𝙍𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙤 {𝙎𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙪𝙨 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠}

Seven

"Go away Sirius." She whimpered, her head still on the bench.

"W-what's wrong?" He asked, he had never seen Raina in such a vulnerable state. She always had to be strong, in front of Sirius at least.

"I'm fine," She said, lifting her head to wipe her tears, but not looking at Sirius, her eyes stayed on the wall. She couldn't bring herself to be this weak in front of him. In front of the boy who always upset her the most.

"A-are you sure? I mean you seem-"

"I'm fine!" She shouted, snapping her head at him to reveal her puffy eyes and black tear stains. But what was even more surprising then a vulnerable Raina, was a vulnerable Sirius, for his eyes were also red, and his fingers held a bottle of almost completely empty Fire Whiskey. He was drunk, and by the looks of it, not too happy.

Raina looked at Sirius with her lips slightly parted.

"Sirius," She said quietly. "Why are you in the dungeons?" She asked, finally realizing how odd it was for him to be down in the dungeons.

"Well-I-I was just-and then Moony was all like-and then James got all heroic-and Moony started freaking out-and-and Peter he was just like-" And then Sirius fell, he fell next to Raina and cried. He sat there, hugging his knees as he cried.

And then she cried, and the two cried together, both way too drunk out of their minds to realize how awkward and strange this moment was.

Eventually, the two had calmed down, and they were both now sitting, their backs up against the hard, stone wall.

They sat next to each other in silence. Sirius sloppily handed the bottle to Raina, and she took it by the top to take a swig, handing in back to Sirius.

"So," she said, staring off at the wall in front of her. "What happened?"

"I did something bad, I thought it'd be funny but... I almost killed someone. Moony' real mad." He took another swig of the Fire Whiskey before turning his head to Raina who still stared at the space before her. "You?"

"I'm trapped in a place that I can't leave. I can't escape it, no matter how hard I try, I'm always there." She said. She didn't want him to know she had been raped, but she wanted to tell the truth. Sirius nodded his head and looked back ahead of him. Neither questioned the other.

"I'm trapped too." Sirius finally said. Raina turned her head to look at him, he didn't look back at her, his head stayed straight foreword. "In that house, with my mother. I hate her so much. The way she yells, the way she acts. Thinking she's above everyone. The way she hits me every time I do something wrong. That's why I love it here. Why I love it at your place. They're the only places I can escape to." Raina raised her eyebrows, she knew that Sirius didn't have the best relationship with his mother, but she didn't think it went to the extension of abuse.

"You know, there was this one time, in my third year when... me and Regulus were playing in the house, and I was chasing him, and I tripped, and fell into him, and he knocked into this vase that held our grandmother's ashes. My mother was so furious. I told Regulus to go upstairs, that I would handle it, and when I had explained to her that it was my fault, she pulled out her wand and... she used the Cruciatus Curse."

Raina's heart had dropped. She never knew of the awful horrors that Sirius went through. She always just assumed that he was the one that provoked the arguments.

His eyes began to water. "I had never felt pain like that. It was awful. My whole body was on fire, there was nothing I could do."

A tear rolled down Raina's cheek as she placed her hand over his.

"I'm so sorry," She whispered, shaking her head in disbelief.

Sirius looked at her with sad eyes, he slowly took his thumb and placed it on her cheek, wiping away the single tear on her face.

His finer lingered there, almost a little too long. When he removed his hand from her face, his eyes dropped to the floor.

Raina remained in that position, putting together all that had just happened. What neither of them had realized yet, was that Raina's hand was still resting on Sirius', and neither of them had noticed until the familiar voices of James Potter and Peter Pettigrew came from the corridor.

"Padfoot!" James yelled, when he finally saw the two. "We've been looking all over for you and-what are you doing?" He asked, looking down at the two hands.

Raina and Sirius both pulled their hands away quickly, not making eye contact.

Sirius stood up and rubbed the back of his neck. "We were just talking and-I didn't expect to see her down her but she happened to be sitting at the bench and-we were just talking." He reassured James, who didn't look too convinced.

"Right," He said skeptically, looking at both him and Raina, who was keeping her head down. "Well, come on then, you ought to go to sleep."

Sirius nodded his head and sulked off with James and Peter, leaving Raina alone.

Raina sat there with her hands in her lap, staring down at the hand she had placed on top of Sirius'. She touched the cheek that he had touched with his thumb as he wiped the tear of pain she felt when he told her of his traumas.

Raina felt like she were going to cry again. She felt like she needed too. But nothing came out, she had nothing left to cry. So she stood up. She stood up and walked back to the Slytherin common room that was messy and empty.

She turned her head towards the fire place to see Regulus, sitting towards the fire with his fist placed over his mouth as he stared into the green flames. When he heard Raina walk in, his head turned to her.

"Raina," He quietly said. He noticed her messy hair and wet face. Raina said nothing. She walked over to Regulus and laid down on the couch, placing her head on his lap as she lightly grabbed his hand, examining his bruised and bloody knuckles, bringing them down to her lips before placing a gentle kiss on them.

Regulus looked down at her. Her eyes didn't meet his once before her fingers intertwined with his as she placed them on her chest and fell asleep, grateful for the one who always protected her.