Hello, my beautiful readers!
Once again I had technological issues last week and I had spent a majority of the weekend updating and scanning my laptop, which was well overdue for some TLC!
Anyhow, I just wanted to extend a massive thank you to all of you that have stuck by and continued to read and review this fic. Thank you especially to Beetle126, LarissaValentiMeedachi2613, ravenclauses, Love . Fiction. 2017, madwamoose, raven that flies at night and mazeygrace18 for reviewing the previous chapter! I would not be this far in and continuously writing as much as I can if it wasn't for you all!
I hope you all enjoy the chapter and please dont forget to leave a review down below!
"Hope always comes after evil has done its work. We cannot keep living on hope, though." - Erik Pevernagie
"THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS!" Mad eye thumped his fist against the table in rage causing everyone to jump in their seats, in which most members of the order were slumped or half asleep in their boredom. "WE ARE FIGHTING A WAR AND YOU LOT ARE LOUNGING AROUND AS IF THIS IS YOUR COFFEE BREAK!"
NG RIDICULOUS!" Mad eye thumped his fist against the table in rage causing everyone to jump in their seats, in which most members of the order were slumped or half asleep in their boredom. "WE ARE FIGHTING A WAR AND YOU LOT ARE LOUNGING AROUND AS IF THIS IS YOUR COFFEE BREAK!"
Elizabeth sunk back slightly, sipping on the coffee in her hands. In her defence, it was actually her coffee break and she was meant to be attending a wedding meeting with Lily as part of her maid of honour duties. It had been the first chance they'd had in weeks to sit down and plan and once again, something had come up and they were sitting here being lectured about the use of dark curses.
"EXACTLY MAD- EYE WE ARE FIGHTING A WAR!" Sirius yelled, leaning over the desk with his fists balled up, his lip swollen from the previous attack. "WHAT AM I GOING TO DO, TICKLE A DEATHEATER TO DEATH!"
"THAT'S WHAT YOU SHOULD'VE DONE BLACK!" he growled, "NOT AK HIM, DO YOU KNOW WHAT SORT OF INFORMATION WE COULDVE GOT FROM HIM, WE COULD BE ON A RAID NOW BUT NO, YOU HAD TO GO AND KILL HIM!"
Remus raised his hand to intervene, "Now is not the time to blame Sirius." Sirius cocked his head and looked at his best friend with gratitude,
"Thank you!" He sighed dramatically, Remus rolled his eyes, Cardaroc crossed his arms across his chest,
"There will be plenty of time to blame Sirius later after we sort out our internal arguments."
Marlene snorted into her bottle of odgens at the statement. Alice glanced at her before furrowing her brows at Mad-eye. Sirius opened his mouth in exasperation to argue when Alice spoke over him.
"Since when were you adverse to killing people Mad-Eye!"
He glared at the girl, "I am not opposed to killing people, I am opposed to using dark curses to kill."
"YOU ARE MAKING NO SENSE! WHATS THE DIFFERENCE MAD-EYE!" Sirius raged, "YOU'RE STILL KILLING SOMEBODY, NO MATTER WHAT CURSE!"
"It is the principal of the manner Black, of light and dark, I wouldn't expect you of all people to understand!" He replied snidely, Lily exhaled and her cheeks began to turn crimson in anger, Elizabeth clenched her fists at the slight against her beloved. She couldn't believe that Mad eye would throw his bloodline back in his face, she couldn't believe that he had the guts to do so.
"Tell me, In which scenario is it easier to see?" Elizabeth stood up, raising an eyebrow with a questioning tone, "When it is pitch black, or blindingly white?" the room went silent, only the quietest of breaths could be heard. "Which will snatch your sight from you first?" Murmurs went around the room.
Sirius looked towards the woman he loved who stood across the table from him and felt his adoration for her expand and his chest warm as she defended him.
"A determined person, filled with light and conviction can be just as dangerous and unforgiving as a person filled with greed and evil." She looked around the table, catching every one of their eyes as they watched her with rapt interest, She locked eyes with Mad-eye who was glowering at her, and gave him a small grin, she couldn't help but feel extremely wise...was this how Dumbledore felt every day? "And that is why we must be in balance."
Lily put her hands together and began to applause, soon everybody sans Mad-eye began to applause. She felt her heart race and her hands tremble as everyone's attention and adoration go on her. As they all silenced Mad eye nodded slightly and sat down, he upturned his scarred lips in a smirk and crossed his arms.
