Chapter 6:
Kristin and Sirius burst out onto the snow covered roof. She was in the Countess' costume and Sirius threw his cloak over her bare shoulders. "Why are we up here?" Sirius asked, holding Kristin close.
"We can't go back down! It's too dangerous! He's angry!" Kristin was hysterical. She began walked around the roof in an agitated manner. What Sirius didn't realize was notes the managers, La Cissa and Sirius had received from the Phantom of the Dungeons. When the voice came out reinforcing the messages of those notes, Kristin recognized the voice as the one of her Angel of Music. She was now trying to reconcile her talented Angel with the murdering Phantom and it was not a leap she wanted to make.
When she did make that leap and recalled the faraway memory of that morning, she came to a sickening conclusion. Ignoring Sirius' attempts to calm her down, Kristin shook him off as she spun around. "The Phantom of the Dungeons will kill again!" she declared, startling Sirius.
"What?" he asked, then shook his head. "The Phantom of the Dungeons? Kristin, you are smart enough to know that he is merely a myth. A legend. The Phantom of the Dungeons doesn't exist."
This caught Kristin's attention immediately. Sirius was claiming the Phantom, her Angel, didn't exist. He couldn't say that since she had seen him with her own eyes. "Sirius, I've seen the Phantom," she said. "He's my Angel of Music. He took me down to his dark world last night, that's where I was." Sirius looked at her in disbelief and was shaking his head. She grabbed his arm. "Sirius, you have to believe me! I've seen him! The legends? They pale in comparison when you really see him. It was horrible, Sirius. It was hardly a face. I don't know how I'll ever forget it."
Sirius was trying to grasp what his lover was trying to tell him but she couldn't have been with a murderer last night! He couldn't bring himself to believe it and decided upon one good solution. "It was a dream," he said, holding her.
But she pushed away. "A dream? But his voice, Sirius, his voice…all there was that night was music. Beautiful music surrounded me and it felt…it felt wonderful. His voice was beautiful, it more than made up for his physical ugliness."
"It was a dream," Sirius repeated, firmer. "Just a dream."
"Just a dream? You can't dream music that beautiful. Or such a tormented soul. I could see it in his eyes," Kristin repeated, hugging herself.
"Kristin," Sirius said, encircling her from behind. He rubbed her arms soothingly.
"Kristin," a different voice echoed, only very softly. This time caused Kristin to spin around, eyes wide open. She clutched Sirius' shirt in fear as he continued to soothe her. Her eyes searched for the source of the voice.
Sirius began to stroke her hair in hopes of calming down. He decided that now was as good a time as any to openly declare his love to her. "Stop these dark thoughts, your head should only be filled with light and good," he whispered. Kristin pulled away, wiping her tears. Sirius decided to continue. "Don't you worry; I'm right here beside you."
Kristin smiled as she realized what was happening, what Sirius was saying to her. "Tell me that you'll love me every minute of every day of every week of every month of every year of our lives," she said, wrapped up in the moment. "Please say that you'll be the one to dispel the darkness and put the light in my head. Just, say with me all the time. Please?"
"I'm not going anywhere without you. Nothing will keep me from your side," Sirius vowed. He grabbed her hands and brought her closer. "We will be together. Forever."
"That's all I want," she replied. She leaned her head on his chest and closed her eyes.
"It's all I want as well," Sirius told her. He started to gently rock her as snow slowly fell to the roof, covering both of them with a soft coat of white. The two separated and looked up, watching the flurries come twirling down. Sirius tilted his head back down to watch Kristin as she let the snow fall on her face. He pushed a loose piece of her hair off her shoulder, knocking her out of her daydream. She smiled and he leaned down, kissing her.
After a few minutes, they pulled away. Kristin blinked in shock for a few seconds before beginning to laugh. She threw herself into Sirius' arms and he spun her around, laughing with her. "Always?" she asked, smiling.
"Always," he replied, kissing her again.
Kristin's smile became wider before she realized something important. "The opera! They must be ready to start again and are probably wondering what happened to me. Wait for me, please?"
"Of course," Sirius replied. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Kristin sat there, thinking of something. "Your white horses…have them ready. The managers will only be able to have this performance tonight before having to make some needed repairs. With everyone, it should be a week. Take me to your mansion, we'll spend the time together. You'll be my guardian angel."
"And I always will be, Kristin," Sirius said, kissing her on her forehead. The two grabbed hands and ran back into the opera house.
Unbeknownst to the two lovebirds, they had been watched during their proclamations of love and devotion. Both had been wrapped up in the other and not noticed a mysterious shadow lurking around some of the statues that decorated the opera house's acclaimed roof. Luckily for the shadow, only paintings talked in their world—not statues. The shadow stepped out into the light as the door shut behind Sirius and Kristin.
Severus lost his grip on the rose he held. It fell to the snow covered roof, the red of the petals and green of the ribbon standing out against the pure whiteness. He pulled his cloak over his masked side as he continued staring at the door. She ran to him, the pretty boy, the rich idiot. She was leaving his domain for the mansion of said pretty boy. Hagrid's death was unplanned—the giant oaf merely got in the Phantom's way one last (fatal) time—but provided a new prospect for Severus. Using the lasso and then staging it as a hanging caused some damage to the backstage area. The managers, morons though they were, would know they would have to suffer the losses and close the opera house to repair the damages. Severus started to plan to take Kristin after the show, bring her back to his lair, fill her days and nights with music, all with the hope she would come around and return his love for her.
