Orphic: Mysterious and entrancing, beyond ordinary understanding.
{===}
Sirius Black glared at the television screen.
"I've got it." He assured his friends, "I've got it. I'm so close."
"This is painful." Remus confided in James. The other three Marauders were currently more focused on the expression of their more canine friend than those of the characters currently pointing at body parts in a Morgue on the flat-screen in the Potter's garage.
James grinned, "You should play Cluedo with him. Honestly. He started inventing character storylines partway through just so he can have an answer to who the murderer was."
"It's true." Peter contributed in a small voice.
Remus looked horrified, "Why would you introduce him to the world of muggle boardgames? You know how bad it got with Pictionary."
"A dark day for us all." James shook his head grimly.
"Shhh!" Sirius threw a pillow at them. He was curled up in the corner of the sofa, eyes intent on the TV and notepad in hand, "I've almost solved it."
"If this is how he deals with Midsummer Murders," Remus muttered worriedly to James and Peter, "What's he going to do when he finds out about the existence of Sherlock Holmes?"
"We're working up to it." James admitted, "He just has to know the answers. It's a control thing."
"Really?" Remus raised his eyebrows and gestured to the mess of scrap paper that carpeted the floor, covered in Sirius' messy scrawl, "Because I thought this was the work of a completely sane mind."
Remus took another long swig of coffee. Last night had been a particularly horrible full moon. He felt beaten all over. He wondered idly if that was the sort of thing that werewolves shared, if Alex Fawley, all those miles away in London, had felt it too. He supposed he could ask now, that was the bonus of a werewolf buddy.
"It was..." Sirius leapt upwards in his seat suddenly, pointing a new character on screen with his pen, "Her! It was her!"
James narrowed his eyes at the girl, rather small and docile looking, "Is she the one who was sleeping with her piano teacher?"
"What? No, that's the M.E." Sirius explained, "This is the one who hid in the back of all her school photographs and then got in trouble for pulling the fire alarm even though she wasn't even there."
"Why would she murder the... The old guy with the moustache?" Remus asked, feeling a little lost.
"Because," Sirius stressed, as if it should be obvious, "He turned out to be her Grandfather in disguise, and her friend had just tried to push her off a building, and her family had been ignoring her obvious mental health issues for months and forcing her to work extra hours so she snapped and stabbed him in the eye with a spoon."
Remus choked on his coffee, "A spoon?"
Sirius nodded enthusiastically, "It's the only thing the right size, and they found an entire cutlery set at the crime scene, except for a spoon."
"Right." Remus took another long sip, "Do you think maybe you're anxious about Alex and projecting your anxiety onto things that, in the long run, have no actual input in your life or your emotional state of wellbeing?"
The others all turned to stare at him.
"Just a thought." Remus added.
"Don't be ridiculous, Moony." Sirius told him, "Why would I be anxious about Fawley?"
Remus and James exchanged a look.
"I don't know." James commented casually, strolling around the back of the sofa, "Because it was a full moon last night and she hasn't text you yet even though you've been glancing at your phone since half five this morning and it is now two PM in the afternoon."
Sirius waved his hand in the air. He had, subconsciously, picked up his phone once again, which didn't help his case, "Of course I haven't. I've been playing Angry Birds."
James watched him for a second and then, all Chaser agility kicking in, darted forwards and plucked the phone from his friend's grip. He tutted, tapping away on the screen, "You should never make your password 'One-Two-Three-Four', Padfoot. Have I taught you nothing?"
"Hey! No fair!" Sirius vaulted over the back of the sofa, reaching towards James for the phone, to which the Potter boy jumped nimbly out the way.
"Oh, look. The drafts folder." James cleared his throat, "'Fawley, we still on for Operation Shrek Two? '... 'Fawley, we need to do another search of the house. When can I come over?'... 'Sorry I was a prat last time I saw you Fawley-"
Sirius snatched the phone back, glaring at his best friend, "Stop that."
"Stop harassing the poor girl." Remus suggested.
Sirius checked his phone worriedly for damage, "I'm not harassing her. It's... Brotherly concern."
