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velvetfictionTitle: Beyond the Sunset (The Instilling Hope Remix)
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Sirius, Lily
Rating: G
Word Count: 601
Summary: When one doubts, the other believes.
Original Story: Not to Yield by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
such_heights.
Written for Remix Madness 2011
----
When James comes in and announces that Lily has vanished, Sirius doesn't hesitate.
"I'll get her," he says, and it's a mark of how bad things are - and how much James trusts him - that no one bothers to ask how he's going to find her.
Which suits Sirius just fine. He doesn't really want to explain that he and Andromeda spent over a month working in secret, reconstructing the spell for the Black tracking wards. Or that he found a way to cast them on each of his friends. No, that's not a conversation he's looking forward to having.
But he's spared it for the moment, and he dashes outside to Apparate. Closing his eyes, he follows the thread of magic that ties him to Lily - if he had to describe it visually, it would be green and gold; he could also describe it as a fresh spring rain, or the scratch of a quill on parchment - and disappears.
When he opens his eyes again, he finds himself on the coast, rocky shoreline meeting the grey-blue water, which in turn meets the flat grey sky. Lily is easy to spot, her red hair standing out against the monochromatic landscape.
"Lily?" he says quietly, not wanting to startle her. "Are you alright?"
"No," she admits. "It's just -- Sirius, what am I doing?"
He kneels next to her, wincing slightly as the rocks dig into his legs. He reaches out and draws her close, and she rests her head on his shoulder. It is an intimate position, but not in that way. They've become almost like siblings in these last few months - she, whose family can never truly understand what she is, and he, whose family will never understand what he has chosen to be.
She tries to laugh but it comes out somewhere between a choke and a sob. "I don't know what's come over me. But after what happened to Caradoc, I just keep thinking -- about who it's going to be next. If it'll be James next. And Harry -- Christ, what am I doing bringing a child into the world? At a time like this? I can't see the end of this. Maybe we should just take off, you know? Go somewhere else, somewhere safe. Not have to fight any more."
Sirius snorts. "Nice try. This isn't a war you get to run from."
Lily makes a noise of half-hearted agreement. "I'm sorry, I'm being an idiot," she says.
"Nah, not at all." Sirius looks down at her. "But come on now. You know why we're doing this."
"Think I need a refresher course."
They sit quietly for a few moments, as Sirius tries to find the words to explain what he knows, deep in his bones.
"Because the other side's not thinking like that," he says slowly. "They're thinking about which family they're going to destroy next, and we have to stop them. Because they won't stop. We're not fighting people, it's a disease." By the end his voice is ringing with conviction.
Lily jerks back in shock. "Sirius!"
He looks at her steadily, but he won't apologize. Not for this. "That's how you do it," he says firmly. "You remember that you love, they don't. You're human, and they -- they aren't. They can't be. So we'll fight them. And we'll win."
"Will we?"
Lily sounds so small and lost that Sirius's righteous anger fades and is replaced by a streak of mischievousness that he can never fight off. "C'mon, our side's got us -- what more do they need?"
Lily laughs, and it's the sound of a fresh spring rain.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Sirius, Lily
Rating: G
Word Count: 601
Summary: When one doubts, the other believes.
Original Story: Not to Yield by
such_heights.Written for Remix Madness 2011
----
When James comes in and announces that Lily has vanished, Sirius doesn't hesitate.
"I'll get her," he says, and it's a mark of how bad things are - and how much James trusts him - that no one bothers to ask how he's going to find her.
Which suits Sirius just fine. He doesn't really want to explain that he and Andromeda spent over a month working in secret, reconstructing the spell for the Black tracking wards. Or that he found a way to cast them on each of his friends. No, that's not a conversation he's looking forward to having.
But he's spared it for the moment, and he dashes outside to Apparate. Closing his eyes, he follows the thread of magic that ties him to Lily - if he had to describe it visually, it would be green and gold; he could also describe it as a fresh spring rain, or the scratch of a quill on parchment - and disappears.
When he opens his eyes again, he finds himself on the coast, rocky shoreline meeting the grey-blue water, which in turn meets the flat grey sky. Lily is easy to spot, her red hair standing out against the monochromatic landscape.
"Lily?" he says quietly, not wanting to startle her. "Are you alright?"
"No," she admits. "It's just -- Sirius, what am I doing?"
He kneels next to her, wincing slightly as the rocks dig into his legs. He reaches out and draws her close, and she rests her head on his shoulder. It is an intimate position, but not in that way. They've become almost like siblings in these last few months - she, whose family can never truly understand what she is, and he, whose family will never understand what he has chosen to be.
She tries to laugh but it comes out somewhere between a choke and a sob. "I don't know what's come over me. But after what happened to Caradoc, I just keep thinking -- about who it's going to be next. If it'll be James next. And Harry -- Christ, what am I doing bringing a child into the world? At a time like this? I can't see the end of this. Maybe we should just take off, you know? Go somewhere else, somewhere safe. Not have to fight any more."
Sirius snorts. "Nice try. This isn't a war you get to run from."
Lily makes a noise of half-hearted agreement. "I'm sorry, I'm being an idiot," she says.
"Nah, not at all." Sirius looks down at her. "But come on now. You know why we're doing this."
"Think I need a refresher course."
They sit quietly for a few moments, as Sirius tries to find the words to explain what he knows, deep in his bones.
"Because the other side's not thinking like that," he says slowly. "They're thinking about which family they're going to destroy next, and we have to stop them. Because they won't stop. We're not fighting people, it's a disease." By the end his voice is ringing with conviction.
Lily jerks back in shock. "Sirius!"
He looks at her steadily, but he won't apologize. Not for this. "That's how you do it," he says firmly. "You remember that you love, they don't. You're human, and they -- they aren't. They can't be. So we'll fight them. And we'll win."
"Will we?"
Lily sounds so small and lost that Sirius's righteous anger fades and is replaced by a streak of mischievousness that he can never fight off. "C'mon, our side's got us -- what more do they need?"
Lily laughs, and it's the sound of a fresh spring rain.