Truth or Dare ✔️

30

Hermione looked into Sirius' eyes as he approached her with caution; he sat down next to her on the bed. He looked at her and felt all manner of dark feelings; what were projections of his own? He wasn't certain.

Her gaze fell to her hands as they fingered the ring. "I was afraid," she said.

"Of what, Sunshine," he asked.

"Remus."

"I'm listening," he replied quietly.

"I'm afraid he'll tell my parents."

Sirius nodded. "Ah."

"I thought that if I drank enough of your liquid courage, that I'd be able to confront him. It was stupid."

He nodded again and she looked into his eyes. "You were definitely mistaken. Remus will never tell your parents, as much as he may want to. He's not and never was a tattle-tale." She nodded as she licked her dry lips. Sirius poured a glass of water for her. "I doubt this will quench your thirst, but it will help. Eventually. You may even vom..."

She drank a few sips of the water and heaved it back up. As if Sirius had expected it, he had the dust bin prepared and waiting. "You knew," she said finally.

He smiled and nodded his head. "Yeah." He nodded.

"This has happened to you as well, hasn't it?"

"Yes," he replied.

"What happened?"

"It was when I was sixteen and I ran away from here. Actually my father kicked me out. I couldn't take it anymore. I don't suppose he could either. My parents and their pure-blood mania...it was simply too much."

"Did they hurt you?"

"They didn't lay a hand on me, if that's what you mean? But they wouldn't would they? No, I was zapped at every opportunity. One day, the axe fell and my mother withdrew her wand to zap me for helping myself to food in the kitchen. I kept my wand on me at that point. I withdrew my wand and prepared to defend myself. I fired a warning shot and she cried out. My father came running and we dueled it out. When he lowered his wand and I lowered mine, he told me to get out. I didn't have to be told twice."

"Where did you go?"

"To the Potters' house. To James."

"Your best mate," she said.

"Me mucker," he replied with a smile. Then he nodded. "I miss him so much."

"I know you do," she said as she placed her hand on his. "Tell me about him?"

He smiled and nodded. "You know, I've a photo book around here somewhere. That is if it wasn't located and destroyed."

Hermione looked on in horror. "Who would do that!"

"Well, my mother wouldn't have, that's for certain. Nor my father, I don't think. Regulus would have wanted, but in the end, he didn't have the guts. No, it would have been Kreature." He stood up and walked to a small poster on the wall he waved his wand and the top of it fell, revealing an opening in the wall. He tapped at the wall and it disappeared from view. He smiled and withdrew several items: the photo book, several parchments, a small wooden box and a small rounded baseball and a catcher's mit." He positively glowed at seeing the memories in his hands.

She looked on with interest.

He gently placed his booty on the duvet and withdrew the book and opened it. It began with him as a tiny baby crying in his mother's arms. His father was beaming, his mother, not so much. Even as a newborn, his hair was a black as coal. He allowed her to look at the photos and she gasped when she saw a photograph of him standing with James, Remus and Peter. His face and eyes were red and although he tried to put on a brave face, it was easy to tell that something had happened to upset him.

"Remus hasn't changed much, has he?"

"Well, he's gotten taller," he joked.

She raised her brow. "You have though."

"I look like my father," he said.

"He was a handsome man," she replied.

Sirius rolled his eyes and nodded. "Thank you," he said, only half joking.

She smiled and nodded. "You're welcome," she replied again as she nodded again. "What's in the box?"

He looked over and down at the dark-stained oak box. "Ashes," he said.

"Ashes?"

"My cat. Sissy had given me a kitten while we were on holiday. I think I was five? Her name was Obsidian. I called her Obie."

"Aww...what happened? Did she grow old?"

HIs face turned cold and hard with hatred. She didn't like seeing that expression on his face. "No, she was murdered."

"WHAT!"

"Bellatrix," he said as he stared into space. "Apparently, the cat had attacked the train of her dress? I wasn't here. My father had taken me to the Ministry with him. He knew that I really didn't like Bellatrix at all. I'll never forgive her for this. Anyway, when it was just him and me, he was actually pretty alright, now that I think about it?"

"Why didn't your father protect you?"

"Well, I think a part of him was afraid too. My mother was the heir, not him. She could have cast him away with the flick of her hand, I suppose? We would have been homeless."

"There are worse things than being homeless!"

He nodded. "Yes, well...hindsight being what it is, I suppose that Andromeda would have taken us in, or perhaps Alphard?"

"Andromeda, that's Tonk's mother, right?"

He nodded. "Yes and Alphard was my uncle. My favorite uncle. He left about seventy-five percent of his estate to me. The other twenty-five was supposed to go to my father. But my father being the whiz he was at investments, he turned that in a substantial windfall. I got that too. I got everything in the end."

"Because you outlived them all?"

He nodded again. "Yeah." She reached for the glass of water and the sheet fell a bit, and normally, he would have cast an appreciative glance, but instead, he took the glass from the bedside table and handed it to her.  "One sip," he cautioned. "Take it slow."

She nodded and held the glass to her mouth and allowed it to cook her lips, then she took a sip. She breathed in deeply and yawned.

"Why don't you lay down Sunshine? Get some rest?"

"Stay with me?"

"Of course."

He removed the glass from her hand and set it on the table, then pulled the sheet and blanket over her. He turned off the light and walked to his side of the bed and lay down next to her on top of the duvet. He turned toward her and listened to her breathing and soon, she was sound asleep, curled up by his side, holding on to his hand as if he were her life line.