bigbadpadfoot

Halloween

It should be a pleasant holiday for wizards and witches, especially those like myself who enjoy causing mischief and scaring the hell out of poor muggles who don't suspect a thing, since your magic is easier to hide on a day where everyone else is out of sorts and dressed up in costumes and makeup, eating candy and generally making a fool of things.

It is a pleasant holiday for the most part, today, if only because I know that James and Lily would have absolutely thrown a fit if instead of raising hell Harry and I sat about and moped in the sitting room when we could be celebrating what is one of the best days and nights of the year. That's why we always dress up. Act like hellions. Stuff ourselves with sweets. It's honoring what they would have wanted, in a way.

But that doesn't mean I don't miss them terribly. Not a day goes by that I don't miss James terribly, not a single day. The same goes for Lils. And on Halloween night, even when we might be out raising hell on earth or I've eaten too much candy for my own good...I still take a moment to think. To remember. It's more a longing, if anything. Wishing they were here to join in the fun, like they should have been.

http://i36.tinypic.com/i2j7gn.jpg - foggy forest

He wasn't supposed to leave the shack.

Of course there was good, logical reason for it. If Moony stayed in the Shrieking Shack, then Hogsmeade wouldn't be in any danger and neither would the students during the full moon. But the shack was a dusty, tore up old building on the outside edge of the village, and it was like a prison. And Moony didn't deserve to be locked up in some boarded up building, not when he had us around. I know he didn't know what we were doing, as we practiced to become able to shift with him, as James became Prongs, as Peter became Wormtail, as I became Padfoot. It was dangerous magic. He was a dangerous creature.

So they said.

I never believed a word of it, even though it was years before wolfsbane would come into use. But I didn't want him to be alone. The mornings after the full moon, when he would be fetched from the shack and brought to the infirmary, covered in bites and flesh torn apart...nobody should have to do that. It was sitting at his bedside that we hatched the idea. We'd learn to become animagi. He couldn't hurt us if we were already animals.

Once we did...and the first night we snuck from the shack, out into the forest...we ran. We ran across rocks and logs and leaves and made all sorts of a racket, the four of us, bounding through the trees and the fog that hung across the ground. Nobody got hurt. And the next morning in the infirmary, there were only minor aches and pains to deal with.

I suspect Dumbledore knew.

I don't think he minded at all.

aumuses -- Farm storm.

[rp thread for remus]

He's catching a nap in his apartment at the castle, between the end of his last class and the evening dinner when the dream comes.

It's nothing new. Dark storm clouds over the horizon, brewing, gathering. Trees rustling against each other in the wind as it whips up. The soft patter of rain against the earth and his skin as the clouds grow closer. A soft rumble of thunder in the distance. Growing closer as the wind picks up.

There's no moon.

But Moony's howl carries across the air, long and clear. Sirius can't see him, but he can hear him. The rain falls a bit harder and a bolt of lightning splits the sky, close enough that he can feel the hair on his neck stand up from the electricity in the air.

Something's coming.

He's coming.

There's a rush of freezing air and then


BANG


Sirius jumps awake at the sound and snaps his eyes open, to see the shutter from the window resting open across the room, rain trickling in and spitting drops against the stone. He pulls in a deep breath and then rises to close the window, check the time, and run a hand through his hair as he fetches his wand off the bedside table and shrugs into his robes.

He's only a few minutes late to the Great Hall, and slides into his place beside Remus with a half smile.

"Overslept."

They'll talk after dinner.

in hp_beyond timeline where Leo is now Legal

To Sinclair:

Congratulations. He's all yours. Except not since he's my boy and Andi is rather attached as well as is his mother and Draco...you get the picture.

To Leo:

You. Me. Shopping trip. Pick the countries and we'll go when you're next free, on my tab. Oh and a trip for you both to celebrate.

It's like one of those commercials for SUPER GREAT DEALS ON CARS OR FOOD CHOPPERS or something of the like, aka, something that's sort of totally pointless and just for fun.

I'm going to make an effort to draw the updated family tree.

Yes. I'm crazy. But since my notebook is being made of FAIL I am coming to you all for help. I just need lists of mums and dads and their offspring and so on. Like so:

Harry & Ginny:
Albus Severus
Lily Dora
James Sirius
etc...

Lily Dora & Scorpius Malfoy:
Alya Violet

etc...

Lists, people! I need lists!

