Casualty
It's a torn world they're trying to desperately stitch with the magic of their wands and the compassion of their hearts. It's a war they fight very single day for the past few months - they fight alone, they fight in groups. They fight with friends and fight with strangers, and sometimes, sometimes they even fight together and those days are more charged with adrenaline and terror and little sparkles of something that isn't allowed to shine in the darkness of death.
It's a routine they follow - their days begin earlier than most others' do, and they're out on raids and missions that they're assigned to because everyone thinks they're strong, confident, independent. Unattached.
If only they knew.
He always wonders why they think he doesn't want to love when he's trying so hard not to, and she's constantly wondering if she'll be allowed to love before she's robbed of a pulse.
Their days end with grim reports and tales of victory devoid of happiness, for victory is often marked by the dark smear of blood on their hands. Everyone sits around the table in the dining room and Sirius refuses to take the head despite having inherited the house. Only she understands that it is a desperate action to rid himself of the ancestral robes he's so desperate to shed.
When the lights go down and the house is immersed in inky blackness for a few hours, she steals to his room, her footsteps light on the creaky floorboards.
They keep their words to a minimum and let their bodies talk words their lips are too afraid to speak out loud. Bare hands clasp bare backs and soft lips claim rough ones in a dance of desperation infused with love until they're spent.
She lies down with him till the first light of dawn peeps in between his heavy maroon curtains and traces patterns over the patterns on his chest, kissing them softly as she feels soft tremors travel across his body.
"Will you ever love me the way I want you to?" She asks, her voice a mere whisper as she looks everywhere but into his eyes.
His heart creaks a thousand little ways before he answers her in a ragged tone…
"I can't."
Entered in:
The Het-Tastic Drabble-Athon Competetion (Dec), prompt #2 – lights
The Twelve Days of Christmas Style Challenge, Drabble #1
Race to The Top of Mount Potter competition, prompt: "Will you ever love me the way I want you to?" (entry #4)