All the rights belong to JK Rowling. Everything else is just a result of my uncontrollable imagination!
I want to thank my first interpreter Maria Cherevko and the new one - Elena Zhdanova for their translation! It wouldn't have come without your work dear! =**
Original work named "Дни Мародеров" belongs to Maria Chajkovskaya.
Two mice in the high grass
July 31, 1970...
«It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.. ››
E. Poe
The wet onshore wind had broken into the hall of Malfoy's summer residence, widely opening glass doors. An old elf dropped the tray with the tea set on to the coffee table frightenedly and ran up to the curtains, which had gone berserk, to calm them down. There was barely any sense in doing this, but Edwin winced with displeasure every time they rose from behind her back, so the elf had to fight them, unminding of the senselessness.
The thunder-storm had been bulking up above San-Sebastian since the very morning, pressing down on the small city, making the air extremely humid, so the inhabitants could hardly breathe. Heavy black clouds had been roaring threateningly above the sea for more than an hour, every now and then rolling to the mountain ridge, on which Malfoy's house was standing. It seemed as if the water was breaking out this part of the continent and carrying it away in the waters.
"The weather is disgusting," Mrs. Malfoy groaned, covering her bare shoulders with a chiffon mantle. She looked gorgeous in her emerald silk dress. "What could be worse than the wind?" The woman accidentally-on-purpose touched her hair, checking if her perfectly arranged locks were still in-place. She smiled at her guests.
"The weather is just horrible," Druella Black confirmed at once, passing a cup to her daughter and pulling on the tippet, which she had dropped on to the couch a few minutes ago, since it had been quite stuffy.
The pale anemic girl with large eyes and golden locks accepted the cup from mother's hands, saying nothing, freezing with it in her hands, not knowing what to do next, not even daring to breathe under Edwin Malfoy's intense stare. The woman was, after all, her future mother-in-law.
Suddenly, cheerful laughter could be heard from the nursery quite clearly, seeing, as it was adjacent to the hall. The girl's blue eyes flashed at once, as they looked at the locked door hungrily.
Narcissa Black had come here just a few hours ago, and even though she had to spend the whole summer in this house, she was already wishing she could run away; the girl did her best not to expose the storm raging inside of herself. Her face, almost as impervious as the other three ladies', was hidden under secular courtesy, her lips neither sad nor merry, thin eyebrows emphasized her smooth clean forehead. The lust for life showing in her eyes was the one thing that Druella and Edwin hadn't completely managed to hide in the marble statue they were molding her as the future Mrs. Malfoy.
"Aren't you scared, darling?" Walburga Black stretched her arm aside lazily, and the deft elf gave her a cup immediately. Mrs. Black was wearing a long, tight, as a glove, black silk dress. Jet-black hair was so smooth and shining, that it looked like it was wet; according to the new fashion, she had arranged her hair like an intricate crown, it could be thought that it was not locks, but snakes, weaved into a tough clew. Cold, but very beautiful, steel-blue-colored eyes looked like bits of glass, glued to the face. The lust for life had disappeared from them a long time ago. "You can see the sea out of your window," she moved a long, shuddering curtain aside. "We, English, are already used to the dampness, but if I were you, I would have already died because of the dread."
Edwin smiled at her future relative.
"How is your husband's health?.."
Another attack of laughter left the nursery, and someone chuckled: "Ts-s-s!"
The house-owner's lips quivered.
"Thank you, he is quite well..."
The children's hollers were heard again, and Edwin moved her head sharply, but refrained from yelling.
She couldn't stand young children, since she believed that it was almost impossible to find creatures who could be more stupid and useless than they were, so she preferred to stay away from them, till they grew up. She made an exception just for one of them. And his sudden appearance left children's probable punishment for naught.
Just as Edwin was about to call the elf to close the door upstairs so the children wouldn't disturb them, the hall's door opened and the elf, who didn't have time to open it, bowed to the floor so that his ears were brushing the floor, when a tall and slim youth walked by him, his silvery-white hair fixed in a ponytail.
"Mother, I just got..." Lucius Malfoy stopped when he saw other women in the room, and, straightening his back, he bowed slowly, his hand touching the rich silver embroidery on his chest. As it usually happened in woman's society, the appearance of a male brought a little discord in the atmosphere. The ladies began to move, swish gowns and smile, gazing at the figure of the young man, vested in silvery-blue loose summer cloak.
Narcissa didn't show any sort of emotions, which her future husband's appearance had brought; but on the inside the storm foamed and hit the walls of the marble statue which she had been formed into so skillfully.
