Dear Mr. Jesus (An Abused Child's Prayer)
Disclaimer:
I don't own any of the characters in Harry Potter. JK Rowling does. I also don't own this song, Dear Mr. Jesus (An Abused Child's Prayer), either. The words and music are by Richard Klender. But I do own this plot. And some of the characters which I made up like Lyra, Vincent and his mother and other friends of Sirius…
About some of the facts here, like the meaning of the names and all, I got them from Microsoft Encarta.
Dear Mr. Jesus (An Abused Child's Prayer)
[Continuation…]
[Please don't let them hurt your children]
Sirius looked at his mother questioningly. Mrs. Black smiled sadly.
"Sirius, you cannot make someone change to good. Being good requires the will of a person and his heart to want to be that way. No matter how much magic you use and no matter how powerful the magic, you couldn't make a person change unless he wishes to. Remember that, okay, Sirius?" Mrs. Black told her son.
Sirius nodded slowly. Mrs. Black smiled.
"Let's go see the little girl, shall we, dear? She asked me if I could bring my adorable and really, really cute son and well, I can't refuse, can I? After all, she may smile if she sees my cute son and as my son told me, 'I bet she'll look really ateractive.' So, what do you say, Sirius? Ready to shine?"
"Mommy!"
Sirius grinned shyly as he saw the little girl.
"There you are!" the little girl exclaimed when Mrs. Black came in the room with Sirius hiding behind Mrs. Black's legs.
"Hallo," Sirius mumbled.
"Hello," the girl greeted back. She seemed a lot cheerful now that her parents were gone. Her face even regained some color.
"I'm Sirius Black," Sirius said. "But mind you, it's not because of my hair. And my skin isn't going to turn black either! Other kids always say that about me!"
"Well, you look far from dark to me," said the girl, thoughtfully, looking at Sirius carefully. "But your hair's black, that I can say. I'm Lyra."
"Lyra?" Sirius tested the name on his lips. "Um…. What does that mean?"
"What do you mean?" Lyra asked.
"I mean, I'm a dog…" Sirius explained.
"No," Mr. Black laughed. "What little Sirius here means is that his name means dog. But it isn't really a dog. It's the dog star actually."
"The dog star?" Lyra looked at Mr. Black, interested at his words. "What's that?"
[We need love and shelter from the storm]
"Well," Mr. Black smiled, "that's the name of one of the stars in the sky. The people called it Sirius, the dog star."
"Amazing!" Lyra exclaimed.
"Now that I think about it, Lyra," Mrs. Black started, "your name's pretty special, too."
"It is?" Lyra asked, hope in her eyes. "It sounds so plain to me that I thought I was nothing special."
Mrs. Black shook her head slowly.
"Lyra, it's not the name that defines you as a person," Mrs. Black said.
"It's your character that determines how special you really are," Mr. Black added. "And you seem so special to us. Especially to Sirius. Look at how eager he was to know you."
"Really?" Lyra looked at Sirius. "You wanted to meet me?"
"Ah…." Sirius blushed a bit, "well, I thought you look nice. And I wanted to have a friend."
"I never had one before," Lyra said.
"A star?" Sirius asked.
"No," Lyra said. "A friend. I never had one. Dad and mom didn't want me to go outside. They just kept me in the house to-"
Lyra's eyes started to water.
Mrs. Black hugged the girl close.
"You don't have to say anything, Lyra. If you don't want to talk about it, then don't. We'll be here anytime if you'd like us to be here. And when you're ready, you can tell us, all right?" Mrs. Black said, smiling at Lyra.
The little girl nodded.
"Hey, if you never had a friend before, what about me then?" Sirius asked. "Can I be your friend now? Today? Tomorrow? Forever?"
Lyra smiled through her tears.
"You'd be my friend?" Lyra asked.
"Yah!" Sirius said, eagerly. "Or a brother even! I never had a big sister to talk to! No brother to play with. No pets even! I can be your small brother and you can be my big sister!"
"That's younger brother and older sister, Sirius," Mr. Black bit back a smile.
"Oh. Right!" Sirius made a face. "Who made words anyhow? Why so plicated?"
"Complicated, Sirius," Mrs. Black added.
"Argh!" Sirius pretended to tear his hair in frustration.
Lyra laughed.
"See! See!" Sirius pointed. "She's smiling! She looks ateractive!"
