... if I die young bury me in cherry blossoms ...
...
"The cherry blossom represents fragility and the beauty of life. It's a reminder that life is almost overwhelming beautiful but that it is also tragically short." Homaro Cantu
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#1. Blossom falls
"Lily."
The sound of her name was the first thing she heard – muffled and dull, but it was her name nevertheless. The young woman didn't know where she was; everything around her was dark.
"Lily. Open your eyes for me. Please."
The redhead didn't recognize the voice, but the words – especially the last – were spoken so soft, so gentle… so filled with hope and desperation at the same time.
Then she felt how someone placed a strong hand around hers and stroked it carefully. The strange, yet somehow familiar feeling of their touching skin sent shivers down her spine.
"Please."
Lily's heart started to beat faster, and summoning all her will-power, she tried to open her green eyes.
Blink. Blink. Blink.
The light that met her gaze was cold and blinding, and she had to blink a couple of times in order to fully accustom to its brightness.
Immediately, she felt dizziness rushing over her, and in an attempt to steady herself, she gripped the hand tighter.
"It's alright, Lily," the voice continued soothingly, and once again stroked her hand, "you're in a hospital."
Slowly, her blurry vision started to clear; the white, almost sterile looking walls around her were the first things she noticed, followed by the grey door on the opposite end of the room. Then, a table with bottles, band-aids and syringes in the far distance and a pair of rather ugly rosé-coloured curtains framed the windows.
Ignoring the increasing pain in her head, the moved her eyes to her right side and tried to make out the silhouette of the person that was sitting next to her.
High cheekbones, hints of a beard, a slim face framed by curly black hair. Images started to get less blurry and upon looking into them, she was immediately captured by the man's fascinating grey eyes, that looked at her with a mixture of kindness, relief and fear.
"What – what happened?" she asked, and her voice sounded itchy and hoarse.
The man sighed. "You've been in an accident," he explained, still holding on to her small hand. "A child ran onto the street, right in front of a speeding car. You pushed him out of the way, and got hit instead. Luckily, X-rays show that you got away with only a heavy concussion and a couple of really bad bruises; the doctors call it a miracle."
"How's the boy?" Lily asked, concerned. "Please tell me something good."
A smile appeared on his face. "He's quite well," he said and pointed towards the vase on her night stand, that contained a small branch of a cherry blossom tree. "I told him that cherry-blossoms were your favourite, and he brought this earlier this morning to say 'thank you'."
Lily was quiet for a moment and she stared at the man, then at the blossoms and back at the stranger. "How do you know they are my favourites?" she asked carefully and before he had time to answer, an different thought hit her. "Come to think of it, how do you know me?"
Apparently, this was not a question her visitor had expected, for he wrinkled his forehead and confusion was mirrored in his grey eyes.
"How do I …?"
Lily saw how he shook his head, clearly not knowing what to respond.
"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate you sitting by my side, and your voice does sound a bit familiar," she continued quickly, and tried move one of her pillows so that she was able to sit in a more upright position on her bed, "but I don't know who you are."
Grey eyes only stared at her with disbelief. "You don't know who I am," he repeated in an emotional whisper.
"I'm so sorry."
He swallowed hard. Then, he wordlessly lifted her hand which he had been holding up until now.
"My name is Sirius. And I'm your husband," the man whispered softly, and right in that moment, a beam of sunlight shone upon Lily's hand and with wide, shell-shocked green eyes, she stared at the delicate golden wedding-band that graced her finger.
…
"So, where are you taking me?" Lily asked curiously, glanced down at her sparkling black dress and linked her arm with Sirius' while they continued walking down the empty streets of London.
Two weeks had passed since that fateful day in the hospital, and he had been there – every day until her doctors had finally signed the release-papers. Of course, after the initial shock, and the short moment of embarrassment had passed.
Whenever he came, a bright smile appeared on her face, and whenever she felt sad or unhappy, he found a way to cheer her up – he had even managed to sneak a cup of coffee into her room!
It made her stay in the hospital so much more pleasant and whenever she had troubles falling asleep, Sirius had read to her in his soothing voice: newspaper articles, fashion reports in a lifestyle-magazine or – after she had told him about her love for Jane Austen – several chapters from 'Pride & Prejudice'. The duration of his stays had always varied; sometimes they talked for several hours a day and he told her all about her family, how they had met at school, their rather rocky start into a unique friendship and how it – one day – had turned into a loving relationship. Sure, there had been days when his work didn't allow a lengthy visit, but somehow, he had managed to still be by her bedside every day. At one occasion, she had woken up one morning to find a single cherry blossom along with a small note on her nightstand.
Sirius' grey eyes twinkled mischievously in the moonlight and he smiled at her. "Well, we're talking a small trip down the memory line. And this – " he pointed towards a small, ivory-covered door on their left, "is the entrance to the little Italian restaurant I've taken you on our first date."
…
"Can I get you anything else?"
"No, that should be it," Sirius replied and returned the check to the waiter, who gave a little bow and vanished wordlessly behind the counter.
Lily beamed at him and reached for her wine glass.
