3. Solace
Sirius leaned against the front door, listening to the retreating footsteps of Harry and the others, on their way to catch the Knight Bus to Hogwarts. His mind was clouded with cold despair, and anger towards himself for being unable to find the words he wanted to say to Harry. There were so many things he needed to tell his godson, but he had been frozen by the desolate sense of...premonition, that he would never see Harry again. He had never told anyone that he loved them; he could not find the words in that brief moment of farewell. His limbs ached to run after them in the snow, to leave this dark, oppressive house, to run outside, to grasp that fleeting moment of illusion in which Padfoot was running with Prongs again. But he stood still and leaned his head against the door, closing his eyes.
A cold hand grasped his in the dimness. 'He knows, Sirius,' said Jade softly. 'He knows'. She reached up and put her arms around his neck, holding him as if she could draw his pain into herself. The sound of Harry's footsteps walking away echoed in Sirius's head. If his tears had not all been shed an eternity ago he might have wept.
The stood in the hallway, the darkness and silence of the empty house enclosing them. After a long moment of stillness, Sirius stood back, and looked into Jade's eyes, seeing his isolation and longing reflected there. He ran his hands down Jade's back and felt her shiver. Tangling his fingers in her long dark hair, he raised her face to his and kissed her, first gently, tentatively, then with deepening intensity as she responded to him. He gasped softly, it had been so long...
The sound was just enough to awaken Mrs Black's portrait. Her eyes flew open, instantly filled with rage. 'ABOMINATION OF MY FLESH AND HIS MUDBLOOD WHORE!'
Sirius wrenched the curtains closed, cursing harshly. Panting, and sweeping his hair from his eyes, he turned to Jade, expecting to find her angry and mortified. To his surprise, she was laughing, her eyes mischievous. 'I hardly expected her to approve,' she whispered, grinning as she reached for him again. Sirius laughed too, almost without bitterness this time. He took her hand and they ran softly up the stone stairs, falling onto Sirius' bed, two lone stars colliding, burning a fiery path toward their oblivion.