Ours To Hold- A Lily and James Fanfiction

Lily- Even in The Darkest of Times

Suddenly, a loud crash echoes just outside the kitchen window. I set down my book and run to the window. A grey owl lies in the flowerbed with a dazed look on its grumpy-looking face.

"James!" I shout. "There's an owl in the flowerbed!"

James races into the kitchen. "An owl in the flowerbed? What?" His face is contorted in confusion. "Why would there be an owl in the flowers?"

"I think it hit the side of the house, James," I admit. "I didn't think we were expecting any mail today."

James shakes his head slowly. "Neither did I. Let's go see what the owl is carrying." He unlocks the side door and steps out. I follow him. James reaches down and unties a roll of parchment. He studies it for a second. "It's for Sirius. Bloody hell. I think it's from his mum."

I frown. "That will brighten his day," I say sarcastically.

"No kidding. I guess someone's going to get a Bludger to their head in this afternoon's game," James declares. We planned to get a bunch of our friends together to play Quidditch this afternoon, but this letter might change that plan.

"Let's get this letter to Sirius so he can decide what to do with it. I think him and Marlene were in the living room."

We head back inside and make our way into the living room.

Sirius and Marlene are sitting on the couch with their Quidditch gear surrounding them. Their maniacal smiles tell me that they're dying to play Quidditch.

"Hey," Marlene exclaims with a wide grin. "We're just getting our Quidditch gear ready for this afternoon. Sirius' gloves are missing though. I swear he loses everything!" She shakes her head fondly at Sirius. Her eyes are bright and wild with happiness.

Sirius sticks his tongue out at her. "You're mean," he teases. Sirius turns towards us. "What's with the grim looks?" He asks softly, almost hesitantly.

"There's a letter for you from your mum," I say in a hushed tone. I hand over the letter.

"My mum? What the hell does that old bat want now?" He tears off the wax seal with his family's crest on it. His brow creases deeply as he starts reading.

Suddenly, he stops reading. The letter falls from his hands and floats down to the carpet. He looks up at us with a haunted look etched on his face.

"Sirius?" Marlene's face crumples in pain as she watches tears start to trickle down her boyfriend's face.

"Regulus is dead," Sirius declares hoarsely as he wipes at the tears on his face. "Mum says no one's told her exactly what happened. She thinks that he must've crossed the wrong person." He shakes his head slowly in disbelief. "I can't believe my mum wrote this. She thinks that Voldemort murdered him. My brother was a low level Death Eater. He can't have been important enough to merit Voldemort killing him. He was probably killed on Voldemort's orders, but why?"

Sirius is right. It doesn't make sense. What the hell did Regulus do that got him killed?

"Oh Merlin, he came to see me a while back. He told me that he needed to tell me something important. I didn't listen. I told him to leave."

"Hey...hey. You can't blame yourself for not listening. You had no reason to trust him. Who knows what he wanted to tell you anyways..." Marlene says gently to him.

"But I should have heard him out!"

"Sirius, Regulus made his choices. He joined the Death Eaters. Marlene was right; you can't blame yourself for not trusting him when every time you've trusted him, it has backfired in your face," James reminds him. Although James' words are harsh, there's an undeniable statement of truth behind his words. Sirius has tried to trust Regulus before and it always ended badly.