But now she had arranged to run off with the fop. She had chosen physical beauty over the beauty of his music. Severus realized he now had to take desperate steps to win Kristin's love and guide her to see the beauty underneath the mask. She just had to love him, it was only right. He taught her to sing. If it weren't for him, she would still be waving some laurel behind Carlotta during the prime years of her career. Of course, that Count also wouldn't have noticed her and Kristin would be in Severus' arms right now. The Phantom felt the rage boil it up and he picked the rose he had previously dropped. He snapped it in half and tossed it off the roof.
Severus returned back to the roof door. The music from the performance below came wafting up to him. He could hear the applause for Kristin, the girl who was about to betray him and break his heart. "You will regret not following every command the Phantom gave you," he swore. "You will regret it."
The Phantom swept off the roof and a half hour later, the curtain fell on "Il Muto." The cast lined up to take their final bows, all still shaken from Narcissa's croaking and Hagrid's unfortunate death. Kristin stood in between Fudge and Chloe, the ballerina Minerva put in to fill the vacant role of the pageboy. Sirius had moved to the manager's box, now closer to the stage and to the nearest exit. After all, he and Kristin wanted to make a quick departure. She was going to change, inform McGonagall of her plans and then bust loose.
The applause was great and the audience demanded many bows. The cast slowly left the stage before only Fudge and Kristin remained on stage, to more applause and chants. "Kristin! Kristin! Kristin!" they chanted, so Fudge left the stage. Now, Kristin remained on stage. The audience rose to their feet and kept clapping, some starting to scream.
Above the noise caused by the happy patrons of the opera, a haunting and bone-chilling sound came from the rafters. It was a cold laughter, and as it increased, the chandelier began to shake. Shake with more ferocity than when La Cissa was croaking. It shook as the laughter became louder and sounded like it was coming from all around. People were screaming in terror again and pointing, while Kristin remained frozen to the ground. Minerva and Harmony stood in the wings, begging the soprano to walked off the stage. She didn't; she remained rooted to her spot, seeming mesmerized by the swinging chandelier. "Kristin," McGonagall pleaded, "please come over here. I feel it will be safer." Harmony could only shake her head.
The chandelier was swinging harder now and people were afraid the chain holding it up would break, sending the chandelier crashing down to the audience. People in the rows directly underneath the fixture began to move away, out to the aisles. Surrounding rows also began to empty out as people began to fear exactly how far the chandelier would spread out once on the ground and in pieces. Kristin watched as the swinging continued. She squinted as a figure dressed in a black tuxedo, black cape and green mask emerged. He tossed down a rose stem, it seemingly landed at her feet. She looked down to see the thorns glistening in the stage lights. She looked back up in time to see the man—her Angel—move his hands and the chandelier come crashing down—towards her. Fear kept her rooted the spot as the giant fixture fast approached her. "KRISTIN!" Sirius, Harmony and McGonagall yelled.
The Count leapt from the box to the stage and pushed Kristin down, the momentum propelling them to the wings. They both stopped at Minerva's feet, safe and sound. The ballet mistress helped the two up just as the chadelier hit the stage. The lights were cut out in the main body of the opera, but all patrons pulled out their wands to see. The damage looked extensive and Hogwarts was going to have to close for awhile. Patrons were ushered out as Dumbledore and Lupin talked with inspectors. "You're lucky that thing didn't cause a fire," the wizard said, quill taking all the damages.
Sirius still held Kristin. "Go change. I'm glad we planned our getaway," he said, hugging her. She didn't return it, still shook from her near death experience at the hands of her own Angel of Music. Harmony took her friend back to her room.
"That's what took you two so long on the roof?" Minerva asked the Count.
Sirius nodded. "Yes. And the funny thing is, it was all her idea," he replied. "The thought of us staying together for a little bit hadn't even crossed my mind. Looks like I'll have to help her through this."
"Yes, but I know you can make her better," Minerva said. Sirius nodded and bid farewell to go fetch Kristin. McGonagall walked behind the stage to one of the entrances to Severus' lair that was known to her. She stood there. "Sirius will help Kristin, but who will help you, Severus? Would you let them help you?"
A/N: As stated before in ELIII, I'm off on vacation tomorrow until the beginning of August. I'm trying to enjoy reading the sixth book and not suck it up at once, but I have a feeling I'll definitely be done with it by the time I get back. Not that it matters since this story is AU from the get-go (come on, Sirius is still alive). On to my wonderful reviewers…
SarahtheBardess: As I said, I'm following the musical version. The movie moved the chandelier scene, it's supposed to come after Erik (the Phantom) overhears Raoul and Christine on the roof and closes out the first act of the play. And the musical Phantom is more magical than the movie Phantom, which will be relevant when I write the graveyard scene. And of course I'm going to put Severus through hell…even as a diehard Erik/Christine fan, I still have to stick to the ending. Or else it won't be a nightmare.
cerzee: I loved the book version; I already said I prefer to call "The Phantom" Erik. But Severus is listening to the musical and I'm going to stay close to that. However, I may mention some things only mentioned in the book so keep your eyes out. After all, I did write that dear Professor Snape had read the book.
Padme Snivvey: There's nothing wrong about being an obsessive phan. Or threatening anyone with a spork. They're useless tools and…I think I just figured out why all Geeklove fans refer to Sophia with that name…cool.
If anyone has any clue as to what I am talking about in Padme Snivvey's answer, bonus cookies to you! So, here's until August. And if there are any flamers…I'll be moving around so good luck finding me! Mac