A World Gone Mad
Title: A World Gone Mad
Pairing: Sirius/Rosmerta for rarepair_shorts
Prompt: mad world
Rating: PG
Word Count: 355
Summary: “The world’s gone mad. Completely mad.”
Author's Notes: An angstier one this time.
Link to Prompt Table: Accio!
The Three Broomsticks is quiet, though it is long before closing time. Nevertheless, Sirius barges inside with a bouquet of dusty, fake roses in one hand and a laugh upon his lips. The fact that a war is going on does not faze him; it does not affect him-how could it when it seems so far away?
At first, when he searches for Rosmerta, he does not see her, which is peculiar. It should not be difficult, he reasons in frustration, to locate someone in an otherwise empty room.
Then he hears it: a muffled choking sound. Sirius is not laughing anymore.
Rosmerta is in the back room, slumped over a table with her curly hair splayed out around her. Sirius, suddenly cautious, approaches her quietly, his head cocked to one side.
She still hears him. Subtlety has never been his strong suit.
“Only you would have the nerve to bother me today,” she sniffs.
“What happened?” He does not ask, but demands. Nothing is as it usually is; she should be yelling at him by now, trying not to smile.
“The world’s gone mad. Completely mad.”
There is a catch in her voice, and Sirius’s hand hovers just above her shoulder. He does not know how to give someone comfort; he has not needed to in a long time.
“It’s my dad,” she continues. “He’s been killed.”
“Rosm-”
“My dad!” she interrupts angrily, clenching her fists until her knuckles gleam white. “He’s the one that gave me the pub, you know, right after graduation. And now he’s gone and got himself-he’s gone and-gone-what are you doing?”
Sirius does not even know. Inside, he balks, horrified; he does not remember deciding to pull her away from her chair and toward him instead.
At first, she is rigid, and his shoulders are stiff. Yet then she bites her lip and buries her face in his chest. He pats her back awkwardly, wondering if there is something else that he is supposed to do-wonders why she has not told him.
But he says nothing more. For now, he lets her weep.
Pairing: Sirius/Rosmerta for rarepair_shorts
Prompt: mad world
Rating: PG
Word Count: 355
Summary: “The world’s gone mad. Completely mad.”
Author's Notes: An angstier one this time.
Link to Prompt Table: Accio!
The Three Broomsticks is quiet, though it is long before closing time. Nevertheless, Sirius barges inside with a bouquet of dusty, fake roses in one hand and a laugh upon his lips. The fact that a war is going on does not faze him; it does not affect him-how could it when it seems so far away?
At first, when he searches for Rosmerta, he does not see her, which is peculiar. It should not be difficult, he reasons in frustration, to locate someone in an otherwise empty room.
Then he hears it: a muffled choking sound. Sirius is not laughing anymore.
Rosmerta is in the back room, slumped over a table with her curly hair splayed out around her. Sirius, suddenly cautious, approaches her quietly, his head cocked to one side.
She still hears him. Subtlety has never been his strong suit.
“Only you would have the nerve to bother me today,” she sniffs.
“What happened?” He does not ask, but demands. Nothing is as it usually is; she should be yelling at him by now, trying not to smile.
“The world’s gone mad. Completely mad.”
There is a catch in her voice, and Sirius’s hand hovers just above her shoulder. He does not know how to give someone comfort; he has not needed to in a long time.
“It’s my dad,” she continues. “He’s been killed.”
“Rosm-”
“My dad!” she interrupts angrily, clenching her fists until her knuckles gleam white. “He’s the one that gave me the pub, you know, right after graduation. And now he’s gone and got himself-he’s gone and-gone-what are you doing?”
Sirius does not even know. Inside, he balks, horrified; he does not remember deciding to pull her away from her chair and toward him instead.
At first, she is rigid, and his shoulders are stiff. Yet then she bites her lip and buries her face in his chest. He pats her back awkwardly, wondering if there is something else that he is supposed to do-wonders why she has not told him.
But he says nothing more. For now, he lets her weep.