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♫ bored
- billie eilish
"I'm not afraid anymore
What makes you sure you're all I need?"
✧
Priscilla Roberts was given a bedroom on the third floor of 12 Grimmauld Place during her stay in the summer of 1995. It wasn't a big room - it had an extra-large twin-size bed, a chair with a rip in its velvet blue seams, a night table, a lamp, and a turned-over portrait of Sirius Black's grandmother Irma (on his mother's side). The room was plastered with a deep green wallpaper that was enchanted so its vines would sway ever so slightly; it made Priscilla think she was seeing things at night.
When she first arrived, the room Sirius offered her was far too cramped and dusty to sleep in, so she went off in search of somewhere else to rest. Her first mistake since arriving at the old house was walking into the master bedroom on the second floor that was temporarily housing a cooped-up Hippogriff named Buckbeak, who was very offended that she didn't knock before entering.
"We can move him up to the attic, now. I guess," Sirius shrugged when she asked him about the creature.
Sirius Black was a highly unusual man. He seemed to always be doing everything and nothing at once. He usually walked around the house in a tattered robe and pajama bottoms, going from one floor to another on the squeaky stairs, always with a cup of coffee in his hands. Priscilla had no idea what he did during the day.
One morning, she was terrified to find a big black dog snoring away on the couch. That was the day Priscilla learned that Sirius often feels the itch to morph into his animagus form and wander about the house. Vader, Priscilla's black cat, absolutely hated Sirius in his dog form, as he's never been around a canine companion before.
Priscilla had a little ritual since arriving at the house in June. She'd sleep in until she couldn't anymore, go downstairs and make herself a tea. Then she'd go to the piano room and sit at the window and drink her tea with Vader napping on her lap, watching the day pass her by deep in her thoughts.
And boy, did she have a lot to think about.
In the last year, Priscilla discovered something new about herself that she had never thought possible. She was something called a time-turner baby, which meant she was conceived by parents who were never meant to live long enough to have her in their original timeline. A rogue wizard had gotten a time-turner and used it to save Priscilla's Auror parents from an explosion while they were in the field. This act altered the timeline and very fabric of reality. Being a time-turner baby meant being a paradox, and being a paradox meant being saddled with powers stronger than anybody else alive.
It was bloody confusing and a lot to deal with.
As far as the Ministry was concerned, Priscilla was a ticking time bomb, too dangerous to even be alive. There were whisperings of her being brought in for questioning. And as far as the Dark Lord and his army of Death Eaters were concerned, she was a secret weapon. As of now, she wasn't completely sure what she was to the Order of the Pheonix yet.
She knew who she was to Fred, though. The last night they spent together in their hideout of the Shrieking Shack played out in her mind over and over when she missed him. She would even fiddle with the ring he gave her on her finger at random times during the day whenever she wasn't thinking of him.
"I would travel to another timeline just to see you smile."
He was her first love, and they had zero forms of communication for the entire summer.
As awful as it sounds, Priscilla was used to not having contact with her loved ones. Her parents being Aurors meant she was often left at home with random nannies and babysitters throughout her childhood with no way to contact her parents. During her first year at Hogwarts in 1994, she received a letter from them stating they were going into hiding. She worried and waited for a year until the day the Triwizard Tournament ended and they came to see her and tell her about her powers.
The Triwizard Tournament occupied her thoughts as well. Late at night when she'd close her eyes, she would see Cedric Diggory's unmoving eyes facing up at the sky in the fleeting moments he had been dead after the final task. She could still hear the shouting and see her best friend Nitara Dayal's shocked expression.
"Want some more tea? I'm heading down to the basement, myself," Sirius called from the doorway.
"No thanks," Priscilla responded quietly, still looking out the window. Vader crawled out of her lap and jumped onto the piano in the man's presence.
Sirius sighed and walked into the room, breaking Priscilla's solitude for the first time since she arrived. It had been about two weeks now with little to no conversation. He sat down at the piano, brushing his worn cotton robe behind him as he sat as if it were a tailored suit, and gazed down at the keys.
♫ victor's piano solo
- danny elfman
His fingers graced the keys quietly, one at a time. He looked to her for encouragement, and when she didn't move he decided to keep going. Out of the piano came a melancholy melody fitting for the house they were both trapped in. Vader began swatting his paw at Sirius' fingers as he played.
As the song began to intensify, Priscilla finally turned around to face the man.
"My mother made me learn this damned instrument when I was a young boy," he explained as he played. "My brother was always far better than I was. Do you play?"
Priscilla shook her head. "I've never learned an instrument."
"It's quite cathartic," he offered with a small smile, which she returned.
Vader hopped down on the piano with a thud, making a loud bang come from the instrument. Sirius hopped back a little bit in surprise. "Quite a little beast you got there," he complimented with a laugh, giving Vader a little pet.
Priscilla put her empty tea mug on the windowsill and walked over to where Sirius sat at the piano. She picked up Vader and put him on her shoulder, just as the little cat liked. He purred and wrapped his tail around her neck contently.
"Are you close friends with Harry, Priscilla?"
"Yeah, I'd say so."
Sirius smiled to himself. It was clear he truly loved his godson a great deal. "How was he at the Triwizard Tournament?"
"A mess, but he did alright," Priscilla said with a chuckle. "He's really clumsy."
"Just like his father," Sirius mused. "Come, let's get started on dinner. I'm starved."
