Azalea Evans °Marauders Era°

Chapter 1 - The Slide

Azalea winced as she continued to listen to Sirius and his parents fight. "You are a disgrace to the family name," she heard his mother scream out.

"Shut up," Azalea hissed as she covered her ears, not waiting to hear Sirius' response. This had been going on for days now, the fighting nonstop. She couldn't do anything to make it stop, Sirius' parents still not knowing she was there. Azalea looked up as Sirius stomped into the room, slamming the door behind him. She uncovered her ears and sat up, looking at him with pity in her eyes.

"Hey, Z," he muttered  "What are you doing?"

"Don't even," she muttered, "You know what I have been doing!"

"So you were listening..."

"Of course I was listening," she snapped, "And I want to go chop that bitches head off for yelling at you like that! She has no right to-"

"She has every right," Sirius interrupted her, "And you know she does. She is my mother. She can say whatever she wants to say about me."

"But she is being a bitch," Azalea whined, "Can I not go down there and just hit her once? Pleaseeeeee?"

"I appreciate that you want to," Sirius laughed, "But I don't think you should." Azalea frowned and slumped over, holding her face in her hands.

"I bet you are still ticked off."

"A bit," Sirius admitted.

"Punch a wall or something," Azalea suggested, "Wait! Scratch that! Rewind! Go back! Don't punch a wall! You will hurt yourself!"

"Don't worry, Z," Sirius forced a smile, "I knocked over a few vases and smashed some family portraits. She is already down there cleaning that up."

"That's better than a wall," Azalea agreed. She stood up and got in front of him.

"Are you okay? She did say some pretty bad things...well, some really awful things, actually."

"I'm fine," Sirius averted his eyes. Azalea being so close made him nervous. He longed to reach out and hold her, to pull her as close as possible. His finger twitched as he held himself back.

"I know you aren't," she muttered, "I almost cried for you when I heard some of those things."

"Z...it's okay. She does this all of the time. There isn't much I can do about it." Sirius refused to look at Azalea now, afraid that if he did her eyes would trap him. He wouldn't be able to hold himself back much longer if she continued to stand so close to him.  He was already so frustrated with his family, his emotions all over the place. All he wanted was to shove her against the wall and distract himself with her taste, her smell, her touch. It took everything in him to hold back. Azalea stepped even closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she hugged him. Sirius stiffened as she did so, his arms laying limply by his side.

"What's wrong, Siri," she asked as she leaned back slightly.

"Nothing," he said quickly. He couldn't look at her. He would loose control if he did.

"Look at me. I think you are lying." Sirius sighed.

"I can't."

"Why not? It's not like I'll turn you to stone if you look at me," she giggled.

"That's not what I'm worried about," he murmured. Just her touch sent him on edge, his hands shaking from his attempt to not touch her. He had tried before and it hadn't worked. He couldn't do it again.