Her hands were shaking so badly that the cup in her hand was knocking against the saucer she was holding under it.
"Lucius!" Druella exclaimed rapturously, unnoticeably taking the cup from her daughter's hands and offering her free hand to the young man. "We are so glad to see you!"
As a dance teacher repeats his pupils' movements when they dance alone, Edwin, watching her son, inclined her head mechanically when Lucius kissed her guest's hand.
"I am glad to see you, madam," Lucius looked at Walburga, who walked away from the window and, shaking hips, gracefully fell into a free armchair, smiling at young Malfoy politely. "You are charming. As usually though, you always are."
Edwin bloomed and looked at Walburga with badly hidden triumph. Her elder son was left far behind Lucius in the art of high-society manners and communication. That boy behaved like the scum on the streets, even though poor Walburga did her best to force some morality upon him.
"Miss Black,"
Not even looking up, Narcissa reached one hand out and endured one short and dry kiss, after which she put her hand on tightly pressed together skinny knees under a turquoise gown.
"Mother..."
He squeezed her shoulders and kissed mother on cheek coldly.
"Good morning, sweetheart," Edwin said in unrecognizably soft voice. "Good morning..." She shook his hand with trepidation. Once in a while forgetting about her daughter, who was born seven years after Lucius and who needed mother much more than the growing up son, Edwin was persistently taking Lucius to every high-society event, dinner, breakfast and supper party, showing off her talented boy to every famous and influential wizard, hoping that they would think of him at the decisive moment. And how many pure-blooded, wellborn girls were bolted through the finest sieve of her attention - and only one had gotten the chance to sit on this sofa today. So she, the perfect one according to Edwin's measure, was sitting there and dying mentally, getting destroyed and turning to the ash, but outwardly staying as beautiful and cold as early April morning.
"We've heard a lot about your achievements at school, Lucius," Walburga said meaningfully, bringing relaxed fingers up to her chin, giving the young man intent, motionless look. "My congratulations. I remember Orion used to be the prefect of Slytherin as well. Your parents can be proud of you."
"Thank you, Bourgie, we are indeed proud," answered Edwin, still holding her son's hands. "This is a great honor."
"I totally agree with you," Druella smiled, showing the gum. "Congratulation, Lucius!" As she said, she slightly squeezed her daughter's ice-cold hand.
Lucius darted a glance at Narcissa unwillingly, but she was too busy looking at the crease in her skirt to look at him.
"Thank you, Mrs. Black."
The official part was over.
Walburga went on talking about the last council meeting of St. Mungo's trustees and an outrageous management, which permitted the medical treatment of muggle born. Druella, peeking at Lucius for the last time, caught up with the others.
Seizing his opportunity, Lucius whispered, bowing to his mother and watching Narcissa readjust an untwisted lock of her hair, "Mother, the mail from Norway was delivered."
"I am a little bit busy, Lucius," Edwin peeked shortly at her interlocutors, who were discussing the Board Trustees' business without her, and then looked back at her son with the slight irritation "Oh, what is there? I hope, they didn't decide to refuse."
"She has been accepted," Lucius uttered, barely managing to hide the bitterness in his voice.
"Wonderful," the woman answered coldly, turning away. Her nostrils flared, her face lit up with an outright joy and she brought up the cup to her lips to hide it.
"Mother..." Lucius moved closer. "Maybe it isn't too late... to change our minds?
Edwin raised her eyebrows indignantly, not even looking at her son. Corners of her lips cut deeper, eyelashes flushed just twice, as if they wanted to flush the words he had said away.
However, that was enough.
Lucius straightened up swiftly and when he spoke again, his tone had no more silk, it was cold and efficient.
"Could I tell her?"
"Why would you want to discuss it at all!" Edwin whispered angrily, looking at him again. Long heavy earrings shook from side to side. "If you must, you must, the end of the subject! That's out of the question."
"Doesn't she have the right..."
"No, and of course that's none of her business," she put a cup aside. "Tell Tobby to pack her things. I will tell her tomorrow."
"And still, mother?" Lucius smiled and put his hand on her shoulder, perfectly aware of what effect a fleeting caress did to his mother. "I really want to impart the news myself."
Edwin pursed her lips, giving him a short glance, full of jealousy.
"Well, let it be like you want, tell her, if you want so," she said finally, turning away and slightly waving her hand. "She is in the nursery. Go."
