| back to black | {g. weasley}

[ twenty-six ]

"Evelyn?"

She turns from the sky to see him pushing his way out of the cell, his eyes weary and his dirty hands fidgeting. Something about looking at him was making Evelyn struggle to remember why she had neglected him all this time. It makes her eyes water.

Before either of them can say anything else, Evelyn rushes forward and runs into him. He has to step back to catch her as the girl's arms wrap around his fragile torso; he stares down at her, at the top of her head, blankly for a moment before laying into the embrace, his own tears forming quickly at the warm gesture.

The last time he hugged her she was 25 pounds, wearing a pull-up, babbling nonsense mixed with words, and had a headful of tiny black curls and a stomach full of pumpkin juice.

Now he could feel the bandages under the thin shirt she wears that are keeping her ribs in place and she smells of the infirmary wing's cleanliness and a mixture of vanilla and cinnamon. Her grip was firm, so firm she was almost shaking, but she didn't care; like how she didn't care that he smelled like a dirty shoe or how his cold body was rattling and how he was basically a complete stranger to her.

She lets some of her tears fall down her cheek and onto the ragged shirt he was wearing.

Hermione and Harry looked to one another. Neither wanted to ruin the moment, but time was ticking.

Harry clears his throat, getting Sirius' attention and motioning towards Buckbeak behind him.

"Bug," Sirius pulls her off, "we have to get going if I'm to make it out of here."

She nods, wiping under her eyes as she follows him to Buckbeak. Harry gets up first, then he helps Evelyn who helps him hoist Sirius, and finally Hermione jumps on the end.

The ride back down is shorter and less intense, probably because Evelyn's focus is trained on the fact that her father was here... right in front of her.

They landed in the far North courtyard where plants grew almost vehemently out of every crack and opened crevice on sight.

They slid off of Buckbeak to give him a break, Sirius immediately drawing himself into the shadows and the three of them following.

"I'll be forever grateful for this," he says, turning to look at them. "To all of you."

"I want to come with you," Harry tells him.

"One day, perhaps," Sirius says. "You and Evelyn both— that is when my life becomes a bit more predictable... but for now you're meant to be here," he reminds them, taking one of their shoulders in either of his hands.

"But... you're innocent," Evelyn says.

Sirius grins at her. "And you know it..." He guides both of them to sit on the bench behind them while Hermione distances herself from the conversation. Evelyn and Harry sit, Sirius kneels closely in front of them. "For now, that'll do..." He keeps flicking his gaze between the two, a wave of de ja vu washing over him as their faces resonate with him. He turns to Harry for a moment, taking either sides of his face in his hands. "I expect you're tired of hearing this about now, but you look so much like your father..." He leans in a bit to Harry, the fatherly grin on his face moving the boy's heart through some level of sorrow. "Except your eyes... you have—"