"Well Girlie, since you're so good at speaking up why don't you run this meeting, somehow convince me that we should be allowed to stoop to the same level as Death eaters."
Elizabeth felt her heart drop slightly, as the eyes of everyone in the room fell on her, merlin she hated speaking like this, it wasn't so bad when she'd planned it, but she was going to improvise the whole thing! She took a deep breath and attempted to recall everything she'd ever been taught regarding public speaking, how would she even begin? What if she just had verbal diarrhoea.
"When we went to the Shed that day, I duelled a man; I don't know his name, his age, or what his face looked like. I went into that duel knowing nothing about this man, except that his morals are twisted and that he was on the wrong side." She felt slight relief peak through the anxiety as she could feel everyone's eyes on her.
"I didn't AK him, but I feel that that would've been the merciful thing to do." She shook her head mournfully as she felt nauseous. "In that duel, he lost all four limbs." Gasped echoed around the room, and she could feel all the admiration in everyone's eyes turn into disgust. "But my sins in a bid to save my life are not what we are discussing."
She looked out towards everyone, feeling her heart thudding in her chest and her palms clamming up.
"As I watched that man screaming and begging for mercy, I realised that as the sky is blue, all of our blood is red and that despite our differences we live under the same moon."
"Whats the point in this?" Mad- eye growled, she looked over and clenched her jaw.
"Calm your farm Mad-eye." James snorted, and then flinched as Mad-eye flung a pinching jinx at him.
"The point is that the only motivation I had that day was to save my life, and I was willing to do anything to see that fight through." She nodded, "I believe that during this war, as long as we keep our morals and principals in line with our cause, then it should not harm us to use more questionable methods in order to win this war."
She pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled regretfully, shaking her head slowly "The fact of the matter is that we won't win this war by stunning people and incarcerating them hoping they don't escape." Many around the room nodded at her words, "I believe that there are some exceptions, but for the most part, we must do what needs to be done."
"That's the only way we will win this war, by doing everything in our power to live, and for those who are opposed to us, to meet an early demise."
"I just don't understand how she can be such a bitch!" James scowled as he unpacked pillows from a box, "How can she do that to her own sister!"
After the order meeting, James and Lily had gone to Petunia and Vernon's wedding, expecting it to be sunshine and rainbows. However after an argument with guests about wands and broomsticks Lily had promptly told James to shut up, and then the chaos had started, James swore to Lily that it was a late burst of accidental magic, he hadn't meant to turn the whales hair green; Of course Lily had refused to sleep next to him and after a heated argument made him sleep on the orange couch of the flat, James was sure he would've gotten one more night on the bloody couch if not for the fact that Petunia sent Lily a letter telling her she didn't count her as family and was cutting off all ties because she didn't want to associate with witches. She'd cried all night over it, and he was so sick of the blonde horse, honestly, he didn't have any siblings and he knew he'd never treat them like that.
So now he was doing the most boring thing he had endured in his life, (and he went to History of magic for an entire week in the first year) and unpacking boxes full of stuff into Godric's Hollow, by hand, because Lily wanted to move into her own house, the muggle way, why did he fall in love with such a complicated woman?
He was going to die. He didn't know how muggles lived without magic.
"Hey Prongs, get your ass over here and help us lift this table." James groaned as he dragged himself off the couch and across the room, this was torture. Damn him for being so damn whipped. He joined Remus and Sirius who were both struggling to carry the table. He dreaded the idea of attempting to do so if a werewolf and gym junkie couldn't.
After ten minutes of manoeuvring around boxes, bumping into walls and groaning, they dropped the table in the corner. James let out a hiss of pain as his elbow came into contact with the wall, his eyes watering slightly. Sirius let out a bark of laughter at his predicament, finding the expression of pain on James face hilarious,
"If it makes you feel any better I hit my funny bone doing that!"
"You poor thing!" Remus cooed mockingly, chuckling at his friend's situation,
"It hurts! I feel like I'm dying!"
"Don't sook about it!" Sirius snorted, rolling his eyes at his best friends exaggerations, "It's so humorous!"
James scowled, and rolled his eyes at the pair, "Well you see I'd laugh but my funny bones out of action."
