Soon All the Suns Will Rise

Light Hits the Gloom on the Gray

Chapter title from "Kiss From a Rose" by Seal
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Dear Hannah,

Happy Christmas! I hope you and Simon are enjoying your first holiday as a married couple. Everything is coming together for a beautiful holiday here. I hope this parcel finds you since I can't list a true return address. It's just a few lovely holiday things I found that I thought you might be able to use in your new home. We are truly sorry we missed the wedding. I would have given anything to be by your side like you were by mine. I hope someday we will be able to make up for lost time, and I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to properly say goodbye.

You are a dear friend, and I owe everything to you and your crazy stunt in the nightclub that night— giving my address to a complete stranger. It has been quite the ride so far. I just hate that it had to tear us apart. You were always there for me when Mum and Dad had gone bonkers or when Robert was angry or had run out on me again. I can't thank you enough for being my best friend, and I hope to see you very soon.

Lots of love,
C.B.

Colleen dropped her letter into the small box and wrapped it in paper before taking it to the counter. She didn't make eye contact with the clerk, as if putting a fake return address was some sort of crime. Was it? She truly didn't know.

There were hundreds of things she wanted to write in that letter instead of the vague, trite little paragraphs she'd ultimately penned. Talking about how beautiful snow was piled on sand, for example. But she couldn't give any clue about their location. She could tell Hannah that they were about to adopt a puppy for Ben, but she didn't want to run any risk of an interceptor knowing she had a child. If she and Hannah were together in person, she would come up with some way to tell her best friend that she was now in a relationship with three other people. Hannah would surely love that one, and she would certainly ask for every dirty detail. Although there weren't many of those these days.

Something had happened between Severus and Sirius since the birthday outing back in November. They were quite friendly with each other when discussing Wonderwall official business, eating dinner, playing with Ben, and other parts of day-to-day life. Granted, they didn't cross paths as much in the weeks leading up to the winter holidays, with Rhiannon and Severus wrapping up Hogwarts first term and subtly ensuring the students' safety under the Carrows' increasingly dark reign of terror. Rhiannon had even started spending some nights at the school again, now that Severus had conceded to sleeping in the Headmaster chambers.

Only in the past week had their presence at the house become more frequent. They had only invited the Blacks to bed once, and the men had seemed to go out of their way to avoid each other. Especially Sirius. He'd led Rhiannon over to the chaise and shagged her there, avoiding contact with Snape entirely, as if they were regular swingers and not a foursome.

Severus had been quite attentive and gentle with Colleen, pumping into her slowly, with lots of eye contact, soft touches, and the most tender of kisses. Lovemaking for Severus these days seemed like a desperate need for relaxation and was almost meditative. Sirius's time with Rhiannon, by contrast, seemed like a release of pent-up frustration. He'd hauled her into one of the sideways positions from the Magical Ministrations book, pistoned between her scissored legs, and came quickly. They were done before Severus was even inside Colleen, with Sirius headed back to their own suite for a shower. Rhiannon ran her own bath while Severus and Colleen finished. They did not sleep together that night.

It was bizarre enough that Colleen confronted Sirius about it the very next day, and the truth came out easily. One thing to Sirius's credit— he was always honest.

"Snape and I talked about adding a possible sexual connection, between the two of us," he explained sourly, staring out of the living room window into the gloomy gray. "I wanted it; he didn't, clearly. But he led me to believe he did— playing games, as usual."