Set Fire to the Bleeding Moon
Summary: Darkness was their night. Darkness was their day. And Darkness was the light that blew them away.
Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, and sadly do not own any one of her fabulously fabricated characters, plot, and world.
Chapter 2: No Turning Back
Let's get out of this town, baby we're on fire
Everyone around here seems to be going down, down, down
If you stick with me, I can take you higher, and higher
-The Lucky Ones, Lana Del Rey
The room was dark and cold.
There were no windows
There were no doors
She was on her knees
She looked up
A pair of blood red eyes stared back at her
And then Alethea Winters woke. The thick Hogwart blankets seemed to choke her. She frantically tried to get them off. Cold, sticky sweat clung onto her like a leach. She ran to the shower and let the hot water rush over her, rinsing her of the dream.
Alethea was no stranger to horrendous nightmares. They plagued her almost every night. She dreamed of her mother abandoning her, pleading on her knees, begging for mercy. But this was the first time that she had this particular nightmare. She had never, to her recollection, been in that cold, stone room before. Nor had she ever seen anyone with crimson eyes.
She glanced at her small muggle watch, one of the only muggle devices that worked within Hogwarts. It read 1:30 AM. She sighed. Well, I missed dinner for sure. Alethea pondered for a second, thinking whether she should just try to go back to bed. Her stomach rumbled in protest. Giving in to her empty stomach, she tiptoed her way past the rest of her sleeping dorm mates and walked down the stairs. A few minutes later, she came within sight of the painting of a fruit bowl, which led to the Hogwarts Kitchens. She raised a finger, tickled the pear, and walked in. Immediately the aroma of roasts, bread, and soup wafted towards her, seducing her senses. Soon after, a house elf popped and arrived in front of her.
"And what can Moppy do for Miss Alethea?" the elf said, bowing deeply.
"Some comfort food please, Moppy, I've had a nightmare," Alethea replied, smiling warmly. She was very fond of the house elf and had spent many nights talking to her by the fire.
"Of course Miss. Alethea! Moppy is pleased to serve!" Moppy replied happily, and rushed to bring the requested food to Miss. Alethea.
Alethea made her way to the small wooden table by the cackling fire. To her surprise and slight dismay, there was a figure sitting with his back to her nursing a bottle of firewhiskey. She froze, unsure of what to do. Never before had she bumped into another student in the Kitchens before, much less so late at night. In fact, she didn't even realize that other people knew how to get in there. Suddenly, he turned and the two stared at each other for a moment before he burst into a big smile.
"Alethea! Would've never thought you'd be here so late! Not such a good girl are we now, huh?"
"Never said that I was, Sirius. Are you finished? I could come back later if you'd like," She replied somewhat coldly, standing beside him with her arms crossed. She really didn't want to barge in on his 'me time' and she really didn't have the energy to try and get him to leave.
"What? Don't be ridiculous. Sit down! I just got here," Sirius said, extending his arm out towards the free chair in front of him. He didn't understand why she didn't want to sit with him. Perhaps she just thinks that I'm a playboy. He thought bitterly.
She hesitated slightly. Why would he want to talk to me? He hates me! "Are you sure? Maybe I'll just get my food and eat in my dorm…" Alethea muttered, as she began to motion for Moppy to send the food up to her bed.
"And wake up everyone else? Come on Alethea! I don't bite!" he teased. "Just sit! I promise I'm not as big of an annoying prat as everyone thinks I am," At least. He thought. I hope I'm not.
Moppy suddenly arrived with a tray full of food. There was a plate of chicken legs, some sandwiches, lamb chops, a bowl of soup, a mince pie, some pumpkin juice, and a treacle tart for dessert. Alethea's jaw dropped at the sight. The tray was so full and so tall that poor Moppy was struggling to carry it. She finally managed to get the tray on the table with some difficulty and some help from Sirius.
"Please enjoy yous food, Miss. Alethea, Mr. Black. Should yous be needing anything else?" She asked with a deep bow.
"I don't think so. Thanks so much Moppy!" Alethea replied. Moppy bowed once again before disappearing with a loud pop! Alethea looked at Sirius for a long moment, as she considered her dilemma. If she stayed, she would risk embarrassing herself and intruding on Sirius, someone she was sure hated her already. If she left, she would appear very rude, particularly after Sirius had personally invited her to dine with him. Plus, Moppy had given her way too much food to finish on her own. Perhaps Sirius is hungry… Alethea decided to let her reservations go and sat down back down. "I'm sure you're a much bigger prat. Just saying,"
Sirius put his hand over his heart dramatically. "Now why would you have such negative impressions on me, my fair lady? What have I done to hurt you?"
"Everything," she thought hatefully but quickly pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. "Your reputation precedes you Mr. Black,"
"Does it now?" he said with a smirk. "And what do people say about the great Sex God?"
"Well, Alicia Clearwater says that you're the biggest, fattest, most annoying person to have ever set foot on this planet and that she hates, hates, hates, hates you," Alethea said, in a high pitched tone with exaggerated hand gestures.
