Warning If you're uncomfortable with sexually explicit scenes, don't read this chapter. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Prisoner
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When they arrived back in the kitchen they found the table already set for them, with the food placed neatly onto platters at its center and two upturned glasses flanking a fresh bottle of wine. Sirius, who had survived for years on food that had driven him to physical sickness his first week in prison, ate heartily, loving the feel of the wine as it slid silkily down his throat. Cassie on the other hand allowed more wine than food into her system, suddenly feeling very little urge to fill her stomach, which sat without protest. Once he had achieved his fill, Sirius leaned back in his chair and heaved a greatly satisfied sigh.
"Full?" she questioned him with a smile playing across her lips.
"Can hardly breathe." he replied, joining her in a laugh.
Cassie then took her wand from her pocket and gave it a swift flick that instructed everything but their glasses and the nearly empty wine bottle to sweep from the table and remove themselves of food before sailing into the sink for a washing. Sirius and Cassie lifted their glasses from the table as the dishcloth that had smacked Cassie reappeared to give the table a quick once-over. It tapped the wine bottle impatiently, and after Sirius had lifted it, allowing the cloth to wipe clean the area underneath, the cloth sped away and threw itself into the cabinet under the sink.
Cassie then set her elbow down on the table, resting her head in her palm. She peered at Sirius from across the table with an unintentionally seductive smile, swirling the remainder of her wine around in its glass. He smiled in return, feeling wonderfully in love, yet simultaneously terrible. He felt terrible that he had not been there to see her through the past twelve years, terrible that he was not there to give her the family and love that she deserved, and terrible for being so thick as to not have asked her sooner how her life had been, seeing as she had already requested he rattle on about his own misery.
"So, Cassie," he began, twirling his glass around by its slender neck, "Why did you decide to move out here?"
"Well," she said uncomfortably, uncertain about how he would react to letting him know that she had sold their London abode to escape the negative attention that her marriage to a supposed criminal had created, "After everyone on the block found out that you….well, thought that you had become a murderer, and Death Eater for the McAllisters," the McAllisters had been the only other wizarding family that resided on the street on which they had lived, "everyone started treating me a bit differently. The McAllisters wouldn't even look at me, neither would some of our other neighbors…And some seemed to think that I constantly needed someone to comfort me…And then the Ministry and reporters from the Prophet started popping over…so I sold the house and moved out here. They haven't bothered me since, strangely. I thought someone from the Ministry would have been over once they knew you'd escaped, but no one has."
"Oh," he said softly, not surprised that he was the root cause of her move.
"But I really do like it out here," she continued, noting his fallen expression, "It's a lot more peaceful."
Sirius nodded listlessly. Even though she was being entirely truthful with him, she did indeed love living in Scotland than the crowded suburbs of London, Sirius still had trouble deciding for himself whether or not she was being truthful or if she was lying just to keep him from feeling guilty. "Do you still work for St. Mungos?" he asked, wanting to change the subject.
"Of course." she said, "They trained me in nursing right after you left."
Right after they were married, Cassie had received a job at St. Mungo's wizarding hospital as a receptionist. It was her job to sort incoming and outgoing mail, as well as to direct visitors to the rooms of their patient loved ones, handle patient records, and patient billing. It was tedious job that she was glad to have broken up by the duties of a nurse. Besides having to complete her usual receptionist duties, she also had to assist the Healers and answer patient assistance calls when there were no other nurses available. True, by becoming a nurse she had willingly thrown herself into random bouts of blood and other unpleasantness, but she was glad that she was able to help others in more important ways than taking their payment at the desk.
"That's great."
"Yeah," she continued, " It's bloody work sometimes, but its worth it when you get to see a patient walk out the door healed. I know that probably sounds corny…" they shared in a laugh, "But it's true. I should be getting these out of the way…"
Cassie then got to her feet and scooped up the empty glasses and wine bottle. It was hard for Sirius to tell whether it was the wine or the simple fact that he had been starved of human contact for an unnatural amount of time that directed his next actions. Watching her deposit the glasses in the sink and place the bottle on the counter for later recycling, Sirius rose from his seat and moved to stand behind her, whispering her name into her ear. She whipped around looking startled, backing herself up into the kitchen counter. Her hand went up to rest over her heart as her mouth curled into a smile.
"You scared me," she said softly.
"Sorry," he apologized both in subsequence and in advance for his actions, "But I have to."
A puzzled expression flashed across Cassie's brow before Sirius seized her by the hips and lifted her up to seat her on the counter. She let out an "oh!" in surprise as he roughly set her down, glad to see that she apparently had no intentions of smacking him. On the contrary she was beaming and more than willing to go along with him. She immediately parted her legs for him to move between them, enabling him to stand close enough to reach her lips in a lover's longing kiss. Slowly, he slid her skirt up to reveal the whole of her legs, allowing him to run a hand along the milky smooth skin of her inner thigh. He halted in mid-stroke as she abruptly reached down to cup his manhood, but immediately started up again, reaching so high on her leg that he could feel a slight rush of warmth course over his skin. Cassie smiled into their kiss as she felt him grow hard at her lusty touch. As his excitement increased, his kisses became rougher, as did the strokes of her leg, so rough in fact that they were becoming almost painful. Placing her hands on his shoulders and giving him a gentle push, she broke their kiss.
"The bedroom is down the hall," she panted. She joined him in a mischievous smile as he helped her down from her perch. She then seized his hand and led him down the hall to her room, where he gently pinned her down on the bed.