Sirius was kneeling on a small calico couch, thrusting his chin into prickly clothes and looking out of the window in the darkness, watching over a high cypress, which grew nearby the house. A lightning bolt flew past it a few times, like a stroke, but for some reason it never hit the tree itself. Sirius was sure, that if it did, the tree would begin to burn, the fire would begin and finally his stay at the boring Malfoy's house would make at least some sense. He watched rich-green, tired of the heat leaves tremble, and pictured how he would be the only one who wouldn't panic, how he would find a wand and in some magic way make a large flood - the sea would leave the shore, saturate everything around, and they would look for provisions on boats and rob the houses in the neighborhood...
The boy sighed deeply and brokenly. He was tired of sitting in the same position, but he was sure, that if he were to turn around just for one second, the lightning would strike, and it would strike right into the tree. Also the boy liked to pretend that neither the thunder nor lightning frightened him. Every time the sky above the house broke apart with a deafening crack, Sirius hemmed arrogantly, tossed his head and out of the corner of his eye, he watched a curtain shove and curious scared eyes of some kid look at him.
"Sirius Black, it's your move!" Meda said grumpily, throwing a knocked down figure at him.
They were playing chess, and Sirius was losing for the third time in a row because of his carelessness.
"Huh?.."
The boy shivered and turned away from the window. At that moment, the curtain moved away harshly, and the girl, who was sitting on a windowsill, watched Sirius disappear behind the sofa's back. It seemed she didn't reckon to cope with the storm without him.
"I just have knocked down your rook," Meda informed; after that she bent down and picked the figure up from the floor. It had already revitalized and tried to bite offender's finger, but the girl tossed it on the couch and cast her heavy chestnut braid behind her back. She looked very strong-minded, but not exactly pretty: she had plump, conspicuous red lips, upturned nose, round cheeks and small, but very smart light-brown eyes. "Make a move."
"One more, Bella! One more!"
As Sirius heard Regulus' voice, he covered his ears with his hands swiftly, but it didn't help him not to hear a mouse's squeak; it was running about the cage blindly in a fatuous attempt to escape.
"Wait a second, darling," said Bella with aspiration and drew the animal from the cage with her wand.
Regulus crawled up to a hand-made scaffold and bore his hands against knees, looking at Bellatrix Black - his beautiful, grown-up cousin, who was left with Meda to look after them. She drew the desperately withstanding animal from the cage.
"Sirius, are you playing or not?" Andromeda asked irritatedly, lifting her eyes from the board. It seemed her elder sister and little Regulus' games were getting on her nerves. She noticed that Sirius, who was looking at the animal in the girl's hands with dread, couldn't hear her; she turned around to her sister, "Bella, don't you want to stop?"
"This is no more cruelty in this, than in your chess, sister." Bella said. "Announce the verdict, Regulus," she kissed the black, shrieking mouse and pressed its small body to the board. The knife clanged. The mouse, as if it could feel the death's nearness, began to squeal and try to get out of girl's hands, even though it was pointless.
Regulus laughed; it looked like it was some kind of circus performance for him.
"The accusation: the participation in criminal relation with muggles, breaking the magical statue of secrecy..." Studied words sounded both funny and frightful from lop-eared eight years old boy's lips. "The punishment, imposed by Wizengamot's court: execution!"
The knife fell on the board, cutting the squeak. At first, there was a creepy, oppressive silence, and then, suddenly Regulus started to clap and laugh deafeningly.
Sirius turned. The mouse, which was lying in the puddle of black blood, looked like a toy. At first, he couldn't understand what was lying next to her, and when he realized, he felt sick.
"More, more! Let's execute the next one because it married the muggleborn!"
Andromeda shook her head, looking at the chessboard. Her eyebrows were raised high.
Sirius made a move, not even watching.
A tear fell on the black square, but the boy whipped it off with his finger immediately, sniffed improperly, and wiped his nose with the shirt's sleeve.
As Andromeda saw it, she stood up resolutely and came up to Bellatrix.
"Bella, didn't you hear me? I said - enough!" - Her voice hit the walls. The thunder roared outside the window.
Bellatrix threw her head back, looking up at younger sister's figure, which was looming above her sternly, and rose slowly.
"What's wrong, Meda?" The elder Black shook her head, making ringlets, which reminded of snakes, fall on her white shoulders and high breasts. Regulus stood up, hiding in her skirt. Bella put her sharp-clawed hand on his disheveled head. "We are playing. You are a hindrance to this. Stay out of our way."
"You scare them!" The girl exclaimed, indicating somewhere behind her back.
"Who exactly am I scaring?" Bella inclined her head, and saw Sirius, ready to help his cousin. "This child? Are there really such cowards in our family?"
Sirius flew up from the couch as if this word stung him. The picked up from the floor knife clanked.
