A shiver ran through the girl, reverberating in her black, jeweled gown and traveling down her toe-covered-heels. She felt the pulse beat from her forearm and wondered if her guests could taste her fear upon their bitter tongues.
A look down at her writhing serpent renewed her façade and she threw herself back into the throng of bombast. Soon enough, she grew tired of the 'Congratulations' and smirks of appreciation. Her head spun until every face reduced itself to one visage of contempt and disappointment. With a shudder, she realized that the face she was looking at, the face of contempt and disappointment with sad grey eyes and a stubborn jaw was that of Sirius Black.
He stood in the far corner of the bright dining room apart from his family, his back against the patio pillar glaring at her until she felt his eyes in the pit of her stomach. His grey orbs bore into her and knotted her intestines, pulling an anxious feeling up her throat and into her mouth.
A hand on her forearm brought her back to the bustling company. Before her stood her new family, a group of sinister faces and murderous intent. They formed a tableau of black-cloaked figures and malevolent smirks. And she was forever marked as their sister, the serpent on her arm a constant reminder.
Her brother squeezed her arm once more with a proud smile and watched her eye surrender a tear. "Is it still sensitive?" he asked, nodding to the skull newly imprinted upon her alabaster skin.
Forcing her gaze away from the source of her despondency, she replied, "Yes, it's still a bit raw." She added a small smile, allowing her curved lips to hide her petty lie.
Her brother ran his fingers gingerly down the writhing serpent before squeezing her shoulder and placing his lips to her dark hair. "I've never been more proud of you, Aludra."
Proud. That's all she had ever dreamed of hearing and yet she found herself wanting to stuff the damn word back into his mouth.
Her chest constrained what was left of her heart. She knew the minute the brand had touched her arm that it would slowly eat away her soul, leaving her as heartless as the demon-like family in front of her. A clock ticked deep inside of her, reminding her that soon the serpent would demand feeding, and she would sacrifice an innocent soul for the satisfaction of the damned.
Courage and pride had never paid homage to her impotent body. A perfect servant to the Dark Lord, she would abide by his every command for fear of punishment. She knew she would kill, and that knowledge sent her stomach tumbling.
Aludra nodded against her brother's mouth before slipping from his hold. Her lungs desperately needed air untainted with the aroma of pride. Her vision tunneled and all she could see were the patio and the night sky, its dark, black abyss a welcome to the myriad of featureless figures.
Her hands found the patio railing and she heaved a gasp of fresh air. Her figure shook as the weight of her actions fell upon her frail shoulders and regret clouded her senses until tears sprang to her eyes. She lamented her weak heart and gutless stomach. The serpent on her forearm taunted her, spitting at her face and threatening to denounce her as the spineless girl she was. She turned it from her gaze as she felt a figure walk up behind her.
"You're as dead to me now as that filth inside." Her body stilled as his poisonous words burned the openings in her flesh.
A glaze took up in her eyes and she cried no longer. Misdirected hatred, hatred meant for her own self, forced her to spin around. "Don't worry, Black. We will get to the killing soon enough." She watched her words register in his countenance as his chiseled jaw tightened and his shoulders squared.
Nostrils flared with disgust and a surge of contempt pushed his feet forward. Before he knew it, he had her willowy frame backed into the deepest recess of the patio, pinning her there with his black, sphere eyes.
"Don't think your empty words have any affect on me, MacNair," Sirius spat into her hallow eyes. His fingers clenched her frail arms and shook her. "I know you for the weak, diffident girl you are. They are going to eat you and retch until they throw you back up. You'll be lifeless in a month." Behind each spiteful word forced through clenched teeth, a little bit of sadness spilled from his eyes and dropped down his cheeks. Without intending, Sirius was trying to spell out his loss to her with his empty words. He wasn't pinning her to the wall, he was shielding the last bit of light inside of her from flitting away.
Her hand found its way into his hair and she combed it back from his eyes as she had countless time before, exposing her dark mark to his gaze. "I know," Aludra whispered as she extracted his true sentiment from his stormy eyes. She pushed her breaking heart to her sleeve and let it show. Remorse and futility clouded the air between them and he understood. He saw the darkness tearing across her face and creating a dark hole where her heart should be.
He let his head fall to her shoulder so he couldn't see the answer in her eyes as he asked, "Why?"
Aludra shrugged as best she could under the weight of her grief. "I could see the light inside of you from across the dining hall, Sirius. I was greedy and thought that if I could hold onto you, if I could merely have you in my life, some of your light would pass into me," she spoke, relishing in the way his lips brushed across her neck as her hand fisted into his hair. "But it was all in vain. My mind is weak, Sirius; I'm not strong like you. In the end, there wasn't enough light to fight my family. This darkness is a part of me now."