"Sirius, it's attractive," Mr. Black said patiently. "And don't point. It's bad manners."
"It is?" Sirius placed his hand down. "Then how do you defeat dragons and all if you don't point wands at them?"
"That's different, son," Mr. Black said.
"Oh…." Sirius thought a while. "Well, then I guess whoever made manners must be a plicated person, too! What contdricshyon the rules are!"
"Complicated, Sirius," Mrs. Black said. "And it's contradiction."
"Oh no!" Sirius moaned.
Lyra laughed.
"Lyra," Mrs. Black looked at the little girl, "do you want to know about your name?"
Lyra nodded.
"You're named after a constellation. A constellation is a group of stars. The constellation, Lyra, is a constellation in the northern sky found in between Cygnus and Hercules."
"Wow! A group of stars! You are special, Lyra!" Sirius exclaimed.
"I am?" Lyra asked doubtfully.
"Uh huh!" Sirius agreed, nodding happily.
"You should be proud, Lyra," Mr. Black told the girl. "If I heard right, Lyra contains one of the brightest stars in the sky. It was a first-magnitude white star… ah, Vega, was it?" Mr. Lack confirmed with Mrs. Black.
Mrs. Black nodded.
"Wow!" Lyra exclaimed, amazed.
"Cool for you!" Sirius jumped happily. Then, he suddenly stopped.
Sirius looked at his parents.
"Gee, Mommy, Daddy. Why'd you name me after a dog?"
[Please don't let them hurt your children]
Sirius looked surprise when Mr. and Mrs. Black and Lyra laughed.
"I'm serious! Not trying to joke here! Hey! Serious! I'm Sirius!" Sirius said.
"Sirius, you do realize that you've just made a pun?" Mr. Black asked.
"A pun?" Sirius asked.
"Yes. Well, not really but sort of…" Mr. Black just shook his head and smiled, giving up. Sirius was just too innocent.
"You're not named after a dog, Sirius," Mrs. Black said. "Sirius is a dog star."
"I'm a dog star?" Sirius asked, confused. "I thought I was a wizard."
The room burst into fits of laughter.
"What?" Sirius asked, looking around at the laughing people. "Now I'm confused."
"Sirius, you're named after a dog star. But you're not a dog star. Just your name," Ms. Black said.
"Oh. Well. That then. Why was I named after a dog star?" Sirius asked.
"Why? Don't you like your name?" Mr. Black asked his son.
"Well, Hercules would be nice."
Lyra snorted and Mrs. Black hid a grin.
"Or Romulus! He founded Rome, didn't he?" Sirius exclaimed.
"How'd you know of that?" Mr. Black asked.
"Um…. Vincent's mother told us about it," Sirius said, trying to remember. Vincent Laziale was one of his playmates and they were in Vincent's house when Mrs. Laziale told them many stories. One of which was about Rome.
"But then, Romulus killed Remus. I don't think I like that name after all," Sirius said. "Then I'll take Remus then!"
Mr. Black nearly choked.
"Oh, wait! He died! No, no, no! I can't die! So I guess I'll settle for the dog star then!" Sirius sighed.
Sirius looked so sad that Mr. And Mrs. Black stopped smiling. Lyra stopped smiling, too.
"Sirius, we didn't just name you after a dog star, actually," Mrs. Black said, gently.
"Really?" Sirius asked.
"Yes," Mrs. Black agreed.
"Oh…" Sirius thought about it. "That's good then. At least no one will be calling me 'doggy' or anything bad."
"That's why you don't like your name?" Mr. Black asked.
"Oh, I like my name," Sirius said defensively. "It kind of sounds better than others since other people have old sounding names. Look at Julius! He's just four years old but his name sounds so old! There's also Lucretius and Geoffrey and Otto and Polaris and Raven! They're all so old sounding and they're what? Three years old like me! Otto's older brother's funny though. His brother's name is Odin Junior. He's older than Otto and yet, he's called junior!" Sirius threw his arms up. "How's that for being childish? Odin should be ashamed of himself."
Mr. And Mrs. Black smiled, not telling Sirius that the junior usually meant that the child was named after the parent and the parent would be the senior.
Lyra didn't know this though.
"Really? That's weird!" Lrya commented. "How could a junior be older than a younger brother?"
