Summary: "The dream had been haunting her inconsistently for months . . . A strained silence hung over the room . . . 'Deal' . . ." Making deals isn't always healthy, but sometimes it's the only way to survive.
Rating: PG-13, for some language and strong, and sometimes physical, angst
Spoilers: This story mostly only contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but it would definitely make more sense if you have read all of the books.
Disclaimer: This story mostly revolves around two of my original characters, but they are based off of characters in the fantastic books written by J. K. Rowling, the Harry Potter series. If, when you have finished reading this chapter, you don't know who the characters are supposed to be, read the Author's Note at the end: it will tell you. By the way, if you feel like suing, go ahead . . . I want to be a lawyer when I'm older anyway, so it will be good practice for me!
Deal
She blinked her eyes in an unsuccessful attempt to clear her mind. Lying in her bed, she stared at the ceiling, self-pity imprinted on her face. She wanted to fall asleep, but she knew what came when she slept: the dream. The dream had been haunting her inconsistently for months, sometimes coming to her every day for a week, other times only visiting her once a full moon. Lately, however, she was in the former phase, tossing and turning every night in a desperate effort to stop the dream.
Death. The beautifully twisted nightmare always incorporated death . . . her death. It was almost a solace from reality, imagining herself free from the pain and terror. She took pleasure in watching her soul freed from the body she had come to loathe with a deep and unmatched passion. Yet, she was cognizant of the reactions her demise would undoubtably trigger. That was the most caustic brutality of the dream: it didn't end with her death. It showed the faces of the people who cared about her when they received the news. The worst part of the dream, in her opinion, was when the picture of his teary face was the blasted into her mind. He would fall to his knees and stare up at the sky in guilt. Anger or sadness never crossed his features, yet the guilt in his eyes was enough to make her scream until she was awake. Then, drenched in sweat, she would crawl out of bed and stumble to the bathroom. She'd splash water on her face and glance into the mirror for a few, torturous seconds, enough time to forget about the joy she would feel if she died.
No, she wouldn't go to sleep. Not tonight . . . not on this night.
She sat up in her bed. Her eyes drifted to the window and found the star that always brought her peace, Sirius. Removing the bed sheets from her small frame, she tiptoed over to the windowsill and sat down on the ledge. Bringing her knees up behind her, she gazed into the night sky.
A song suddenly came to her mind and she started to sing it in a whisper.
"Shining stars glisten like in movies
Words I've never heard echo in my head
Time has found me, just one more enemy
I don't need all this chaos in my life
So I'll fly to the sky
Leave behind some unknown love
Soar to the mountains
Maybe I'll go far enough
To reach my destination
And exceed my past
So why don't I fly at last?
I've always kept my wings close to my body
Protecting myself from straying too far
Keeping the world out, and keeping myself in
Not hearing people tell me to not go away
So I'll fly to the sky
Leave behind some unknown love
Soar to the mountains
Maybe I'll go far enough
To reach my destination
And exceed my past
So why don't I fly at last?
This time I'll fly and they'll never know
I won't let them see me go
Because I know if they catch me
I won't get away, but I can't stay
In another world, another realm
I could be happy with the life I'm in
But this is home, and I've got to go
Love has left me loveless, and I don't wanna be alone
So I'll fly to the sky
Leave behind some unknown love
Soar to the mountains
Maybe I'll go far enough
To reach my destination
And exceed my past
So why don't I fly at last?
Oh, why don't I fly at last?"
She finished the song and heard light clapping behind her. She turned towards the sound and gasped.
"H-how did you . . . why are you here?" Her breathing was heavy and the blood was rushing to her face.
The waning moon was shining into the room and cast an ethereal glow over the two. A strained silence hung over the room as she forced the blush out of her face. She could only pray that he wouldn't be able to see her in the dim lighting.
"Vega . . ."
"I told you not to call me that anymore, Black," came her instant response.
"Fine, Meliflua. And to answer your question, I was worried about you."
"You never worry about anyone other than yourself, Orion. I'm fine, anyway. I just . . . couldn't sleep." Vega countered halfheartedly. Instinctively, she felt that his words were true, but she would be the last person to ever admit it.
Apparently, he had heard the semi-apathy in her voice because he slowly perambulated towards her. His footsteps on the wooden floor rebounded in her head. The sound was as rhythmic as the ticking of a pendulum and hypnotized her in a way that only magicians could ever perfect. His entire face came into light, and she could barely manage a gasp when she saw a shallow slash down the length of his cheek.
"Oh sweet Merlin! Orion, what happened?" Her voice came across as a frightened squeak.
He shook his head to silently inform her it was not important, even though they both knew she would persist until she had received the tale. However, she felt that it was not the time to question him.
