Chapter 12: The Chamber of Memories
Luna awoke suddenly, with a thumping headache, which was quickly forgotten about, because there was no feeling of dread like waking up blind. Luna thought to herself, what a sick and twisted thing to do, to take away sight from your Captor. Panicking, she started relying on her other senses, shakily feeling around her surroundings. She worked out she was in bed, wearing some kind of light cotton hospital gown and had a fluffed pillow. This was somewhat of a relief amid her terror, to know wherever she was, the person had taken the effort to give her clothing and a fluffed pillow. When she stopped moving and listened very carefully, she could hear someone, not too far away, steadily snoring. Her captor was asleep so this was her opportunity to get away. She carefully pulled her sheets back slowly, as to not make any noise, and slid her legs down off the bed. Her feet made a faint thud, and Luna slowly pushed her arms in front of her, to feel for anything she may hit. She could see why a walking stick would come in handy for someone lacking in vision. Just as she cleared the length of the bed, and started to build speed, she tripped on a stool, that was too low for her arms to feel. She froze, heart thudding in her ears, praying the person sleeping hadn't woken by the sudden noise.
"Luna?" Came the voice of a half delirious sounding Sirius Black.
Lunas stance visibly slackened as she asked hopefully, "Sirius?"
"Yeah, where are you trying to sneak off to? Madame Pomfrey isn't trying to poison you."
"Oh. The hospital wing, I should have recognised the gross smell. What um… what happened?"
"Oh, you know just your normal lazy Sunday, I slayed one of the most frightening creatures in existence," Sirius laughed slightly manically.
"We did it! The last thing I remember is having sore eyes, and then being smacked in the head by something." Memories flooded her mind of Sirius chasing after Roosters, and then a massive snake, and a sword.
"Well, after you got us into the Chamber, things took a bad turn, no matter what spell James and Lily cast at the Rooster, it wouldn't crow. Then, as if the sorting hat knew you were in danger, it produced a massive sword from within it. We all thought you were batty when you insisted on bringing it with us, but it makes sense now. Anyway, it saw me first and started to come towards me, so you ran at it with the sword, at the same time as I tried to temporarily blind it. I'm sorry about your eyes. I was trying to aim for the Basilisk, but only being able to look from my peripheral vision made it hard to aim. I got it the second time round though. It was so mad, it thrashed its tail and knocked you out with the sheer force of it. You somehow managed to get the sword into it though, which must have slowed it down. I was able to loop around the back of it and pull the sword out of its body, then strike it through the head. Its lucky I'm tall, or I wouldn't have been able to reach the sword through its chin, then skull. If I was shorter, I would have had to wait for its head to come back down, and then aim for directly in the roof of the mouth. Those teeth could have been deadly! I was directly underneath it though, and because it's a massive beast, it landed on my leg, and crushed my femur. Lily … or James, I can't really remember at this point, levitated it off me and they floated us up here to the hospital wing. Pomfrey must have dosed us with a sleeping draught though, because we've woken up at four in the morning. I heard them talking about your eyes as well, they'll heal after a few hours, so you don't need to worry about that." As Luna processed all this information, she noticed Sirius distinct change in demeanour. He wasn't arrogant or bragging about how he had killed the thing. He simply stated the course of events that had taken place. Not that she could see, but Luna imagined his normal smirk was missing and Luna felt a sense of the mature man he had grown into, who she had heard stories of in the future.
"Wow, you did it Sirius. You actually killed it." Luna said quietly in awe.
"We did it. I couldn't have done it without you. The sword was essential." Sirius said in the same voice that held authority.
"Well… I can't fully remember any of the details, but I'll take your word for it." Luna said the last part quickly, bowing her head in thought. "You haven't told any one have you, Sirius? If Voldemort finds out, it could make other information I know about him useless."
"No I haven't, remember, James, Lily and I, all promised we wouldn't, before you would open it for us." Luna visibly relaxed her shoulders. "And what are you doing still standing now you know you're in the hospital wing?" Sirius asked.
"I - actually need to go to the bathroom, but I'm just processing how I'm going to get there, when for one, I don't have a clue where it is, and for two, I still can't see." Luna paused, she hated asking for help, but the alternative was far worse. "Would you mind helping me get there?" Luna asked tentatively.
Sirius let out a grunt, as he got up, using crutches by the sound of things.
"Oh, your leg, Sirius, I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was that bad, I can hear clicking. It's fine, honestly, I'll just feel my way there," Luna apologised.
"Don't worry Luna, it's all good, Im fine" Sirius said shakily, making his way over. The smirk was back in Sirius' voice again, as he said, "doth mine ears deceiveth me? But are you asking for help, and not making some sarcastic comment? I should slay Basilisks more often." They both laughed, as Sirius came to a stop in front of Luna. Luna reached out to find his chest with her hands, and awkwardly moved them to his arm. "Normally, you'd buy me a drink first."
