ᴅɪsᴘᴇʟ ᴍʏ ʙᴏʀᴇᴅᴏᴍ | ᴍᴀʀᴀᴅᴇᴜʀs' ᴇʀᴀ

Chapter 16: Place Your Bets

Yours and only yours, AB."

"Hmm," James drawled hesitantly. "Prince, then?"

Friends and other students looked at each other in confusion.

"Well, err, if school Owlery is good enough for you..."

Prince looked at James, expressing his entire degree of contempt for this idea. Waving his wings, he flew into the air and departed through the window.

"Hey!" Potter stood up. "You're still coming back, right? You're my gift, actually! Don't forget about it!"

"What was that, Jim? What is written there?"

"So beautiful," Lily said dreamily. "Who is it from?"

James just waved his hand and gave the letter to be torn by friends.

"Battle is just beginning?" Sirius protested. "Well, hold on, AB, you wrote us off too early!"

Gryffindors laughed and James smiled; a spark of joy, forgotten by everyone, flashed in his eyes again.

✨✨✨

Gryffindor Tower, boys' dorm, noon

Sirius Black watched thoughtfully as white smoke streamed and twisted under the ceiling, flickering faintly in the sunlight. Remus would've killed him already for the fact that Black unceremoniously threw his legs in heavy boots on the bedside table.

Laying on the floor with his hands behind his head, the guy smoked, not caring at all that the ashes from the cigarette was falling directly onto his snow-white shirt. Memories choked him, not allowing him to breathe freely and eating his soul from the inside.

The news about James's parents knocked the ground from under Sirius's feet. He experienced not less pain than his friend, but unlike Potter, he had no right to mourn. After all, he was the one who should return the ability to smile to James and not discourage him even more. He was joking, saying some ridiculous senseless things, telling idiotic just invented stories, put James on a broom, forcing him to fly at least several minutes a day, and felt that with every second he was losing the ability to rejoice and laugh himself.

Regulus... Regulus was the last thread connecting Black to his real family and this thread exploded with a deafening crash. Overnight, he lost both of his families: the one with which he was bound by blood, and the one which hospitably opened the doors of their own house in front of him.

What does he have left now? James coming to life only in the presence of Lily; Remus running after Parker; and quiet, reasonable, all-knowing Peter. Yes, Peter. He probably was the only one who saw what was really going on with Black, but didn't know how to approach his proud friend.

Black closed his eyes for a second: the smoke hit his eyes, releasing the tears that he had been diligently keeping until recently.

Gryffindor common room was unusually quiet, everyone was at the Christmas Ball, applauding to Marauders and Eliza. Dumbledore was dancing with Madam Pomfrey, Lily whispered something to James, not forgetting, however, about Severus. And no one cared about Black. After the last dance with Narcissa, he slipped into the wide-open doors of the Great Hall to finally be in peace.

Malfoy's diary was (no matter how trite it is) under his pillow and Sirius opened it again. Magic cipher was solved, albeit partially, but he still had to understand the meaning of some records. Among usual caustic remarks about his house mates and students of other houses, something really valuable slipped sometimes. And now Sirius's eyes suddenly caught on one of the lines.

"Black viper has truly justified his new name. The spell was so exquisitely and expertly done that even I couldn't detect its trace until they pointed it out to me. Now we don't need to expose ourselves, we'll learn everything first-hand."