"Brotherly concern?" James choked out in between laughs, "Look, mate, the only person likely to spam Moony like that after a full moon is Logan Mitchell, and his concern is anything but brotherly."
Sirius raised his eyebrows at Remus, who suddenly found something incredibly interesting on a couch cushion and had to investigate, "Logan Mitchell, eh, Moony?"
"Yes, Logan Mitchell who might not even be gay." Remus blurted in a sudden burst of courage, "Logan Mitchell who, even if he was, has no reason to like me and does very much not know that I am a werewolf."
James shrugged, "Could be a kink."
Remus glared. Sirius mouthed, Not helping, at his friend.
"And," Remus coughed deliberately, glaring at Sirius, "You are not using this as an excuse to get out of talking about your feelings."
Sirius pointed at his chest, "I am a male. I shouldn't need an excuse to get out of talking about my feelings."
"Well, you know what they'll say about us in years to come," James scooped the pillow Sirius had chucked at Remus off the floor and lobbed it back at his friend, "Marauders: Destroying gender boundaries since... Wow, the author's being really ambiguous about the date this is set in. Since TIME."
Sirius looked back at his phone, "Am I really harassing her?"
"A little bit." Remus held his fingers up, close together.
Sirius sighed, and flopped back to the sofa, "I'm such a dick."
"Well, you are." James admitted, "But the nice kind."
Remus frowned, "I don't think that came out the way you meant it to."
"Neither did you." James shot back, "Yelling it at me during a Quidditch match? You put me off my game."
Remus rolled his eyes and turned back to Sirius, who was now face down on the Settee in despair, "You know having a crush isn't a bad thing."
"I don't have a crush on her." Sirius said, "I don't even like her in that way. I'm just... Responsible for her."
"Right." James sounded unconvinced.
"Actually, this is good." Remus said.
Sirius looked up, "It is?"
"Yeah." Remus agreed, "You can help get Wormtail a date with her."
Peter almost fell over. Sirius's face went through a parade of expressions.
"I don't think that's the best idea." Sirius said at last. Peter's face fell.
James smirked, "Why not?"
"She's not in a great place right now." Sirius explained haltingly, "I'm just looking out for her."
James grinned, wide enough that Sirius felt the sudden urge to punch him in the face, "Really?"
"Hey, I'm telling the truth." Sirius protested, "She doesn't need a guy all over her right now. That's why I backed-"
He stopped talking suddenly, aware of the expressions his friends' faces now wore.
"It's not like that." He repeated stubbornly, as if he could somehow make it true.
Remus opened his mouth to respond, but was stopped by the faint, impossible and unmistakable sound of a phone buzzing. Sirius looked down at the object in his hand with amazement and no small amount of panic.
"It's her." He said, looking up with wide eyes at Remus and James. Peter squeaked and dove under a chair, "What do I do?"
"Answer it." Remus urged.
Sirius looked as though he was a very jewelry-attached hobbit and Remus had said 'You must throw the ring into Mordor'. His eyes widened, "But-"
James saved a lot of time by reaching over Sirius's shoulder and hitting the 'accept call' button.
"Hello?" Alex's voice asked through the line, an urgency to it, "Black? You there?"
Sirius swallowed before he raised the phone to his ear, snapping into character, "Fawley." He drawled in greeting. Remus rolled his eyes, "Miss me already?"
James gave Sirius an encouraging thumbs up. Remus dropped his head in his hands in despair.
Alex started talking fast through the phone, but with it not on loudspeaker, Remus couldn't pick out the words, just that Sirius' face dropped, "What?... Hang on... What did he say?... I'm on my way, just tell me... Alright. Alright. I'll be there in five... Yeah, they're with me now."
Sirius hung up and shoved his phone into his back pocket. His hands had balled themselves into fists unconsciously, and were, ever so slightly, shaking. He was afraid, "Right, lads. Midsummer Murders will have to wait."
He strode over to the garage door, bending down to lift it. The metal rolled up with a scraping that grated on Remus' ears.
"What happened?" Remus asked, frowning, "Is Alex okay?"
Peter added a sort of squeaky noise that Remus suspected was question that didn't fully make it through his brain.
"Where are we going?" James contributed.
Sirius opted to only answer the last question.
