Drought
Disclaimer- I own absolutely zilch of this. Not one bit.
Sirius' breath caught as he recognised the picture that had fallen out of the box. The box was the one he had taken to the Potters the night he ran away, he'd managed to salvage it from the storage facility the muggles who owned his flat had put it in. Over the years he had added things to it that were precious to him- photos, letters, all that jazz- and this he recognised instantly.
Christmas. 1976. All nine of them on the couches at the Potters'. There he was, grinning cheesily. The photo was on an angle, having taken it himself trying to get them all into the frame, but that was the magic of magic. The magic of friendship.
He scowled at picture-Peter, knowing that in less than five years from the time that photo was taken he would do the unforgivable. He smiled sadly at Frank and Alice (then Hinton) Longbottom. He saw a dark girl, Vanessa, looking up from a game of chess with Remus, flashing him an annoyed glare, while the one Remus gave him was more long-suffering. Lily had turned to look at him with raised eyebrows, silently reprimanding him, while Alice on his other side was covering a soft giggle with her hand. James was sitting across from them, grinning madly, not even bothering to hide his amusement at the actions of his surrogate brother.
In the corner of the photo, a blonde girl in a long white dress was looking up from her book, momentarily surprised before relaxing into an small smile. She looked like an angel with soft curls hugging her face, and her feet were bare. Stella, he thought with a pang.
Sirius didn't know how long he stayed frozen on his bedroom floor, but there was a small sound from just outside. He looked round to see Remus leaning on the doorframe, one eyebrow raised, puzzled.
"Sirius, we should probably focus on making the house habitable; Molly, Arthur and the kids are arriving tomorrow after all. Sirius?"
Sirius said nothing, just held out the photograph to his friend. Remus took it, his face inscrutable. He sighed, a sigh of deep sorrow and loss, before passing it back. "We can't dwell Sirius." His voice shook slightly. "We- we were happy then. We need to be happy for what we have now." Sirius was certain that these words had some meaning in them, but he didn't really want to think that.
Remus turned and left the room silently, shoulders hunched ever so slightly. Sirius leant back and sat against the wall with a soft thump, photo hanging loosely from his fingertips.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-RFWW
Actually this one's a fanfic of a fanfic. Go, click on my profile, go to my favourite stories and read the one called 'Of Raindrops, Flowers and Wishing Wells' by PottedLilies. It is quite possibly one of the best HP fics out there.
TTFN, Rawr
XD Mogseltof