The Last Gryffindor (Sirius Black)

Chapter XXXVI: In Petals Write My Epitaph

"Look familiar? It's the same as the last night I ever saw you, down to the last cloud in the sky," Sirius said, gesturing vaguely.

Lia hadn't noticed, but he seemed certain, based on the strained clenching of his jaw and furrowed brows.

"I relived that night every second I spent with the Dementors in Azkaban," he explained, a far off look in his eyes. "Eleven years I spent watching you say goodbye over and over again, knowing that if I didn't stop you, you would die within the month, and yet still unable to stop you each time. I could have left Azkaban, but I couldn't either, for the longest time, because, even though the memory of you was torture, it was the pain I craved. I couldn't see you anywhere but in my nightmares, so I stayed, until my godson needed me. He gave me a new reason to live."

"Lilly and James's son? It seems I owe him." She smiled, pulling Sirius by the arm down the street away from Grimmauld Place and his bitter memories. "He saved you when I couldn't anymore."

He loosed a weighty-sounding breath, and stood up straighter than before.

"I wish I could have let you help me, Sirius," Lia admitted, turning around to meet his warm gaze. "But I wasn't meant for a happy ending, not from the second Voldemort laid a hand on the people I love."

"If you want a happy ending, then it depends on where you stop the story. This, right here, is our happy ending," he said, his lips breaking out of its grim line and into his breathtaking grin. "I couldn't have asked for anything more, not even a pack of trolls trying to make Snivellous into supper."

"Be nice, you animal!" Trying to stifle a laugh, Lia smacked his arm. "And what makes you think I want to spend the rest of my death with you? I'd like to keep my options open, thanks. What if, on the other side, I find some drop dead gorgeous model? No pun intended."

"I'm certain you'd annoy them to death and they would return you to me with pleas to take you off their hands, pun most definitely intended," he replied, shrugging.

"Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence."

They walked down the empty street in comfortable silence, slightly disbelieving that, after everything, they were finally together.

"I've missed this."

She looked up at him questioningly, only to find him watching her.

"Missed what?"

"How it used to be, before Voldemort, when we could just be ourselves," he replied, tucking one of my stray hairs behind her ear. "I just wish..."

He shook his head.

"You wish what?"

"I wish I hadn't been such a prat back then. If I had swallowed my pride and just asked you out when I first realized I wanted you to myself, we could have saved so much time." He sent her a lazy grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Maybe I could have even saved you before it was too late."

"I seem to recall a certain idiot saying that if you want a happy ending, it depends on where you close the book. We're together now. You, right here, are my happy ending."

Aeliana pulled him to a stop and pressed her brow to his, so their breaths intermingled and she could the flecks of grey in his eyes.

"If I remember correctly, you said something earlier about there being time for kisses later," she recalled, placing her arms around his neck.

"Did I?" Sirius baited playfully. "I think you'll have to refresh my memory..."

"You really have gotten old if your memory is failing you already."

Sirius didn't deign to respond, at least not with words. He let out a rumbling growl from the back of his throat, before brushing his lips against her own. The entire world blew away. He was the addiction that she never knew she had until he was gone. Together, after years of being dragged apart by the torrent of their own diverging destinies, they could finally be whole. The kiss spoke louder than our words ever could, reassuring each other that their part of the fight was finally over. Their work was done. It was time to leave life to the living and start the next adventure, the greatest of all.

Together.

Sirius pulled back microscopic distance, but Lia could still feel his lips move as they brushed against hers when he spoke next.

"You're my happy ending, too."

"Are you ready then?" she asked, tilting her head slightly to the side.

He nodded, smiling affectionately.

"Then let's meet our friends on the other side, shall we?" she said, dragging him by the hand to the the light mist building up at the end of the street. "They've been waiting for awhile."

The fog swallowed them until all Lia could see was him, all she could feel were his fingers intertwining her own.

"To our next adventure," Sirius whispered, wrapping his arms around her middle once more. "Together."

"Together," she repeated, burying her face in his neck. "Always together."

Fin.

• — • — •

Authors note

Sorry for the late update, I'd originally had this chapter finished for like three months, but last week something possessed me to completely rewrite the chapter for more closure, since the original chapter was completely different and from Dumbledore's perspective. Anyway, two more epilogue-esque chapters! Hang in there!