Love Makes One Do Stupid Things
Ch. #2: A Ghost's Lament
By: Miyamashi
Author's Note: Sorry that the first chapter was so short. I just felt that where I ended it was a good place to stop. This one is longer, really. (Though not much so) It also somehow manages to sound very comedic in a few places. I think I need to refrain myself from writing angst fanfics after reading Douglas Adams (Author of The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, etc…) books…they make me think in stranger ways than usual!
Well, not much else to say, except for that I'm growing strangely used to the stupid title. It actually kind of goes with the odd writing style…
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There was a moment of shocked silence as everyone registered the scene before them. Remus Lupin was dead, and his ghost was now sitting half-submerged in his own corpse, rocking silently back and forth. The children were probably scarred for life. This was not good at all.
Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody was the first to break the silence.
"What is going on here?" he growled, a trace of fury etched in his voice. The others, including Harry, Ron And Hermione, turned toward him. "Who did this?" His voice was now almost a scream.
"…I did…" said Remus, hardly audible because he was speaking nervously into his knees.
All eyes in the room moved from Moody to the translucent, pearly figure on the bed. Nobody said anything for a very long time, and the room became completely silent, save for the occasional shaky breath.
Harry was in a state of shocked unbelief. Why would Lupin kill himself?
But before Harry could ponder any more, Remus' voice once again softly laced the air.
"Please….please stop looking at me like that. I…don't know what got into me. I just…gave up." His eyes had become wild, fearful, and laced with silvery tears. His now slightly echoed voice took on a rushed and sporadic tone. "I couldn't stand it any longer…I couldn't live without…and then I realized what I'd done…but it was too late…too late…too late…"
He kept mumbling those last two words over and over again. Numerous questions sprang from the lips of the others, but the ghost ignored them, his head in his hands as he continued to rock in place.
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The living inhabitants of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place sat silently around the even more dark and gloomy dinner table. After about a half-hour of attempting to talk to a ghost who was clearly lost in his own grief, they dejectedly gave up and decided to leave him to his own devices.
It had been almost a week since then, and things didn't seem to be improving. Every so often, somebody would go up to the second story room and see if there had been any improvements, but it was always the same.
"…too late…too late…too late…"
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Sirius Black was an unquestionably unhappy spirit. Had he been mistaken, or had he seen and touched the one he loved? He knew that he should be happy that Remus was probably now off living his life in at least pseudo-peace, but he couldn't help but to feel as if he'd been ripped off.
He had been so happy, even if it was only for about ten seconds.
Of course, there was always the possibility that Sirius had been delusional, but he didn't particularly like to consider that version of events.
So what if that possibility was actually more of a probability?
Blast it all. Sirius just wanted to see that face and to feel that touch again. He wanted Remus to come back, even if he hadn't really been there at all. He didn't care if he was being selfish and possessive. He wanted to snog…or something to that effect.
After Sirius had retrieved his head from the gutter, he once again grinned at how much he liked the afterlife. He silently thanked whomever had arranged it so spirits could feel things. Of course, he wanted nothing more than to feel Remus.
Yes. Sirius Black was a very grumpy spirit indeed.
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Ginny Weasley was getting annoyed. She really did feel sorry for Lupin for…whatever it was…but she was beginning to get curious and just slightly stir crazy. She needed to get that depressed ghost to stop wallowing in self pity so they could see if there was any way to help him, but she couldn't think of how.
So she asked Tonks. The two of them tried a great deal of things. It started with trying to make physical contact with the ghost. They attempted to poke him. They threw things at, or rather through him. Then, they tried shining bright lights at him. Nothing. Not even a twitch.
Then, Tonks had a crazy, wonderful, completely devilish idea.
It was evil because it'd probably cause everyone in the household to go into cardiac arrest, but hopefully jerk Lupin out of his trance in the process.
Everyone staying in the old Black Manor had been especially careful not to wake the portrait of the old woman in the entry hall. That was about to change, due to the fact that Tonks accidentally caused herself to trip over the umbrella stand. Nobody would suspect a thing.
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"…too late…too late…" Remus murmured to himself for what had to be the billionth time.
Then, an ear-splitting screech shattered his thoughts completely. He probably would have had a heart attack if he weren't dead already. He shook his head irritably and floated through the bed and the floor (Dumbledore had made Moody remove the body, somehow still not disturbing the werewolf-spirit, before it had started to rot) to see who had awakened Sirius' mother.
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Even though you couldn't hear it, due to the screaming portrait, Ginny and Tonks both yelped in surprise as the pearly figure emerged from within the ceiling. After the initial alarm, they turned toward each other and grinned. It had worked!
Now they just needed to shut the portrait up.
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Author's Note: Yeah, it's still short. I'm not great at writing long chapters. Luckily, I'm really liking this fic so far, so updates should come fairly frequently. Note that I don't really need title suggestions anymore. I think I'll just keep the current one. (Mostly out of laziness) Well, until chapter three…