Googlism. You don't need the rules by now.

sirius is the brightest star in the night sky
sirius is currently touring with the band pur
sirius is from an "s" litter
sirius is learning the basic commands
sirius is presenting the initiative as a high
sirius is a centre of expertise in fatigue
sirius is just under 9 light years away
sirius is now one of the largest organisations of its type in the country
sirius is a pureblooded nijhro
sirius is just 6 weeks young
sirius is a friend
sirius is about to be released
sirius is a tragedy
sirius is closed
sirius is
sirius is not very ergonomic
sirius is a cybercultural icon
sirius is burning through its remaining $300 million faster than expected
sirius is expected to be offered on the 2003 infiniti i35 luxury sedan at dealers in october
sirius is definitely taking a bit longer than we anticipated

sirius is an enigma so great he cannot be fully confined to soundbitten description

The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war. -E. B. White

He's sitting in his apartment in the castle and staring at the photograph sitting on the desk, watching the way Prongs and Lils are smiling at each other and laughing, the way her hair was done just so and the fact that James looked so bloody nervous he might pass out. Thinking. Watching. They were so very happy, all those years ago.

Then it had all gone to hell, on one night.

Sirius Black never held the desire to become a father and pass on the Black family name to any son or daughter, not the way that James Potter wanted to raise a large family with Lily Evans, not the way that Remus Lupin sometimes pondered children. Sirius Black was not father material, or so he thought, until one cold night and two swift curses changed all that in an instant.

They had run. Him, and the boy.

Harry James Potter.

Sirius was barely an adult himself at that point, thrown into the world of dirty diapers and bumped knees, scrapes and cuts, nightmares, chickenpox, strange muggle toys and Christmas runs to the stores to find the perfect gift for the Lad. He wasn't cut out to be a father but when James and Lily made him godfather of their son, it was just in case the worst happened, because they trusted him.

Over the years, Sirius became good at it, despite what he had thought. And sure, there were moments in which Remus cringed (Harry's first trip up on the flying motorbike, for example) and moments when Sirius thought there was no bloody way he could do it anymore (the fifth apartment in a month, when the Dark Lord was close on their tail and they had to run from him for nearly a year) and just times when he wondered, what the hell James and Lily had been thinking.

But all that had changed, in those years.

And now Harry was in the midst of a war. A war which had started all so many years ago, and he was getting stronger. Things were beginning to change, to happen. Plans and prophecies.

Sirius was losing the ability to protect his son.

He puts down the photograph and turns, glancing at the closed bedroom door to the spare room Harry has been staying in, most nights. His boy, his son. And he's failing at the most important duty of a father's life -- protecting their son.

He moves from the desk and takes a seat on the couch, and sits awake.

And he will sit here, awake, through many nights to come. Waiting for a shout or a scream from a nightmare, or the crash of the window, the muttered words of a dark curse. Waiting for the moment in which he'll be forced to act. To protect.

Nobody is going to hurt his son.

07 Escape

He didn't need to pick the lock or dig a tunnel, only needed to slip through the bars, his frame so thin from lack of food and abuse, fur matted into darkened clumps that itched with fleas and grime. The air was cold and the saltwater colder, harsh stings against wounded flesh, but with every determined paddle of his tired paws he got farther and farther away from that cell and that hellhole.

35 Accent

The hardest part was the accent, getting it just right without using a charm. Japanese was never his strong suit, but with his dark hair and dark eyes he blended in well enough, even if he had the strong features of an Englishman. Learning it for real helped get into the right circles and eventually, got them their man.

03 Shadows

Shadows play tricks on the eyes, especially when you're paranoid enough to be searching them. Of course, when you're stupid enough not to be searching them and watching your own back, then it's your own damn fault when you get caught.

26 Hidden

He had to stay hidden. That was the rules, and for his own good. Locked up away in Grimmauld, for his own safety. They were searching for him. He hated being caged in the house that only held bad memories, unable to step outside, unable to go near the windows. After awhile, Sirius began to wonder if freedom was worth it.

25 Punishment

The punishment is always supposed to fit the crime, but when no crime has been committed then the question that arrives is simple: Is it punishment or simply pleasure in hearing a man break?

In an effort to wake the muse up I'll be doing drabbles and perhaps shorter or longer tidbits using the prompts from this table, not as a member of the community just for inspiration and ideas...

01 Private Eye	02 Diamond	03 Shadows	04 Handcuffs	05 Blackmail
06 Prison	07 Escape	08 Arrest	09 Gun	10 Badge
11 Magnifying Glass	12 Clue	13 Suspect	14 Disappearance	15 Discovery
16 Victim	17 Fingerprints	18 Gloves	19 Rope	20 Consulting Detective
21 Elementary	22 Noir	23 Poison	24 Crime	25 Punishment
26 Hidden	27 Deception	28 Law	29 Safe	30 Code
31 Spy	32 Security	33 Bribe	34 Interrogation	35 Accent
36 Flee	37 Scandal	38 Femme Fatale	39 Stiletto	40 Swordcane
41 Bloodhound	42 Frame	43 Adultery	44 Client	45 Body
46 Defence	47 Lawyer	48 Money	49 Conspiracy	50 Forensics