The light from the open door spilled into the room, silhouetting Sirius Black as he pulled on his trademarked leather jacket. He squared his shoulders, made even more obvious by the spill of illumination that washed around his wiry frame.
"We're going to kill the Shadow Man." He said, turning to face the outside world and striding out into the sun.
{===}
"Your parents? You're sure?"
Lily Evan leaned forwards on the balls of her feet. Marlene, beside her, was watching Alex pace up and down the room with a frown. The space they were in was one of the forgotten areas of the Fawley House. It was vaguely cathedral-like, with stone walls that met in the centre of the domed ceiling, and arches that hung over stain glass windows. Despite all this, the chamber was only about the size of Lily's bedroom at home. It vaguely reminded her of a doll-house version of a church, a few pews scattered about for continuity.
"I'm sure." Alex emphasised, for what must have been the fifth time.
The curved wooden door creaked open, and Micah Fawley stuck his head around it, "Hey, Alexandria? Did you invite the entire Gryffindor House over?"
Alex glanced up. Sirius Black was peeping over her brother's shoulder, and clearly must have been stood on his toes to do so. He wasn't as tall as people made him out to be. There was a shuffling behind him that must have been the rest of the Marauders, no doubt irritated with the fact that they had to be within three feet of a Slytherin without cursing them.
"Yeah, sorry." Alex ran a hand through her hair, "I- Er-"
"Needed fashion advice." James finished, edging past Micah and into the room. Lily fought the urge to groan, even though she'd known he would be there. She could sense Marlene suppressing a smile to her right and gritted her teeth. Potter, meanwhile, was completing a full twirl, "I don't know if you noticed, Fawley Number Two, but your sister isn't exactly up to Gryffindor-party standards."
Micah raised his eyebrows, "My sister. Wanted fashion advice. From you."
"Good. You understand." Sirius clapped Micah on the shoulder as he too joined the room and hopped onto a windowsill, propping his feet up on the pew in front of him. He waved at Micah with just the fingers of one hand, "Bye bye, now. We'll let you know if we need some orange slices."
Micah shot the occupants of the room one parting suspicious glare before sighing and handing door-opening duties to Remus Lupin, who gave him an apologetic smile. Once he and Peter were safely inside the chamber and Alex was the only one left standing, she let out a long sigh.
"Merlin." Alex ran another hand through her hair. She straightened, and eyed the waiting Gryffindors with a direct stare, "Okay, kids. We're going up against the Shadow Man. And we're doing it in three days."
James choked on the Capri Sun that he had pulled from God knows where. Lily, for once, completely agreed with his sentiment, "Three days?"
Alex nodded, "No one else is going to die."
"But," Sirius raised his hand, "You said on the phone they were going after the muggles on Thursday. That's four days away."
Alex pointed at him, "Right. Right. But we aren't going to let it get that far. I'm not letting my parents become murderers."
Sirius exchanged a glance with James, "Fawley, not to burst your bubble, but they may already be-"
"Shut up." Alex silenced him with a wave of her hand, "I know what you're going to say, and I'm not interested."
"How do you even plan on getting to him?" James inquired, clearly willing to allow Alex to deny her suspicions all she wanted.
"Ah." Alex held her hand in front of her face, like that moment in a detective show before they reveal the answer. Lily saw Sirius duck his head to hide a grin, "Something the Mr I-Am-Darkness said. One, the muggles live opposite his office. Two, they obscure his view. He basically told us everything we need to know and he didn't even mean to do it."
Marlene leaned close to Lily to mutter in her ear, "I'm spotting one or two gaping holes in this plan."
"Once we're in his office," Alex began her grand finish. Lily leaned forwards instinctively. She could sense Sirius doing the same, "We just need to fuck about a bit, and I'm sure everything will work out."
"Make that three or four." Marlene corrected under her breath, "Or, no, scrap that. The whole thing is a hole with a little bit of fabric-plan-ness around the edges."
Remus piped up first, "How are we going to find out where the muggles live?"
"I think I can help with that." A voice at the door chipped in. Almost as one, The Gryffindors turned to see Micah Fawley, arms crossed, watching them with a face that said he had very clearly been listening in the entire time.