The Project | Sirius Black x reader | ✔

Investigation

The year 1981 had been horrible. It was soon coming to an end, but you had yet to make any significant progress in the ongoing trials for Sirius and Harry. You were exhausted and in a terrible state of mind, but you wanted them back so badly that it was impossible to take a break from rummaging through any available document about the night in Godric's Hollow.

"You're still up so late?" Marco knocked on your open door to make his presence known. "Are you perhaps practicing for the new year, (y/n)?"

"Hilarious, Marco. Didn't think you were such a humorous man," you scoffed, looking up at him with an unamused frown. "Are you not able to sleep either? The snowfall is quite loud and heavy tonight, isn't it?"

"No, I have a different reason for being awake."

"What- What're you doing?" you stuttered as the former professor took a seat next to you and scanned the files scattered closest to him. 

"Brevior saltare cum deformibus viris est vita; 'life is too short to dance with ugly men'. I'll help you get your handsome casanova back." He smiled from above the papers he'd grabbed. "I believe you, (y/n). I trust your judgment if you say Sirius is innocent. Let's find a way to prove it, shall we?"

You looked at him at a loss of words, but your eyes reflected nothing but gratefulness, which Marco caught on to. Looking down at the current file in your hands, you shut your eyes tightly to prevent overwhelming tears. 

Hearing someone say they believed you was a relief. Even if Remus and Marco had moved into the (l/n) Estate to keep you company, you couldn't help but feel lonely; after all, you were against the world who insisted on accusing the man you loved of a crime you knew it was impossible for him to commit.

"You don't have to say anything, just focus on what's important to you right now." He swished his wand and the scattered papers magically fluttered around the study before neatly stacking in tall piles. "Look for clues- find a missing gap."

"Thank you. I think I really needed someone to be with during these long nights."

"A foolish question to ask, but does it torment you that much?"

"No, not really that... Rather it becomes difficult not to give up. It's not like I'd want to do that, but sometimes I'm just so scared of what I might find- if what he was accused of is true, and I become a coward at the thought of it," you mumbled, gripping onto the sleeves of your shirt. "I shouldn't have stayed back at the Ministry that night. What if I had gone back home for once? Could I have prevented Sirius from being in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

A warm hand rubbed your shoulder as Marco's glowing eyes reassured you. "Your guilt is for naught, as I know you know it's not your fault, and nothing you could've done would've changed what happened."

"I know that, but isn't it human nature to blame either ourselves or everyone else but ourselves for the bad things that happen?"

Marco tittered with a shrug and went back to the document in his possession, flipping the pages of the report quickly. You did the same with yours, struggling to concentrate on the words as your tired eyes stung and blurred.

None of this was only for Sirius. All the effort, sleepless nights, and constant willing suffering were not for his sake alone. You had been told countless times not to shoulder the responsibility of the dead, and to instead let them be at peace, but you couldn't.

You were doing it for Lily and James who had cared for you so much, for Peter who had looked up to your talents, for Regulus and Danfe who you had saved gruesomely, for Marlene who had once kept all the secrets and gossip imaginable, even for those like Evan Rosier who had walked the path of darkness and paid with their lives.

All your efforts to free Sirius were in large part for them. For those you hadn't saved; for those you wouldn't be able to save. You at least wanted to save one person who deserved it. The one person who you desperately wanted back.

"You have the illusion that you must become everyone's savior and hero," Marco spoke up after a while of observing you in silence. "The desperate look on your face says it all."

"I'm destined for greatness. It's a curse my bloodline has to live with," you sighed as you quoted the Bloody Baron. "But I also- I really want Sirius to come back. Forget glory, recognition, a sense of accomplishment or whatnot; I just want him to come back home."

"I understand your unwavering dedication to your lover, (y/n). If Remus were to have been taken without a just trial, I too would never falter."

"I'm glad you share the sentiment. You must love him very much. I mean, you even quit your Hogwarts job for him."

"That was nothing- I was just too foolish to realize it back then. Remus Lupin has seized my heart and I have no intention of having him let it go." Marco's eyes were lost in a lovesick gaze. "I swear I'm going to marry him."

"Are you really?!"

"It's best to wait for the wizarding world to stabilize again, I wouldn't want our union to be threatened by instability, especially considering the many... societal controversies we already face. But that will be no problem, as I am a patient man that never goes back on his word."

His words brought a smile to your face. You couldn't be happier that Marco and Remus had found each other. One complemented the other so well and it was obvious at a glance that they were very in love. "That makes me very happy, you know? It's something worth living and fighting for; it's important to have something like that."

"You take it as if you've lost yours, but I'm sure that if there's any chance to get him back, you'll be able to seize it," Marco reassured you as he grabbed a large pile of documents to skim through. "Do you think you'll marry Sirius when he is back?"

"...James had asked me the same thing, on the night before he proposed to Lily," you frowned at the now bittersweet memory. "I never really knew the answer, but I think I can now say that I don't think I ever will marry him. I love Sirius with my whole heart, but thinking about marriage with him is so... out of place."

"I see we think alike. He never struck me as the type to do so." He nodded, sparing a glance at you. "Neither do you, actually."

You shrugged and went back to work. The heavy snowfall created moving shadows illuminated by the moon through the window of the study, making it hard to read. You stumbled on an enchanted visual report replicating what was concluded transpired in the massacre of London following the death of Lily and James.

"Hey- Marco, take a look at this." You beckoned and he looked over your shoulder at the report you had slipped out of the Wizengamot office the day you were laid off. "The killing of the twelve innocent Muggles... doesn't something feel off to you?"

"It was messily executed," he hummed, slightly nibbling on one of his fingers. "An explosion spell as badly done as this is not something a student who took my N.E.W.T-level DADA class would do unless they forgot how to use magic, even if they were desperately trying to run away or create a diversion."

"My point exactly. Just like me, fire-based spells were never Sirius' forte, so it's weird he'd use one recklessly on the spot," you explained, pinching the bridge of your nose. "He was certainly framed- wrong place, wrong time, but a perfect person to blame."

"The official Ministry document of the witnesses' reports state that over fifty Muggles saw Sirius maniacally laughing at the scene of the explosion with the remains of Peter and the bodies of the victims," Marco added. "It's hard evidence to beat. Without a useful witness with information, it'll be hard to get him out."

"But you knew that when choosing to help me."

"Why of course. I do love a challenge, after all."

☆☆☆

Two little geniuses hard at work. 

I live laugh love for Marco <3 

...GUYS I REALLY CAN'T FORESHADOW ANYMORE AND IT SUCKS LIKE UFWHRUKRQWHKJWA I WANT TO MAKE YA'LL SUFFER IN THE NICEST WAY POSSIBLE BUT I CAN'TTTTTT

- Camille