Silver

Remus POV

As I said before, the only person who has ever gone in and out of this tower is my father, so, when I heard frequent thunks on the walls of the tower, I thought it was my father using a less conventional way to get up. Not entirely out of the ordinary, especially when he thinks I’m asleep.

So, imagine my surprise when a man that I’ve never seen in my life (not much of a wide margin there but whatever) pulls himself up through my window. He’s got shoulder length black hair, pale skin and a black leather jacket.

I grab one of my books, and sneak behind him.

He pulls out a satchel, looking inside of it.

I swing the book at his head, and then he falls to the ground, satchel dropping out of his hands.

When he collapses, I squeal and run behind one of my bookshelves, probably more afraid than I should be.

I glance around the side of the shelf, to make sure that he is knocked out.

He is. He’s laying haphazardly on the floor.

I step towards him, using my book to jab him on the side of the head.

He doesn’t move.

I glance at Wormtail, who’s sitting on the ground. He appears to shrug at me. 

I use the book to turn the man’s head, so I can see his face.

Wormtail uses his front paws to make pointy teeth in front of his mouth, a gesture to what Father told me earlier.

Using the corner of the book, I lift up the man’s upper lip, checking if he had pointy teeth. 

He doesn’t. They’re normal.

The man has a piece of hair over his eye, so I flip it above his head, to see his face.

He’s beautiful, though I have nothing to compare him to, so…

The man gasps and opens his eyes, sending me into any immediate panic. I swing the book at him again.

I panic for a few minutes. What do I do?

Eventually, I make a decision. 

Using my hair, I drag him over to the nearest closet, so I can stuff him into it.

When he’s in the closet, I shove a chair in front of it, so that he won’t fall out.

“I’ve got a person in my closet…” I slowly realize.

“I’ve got a person in my closet!” I exclaim.

I grin at myself in the mirror.

Then I look at the reflection. There’s a bag on the floor behind me, and in the bag, I can see sparkly gems, which are new. I’ve never seen that before.

I slowly walk over to the bag, then I retrieve the thing.

It’s a circle, with blue gemstones on it, surrounding the whole thing. It’s about three inches tall, at its highest points, and only an inch, at the lowest. 

Wormtail and I stare at it in confusion. I slip it around my wrist, like a bracelet, and it’s huge. It’s got several inches of overhang.

Wormtail shakes his head.

Not a bracelet, then.

I look back at the mirror, cautiously putting the thing on top of my head.

It looks right. Like it’s belonged there my entire life.

Wormtail and I stare at it.

Then Wormtail shakes his head.

“Remus!” Comes Fathers voice from below.

I stuff the bag and the thing into the nearest vase, running over to the window.

“Let down your hair!”

“Coming, father!” I shout, looping my hair around the hook and lowering it down.

“I have a big surprise!” Father yells back.

“I do too!” I told him.

“Ooh, I bet mine’s bigger!” He replies.

“I seriously doubt it.” I mutter.

Father pulls himself over the window sill.

“I brought back nutmeg! I’m going to make hot chocolate, your favorite! Surprise!” Father tells me.

“Uh, Father, there’s um… something I wanna tell you.” I stutter. He’s right, hot chocolate is my favorite, and I’m struggling to tell him this, now that I have the threat of no hot chocolate hanging over my head.

“Oh, Remus, you know how I hate leaving you after a fight, especially when I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.” Father says, walking to the kitchen.

“Oh, well, I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier-” I begin.

“I hope you’re not still talking about the stars.”

“Floating lights, and yes, I was leading up to that.” 

“Because I thought we’d dropped that issue, my moon.” 

“Please-”

“Remus, we’re done talking about this.”

“Trust me!”

“But-”

“Remus.”

“Please just-”

I’m slowly walking closer to the closet, to show him the boy.

“Remus! You are not leaving this tower, EVER!” Father shouts.

I freeze, taking my hand off the door handle.

“Ugh.” Father says, flopping down into his chair, “Great. Now I’m the bad guy.”

I look up at the painting of the not-stars.

“I was just saying, Father, that I know what I want for my birthday now.” I say hesitantly.

“And what is that?”

“New paint. That paint made from the purple shells that you once brought me.”

“Well that is a very long trip, Remus.” Father says, looking at me like I’m being unreasonable. “Almost three days.”

“I just– I thought it was a better idea than the…” I hesitate, “Stars.”

Father sighs.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright, on your own?” Father asks, standing up and giving me a hug.

“I know I’m safe, as long as I’m here.” I respond.

Ten minutes later, I’ve made a food basket for Father’s journey, and am lowering him down onto the grass. The grass that I will never touch.

“I’ll be back in three days.” Father says, “I love you very much, my moon.”

When he reaches the ground, I watch as he walks through the cave that I know leads to the outside world. He waves. I wave back.

As soon as he’s out of sight, I rush back over to the closet, taking my book with me and slowly removing the chair from the handles.

I open the door, using my hair, and the man flops out.

I tie him to the chair, using my hair as rope, and I set Wormtail on his shoulder.

“You know what to do, Wormy.” I whisper, backing away.

Wormtail nods, and glares at the boy.

Then he takes his tail, and sticks it into the boy’s ear, wiggling around.

The boy awakes with a start, staring all around my tower.

Then he looks down at his hands, realizing that he’s bound.

“Is this… hair?” He asks, following my hair to me, up in the rafters.

“Struggling is pointless!” I tell him, jumping down.

“What?”

“I know why you’re here, and I’m not afraid of you!”

“What?”

I step out of the shadows, trying to put on my best brave face.

“Who are you?” I ask him, “And how did you find me?”

“Uhhh…” He replies, staring at me.

I raise the book, “Who are you, and how did you find me?” I repeat.

He clears his throat.

“I don’t know who you are, nor how I came to find you, but may I just say,” He flashes a devilish grin at me, “Hi?”

Okay, what the fuck.

“How are you doing?” the boy says, still grinning.

“The names Sirius Black.”

Like the star?

“How’s your day going?”

I brandish the book at him, trying to look intimidating. “Who else knows my location, Sirius Black?”

“Alright Silver.” He says, making a jibe at my silver streak.

“Remus”

“Excuse you.”

I frown at him.

“Here’s the thing, I was in a situation, running away from the Royal Guard, etcetera, etcetera. I came across your tower, and I climbed it. End of story.”

Sirius freezes.

“Wait- where’s my satchel?” He asks in a panic.

“I’ve hidden it.” I tell him smugly, “Somewhere you’ll never find it.”

He looks around, then points at the pot where the satchel is.

“It’s in that vase, isn’t it?”

I swing the book at him, knocking him out again, so I can hide the satchel better.