ink - sirius black

psychotic blackmail and slow progress

November 26, 1979
3:09 am
Callaway, Anderson, Black, and Lupin Home

"HE'S DEAD, SIRIUS!" Anneliese shouted, already past her denial and into her anger. "WE SAW HIS BODY! YOU CAN'T JUST KEEP FINDING EXCUSES TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER! FACE IT, FOR THE LORD'S SAKE!"

"Just shut up," Sirius muttered, head in his hands as he rocked back and forth in his chair. "Please stop talking."

"NO, YOU STOP DENYIN THE FACT THAT HE IS DEAD, SIRIUS!" Anneliese yelled, furiously pacing. "REGULUS IS DEAD! DO YOU THINK I WANT TO BELIEVE IT EITHER? NO! BUT I AM, BECAUSE ACTING LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED IS JUST GOING TO MAKE IT EVEN WORSE WHEN YOU WAKE UP AND REALIZE THAT IT DID! YOU CAN'T JUST SIT HERE AND WALLOW FOREVER! I'M TRYIN TO HELP-"

Black snapped. Fine. She wanted him to accept this and be angry? He'd show her angry.

"IS SCREAMING IN MY FACE YOUR DEFINITION OF HELP?" he shouted, standing up alarmingly fast and moving so close only a few inches were separating them.

"IT SEEMS LIKE IT IS FOR YOU, SO I'M JUST GIVING YOU BACK WHAT YOU GIVE ME!" Anneliese cried. "EVER HEARD OF THE PHRASE TASTE OF YOUR OWN MEDICINE?"

Regulus's body had been found with his sleeve rolled up to show his tattoo as the Dark Mark floated over the apartment building, a silent signal that he had never truly escaped his fate.

His apartment didn't show any signs of struggle, no bruises, cuts, or markings on his body. In fact, his wand was in a different room. Black had died peacefully, perhaps without even knowing that someone was ever even behind him before it was too late.

Sirius blamed himself, obviously. But there was a lot of that going around. Every single person who had been by the fire at the Burrow that night wished they had insisted on seeing their youngest home, the only one leaving alone.

But they hadn't, and now it was too late.

"WHY DO YOU ALWAYS BRING UP OLD ARGUMENTS THAT ARE ALREADY OVER WITH?" Sirius asked, hand tightening around his glass. "NOW IS NOT THE TIME!"

"I'M NOT!" she cried. "AND BEFORE YOU SAY I'M TRYING TO START ONE, ALL I WAS DOING WAS TRYING TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THAT DENYING IT ONLY MAKES IT-"

"WORSE?" Sirius interrupted. "NO, THE ONLY THING MAKING THIS WORSE IS YOU!"

"HEY!" Remus shouted, coming in from the kitchen and standing between them, shoving Sirius back. "SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

"YOU ARE BEING SUCK A DICK!" Anneliese shouted as she pushed Lupin's hand off her, lacking a more accurate word and time to compose her thoughts into a more pointed insult.

Her usually sharp wit was being ripped to shreds by trying to argue and process and grieve all at the same time. She wished that her and Sirius could just lean on one another right now, but that wasn't the case.

They had both built up too much anger.

"What?" Sirius snapped, and Callaway repeated her words. "Oh. Sorry, I thought it was something actually important."

Anneliese let out a little laugh of disbelief, and Black raised a brow.

"Do you think this is funny?" he spat.

"I think it's hilarious that even when you need to stay calm the most to respect the memory of your brother, all you can do is keep making every single wrong choice you possibly can!" Anneliese spat right back. "I thought you had your shit together earlier tonight, but all it takes is one thing going wrong and you absolutely lose it!"