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"Uncle Sirius!" she called, her voice sing-songy and high pitched as she giggled, running towards the aforementioned male as the door behind her was slid shut. When she entered the room, however, the entire setting caused her to physically and emotionally change, and her steps slowed as she trudged towards him. "Uncle... Sirius?" she repeated, though her tone was soft and slow, the complete contrast of what she'd appeared only moments before.
The man before her was sitting on the ground, his knees to his chest and his arms crossed over them, fingernails digging deeply into the shirt he wore, to the point that once she looked hard enough, she could see small tears. His back was turned to her and she couldn't read his expression, but he was trembling, and were she older, she would've understood that he was wracked with sobs. Instead, as he was evidently attempting to silence himself, when she heard a small sniffle, she ran over and began, with a loud, overly worried voice, "Siri! Are you sick?!"
Her response was a slight shake of his head before it was lowered, farther into the somewhat ball he'd curled himself into, his shoulders occasionally rising and falling as he shook, silent tears falling to the cold floor beneath them. She was silent, as well, furrowing her brow impatiently at being ignored. She was worried, yes, but beingeight years old and craving attention, she was slightly flustered at her lack of response. For lack of a better idea, she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck from behind, gently leaning her form against his back. It was then that she spotted the water droplets she instantly recognized as tears, and frowning, she said, "I'm sorry, Uncle Sirius... I didn't mean to make you sad..." and her voice sounded small, particularly as she trailed off.
"James is---," he began, but he cut himself off, trying to force himself to stop crying but it was so difficult and it wasn't until she'd made full physical contact with him that he noticed she was there. Wiping his eyes with his sleeves, he shifted positions until he could pull the small girl into his lap, pulling her close to him."I'm sorry, it's not you, you didn't do anything," he reassured her, because if Sirius had learned anything about children, it was that you always had to tell them if something wasn't they're fault. The fact that he'd promised her mother that he'd baby sit the girl curled up in his lap had completely left him; there were more important things on his mind at the time. "I'll be right back, Nymphie," he addressed her, as she did not yet go by Tonks, "Just.. just wait for me, I'll be back as soon as I can."
"But Uncle Sirius, my mommy told me that--" she began, but was cut off.
"I have to go. There's.. there's something I really have to do," he offered, though he already knew it wouldn't be enough of an explanation for the eight-year-old. Nevertheless, he parted ways with her and left before she could make any protest.
She waited, of course, as she'd been told to, but when he didn't come back the next day when Andromeda arrived to take her home, she was a bit worried. Still, she waited for him to appear at the Tonks Residence, apologizing for not returning sooner.
So, she waited.
And she waited.
But by the time she saw him again, twelve years had passed and he'd aged horribly.
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yeah, really short. ; blah.