Falling For Black

Disclaimer at Bottom

*FB* = Flashback, Flashbacks meant to be in italics...but no italics in .txt docs....you'll understand the flashback thing...just read on...

Chapter Twenty Three - A Broken Childhood

Hours later Madison lay curled up next to Sirius, wearing his school shirt, her head resting on his chest. She could hear his heart pumping and feel the slow rise and fall of his chest with his breathing as he sleep, one arm behind his head the other in Madison's hair.

Now was the time, Madison thought, she'd kept it from him two long...she had to explain it. If she didn't now, Tiffany would, and that would be worse than having to tell Sirius herself.

"Sirius," she whispered, gently rubbing Sirius's chest. He stirred slightly closing his mouth then opening it, and turning his head the other way. "Sirius," Madison continued.

He opened his eyes slowly and ran a hand through his tousled yet still elegant black hair. Madison sat up and crossed her legs. She was wearing only her bra and knickers but Sirius's white shirt was big enough to act as almost a dress.

"I have to tell you something...something about when I was little..." said Madison, playing unneccassarily with the bed covers.

"What..." said Sirius lazily, his head still resting on one of his arms.

"It's difficult..." said Madison slowly.

"What?" said Sirius again, now sitting up, his brow slightly furrowed. Madison exhaled slowly.

"When I was born...my mother died...throat cancer I think." said Madison evenly, she could talk easily about her mother's death. She did miss her mother, she longed for a mother, yet she hadn't really ever known her own mother at all.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." said Sirius, running a hand through his black hair.

"But that's a whole other story." said Madison determined to keep going, "She died, and my dad had to look after the six of us...Me and Magsy, Roxy, Tatiana, Clarence and Francis. Well at this point, we were very poor...and well he just couldn't do it. He couldn't provide us with the kind of healthy upbringing we needed. So we all got put into seperate orphanages, I was only 6 months old at this time."

"I went to live with a man and his wife, when I was five. I didn't know I had five brothers and sisters or a twin or even a dad. I thought I was alone, so when I got taken in by this couple, I loved it...I was so happy, happy to finally have a family and a home."

"I lived there happily, went to school, got good grades, made friends. I made friends with Tiffany, you know Tiffany...although she wasn't exactly nice to me. She was the leader of the playground and I was her little sidekick, it was one of those stupid annoying first school friendships. I hated her...but I was so afraid now of being alone, I knew how much it hurt, so I did everything for her. Brought her a muffin from my house everyday, beause her mother wouldn't let her eat sugar...let her copy my work...you know the kind of thing....anyway..."

"After a year or so, my foster mother, Lisa, anounced she was pregnant...at first I was terrified. I thought if they got a new baby I would have to leave an go back to the orphanage...but Lisa and Rick, Rick was my foster dad, promised I would be able to stay..."

"Yeah...when she announced she was pregnant...that was when things started to change...Rick used to go out and drink. He'd come home and just kind of collapse...I thought he'd caught some kind of disease or something..."

"Then one night-" Madison's breathe caught, the rest had been easy, but not his bit. "He came home...a-and Lisa was out...he shouted...he screamed at me about how he was going to k-kill and how he hated me..."

"I yelled and screamed back...I didn't want to hear him...I didn't want to be alone again...t-then..." Madison couldn't breathe, it was all coming back to her, like a real life nightmare...

*FB* Tears begining to fall. Rick stumbling into the kitchen the tinkle of cutlery hitting the tiled floor.

"He went to the kitchen...and he got a knife..." Tears began to fall now, just like they had done ten years ago, "A really huge horrible knife..."

*FB* Screaming. Madison Screaming. Running. Tripping.

"I ran...I had nothing...All I could do was run. I ran up the stairs and tripped on the last step..."

*FB* Cruel Laughter. Flash of a blade...then blood...just blood everywhere.

