bonus fic: le ténébreux
Title: le ténébreux
Author: glass_icarus
Recipient: i_claudia
Rating: G
Highlight for Warnings: *none*
Word Count: 277
Summary: Although the wind
blows terribly here,
the moonlight also leaks
between the roof planks
of this ruined house.
-- Izumi Shikibu
Author's notes: Happy New Year, Claudia! &hearts Also, thanks to ruffwriter for looking this over and generally putting up with my flail (again). *g*
He returns to the Shrieking Shack on a whim, approaching it by way of the Forbidden Forest at night for the exhilarating sense of freedom and danger that rushes through his blood. Standing before its worn gates, he whispers a spell, the unbroken wards upon its doors and walls illuminated briefly in his sight.
Padfoot turns toward the Whomping Willow, pressing the familiar bole at its trunk. A few moments later, his shadowy fur blends into the darkness and disappears.
Sirius doesn't quite know what he expected to see, years after the Shack has been abandoned, the four of them departed in their own separate ways, but it isn't this. The empty bed, with its scarred posts and gashed mattress, sheets and blankets full of holes; the claw marks on the walls and the window-frames; the moonlight gapping in from where the roof is missing shingles- all of them are empty of the ghosts and memories that flicker far too often behind his eyelids. Rubbing a scrap of cloth between his fingers, he can't decide whether or not to be grateful (the Shack is empty of Remus, too).
Still, Remus will return to Hogwarts, if not to him: there will be an offer for the Defense Against the Dark Arts professorship, and Remus will accept it. Sirius remembers enough of Dumbledore's implacable scheming and Remus's sense of responsibility to know it in his bones, beyond faith and logic.
Perhaps he shouldn't feel such certainty, should be careful of believing that his heart knows what it knows- second chances, after all, are hard to come by- but for the first time in twelve years, Sirius harbors a tiny kernel of hope.
Author: glass_icarus
Recipient: i_claudia
Rating: G
Highlight for Warnings: *none*
Word Count: 277
Summary: Although the wind
blows terribly here,
the moonlight also leaks
between the roof planks
of this ruined house.
-- Izumi Shikibu
Author's notes: Happy New Year, Claudia! &hearts Also, thanks to ruffwriter for looking this over and generally putting up with my flail (again). *g*
He returns to the Shrieking Shack on a whim, approaching it by way of the Forbidden Forest at night for the exhilarating sense of freedom and danger that rushes through his blood. Standing before its worn gates, he whispers a spell, the unbroken wards upon its doors and walls illuminated briefly in his sight.
Padfoot turns toward the Whomping Willow, pressing the familiar bole at its trunk. A few moments later, his shadowy fur blends into the darkness and disappears.
Sirius doesn't quite know what he expected to see, years after the Shack has been abandoned, the four of them departed in their own separate ways, but it isn't this. The empty bed, with its scarred posts and gashed mattress, sheets and blankets full of holes; the claw marks on the walls and the window-frames; the moonlight gapping in from where the roof is missing shingles- all of them are empty of the ghosts and memories that flicker far too often behind his eyelids. Rubbing a scrap of cloth between his fingers, he can't decide whether or not to be grateful (the Shack is empty of Remus, too).
Still, Remus will return to Hogwarts, if not to him: there will be an offer for the Defense Against the Dark Arts professorship, and Remus will accept it. Sirius remembers enough of Dumbledore's implacable scheming and Remus's sense of responsibility to know it in his bones, beyond faith and logic.
Perhaps he shouldn't feel such certainty, should be careful of believing that his heart knows what it knows- second chances, after all, are hard to come by- but for the first time in twelve years, Sirius harbors a tiny kernel of hope.