"My point exactly!" Sirius said, triumphantly. "So I guess Sirius is fine then, no?"
"Yes, I think the name Sirius is cute anyhow," Lyra said. "It suits you, too. No need of change."
Lyra yawned.
"I guess we better get going," Mr. Black said. "Lyra, tomorrow afternoon, some people from the Ministry may be coming. Do you think you can answer their questions in case they ask you of your family?"
"I- I'm not so sure…" Lyra answered, sleepily.
"All right," Mr. Black said. "I'll tell them not to come then. We'll be back though for a visit, if you like. I'm sure Sirius would like to see his new friend again."
"Yes!" Sirius agreed.
"Okay," Lyra said sleepily. "See you soon, Sirius. Thank you. Thank you all for helping me…."
Sirius grinned and waved goodbye. Mrs. Black kissed the girl on the forehead.
"Be safe, little one," she whispered.
[Won't you keep us safe and warm]
"Daddy, Mommy, you think she'll be all right?" Sirius asked all of a sudden as they were on their way out of the hospital.
"What made you ask, Sirius?" Mr. Black said. "Why just now?"
"I don't know…" Sirius said. "Just felt… strange… that's all."
"Why?" Mr. Black smiled. "Is it because of the name meaning?"
"Oh, no. Not that," Sirius said. "But anyway, I still wonder what's with the dog star really."
"Sirius," Mrs. Black laughed, "like we said, we didn't really name you Sirius because of the dog star. It just happened that the star Sirius happened to be the dog star."
"How come?" Sirius asked.
"Cause Sirius is found in a dog constellation called Canis Major," Mr. Black said.
"It is?"
"Yes," Mr. Black answered.
"And, Sirius, when you were born, it happened that when I gave you to your father after I had given birth to you, there was a light that shone for a few seconds. It was so bright and seemed to come from inside the room when it was actually from outside. When your father and I looked out the window, we saw a star. It was twinkling brightly. It was the star, Sirius – the brightest star in the sky," Mrs. Black explained.
"It seemed a magical moment then. The moonlight pouring into the room; your mother, resting on the bed; I was holding you then and staying near your mother… and outside, where you could see not just the sky but also the trees… and the mountains…. It seemed ordinary until your mother and I saw three shadows standing on the cliff near one of the mountains. They just appeared out of nowhere. The shadows seemed to be looking at us; and with the moon and Sirius shining brightly above the figures, it seemed as though we were being blessed by the gods," Mr. Black said. "Come to think of it. I did think the shadows of the animals were gods back then. They did say that gods appear in disguises.
"Anyway, after that moment, a cloud covered the moon and it was only the star that gave light. Funny thing was, it shone on you, Sirius. After that, when the cloud passed and there was light again, the three animals were gone."
"Animals?" Sirius asked.
"Yes. Animals," Mr. Black said. "There were three. And, Sirius, I don't think any of us wanted you to be named after animals and since at that magical time, it was the star that shone its brilliance in the room for the few seconds that brought our attention outside, we decided to name you after it."
"Wow! So I'm named after the brightest star!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Yes, Sirius," Mrs. Black said, smiling. "You were named after the brightest star in the sky. One of the things that made that night special for all of us. That star Sirius. Which is why we gave you such a name. To remind all of us of the extraordinary event that took place just after you were born and how magical that time was for all of us. This is also a reminder to you that no matter what happens or no matter what you'll become, we'll always be there for you. You'll always be special to us."
Sirius grinned, shy all of a sudden.
After a moment of silence, Sirius spoke up again.
"Daddy, Mommy, what animals did you see?" Sirius asked.
"Hmm…. I couldn't quite remember…" Mrs. Black said, thoughtfully. "I was tired after the labour and I didn't see clearly…. Do you remember the animals?"
The question was meant for her husband.
"Yes. I remember the three animals clearly," Mr. Black said. "The funny thing is, that night, when we saw the shadows of the animals, it automatically came to my mind what they were. Strange but it's true though. I thought of a werewolf. Funny it wasn't just a wolf but then, the wolf did seem bigger than normal wasn't it? And how a color of an animal came to mind, I don't know."
"A color?" Mrs. Black looked confused.
"A werewolf?" Sirius pressed eagerly. "But there were three! What were they?"
"Well," Mr. Black said slowly. "The three shadows were of those of a werewolf, a stag… and a black dog."
TBC