Once they had stripped all material barriers that separated them, Sirius took himself in hand and slipped inside of her, loving the feel of her inner warmth as it wrapped tightly around him. Holding her down by the hip so she couldn't buck against him, Sirius began to move in the slow, tender way that he knew she loved. Her first climax was pleasurably, almost unbearably intense, making her cry out and bury her nails into his back. It was when he felt her reach this height that he released her, allowing her to move with him as his motions became faster and more forceful. Eventually their bodies fell in sync and they met each other thrust for passionate thrust. When Sirius reached the height of his pleasure, his entire body went rigid and he dropped the whole of his weight carefully down atop his wife, who ran her fingers gently through his dark hair. After he had regained a bit of his composure, he managed to roll off of her and onto his back, slipping an arm around Cassie's shoulder as she moved to snuggle up next to him, resting her head on his chest. For awhile they laid in silence, exhausted yet satisfied, trying to slow the rapid beating of their hearts and to catch their spent breaths.
"Sirius?" Cassie broke the silence, receiving a grunt in acknowledgement, "Do you still remember the first time we did this?"
He smiled as he was engulfed in the tender memory of their wedding night where they had stole each other of their innocence. He found it odd that even after sixteen years he could still clearly recall how he had laid her down for the first time, left in complete awe at the sight of her naked form. Her hair had been splayed beautifully across her pillow, outlining her smiling face and radiant eyes. Her muffled yelp as he entered her and his own virgin moans were still clear in his mind.
" Of course I do." he said, briefly touching his lips to hers, "How could I forget?" he replied, immediately falling back into various other memories of their honeymoon, a lovely two weeks which they spent together in scenic India. "I love you, Cassie."
"Love you, too," she said sleepily, closing her eyes. "Always will."
Sirius waited until he was sure she was soundly asleep before carefully slipping out from underneath her and getting himself dressed again. After he was fully clothed, he took a seat on the edge of the bed, one half of his brain feeling rather guilty about what he was about to do, while the other half, though still reluctant, felt that his actions were justified and that she would understand completely. He didn't want to leave her like this, but he had no choice. He had put her in enough danger just by being with her for the past few hours as it was. But just as he was about to leave her, Sirius' attention was caught by a stack of what looked like photo albums that were piled messily atop one another at the bottom of the slightly ajar closet.
Trying to be as quiet as possible, Sirius opened the closet fully to pick up one of the albums. He sat down on the bed again with it in his lap, debating amongst himself whether or not to look at its contents. He was a bit concerned that it might hold images which would wrench his heart, making it all the more difficult for him to leave the woman he had just recently been reunited with. Curiosity got the best of him.
Opening the album, just barely able to see its pictures under the fading late summer light seeping through the windows, Sirius was greeted first by pictures of his wedding. It was rather strange looking down at the younger, more handsome, smiling version of himself. Azkaban had robbed him of most of his looks, which he had miserably noted upon looking in Cassie's bathroom mirror. The younger version of Cassie, who was smiling and waving up at him alongside her new husband, was forever dazzling in her long white gown, holding an enormous bouquet of white flowers. They were standing in a churchyard, all around them leaves turning colors and falling from their branches. Sirius could distinctly remember taking that picture; it had been insufferably cold that day and they had already taken so many outdoor pictures that his hands had begun to shake and turn a shade of frosty red.
Sirius turned the page to see Cassie and himself standing on the steps of the church along with the rest of their wedding party. Save his aunt Andromeda and her husband Ted, all of the people in the party were either their close friends, members of the old Order of the Phoenix, or members of Cassie's family. Standing behind Sirius in the picture was his best man James Potter, while standing behind Cassie was James' then fiance, the maid of honor Lily Evans. Among the crowd Sirius also noted the presence of Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Frank Longbottom and his wife Alice. He had a stabbing urge to cut Peter out of the picture, but managed to restrain himself.
Sirius browsed over a few more pages of the album, (pictures of their honeymoon, Lily and James' wedding, and a section of various Christmas parties,) before stowing the book back atop its mates. Feeling worse than he had in months, Sirius closed the closet door and took a seat next to his sleeping wife, who had rolled over to lay on her stomach. Giving a few stokes to her hair, he bent down and kissed her bare shoulder and cheek in farewell.
"Goodbye, Cass." he said into her unhearing ear before leaving her for the second time.
Cassie awoke the next morning with a start, giving a sharp sigh and sitting bolt upright. She immediately grabbed for the blanket pooled in her lap and brought it to shield her bare chest. In a way she was not surprised to find herself alone, though a little disappointed that the man who had loved her the night before was not at her side. She might have thought that he was still in the house, but thought better of getting her hopes up. In her heart she knew he was gone. For whatever stupid, noble reason, he was gone. Again. As she turned to swing her legs out of bed, Cassie saw that sitting on her night table was a short piece of parchment, scribbled on with a very familiar handwriting. She swiftly grabbed it and read it at eye-level.
Cassie,
I'll have left by the time you read this. I'm sorry, but I can't stay with you any longer than I already have. God forbid the Ministry should decide to investigate you and find me in your company. We'd be sharing a cell in Azkaban. I couldn't take that chance. You're better off without me for the time being. Hopefully we'll see each other again very soon. Until then, I'll keep in touch. And Cassie, thank you. Thank you for everything. Sometimes I think I don't deserve you.
Love,
Sirius
Cassie wiped away the tears that were wetting her cheeks. Tossing his note aside, she fell back down into the blankets, feeling both physically and mentally drained. She loved him, but he was killing her. Suddenly she felt lonelier than she ever had in her life.