Another Day, Another Tragedy
Sirius watched the slow rise of the swollen moon from the windows in his dorm as it stumbled across the sky and shut his eyes tight for a moment, banishing the image that seemed to have tattooed itself onto the insides of his eyelids.
The immediate future played out clearly before his eyes; tomorrow, the moon would be a full, globular one, and his best friend's trauma would begin all over again. They would escape to the shrieking shack; Peter would freeze the vicious branches of the Whomping Willow while he and James, in their animagus form did everything they could to prevent Moony from going off the rails and get him to the Shrieking Shack. The night would pass slowly, pregnant with pain and diminishing hope and another morning would reveal new scars etched on to their skin, a permanent remainder of another full moon successfully dealt with.
He sighed immensely, dreading time that seemed to trickle by all too sneakily before another full moon came by and he wondered where Remus was, where James was and why Peter wasn't asleep yet – out of the four Marauders, it was Peter whose eyes generally refused to stay open beyond nine at night.
"Padfoot. What's the matter?" The thump of James' palm upon his shoulder startled Sirius violently and he jumped with a loud yelp.
"James, for Merlin's sake!" he floundered, unable to respond for a full minute while James peered at him in concern.
James patiently repeated his question and waited for Sirius to pull himself together.
"I just…really don't feel like talking right now, Prongs," he said weakly. His eyes reflected the dull glow of the moon and James pulled away, eyes warm with understanding.
"Alright, mate. I'll just give you some time then – see you at breakfast tomorrow?" Sirius nodded gratefully in response.
He stayed up the entire night, watching the moon play hide and seek with the fluffy clouds and discovering the true meaning of a silver lining in a raincloud. But as the little sparkles of sunrise began shimmering through the heavy horizon, announcing the new day, Sirius found himself trembling.
In around twelve hours, it would be time to fight their monthly battle against the moon. He suddenly felt heavy with fear and despair, terrified of the thought of another night where he had to keep his best friend from killing dozens of innocents – including him.
Sirius reluctantly dragged he too-hot blanket away from him and stood up unsteadily to go and clean himself up before breakfast. His mind worked a little too hard at conjuring happy memories and the smile on his face stretched a little too thin as he greeted Remus in the morning.
Remus Lupin might detest the full moon and everything she did to him – but Sirius, he trembled with fear at the animal his best friend became and at the mere image of those bloodthirsty fangs gracing the skin by his throat.
The moon was beginning to become his enemy.
Entered in:
The Phobia Challenge, Selenophobia
The Twelve Days of Christmas Style Challenge, House #2: Gryffindor