Inheritance (01/02)
Title: Inheritance (01/02)
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairings: Sirius Black/Dorcas Meadowes, James Potter/Lily Potter, Frank Longbottom/Alice Longbottom
Rating: PG
Warnings: Mentions of death, one a little graphic
Summary: Each time the Order loses a member, they get together, talk, reminisce, mourn, and gather what they were left.
Notes: Written for 100quills, prompt #047~Teammate. Cut text comes from kidneytheives Before I'm Dead
Benjamin Fenwick was the first to disappear, and about a month later, when they had found a finger, everyone in the Order went to his flat. Caradoc, being the Irishman he was, brought whiskey, and as they reminisced about 'good old Benjy,' and assured each other that he would have not gone easily or betrayed them, they drank.
Sirius, practical, was the one who would phrase the questions everyone was thinking but no one else would dare to pose--and as they discussed strategy amidst memories of Hogwarts days, Marlene cried. Marlene cried each time they found pieces of him--sometimes sent by post by some unknown, other times while actually searching.
Alice curled into Frank as the Order members went through his flat, undoing wards and curses, destroying sensitive information and passing out mementos. She hid her face in his shoulder as she received a crystal Remembrall, but she didn't cry.
Dorcas didn't touch the whiskey, she hated being drunk, and she wasn't particularly able to hold her liquor. Still, she pretended, wetting her lips with the potent amber liquid before putting it down and letting Sirius have it. She was almost always silent in these meetings, mourning in her own way and feeling guilty, especially when she was unable to say who or why had done this to her friends. She was trapped in two worlds, and nothing showed this more than these little wakes.
She grinned despite herself as she was passed a small lacquered box, something she knew he had kept his cigarettes in and she had constantly bothered him about ruining the lacquer with the smoke. Only Benjy would have something like that, and she laughed, though it was a bit bittersweet.
~*~
Caradoc was the next to go, disappear, without a trace. Only Dorcas knew what had happened, and it was she that suggested that he wouldn't be coming back. James had wanted to argue, for all that Caradoc hadn't been a Marauder, he was a friend, and a drinking buddy. He saw the knowledge in Dorcas's eyes and nodded, his face falling.
James didn't look at her for a few days, and when everyone went to his flat, she felt more than ever that she didn't belong. Sirius found her, staring at her hands in the bathroom, and sat down next to her, handing her a mechanical toy bird that she had always been fascinated with, and pulled her into his arms.
Unlike Lily, Sirius never tried to say anything to make her feel better or comfort her, even make her feel as if she belonged. Instead, he sat with her in the bathroom, and when she was fighting against crying, turned on the shower and shoved her inside, giving her a place to hide.
~*~
When Marlene went, with her entire family, it was Alice who said what everyone was thinking. "At least she's happy now." she said, falsely optimistic and wrapped around Frank. "She's with Benjy again."
There were murmurs of assent, and Dorcas swung her legs back and forth as she sat on the table, as the floor was cluttered with papers and books, barely room enough for everyone to step. Remus sorted through them, and she was supposed to help, but the spidery script swam in front of her eyes in waves of coloured ink, and all she can do is feel guilty, because she is just so happy that she hadn't been involved.
She holds the volume of Robert Browning's poetry close to her chest and watches numbly as James strokes Lily's hair, his head bent to her ear, wishing vainly that she could be pure enough for that kind of love.
She doesn't notice the grey eyes on her back.
~*~
Sirius realises, as he's smoking out on the porch of his house with Moony and Prongs, that in a way, he traded one inheritance of death for another. Regulus took the path the Black family supported, handing it out with black robes and a mask like some demented grim reaper, while he...
