Frigus . Sirius Black (Mortem BOOK 2)

chapter seventy-seven

A/N: there's a reference to a previous chapter in this one, if anyone figures it out I love you

September 20, 1980 - Grimmauld Place 

It had been a little over a month after Lily, James, and Harry moved into Grimmauld Place, or, if you asked Nephera, it had been a little over a month since she had last felt what peace sounded like. Harry had now moved out of his parent's bedroom, into his own, which meant that silencing charms could no longer be used during the night, in case he started wailing- like he very, very often did- and his parents couldn't hear him. 

A little over a month, since Nephera had gotten a semblance of sleep. If she thought it was hard before with the nightmares constantly plaguing either her or Sirius, then that's only because she had never felt what it was like to be awakened in the middle of the night by a screaming child. 

How someone so small could make a sound so loud, she couldn't for the life of her figure out. Not to mention that it was constant, truly, the kid had the lung capacity of a Quidditch player because there was no other way that he could be crying for hours, upon hours, upon hours, "Are you not feeding him or something?" she yelled out at Lily, after twenty minutes had gone by and the redhead had failed to silence him 

Lily walked in, sleep deprived and cranky, the wailing baby on her hip, "I have, alright? And I don't appreciate the yelling!" 

"I'm the one yelling?" 

"Yes! As far as I know, he's sensing your negativity, or this house's-" 

"I swear, Evans, you tell me to start putting up doilies around here, and we're going to have a problem," 

Issue number two, one affecting James and Sirius much more than the other members of the household, Nephera and Lily may have gotten along a lot better once they graduated from Hogwarts, but living in close proximity had forced them to regress to their old ways, adding in the sleep deprivation, and stress, well... 

"Perhaps just the cursed objects- Which might I point out the use of plural, there," 

"These objects are collectables! And could potentially be used to locate the Horcruxes! A task quite tough to do with your son around, who keeps yelling as though he's being fed to trolls!" 

"Don't bring my son into this!" 

Typically, Sirius or James would intervene, but they had both returned to the Auror office. James because he was ordered to, and Sirius in solidarity with James, despite the fact that neither of them wanted anything less. Alas, the Auror office needed numbers, and Nephera needed more people besides just Frank and Moody on the inside, seeing as though her face was still plastered on 'Wanted' posters and she couldn't go to work herself. 

Alas, neither of the boys were there at the moment, and well- "Oh now look what you've done!" screamed out Lily when Walburga's portrait was woken up, and started yelling 

"Bloodtraitors! Mudbloods! In my house!" 

"Me?" Nephera stood up, slamming the book in front of her closed, "As far as I know, it was your offspring that did so!" she made sure to have the final word as she walked down the corridor towards the portrait of the old woman, trying- mostly in vain- to shut it up 

Too many people, too much noise, and by Merlin she was nearing her breaking point. She had always been someone that valued privacy and silence, especially when working, and all of a sudden that had been taken away from her. She loved her family, and she'd sacrifice much more than her peace of mind to keep them safe, but that didn't mean she'd enjoy every second of it. 

She finally managed to pull the curtains closed in front of Walburga's portrait, the vile woman finally seizing her incessant screeching. Heading back down to the living room, collapsing on the same couch she'd been sitting on for the past couple of hours.