Brightest ✯ Sirius Black

✯thirty✯

"everything is gonna be alright"

At the first moment of possible escape, and in a state of absolute panic, Cleo thought of the first name that came to her mind.

Dumbledore, right before the school year ended, had taught Cleo how to apparate. She had tried it only a few times, and for the most part, it was moving from one side of the room to the next, or from one classroom to another. This time, though, she moved a much further way away, praying to God above that it worked.

A door opened, and light poured out from the warm, inviting looking house. The sun was setting and there was a chill in the light June air. Cleo stood, cheeks blotchy and red, eyes swollen, lips trembling as she held her right arm tight against her chest.

"Oh my-" a voice gasped. "Cleo!" A pair of footsteps could be heard. Words were muffled, faces distorted. She couldn't see clearly, and as soon as she saw a figure running out into the dark night towards her, her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed.

✯✯✯✯

She opened her eyes a while later. When she didn't recognize any of her surroundings, she began to panic. She sat up quickly, gasping for breath, screaming in pain that she only imagined she felt.

"Cleo! Cleo! You're alright, you're okay," a voice shouted above her screaming. Someone grabbed both of her shoulders and pushed her back down. "Look at me, look right at me, you're okay. Everything is okay," Remus' face came into view. Cleo was panting for air, but she had settled. Her eyes searched his face, her fingers gripped the arms holding onto her tightly, clawing at the soft fabric of his sweater, trying to make sure he was really truly there and not a figment of her imagination.

"Remus," she hoarsely whispered and then began coughing violently.

"You're alright, it's alright," he kept mumbling over and over, and Cleo couldn't tell if it was for her sake or his own. "Here, drink some water," he said, handing her a glass. She went to sit up, but pain rippled through her entire body again. She had rested her right arm down to push herself up, feeling a sharp stabbing pain shoot through her entire arm and up into her shoulder.

"Okay okay, you're okay," he whispered, putting his hand on her back to help her sit up slowly. She took the glass of water with shaking hands and gulped every last bit of it, not realizing just how raw her throat had been from all the screaming. When she finished the water, she sat back, noticing that the tremble in her limbs had yet to go away.

"Cleo..."

"She killed them, Remus. They're dead. My parents, they're dead. She killed them, she killed them..." Cleo broke out into sobs again as she held her head and rocked her body back and forth. That was all she could muster the strength to say: she killed them.

Remus watched, feeling pain rip through his heart at the state of her. She had heavy bags under her eyes, her hair was disheveled, and she shook herself, crying those horrid three words. What hurt him the most was the utter resemblance she had to him sometimes. He couldn't take it.

He got up and went to the kitchen in a hurry, where Lyall and Hope Lupin were sat around the dining table with steaming cups of tea in their hands, looking at one another silently. They both looked tired and worried, but they kept it together. When Remus came crashing into the kitchen, Hope stood up quickly and watched him in worried anticipation. He hurried right to the sink and turned on the water, dipping his head down enough to feel the cold splash against his face as he breathed deeply. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Cleo; pale, thin, and shaking in terror.