Sirius had taken in with the Order, they had taken him in, a stray pureblood, rebelling against a rebellion and hating everything his family had stood for, he had inherited what his friends left behind. Small things he wanted to pretend didn't matter.Knick-knacks and photos that he wanted to think meant nothing, but even for all that death, Sirius wouldn't trade his inheritance for anything.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairings: Sirius Black/Dorcas Meadowes, James Potter/Lily Potter, Frank Longbottom/Alice Longbottom
Rating: PG
Warnings: Mentions of death, one a little graphic
Summary: Each time the Order loses a member, they get together, talk, reminisce, mourn, and gather what they were left.
Notes: Written for 100quills, prompt #047~Teammate. Cut text comes from kidneytheives Before I'm Dead
Benjamin Fenwick was the first to disappear, and about a month later, when they had found a finger, everyone in the Order went to his flat. Caradoc, being the Irishman he was, brought whiskey, and as they reminisced about 'good old Benjy,' and assured each other that he would have not gone easily or betrayed them, they drank.
Sirius, practical, was the one who would phrase the questions everyone was thinking but no one else would dare to pose--and as they discussed strategy amidst memories of Hogwarts days, Marlene cried. Marlene cried each time they found pieces of him--sometimes sent by post by some unknown, other times while actually searching.
Alice curled into Frank as the Order members went through his flat, undoing wards and curses, destroying sensitive information and passing out mementos. She hid her face in his shoulder as she received a crystal Remembrall, but she didn't cry.
Dorcas didn't touch the whiskey, she hated being drunk, and she wasn't particularly able to hold her liquor. Still, she pretended, wetting her lips with the potent amber liquid before putting it down and letting Sirius have it. She was almost always silent in these meetings, mourning in her own way and feeling guilty, especially when she was unable to say who or why had done this to her friends. She was trapped in two worlds, and nothing showed this more than these little wakes.
She grinned despite herself as she was passed a small lacquered box, something she knew he had kept his cigarettes in and she had constantly bothered him about ruining the lacquer with the smoke. Only Benjy would have something like that, and she laughed, though it was a bit bittersweet.
~*~
Caradoc was the next to go, disappear, without a trace. Only Dorcas knew what had happened, and it was she that suggested that he wouldn't be coming back. James had wanted to argue, for all that Caradoc hadn't been a Marauder, he was a friend, and a drinking buddy. He saw the knowledge in Dorcas's eyes and nodded, his face falling.
James didn't look at her for a few days, and when everyone went to his flat, she felt more than ever that she didn't belong. Sirius found her, staring at her hands in the bathroom, and sat down next to her, handing her a mechanical toy bird that she had always been fascinated with, and pulled her into his arms.
Unlike Lily, Sirius never tried to say anything to make her feel better or comfort her, even make her feel as if she belonged. Instead, he sat with her in the bathroom, and when she was fighting against crying, turned on the shower and shoved her inside, giving her a place to hide.
~*~
When Marlene went, with her entire family, it was Alice who said what everyone was thinking. "At least she's happy now." she said, falsely optimistic and wrapped around Frank. "She's with Benjy again."
There were murmurs of assent, and Dorcas swung her legs back and forth as she sat on the table, as the floor was cluttered with papers and books, barely room enough for everyone to step. Remus sorted through them, and she was supposed to help, but the spidery script swam in front of her eyes in waves of coloured ink, and all she can do is feel guilty, because she is just so happy that she hadn't been involved.
She holds the volume of Robert Browning's poetry close to her chest and watches numbly as James strokes Lily's hair, his head bent to her ear, wishing vainly that she could be pure enough for that kind of love.
She doesn't notice the grey eyes on her back.
~*~
Sirius realises, as he's smoking out on the porch of his house with Moony and Prongs, that in a way, he traded one inheritance of death for another. Regulus took the path the Black family supported, handing it out with black robes and a mask like some demented grim reaper, while he...
Sirius had taken in with the Order, they had taken him in, a stray pureblood, rebelling against a rebellion and hating everything his family had stood for, he had inherited what his friends left behind. Small things he wanted to pretend didn't matter.Knick-knacks and photos that he wanted to think meant nothing, but even for all that death, Sirius wouldn't trade his inheritance for anything.