Next one...This was actually the original one shot, which I wrote for a contest.
Title: Nobody Can Know
Length: 448 words
Pairing: Sirius?
Rating: PG
POV/Style: Diary Entry, Third person.
"I love Sirius Black, but no one can know."
The first line of many entries, chapters, vignettes, whatever you would like to call them, reveals everything. In nine simple words, this sentence, written by a young hand, conveys the hopelessness of the situation, the need of the writer, the forbidden nature of the love, and the desperation of the author.
At first glance, the diary is nothing special. Lying on the dresser of a long unused, now-dusty bedroom, it's plain and black; no gold embossing or decorations. But open the first page, past the scribbled name and date on the inside of the front cover, and it reveals a love story for the ages.
"I love Sirius Black, but no one can know. I watch him everyday: flirting, eating, laughing, and cleaning, but no one can know. I talk to him, secretly wishing for just one kiss, but no one can know. I look at him like Ron looks at Hermione, and Bill looks at Fleur, and Mum looks at Dad, but he doesn't notice, and no one can know. No one can know because he's old, an Azkaban veteran, an unregistered animagus…there's just so much wrong with him. But I can't see any of that. I can only see his sweetness, his kindness, the way he can make me laugh, the way his eyes twinkle when he smiles, and how his forehead crinkles up when he's worried, or tired. As for me? It's obvious why Sirius wouldn't return my love for him. I'm just a girl, whereas he's a man. I'm young and short; I have these ugly freckles, and this ugly red hair. No one would love me, least of all the most perfect man alive."
Unrequited love. Possibly the worst of tortures. Even worse, in this young lady's opinion, than watching her brothers die in the fight for the light, or fighting in the Final Battle, or watching Harry grow up and apart from her family. Worse than seeing Hermione in desolate grief after Ron died, or seeing Bill walking as a living ghost after the love of his life was killed fighting for Harry's life. Just having to watch, wait, and hope for something she knew would never come, and to not be able to tell anyone, was the worst pain this girl had to live with.
And now, years later, she's gone, and so is Sirius. They've left the Order, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Burrow, Number 4 Privet Drive, and the Quidditch pitch. They've moved from this world, leaving just this simple diary. And no, he never loved her back.
Oh. The front cover?
"Virginia Weasley. Tuesday, June, 13th 2000."
You know full well what I want you to do now.