When I opened my eyes, we were standing in a dimly lit hallway, Sirius's hand was still in mine, and neither of us had bothered to retract yet.
I noticed the door in front of us, red with a gold number, familiar in a nostalgic way.
Sirius unlocked his door and the two of us were flooded by darkness as we walked together into the apartment, the one boughten years ago when we were desperately in love and dreading the future.
The large living room window provided peaceful moonlight, that illuminated just enough for me to know that Sirius's place had not changed much in the passed few years.
I was surprised that it wasn't a mess, which I immediately pinned on Remus and his motherly habits to pick up after his mates.
The only things astray were a blanket which laid in a heep on the couch and a bunch of books littered on the coffee table.
I remembered the way I used to tease Sirius about my doubt for his ability to even read the alphabet, perhaps he decided to look smart for guests but most likely Remus spent a lot of time here.
I walked towards one of the walls, the wall that had been painted to display a star chart.
I'd remembered it, Sirius Black had added it to the design just for me.
I let my hand drift over the written letters that floated near the Canis Major constellation "J+S were here"
My eyes drifted away, falling upon that of Regulus, a star, and a boy, seemingly forgotten, stirring the question that had been sitting in the back of my mind.
"Sirius."
Without turning around to face him I asked
"What happened to Regulus."
Sirius was silent for a moment, I heard his exhale and his shaky following breaths. Whatever the reason for his brothers absence, only a fool would deny the fact that it was certainly bad news.
"Gone, a few months ago." He spit out at last.
I let my heart break in the moment that followed, I had a soft spot for Regulus Arcturus Black.
"He couldn't find the light could he." I muttered so quietly that Sirius wouldn't be able to hear my conclusion.
"You left and he decided he'd rather be on the dark side after all. He shut us all out, hypocritical little bastard"
I could feel my heart smash into a million pieces for the boy I'd tried to save and for his brother who had resented their not-so-close bond and wished it to be mended.
I part of me didn't want to believe what Sirius was saying as true, Regulus was clever and he was empathetic. He cared for people and he wanted a future for himself.
I wouldn't just accept that he had truly turned back to his roots, but I wouldn't bring Sirius more pain by questioning him.
"in a year some of us might not even be here"
He had once said to me, It hadn't been a year, actually it had been several, and I suppose a part of me hoped Regulus's would be here.
But in the end he was right.
I looked down at my finger, where I used to wear his ring. I still had it, tucked away in a pocket of my trunk.
𝑆𝐼𝑅𝐼𝑈𝑆-
It was only a matter of time before the girl asked of my brother, I would not break here. Not when Juliet was standing before me, amongst the stars as she always seemed to be.
My thumb drifted over the messy crescent moon on my wrist as I always did when she crossed my mind, however now she was here, and not half a world away.
At that moment Juliet turned to me, I was surprised to see her eyes tearless, and her composure intact.
Juliet had grown, she was brave and strong, stronger than she was, if that was even possible, she would not fall.
I pulled the Gryffindor tie out of my back pocket and placed it on the table.
I thought about how I might break the silence that was gathering in the room.
This morning I had my record player spinning for my mates and I before the wedding.
so I placed the needle back down letting the song start once more. Juliet smiled at the sound of Looking Glass swaying her hips to the music, humming to our song, it was merely coincidental that I had left on Brandy, yet it seemed to fit, to bring us back, back to the bliss and the time in our lives where we were each others everything.
She moved toward me slowly, bringing me back to the Gryffindor Common room where we danced in the dark despite teasing comments and complicated relationships.
the sailor said brandy your a fine girl, what a good wife you would be
I stood in place up until the moment she wrapped her arm around my neck, sending a chill up my spine. I pulled her in close to me, a small giggle escaping from her lips as her head fell to my shoulder with amusement.
she could feel the ocean fall and rise, she saw it's raging glory
Her newly short chocolate hair whipped behind her as she spun out of my grasp, where I quickly pulled her back into me, already deprived enough of her touch.
My hands settled around her waist, and hers around my neck, playing with my hair as we swayed in silence, lit by the moonlight that fell through my large sitting room window pane.
We stayed like this in silence for several moments, listening to the sound of each others steady breathing.
"Juliet?"
