"Are you...crying?" the woman said coldly, in disbelief. She reached for Sirius, who jerked away from her touch as if being burned. He quickly swiped at his face to keep from another tear from falling. His throat had a huge lump in it that he tried to swallow and a headache was beginning to form behind his eyes from keeping the tears from flowing.
"Get out." he said calmly, not bothering to turn around. His mother raised a hand to Sirius, which he quickly grabbed and put it back to her side. "I said, get out!"
His mother clenched the wand in her pocket, but couldn't get it out before Sirius stood up, his full height overpowering his mother. His was snarling, his handsome features twisted into something monster like, maybe his only defence against the monster who had taught him. His was was laying on his bedside table, which was much too far away to grab, but he didn't really need it. His mother, who wasn't able to physically overpower Sirius, left with a huff.
Sirius locked his door quickly and turned on the muggle music he knew that his parents hated loud enough that the neighbors could probably hear it. And then he threw everything he thought he might need into his hogwarts case. Any robes, books, scarves found their way into his case, stuffed unceremoniously.
Then he apparated, where he didn't know, just away. Anything would be better than his house with the endless screeching and screams and the cold that seemed to soak through to his bones.
He found himself in the Leaky Cauldron, most of the tables empty due to the time being so late. The fire was on in the corner, and he gravitated towards it, wanting to feel the warmth spread all over his body. Fire brought healing, it saved him from himself and reminded him of his days at hogwarts where he'd spend late nights with his friends in the Gryffindor common room which the fire keeping them warm. Until Christmas break was over, this was the closest he could get to that feeling of carefreeness.
Then something dropped and broke, causing Sirius to duck and cover his head out of habit.
"Of my gosh, I'm so sorry. I'm such a klutz. I just didn't expect anyone to be here so late." She rushed over to Sirius, forgetting about whatever she had dropped, and took a seat beside him. "What are you doing here anyways?" Her eyes were warm, just like the fire.
Sirius didn't feel like sharing the details with Alice, nice as she may be. She was friends with Evans and the McKinnon girl, and they were the last people he wanted to know about his predicament. "I'm gonna need a room until Christmas break ends," was all Sirius offered to Alice.
"Of course. I'll get you a key real quick." She hurried to go back behind the little desk and fish a key out from some drawer. Alice set it on the desk for Sirius to grab whenever he wanted and then started to clean up what looked like a broken plate that she had dropped before. "Are you and Potter fighting or something? I figured you'd go there before you would come here to stay."
Sirius looked at her coldly, not much caring for this new topic of conversation. Although Sirius briefly wondered the same thing, why would he end up at the Cauldron when James' home was a much more likely option? "Didn't want to bother him, 'suppose." He shrugged the thought off.
Alice looked unimpressed, but quickly continued to clean up the mess she had made. "Well, I need to lock up to go home. But you're welcome to stay by the fire as long as you feel like it." She put all of her work clothes and other items into a cupboard and started out the door. "See you in the morning Sirius. And merry Christmas!"
Suddenly the room around him felt slightly colder again and lonelier. Every move he made seemed to echo throughout the room, wanting to alert the people upstairs sleeping of his presence. He grabbed the key left on the counter by Alice and found his way up to the very last room in the hall, they were probably busy because of the holidays.
His bones seemed to go limp, making his crash down face first onto the bed. It was if he hadn't slept in days, which he supposed he hadn't really, as he'd always been half asleep and half awake in anticipation of his mother or father. He didn't really seem to sleep unless he was away from school. It was really very terrible for his undereye circles actually.
The next morning he startled awake, the sun already rising. The telltale sign of his mother's steps coming towards his room. Sirius gripped his blankets closely to his chest, like a child. Then a knock on his door.
"Black?" It wasn't the cold voice of his mother. If anything, it was more annoyed. And definitely more girly, which wasn't hard as he mother was rather brutish. His first guess was that the girl was Alice. "Alice told me to bring some breakfast up to your room. So if you'd kindly open the door…"
Sirius looked down at himself, and seeing as he was only wear his underwear, he quickly decided to wrap his blanket around himself to get the door. He was met with McKinnon standing with a tray in her hands and and her hip jutted out to the side. Her blond curls were put into a bun on the top of her head, some pieces hanging out. She wore a leather jacket, much too big for her, and Sirius thought it must have been some boy's.
"If you'd stop staring I'd bring your food in." Sirius moved to the side to let her in. "And put on some clothes. I'm not interested in a quick shag like the girls you probably bring here for the night. I'm assuming last night's adventure is hiding in the bathroom. Or maybe under the bed? Don't worry, I won't look."
"What are you doing here McKinnon." Sirius sighed, closing the door to look through his suitcase for some pyjama pants. He'd lost the blanket by now, but Marlene didn't care, she was sat on the bed now, looking at her nails.
"I already told you. Alice sent me up here to bring you food and check up on you. She said something about you looking a bit sad last night." She didn't seem to care all that much that Sirius had felt sad the night before, though Sirius supposed that was expected considering all of the mean things he had done to her in the past, like turn her beautiful hair purple and green for a whole month.
"I didn't realize that you worked here too." Sirius commented, wand in his mouth as he continued to search.
"I don't. Alice just likes to use me as her own personal house elf." Marlene rolled her eyes, returning her gaze to Sirius as he put on a pair of pajama pants that he had found. "Took you long enough."
"Well, I'm not sad, McKinnon. You're welcome to leave now." Sirius said, gesturing to the door.
Marlene's expression changed at this point. "I know something's wrong Sirius. I know that look far too well." Sirius raised his eyebrows at her expectantly. "Oh, don't give me that look. I just know what it's like to be part of a family that doesn't really feel like family is all. Potter has it easy." She stood to walk away, but Sirius reached an arm out to keep her from walking out the door.
"You know, I think there's food enough for two here." he said.
Marlene gave a small smile, and sat with Sirius on the bed as they shared his food in relative silence.
Thank you so much for reading! If you liked it, please tell me some way or another. It'll help me upload ;).
