Eunoia | Sirius Black

INTERLUDE - 10

The rain fell like diamonds on the cloak of Primrose Browne until it hung in folds around her expensive silk gown.

It was never too hard to guess her age with the way her skin sagged just as much the bonnet on her head did from the raindrops, drooping low on her forehead. The sidewalk looked abandoned, hauntingly rather than on purpose.

She dragged her heavy skirts after her, disheartened and dull about the turn this day had taken. She was rather certain the radio earlier had proudly announced a sunny and warm day.

The stray dogs didn't bother barking at her and the whimsical beggars didn't bother grinning amongst themselves over her disheveled look as she hurried along the street, slipping and panting about the mud.

She remembered her niece Belle exclaiming about the horrid London rains earlier this month but had paid no attention it , much to her current regret. Her hands had gone icy cold and she paused at the side of the old broken pathway to rub them together and blow her hot breath on the gloves in vain hope that they'd grow warm.

Her ears were red underneath the sorry excuse of a hat and her cheeks were like a tomato, puffed and crimson. Her dismay bounced off her body quite obvious to the rare men and women that dared to cross the streets in this weather.

She thought about her velvet rug, hot from the fireplace and thought of her beautiful quills that she'd use to write to her husband that had gone away to Scotland for the weekend. She thought of her evil words that she'd use while addressing today's day and that got a faintly humourous smile on her lips.

The smile, as short as it had been contorted into a horror like expression as soon as she saw the clouds above turn into a serpentine shape. For a moment, she assumed the rain had gotten to her head, that her daydreams had finally made her go mad and instead of fear she felt hatred towards her husband whose whiney voice gave her enough headaches a day that she'd have to turn towards fantasy of her own.

But that didn't last long, Mrs Browne stopped so suddenly that the dogs around her got a scare. Her hands were so white one could see the thin blue veins beneath the skin and her face had gone as wane as a ghost that had nothing to do with the torrential day.

The clouds weren't her daydream, she knew it now. It was real or she'd gone insane. There were wisps of black smoke moving around a house in the distance so fast one would not notice the figure of a man unless looked close enough. But she was close, and alas she saw it.

She walked, fast enough to not notice the tiny rocks from the broken pathway near her feet. Down the path she flew, skimming the mud with a shriek, her wet skirts behind her. Her heart leaped to her throat and too afraid to even make a sound, she decided it was not time to complain but to run.

As she passed the street the evil house resided in, she saw the faintest of green light one would say was bright enough to blind were you in the house. She saw the black smokey figures and decided the curiosity was not worth risking her life over.

A woman was behind her out of nowhere and she slapped her palm on her mouth out of fear, though it seemed she neither noticed her nor cared.

The woman was gripping a car near her as if she'd fall if she didn't. She looked like she'd been through hell over and over again.

For a moment, Primrose imagined the house was hers. But she didn't stay long enough to find out.