"This place really is lovely," she said and admired the beautiful decorations that completed the image along with the small vintage-styled chairs and tables.
Sirius laughed and retrieved the napkin he had put on his lap to cover his suit back on the table. "I'm glad to hear that. It's exactly what you said back then."
The red-head returned his smile. "Well, is there anything else I enjoyed?"
Again, this lovely smirk appeared on his face, and Lily's heart skipped a beat when the handsome man got up and extended his hand to her.
"I asked you to dance with me," he whispered, put his arms around her slim waist and pulled her close.
"Did I also ask you to kiss me?" Lily whispered nervously and looked into his deep grey eyes.
"You didn't," he exhaled slowly and softly lifted her chin. "But this time around I'm not going to wait any longer," he continued, bent down and placed a feathery soft kiss on her lips.
…
"This is beautiful, Sirius," Lily said and laid her head on is shoulder. In return, he pulled her into a tight embrace. Sitting side by side, they stood on top of London's Tower Bridge, holding on to the cold iron banister and watched the sun rise above the Thames in the far distance.
"Well, to be fair, I cannot really remember our 10th date back in the days, but yeah, I think I outdid myself with this one," he replied with a smug smile.
Playfully, the red-head nudged him with her elbow.
"Hey, what was that for?"
Lily just smiled, albeit a bit lost in her own thoughts. "For – well, I don't know… I guess for going through all this trouble for me… all these dates you've taken me so far… it's been just lovely."
The curly-haired man placed a kiss on her forehead. "You're my wife – even if you don't remember. But I love you, Lily," he admitted and the seriousness in his voice made her shiver. "I would do anything for you."
The red-haired beauty leaned back against him and stared at the rising sun. It was true, the efforts Sirius had taken in order to remind her of their life prior to her accident was magical. They've been to the cinema – re-watching the first movie they had ever seen together. Then, they've visited their old school, walked hand in hand on the beach, and strolled through the London Zoo where Sirius had told her all about how he and his best friends James and Remus had jumped over fences and taken pictures with giraffes, hippos and lions.
"I love you, too," she whispered and intertwined her fingers with his.
She heard him taking a deep breath. "Is your memory coming back?" he asked, careful not to get his hopes up too high.
Lily shook his head.
A quick, almost undetectable hint of sadness flashed across his face, but Lily had spent enough time with him to notice.
"I don't need my memories," she said, and her voice was barely more than a soft, shy whisper, before she kissed him passionately. "I'm falling in love with you all over again, Sirius Black."
…
"Cherry blossoms," Lily whispered in awe and stared at the beautiful petals that had fallen from the ceiling when she and her newly-wed husband had started their first waltz.
Sirius chuckled and brushed one of the petals out of her fiery red hair – although it was rather in vain since James and Remus continued to throw them like confetti.
Soon, more and more couples joined them on the dance floor, and when Lily twirled over the dance floor with her white wedding gown, little eddies of cherry blossoms got swirled up high in the air.
"I still don't know why they are my favourites," the red-haired woman pondered as she brought her arms around Sirius's neck.
Grey eyes sparkled mischievously. "What happened to 'let's make some new memories'?"
Lily rolled her eyes lovingly. "I'd still like to know."
Sirius was quiet for a moment and just watched the blossoms fall. "It was when we were back at school. James and I had just finished one of our latest pranks, and well, you caught us on the field on our way back to the dormitories."
"And?"
"Well," Sirius continued, and brushed another petal out of her hair, "naturally, being the responsible Head-Girl and all, you were about to report us to the Deputy."
"But?"
The handsome man smiled. "You didn't sneak."
Lily looked surprised. "I didn't? Why?"
"I'd say you always had a soft spot for me."
For that, he got a playful nudge once more.
"Alright, alright. James proposed a bet," Sirius laughed and twirled his wife around. "If I succeeded in climbing the most instable tree on the school grounds and retrieve a hand full of petals from the highest branch, you'd let us go."
Lily smiled. "And you succeeded?"
Sirius bent down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "Well, I would have… if hadn't stepped on a rotten branch on my way down."
Green eyes sparkled knowingly, and Sirius' smile widened.
"On my way down, I must have shaken the tree kind of a lot, so by the time I got hold of an other branch, I looked down and you were flashing me one of these dashing smiles although you were completely buried in cherry blossoms."
Lily beamed at her husband and watched the petals swirl around them.
"Just like now?"
Sirius nodded and kissed her lovingly. "Just like now."
Assignment 6: Muggle Cultures: Task #1: write a fic featuring cherry blossoms
March Event: Meet-Cute March: Prompt 1 [SiriusLily]
Writing Club: Book Club: "Me before you" by Jojo Moyes:Will Traynor: (character) Sirius Black, (genre) Hurt/Comfort, (dialogue) "Tell me something good."
Writing Club: Assorted Appreciations: #5. Alice Longbottom: Write about a lengthy stay in a hospital.
Writing Club: Bex's Basement: #15. Write about a car accident.
March Monthly: Alphabetti Spaghetti: #X [x-ray]
Words: 1957