"Sirius!" Andromeda run up to him and grabbed his shoulder. Breathing heavily, the boy peeked at her, hesitated for a second and then thrust the weapon in the floor with strength, breaking its handle after all and throwing it somewhere in the corner.
Regulus jumped on his brother, shrieking, since he had broken his favourite weapon, but Sirius simply pushed him, and the boy felt on the floor. Skinny legs in grey shorts and heavy boots flickered in the air.
Bella laughed in a low and deep laughter and bowed, her body pointing in Sirius' direction, which showed her breasts in a deep low-neck dress.
"Merlin, look at him! Not a puppy, but a wolf cub!" She painfully squeezed his face in her hands, dug her nails into his skin and pressed his lips in. Sirius jerked, hitting her hand. He didn't like to be touched. Especially by women who looked like his mother.
"I have always loved wolf cubs..." Bella sighed, straightened up, and stroked Regulus' head, who had already stood up and pressed himself to her, looking at his elderly brother with hatred. "I especially love to run through their guts." she pulled out her wand sharply and Sirius stepped back unwittingly, making the witch giggle with satisfaction.
"Bella, stop it or I will tell mother!" Meda said. Suddenly the thunder roared above the house, and everyone in the room heard a quiet scared scream, which came from the soft, decorated with pillows, covered with curtains windowsill. Bella's reaction to that sound reminded of a hound's on a rustle in bushes, and before anyone could move or say a word, she flew up to the window and grabbed the fabric of the curtain.
"So that's the scared one!" She screamed, opening the curtains jerkily. The girl squeaked and jumped off the windowsill in to the accompaniment of witch's laughter. She was very small, even smaller than Regulus, and standing next to Bella, she reminded of a tall doll. The dark-blue dress, white tights and snow-white hair- it was just like her mother's- put up in a small ponytail over the rest of her hair, only exaggerated the resemblance. Only her eyes were absolutely black and stood out on her white face, like two spots of black paint.
Few locks got out of the hairdo and created a fluffy cloud around the head.
"So, you are afraid of thunder, little Roxanne," Bellatrix said, coming closer and closer to her. "You are scared that the thunderstorm will kill you, Roxy-Doxy?"
"Bellatrix, don't!" Andromeda said severely and tried to grab sister's hand, but she jerked it away, eyes flashing. "Back off, Meda! You'll command in Slytherin, but don't interfere here!" she roared, waving the wand in front of her sister. It thundered again and the children started. The lightning lightened the sisters' faces for a second.
Bella bent down to the scared little girl and whispered companionably "Do you know why thunders strike? Do you?"
The child fell for the tender voice and nodded.
"They lighten the way for the Demon, who is hunting disobedient children..." Roxanne bleached with terror and automatically looked out of the window together with Bellatrix. The sky, absorbed with summer moisture, was black as never, and looked like it was indeed full of demons. "Every time the lightning strikes, somewhere dies the disobedient child." Bellatrix walked around the room and picked up the cage with mice. Roxanne watched her move with scared eyes. "Have you counted how many times the lightning struck tonight?" The girl shook her head, stepping back. Black, miserable, like chinchilla's eyes watered, reddened lips parted, but the girl didn't cry. Bellatrix shook the cage; it made mice hit the rod and squeal so loud, that Roxanne screw up her eyes, flattening herself against the wall.
"Ten!" Bellatrix growled, popping her eyes out. "And they all are here! Dying, bad-behaved children turn into mice!" She informed matter-of-factly and then added in a daunting voice, "and they all get to me. If I were you, I wouldn't turn off the lights tonight, Roxy-doxy!"
Suddenly Sirius shouted furiously and grasped the cage with animals. He had been willing to snap poor creatures out of that loony's hands for a long time.
"What are you doing?!" Bellatrix jerked the cage towards herself, but Sirius didn't let go; he rammed into her and grasped her hand this time, trying to detach her fingers from the cage.
"Let them go!"
"Oh, you, piece of rubbish!
"Let - go!"
"Sirius!"
A bright flare flashed, and a deep cut appeared on the boy's face. The blood spilt on the floor.
"Bella, what are you doing?!" Meda yelled, running up to her sister, but then the door had opened, and everyone froze, turning towards it.
"What is going on?" Lucius asked severely, coming in to the children's room and slamming the door behind him. The grey eyes paused on Bellatrix, and she childishly hid the wand behind her back. "Why is there so much noise?"
Squealing Lucius' name, the little girl raced off and, before anyone could even stop her, she flew over the room and clutched on to his Lucius caught her, but put the girl back on her feet in the second.
"Roxanne, watch how you behave..." He muttered sub-audibly, readjusting her dress.
