TITLE: MIDNIGHT MOON WITH THE STARS
RATED: T for Teen, May change to M for Mature later on
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything. All characters (Aside from Mister Lee and a few others here and there) belong to J.K Rowling's fabulous mind and not to me.
o o o o o o
"…There were a bunch of muggles involved, some injured, some killed. But the biggest travesty was the death of wizard Peter Pettigrew. Reporters are telling me that all that was left of him was a single finger…The unforgivable death curse was uttered by Sirius Black…"
The radio stopped at once, no longer filling the air with its static voice of sad, sad news. Remus sat behind his desk and sighed. How did all of this happen? he thought at once. He vaguely recalled his Seventh Year and regarded it as though it had only been yesterday. Then his mind bashed at the reality of Sirius Black. Had he been stupid all of those years to believe that a Black could be different, that a Black could be anything but cunning and evil?
No, he hadn't. Perhaps Remus was in denial, but he knew at once when he had heard about it a few hours ago that this was not the Sirius he knew, this was not the Sirius that laughed with a snort, pranked like he couldn't go one day without tricking someone and loved his friends even if he didn't verbalize it. Sure, sometimes Sirius could go a bit too far, but in the end he always made up for it.
And he was not a killer. There just was no way.
Remus stared across his desk to the wall that had a plethora of black and white photos covering it. The majority of the pictures had been taken by him. His eyes glossed over Peter and he froze. Peter is dead. One of my best friends is dead and I'm never going to see him again. He's gone, he's gone forever. Truly Remus felt guilt among his grief, confusion and sadness. He felt guilt for never having known the boy – man as much as he had gotten to know James and Sirius. Peter just kind of always followed them around, trying to belong, trying to be popular amongst the Gryffindor Golden Boys (as James and Sirius liked to call themselves) but never really getting there.
Then his mind reverted back to James. He had lost two friends in a matter of days, one to the Dark Lord no less. Remus couldn't begin to wrap his head around what he was feeling and he couldn't find a logical explanation either. It was too much, too much for his head tonight.
So he sat there and he seat there trying to wipe everything from his mind when he heard a knock on the window. He jumped with a start and turned his head in the direction of the window before slowly getting up. Remus cracked the window open cautiously, but saw nothing. "Must've been a tree branch or… something…" Suddenly a man with slick black hair, a cut on his cheek and in tattered clothing appeared in front of him. He knew instantly that it was Sirius, but he certainly didn't look like his normal confident (if not to an overwhelming and egotistical point) and cool-dude self. For starters, he looked scared, from the way his eyes blinked constantly to his chattering teeth and the way his body was shaking in an unnatural way. Remus recognized it immediately as he had gone through regular bouts of anxiety after long nights of transformation.
"Sirius…" Remus started, then paused as he saw Sirius give a look of desperation, "What, w-what have you done?" He wanted to ask him why he was here, he wanted to ask if it was true, he wanted to ask Sirius to come inside and share a cup of tea with him while they talked about James's and Lily's son and how Remus had heard little Harry had taken his first few steps that day, but he couldn't, not yet.
Sirius bit his bottom lip and if Remus hadn't been so shell shocked by this he probably would've thought it was awfully cute, like always, but instead he stood there, waiting for Sirius to say something.
Finally Sirius spoke, tears threatening to fall down his face, "What then Remus? You believe them? You believe I killed Wormtail? God and to think I apparated all the way over here just so I could listen to a voice of reasoning before they take me…"
"Take you where?" Remus asked even though he already knew the answer.
"Azkaban, of course! The-you all seem to believe exactly what you've seen or barely heard. They'll find me shortly, I'm certain, probably without trial too. I'm going to go barking mad and it's all going to be Peter's own damn fault! That scum, that liar." Sirius's voice was rough and ragged, even more so than usual.
"Don't you dare talk about Wormtail like that! If the news is true if all that was really left of him was a finger. I don't know you, Sirius! This is all so damn confusing!" Remus held his head, "I don't know who to trust anymore " and then he managed to bring up as much courage as he could before asking the next question, "Padfoot, did you… did you kill him? Is it true?"