"He laughed at me." Madison wasn't looking Sirius now, she looked down, her cheeks already stained with tears, "He stabbed me...I managed to move and he stabbed me in my leg...You ever been stabbed?" Sirius shook his head, "It feels like the muscles in your body are being ripped and torn and the pain won't stop, no matter how much you cry or scream...and you can't move other wise the blade'll move and that's hell...I pulled it out...I'd seen it on TV So I pulled out the blade and threw it back down the stairs..."

*FB* More laughter. Searing Pain. More laughter.

"He wouldn't stop laughing and leering at me and the pain...I-I couldn't think staright...I just did it...I didn't mean to-to..."

"You didn't mean to what?" asked Sirius very quietly, Madison jumped she'd almost forgotten he was there.

*FB* Laughter. Screaming. Blood. Pain. A shove. A body falling down the stairs...a body lying there motionless...his body.

"I...pushed him down the stairs...I don't know how...but the stairs were behind him...and I....I just pushed him..."

*FB* Realisation.

"I'd never seen anyone die before...but I knew...I knew he was. And it was my fault...I killed him...It was all me...my fault."

Sirius looked shocked but pulled Madison into his chest and held her for how long he didn't know. Then after Madison had stopped shaking and her sobs had quietened, he held her away from him and said,

"I'm not sure what to say..."

"Why don't you just say the thruth," wailed Madison, "The truth is you're getting married to a MURDERER SIRIUS!! A FUCKING MURDERER!!! I KILLED SOMEONE!!" she had stood up and strode across the room, her hands pulling at her hair. Reaching the window, she colapsed onto the floor, and just cried.

"Madison I don't think you're a murderer...Okay some might call it murder, I call it self defence..." whispered Sirius, sitting down and gently pushing Madison's face to face his by touching her chin.

After a minute or two of silence, Madison spoke very quietly,

"Do you still want to marry me..?"

"Of course I do, I'm in love with you...I'm head over heals about you, I don't care what you had to do to protect yourself from a murdering bastard ten years ago," Sirius looked into her eyes, "I love you...Come on,"

Sirius helped Madison up and walked her to the bathroom, and as Madison sat on the bathroom side, Sirius wiped her face with a damp cloth, pushing the strands of hair from her face as he did so.

He then walked her to the balcony and they both stepped out into the cool evening breeze. Madison smiled as the freshness of the air hit her face, she leaned on the balcony letting her hair be blown back slightly. She looked over the rolling lawns, the herbology greenhouses, the lake glittering with the dying evening sun and the tops of the trees of the forbidden forest glowing orange. Sirius stood behind Madison and lifted her hair from the back of her neck and kissed her there, and as he proposed they go out for dinner in Hogsmeade, the sun dipped behind a mountain drenching the castle, the balcony and the two people stood on it in a dim orange light.

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EXTRA PLOT INFO!!! READ!!! Okay I know some people are going to be like "why this," "you didn't explain that" so just read before you ask anything okay? :)

*Madison didn't go to jail, because the court ruled it self-defence, not murder.

*Madison's real family, come to the trial and her dad has made loads of money in banking and is able to take Madison back, thats why Tiffany doesn't know about Magsy.

*In Chap. 10, Madison mentions her parents...her dad re-married and Madison now classes that women as a parent.

A/N: Sorry for Sirius's totally lame under-reaction...but hey! I rewrote this chapter because today it just suddenly struck me...that was such a lame climax...I hope this is a bit more fullfilling. So that was the hard work out of the way, it's downhill from here, I'm planning about 4 or 5 chapters more...Maybe less. :( I'll be sad when this is over...REVIEW PLEASE!! 3

THANKS FOR 100 REVIEWS!!! OHMYGOD I BROKE 100!!!! I'M SOOOOOOOO HAPPY THANK YOU SQUILLIONS TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE WHO REVIEWS!! I LOVE YOU ALL MUCHOS!!!

Disclaimer : Me no own Harry Potter.