Passion Dies

Chapter 59

Sirius' POV

Sirius couldn't sleep that night. He was worried for Jareth, so bad that it affected him to the point of pacing the common room in the early morning. But it looked like he wasn't alone. There was a slight knock at the common room window and there stood Leona, still in her school uniform. Sirius walked over to the window and opened it for her to step in silently. Sirius saw her bloodshot eyes and asked,

"Are you okay, Leona? I see that you aren't the only one having a hard time sleeping... "

"No, I'm really not okay, this week has been killing me. These weird things keep happening whenever I get angry or something emotional and then there's-" Leona stopped abruptly and sighed.

"There's what?" Sirius asked, wanting to know if it was about Jareth.

"Sirius, please promise me that you will stay put while I say this and not do something stupid... please," Leona pleaded, her eyes started watering. Tears threatened to fall out of her purple eyes as she looked to Sirius for a promise.

"... yes, Leo. I promise I won't do anything." Sirius knew how much Jareth meant to Leona and James, so he decided that he didn't want to do anything rash until the time was right.

"Okay, Jareth asked me not to tell anyone... but I think you should really know, along with James, but you know how he would react." Leona choked back her tears as she tried to tell Sirius what has happened. "Carter has been... abusing Jareth. And not just verbally. That's what the bruise was on his cheek, today. But... but tonight, when he came back to the common room, he had been hurt so badly, like he just had a fight with a wild animal... he had a cut on his forehead that was bleeding along with his lip, he had another bruise on his face, and when I hugged him he... he just collapsed holding his stomach and nearly screaming!"

Leona started sobbing and was about to fall to her knees before Sirius caught her. He brought her over to the couch and they sat down together. It was just like the time in the astronomy tower. They held each other close as they both cried for someone they love. Both holding one another as close as they could, like it was the last thing they had in the world.

They both fell asleep comfortably, having each other's company...