Parchment

PG

"Every evening I sit here, Sirius, watching the moon as it comes up each night. Every full moon, I think of Remus, sometimes I even hear his howling. Tonight, however, I won't..."

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A dusty brown haired man sat in an overstuffed arm-chair facing the flickering fire. Gray hairs stood out so distinctly in his dusty hair, showing he was in his late 40's. He lifted his raven tail feather quill to his chin. The aroma of a raven reached his nose and he thought of the girl from his House's Patronus form. Smiling to himself, he lowered his quill again and wrote in a rushed behavior. His faded amber mist eyes searched the parchment, as if searching for a certain thing. He needed to finish this letter tonight, for it could be his last. He sighed and bit his quivering lower lip. So many years ago, writing this would have been a piece of cake, but he was never sure of how he could express his feelings to someone he had cared about for so long. A shadowy figure strolled into the room, his dark, and shoulder length black hair covered his face and his identity was uncertain.

"Ah, Sirius, so pleased you could come..." The dusty haired mans scratchy voice floated over the room to the man who just entered.

"Yes, Remus, I had to, you asked if I could deliver a letter to someone only I was able to get a hold of now days? Could that be my pitiful cousin, Laini?" Sirius still had that mockery tone in his deathlike coarse voice.

"Yes, that would be Laini..." Remus replied as a few tears dripped onto the parchment he was writing on, obscuring the last line. "I feel sorry for her, has she not left Grimmald Place for eight years, has it been?"

"No, nine years... have you forgotten how long you've been away from her already?"

"Not at all, I miss her more with each day that passes. But they were right, she had not been able to control herself since the death of Severus Snape, and we thought that her shock when James passed away was dreadful." Remus rubbed his eyes wearily; talking of peoples deaths was not what he wanted to do now. "Has Tally been around recently?"

"Tally? No, I haven't seen her since we discovered that she was related to Voldemort, maybe she thought we wouldn't trust her... don't see why. I really wish I could see her again." Sirius sighed, leaning against the aged rusting door frame.

"Finally..." Remus breathed, folding the parchment in half and putting it in an envelope. He sealed it with the Ravenclaw emblem and handed it to his good friend. "You swear to bring this to Laini safely?"

"Of course I do, what do you take me for?" Sirius smiled, his dark hair floated around his face, much thinner than it had been twelve years ago.

"Well, you haven't been so reliable since the last of the Potters' passed away, running around like a stray dog." Remus replied, reminding Sirius of when Harry died trying to protect Hermione.

"Well better be off..." Sirius said, drained of reliving old painful memories.

"Take care, my friend." Remus said as Sirius' back faded into the darkness.

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Sirius entered the dark and depressing Grimmald place, not wanting to see the place again. He stepped onto the hardwood floors, greeted with a loud moan from the old house. He heard hushed music playing upstairs and began towards it, hearing his mothers low talking. She had settled down from screaming endlessly once Laini moved in permanently.

"Sirius, you're home... that retched brat Laini is upstairs listening to that appalling slow swing dance music yet again, the hag." She said as Sirius passed, he was stunned she didn't curse at him. He pushed open the door in which soft light was pouring from.

"Laini? Are you in here?" Sirius walked in, music was surrounding the room like a cave. A pale, dusty haired girl sat her back to the corner. She was staring continuously at the moth eaten carpet. "Laini, I have a letter for you, it's from Lupin."

"Bring it here then..." Her voice gave him chills. It was no longer the cheerful voice that filled their hearts back in school but now it was dead, no life to it. Sirius stepped across the squeaking floor and sat in front of her. He handed the letter to her and one of her pale, ivory hands reached for it.

"I was just with Lupin, he said-"

"Disregard what he said, I don't care any longer." She lifted her eyes to meet her cousins'. The vivid emerald green color had diminished into a dull jade and grey streaks covered her once beautiful dusty brown hair. She seemed quite stressed out, listening to Remus' old swing dance music and sitting motionless in a room alone. She ripped open the letter with much difficulty, having lost all strength in the time she'd stayed here.

"Well, what does it say?" Sirius asked. Laini's eyes scanned the parchment in a sweeping motion, taking in each word one by one. When she finished it seemed that some tint had filled her eyes.

"It's astounding... all these years, that boy Remus has loved me back, but I was never courageous enough to tell him myself of my feelings. Maybe that's why I wasn't in Gryffindor," Laini closed her eyes.

"We can inform him now..." Sirius said, but Laini wasn't listening, she'd turned her head to look out the window through the wrecked shutters and at the full moon, which was rising.

"Every evening I sit here, Sirius, watching the moon as it comes up each night. Every full moon, I think of Remus, sometimes I even hear his howling. Tonight, however, I won't..."

"Why not?" Sirius was puzzled, he'd just been with Remus, and he looked as if he were ready for the full moon tonight.

"Because he's been alive for the precise amount of years a werewolf lives. Tonight, he will depart this life, under the glow of the stars and that dreadful full moon. You see Sirius, it was destined to occur. I was intended to lose everyone... Severus, James, Remus... Tally hasn't been seen for years."

"You still have me Laini, I'm still here..." Sirius' voice was horror filled from his cousin's words.

"You may still be here, but I won't... you've lost everyone too Sirius, including me..." Laini's eyes fell to the parchment once again, a tear fell from her eye and she went motionless. She'd passed on...

"LAINI!" Sirius shouted, clutching his cousin's shoulders, "No, you can't... you just can't..." A howl was heard from outside Laini's window and Sirius froze... the howl cut off in the middle and the voice died out. Sirius knew then, he was the last one left...

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A/N: This was set after Harry's seventh year, after the defeat of Voldemort. I know, Sirius is still in this one because it was written before I actually got to that part of the book... grr... anyway... and Laini doesn't actually die like this in the series stories of Harry Potter that I write. Her actual death was created by Sagittarius Black Dragon (Sage), so ask her if you're really intent upon finding out how. And I just sorta made up the whole Remus thing, dying at a certian time of being a werewolf.