Dark Beauty /Sirius Black/ [2]

Dark Beauty - 42.

Chapter 42

A flurry of pain pushed away from May and the calm swirl that engulfed them. It seemed as though the war hadn't truly started regardless of the many missions and the deep sea of pain Adria found herself in.

But her small family pushed to November and it seemed as though the lord they had been blindly fighting against wasn't allowing mercy. Villages slaughtered, orphaned children with nowhere to go who managed to survive such horrific scenes - newspapers riddled with stories of families and towns and the mysterious plague that was murdering the people of Britain one by one.

No one felt safe, no one was safe lest they knew of the wizarding world and surprisingly found out they were purebloods overnight. Some half-bloods seemed scared of what to do...to fight with the muggleborns and those with a heart or to give in to their fear and join the man who would allow them in circumstances that had them working as slaves.

Happiness seemed almost forced but they tried. Sirius kept a smile on his face almost always to the point Adria thought it was genuine. But then she saw it, when he thought no one was around - when Jude had turned into their living room to play...and she was busy making tea he would let his shoulders drop and his eyes drooped, and the frown returned.

Their house was hectic. November brought cold and rain and wind and sometimes on rare days did snow grace the air and fall heavy to the ground. On those days, Adria stayed in and pulled Sirius and her family with her - even sometimes, Regulus joined them.

Alina officially left school when September hit, and she didn't get up to catch the train and the rest didn't get up to watch her go knowing that she wouldn't want to go back regardless of the safety of the castle. She didn't want that safety anymore.

Lia, though, wanted it more than anything to the point that she and Alina almost fell out. But she understood when Alina shouted that she didn't want to be seen as one of his followers for a second longer, and the glamour of bravery fell from her eyes and the fear shone right through to the point that Lia held Alina so tightly for longer than both intended but they needed it.

"Good morning." Alina's morning voice was a deep mumble hardly heard from Adria who sat at the breakfast bar with a mug of warm tea in her cold hands. She had ordered Sirius to sleep longer than he usually did when he tried to get up just after the sun had risen, the bags under his eyes didn't agree with his sleeping schedule and neither did she.

"Morning." Adria ran a hand through her hair, smiling at her sister who had turned before she could return it. Unintentionally, of course, but sometimes smiling felt more like a chore than something that came naturally.

She was scared, though. She had been thinking the thoughts in her head for weeks and didn't quite know how to tell, or well, ask Adria. She knew that she didn't need permission from her sister, but Adria always knew what was best for her - she would need her permission in the sense of...joining.

"I need to ask you something," Alina finally said, turning from the kettle and to Adria who straightened up, gesturing to the seat across from her so she could sit down, and Alina obeyed...soon taking the seat.

"Are you alright?" asked Adria, "you can ask me anything, Allie."

"I know, I know!" she nodded furiously, sitting down her tea and taking a deep breath, "it's just - I don't know how you're going to respond and I'm just a bit nervous."

Adria laughed softly, "surely it can't be that bad, Allie."

"I want to fight." She blurted it out so quickly, it wiped her morning voice away. Demanding, loud and powerful with her eyes locked bravely with Adria's. She couldn't read her sister's body language or her face, something she usually could do.