The disco ball was too bright in her eyes.
Normally, she'd be happy at the chance of a warm day in the otherwise cold land in which she lived in, but it was too bright. Too big. It was a large golden disco ball in the sky.
"Mummy, what's that?" The girl pointed to the disco ball clinging to the frozen sky. There was no party there, it should've went away by now once it saw that.
"It's the sun, Ali." The woman said in a gentle voice. "It keeps us warm, gives us light… without it, we'd be nothing. Isn't it beautiful?"
It was. The horizon was a rich orange color, mixing with a light pale pink marking the clouds- the start of a promising new day. Ali Winston looked at the sunrise with big eyes.
"One day, I'll be like the sun. I'll be light and warm and beautiful, and I'd give people a reason to live. I'll be invincible."
"Of course you will, sweetheart. Now we should head back home. We need to prepare supper before your father comes home from work."
"Okay, Mummy."
9 years later…
Fourteen-year-old Ali Winston smiled wryly as the sun came up. It left an ironic taste in her mouth that she was staring at the sun, the one thing she aspired to be, on her mum's death-day. It was she, after all, who introduced her to the sun- an invincible force, strong and beautiful, light and warm, the one thing that people had to be dependent on no matter how much independence they showed.
Ali shook her head and dropped her smile. She had a hung-over father to feed.
"Stay there, Dad. I'm going to get you something to drink."
"Not any Firewhiskey," He moaned as she passed the couch on which he was lying upon.
He wasn't always like this. Only when her mother died did he become a regular down at Hog's Head. But so did Ali, after all. She was just more subtle about it.
In the kitchen, she set to preparing her father some buttered toast and a glass of cool water when a tawny owl suddenly flew in the open window. Ali smirked as the owl drew near. It was Remus Lupin's owl, Athena.
"Well, hello there, stranger." Ali touched Athena's soft wings with the palm of her index finger before opening the letter she was clutching in her talons.
"Dear Ali,
Long time no see, huh? I've missed you- so did Sirius, James, and Peter. They told me to tell you "hello", and Sirius also told me to tell you that since you've been gone the world hasn't been right, that you two went together like peanut butter and jelly and the fact that you are away means the sun is going to collapse any day now.
It's obvious of his infatuation with you, will you just tell the poor man to sod off? He's becoming very annoying- not that he was any less annoying before he met you. I don't blame him, of course. You know about my crush on you back in our third year, not to mention Peter's obsession during our first year together. Only one Maurader hasn't been crushing on you, and of course that's James.
Poor James. He'll never land himself a girlfriend if he keeps on trying to win over Lily. She's a very beautiful girl, very smart and kind, but it seems unlikely that she'll feel anything for him other than hate.
We're currently residing in James's house; we know you have to take care of your dad and his cancer, but we sorely wish you could be there. Maybe you could take your dad to Saint Mungo's again? I know he didn't like it much, but I just wish that there was someone here who didn't want to talk about Quidditch.
Don't know what else to write, so I think I'll end it here.
Love,
Remus"
Ali finished the letter with a slight smirk. Of course they missed her; how could they not? She was the sun. She promised her mother she'd be. Flipping the parchment down, she took out a quill and ink from inside of a kitchen drawer (she had many weird things in her kitchen, after all) and began to write.
Dear Remus,
Of course you've missed me, you skinny little bastard. How could you not? I'm more physically attractive then you guys will ever be. Not to mention smarter, more creative, funnier... the list is endless. I'm LITERALLY better than you guys in every aspect.
Tell Sirius that I am in a committed relationship with myself, and that I fear I will not be breaking up anytime soon. I'm too amazing to break up with. (Plus, I have huge boobs. Everyone's so flat-chested these days, don't you think?).
Instead of objectifying my own body, I think I'm going to tell you that Sirius is much too cute of a person to NOT mess with. So while I love myself very much, I think I'm going to screw with him just a bit longer.
And hell yes, you had a crush on me. Because I'm the fucking sun and I'm indestructible and there's no way in FUCK you could have ever tried to hate me. It's humanely impossible.
Tell James that if he keeps messing with Lily, I will beat the crap out of him. Tell him I will literally beat the fudge pudding if he messes with her any longer. TELL HIM I WILL RIP OUT HIS HEART AND SHAVE OFF ALL OF HIS HAIR IF HE DOES NOT STOP BOTHERING HER. Because, honestly, he's as annoying as shit. That, and I'm seriously worried Lily'll beat the crap out of him herself.
My dad is actually in Saint Mungo's right now; I'll Portkey to James's house after lunch. And hell yeah, you guys are bored out of your mind. You literally don't talk about anything but Quidditch and your "furry little problem".
Ever yours (unfortunately),
Ali
Ali folded up the letter and put it in Athena's beak.
"Take this back to Remus, please." She said gently, and the bird flew off. In the other room, Ali's father's groans became more pronounced as he hoarsely shouted for his daughter.
"Comin', Dad!"
Her dad didn't have cancer. He had this little disease called heartbreak.
HELLO, PEOPLE WHO ARE INHABITING THIS WONDERFUL UNIVERSE IN WHICH WE LIVE IN.
I just finished "Looking For Alaska" and, for fuck's sake, I cried so much and decided to write a fan-fic about a girl who's strong, who's not fucking docile and scared and she doesn't cry and she has a fucked-up family but she's strong and she's the motherfucking sun so she doesn't show it.
So, yeah. Basically Ali is like a different Alaska of my own imagination. Because I'm sick of writing fan-fics where the girl is all pathetic and she knows she's pathetic and then Sirius Black falls in love with her because IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. But a girl who's strong, who always exaggerates things and makes people laugh and has a fucked-up family… I think it's a match in heaven.