The second she was back on her feet, Roxanne held on him, burying her face in his robes. "What happened to you?" Lucius asked worriedly. The girl didn't reply, she just stared at Bellatrix with her huge black eyes.
"What have you done, Bella?" The youth asked in an absolutely different voice. The grey eyes shone like two pieces of ice. The witch unclasped her hands defiantly and threw the cage on the floor; the mice squeaked from the pain. "You were told to transfigurate them into something to entertain the children!" Roxanne looked out of the robes' pleats. Her face was cold, but her eyes were burning with inhuman fear. It seemed, Bellatrix' spooky fairy tales had turned into something regular "How many times did I ask you not to frighten her?"
"You have to work over your sister!" As Bella came up to him, Roxanne hid immediately as she approached. "Is it my fault that she is afraid of everything?"
Regulus, as pale as death, rubbed his hand, which didn't hurt anymore, and looked around, seemingly unsure of what to do.
Andromeda squatted next to a heavily-breathing Sirius, cleaning blood of his face. The boy looked at Bellatrix' back, tightened in purple silk, with hatred, and dreamt of a wand...
Malfoy hemmed, peeking at his future sister-in-law.
"If I were her, I would be scared, too. Spending five minutes with you in one room is already an ordeal not for the faint-hearted, Bella"
"The girl can't be such a coward!" Bellatrix looked in his eyes, her voice spilling like honey. "If all Malfoys are cowards like that, should they deserve any attention, Lucius?" She paused. "Anyone's attention?"
His eyes darkened.
"She is scared of thunder and lightning, what kind of wizard will she become?" Bella went on, feeding on his anger. "How will it affect the Malfoys, when people find out that their daughter is afraid of her own shadow?"
The girl, who was huddled up to her brother all that time, suddenly pulled his cloak and screamed, "I am afraid of nothing, do you get this, snake?!"
Bella laughed.
"Roxanne!" Lucius was filled with indignation. Derisively the thunder roared above the house and she burst into tears. Bella snorted.
"I'm not afraid, I'm not, I'm not!" Little Roxanne cried out, pushed Lucius and before anyone could say a word, she ran outside.
"Roxanne!" Lucius hollered, but his voice only hit the closed door. He stepped forward.
"Will you come after her?" Bella asked, and Lucius stopped, looking back.
Grabbing the opportunity, Sirius suddenly picked up the cage with mice from the floor, saving them from the inevitable death and run after the girl, glancing at Bella.
"Hey, stop!"
"Sirius!"
The door slammed for the second time.
"We have to tell parents!" Meda ran up to the door, giving her sister an angry look. "There is a precipice!"
"Yes, Lucius," Bellatrix said, when her sister went out of the room. Lucius didn't react at all, watching little figure in a dress off.
"You can't indulge all those stupid weaknesses. Cravens aren't supposed to be among those who were picked by The Lord and you are aware of it," she pronounced her mentor's name with admiration. Lucius sighed slowly and after an agonizing hesitation, he stepped away from the glass door, rubbing his lips. Bella, who was watching his every move, smiled quite joylessly and said in her usual voice, "I'm glad you understand it."
The fugitive was found in the depth of the park. The girl was sitting in between huge roots that belonged to a high branchy tree, and cried, hugging her dirty knees. It looked like she fell a few times before she made it to the tree.
As she heard Sirius, the girl raised her head, sobbing and sniffing, her nose red.
For some time they were looking at each other in silence, but then girl's lips trembled, she lowered her head onto her knees and started weeping again.
Sirius sat beside her in silence, putting the cage on the grass, reached out one hand and hugged the girl. Roxanne let out a sob and, still not saying a word trustingly nestled up to him, shaking from crying. White hair touched his cheek.
"I feel so sorry for them..." She whispered, weeping bitter tears. "So sorry!"
Sirius frowned, feeling that he was about to weep, but he would rather punch himself than cry in front of the girl.
"Me, too" he said gloomily and pursed his lips.
"They are so small," Roxanne went on. "They did nothing wrong..."
"I wish I had a wand," Sirius said through his teeth, watching mice run inside the cage, not understanding why there was grass in their dark and gloomy world of cupboards and hallways. "Then I would make those mice as big as dragons, so they could gorge themselves on Bella."
He stole a glance at her reaction.
Roxanne raised her head and realized that she was sitting, with the unknown boy's arms around her. She wiped her nose and face and hugged her knees again.
"So, you're Roxanne?" She looked at him for a second and turned away. Maybe, it meant «yes».
Sirius brought his leg up to his chest and put the hand on it.
