Memento Mori - Sirius Black

Chapter 36

December 25th, 1975.

Sirius was making his way through the passage Morgan had shown him the night before, and the long walk made him believe her room must have been on the opposite side of the Manor because damn. The place had torches lighting the way that had come to life the second Sirius stepped foot through the makeshift door in his room. Seeing as he had no idea where the girl's room was, this was the only way he knew would lead him to it.

When a stone wall with no other exit greeted him, he started the obnoxious task of doing the knocking pattern Morgan had done the night before. But what made it so unbearable was the fact that the incessant knocking was supposed to wake Morgan Gaunt. He did not have any faith in it. But after approximately twenty minutes and raw knuckles, he finally heard the responding taps.

The stone bricks rearranged themselves making space for him to walk through, and as he did he couldn't help but chuckle at the girl who didn't even look at him before stumbling back into her bed. It did not surprise him to see her wearing another one of her various scandalous silk night clothes he'd, somehow, grown accustomed to seeing her in. Today's nightgown was one of deep burgundy red with a hem that barely covered enough and black lace that brushed her chest. Thankfully, she pulled her covers high up, blocking his view. He'd never seen her wear red, always thought her petty enough not to. And she probably was, after all, private clothes did not count.

What did practically knock the breath out of his lungs was her room. From the size of it, he could only assume the room itself and the attached others like the closet and bathroom probably occupied the entire wing. Whatever wing it was. The room looked like the Manor did on the outside, dark, scary, fit for a vampire, and yet elegant and extremely well decorated.

The walls were black with columns filled with intricate designs and the wooden floor was dark as well. Heaven forbid, any actual color filled the place. To one side of the room, there was a pointed window that went from the floor and almost reached the ceiling, the arc of it extremely sharp and with velvety curtains that were drawn open filling the whole place with the light of a cloudy day and showing the rain pouring outside. Sirius knew Morgan loved rain, probably the only reason for the curtains to be opened, otherwise the light would be unbearable for Gaunt and her love of sleeping. The view showed the woods at a close distance, the pine trees barely reached the floor of Morgan's room and the grey mist that covered the high parts of them made a beautiful look. A window seat full of cushions was there with the wall next to it covered from floor to ceiling with a variety of books. Sirius had seen the Manor's library, so he assumed those were only Morgan's personal favorites or something.

A desk that was as messy as the one she had in her room at Hogwarts was at the far end of the room. Filled with papers, more books, and weird things Sirius couldn't distinguish. But that was the only spot of the room that was disarranged in any manner, because the rest of it was perfectly set with not a single thing out of place. Morgan was a mess herself, so he assumed someone was constantly cleaning the place and putting everything back into place.

A mirror with gold filigree edges stood high against a wall and next to it was a door that led to a balcony, he couldn't see how it was outside because the dark green velvet curtains were almost completely closed. But three other doors were around the place.

It was all rather imposing, so much that he was sure the girl didn't have anything to envy the muggle Queen herself. He remembered he was there for a reason and turned her eyes to the covered sleeping figure of the girl. He couldn't even see her head under the heavy silver-grey covers. The four-poster bed was black wood and almost reached the ceiling. It was big enough for a giant to use and he could understand very well why the girl had no rush in getting out of it. And on the bedside table, the only decoration was a portrait of a magical photo. Morgan seemed to be around six years old, wearing a lilac dress, holding a rainbow bunny on her right arm, and threatening her father with a wand on the other. She looked as positively wicked as a child could manage and Morvian was pretending to be scared for his life. Alexis was on the back rolling her eyes but with a smile tugging at her lips. That picture pretty much described the family perfectly.