"But not your sarcastic bone apparently." Remus retorted causing Sirius to choke on his own saliva as he was laughing too hard. Mary walked in carrying two boxes, her vision obscured from the boxes. She dropped the boxes as Sirius let out a bark of laughter.
"Merlin's beard!" She yelped as she dropped the box on her foot, "WHAT THE FUCK SIRIUS?" Sirius only laughed more at her pain stricken expression as she clutched her foot. He leant against the wall clutching his stomach in mirth.
"Yo-You!" He panted through his laughter. Mary glared at him as she hobbled over to Remus who was snickering into his hand. It seemed as James too was chuckling in the corner that his funny bone was back in action.
"Remus don't laugh!" She softly nudged him in the side, Remus looked down at her and raised an eyebrow, biting the inside of his cheek to contain his mirth.
"I'm not laughing!" He exclaimed, raising his hands up in defence, Mary raised an eyebrow in response, "Why would I laugh at you?"
Mary's face remained stoic as she watched him lie through his teeth, Sirius slid down the wall and snorted,
"Because she dropped two boxes on her foot." Sirius laughed, "Don't lie, Remus, lies poison relationships."
"See Remus!" Mary nodded along to Sirius statement, long over the pain throbbing on her foot. "You must not love me anymore."
Remus looked at her affronted, Peter who was walking through the door, heard the conversation and snorted, "Moony that's rude!" Remus made a rude gesture behind his back towards Peter who huffed out laughter.
"Mare don't be Stu-" Remus retorted causing her to raise her hand and interject, nodding along to her words to accentuate the meaning and placate him more.
"Remus, be serious, do you love me?" Remus's eyes lit up at the cue, and the moment Mary saw the look in his eyes she already felt the need to roll her eyes.
"How can I be Sirius if I'm Remus?" Mary lightly swatted him on the chest causing him to place his hand on the spot in mock pain, "You've wounded me!"
"Oh suck it up!" James yelled, his Scottish accent thick, "You didn't even tell her you loved her."
Mary huffed and picked the boxes up once more, mock angry, "I can't believe it, Remus! Our whole relationship has been a joke!"
Remus grimaced as he looked at her face which was dead serious, worried that he'd actually taken her joke to heart, she cracked a smile causing him to follow and then laughter broke out amongst them. James held his stomach to contain his mirth,
"Now I remember why I like you so much, Mare!" Mary turned to him and raised an eyebrow,
"I like to think you didn't insinuate that you didn't like me before five minutes ago."
James opened his mouth and stumbled over his words for a moment, as he came to and began to speak, a glowing phoenix patronus entered the room. The temperature of the room dropped and all joy was sucked out of the atmosphere, as the group dreaded what they were about to find out.
Sirius felt his stomach drop as he realised Lily and Liz had been out by themselves, he turned to James's direction to see him too spotting a sick appearance. He had all the faith in them and their skills, but sometimes more than skill was required. He felt panicked as all the worst case scenarios flew through his mind.
There is a major attack in Diagon Alley, we need you.
Sirius felt his blood pressure drop and his head spin slightly, Liz and Lily were there, they were in Diagon alley where a mass attack was occurring. He took a deep breath and tried to gather his wits, they needed him there fighting, not lying in bed because he was worried sick.
Less than a minute later they were dodging multi colour curses from every possible direction.
"Are you sure?" Lily asked Liz in hushed tones, Liz looked back at her, her face twisted into a grimace and her eyes shining with panic.
"That's the thing, I don't know." She replied back, her eyes welling with tears, "Lil, I don't know what to do, we were so-"
Lily wrapped her arms around Liz who was trembling with fear, "He's going to leave me, Lil, he- he doesn't-"
"He loves you too much Liz, he won't leave you." She whispered, "I promise, and you don't even know if you are, we've all been so stressed that it may just be a delay."
Liz wrapped her arms around her best friend and wiped her eyes, Lily was probably right, they would get through it, everything would be okay, but she couldn't help the doubt swelling in the pit of her stomach, and the nauseous feeling within.
"I love you Lils." She whispered, squeezing her best friend in her arms, they stood there for a moment, basking in each other's secure presence. They sprung apart as they heard crashes and sounds of panic outside. Elizabeth's eyes widened as they caught Lily's emerald orbs who were filled with determination. The pair, in unison, ran out with their wands in hand, prepared to do anything to protect others and themselves from the chaos.
