GETAWAY CAR, sirius black

━━ chapter 43

"Are you alright?" Celeste said, noticing the familiar scent of wine. She tried to reach for his hand. "Why were you drinking?" Much to her relief, Sirius didn't let go of her hand.

"I had a mission tonight," he said, his words slightly slurred. "Don't you remember?"

Celeste frowned. "Of course, I remember. What happened?"

Sirius' eyes became distant and foggy. Celeste braced for the worst, but it was nothing compared to what he finally told her.

"The Prewett twins are dead."

Her breath caught in her throat. She shook her head, eyes wide and unbelieving. "There's no way ― they ― they're the best Aurors we've got."

Sirius shot her a glare. "You would've known if you'd been here."

"I was busy, Sirius," Celeste argued, ignoring the pang of hurt his words made. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. But I needed to attend ― I learned really vital news. There's going to be an attack on―"

"I don't care, Celeste!" Sirius interrupted. He huffed and dropped her hand. "You should've been here. Of all nights, Celeste! You should've been here, and you weren't. Why can't you just admit your fault? Two of our good friends just died. And you were off scheming with the enemy."

Her jaw fell slack, utterly at a loss for words. She turned away, unable to meet his condescending face. She could feel him looking down on her as if she were some stupid girl to reprimand. "How," she stammered coldly. "Was I supposed to know this was going to happen?"

"You said you'd come back!" Sirius shouted. "You didn't, and I had to leave. Do you know how terrified I was?"

"I'm sorry!" Celeste shouted in return. "Look, I'm sorry I made you feel that way, but don't push unreasonable blame on me! That's not fair."

Sirius glowered at her. "Fair?" he spat. "You wanna talk about being fair?"

Dread was overcoming Celeste now. She hated fighting with Sirius ― but at times like these, he went too far. She knew it wasn't his fault, that it was coming from the liquor, but the pain slashed against her soul like a burning knife.

"You are easily the least fair person to exist! I don't even care what stupid information you're feeding Dumbledore." He moved closer to her, his voice lowering dangerously. "All I know is that for almost a fucking year, you've been buddying up with Voldemort, trying to play hero on both sides."

"What in Salzar's name are you saying?" Celeste said helplessly. She looked around the room for something, anything of distraction. He was grieving, Celeste reminded herself. He was only taking it out on her. None of it was real.

"You play both sides, Celeste!" he shouted, voice rising higher. "You're some sort of pathological people pleaser. You can't make a fucking decision so you help both sides of this war! You're a traitor to both sides. You tiptoe on all these fucking lines, but you never truly cross over."

The moment froze. Celeste struggled to breathe as his furious words echoed in her head. Pathological people pleaser. She looked at him, completely appalled. She whispered hoarsely, "You've lost your fucking mind if you think for a second that I support Voldemort. That I support the murdering of innocents."

"But you do, Celeste!" He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "You're married to a death eater. You're still connected with your family."

It was a low blow. Celeste flinched at the words. They sounded familiar, as though someone else had told her them before. "Did you ― do you think I have a choice in this?"