She shakily put her feet back on the ground and stood up slowly. Even at her full height, she had to look up a good six inches to meet his eyes. His eyes . . . they weren't stunningly unique or devastatingly handsome, but they gave him an approachable air, despite his usual pomposity. They were undoubtably his best feature, even if his long hair made most girls swoon.
"Orion, I—I'm sorry that I lied to you about my family." Her courage wasn't completely built up, but she figured she might as well apologize before he brought it up. "That's the real reason you came up here tonight, isn't it? I mean . . . to make me feel guilty until I apologized . . ."
"What do you take me for, Vega? I may be an arrogant prig most of the time, but I know what this day means to you. I've lost people too, you know." He brushed a loose strand of curly, dark-brown hair out of her eye and sighed. "Vega, I was never mad at you for lying to me. I know what your family life must be like . . . it's probably the same as mine. But I was disappointed that I had to find out from my mother . . ."
"Be quiet! You don't know what it's like! Every day I have to . . . I have to 'stand tall and proud to keep up the family name'. You don't have to try so hard!" Her built-up rage was finally getting its chance to surface, and she was going to let it take its course. "You're one of the lucky ones! Nobody wants anything to do with my family anymore! My father had to stoop so low that he actually paid a Weasley to find a husband for my sister because not even one of them would take her as his wife! You have no clue what my life is like, Orion Black!" She went to sock him in his arm, but he grabbed her wrist when it was mere centimeters from the limb. He twisted it painfully before he made a jab for her other wrist, locking them both in his tight grip.
"Vega, do you want to know how I got this scar?" His voice was coated with a torrid venom. "You can't lie to me. Just say it. Say, 'Orion, how did you get that scar?'."
"I'm not your slave, Black. You can't tell me what to do." She hissed, her eyes narrowing.
"Say it, you ungrateful wench!" The eyes she had come to admire were now burning with a diabolical fire.
She tried forlornly to pull her hand out of his clutches, but the attempt only made him laugh. "Vega, Vega, Vega . . ." He chortled sardonically. "I'm unimpressed. You still haven't learned that your protests only give me more pleasure."
She instantly stopped fighting. "Rot in hell, you bastard!" She screamed as she stamped on his foot.
He howled in pain but never let go of her. He gave her a brash grin and said, "I'm almost sorry I have to do this now."
She didn't even have a chance to contemplate his words before he swooped down to her and kissed her square on the mouth. His hands finally released her wrists, but only to find their way around her waist to bring her closer to him. She didn't feel like resisting . . . to be honest, she was enjoying every taste of him he was allowing her to devour. Her own arms found the back of his neck quickly and twisted his long hair around her fingers.
Orion gently pulled back after a long fifty seconds. "Thank you."
His sporadic comment confused her and she could only stutter, "Beg pardon?"
"Vega Meliflua, we've both lost somebody close to us: I, my grandfather, and you, your mother, but I want you and me to work . . . to be truthful with one another and never hurt each other." His eyes were back to their usual, endearing brown, and his voice was dripping with sincerity.
A pleasant shiver was sent up her spine at his words because she could hear the deeper meaning. Yet, she tensed and froze in the heat of the moment. "Orion, I'm not ready to get married. I saw what it did to my parents. My mother is dead because of my father, maybe not physical murder, but murder of the heart. I don't want that to happen to us."
"Neither do I, Vega." He closed his eyes, and she could almost see the room lose light at their closure.
"Just give me two years." She wasn't begging; she wouldn't fall that far. It was a simple, unforceful request to a man she had come to love.
His eyes opened and she gave a weak smile in an effort to show him that she wanted to see into his soul. He uttered one word, but it made her whole life seem so much more complete.
"Deal."
Author's Note: I wanted to do something different. I don't think I've ever read a story about Sirius's parents (Yes, that's who they are if you couldn't figure it out), so I decided to write one. This was actually going to be about a canon character, (I think it was going to be Lily . . . ) but then the night I wrote the first page and a half, I was trying to fall asleep, but my mind kept drifting to this story. I eventually came up with the idea to write it about Sirius's mom. I couldn't find her name in the 5th book, so I used one of her cousin's last names and gave her the name of a star because both Sirius and his brother are named for stars. I wanted to keep the same pattern so I named his dad Orion, obviously after the constellation.
I actually wrote the song (It was pretty bad, I know), but I was just writing it as I went along so please don't let it affect what you thought of the rest of the story. In the next chapter, more will be explained about Vega's dream. I just wanted to use this chapter to introduce you to the characters and give you a feel for how they interact.
I'm going to try as hard as I can to make this a long story because I think it's pretty neat and [so far] it's been really fun for me to write. So I'm not going to say "I need ten reviews to continue" because I'm going to continue this story whether I get twenty reviews or zero.
Love ya'll!
Brittany Ü