"Oh but I did, remember? Some of Mr Felix' finest? You obviously didn't drink enough of it, or you might have had more luck missing my eyes," Luna complained, as they started walking, with her hands holding his muscular biceps to allow him to use his crutches.
"You know, I was wondering whether you had given me a dud, but I don't feel so unlucky now." Sirius said softly, in just above a whisper, all hint of joking gone.
Colour rose on Lunas throat, and she was at a loss for her normal witty reply. She opened and closed her mouth, but nothing came out, and they kept walking in silence.
Once they arrived outside the bathroom, Sirius handed one of his crutches over, for her to use as a walking stick the rest of the way. When Luna returned, she smiled and grabbed Sirius arm, first attempt, and said smiling, "my uber awaits."
"Pardon me?" Sirius asked curiously.
Luna froze, at the realisation of what she'd let slip. She was normally so careful and succinct in what she said, and yet, she just blurted out something that didn't exist. The nerves had gotten to her from Sirius' one on one intensity. Luna pondered for a moment, maybe she could tell Sirius now. He had just put a massive target on his back by killing Voldemorts favourite pet. Probably bigger than Lunas even, if Voldemort ever found out that was. If he got to Sirius, and tortured this information out of him, or administered truth serum and found out he lost in the future, he might be far more careful with his Horcruxes. So Luna justified to herself that it could wait for a while.
"Its just a muggle reference, a bit like taxis." Luna replied and quickly diverted the conversation, "have you ever done the muggle thing before, and ridden in a car, or on a bike?" Luna asked. This happened to be the perfect question, because she knew Sirius loved Motorbikes.
"I've never tried either before, but Lily promised me, over Christmas break, she would teach me to use her Dads Motorbike. They can go as fast as brooms apparently. It makes me wonder, if you couldn't combine that speed with magic, and make it go even faster. I'm getting side tracked though. How do you know about muggle things? Was your mother a muggle? Lily said that some of your music last night sounded muggle, but had been altered somehow?" Sirius quickly fired question at Luna, curiosity engrained in his voice, and she gulped at the thought of personal questions and how to wade through them carefully, given her recent mistake. As close to the truth as possible was always the best option.
"No, my mother was a pureblood, but her Dad, Grandad, that is, had a real fascination with muggle things. He was always out in the garage experimenting on random muggle inventions. I think that's where I got my love for experimenting, my Grandad was so enthusiastic. It used to drive Granny up the wall. She was always scary when she lost her temper, its only ever happened to me once in my life though, thankfully," Luna smiled at the memory of this now.
"Wow, that's awesome, I didn't know you liked experimenting. Maybe you could help me on a Motorbike over break?" Sirius asked, his eyes alight with excitement.
"I have to stay here over break, where it's safe. And I'm well behind everyone in class, so I need to make the most of being here. Sorry. Maybe when this crazy war is over."
Sirius looked a little disappointed at this, but continued in his easy going fashion, "Understandable. Maybe I can take you for a ride on it after its altered. Anyway, what was the thing you did to annoy your Granny?"
At this point in the conversation, they had arrived back at Lunas bed, and Sirius had balanced on one foot, taken Lunas hand, and directed it, so she could feel where the edge of the bed was. Luna quickly climbed onto the bed, once she felt where it was, so Sirius couldn't feel the heat radiating from her hand where he'd touched it. Once she got her self comfortable, she asked, "have you heard of Goat, Float, Boat before?"
"No, what's that? Is it muggle?" Sirius asked, fascination coming through in his voice. Luna was very aware of the way his voice sounded, as she was relying on hearing as her main sense now.
'It'll take time for me to explain it, honestly I won't be offended if you just want to go back to bed, you must be tired from regrowing bones, and I've already disrupted your sleep as it is." Luna replied.
"No, you've got me curious now, I want to know what you did. Plenty of time to sleep when I die."
"Ok, sit down off your leg at least, I could hear it clicking as we were walking." Luna felt the middle of the bed slump, from where Sirius sat, and immediately wondered where he was looking.
"Actually, do you mind sitting next to me? It just feels weird talking with you in front of me and not being able to meet your eyes" Luna asked awkwardly.
Sirius replied, full of confidence, "Sure. It did feel a bit weird having your fixated stare at my pants there for a second."
Luna laughed and replied, "Now I know you're lying, because my head is definitely facing straight ahead."
Sirius laughed and said, "Ok, I can't argue with that," as he carefully moved himself, so his arm was leaning into Lunas, and his good leg brushed against hers. "Now, on with the story," Sirius said cheerfully.
