The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

Must Be The Clouds in My Eyes

Remus woke in the morning to find the mattress beside him empty and the light cutting through the windows in hard slashes that broke the room in two. He sat up and found Sirius was sitting on the floor in front of the bed, the record player on the floor next to him spinning a record without the needle dropped. Sirius was hunched forward, reading the liner.

Remus's voice was gentle. "Sirius?"

He looked up - a glance - and half-waved with two fingers, turning immediately back to the LP insert.

"What're you doing?"

"None of the music fits, Moony."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean none of this fits." He took the spinning record off the turntable and slid it back into the liner, pushing it into the sleeve and adding it to a stack of records he must've already tied on. He pulled another from the black box at his knee. "It's all... wrong.

Remus crept over carefully, his knees hurting, the full moon the very next day. He lay on his stomach so his arms and head hung over. "What about Freddie?"

"Even Freddie. I tried Bohemian Rhapsody. I thought maybe that would do, but no. Moony, I need something for him. something that can belong to him..." The next record was the Ramones and he put it instantly onto the next pile without even looking through the lyrics on the liner. "He asked me about music, you know. How I knew what to play and how I found out about all the muggle music. When we came back and found the cake, that's what he and I were talking about."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I was thinking how fun it would be to show him all my records and... I bet he would've liked this one." Sirius held Joni Mitchell's Blue in his hand.

"Isn't that Lily's favorite?" Remus asked.

"She prefers Clouds, but Joni Mitchell, yes." Sirius flipped Blue over and looked at the back of the record, at the tiny print that listed the tracks. He paused and looked up, then put Blue aside and reached into the box and flipped through the records. He pulled out one that looked like a cinema marquee - Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player, it said. He flipped it over, looked through the tracklist quickly, and pulled the liner from inside the sleeve, tipping the vinyl record out and carefully dropping the needle on it.

Elton John's voice came from the speakers.

Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane
I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain
And I can see Daniel waving goodbye
Oh it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes...

Sirius put the sleeve down and leaned back against the bed frame, staring absently across the room, his hand searching over his shoulder for a moment until he found Remus's hand and he held on.

They say Spain is pretty though I've never been
And Daniel says it's the best place that he's ever seen
He should know, he's been there enough
Oh I miss Daniel, oh I miss him so much, oh

Daniel my brother, you are older than me
Do you still feel the pain of the scars that won't heal?
Your eyes have died but you see more than I
Daniel you're a star in the face of the sky...

Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane
And I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain
And I can see Daniel waving goodbye
Oh it looks like Daniel, it must be the clouds in my eyes
Oh God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes...

The song's notes faded away and Sirius used one hand to pull the needle from the vinyl. It spun, the speakers crackling with dead air. Sirius's eyes were closed. He didn't cry, but Remus saw his nostrils flare slightly, a sure-fire sign that he was trying not to.