Vivicendium ➝ Sirius Black/OC

Ex gratia

Chapter Thirty One | Ex gratia

[As an act of grace]

Vivian Blair is a sight for sore eyes – literally. Sirius has to fight back a grimace as he takes her in. Never mind the fact that he would never have expected to see her here, of all places, and on Christmas Eve no less – she looks...well, he's not sure there's a word to describe how she looks. Harrowing, perhaps. Haunted. Lost. At his side, James shoots him an alarmed glance, but Sirius doesn't return it. He has eyes only for her.

Her gaze is darkly hooded, and in the dimness of night, her eyes look black. It isn't the color of them that really gives him pause, but the emotions behind them. Or rather the lack of emotions. It strikes him as odd, that the last time he had seen her, only a few days before, her eyes had been bursting with wildfire flames, bristling with indignance. Now, she only blinks over at him once before returning her eyes to her hands, which are curled in front of her and trembling.

It's too dark to see much else. Besides the lone lamppost flickering some yards away to mark the entrance to the small church, it is very dark. He doubts they would have seen her at all had they been coming from the other direction. As it is, he sees only her thick woolen cloak and the outline of her bare fingers and her dull eyes and her shivering frame. The rest is unknown to him, for now.

"Stalking us now, are you?" he drawls, just to break the silence. It works on his end, at least, but Vivian doesn't seem to remember what language is, because she does not respond. Instead, she just buries herself further into her cloak and turns her head in a way that makes it clear that she's trying to pretend they aren't there at all.

This time, when James glances over at him, Sirius glances back.

Now Sirius Black is not the tentative sort of person. He doesn't hesitate before taking action, or pause to consider his options. His usual brand of execution is brasher than that. He sweeps in like a storm and lets the wind take him where it will. But this time, in this moment, something makes him waver. Maybe it's the fact that, as James and him walk closer to the church and to the unexpected figure hunched over its steps, he gets a better look at Vivian Blair and he realizes for the first time that she's been crying.

This is usually the time when that stubborn part of him would claim that such a thing is impossible, because Vivian doesn't have a heart and therefore cannot cry. She doesn't have the capabilities – doesn't possess the inclination. There's no reason for her to cry anyhow, because her perfect pureblood existence is totally unmarred by anything that might bring such a temperamental impulse into focus. But then he remembers seeing Adrian Mulciber storming out of the alley a few days ago, and the red mark on Vivian's cheek when him and James had decided to go investigate Mulciber's appearance, and for the first time, he wrangles down that stubborn part of him and merely takes a seat next to her on the steps.

James kicks at the snow as he, too, approaches her. Vivian's downturned face is quite unusual. She's always so sure of herself. She walks through the halls of Hogwarts as if she owns the whole castle, as if nothing can hurt her. But there is something almost pitiable about her in this moment that neither James nor Sirius can ignore.

"What are you doing here, Blair?" James asks, when it's clear that Sirius isn't going to speak. His friend to studying Vivian with a closeness that he might normally tease him for, but that playful urge does not come. Actually, if he's being completely honest, he's a little bit worried.

Especially when Vivian hoarsely responds, "...There's no reason," and then falls silent once more.

Really, it's the silence that's the most concerning. Vivian Blair is never this quiet, especially when she's got two Marauders asking her annoying questions.