Elizabeth ducked down to dodge a bright orange curse, as she looked up it was as if time itself had slowed, people all around were racing away from the alley, children were crying and spells were flying from every corner. Debris from buildings lay littered on the floor, dirt was blowing in the air from the wind, the cobblestone ground had cracks in it, windows had been smashed and signs had fallen or were hanging off their final hinge. It was a mess. The place that they'd always believed would be safe, the place that had been the entrance to the magical world, the place she had looked at and forever loved, was being destroyed by a gang of thugs.
Anger consumed her as she saw the damage that was being caused. She turned around as she heard a cry from behind her, her mouth dropped as she saw a baby wrapped up in a pink blanket laying on the ground crying, a young woman lay beside her, unmoving. Elizabeth's heart broke as she came to the conclusion that the young brunette was the babies mother. She looked behind her, to where the action was and saw order members port keying into the alley. One less person wasn't going to change anything, and she couldn't leave this baby here by herself. She would never forgive herself if something happened to her and she could've stopped it.
Elizabeth tentavily picked the baby up, slightly awkward as she didn't have much prior experience with babies, especially newborns. She felt fear overwhelm her as she felt the warmth of the baby on her chest, she had to protect this child with everything, she was her responsibility. Elizabeth clutched the baby tightly in her arms and ran into a narrow alleyway, she ran as far down as she could without being too far away from the action; it wouldn't do for her to stay here hours after the fight had ended and worry everyone.
She leant against the wall, her chest heaving as she tried to get her breath back. Beads of sweat had gathered on her forehead and her hair was stuck to the back of her neck. She sat down on the cold ground and adjusted the babies position in her arms.
Elizabeth gingerly ran a finger down the babies cheek, admiring the beauty of the child in amazement. She had never seen something so beautiful in her entire life. There was a chain around the babies hand which was laying on her stomach. Elizabeth gently turned the bracelet around to see a name engraved in the gold.
"Aurora Holmes." She whispered, the baby opened her eyes when she heard her name causing Elizabeth to not only marvel at a babies intelligence but at the beautiful babies bright blue orbs. She felt a fleeting moment of panic as she wondered if the baby would cry, after all, she was in a stranger's arms. To her utmost, surprise the baby gave her a gummy grin, causing her to smile back at the beautiful child.
She felt a sorrow deep in her chest, she felt as though this baby, Aurora, was an extension of her. The child had lost her mother and merlin knew where her father was or when he'd find out what happened, or if he was even in the picture. She could be an orphan, just like she was. She felt her heart ache, this child didn't have a mother, she would never have the privilege of watching movies every Friday night or going shopping with her mum, or tell her about the cute boys… nothing. Because of this horrendous war.
She ran a hand over the babies dark hair, and couldn't help but feel love for her. This child, Aurora, could pass off as her own, with those eyes and dark hair. She could imagine a little girl with Sirius's hair and her eyes, and a little boy with his fathers mischievous grin, her eyes and Sirius's hair. She could imagine them waking them up every morning by jumping on their bed, she could imagine hectic birthday dinners surrounded by their friends.
Elizabeth felt a tear roll down her freckled cheek as realisation hit her. One hand she was clutching Aurora, but with the other she was clutching her stomach, which was as flat as it had been a month ago. This could be her soon, but instead of joy, she felt sick to her stomach at the thought of having a child. Not just because of Sirius's adamance to not having children, but because of the war, what was to say her child wouldn't end up like Aurora. In a way, she would rather not find out if she was with child or not.
It made things easier.
Sirius let out a bark of laughter as he flung a death eater against a wall, James came up next to him and gave him a high five,
"Great job Pads."
Sirius nodded and turned, scanning the area for any sign of Lily or Elizabeth. James followed his gaze.
"Any sign of your fireball?" Sirius asked James, who turned towards James. James opened his mouth to reply only for the pair to turn around as they heard footsteps behind them,
"Stupefy!"
"Hey its only me!" Lily whispered as she came closer to them. The boys kept their wands trained on her.
"What did your mum say to you, regarding my looks, that your dad and I overheard." He asked with a smirk causing Lily to roll her eyes and let out a laugh.
"James Potter is one fine piece of meat if he was ten years older, and I was ten years younger I'd totally bang him."
Sirius snorted as he heard the line, it was the first he'd ever heard of it. "Man I need to meet April one of these days!"
Lily turned to him, "I keep telling Liz, you two need to come over for dinner one day!"