"What kind of name even is it - Roxanne?" he asked, looking at her.
"There is nothing wrong with my name," she uttered in a low voice, turning to the boy slowly and giving him a killing glare.
"No, really, look at you!" Sirius couldn't stop. "Why is your hair white? Are you so old?"
"Ugh, what a fool you are!" she turned her back to him. Her dress rode up and she pulled it down angrily.
"Oho-ho! Miss Arrogant?" Sirius reached out his hand. "My name is Sirius. Sirius Orion Black."
He had started puberty already, meaning his voice was breaking already, which made his name sound very solid.
Roxanne looked at a reached out dirty palm. Her hands weren't clean either; they were covered in sticky soil. Her mother always scolded her, when she was playing in the garden or on the shore, and slapped on her wrists. She would do the same now, probably...
She squeezed his soft warm fingers gingerly, but as Sirius get hold of her hand, he shook it in a boyish way. He was glad Walburga wasn't here, otherwise he must have kissed it. Sirius hated to kiss girls' hands, he was sure it's stupid.
"Nice to meet you, Roxanne," he said in a grand manner. "Don't mind Bella. She's insane. When she was small, she was locked in the room with dead elves all the time. She treated Meda and Cissa badly."
"Really? In the room with elves?" Roxanne whispered, screwing her face.
"Yes," Sirius confirmed with an air of importance.
The children kept silent, imagining how it would feel to sleep in one room with elves' heads. For normal wizards' offspring the room with dead elves could seem to be very creepy and terrible. They, on the other hand, were used to the fact that there were such doors that you would be afraid to walk by, not even to look inside...
"Why did you bring them?" Roxanne asked finally, looking at mice in the grass. Sirius remembered of the cage and pulled it closer to him.
"I wanna release them. Let them live in your forest," he busied himself with the lock.
"Release? Can we?"
"Of course," Sirius, who was about to open the door, hesitated for a moment and asked reluctantly, "If you want, you can do it."
Roxanne gave him a small smile and opened the small lattice door.
Sirius suppressed the sigh.
He was willing to open the tiny careful lock and watch the animals go out of the cage with caution, become free, but... She is a girl.
Moreover, a blubbered one.
He picked up the most noticeable, snow-white mouse and brought it to his very nose.
"Hey, it looks just like you. As small as you. And white." Sirius almost freaked out when he realized it was so. "I must say, she is quite nice," in a bout of gallantry he almost poked the animal into her nose, but the girl recoiled.
"Are you scared of them?" He asked in surprise. The mouse strived to run away, and he could barely hold it in his hands, catching the warm body with both of his hands.
"No!" The girl pressed her back to the tree. "I am not!" She hesitated for a moment. "Is it true that they get to people's beds at night and bite their noses and ears off?"
"What?!" Sirius protested. "Are you mad? The mice are kind wizards, who were locked in the Underworld by moles hundreds of years ago!"
The girl raised her eyebrow, looking at him as if he was insane.
"Yes, and since then they live in the Underworld and fight the moles and snakes." He said seriously. "They have been fighting since moles had stolen the youngest daughter of Penelope Hufflepuff. The students of Hogwarts found it out and decided to help her. They all became animaguses, turned into mice and went to the Underworld to save Cornelia Hufflepuff from the evilest mole of all."
Roxanne smiled. Sirius peeked at her quickly and then went on, "So, when the students finally got to Cornelia, the winter had come and they almost froze underground. They were living underground, digging burrows, and almost died from hunger. When they found Cornelia, they could turn back to people and were happy to go home. However, the moles were sly, they pretended to let the prisoner go and gave her magic seeds and corn from their huge supply, which Cornelia passed to the Hogwarts' kitchen. The students turned into badgers and this time for good. Cornelia found that out and made a decision to stay underground with everyone, who sacrificed everything to her. She turned into a badger as well, gathered together every underworld citizen and together they deposed the moles. But, despite the win, it was a huge loss for the Hogwarts. Since then there is a badger on Hufflepuff's arms."
The mice scattered. Roxanne, who had heard the story out, was opening and closing the door of now empty cage.
Sirius gave a twitch at snow-white strand of hair; frankly speaking, he wanted to touch her hair for a long time to find out what it is like to the touch. Roxanne glanced at him.
"Will you be scared of mice now, little Rox?"
She raised her big black, as chinchilla's, eyes.
"I think I won't..."
"Bella is wicked. And, as every wicked wizard, she is afraid of the truth. That's the reason she lies. Never trust her."
She didn't reply. Sirius couldn't help pulling her soft lock once again.
"Hey, little Rox!"
She looked at him frowning, grooming her hair.
