Cursed Child Years 5-7 | Marauders Era

37 | Truth Will Out

Truth will Out

Saturday 9th October, 1976

"Sirius?" Lily called from the doorway. She prayed and she hoped that Sirius hadn't run down the hallway. She'd never be able to find him if he had.

"Yeah?"

Lily flinches at the sound, she's looking for Sirius but he's simply not there. But he is. "Sirius?"

Suddenly at her feet, Sirius's head appears, and just his head.

"You've got James's cloak?"

Sirius nods, pulling the cloak from his body entirely and holding it in his hands in front of him. "Pete said that Prongs left it at the tree... I thought I'd give it back to him but I left it in the corridor by mistake..."

"Oh, Sirius," Lily sighs, walking around him. Lily feels her heart breaking at the sight of a broken Sirius leaning against the doorframe, his knees brought to his chest and wet tears still streaming down his flushed cheeks. "Oh, Sirius," she sighs again as she slides down the wall and sits next to him.

"You don't have to talk to me," he whispers, hiccuping accidentally. "I'd understand."

"I want to hit you, and I've never wanted to hit anyone but James before."

"Hit me then."

"I'm not going to hit you, Sirius," Lily shakes her head, but Sirius is refusing to look at her.

"Why? Even I want to hit myself."

Lily tuts, reaching out and squeezing Sirius's knee. He doesn't deserve the comfort right now, but Lily can tell that he really needs it. "James told me what happened."

"What did he say?" Sirius whispers, turning to face her slowly.

"Not much," Lily shrugs. "Just that you told Sev- Snape... where to go and how to get to the place Remus goes."

"I didn't mean to."

"I know," she whispers, squeezing his knee gently. "Regulus pulled me and Dorcas away from Marls this morning. He told us in as little detail as possible your side of the story. Of course we hadn't a clue what he was talking about then."

Sirius laughs lightly, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "Reg defended me?"

"Not so much defended, but he did tell us your reasoning behind it and... I can understand why in that one chaotic second that you thought it would be ok, a lesson to Sev."

"Have you spoken to Snape?"

Lily inhales sharply, she watches her hand on Sirius' knee instead. "I haven't spoken with him since Mary was admitted into St. Mungo's. I tried to get him to tell Dumbledore what happened to her, but... he found it funny... and it wasn't."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize about that," Lily scoffs. "You were all right about him in the end. But just so you know..."

"What?"

"You did exactly what he did to Mary. You thought it would be funny, you didn't think ahead and although you never touched Remus... you still hurt him. Just as Sev did to Mary."

"I know," Sirius whispers, his voice strained and tears falling again. "I guess I'm a true Black now."

"Shut up," Lily shakes her head, taking her hand from his knee to wrap around his hand instead. "You're not a true Black."

"My mother would be so proud of me right now."

"First of all," Lily says firmly, rubbing circles with her thumb across the back of his hand. "She's not your mum. Secondly, that's exactly why you're not a true Black, because she'd be proud and you're sitting here crying about what you did. You feel bad, she wouldn't."