James still kept his wand in his hand, "I believe you, but what would Mad eye say if I didn't ask you?" Lily snorted at the resignation in his voice. "When my dad told me you were a keeper what did I reply back with?"
Lily twirled her wand in her hand and let out a melody of musical laughter, "How can she be a keeper, she cant even fly!"
As they heard a loud crash not far away the trio began to slowly move towards the source of the sound.
"Have you seen Liz?" James asked Lily, who turned to them and furrowed her brow. After a moment of contemplation, she shook her head,
"Nah, we got separated not too long ago." Sirius's head snapped up and panic coursed through his veins, seeing his reaction Lily spoke up, "I'm sure she's fine though, she seemed to be handling herself."
Sirius's mind flashed back to the last time they were in a situation similar to this, it was at the Shed, where she had been tortured to near insanity by his nutjob of a cousin and he had found her, barely alive and only just saved from the professionals at St Mungo's.
Lily whose mind seemed to have also flashed back to that fateful day, shook her head at him. "We'll find her together, there's no need to split up."
Sirius adamantly shook his head. "No." he stated, "I have to find her. I have to know she's okay."
Lily opened her mouth to protest but James spoke over her. "Go Sirius. Be safe, and if we see her we'll send a Patronus." Sirius nodded back in gratitude and ran off, leaving a very annoyed Lily with James.
Sirius, as he ran, felt gratitude for his best friend. Lily would never understand the sort of fear he had felt. Neither Liz nor Lily could understand the fear they had felt when they hadn't known where they were. He didn't think they ever could comprehend that sort of worry.
Sirius ducked as a curse came flying towards him, he continued to plough forward towards the death eater, and in the direction, he felt Liz could be in. But the death eater was insistent, obviously, they recognised who he was. Sirius cursed under his breath as he shielded himself as well as he could. When he got close enough he pushed the death eater into the wall as rough as he could. The man let out a sound of pain. Sirius couldn't help but feel a flicker of satisfaction from that sound.
He put his forearm against the man's neck causing the death eater to splutter and cough. Sirius roughly pulled the mask off the man's face, only for the shock to overwhelm him, he didn't even realise he let go of the man, he couldn't believe it. No.
Regulus
No, not his baby brother, his brother couldn't do this, he couldn't fight in the war. He was too soft, he couldn't do it.
"Regulus." He whispered The boy in front of him leant against the wall as he tried to gather his breath after being near suffocated.
"Sirius." He replied back conversationally, his voice scratchy after their confrontation. Sirius felt anger fill him at the casualness of his brother's voice as if he was doing nothing wrong.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" He questioned harshly, picking his brother up from the cloak and shoving him slightly. Regulus stumbled backwards.
"What do you mean?" he asked back, equally as harsh.
"Why would you, How can you wear that and just run around killing people. How can you kill someone with a mask on your face huh?" he questioned, his voice rising. "You don't even have the guts to look into the persons eyes when you do it, you just hide behind a mask and your holy lord and follow his orders as if you're nothing but his bitch!"
"Oh yeah because it's so different for you!" Regulus shoved Sirius back, his lip upturned. "As if you don't follow Dumbledore around like a lost puppy, and lap at everything he says."
Sirius couldn't contain his rage at his brother's insinuations,
"I do not lap at everything he says!" he exclaimed in disbelief at his brother's words, he felt disgusted to even look into his brother's eyes. "I cant believe you." He shook his head in disappointment.
Regulus looked at him in utter disbelief.
"You cant believe me!" he exclaimed and scoffed, his signature grey eyes glowing with anger that was reflected back in his brothers near identical eyes. "Well, I don't believe you!"
Sirius ran a hand over his face and paced on on the spot, shaking his head as he mourned his little brother. The boy that he used to play hide and seek with and build forts with, the boy who used to help him get out of family gatherings and steal their father's wand.
"How can you do this?" Sirius asked him, feeling pain searing in his heart, "How can you do it?"
Regulus felt his chest ache as he watched the man he admired so much, feel ashamed of him.
"No, the question is how can you do it?" Regulus felt years of resentment overwhelm the paternal feelings of love and care for his brother, "How can you live with yourself knowing what you did?"
"What do you mean?"
"You left me." He spat, his voice laced with venom, "Sirius you left me knowing what would happen to me!" He felt his body tremble with rage, "You left me with them, you left me to take care of everything and to take the fall for every single thing!"