"What?"
"Let's run away!"
"Your mom is Aunt Druella?"
They were wandering in the forest.
The middle of the summer rustled around them with deep rich greenery, and two pale children in dark clothes looked like china dolls lost in the grass.
At the very beginning of their journey Sirius took Roxanne's hand and, to his surprise, she didn't mind.
Even more, she intertwined their fingers into a firm lock.
And her palm was dry and warm, which made it twice better.
"My mother is Walburga," Sirius answered unwillingly.
"Does she love you?"
Sirius hesitated. Even though the question was easy, he could not find the answer.
"Well... sometimes I think that she does," he answered after a moment's consideration.
Roxanne turned away, staring ahead and biting her lips.
Sirius was silent too, glancing at her surreptitiously.
"What about yours?" He asked finally.
Roxanne looked in his eyes and shook her head, pursing her lips.
"Does she punish you?" Sirius asked quietly.
"All the time," she answered sadly. "Every evening elves tell mom what I have done and if she doesn't like something, she punishes me."
"All the moms are the same," the boy noticed.
"Meda is never punished," Roxanne said in a sad voice and shrugged.
"But Aunt Dru is very kind, she loves everyone," Sirius swung their intertwined hands back and forth. "I told her once that I wanted a snitch. She gave me a dog for my birthday and said that his name is Snitch."
"You have a dog?!" The girl exclaimed in a delighted voice.
"No," Sirius snapped out. Roxanne felt his fingers squeeze and decided not to ask.
"If you are Black, then we are relatives and you are my brother," Roxanne said firmly and then asked swiftly, "You are my brother, aren't you?"
"No, but I might become."
"What do you mean?" The girl frowned.
"When your brother marries my cousin..." Suddenly she stopped and Sirius stopped as well. "Didn't you know?"
Roxanne pulled her hand out of his palm, looking at him with her black eyes. Everything became darker. Humid air turned thicker. Just for a moment, everything froze, listening carefully to the mysterious sky's roar, and in one second the huge purple mass above the town cracked and a wall of warm noisy summer downpour began.
The children stopped under the oak, which was so big, that a house could be hidden under it, and just a few drops got to them.
"You are wrong." Roxanne said firmly. "Lucius will never get married." She shook her head, her lips' corners twitching both in scared and mocking way. "No."
"Not now, of course, he is too small," «grown-up» Sirius said, putting his hands in pockets. It was his favourite habit and his mother often slapped his wrists for it. "In a few years. Why do you think they bring our Narcissa?"
It made everything inside the poor girl turn over.
"Nar... Narcissa? This Narcissa?"
"Yeah, do you know any other Narcissa?" Sirius smirked. Roxanne suddenly pushed him.
"Hey, what's up?" Sirius asked, stepping back and suppressed the instinctive wish to push her back.
"Lucius won't marry her, do you get it?!" She even stamped her foot. "Never, do you understand me?!"
Sirius was totally taken aback.
"What's wrong with you?" He tried to take her hand, but Roxanne pushed him again and bore her elbows against the tree, crying for the second time in a day. "What did I say?" Sirius protested, coming around and trying to look at her face, but she was turning away every time.
"For how long are you going to cry? What is even wrong?"
"Lucius won't get married, he won't!" Roxanne repeated pathetically, smearing the tears on her face. The burning soreness rose inside of her, and tears only cultivated her so much that she was couldn't stop. She felt horribly screwed. The closest person, the only one, who cares about her, the one she trusts, decided to leave her, go away and live separated from her! And he didn't even say anything!
"Everyone gets married!" Sirius made a helpless gesture, trying so hard to look in her eyes. "You can't do anything about it!"
"No!" The girl snapped on him evilly. "I will never get married!"
"Me, too," Sirius murmured in reply, scratching his head. "Although my mother will make me. Hey, stop crying!" He wasn't sure what to do, so he bumped her shoulder a little. "He will love you more anyway!"
Roxanne stopped wheeling and was just sobbing for some time, baring her head against the tree; after that she looked at Sirius, pressing her fingers to wet lips.
"Will he?" She asked in such voice, as if her life depended on Sirius' reply.
Sirius nodded.
When they got to the precipice, the rain had stopped. The dark clouds spread over the peach, creamy-rose sky, becoming harmless melting clouds. The sky and the sea flowed in a white haze and it seemed they exchanged their places.
At the very precipice, the children found a fallen because of the lightening tree; the treetop was hanging in air, and the rest of the plant, which was growing for much more than ten years there, was lying on the ground. A huge trunk pressed little trees on its way down to the ground. The precipice had a low grade and it seemed that the tree would roll down at any moment.