"Alicia? Don't think I know her…" Sirius replied in a somewhat confused manner. "What does she look like?"
"Short, blonde, blue eyes. She sits behind you in Charms or something,"
Sirius looked at Alethea for a long minute before coming to a sudden realization of who this 'Alicia Clearwater' was.
"Oh! Clearwater! I remember her, made out with her in a broom cupboard a few times," Sirius paused. "She hates me?" he added in a quiet, hurt voice.
Alethea's heart dropped. She never realized that Sirius actually had feelings for Clearwater. She always assumed that Alicia was just another one of his two-week flames. Apparently she was wrong.
"Why? You fancy her or something?" Alethea ventured weakly as she twiddled her fingers slightly, her heart sinking.
"No. I just like to be dramatic. Must be the Black genes in me. Mother's always over exaggerates everything," Sirius replied, leaning back into his chair, smirking.
Alethea felt her world lightened up a bit. Relief poured through her. She smiled. "I never really thought that you did. After all, you didn't even know who she was!" They both chuckled. Sirius leaned back in his chair. Alethea took a big bite out of her pie.
He tried to steal a chicken leg.
She slapped his hand.
He gasped.
She stuck her tongue out.
He got up and walked over to her.
She looked up.
He leaned closer.
Her heart raced.
And then he tickled her.
And then she screamed.
And he laughed.
She thought that she had never heard a more beautiful sound.
Alethea and Sirius continued to talk deep into the night. Sirius told Alethea about the pranks that he pulled. She told him about her favorite muggle movies. They gushed at the magic of muggle cinema. They talked about their favorite bands. She told him that she owned every House Elf record released. He told her that he wanted to marry her. Their hearts beat rapidly. Butterflies partied in their stomachs. And they sat there for a long moment, looking at each other, neither of them uttering a single word. They may not have known it at that point but their ship had sailed long ago. It had seen rough storms and there would be harsher ones to come. But they couldn't stop, not now. Not ever.
There was no turning back now.
"Are you going to go to bed?" Alethea blurted out at around 5 am. The two had been sitting in silence for the past while. They had recently just calmed down from a giggle fest and were still trying desperately to catch their breath.
"Yeah. Probably. Got classes tomorrow morning after all," came the reply, followed up by a loud yawn. Sirius grinned sheepishly. Alethea looked dejected.
"Think you could push sleep for another hour?" She asked. "There's something that I really want you to see,"
Sirius flashed another one of his infamous smirks. Alethea's heart missed a beat. "You know what I would really like to see? You, naked,"
Alethea blushed furiously. "Get your head out of the gutter Black! It's nothing of the sort," she retorted.
"Well. Then I guess it's not really worth seeing," Sirius replied as he got out of his chair. "I'm off to bed. You coming?"
"Push bed for an hour. I promise you won't regret it,"
She grabbed Sirius's arm firmly.
"Come," She said. And Sirius had no choice but to oblige.
The pair walked silently through the empty corridors. She led them through the long and winding hallways, up the exact staircase (and expertly avoided the nasty trick staircases that had nothing better to do but change course suddenly so that you landed exactly opposite of where you wanted to go.) He wondered why exactly she knew this route so well. "Guess she must explore the halls by herself a lot." He thought. "I wonder why she's up so late…" Soon enough, they reached the highest point of Hogwarts; The Astronomy Tower.
"What are we doing here? Stargazing?" Sirius inquired, confused. "I'm not really in the mood to do Astronomy homework right now, Winters. If you brought me all the way up here to show me a bunch of useless constellations then I swear I'll-"
"Don't be ridiculous you dolt. It's almost 5 am. It's not night anymore," Alethea said, cutting him off. "Come on! We shouldn't miss a single moment of it."
What could we not miss a moment of? What could possibly be so magnificent that-
A breathtaking sight cut off Sirius' thoughts. It was the sunrise: a gigantic fiery ball of light rising from the horizon, painting the sky with brilliant shades of red and orange. The light twinkled and danced on the Black lake beautifully. Colour, light, hope, they all exploded into the sky and into Sirius' heart. All of the tension, the pain, the fear instantly drained from him and instead, he was filled with an abundance of joy and happiness. He looked over at Alethea and silently thanked her a million times over for showing him such beauty. She looked back at him with a smug expression.
They stood there for a few more moments, mesmerized by the brilliance of the world around them. They were content to just stay there in silence. But unlike before, it was a comforting one. There were no words that could describe the sight before them. And there were no words that needed to. Its magnificence was undeniable. It did not need the embellishment of fanciful words and phrases. It spoke for itself.
"Thank you," He whispered.
"You're welcome," She replied.
And then in the heat of a moment, Sirius took a deep breath. He threw caution to the wind and leaned in to kiss her.
Fireworks exploded in their hearts.
