Astrophile [J.P]

Chapter 20

~ Up all night and I'm waiting for you to come home

Mind is racing and I'm wondering what I did wrong. ~

***

A few days had passed since Sirius moved in with his Uncle Alphard. With his stay, Alphard too had been feeling a lot better. He had started coming out of his room more often and sometimes even gone for a walk in the neighborhood accompanied by his talkative nephew.

Sirius enjoyed narrating his eventful school days and Alphard enjoyed having him around. In his own words, Sirius brightened his dull life by constant chatter and jokes.

The one thing which was bothering Sirius though, was his weakening condition. He had never seen his uncle so ill before neither had he seen him so weary of life. The Alphard Black he knew was the one pulling harmless pranks on family members, making bets on the most negligible of events and sharing hilarious accounts of his travels around the world.

One day when he was rearranging the contents of his uncle's bedside table, his eyes were caught by some old photographs tucked away in a corner. Even though he wasn't one to snoop in other people's belongings, he couldn't help but think whether the photographs held the secret to his uncle's drastic downfall.

"Uncle Alphard, whose pictures are these?" he asked as he held out a photograph of a stunning woman with dark brown hair and equally dark yet mesmerizing eyes.

Alphard who was going through the day's newspaper paused and looked up to see what he was holding. Seeing the photograph, a shadow crossed his face as if an old memory had struck him hard.

"Well, these are photographs of people I met on my trip to Italy," he replied but was cautious with his words, "a very happy family they used to be."

Sirius flicked through the photographs noticing that they were of the same woman and a toddler who bore distinct resemblance to her. In one photograph, he saw Alphard playing with that toddler and the smile on his face was purely joyous; something he had never seen in years.

"You must have had quite a connection with them," Sirius remarked, "I have never seen you so happy before, Uncle."

Alphard folded the newspaper and laced it aside, "you're right. I had never been so happy before."

Sirius felt as if there was much more to it than his Uncle was letting him know. "And where are they now?"

"I honestly don't know."

"Uncle, I think they were both very important to you," he gave it one more try, "can I ask why?"

Alphard kept silent for a moment but decided it wouldn't do any harm if he told Sirius. "This woman was the love of my life," he spoke but his voice came out as if choked, "this family used to be mine. Before the beliefs of the Noble House of Black got in the way of our happiness."

Sirius hadn't been expecting that. He had known that his Uncle had always been looked down upon by the rest of the Blacks but he hadn't known that the hatred and beliefs would grow so powerful as to break apart such a happy little family. "And that's the reason to why you are like this," there was a questioning look in his eyes as if wanting to confirm that.

"What else can you expect from a man who is forced to live apart from his wife and child?" Alphard's words were bitter yet held an unmistakable pang of sorrow and regret, "what else can you expect from a man who is threatened by his siblings to leave his happiness for one stupid belief?"

"Uncle, I'm... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked," he spoke when he saw that the whole conversation was only making him feel worse.

"No son, you shouldn't be sorry," Alphard looked at him and beckoned him to come sit beside him, "when I was your age and had quite the same thoughts as you do, I made a few mistakes. But some of them turned out to be the best thing I could ever have done. But in my time there was no one to stand up for me. No one to support me. My parents, my siblings, my cousins... Everyone stood up against me. And I had absolutely no choice."

He took a pause in between as his words were wearing him down. His frail condition didn't allow him to overexert himself and right now, thinking of the past was more exhausting than anything else he could have thought of.

"And now that you're standing in a somewhat similar position like I did years ago," he resumed, "I want to be the one to support you. I want to stand up for you, Sirius. I want to be your support and even though my health doesn't allow it, I still want to do all I possibly can for you. I have not been strong enough for myself. But I wouldn't want another soul to perish due to the same mistakes I made. I would never want you to face everything alone."

Sirius was touched deeply by the declaration. In his whole life he had been shunned by his family and thought that no one of them would ever take his side. But now there was Alphard, his Uncle Alphard who he so admired, stating himself that he would do all it takes for him.

"I'm so grateful I have you, Uncle," he replied.

Alphard nodded as a slow smile crept up on his face, "I want to set right what was made wrong years ago. But I can't do that. Instead, I'll make sure you never have to suffer what I've been through."

A short while passed in silence after which Alphard spoke as if he had suddenly remembered something, "oh and I almost forgot. Try and make something special for dinner tonight."

Sirius was a bit surprised, "are we expecting visitors?"

"Perhaps. I'm not completely certain about that but maybe they would come," he answered, "so to be on the safe side, cook something nice."

Sirius nodded and touched his forehead in a tiny salute, "Aye Aye Captain."

***