Nyctophobia - Sirius Black

Chapter 25

Ruby gaped at the animal. The bear roared, before walking towards her twin. It stopped in front of him, and put out its paw. Severus touched his hand to the paw.

"It's nice." Ruby commented, glancing from the majestic beast to her twin. He whirled around, apparently not having heard her enter.

"Thanks."

"Why didn't you do it in class?" He shrugged half-heartedly.

"No reason."

"Come on, Sev. I'm your twin. I want to know the real reason."

"I...I thought it might be a thestral."

"A thestral?" Ruby didn't understand why that would be a problem.

"Yeah."

"I don't get it. You mean because they wouldn't be able to see it?"

"No. It's cause there's someone else with that patronus."

"I'm starting to realize I missed a lot. Who is it?" Silence filled the classroom as she waited for him to answer.

"Wren Pan." He admitted after a long moment. Ruby was startled by the answer, but it wasn't entirely unexpected. After all, it was the girl who'd saved her from Lupin on the full moon, or rather, brought her back from death. She must have had some connection to Severus. Ruby nodded in understanding, and the two said nothing more on the topic.

It was after curfew when Ruby stood up from her spot in front of the open window, fingering the tail of her braid. It was still strange to have her hair pulled out of her face.

She met Jana on the lawns, and the two crept into the forest.

"You ready?" Jana asked.

"I don't even know what we're doing." Ruby grumbled.

"Magic." Jana deadpanned, and Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Really? Are you sure?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yep." Jana grinned, choosing to ignore the sarcasm. The two stopped in an empty clearing. Ruby could make out the stars above them through the leaves of the trees that formed a sort of canopy over the clearing. "So basically, I got the idea, you're super powerful and you don't need a wand. So what if you could fight without one."

"I can fight without magic." Ruby said, as Jana cast a spell that made several human-shaped dummies appear.

"Yes, but fight with magic without a wand. I've noticed your magic is usually triggered by anger, but what if you learn to use it without getting angry?"

"That would make me powerful to a terrifying level." Ruby looked cautiously at the dummies. "This doesn't sound like a good idea."

"Of course it is." Jana insisted.

"I don't want to be that powerful. It'd be dangerous. Too dangerous. What if I accidentally hurt someone I care about?"

"You won't." Jana assured her. "You've had control for this long, we're just taking it a step farther."

"I'm telling you this is a really bad idea." Ruby sighed.

"We're already here, and you said you would." Jana said stubbornly. "So we're doing it." Without warning, she waved her wand, and the dummies attacked. Ruby dodged just in time to avoid being knocked to the ground. However, she fell to the side when a second dummy crashed into her unexpectedly. She punched it away.