Natasha's note:
This ficlet takes place during Chapter Seven ('Where Loyalties Lie') of 'The Spaces Between Shadows & Night' (http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=893169) in case anyone was wondering where it fitted in. Please Review.

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A 'Spaces Between Shadow & Night' Ficlet
by: silverphoenix

Through Blue Eyes
Another Perspective

Feeling a pair of arms encircle her wait, Matilda sighed. "How are you feeling, Tilly?" It was him. If it had been anyone else but him, she would probably have ripped their arms off. He was the only person she let get that close to her.

"Like I've just thrown up everything I ate during the last week," was her reply.

"Why don't you go to Madame Pomfrey?" he asked. "Surely she can give you a potion or something...?"

She shook her head, her auburn hair tickling his nose. "It was the potion she gave me that made me throw up." She leant back on him slightly. It was incredibly reassuring to have him holding her like this. However awful she felt, however ill she got, having him hold her just made all the pain go away.

"Do you want to sit down?" he suggested.

Again she shook her head, still gazing out of the window. From this particular window in the Gryffindor Common Room there was an excellent view of the ground. A few hundred yards away, four figures could be seen, walking and talking to each other. Two of them sported the scarlet and gold ties of Gryffindor, one a dark haired boy and a girl with short curly brown hair. The girl appeared to be holding several heavy books.

Strangely enough, their companions were wearing green and silver-grey ties. Slytherin colours. The rivals of all Gryffindors and hated by the lot of them. Or apparently not. When the Gryffindor girl tripped slightly on one of the cobbles, she dropped her books. In a flash the Slytherin girl helped her collect them up.

"Watching Harry again?" he commented.

"I promised I would," she said softly.

"Promised who?"

"My cousin. Sirius. I promised I'd never let Harry get hurt." She turned around to face him, his arms still wrapped securely around her. "I remember holding Harry at his first birthday party," she said wistfully, looking up at him earnestly. "I have pictures of us. Me with my hair in hundreds of little plaits and him with the big green eyes that just make you stare and stare at them."

She frowned. "He didn't like me holding him very much. He had just started walking, you see, and loved his independence." A smile crept across Matilda's pale face. "His dad had got him a toy broomstick and he was showing it off to everyone. He was so proud."

"Baby Harry sounds very charming."

Matilda let out a derisive snort. "Harry? Charming? Hardly. I clearly recall him pulling my hair to see if she could take the plaits out and spilling his drink all over Remus Lupin's best robes."

He laughed at this. "He was a little devil, then."

She nodded. "You could say that, yes. Of course, he looked so sweet and innocent no-one got angry with him for very long." She paused slightly, realising that she had ended up in a completely different place then she had intended. "When I held Harry for that picture, Sirius made me promise that I wouldn't let anything happen to him. I intend to keep that promise."

"May I remind you that your cousin is wanted for murder?"

Her eyes flashed angrily. "He's innocent!"

"There's no proof in that," he said.

Matilda screwed her eyes shut. She took a deep steadying breath, letting the anger which had boiled up die down. "I was there. When it happened in that street. I saw everything that happened. I saw those Muggles die."

The surprise was evident on his face. "You were there?"

She nodded fiercely. "Yes. I've never been allowed to testify because I was only three when it happened. That fact that Sirius was my idol didn't help much either. I've tried protesting, and they saw that they'll think about letting me testify when I'm eighteen. But," here she put on mock horror, "oh no! I'm going to be dead by then."

"Don't say that," he demanded.

"Why not?" she asked harshly. "It's true. I'm dying and there is nothing anyone can do about it."

"I wish you wouldn't speak like that."

"And I wish I wasn't going to die. Looks like neither of us is going get what we want." By the solitary tear which had started to trickle down her face when she first mentioned the incident between Sirius and Peter Pettigrew had turned into a flood.

She buried her head against his chest, letting the tears flow. He was shocked. He'd never seen her cry before.

"Hush," he told her softly. "Tilly look at me," he ordered. She looked up at him, and sniffed slightly. He kissed her gently. "Please don't cry," he asked. "Can we pretend everything's going to be all right and we're going to live happily ever after?"

Nodding, she said, "We can try, George. We can try."

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FIN
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Natasha's notes:
Shadows!Matilda refused to be in Chapter Nine of 'Shadows', so I was forced to give in to her and write her her own little ficlet. She's happy now and has agreed to be in the next Harry chapter of 'The Spaces Between Shadows & Night' which is a relief as Shadows!Harry needs a good stern talking to.

Mailing List:
Amy has set up a new yahoo group for not only this story, but covering our own personal writing. You can find us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/monochrome_shadows/ - We'll still be sending out email updates as well and you can also contact us at: silver_prophet@mail.com. Amy also has a brand new livejournal: http://www.livejournal.com/~poetic_licence so feel free to check it out and access cookies to news to this series. Thanks for reading!

DISCLAIMER:
This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Alena, Matilda and the story line remain ours.