Sirius opened his mouth to defend himself, but never got a chance,
"No Sirius! You ruined everything! You know, when you left, before mother could even burn you off the tapestry, she turned to me and she crucioed me! For days they punished me!" Sirius felt himself recoil at his brother's words. "I still have scars from that day and every day since!"
Sirius never felt such guilt in his life, his brother had suffered deeply for his abandonment. He had left his brother to the environment that he left. To his parents that had no qualms in punishing their children, the parents that expected too much, he felt guilt in knowing that the moment he walked out of that door his family would've automatically put all the pressure on Regulus to be perfect.
"You left Sirius, just like the coward you are, and now you blame me for finally making a choice in my life?" He spat, pointing at his brother, "In case you've forgotten, you left, you have no right to tell me what to do anymore."
"Give me a break!" Sirius snorted, "You didn't choose to become a death eater, Bella would've forced you, you didn't give you any other choice."
"I made the choice!" Regulus yelled, "For once in my life I made a choice that made someone proud, I did something out of your shadow, I did something better than you and something that I wanted! How can you, in all your Gryffindor pride, stand there and lecture me about my life choices when yours have been nothing but a colossal mess?"
"You've always been better than me Reg! For fuck's sake you never needed to prove yourself!" he flailed his arms around, "You were always perfect and the better son!"
"Rubbish!"
"You never wanted this!" Sirius cried out, Merlin he wanted to shout from the rooftops, he wanted to demand an angel to come and save his brother. "Whats going to happen when they find you huh?" he questioned, "You're going to rot in Azkaban, or you're going to die!"
"If anything that's the fate that's going to befall your reckless ass!" Regulus spat,
"Shut the fuck up."
"No Sirius, I'm so over your shit, the next time I see you it's going to be when you're on your hind legs begging the dark Lord to accept you." Sirius snorted and shook his head, "You hate to admit it big brother, but you're just as Black as Bella, just as cowardly, just as bloodthirsty, just as arrogant and just as dark; You're just prolonging it. But one day you're going to look in the mirror, and all you'll be able to think about is what I told you today, and how I was right and how despite your rebelliousness and twisted morals, you truly are the perfect heir of the black family."
Sirius could honestly admit that he felt like he was going to cry at the harshness of his brother's words, at the cruel undertones, the hate he was spewing. He couldn't believe it.
"I don't know you anymore." Sirius whispered in resignation, "You've changed."
Regulus nodded and licked his bottom lip, "The feelings mutual, Good bye brother."
And as the apparition ward fell, and his brother vanished into thin air, Sirius collapsed against the side of the wall and a sob ripped out of him. He felt as though his brother had died as if every memory and everything he reconciled with his brother had vanished and left nothing but a gaping hole in the middle of his heart.
He felt a pair of feminine arms wrap around him and a head lay on his shoulders, form the red hair that splayed down his top he knew it was Lily.
"He left me Lils." He sobbed, tasting his salty tears on his face, "He…"
"You don't need to speak." Lily whispered, her own voice choked up, "I know how you feel."
Sirius wrapped his arms around her, as he felt tears dampen his shirt, he wasn't the only one that had lost their siblings. They sat there for what seemed like hours crying their hearts out as they mourned the paternal love they had lost, the relationships that had meant everything to them whilst growing up, had in the end, broken them.
After a while Lily turned and looked him in the eyes, her eyes swollen and bloodshot, but she wasn't ashamed of it, so were his. She squeezed his hand and whilst she let out a small whimper she could help but tell him.
"I guess we only have each other now."
Elizabeth traced shapes on Sirius's chest as they lay in their bed, basking in his scent. He was so beautiful, so strong… Merlin, she loved him. As they lay, leaning on one another. She couldn't help but think of how blessed she was to be with him. She felt her free hand lay on top of his hand, which was pressed against her stomach. Despite his adamant wishes she couldn't help but imagine them lying like this, with her stomach swollen and round, with their growing child. She felt tears well up in her eyes at the impracticality of that idea. The moment she told him he'd probably leave. In fact, she was sure this would be one of their final nights lying around like this before she told him of her suspicions.
Sirius exhaled air and buried himself deeper into the mattress. Elizabeth leant up on her elbow and looked at him, his dark curls were standing up at the back as a result of their lovemaking, his grey eyes drooping and his full lips slightly apart. He was so handsome.
