Silvia and the Rising Moon [EDITING]

Forgiveness

     "Check this out, Silvia." Remus leaned toward her. They sat alone in a train booth headed to Hogwarts.
     Silvia peered over the newspaper. "What does it say?"
     "Right here." He traced his finger over the text. "Escaped Soviet Murderer Warren Von Strauss Joins You-Know-Who on Murderous Rampage."
"Wow," she responded guiltily.
He put the paper down and sighed. "Silvia, it's not your fault that Von Strauss is back. You-Know-Who literally controlled..." he trailed off, still unable to speak Sienna's name.
"I suppose." She shrugged. "But, I could have stopped her. I could have prevented all of those deaths."
"We can't dwell on the past, Silvia. There are so many things that I wish I could change but I just can't."
Silvia swallowed and looked away. Remus turned back to reading the Daily Prophet.
"Holy smokes," he hissed suddenly.
"What?" Silvia asked in alarm. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"This," Remus began, staring into the paper. "Black Family Son Reported Missing, Possible Runaway."
"What?" she asked again. "Which one?"
"By Lita Einrich." Remus rolled his eyes. "Of course Lita wrote this. She loves to spark controversy."
Silvia nodded quickly. "You're right, but who's missing? What's going on?"
"'Sixteen-year-old Sirius Orion Black was reported as missing by the Black family in June of this year. Insiders suspect that Black ran away from the family and took shelter with a home of a friend. The family believes that he may be living with longtime friend, James Potter.'"
"Merlin's beard," Silvia squeaked. "Sirius ran away?"
"It keeps going." He looked up quickly before continuing. "'The cause of his disappearance is unknown at the time. However, this event does definitely leave a negative mark on the image of the Black family.' As it should. Those people are bloody mad."
Just as he said that, there was a knocking on the door.
"Come in," Silvia called.
Regulus Black opened the door. "Mind if we come in?" Behind him stood Rabastian Lestrange and Barty Crouch Jr.
Silvia shrugged. "I don't see why not."
The boys sat. Regulus noticed the paper that Remus was inspecting. "I'm assuming you read the article your aunt wrote about us."
"Yes, actually," Silvia nodded. "I'm sorry, Regulus. I hope everything is okay at home."
Regulus scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Mum and Dad have never been happier."
Silvia was taken aback. "I knew they didn't like his interests, but how can you be so happy about your son running away?"
"I wish I knew," Regulus sighed. "I wish he had stayed just one more year with me. He made things a lot more bearable."
"Wow, Regulus. I really am sorry," Silvia said softly.
"It's alright." He shrugged. "I've got Barty and Rabastian. Barty's dating Selene now." He tried to sound excited, but Silvia sensed a hit of disappointment in his tone.
"We're trying to hook Rabastian up with your cousin. He only dates purebloods, so don't even try," Barty told her.
She furrowed her eyebrows. "I was never interested in the first place."
Rabastian passed chocolate frogs Regulus and Barty. They talked together.
Silvia jumped as the door quickly swung open. Sirius stormed in.
"Get outta here, snakes," he said, shooing Rabastian, Barty, and Regulus out.
"Sirius, oh my god! You're okay!" Regulus called excitedly.
Sirius shooed him. "Yeah, yeah, we can talk later, Reg. Now be gone, bastard snakes!"
The three scampered out. Sirius sat across from Remus.
"Moony?" he asked seriously. Remus didn't move. "Moony," he demanded carefully and pushed the Prophet away from Remus's face. He still didn't look up. Instead, he kept his eyes glued firmly to the paper, even as Sirius tore it out of his hand. "Remus, goddammit! I'm trying to talk to you," he pleaded.
Remus looked up slowly. "What do you want?" he sighed.
     "I told Sienna," he began guiltily.
     Remus swallowed nervously. "What did you tell her?"
     "I told her what happened." He chewed on his lip and turned to look out the window.
     "Why would you do that?" Remus was shaking. Anger and nervousness boiled inside.
     "She has the right to know why you did what you did," he snapped. "Silvia had the right to know why I did what I did, and she knows. It isn't fair for her to lose her best friend."
     Silvia looked up slowly and met Sirius's eye.
     "I see how you look at her," Sirius began. "I know losing her would kill you as much as it would to lose Remus."
     The corners of her mouth curved into a small smile. "Why are you doing this?" she laughed.
"I can't help admitting I'm guilty. I let my feelings get the best of me. It's embarrassing, Silvia, it really is." He laughed awkwardly and ran a hand through his long hair. "I ruined two perfectly good relationships just to sail into rocky seas."
"Very poetic, Padfoot," Remus commented.
"I want you to be happy, Moony," he said after a long silence. "Lily's finally said yes to James after all these years."
"What?" Silvia asked quickly. "What about Severus?"
"Snavely? We think he's a death eater now." Sirius rolled his eyes. "He's been hanging around my cousins and Lucius Malfoy."
Silvia sighed. "I guess he doesn't deserve a girl like Lily."
"No, he never did. Anyway, I can't let James be happy while Remus is sad."
"Thank you," Remus said sarcastically. "But I don't believe I know what happiness is."
"Remus," Silvia hissed. "Sorry, Sirius. He's in a bad mood."
"The four of us, together, marauding as animagi," Sirius grasped for straws. "Don't nights like those make you happy?"
"Of course they do."
"Sirius."
"Silvia!" he suddenly snapped. "Can we talk for a moment outside. Alone?"
"I, well. I suppose we can, Sirius." She stood up and followed him out of the cabin.
Sirius closed the door behind him. "I know I hurt you. I know I made a mistake."
"Sirius, please. I'm over this."
He grabbed her arm quickly as she turned to open the door. "No, wait, please."
She lowered her arm. "Fine."
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I want to be honest with you. You made me the happiest person I could be. There's something about you that isn't like the guys. You're special. I need you with me. I want to make you happy."
Silvia rolled her eyes. "I don't want to hear this," she wined.
"Let me make it up to you, Silvia. I love you."
She looked at him cautiously. "There's someone out there who will make you a lot happier than I ever could. I promise."
Then, she was gone. Reality settled like a weight on Sirius's shoulders as the cabin door clicked shut, and darkness filled the corridor.

