Stars | Sirius Black |

Prologue

"She wore a thousand faces to hide her own." - Atticus

As the sun set and darkness began to slowly spread into the sky, like a cat creeping up on a mouse before the kill, the day turning to night, a young girl sat by the old, worn out, wooden window seat with dark green cushions, watching as the birds flew away to their nests. The young girl sighed, wishing that she could fly away like those birds.

Tiombe, though young in appearance, had lost her youth a long time ago. When the girl was only five years old, her parents split apart. Neither wishing to give up their only child, the poor girl was caught in the middle of a custody war that she, being only five at the time, didn't fully understand.

Eventually, it was her mother that won. Tiombe wasn't sure whether she should be happy about that or not. While the girl loved her mother, she had been closer to her father at the time. Being only a little child, her body didn't know how to react to the news that she would never be able to see her father again, because he would be in Azkaban for the rest of his life.

Later on, she found out why. Her father, angered and grief stricken at losing the custody battle, had gone out to go drown his sorrows in alcohol. Shortly thereafter, he was found unconscious next to a dead body. When Aurors came to investigate, they found out that he had been the one to kill the Muggle.

Broken and alone, the young girl did the only logical thing at the time, she built a wall. Shutting out the world and building a wall around her heart, Tiombe thought that life couldn't get any worse. Oh, how wrong she was.

Only a couple of years after the divorce, her mother married again. Young and foolish, Tiombe let herself believe that he would be different. After all, not all men were like her father.

Unfortunately for poor, naive Tiombe, things didn't work out, leaving her more broken than ever. Finding herself in that dark place once more, she once again did the only logical thing.

She built another wall.

Over the years, more and more people came and went, causing the girl to build wall after wall until even she couldn't get past them all. 

Now, staring out at the dark sky littered with sparkling stars, twelve-year-old Tiombe found herself in that same dark, cold, lonely place.

You'd think that by now she'd have learned. That by now, after all she's been through, that she wouldn't make these mistakes.

Unfortunately, that's not the case.

Tiombe had a boyfriend. A tall, handsome, and abusive boyfriend. Falling for his tan skin and charming smile, she'd been too naive to realize that it was too good to be true. Letting down her walls and letting him into her heart, she'd fallen right into his trap.

Did she know that he was abusive? No. Did she see the signs? No. Did she try to fight back? No.

Instead, she just let it happen. She let herself be the victim, didn't try to fight back, instead hoped that her silence and tears would be enough. But it wasn't. Because, in today's world, silence meant yes and no meant yes please.

Did she know that it was wrong? Yes. Did she know that she could stop it? Yes. Did she know that she could get help? Yes.

Yes, she knew all of this, but did she do it? No. Why? Because she was afraid. Afraid of what might happen if she did. Afraid of what might happen to her..... and of what might happen to him. Because, as crazy as it sounds, she still cared for the guy, she still loved him.

So she sat, staring out at the milky white stars, wishing that she could just get away from it all. Away from the sorrow, away from the tears. Away from the pain and heartbreak, away from it all.

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Sitting on the roof, staring up at the stars, Sirius Black wished he could get away.

He wished he could get away from his house, his parents, his brother. Away from the pain, sorrow, and disappointment. He wished that he could just fly away, away from the wretched family traditions and beliefs.

There was nothing more he hated than those goddamned family beliefs. Beliefs that purebloods were superior, that Muggles and Muggleborns were nothing more than nuisances and annoyances. The belief that Muggleborns somehow stole magic, that they were criminals that had gone unpunished.

When he was younger, he had actually believed in that shit. He had believed all the nonsense that his parents had fed him, eating it up like it was the world's best dessert.

Once he went to Hogwarts, he found out that all that stuff his parents had been telling him wasn't true. Over the next couple of years, he had found out the truth, earning him the new title of 'Family Disappointment'. He didn't mind the title, in fact, he loved it.

At first, it had stung, hearing that all that his parents had told him wasn't true, but he quickly got over it. It had stung again when he went home, and, upon calling out his parents, he was quickly punished. They had beat him, both physically and verbally, in fact, he still had the scars.

But that wasn't what had hurt him the most. What had hurt him the most was the fact that during that time, his brother had done nothing. He had simply stood there, watching as they hit him. When he called out to his brother to help, he simply stood there, and did nothing.

Returning to school the next year, Sirius was not quite right. Quiet and subdued, it was up to his friends to fix him. Thankfully, he had chosen good friends, because they were able to figure out what was going on and help him. They had stopped him from building a wall around his heart.

But unfortunately, his friends couldn't fix everything. Sirius still had to return "home", still was beaten almost daily for standing up for himself and his friends.

So now, staring out at the wide expanse of stars that lit up the night sky, Sirius Black wished that he could get away, far, far away from it all.