Desire Hurts (Sirius Black Fanfiction)

Chapter Ten: Her Last Day

Holiday sat in the grass, her palms touching the soft plants. She had taken off her sweater and was there in just her button up and her skirt. She stared out at the lake, which sparkled under the morning sun. She wondered if this would be her last time seeing all of this. All the beauty of Hogwarts would just become a distant memory.

Lately, she had been thinking of the ways she could convince her father to let her back. What could hurt her bad enough that it's worth letting her come back to him. She still didn't have much of an idea, but she didn't want to give up. The others were finishing packing and saying their goodbyes, but Holiday didn't know where to start. All her bags were already backed and waiting, but she didn't want to say goodbye.

She's never been good at saying goodbye. Even if it wasn't for forever, she still cried. Memories of the past year went through her head, and she wanted to smile, but she couldn't. Her face just looked emotionless as she thought. She was grateful for everything that they had done for her this year. They helped her find herself. Sure, there was pain involved. She had to reopen some wounds for them to heal correctly, but it was worth it.

"Hey." A voice greeted from behind, and she turned slightly to see who it was.

Sirius stood there, hands in his pockets, "Can I sit here?"

Holiday nodded, "Yeah. Go ahead."

The boy sat down next to his blonde friend, looking at her looking at the lake, "Everyone is waiting for you."

"Oh, really? You should tell them to just get going. I don't like saying goodbye." She replied, shifting only her eyes to look at him.

Sirius held back the urge to touch her cheek with his hand, to comfort her. Instead he just said with a small smile, "Then don't say goodbye. How about a see you soon? Or a see you next year?"

Finally, she turned her head to face him, "But we all know that I'm not coming back. My father is an asshole."

"Yeah, maybe. But you said that you'd try, right?" He asked.

She nodded, and he continued, "Which means that there's still a sliver of a chance that you will come back."

Sirius stood up, holding out his hand, "So, let's go say see you next year together. You don't have to be an optimist to give it a chance."

"You really don't know when to quit, do you, SW?" She scoffed with a smile on her face and grabbed his hand.

Except she didn't just grab his hand. She moved into a tight hug, her face buried in his neck, and he could feel tears on his skin, "I'll see you next year, okay? If not then, then maybe in a few years. Maybe ten years. Maybe it'll be fifty years before I see you and everyone again, but promise that I'll see you again. Please."

He hugged her tighter, "I promise, Holiday 'Goldilocks' Duke. I promise that we'll see each other soon. Even if I have to break into your house when your parents aren't home."

Holiday snickered through her tears, "I hated you literally six months ago. Yet here we are, acting like we never stopped being friends."

"Maybe we always were." Sirius pulled back a bit and looked her in the eyes.

She thought for a moment and shook her head, "Nope. No way in hell were we friends. But we are now. That's what matters."

There was silence between the two for a moment and it felt as though something was pulling the two closer to one another. Then there was a yell, and footsteps hitting the grass hard came barreling towards them.

They separated, watching as their friends ran towards them, Lily in the lead. The redhead flung her arms around the blonde, "Don't think you were gonna leave without saying goodbye, did you?"

Holiday smiled, "I did. I'll see you guys later, okay?" She said, and they started a group hug, which lasted around a minute before someone cleared their throat from behind the group.

Alaric stood there with his luggage and Holidays, "Holiday, it's time to go."

She nodded, hugging each of her friends one last time, with the one liner of, "I'll miss you guys because you've all taught me one thing: You can be a bitch and still be the nicest person around."

With that, she walked away with Alaric, not turning around because she knew if she did then she wouldn't be able to leave.