Do You Believe…?
Plot: set during the summer after OotP. Harry becomes depressed and begins thinking of suicide when a certain ghost invades his life...
Sirius comes back as a ghost to help Harry and Remus through their loses, only not like the ghosts at Hogworts but REAL ghosts! the kind you can't see and get a chill up your spine if they're in the same room and all that? flashes of light, objects suddenly missing or moving on their own, a shadow across the wall, noises from an empty space...
i THINK our house is haunted at the moment so that's really what inspired this. that and the fact that i KNOW my aunt's house is haunted by my grandma- y'know, that sorta happens if a person slowly dies in a place where there's a lot of attachments, right? right! so, i would like to thank my family for finally becoming useful! YAY for family!
also YAY for the movie Ghost, from where i got some really killer ideas! YAY!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything of the Harry Potter hype but if I did things like this would be happening all the time!
Ch8- Thinking Softly…
The blinding light, which Sirius was finding to be increasingly annoying, subsided quickly and he rubbed he eyes warily, the light flaring up again every time he closed them. "damn…" he murmured, eyes still closed. Sirius could "tell" that he was now inside a small wooden shack, the scent of the one-an-only room was heavy with the stench of mildew, sweet, and blood.
'blood?!'
Sirius' eyes shot open as this thought sunk in and he took in the scene…
A torn mattress lay to the back of the room, away from the windows, which were heavily curtained by some cheap black material. A small, rickety wooden table sat near the front door, one lone rickety wooden chair to accompany it under one-of-three windows. A small, old fashioned blue lantern sat atop the table, dimly lighting only a seven foot circle around itself, leaving many ominous shadows.
Boxes littered the floor around him, filled with wrinkling and dirty clothes or cans of food and bread. Sirius looked down and saw that his right foot was half way through a tomato soup can. He quickly removed it, although it didn't matter where he put his foot anymore.
Tearing his eyes away from the can, Sirius looked back to Remus' bed. He felt light headed, as if this were all some dream and his childhood friend did not live like this and, no, that wasn't Remus withering in pain on the torn mattress, the change already upon him.
"Remus…" Sirius breathed out, rushing to the other man's side. Sirius knelt down beside Remus but could only watch…
Fur trailed down his naked back, up his arms and legs…
His muscles grew and bones lengthened with sickening sounds…
Amber eyes dilated and their shape shifted to that of the great predator's…
Nails grew and sharpened…
Teeth bared as they turned into razors, all the while his blood drenched himself and the mattress, causing the allusion of red-tinted sweet.
Some of the blood was from the change, some from old wounds reopening and spitting out the red fluid.
Sirius sat by his side through it all, his own teeth bared, fists balled up, knees pressed against his chest as he curled up and let the tears come free and soak his face as Remus howled to the moon.
The howl had been long and sounded as if it ripped the werewolf's throat while trying to escape. It was a sad, mournful howl, and the werewolf's muscles tightened and laxed only to tighten again, straining. It seemed as if the great beast were in movement even while it lay there, muzzle upturned to the shack's ceiling, blood coating its fine and coarse pelt. And through it all Sirius cried, the feelings he had kept under such close lock and key coming free… he cried for his mother and father, for his brothers and cousins he would never know, for the family he would never have, for the friend he had left behind… and for Harry and James. As he cried the werewolf sang its mournful song, Sirius' echoing its pain and agony all night long until the blessed son would come again and heal them both…
~~~
As the morning light filtered through parts of the black curtains, the werewolf's body began to convert back to human. Ears and eyes resuming the man's shape, paws returning to human hands and feet, teeth becoming smaller and dull again. The creature had long since passed out. From bodily strain and blood loss, and lay curled up into a tight circle on the mattress. As wolf traces faded from the man, his human body sprawled out. A whimper left him before the muzzle (the last of the change left) vanished completely, to be replaced by morning-after fuzz. Another month gone, a new one to begin again with.
Sirius stood by a window, lifting the curtain slightly to peer outside. "you're a horrible house-keeper, Moon, but your shack does have three good qualities I like…" a ghost of a smirk graced his features. "location,
Location,
Location!"
the humor left him as soon as Sirius looked back at his friend. The sheets had become twisted around the werewolf's middle, his pale form shivering.
Making up his mind, Sirius strode over to one of the boxes of clothes and recognized his favorite gray shirt. 'just as I thought!' Sirius concentrated hard and began ruffling through the boxes. He wore a determined grimace as he tossed black shirts and white shirts turned to gray onto the shack's floor. He had gone through all of the boxes before reaching the one beside Remus' bed. After a minute of searching, Sirius pulled out his old, beaten, stained (by coffee and an assortment of alcohols) and musk-smelling leather jacket from the old days. Staring down at it sadly, Sirius took up the coat and laid it on top of the sleeping Remus. He then settled back down onto the wooden floor and waited for his friend to stir.
He didn't have to wait long.
Remus sat up in his bed quickly, both hands clutching the worn out jacket. His head whipped around quickly, taking in his tiny home and, after coming up with nothing, looked back down at Sirius' old jacket.
for fifteen minutes, Remus just stared off into space or down at the jacket, seeming to be still out of it. "what is he doing?" Sirius wondered, taking a step towards the werewolf. Remus' eyes had been closed and his brow furrowed. Suddenly tears started to leak from his amber eyes and fell gracefully down his cheeks. "Sirius…" he murmured before burying his face in the leather jacket. "oh, Moony- please don't cry!" Sirius yelped, sitting down beside the man. Suddenly Remus looked up sharply, right into Sirius' eyes…
"what the-" Sirius looked right into warm amber eyes. "can you see me?" he asked quietly, not wanting to break the spell. Remus didn't respond though, just kept look into Sirius' eyes. Sirius' face darkened and he shifted around to stare behind him. There it was, hanging right there behind Sirius, the four Marauders, trapped in a chipping frame, looking sadly at Remus. "no…" Sirius looked down into his lap, feeling his own tears about to come forth. "no, you can't. you can't see me."
Sirius stood up suddenly, clutching his fists, and yelled out "HOME!". the blinding light came again and swept Sirius back to number four Privet Drive, back to the Durselys.
Back to James.
Back to Harry.
And then he was gone.
*a/n: okay okay, shesh! Didn't know that there were so many anti-slash people out there! *holds up hands* everyone will stay as straight as a two-by-four, happy? Oh, and Truth? *puts up middle fingers* really hun, I don't give a damn. This is my little hobby that I work at only SOME of the time and I don't give a rat's ass if you don't like it- you're the one who's read thus far so I can't really take you seriously, now can I? This is MY hobby that I choose to work on whenever I feel like it. No schedules, no nothing. If you want to read more then you'll have to wait for me to write it. Now sit down, shut up, or go give someone else a crappy review, cause the next one I'll post and ridicule for all to see… thank you.
-the AUTHOR of this grand little fic who only cares about her NICE and PATIENT reviewers!
ALSO! The next chapter will be the second part of this one- with Harry and Draco's phone conversation- see ya then!