The next morning, Sirius did not come down to breakfast. Remus looked at James inquiringly. James shook his head.
"Don't know Moony. When I tried to wake him he told me to fuck off," James said as he helped himself to an enormous plate of food. Remus watched him with slight disgust as he began shoveling the food into his face as fast as he could.
"Did you leave the hangover potion next to him?" Remus asked.
"Yes. He'll probably be down in time for class. Even he doesn't want to piss off Minnie. He needs to pass in order to get into Aurour training,"
"You know what made him drink himself into a stupor this time?"
James shrugged, loudly chewing his food.
"His family probably," James said with his mouth still full of food. A fiery red head a few seats beside him almost turned green. He flashed a dumb grin at her, to which she simply looked away. Unfazed, he turned back to his conversation with Remus.
"He'll be fine," James insisted.
Remus didn't look too sure, convinced that Sirius' disowning had hurt him a lot more than he let on.
Sirius had been on shaky grounds with his family ever since he started Hogwarts. Being sorted into Gryffindor fueled a fury in his parents that only grew and intensified over the years. His flat-out rejection of their beliefs and customs didn't help matters either. They argued constantly. Disturbing threats flowing out like a tap that never turned off. Prized possessions were smashed. Hexes flew. Blows were made. And feelings were hurt.
Regulus (Sirius' younger brother) and the family house elves watched the fight with barely contained fear. Raised voices and insults flourished.
Sometimes Mrs. Black burst into tears at the 'disappointment of her first born'.
Sometimes Mr. Black pushed Sirius out of his office and slammed the door shut.
But mostly, it ended with Sirius storming out of the house in a fit of rage.
Except for this fight. This fight was louder, crueler, and more violent than any other argument in the Black household. Sirius' mother was livid, his father murderous, and Sirius… Well let's just say that his defiance had reached an all time high.
He went into his room, stuffed as much of his belongings into his school trunk as he could, and left. He told his parents that he had enough and that he was leaving.
They begged and they pleaded. His mother cried. His brother begged. His father threatened. Even the house elves tried to convince him not to go. He didn't listen.
He returned home a few days later to retrieve the rest of his belongings. It was then that he saw that he had been blasted off of the family tree. And it was then that his father told him coldly that he was disowned.
No one tried to stop him from leaving the second time. And he didn't look back, even though he desperately wanted to.
Sirius put up a brave front, sheepishly asking the Potters if he could intrude upon their hospitality for the rest of the summer, and claimed not to give a Newts Ear what his parents did to him.
But of course, it hurt. Sirius never expected that his family would disown him. That they would leave him penniless. That they would never speak to him again. It hurt more than he let himself admit. And underneath the disbelief, the rage, the anger, was the bitter realization that he had brought it upon himself. That he had chosen to leave. And then there came the guilt. Guilt that he had brought pain into his family. That he had made his mother cry. That he broke his relationship with his younger brother. That he made Regulus cry as he begged him not to leave.
There was pain. Lots of it. But he didn't admit it to anyone. Hell, he didn't even admit it to himself. He told himself that he was happy to be disowned and that he didn't give a rats arse what happened to his family. They could disappear off of the face of the earth and he wouldn't give a damn.
But just because he didn't accept the pain, didn't mean that it wasn't there. It burned him every single day. He replayed the memory over and over in his head. The memory of his mother weeping on the floor, his brother begging him not to leave, his father threatening him to come back, the memories haunted him every single moment. But he was far too stubborn and proud to go back and ask for forgiveness.
And so he struggled on, pushing all of the bitterness and the pain and shoving them to the back of his mind. It was easier this way. Because contrary to Alethea and the numbness she had felt for her entire life, Sirius had always felt too much. The emotions exploded within him. And they made his life complicated. And it hurt. And so he decided that it was better not to feel anything. It was easier, less painful.
To compensate, Sirius partied a lot. He hooked up with girls a lot. He smoked a lot. He drank a lot. And he told himself that he would not care for anyone ever again. Except for the Marauders, whom he was certain would never, ever, ever, betray him.
But when a certain blue-eyed girl suddenly waltzed into his life, his heart took over. The emotions that he had tried so hard to freeze came back to life. He couldn't help but feel for the girl. Her mystery intrigued him. Her sarcasm made him laugh. Her beauty took his breath away. But her heart was what stole him. He admired Alethea's ability to forgive. He admired her thirst to live. He admired her kindness. He saw the pain that lingered behind her eyes. Yet he saw her willingness to give life a second chance. And he wanted that. He desperately wanted to be able to move on. He hated that he was running around in circles, never coming to terms with his agony and thus never being able to escape it. And that was his love for her. Perhaps Fate decided to curse him with more heartbreak. Who would love a man like him?
A smaller, fainter part of his mind however, whispered: Or perhaps, they sent a blessing. And she will be the silver lining you have been searching for all this time.
So there's chapter 2! Hope you guys enjoyed 3 Leave a review if you feel up to it ^^
xxx LordessV