There was silence, deathly silence for what seemed like days before Sirius pulled Remus's hands together with his and spoke, "I-I… " Sirius had to make the final decision now, whether to lie or tell the truth, whether to pull Remus, the boy he loved more than anyone, into this mess or push him out of his life forever. "… It's true, Remus…"
Simultaneously three things happened, Remus pulled his hands away from Sirius's, muttered some cross words, then about five Dementors appeared behind Sirius and before he even knew it, he was surrounded and being dragged off to Azkaban with no hope of ever being saved.
Remus wanted to scream. He wanted to trash his house, he wanted to drink until he couldn't see with his eyes closed or opened. He quickly decided on the third option and went to his many containers of Fire Whisky, swallowing one right after the other until there wasn't anything left except Butter Beer and the last thing he wanted was to feel warm inside.
He staggered towards his bed and laid down under the covers, knowing that he would regret all of this tomorrow. But for right now he couldn't feel anything, for right now he couldn't truly feel betrayed by the one and only Sirius Black.
o o o o o o
Sirius was thrown into his new 'home' otherwise known as his prison cell at once by the Dementors. He wasn't happy and it wasn't just because the Dementors were sucking all of the fun out of anything either. He crawled over to the side of his cell and sat down, trying to close his eyes but all he could see was Remus's face; his beautiful face brought into a look of shame, a look that spoke clearly to him, "You have betrayed me, Sirius Black."
Suddenly a guard shouted at him, "You have a visitor, Scumbag!"
"Is that really necessary Mister Lee? I think 'scumbag' is a bit derogatory, but you know…" said a voice that Sirius knew far too well. It was Dumbledore after all.
"Hmmph," said the guard before walking off and slightly out of sight.
"Sirius…" Dumbledore peered down from above, "This is most definitely not where I would've hoped to have found you tonight."
"Well, I did kill someone, Dumbledore. They don't tend to let people like me walk free after that." He stood up and got closer to the bars and as he did so the Dementors powers made his insides feel icy cold, a million bad memories and broken promises brought to the forefront of his mind now, but he brushed it aside with as much willpower as he could.
Dumbledore sighed inwardly, something that Sirius had hardly seen before. Most of his years at Hogwarts were full of Dumbledore's first day speech and smile, the wink that he gave to certain students, never appearing to get a little more than frustrated or melancholic, but right now, Dumbledore's inner emotions were showing through and Sirius wasn't sure whether he liked that or not.
"Are you absolutely sure that you have murdered Mister Pettigrew?" Dumbledore leaned even closer to Sirius, "I can see your eyes Sirius and they're not the eyes of a murderer, just a prankster that got in over his head by trying to fight a certain battle by himself."
Sirius knew that Dumbledore knew. He didn't know how, but he had learned a long time ago that questioning Dumbledore was pointless. There were just some things that were to be left alone, he guessed. He questioned himself on what to say and closed his eyes, breaking the eye contact he had allowed Dumbledore to have with him.
He coughed, "Albus, I killed Wor – Pettigrew. You've seen the news and heard the stories by now, haven't you?"
"Yes, but I also managed to get a front row view of it as well, so excuse me if I don't exactly buy into what everyone else is saying."
"Just trust me on this, Albus. I know I was the prankster boy during my Hogwarts days, but I'm a man now and I can handle what they're certainly going to throw at me." Sirius silently pleaded that Dumbledore would just leave it alone, just allow Sirius to suffer in silence and get what he probably deserved.
Dumbledore looked down at his wrist as though there was a watch there to tell him the time, "Well, I guess I will have to, Sirius because it appears to me that I have somewhere else to be right now… There is a certain godchild that needs attending to." He backed away from the bars and saw Sirius slightly frown, "This will be our last conversation for quite some time, but it's not the last one. Hang on to that, Sirius, my friend." Dumbledore turned away, but not without winking first and before long Sirius couldn't even hear his footsteps anymore.
Well, at least I know some things never change, he thought. Sirius sat back down and crawled over to the battered bed cushion that they had allotted him. He curled up his knees and tried to close his eyes to sleep, sure that all of his dreams would be real horrors from now on.
o o o o o o
SPECIAL THANKS:
Kiruh: Who helped me with my horrible spelling and grammar. You are an awesome friend!
Anyone who reads this: Because you read this