This time it was Sienna who stood in the doorway.
     She sighed. "May I come in?"
     Remus and Silvia glanced at each other. "Sit," Silvia said shortly.
     Sienna sat across from them. "I, Sienna Ammalee Rispoli, have come to formally apologize for everything that I've done to both of you."
     "You don't need to apologize," Remus said, picking at his fingernails.
     "I know what happened, Remus, and it's not your fault."
     It was his fault and he knew it. He knew exactly what was going on, and he did nothing in his power to stop it. In fact, he liked what had happened between him and Sirius before the guilt had settled. He felt awful. This wasn't a conversation that he hoped would happen.
     "I know Sirius gave you a love potion."
     Remus looked up. "He did what?"
     "He told me that he slipped love potion in your beer at the party," Sienna explained. "Did he not tell you?"
     He knew what she was saying was not the case, but he went with it anyway. "Of course."
"It was a prank," Sienna sighed. "He told me he didn't realize it would go that far."
Remus agreed awkwardly.
"Silvia, I'm sorry for saying that we aren't friends. I really, sincerely am. I don't know what I would do without you."
Silvia looked up slowly. "You mean that?"
"Of course."
They both stood up and quickly hugged. Then, Sienna turned to Remus.
"If you don't hate me, I think it would be nice if we... picked up where we left off."
He smiled. The pink scars on his face curved upward. "I would like that very much."
"Excellent," she declared, turning from Remus to Silvia. "We're back! Sixth year, here we come."
Silvia smiled. "This year is going to be topsy-turvy for sure. James and Lily going out on a date."
"What?"
"That's what I said."
Sienna laughed. "Now we just have to get you and Sirius back together, and this year will be off to a perfect start."
A fit of laughter suddenly overcame Silvia. "No, I don't know about that one, Sienna. Let's get ready for arrival. I hear they're serving pudding for desert."