Author Notes:
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- elena♡
Everyone sat, chewing nails, bouncing legs or portraying any sign of anxiety; whilst awaiting for Sirius' return.
Arthur and Kingsley were working at the Ministry still and wouldn't return to the Burrow for a while - where Tonks would be waiting to tell them what had happened. River hadn't spoken a word since you had all apparated back, she felt so guilt-ridden she wouldn't blame them, or Sirius, if they held her responsible for what had happened. Rivers thoughts began to trail off.
He could have died, all because of my need not to get caught-
Before she was interrupted by a loud smashing on the door, which made the whole house rattle. Assuming it was Hagrid, River shot out of the room and ran to the door, opening it as fast as her hands could move. Hagrid stood there, Sirius in his arms - still not awake. His blood had now spread to Hagrid as well. Everyone was now stood behind them, looking up to Hagrid.
"The journey was jus' fine. Bit a'turbulence here and there, but apart from that, no problems," Hagrid said proudly, "bet he's glad he gave the motorcycle to me now, eh?" he chuckled, trying to brighten the mood.
"Yes Hagrid, I'm sure he is. Come on now, let's get him in his room and let him rest." Molly Weasley replied, sounding sympathetic. "Follow me, dear." she gestured Hagrid to follow her up the stairs, to which he complied. Each step he took up the stairs was followed by a loud thud and the house trembling, due to his enormous size. River followed them quickly up the stairs, whilst everyone else returned to the kitchen table. The three of themwent to his room, and Hagrid dropped him on the bed, earning a huff from Mrs Weasley. River started to pull his covers over him before Molly stopped her.
"We need to get him cleaned up first darling, help me would you? I will go down and get some warm water and a cloth. You get that shirt off of him and chuck it in the wash pile." she smiled, and River nodded in response before she left the room. She thanked Hagrid for bringing him home but he picked her up and hugged her tightly, almost cracking her ribs.
"It's not yer fault, y'know. I know that yer think it is, but it was your only option. Just you wait 'til he wakes, mark my words he will be thankin' yer for getting him outta there." he said, trying to comfort her. Although he was still hugging River tightly, she let out muffled sobs into his shoulder, he put her down and wiped her tears with his huge thumb, crouching slightly. "There, there. Just think about how bloody proud yer Mum would be! It's not easy to apparate that quickly and let alone in a panic."
She calmed down at his comforting words, "Thankyou, Hagrid, not just for this, but for getting him back here too." she said softly, her voice trembling. He smiled down, left the room and trudged down the stairs.
River turned back to Sirius, who was laying just as lifelessly as before. She wiped down herr tears and began unbuttoning his black shirt gently and began to slide it off his arms, trying not to hurt him further. She noticed he had faded black tattoos covering his chest and uninjured arm, that she had no idea the meaning to as they had no pattern or shape that she could recognise - yet they were still so attractive to her and she couldn't help but be drawn in further. River began to try and pull the soaked shirt off of his wounded arm, being delicate as doing so. The slash on his shoulder reached from his collarbone to under his arm, and it was beginning to form a thin layer over it, from the ditanny Remus had given him. She chucked his shirt onto the other pile of clothes in his room, assuming they were dirty.
Molly's footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs, and she entered the room with a large bowl of water and a white cloth. She started to dampen it before River interrupted and assured her she would take care of it and that she should see to the others, she agreed reluctantly and left the room. River picked up the cloth and gently began to wipe the blood of his neck, chest and arm, avoiding the slash. When he was finally clean, she pulled his bed covers over him, kissed his cheek, and headed downstairs.
For the rest of the evening it was still very quiet, the occasional comment here and there but everyone was still pretty worried. By the time it got dark, Molly and Moody had returned to the Burrow, Remus had joined River and the twins for dinner but remained mostly in his room.
The night was drawing to an end and she decided it was best to get some rest, but she couldn't bare the thought of not being there if Sirius were to wake up; so she took your duvet and plenty of pillows into his room and created a makeshift bed on the floor beside him. She tried to drift into a slumber but the hard floorboards made this tricky and she tossed and turned for hours before finally sleeping.
The same could be said for the following two days, Sirius had still not awoken and River was tired from lack of sleep. There wasn't much to do in the house apart for clean, play games, or maybe go out into the muggle world for a while. But everyone had started to liven up some more, knowing that Sirius was healing and that more and more missions were being completed.