"Mhm"
"Do you think we still belong with each other?" I asked her, foolishly and hopelessly.
She took a moment to remember the words she told me in this very apartment when we were kids and I patiently awaited her response.
"Did I ever tell you otherwise?"
I couldn't help but chuckle.
"No, I suppose not"
"Than yes, if you want us too."
𝐽𝑈𝐿𝐼𝐸𝑇-
The music continued to play when Sirius black reached to cup my face, hesitantly at first.
I stared into his grey eyes, I thought about how his eyes looked like pools are marble.
He looked at me the way he always had, with intensity, passion, and love, I hoped he could see the way I looked at him, with all of the same things.
I let myself live my life as I said I would, but I couldn't get away from this that easily.
I let him kiss me, igniting the fire in me that had laid dormant these passed few years. I couldn't get enough of his lips, the way they intoxicated me and woke me up all at once. Sirius black was all I would ever need in life.
I basked in the feeling of his hands on my body as they reached up the slit in my dress clouding my thoughts into pure satisfaction of the sensations I've missed so incredibly.
His lips moved like a River, finding my neck, and collarbones.
I was backed up into the wall my legs falling around him, clinging to the love that had been buried in my mind, but my body had remembered.
"I love you." I muttered, I breathed the words as if I'd been drowning, using my only gasp for air to let out the truth.
He stopped for a moment, my hand still tangled in his hair and my back up against the wall.
"I tried to forget you, I really did, to live." He whispered near my ear.
I wondered where he might be going with those words, why he might've brought up forgetting our past together but it all made sense to me when he revealed that he too had not left me behind at Hogwarts.
"I love you too" he said finally.
The words brought me back to the lawn at Hogwarts, soaked with rain, and broken-hearted.
"Then love me, love me harder than ever before." I whisper back to him, our body's entwined in the moonlight.
𝑆𝐼𝑅𝐼𝑈𝑆-
She lay next to me in my bed, exhausted and beautiful. Our clothes were littered the room, Juliet did not climb onto my chest or get close to me, she just laid stiffly at my side staring to the ceiling, breathing heavily as I watched her.
"Juliet?"
"Yeah." She said quietly, he voice harsh like sandpaper, lost by overexertion.
"What's going on in that mind of yours?" I asked her
She sighed.
"I'm trying to bring myself to get out of this bed, to go back to my hotel, force myself to go home tomorrow like I'm supposed to."
There was silence for a moment where I just watched her eyebrows furrow looking for the words she needed, but couldn't seem yo find.
"but I can't do it this time, not again." She said quietly.
"Then don't." I told her simply.
She turned over, looking to me now.
"You could stay" I proposed.
Her eyes were unreadable at this moment, staring up at me with contemplation.
"I want you to stay." I told her.
The world seemed to stop when I told her this, everything stopped spinning, humming, working, it was just her and I, those freckles and those incredibly complex eyes staring at me with so much relief I feared she might faint.
"Say it again." She whispered.
"What?"
"Tell me to stay Sirius." She commanded me.
She sat up, her eyes wide and expectant, hair a wreck and her perfect makeup in blotches on her beautiful face.
"Stay." I said simply
"Stay with me, and neither of us will ever be alone, stay so I can look at you and get lost in your eyes again." I whispered to her.
"I will." She said.
—————————————————————
When morning game, Juliet Crescent was in my kitchen dancing to Marvin Gaye.
In this moment, I didn't care how many lives were on the line, or that I'd missed an order meeting this morning. Juliet was all I wanted.
Our lives had changed, maybe we were different people, but we'd come back to each other, I hated to admit that I doubted her hope, I doubted that the two of us would have our stories cross once more, yet despite that, here we were.
She twirled her wand around, causing plates to spin in the air landing on the kitchen island as she danced around in one of my shirts.
Her trunk was laying in the living room, still sealed closed. I wondered how much she'd done this morning if she'd gone to her hotel to pick up her things and started breakfast. I'm never that productive, the hopeless romantic in me couldn't wait to live this life with her, to wake up to this girl, this woman, every day for the rest of my life.
"Morning." I said, leaning against the doorway.
She turned, a smile on her face.
"Why hello Dog-Star." She greeted.
"Will you ever stop calling me that?"
"It's unlikely."