(Untitled)

[not_the_grim]

Countless times Sirius had read Rowling's books since he discovered them upon the rec room shelf in his first months on the island. He had known, in a dim and distant fashion, what Azakaban was, and then, through those accounts, gleaned an idea of the imprint it would leave upon him, body and soul

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[yeah_wow_lovely]

There's a necklace wrapped round her finger when she finds him. The cord is long and delicate looking, the leather so thin that it seems it could snap at any moment, but no matter how sharply she pulls, it holds. She'd meant to knot it into something clever, something beautiful, but now, gazing at the back of the man for whom it's intended, Cassie thinks she might go with something simpler. A shell at the end perhaps, edges worn by the endless roll of sea and sand and polished bright.

It's strange, she thinks, that she hadn't thought something simple could be beautiful before, but perhaps that's because she never had it. "Sirius," she calls softly, and tucks the necklace back into her pocket. She thinks sometimes that he prefers it out here now, out where he can hear the waves, thinks that, after a month of only them to listen to, he might feel lonely without them. "Where are you?"

[not_the_grim]

"I'm here," he says, instantly, and it isn't until he tips his head back and draws Cassie into view that he understands what she'd meant. What little he's got these days, he gives to her and to Harry, but being present hasn't been his strong suit since he left that cage out in the ocean.

"I'm here," he repeats, and reaches a skinny arm imploringly Cassie's way with a subdued smile. "I've not left yet. Come give me a kiss and put my feet back on the ground."

[yeah_wow_lovely]

Cassie comes, kissing his fingertips, and drops down behind him, her own arms wrapped round his chest and face pressed against his shoulder. "There," she says, breathing him in, a habit she can't seem to stop. She'd burnt everything they owned together, hadn't kept even a shirt, and though she doesn't regret it, Cassie never wants to forget what it feels like to be pressed so near, the scent of his skin warm and comfortable.

"I'll keep you," she says, reaching down to spill new sand over his bare feet. "You're mine for a while longer."

[not_the_grim]

"As long as you'll have me," Sirius agrees, his fingers trailing in her golden, flyaway hair. "Someday you'll meet someone terribly dashing and not at all moody and who doesn't steal the blankets, and you'll be done with me," he teases, and presses a warm kiss to her temple. "But until then, I'll take as much of you as I can get."

[yeah_wow_lovely]

"I'll never be done," says Cassie honestly, and doesn't say it doesn't matter, because they both know it. Sirius has seen his nightmare and she's seen hers. They'll see them again, but in Cassie's heart where the island holds no sway, she'll never be done.

"I've come to fetch you for supper," she says after a quiet moment, cheek tickling under the shorter fall of his hair. "Are you hungry?"

[not_the_grim]

"Yes," he lies, because he knows well enough that if he doesn't eat, she might not, either. "Will it be the Winchester or the Compound?"

He ought to take her on a proper date, he thinks. Soon, before it's too late. Something with flowers and maybe dancing. He'd always liked dancing when they'd had balls at school.

[yeah_wow_lovely]

"The Compound," says Cassie immediately. She doesn't avoid Neil, but neither is she sorry when circumstance requires his absence. "There's chips today. Not proper, greasy ones, they're baking them, but. We'll drown them in catsup and we won't know the difference."