Obsidian & Bronze {Fred Weasley}

27. Forever

June 18th 1978

I had never fully understood the inner workings of Sirius Black.

His cogitation was always somewhat of a paradox. The operation behind his objectives often lacked order and basic systematic structure. His behaviour was frequently cryptic and baffling, his movements about as predictable as british weather in April and just when you thought you had grasped the method to his madness, he would unravel once again and everything you thought you knew would come undone.

Yes, it was absolutely no secret that Sirius Black was an enigma.

This stood for all aspects of his life, especially in regards to the deathly dark cloud that shrouded us all of any particulars regarding his parents.

If you knew Sirius Black well, or in fact barely knew him at all, you knew that Walberga and Orion Black were names to only be used in replacement for profanities, never to be uttered in good spirits or in anything other than an obnoxiously distasteful manner, and even under these circumstances did Sirius still squirm and whine, always offering repugnant and often unsavoury alternatives.

It was not until one late summer evening, as I returned back to any empty dorm, that so many of these mysteries and disregards were no longer what we pretend they were, and were evidently so much more eminent and significant pieces of Sirius than he ever allowed us to believe.

I pushed open the door ajar, peering my head around the corner to be met with an empty dormitory, save for James who had his head stuffed into a book as he hung upside down over his bed.

I peered over to Sirius's bed where I had expected him to be residing, and upon noting his absence glanced over to an also empty desk, which, in comparison to his neatly made bed, was strikingly untidy.

His books were scattered everywhere, along with endless crumpled sheets of parchment he had evidently balled up and discarded, many of which having made their way to lay restless on the floor below, and a small glass bottle of royal blue ink had been, what looked to be, purposefully shattered across the desk, it's almost deep navy disfiguring the mahogany wood.

"Mate" I whispered, not wanting to startle James and he acknowledged my entrance, as I walked over towards Sirius's desk. "You've not seen Pads, have you?"

James lifted his head from between the pages, the pages of a book I quickly recognised one to be Lily mentioned she liked earlier in the week and now this subsequently led to James, reading, alone, at 9 o'clock on a Friday evening.

"No mate" James answered, slowly pulling his gaze away from the book, turning his head away but allowing his eyes to linger on the pages for just a short moment longer before he flicked his eyes over to me. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine" I sighed defeatedly, "It's just he wasn't at dinner, and he isn't in the library, so I don't know where he is"

"Can't last thirty seconds without your boyfriend, huh?" James teased with a flirtatious tone, watching as I attempted to discreetly rummage through the papers on Sirius's desk.

"Oh shove off, coming from the boy currently reading a shitty romance novel because his girlfriend likes it. Besides, I'm worried" I huffed, putting the same whiny emphasis on the word 'girlfriend' as he did 'boyfriend' as I continued to look over some papers.

James soon noticed my genuine concern and instantaneously placed his book, open, upside down on his bed before walking over to me and clapping my shoulder, likely suddenly remembering the full moon was fast approaching.

Just days before the moon I felt a shift in my demour, as I often converted into a violent and harsh reflection of the wolf I tirelessly fought to respress, my patience grew thin and my body grew weak and to result in anger seemed to be a comforting alternative to what was soon approaching.