"This isn't a life." He whispered, tracing patterns on the small of Elizabeth's back. "This is so fucking unfair."
Elizabeth nodded, thinking back to her own rant months prior, and the complaints of James. Their life had spun out into a tornado of unfairness and corruption. She couldn't help but synthesise with Sirius, not on the level Lily could, but somewhat. She could understand the loss Sirius felt, the gaping hole within, Merlin she could understand and she hated that he felt that pain.
She couldn't help but wonder what the purpose of this war was. What was the point in all the pain they lived with, the suffering they caused and the horrors they saw every day! She hoped that in the end there was a purpose in all of this, that in the end, it would mean something.
She hoped for nothing more than the light of hope to shine through the horrors of their world.
"Have you ever heard the myth of Pandora's box?"
Sirius looked down at her, his gaze filled with curiosity, "I've never heard of it."
She nodded and her tongue traced her bottom lip as she lay back and buried herself into the mattress. "Prometheus was the god of forethought, his job was to mould mankind into something great, His attempts to better the lives of his creation brought him into conflict with Zeus, who was the father of the gods, the most powerful. One night, Prometheus gave fire to mortals, and as a punishment, Zeus chained Prometheus to the peak of a building and let the eagles peck at his ever regenerating liver."
"What the fuck?" Sirius exclaimed raising on his elbow, "I thought this was about Pandora."
"Hold up," Elizabeth huffed out, and then continuing her story. "Anyhow, Zeus then went after Prometheus's kind hearted brother, intending to destroy them. He gathered many gods together and created the first woman, named Pandora. Pandora was a beautiful woman, smart, cunning and most of all curious. He delivered her to Epimetheus, Prometheus's brother; he was so charmed by her, that they soon wed."
"What does this have to do with a box?"
"Will you be patient?" She questioned, Sirius turned to lie on his stomach, enthralled by the tale she was weaving. "Zeus, of course, was invited to the wedding, and as a gift, he gave her a locked box and a key, and on it was engraved, 'Do not open.' Not long after, Pandora's curiosity got the best of her and she opened the box."
"What was in the box?" Sirius asked her, his face alight with joy and curiosity. She was awfully sure she was going to disappoint him with the ending.
"I have the right mind to not tell you the rest of the story." She joked. Sirius turned to her, his face dropped.
"You're joking right?" He asked her, Elizabeths face lit up with a smile,
"As she opened the box, her excitement turned into distress, as all the horrors people had never experienced before was let out into their once utopian world, sickness, murder, turmoil, war, strife, jealousy, terrorism, hatred, famine and passion. But very last to fly out was hidden at the very bottom of the box, and it was hope."
She ran her hand through Sirius's hair, he looked at her in confusion. "What was the point of that?" he asked her, his brows furrowed. Elizabeth let out a soft laugh.
"It's often used as a metaphor 'Be careful which box you open Pandora,' or as a way to convey that no matter what one is going through, despite all the darkness and suffering, in the end, there will always be hope."
Sirius nodded in understanding and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, he loved her so much, he mused, so much so, he could probably say that he could understand Epimetheus's love for Pandora. His adoration and blind faith, his pure love. He could understand that, for he imagined that Pandora was like his beloved, Elizabeth Gilmore.
"So if I was to ask you, what you thought of the war…" he trailed off, Elizabeth smiled and smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gazed into his stormy grey orbs.
"I would tell you that you shouldn't forget what flew out of the bottom of the box."
As she locked lips with her beloved, all her problems and fears disappeared, it was just the two of them against the world; For now she would forget about it all, about a possible child, about the war, about, Voldemort, about Regulus Black… And all that would remain, was her love for Sirius Black.
Well, that was a jam packed chapter aye? I particularly enjoyed writing this one hehe, and I can confirm that there is some very interesting content coming up for you guys in the future! Down below is a very exciting sneak peek! Just like the last chapter, since I missed an update, if you leave a review I will send you a larger snippet of next chapter (or a chapter later on) with a few spoilers hehe!
"I-I can't do this..I'm sorry."
I have a feeling some of you will be able to guess who this line is by :)
Please dont forget to review, things have suddenly gotten so stressful since i am starting to choose subjects for next year and pressure is being put on me to figure out my future; i also have a math test tomorrow that we shouldve done a week and a half ago!
Reviews are good luck and smiles!
I love you all endlessly!
Ruby xo