Eclipse
Screaming. Someone was always screaming within the walls of Azkaban. Either from pain, longing, or insanity. Those three often went hand in hand. Sirius, too, had screamed often, but he no longer had the means to voice his frustrations. He was too tired. So, so tired. How long was it since he had been captured? Sent to prison without a shred of evidence of his guilt?
Twenty-four moons. That was his way of counting the time.
Sirius was perched on the small, thin mattress that made his bed in the cell, looking at the sun through his small window. He had spent his life admiring the sun, walking arm in arm with it, laughing, pranking.
Mischief.
So much mischief.
How Sirius missed James.
In his darkest times, Sirius found a bit of consolation in the fact that even though the world believed him to be the traitor, James and Lily must have known. They knew who the true secret-keeper was.
Peter.
Sirius fisted his knuckles as rage boiled in his veins.
The rat.
Really, he should've known.
Sirius looked out at the sun once more and transformed into Padfoot. Ironically, being a dog made everything so much easier.
How come it, that it was the loyal dog who got framed?
☽
Later that evening, Sirius transformed back as food was brought to his cell. Bread, slightly moulding and a bit of water. Sirius quickly chewed the bread and swallowed the water. He looked out the cell's window once again.
It was getting dark outside.
It was sure to have been almost a month since...
Would tonight be the night?
Sirius, in his human form, moved back to his bed and watched. It felt like he looked for hours, but finally, the moon was visible through the clouds.
Tonight was the night. A full moon.
"Moony..." The words fell from his lips, a mere whisper.
"I always thought that to be an awful nickname, you know?"
Sirius whipped his head to the side, his eyes landing on no one else but his darling brother.
Regulus was standing by the wall, clad in a dark cloak, his pale skin illuminated by the moonlight.
"Reg," croaked Sirius.
The corner of Regulus's lip quirked up. "That I always found awful, too. So childish."
You are a child, Sirius wanted to say. Unlike me.
"How come it you aren't asleep yet?" asked Regulus. "It's night."
"How-"
"Nuh-uh," Regulus said in a sing-song voice. "I ask the questions. Answer me."
Sirius wet his lips. "Tonight is the full moon."
"And what can you do about that?"
"I used to be able to do a lot of things about it," Sirius said, looking at the moon. "I was there for him."
"As a dog?"
Sirius's eyes bulged as he looked at his brother. "How did you know?"
"I know everything."
"Always so vague, my darling brother."
"That's me." Regulus sat down beside Sirius on the mattress. "You know, sometimes I wonder if I get the better end of the deal, becoming a Death Eater."
"Of course, you didn't," Sirius huffed.
"Didn't I?" mused Regulus. "You're the one stuck in here."
"You're here too!"
"Am I?"
Sirius reached to touch his brother's shoulder. Not solid. Like a ghost, except Regulus was too proud to leave a mark of himself in this world. He would've thought it embarrassing.
He sighed. "Guess it was about time I got visions. I've managed well, so far, bound to turn around."
Regulus smiled. "Don't belittle yourself, you've never been sane."
"Yet here I am, talking to my dead baby brother."
Silence fell over them for a few minutes. Then Regulus stood and spoke, "Sirius, I need you to turn into that dog more often. Be him constantly if you have to. It'll help your mind. You've been managing well so far, as you said, but you can't give up."
Sirius cocked his head. "Why? I'm stuck in here any way."
"Because," Regulus said, "out there, there's a little bit of sun, waiting for an eclipse."
Harry.
"How do you know? You never lived long enough to meet him!"
"Sirius, when will you realise you're talking to yourself?"
And then he was gone and Sirius was alone, though, he supposed he always had. He looked to the moon once more.
He might have a bit of sun out there, but he also had a moon, and one day, the two might meet, causing an eclipse. It was crazy to think like that, but then again, Sirius never had been quite sane as his dear brother put it.
☽
Remus screamed as his body ripped apart and set itself together once again. Just before he was overtaken by the beast in him, he could've sworn he heard the faint sound of someone familiar whispering "Moony..." in his ears. He always did on full moons.
He became the wolf and searched through the forest for a large, black dog.