over her with one hand free, he reached down and began sliding her silken pajama pants over her hips and around her delicate curves so the wasitband lay across her thighs. She screamed inside his mouth and kicked her legs, but he ignored this. he reached up and gently, meticulously, undid the buttons of her top. The two halves of the shirt slid away, exposing her pale breasts, smooth and inviting to him. For a brief moment, he recalled just why he had dated her for so long and the two reasons were sitting right in front of him, nipples hard with fevered anticipation.
Sirius felt the tension rising, not in his chest, but below the waistband of his pants. Finally, he pulled away from the kiss and sat up on his knees.
"Forgive me for not allowing you the honor, my love," he said as he slipped the button of his pants through its hole. She watched him, almost fearfully, as he slid the zipper down and pulled out first one leg, then the other, and she realized with a sense of deep foreboding that he would soon be doing the very same to her.
"Sirius, please don't," she begged, trying hard to pry her arms from her bindings. He simply grinned mischeviously and slipped her pajama bottoms the rest of the way to her ankles. Her white painties seemed to cast a sense of irony on the situation and she looked so very innocent, lying there at the mercy of a boy she once thought she loved.
This boy was now on top of her once again, kissing her lightly on the neck, as if to comfort her. The kisses traveled down to her collar bone as they always did and proceeded down to her bare bosom. Desperately, she whispered please for him to stop, but he paid no heed. If anything, it made his need for her grow and become immediate.
He slid his hands along the contours of her torso to the waistband of her underwear. Pausing here, he ran a finger lovingly along her pelvic bones. she shuddered and twisted away from him.
"SIRIUS NO!"
He placed one hand on her stomach, steadying her, and used the other to pull off the white underwear. As he tossed them aside and pulled down his boxers, Alexis felt the inevitability of it all close in on her, causing her throat to close up.
She was unable to scream, unable to cry, unable to move as he slid himself between her legs. She was utterly helpless as he entered her, not for the first time, but for what she prayed would be the last.
Edited: June 1, 2006