"So, on a muggle road trip, there is a game you can play called goat, float, boat. Where, as you are driving you want to be the first one to spot these three things, and in that order. Me and my … cousins, (Luna couldn't say brothers) had a sort of rite of passage game, that is similar to the muggle one, we played, called Snake, cake, shake. It started with my Uncle, (again she couldn't say father) who unleashed a Boa Constrictor on someone, pretended to drop a cake over house guests, and the 'shake,' was he got so mad at an Aunt, he was visibly shaking, and ended up blowing her up with magic. So my eldest cousin started this tradition, he was a bit naughty with what he did, but my Uncle loved it and we used to laugh and laugh about it. Granny, not so much. My second eldest cousin was always pandering to Granny, so when push came to shove, he didn't have the stomach to do the blowing any one up part. When it came to be my turn, during my first summer holiday home from boarding school, to continue the tradition, I hid a snake in my eldest cousins room. We were always up to antics like this, so we could both laugh it off, he also didn't tell anyone I had started the game. This meant it came as a great shock when I 'accidentally' sent a cake flying at my part Veela cousin. Granny went off the handle at me, but the cherry on top was her saying that she 'anticipated this carry on from the boys, but expected more from the women in the house.' This just set me off like nothing else. Like being a girl meant I couldn't have fun, or play jokes. So I did it. I blew her up."
"You didn't!"Sirius exclaimed. When Luna didn't reply, Sirius said exasperated, "You blew up your Grandma," and then, he started roaring with laughter, the bed shook slightly from his mirth next to her. Luna had told the story dead pan, but she couldn't help but smile at Sirius' response. His laughter was contagious. The story was rather funny, although Luna doubted he would have had this response had he been there and seen Granny terrorise Luna with anger, after she came back down that is. Once Sirius finally started to calm down from his hysterics, Luna said, "ok, you've had your fun. Its your turn now. Biggest tongue lashing you ever received?"
Luna felt Sirius stiffen next to her at this, and felt awkward during his contemplative silence.
"I.. I just… it's not really a fun story, I don't want to get you down, it's quite depressing actually." Sirius said grimly.
Luna replied gently, "Its ok, you don't have to share it with me if you don't want to." Their arms were resting against each other, so Luna reached her hand over and felt along his arm until she found his hand and held it in hers.
Luna was glad she couldn't see what expression his face was holding right now. She couldn't over analyse whether she had overstepped and second guess her actions, she could just be there, and live in the moment. Sirius in response, rested his head on her shoulder, and started rubbing circles on the back of her hand. Sirius said, in just above a whisper, "It happened this summer just been. Voldemort came recruiting, and the conversation that had been buried and avoided for years finally surfaced. I think deep down my family always knew where I stood, but hoped I would change as I got older. She used some kind of dark slashing curse on my back, after the argument, as I was walking away. After that, I said I'm done with being part of this so called 'family,' and I packed my things. I hadn't even left out the front door before she blasted me off the family tree for me to hear. I never felt part of it to begin with. I always knew I was different to the rest of them. I used to cling on to being a noble Gryffindor, like that was the reason I was different. It's funny, I don't really wear it like a badge any more since Peters betrayal. Even today, seeing you try to kill the Basilisk, when it was coming for me, made me realise; you are twice as brave as most of the Gryffindors I know. Yet you some how ended up in Slytherin, with the rest of the Blacks. I don't know what makes me different now." Sirius finished, lost in thought in his existential dilemma.
"You give me too much credit. Let's not forget I got half the school drunk last night. Have you ever heard of the story of Noah?"
"No, who is that?" Sirius asked.
"Just about every muggle kid knows his story. Everyone knows the fun, cushy kids story of how he builds a huge boat, and brings two of every animal on it, all to save the world from its depravity. He's a bit of a hero really. No-one ever talks about the fact that he became drunk after he watched humanity drown. Could you imagine seeing an existence disappear? Before your own eyes? It would certainly make me want to drink away the memories." Luna felt sympathetic towards Noah, far more than Sirius knew in this moment. "The point is though, this old hero made mistakes. There is bad in all of us, no matter who we are, or how much of it we have. Whether there is one drop of Cyanide in a cup, or a bucket full of it, both will kill you in the end. It makes me think, my friend Jasmine was right, we all need to be saved from the darkness within us. I've made so many mistakes and I feel so guilty for them. I wish there was a way I could just get rid of it. Have you ever done anything you regretted?" Luna asked.
"I almost killed another student. You know, I don't normally tell people this. But you did try to save my life earlier, and my brain isn't really functioning properly at this hour of the morning, so there it is. As much as I hate the person, I still feel terrible for it." Sirius replied.
"That's the key, isn't it? Remorse. You feel terrible about it. Remorse makes us change our actions, so we can be better. It's one thing I know my Father doesn't have." Sirius, had a knack for making light of difficult topics and came out with, "If I've learnt anything today it's Hagrid is always right. We have so much in common. A Psycho parent, both remorseful, both good with animals, of course, as Hagrid so eloquently pointed out. You just can't argue with Hagrid's logic."
They laughed together at this and Luna said, "A Psycho parent is right. It's good to laugh about it, if I wasn't, I'd probably cry." The two sat in silence for a long time after this, thinking about their conversation and past, neither were sure who fell asleep first.