Sirius sat on the place where the tree had broken and squinted happily, letting the salty sea wind blow on his face.
Roxanne climbed on the silver stem as well. The sun, which looked like a small ignescent ruby, was slowly coming out of clouds.
Seeing this beauty, Roxanne was thinking about thousands of things at once, but all her thoughts came back to the one, that if she hadn't run away, she could have get into warm bed after delicious rye pancakes with strawberry jam and wait for Lucius to come and chat with her or read, sitting at her table. The moment she thought about it, her heart died within her - soon enough he will stop coming to her and will read with his wife instead.
«If I fall from the precipice, they all will feel ashamed... I will be lying dead and Lucius will cry...»
The trunk hummed beneath her - Sirius leapt off his nest and sat beside her.
"You know what?"
"What?" She asked, swinging her feet in air.
"I got letter from Hogwarts."
Roxanne looked at his shining face and tried to imagine how it would feel to get a letter from the school where Lucius was studying...
"Only thirty days and I will leave," he smacked the tree. "Roll on! I can't wait. But... Probably I will go to Slytherin. Everyone from my family was studying in Slytherin."
Roxanne remembered all those years of Lucius studying far away from home, when she craved to be next to him, in this Slytherin. Mother would be proud of her... probably.
"But the thing is, I don't want to go to these freaks. It'd be cool to get to Gryffindor, all the cool wizards were here. Did you get your letter?"
The girl shook her head, still swinging her feet in the air.
"How so?" Sirius wondered. "How old are you?"
"Mother says it is impolite to ask women about such things," she noticed arrogantly, but then immediately added, "Ten."
"Then we'll go together, "Sirius smiled, but Roxanne turned away from him, and the boy's smile dissapeared.
"What's wrong?"
"Lucius says that Hogwarts is a bad school," she grumbled. "He says, they let one and all go there."
"Is it a bad thing?" Sirius asked gloomily.
After a small pause, Roxanne shrugged and turned back to him. The wind had tumbled her white, like snow, hair and threw it on her face, so only her eyes were visible.
"I don't know."
"Where will you study then, if not in Hogwarts?"
"Mother says there is a good school in Norway."
"But it's so far away! It's..." Sirius was bad at geography. "At the other end of the world."
"Is it?" The girl became sad. "Hopefully, they won't accept me."
They fell silent. The sun, touching the water, slopped the melted gold on the sea. The sky cleaned up and plunged into the water, becoming as spacious as the sea underneath it. The aroma of grass, wild flowers and sea greeted them. Maybe, this is how the world looked like when there were no people. The sky, the water and the palpitation of grass, which will turn into trees someday and fall, defeated by lightning.
Sirius felt the girl's head resting on his shoulder.
"Will you write to me?" She asked, looking at seagulls, which were whirling up to the horizon. As the girl found boy's hand, she squeezed it in already usual lock. Sirius felt an odd flutter. At the same time, he wanted to withdraw his hand... and hold it like this forever.
"Will you, Sirius?"
For the first time she said his name out-loud.
Sirius turned his head and accidentally touched her forehead with his nose. Her skin was delicate and mat. One tiny tint mole on her cheek. Snow-white tumbled hair reminded of kinks of cream.
The boy felt how his heart suddenly became heavier and rushed somewhere, making him lose his breath.
Suddenly for himself he leaned forward, closed his eyes and kissed girl's red, like wild strawberry, lips. Everything inside of him flinched, painfully and lusciously, shriveled, leapt...
He froze for a moment, feeling warmth in a couple of millimeters from his face, and kissed her again, slightly pressing her lower lip. He had never done anything like this, hence he wasn't sure he was doing it right, but it feltvery good...
His head reeled, as if he fell into the sea...
Sirius drew back, looking at the girl curiously and willing to know what she had felt.
Roxanne's eyelashes trembled, she opened her odd, sleepy eyes and absently touched her lips, peeking at Sirius.
It seemed she wasn't going to cry or run away, though.
Sirius felt a pull inside of him wanting to kiss her again, so he closed his eyes, trustingly drawing closer to Roxanne, and went pitapat, when she kissed him back.
... They were found, when the sun had set and it was cold and damp.
Roxanne was found by Lucius, Sirius - by his mother.
They led them home separately, not letting to say a word to each other.
The next morning Roxanne went to Durmstrang, and he, plunging into pre-school vanity, couldn't remember her name and, as time went on, he forgot what she looked like and soon after he was telling, that he kissed for the first time, sitting above an abyss...
*Pierre Van Dormael – Nemo&Anna