Orphic » Sirius Black

Chapter 20 - Through Someone Else

Juniper didn't have a good night.

After Lyall Lupin left the house, Juniper felt the lump in her throat untie. She drank the cup of tea in silence, wishing it would ease her mind. Remus, who was still by her side, left the mug on the coffee table after she was done, as she didn't have enough energy to do it herself. Every limb weighed on her, and she did not complain when Remus offered her his bed to sleep.

But despite her mental and physical exhaustion, every half an hour she would wake up, panting, escaping her nightmares. Some of them were like the one she'd had in the bus, but in others, her mother was screaming, weak and fragile, telling her that she needed to run and hide. The mumbles that she heard the night before were still resonating in her head, and that strange voice couldn't stop replaying in her ears. Juniper feared that it would follow her wherever she went for the rest of her days.

When she finally managed to fall asleep, it was already dawn. Not even two hours had passed when she woke up and couldn't sleep any more, even though she still felt tired. She sat on the bed, and looked around Remus' bedroom.

She had been there loads of times. It was small, but cozy and warm. Books were all over the floor, the shelves and even on the desk. Many of them were clearly old and used, but she knew those were the best. The bedsheets and the rug were knitted, probably by Remus' mother. There was a wooden coat hanger on the door, where four sweaters —also hand-knitted— were hanged. On the chair beside the window, clothes laid neatly folded, and his shoes were perfectly aligned. Right under the window and covered by the curtains, laid his school trunk, in which she was sure all his stuff was messily cramped up.

Juniper slumped back to the bed and got inside the sheets, covering herself to the neck. She tried to think herself out of last night's events by finding shapes in the stained wooden roof, but the only things she managed to make out were crying faces, skulls, and snakes.

Nearly an hour later, she heard someone knocking at the door. It opened to show Remus' head peeping through the small gap. When he noticed that she was awake, he asked, "Can I come in?"

Juniper nodded and scooted over the bed, making him some space so he could lay beside her.

He layed over the sheets, looking at the ceiling with his hands resting on his chest. At first he said nothing, but Juniper could sense he was trying to come up with something to say.

"Dad's just arrived," he said suddenly in a low voice, "He seems worried."

Juniper was too distressed to even move. What did that mean, 'he seems worried'? It didn't sound good. She gulped before turning her head to Remus, who kept his face down to his fingers tapping on his stomach.

She tried to put herself in his position. What would she possibly say to make another person feel better after they had run from their home and imminent danger? There was nothing she could think of.

"How bad was it? The smell," she finally asked after a few moments in silence, deciding to change subject for a while.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

Juniper was aware that Remus' condition as a werewolf had sharpened his senses, including hearing and smell. She had been there with him as he discovered their usage and learned how to recognize smells. Juniper asked for descriptions on every single emotion he could determine: joy and excitement, the easiest to recognize, were nice, organic, and almost sweet, according to him. Others were difficult to sort, such as anger, and a few, like fear, grief, and terror, reeked.

She looked back on the time when they were around nine, and the Lupins had gone to Walkers Garden for dinner. They were playing in the hall, and Jasper was locked up in his room. Remus had taken his time throwing his gobstone, and made his face turn into a gesture of disgust.