Notes: This chapter (and the one before) have been fixed. They are no longer painful to read (I hope). I just felt the need to alert you of that fact.
Chapter Six: The Importance of a Happy Ending
"Good morning, Miss Stork," said Michael Hampton as Rosa Stork entered the flower shop.
"Good afternoon, Mr Hampton," she replied; only a little annoyed with his enthusiasm.
"Good afternoon, then. How may I help you?"
"I was wondering if you had any roses…" since no one bothers to get them for me, Rosa thought bitterly. "It's my birthday, you see, and it's the only excuse I have to get them for myself."
"I see," he said. "I've always liked roses, myself. They symbolize beauty and purity, and yet…"
"They're covered in thorns."
Michael smiled. "Right. They're like humans, in a way. They can look perfect, but they never will be…" He looked thoughtful. "Excuse me for a moment." He disappeared through a door behind the counter, returning a few seconds later with a blood-red rose, but its thorns had been removed.
"Someone ordered a huge bouquet of these for a wedding," he said. "But I'm sure the future Mrs Black won't mind." He held out the rose for her.
Rosa hesitated before taking the rose. Don't be silly, she scolded herself. Black's a common name. And even if it is him, what does it matter? It's probably only because she's carrying his child.
"Beauty and purity," explained Michael, his eyes on hers. "Without the thorns."
"Perfection."
"Exactly." He grinned, and Rosa found herself smiling back.
They were married exactly two years later.
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Sirius and Charlotte were gone the next morning, but Remus didn't bother to look for them. Instead, he spent the next few days either asleep for lying in bed, waiting for the accursed date to pass.
At last, six days after Sirius had left the second time, he crawled out of bed, down the stairs and sat down right outside the front door. Although he felt nauseous, he was weak with hunger and his stomach growled loudly and hollowly every so often.
And then, he let out a howl. Rather, the wolf let out a howl, and he was too weak to stop it. The howl seemed to echo over and over and over for much longer than it should have.
"Why'd you have to do that?" he asked himself quietly.
There was no response.
And, so, there he sat on the front steps. He didn't fancy the idea of being the helpless damsel passing the time in any way he could, waiting for his knight in shining armour. No, he had been helpless all his life.
But somehow, it didn't seem so bad waiting there. Part of him was resigned to an isolated life, and wasn't expecting anything more than the sun to rise and set as usual. Still, there was something that made him feel like waiting there wasn't that helpless.
This something wasn't faith, no— it was more like sarcasm. Sitting there was asking for a broken heart, for sadness, because the odds (as usual) were not in his favour.
And despite this, he waited.
llllll
Sirius never really sensed anything— rather, he noticed a nothing, and it scared him. It reverberated against the walls of his mind, making a hollow, non-existent sound that was so empty, it was actually frightening.
"I…" he began, and then couldn't go on. He knew he only had one more word to say, one word that would seal his destiny, one word he'd said a million times over, and yet it wouldn't come up.
I do, I do, I do! cried a little voice in his mind.
Oh, do shut up, he replied calmly and finished his sentence with the word 'can't'.
"You, what?" Charlotte demanded, looking astounded.
"I can't," Sirius repeated slowly, making sure she got the message before turning on his heel and walking down the aisle she had so recently glided up.
llllll
Charlotte's wedding gown, once white, had been thoroughly stained with mud by the time she stopped crying. She sat by the side of the road, her eyes red and puffy and her nose running. She'd never imagined her wedding would end like this.
She shivered as a cold wind blew, and her throat grew tight once again, although no sob ever came out. All intentions of crying vanished as she heard a pitiful, whining sort of sound.
Looking over her shoulder, she saw that the source of this sound was none other than a small, grey kitten. Its paws were caked in mud and looked as though it hadn't eaten in weeks.
"Hello, there," Charlotte murmured, her insides suddenly melting as she saw a creature in need of more sympathy than herself. She stroked the kitten's back slowly, and it mewed in response
"I'm Charlotte," said the would-be bide. "I was supposed to get married today, but he ran off at the last minute. I'm such a fool. I knew from the start that this wouldn't work out. It's probably for the best." She forced a smile. "So, what happened to you?"
The cat looked at her for a moment, and then rubbed its head against her leg, purring.
"Well, then," Charlotte said decisively. "We're both in need of a friend right now. You can stay with me for a while."
She got up, and started to walk home. Without hesitation, the cat followed behind her.
Charlotte received a total of two more marriage proposals in the next year, but she refused both, preferring to dedicate her time to the kitten she found that day (who was named Lillith shortly after) instead of to a husband.
llllll
Remus had fallen asleep again. Maybe it was the lack of food that tired him out, or maybe it was how depressing falling leaves could be when one is waiting from sunrise to sunset for someone to sweep them off their feet or proclaim undying love or something equally as unlikely. Whatever the reason, Sirius had a hard time waking him when he, hours later, finally made it to the house he himself had inhabited not so long ago.
"Remus," he was shouting now. "Wake up!"
Finally, the werewolf groggily opened his eyes. He jumped when he saw just who had roused him from his dreamless sleep, eyes suddenly wide.
"Hey," said Sirius, running a hand through his hair, ignoring Remus's surprise. "Forgive me?"
Remus looked mildly annoyed as he turned to face Sirius, one eyebrow raised, all evidence of his previous emotion gone from his face. It was enough of an answer for Sirius.
"Tell me something." He sat down beside Remus, effortlessly crossing the line that had driven Remus mad for years. "If you're upset with me for being so thick, why are you sitting out here?"
"Because I'm doomed to love you, no matter your mental state or mine." