The Last Gryffindor (Sirius Black)

Chapter XXXVI: In Petals Write My Epitaph

When they shall close my careless eyes
And look their last upon my face,
I fear that some will say: "here lies
A man of deep disgrace;
His thoughts were bare, his words were brittle,
He dreamed so much, he did so little.

When they shall seal y coffin lid
And this worn mask I know as ME,
Shall from the sight of man be hid.
To all eternity -
Some one may say: "His sins were many,
His virtues; really, had he any?"

When I shall lie beneath my tomb,
Oh do not grave it with my name
But let one rose-bush o'er me bloom,
And heedless of my shame,
With velvet shade and loving laugh,
In petals write my epitaph.
-ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE

• — • — •

It felt like Aeliana waited for an eternity, lost within the shapeless mist. Or perhaps it was just a second. In the end, she not sure what she expected death to be like. Before, she hoped to see her brother on the other side. She had missed him so much for so long it was like a knife twisting in her chest, but now... there was peace.

It wasn't a gentle peace, however. Lia couldn't shake the feeling that she was waiting  for something, or someone, in this world between worlds. Something held her back, preventing her from moving on. And so she waited an eternity for an event she didn't know would ever come.

"Lia."

The silence had been so deafening for so long she almost didn't hear him, but Lia couldn't mistake that voice. Not his voice.

"Sirius," she sighed, turning to greet her oldest friend, a smile transforming her face for the first time in a long while. Her facial muscles were so stiff from disuse she nearly forgot what the movement felt like. When neither of them spoke for several moments, opting instead to stare at the other with guarded disbelief, she continued, "You went ahead and got old without my permission."

Though she was just messing with him to break the ice, she also hadn't lied. The man before her had aged beyond the boy she once knew. A five o'clock shadow accentuated his jaw and subtle lines of years stolen were drawn around his eyes. If anything, time had worked in his favour, though, making him more handsome than she had even remembered.

"Only because you weren't there to boss me around and tell me not to," Sirius said breathlessly. He edged closer slowly, as though he thought Lia a spectre liable to disappear at any moment. "You're not really here."

"Why am I automatically the illusion? I think, since I was here first, that makes you the intruder, doesn't it?" she argued, closing the remaining distance between them and placing a careful hand to his cheek. Softer, she added, "See? You feel that? I'm at least as real as you are."

"It's been so long," he murmured, voice hoarse. Subconsciously, his face leaned into my palm, and his stubble prickled ticklishly against her skin. Sirius opened his dark eyes, searching her face intently. "I was beginning to forget just how blue your eyes were, or how much I used to love the sound of your voice, especially when you were angry with me. Your face grew more blurry in my mind's eye with each year... You left nothing behind for me to remember you by. It was like you never even existed."

"Yeah, well, I didn't take into account how stubborn you can be," she admitted, glaring at him playfully. "You were supposed to forget about me and move on, you bloody idiot. That was the whole point of leaving nothing behind."

Lia pulled her hand away, but it didn't get very far before Sirius's own hand shot out and took hold of her wrist. Pulling her closer, so that they were almost chest to chest, he said, "If you thought I could ever just forget about you, then I'm not the idiot here, idiot."