Sirius shuddered in her arms. "You are the epitome of light, Aludra," he whispered from the crook in her neck. "You're just a little broken." Sirius sighed. "I thought if I could hold you together, push all the pieces of you back into their rightful places that I could climb back into your bright eyes and stay with you forever." Sirius's words brought tears to her eyes and she held fast to him, her fingers spreading across his back and pulling at his dinner jacket. "I thought if I held on to you long enough that this darkness wouldn't rip you apart in front of me."
Aludra gasped as her tears kept her lungs from expanding. Sirius gripped her tighter, surrounding her feeble body with his strong arms, hoping desperately that his love would bleed from his heart and eradicate the serpent etched upon her left forearm.
And he knew in that moment that his love wasn't enough. Love wasn't strong enough to give birth to light; it couldn't wage war against bloodlines and it couldn't proffer strength to the weak. It did not promise eternity. This would be the last time he'd hold her, the last time he'd pour his love into her. Her clenching hands and tears told him that she already knew.
This was the end of their unity. Black would settle into her broken heart and he'd take all of his light away.
Finally she removed her head from its home in the crook of his neck and forced him to look at her. His eyes shown bright against the tears on his cheeks as he stared into her heart. She brushed her fingers across his lips and relished in the feeling of his hands on her hips. She imprinted this final memory into the lining of her soul.
"Aludra, I will always…" Sirius stopped as her gentle hand touched his lips.
She gave him a knowing smile and stared into his sad eyes, reciprocating his unsaid words. His heart swelled as Aludra bent his head to place her lips to his hairline. Her fingers were gentle against his tear-sodden cheeks and he gripped the fabric of her dress in his strong hands. He felt small in her arms and he closed his eyes to the feeling of her hands on either side of his face and her lips against his hair.
And a piece of his heart chipped and shattered as she ripped her limbs away from his embrace and her black form fled from the patio. A loss spread throughout his body as she tore all the love out of him and let it drift into the night sky. He stood alone with the full moon, feeling empty even as its light pierced through him.
...
Years later on the fields of Surrey, Sirius felt his body retch as his heart surged forward. He frantically searched the tall grass as jets of green and red ripped the sky in two. James flew past his form, rushing to assist Remus against Dolohov.
He gasped and doubled over, holding onto his knees for support and clutching at his wand. His heart ached and he stood, allowing the pumping organ to guide him to her black, hooded figure.
He watched from across the field as she lifted her hand to her chest and pulled at her cloak. She could sense him too. Aludra faltered momentarily against Dorcus Meadow's red light and was thrown backward into the rocks.
Sirius tripped across the field, ignoring the flying jets of red and green and stumbling towards her. He noticed how she yielded to Dorcus, never attacking, but simply allowing shielding charms to fall from her lips.
The vast darkness of her eyes connected with his across the expanse of dark figures and bright lights. Her body had changed; she was even frailer now than when they had taken walks across the grounds and his hand had gripped her tiny waste. Something dark had taken her body away from him and eaten away at her until just her flesh and bones remained. But her eyes, the ones that had nurtured all the light they had shared were still his own.
His world went silent around them. He could hear her eyelashes bat with each blink and her heart beat from her wrists to her toes.
He felt their one heart, their one soul connect and he reached his hand towards her even though the distance disallowed any touch. Retracting her wand, Aludra brought her hand to her heart and stared through Sirius's crystal eyes and cradled them to her body. Fragmented memories of hidden caresses and stolen kisses passed between them. And her lips twisted into a smile of good-bye.
A flash of green broke their eye contact for just a second, and when Sirius went to find her dark eyes once more they were empty.
He shattered in the field, flinging pieces of his heart as far as he could. He broke apart with gasping sobs and silent curses as he stared into her lifeless eyes. He cried for her death and for the hollowness inside of himself. He cried for her unstoppable destiny and for the barrier that kept their love apart. But his cries abruptly ended and his body stilled as her eyes began to change. Void for a brief moment, they slowly began to fill with an incandescent light. Sirius sat motionless on the ground, hugging his body with his tired arms and watching the light fill her limbs. With eyes ablaze, he watched the light carry the sphere of her soul, lifting it high above the hooded figures and casting shadows across their twisted features. The clouds swallowed it whole and a flash of lightning ignited the night sky and pierced straight through Sirius's chest. Immediately, he could feel her pump from his heart and seep like a river through his arteries and into his fingertips. His lips formed a smile and her light engulfed him.
Give you a penny if you recognized the name Dorcus Meadows.
Give you two pennies if you recognized the MacNair name.
Used a couple of Bon Iver songs for inspiration.
Who knows, this couple could inspire a one-shot folder.
As is custom, I own nothing but my original character.