epiphanies - sirius black

chapter 9

It was a week into the holidays, and Maggie had not uttered a single word since arriving.

Lizzie wasn't home.

Every meal they would sit around the table in complete silence, before Maggie was sent back up to her room to 'dwell on her mistakes'.

She couldn't say she hated the arrangement, it's not like her and her parents got a long.

Her and her father had never got along, but her mother and hers relationship was strained. She could tell her mother occasionally felt bad about the abuse Maggie received, but never once did she even attempt to put a stop too it.

But unfortunately compassion wise, that was as far is it went.

Her mother was just as conceited and stuck up as her father, constantly ranting about blood purity and the importance of maintaining it.

The only thing her mother discussed with her personally was marriage.

According to her mother a time would soon come where she would be matched with a suitor and married off, in order to start a family, and continue to grow the pure blood line.

The thought made Maggie shudder. She was no where near ready to be married, and even if she was, she was not about to be married off to some stranger.

After reading all of her books, a true, passionate romance was certainly the only option, no less. That was one of the only things Maggie was certain of, that in her dull, miserable world, she would have a fairytale romance, and live happily ever after.

This particular night Maggie was lying on her bed, thinking, after just having dinner.

There was a fierce knock on the door, causing Maggie too sit up, and make herself look presentable, neatening out the creases in her dress.

The door was sharply opened, and her mother walked in.

She was a tall, thin lady, with a tight jaw and a strong, stiff posture.

She made her way over to Maggie, and stopped, stooping at the end of her bed.

"Margret, tomorrow night we will be having dinner with the Avery's. You must be on your best behaviour, and you will make yourself look presentable."

Maggie internally rolled her eyes, but masked this feeling, nodding politely to her mother.

"You will wear this, do you understand." Maggie nodded again as she accepted the dress her mother had just handed to her.

"Very well" Her mother said, before turning round and leaving.

Maggie lay the dress delicately on her bed. It was comprised of silk, emerald green fabric. It was long, and would most likely float down to meet her ankles.

She hated the thought of being stuck around a table with the Avery's all night, the constant conversational slander of muggle borns, and blood traitors, and magical creatures, and basically anyone they considered below them.

After analysing the dress for a while, and smoothening out the material, she took it by the hanger and placed it on the door of her wardrobe, so not to crease it.

She then changed into a clean set of pyjamas.

After putting her ear to her door, making sure she could still hear her parents voices down the stairs, she knelt down by the side of her bed, and pulled out an old leather suitcase.

After undoing the buckles and the clasp, she pried it open to reveal her collection of hidden, precious books.

Piles and piles of literature lay on top of each other, Maggie eyes immediately twinkled in glee.

After scanning through the different books, she ended up selecting Jane Eyre.

It had been a while since she'd read it, and thought she ought to re-read it.

She then made her way over to her window, before forcing it open.

She stepped out onto her balcony, before climbing, book in hand, up too the roof of her house.

She had discovered a few years back that there was a point on the roof, at the very top, where the two slants met, where there was about a metre of flat surface. Maggie would climb up there every night to read in the light of the moon in secret.

After making her way over too her favourite spot, she curled up comfortably and began to read away peacefully.

After reading for a few hours, Maggie took a brief moment to admire the night sky.

It was littered with stars, beautiful ones, each individual star twinkling with a stunning white light.

As Maggie scanned the sky, one particular star caught her eye. It lay close to the moon, but despite being next to the brightest thing in the sky, it seemed to almost outshine it, in fact it seemed to outshine everything else surrounding.

Suddenly a switch flicked in Maggie's mind.

The brightest star in the sky.

Sirius.

An anchor of guilt and misery once again weighed Maggie down as she thought of their last conversation.

"And what about me, huh?"

"Did I mean nothing too you?"

What she hadn't told him, was that he did in fact mean something too her. He was the closest she had ever been to anyone.

No one had ever known Maggie as well as Sirius had, and the sad thing was, no one probably ever would.

She knew that in a couple of years she would've graduated Hogwarts, and would be married off to some idiotic man who shared the same stupid views as her parents, and she knew that she would never have anyone else like Sirius in her life. That she would never have anyone as close as they had been.

Ever.

After reading for a few more hours, Maggie began to see flickers of sun rays creep up on the horizon.

She stayed to watch the sunrise for a while, before clambering back down to her balcony, and slipping back in through the window.