'Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.'
― Lao Tzu
*Beautiful cover by @oscarisaacss*
| Sirius Black |
| Order of the Phoenix - ? |
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SIRIUS WALKED PAST ECHO'S ROOM, a look of worry etched upon his face when he heard sniffling coming from inside, a sound that came to an instant stop when he knocked gently on the door.
"Come in," Echo called out from the inside before she cleared her throat.
Sirius twisted the doorknob before entering the room, his eyes landing on Echo as she sat at the edge of her bed, a large stack of what looked like photographs placed besides her. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears as she glanced at Sirius for the briefest second before looking down at her knees.
With a frown on his face, the black haired man closed the door behind himself before he took a few steps closer to the bed. As soon as he reached it, Echo patted the empty spot on her left and without hesitation, Sirius sat down. His eyes looked over at the woman besides him as she took in a deep breath, her lip embedded between her lips. His eyes landed on the photograph at the top of the stack, it was of a ginger haired woman he didn't recognise, she was laughing as she twirled around, a fancy dress that puffed out at her waist was fanning around her. Sirius placed his hand over the one Echo kept on the bed covers, "Tell me about her," His voice smooth.
Echo bit her lip harder, keeping the tears from falling from her eyes as she reached over to grab the photo, her eyes scanning the happy look on Ciara's face. She could remember the day she took that photo like it was yesterday. The two had been invited to the fanciest dance they had ever attended and had to go dress shopping for it and of course, Echo brought her trusty camera with them; after she and her mum had moved to America, Echo practically kicked herself for enough photographs of her and her friends from England and vowed to herself that she would start taking more photographs, especially after she met Ciara.
"Her name was Ciara," She finally spoke up, her finger softly outlining the photograph, "Ciara Murphy. She was the exact opposite of me," Echo chuckled softly, "I don't think I ever saw her without a smile on her face," Echo grabbed the photographs and flipped through them, pulling out one of the same ginger woman, her hair was shorter in this one and she was grinning at someone off to the side before her eyes landed on the camera and she pretended to frown before bursting out into laughter, "She wanted to be a Muggle Healer," Echo informed Sirius, "A doctor, I believe they call it...She was too pure for the world."
"I'm sorry," Sirius frowned, feeling his heart breaking at the look on Echo's face. She seemed so broken as she looked at the photograph of Ciara.
"It's not your fault," Echo told him, squeezing his hand, "And I'm only now realising that it probably wasn't my fault either. It wasn't anyone's fault but those Death Eaters."
"Is that why you're here?" Sirius questioned, "To avenge her death?"
Echo finally tore her eyes from the photograph and looked towards Sirius, "Part of it," She nodded, "I've felt guilty ever since I moved to America," She confessed, Sirius saw the pain in her eyes as she looked away, "And finding out my mother died, finally made me feel free, you know?"
Sirius nodded understandingly, "Of course I do," He told her and it was completely true. When he learnt that his mother died, he finally felt free to be himself, even though Sirius had been disowned and kicked out from the home, Walburga's death seemed to give him a freedom moving out never did.
"I'm really sorry, Siri, I hope you know that," Echo told him sadly, looking at his hand that was still glued to hers. His large hand practically swallowed hers up.
He frowned, "You don't need to be sorry about anything, sunshine," Sirius grinned mischievously at the nickname he knew she loathed, Echo rolled her eyes as he continued, "You had no choice in the matter and it doesn't matter anymore, you're here now and that's all I care about."
Echo felt herself smiling ever so slightly, "Because that was sweet, I'll pretend you didn't call me 'sunshine'."
Sirius grinned, throwing his arm around her shoulders. She could feel his laughter rumbling off of him, "That's fine by me....sunshine."