River went downstairs after her shower to get some breakfast, to see George, Fred and Remus already sat at the table, stuffing their mouths with food. "Your all up early?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Well we've started using Percy's bloody owl Errol again, seeing as he's not using him and we didn't want Sirius' owl to be recognised, so he came with the post this morning and he's only gone and broke the fucking window." George said, pointing to the smashed glass on the worktop.
"Ah, I see," she raised your wand and waved it at the window, "reparo!" and the glass began to bond itself back together as if it had never happened. River then took a seat next to Remus who was currently reading The Daily Prophet whilst drinking tea. "So, anything in interesting in the post?" she asked, breaking the silence that had now formed.
"Yes, actually, Harry sent me a letter. But we still haven't told him about Sirius, best not to worry him." Remus said, "Umbridge now isn't allowing them to use practical magic, the hag told them that it wasn't necessary and that they won't really need it."
"I could actually kill that woman." River added.
"He also said that he has been having these vivid nightmares, he didn't go into much detail, but told me people were getting hurt in them, and that when he would awake from said dreams, his scar feels as if it's on fire." Remus continued.
"Well that's certainly not good-" she tried to say before getting cut off by Fred.
"Really? No way, I thought it was brilliant news!" he said sarcastically, earning a loud laugh from George.
"Shut it! I will go and get your mother and you know I'm not joking." she shot back sternly. The boys quieted themselves and Remus turned to her.
"I'm not sure how long it's going to take the Ministry to find us, River, Mad Eye is out today looking for Mundungus, to see what he has to say for himself, but when they do, it's not going to be pretty. I'm not sure if you should stay." he said, sympathetically.
"Are you taking the piss? Merlins beard, I can't believe you lot call yourself an organisation! First you take us out of school to stay with you, and now you want us to leave!" River raised your voice, "No. We're not leaving. You brought us here to help you, and that's what we're doing. Molly wouldn't have let us stay if she didn't think we were capable to deal with what could happen." she began to calm yourself.
"I understand, River, but-"
"No buts. We're not going." she said. Remus just let out a loud sigh in response, accepting his defeat.
"Fine, but don't say I never told you so. I best be off, I'm going over to the Burrow to see how they're doing, might be back late so don't wait." Remus spoke, getting out of his seat. "Not that anyone does anyway." he whispered before leaving the room, but no one could hear his mumble.
The rest of the day River spent messing around with Fred and George, dancing, playing games and tricking Kreacher - much to her dismay. But she regularly went upstairs to check on Sirius, seeing if he was awake yet. The boys had gone into the front room, allowing her to cook dinner in peace. River placed their plates on the table, which they must have heard because they came darting into the room, and they all sat talking over dinner until they had finished. The three of them decided to end the day on a game of Wizards Chess, but only one as they chose to go to bed early as they were out trying to recruit new Witches and Wizards for the Order - this left River with downstairs to herself for the first time.
She wanted to make the most out of the peacefulness; so she took a wine bottle out of the rack, went through the back door which led to the garden patio and sat on the beautifully made black bench. All she could hear was the rattling of nature which came from the garden, and the occasional car that drove past the other side of the house. River sat just admiring the tranquility, as she worked her way through the red wine.
Her cheeks grew red, and the effects of the alcohol had started to kick in. She felt hazy and her eyes were struggling to keep themselves open. River heard the back door creak open, but she was too wine drunk to react. Remus stood in front of her, parts of his mousy hair falling on his face, and the stars highlighted his face.
"River, helloooo?" he said, waving a hand in front of her face.
"Mmmm, yeah, yeah I'm here. What do you want?" she moaned, grumpy that he had interrupted her evening, but secretly pleased to see him.
"Merlin, a whole bottle Rivee?" he said, noticing the bottle on its side, next to the bench. He lifted her legs which were laying on the bench and placed himself underneath them, now sitting next to her. He pushed her hair behind her ear and smiled. "Even wasted, you still look perfect." he said, his hands were now resting on Rivers exposed thighs.
"Shut up, Remus..." but before she could finish her sentence her head rolled back and she passed out into a deep slumber. He stroked her cheek and gently brushed her lip with his thumb.
"Remind me to hide the alcohol." he chuckled to himself. He put one arm underneath her knees and the other under her neck, picking her up gently bridal style and carrying her into the house. He took River up the stairs trying to keep quiet and entered her room - which she hadn't been sleeping in - placed her on the four-poster-bed and wrapped the girl in the covers. He gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and returned to his own room.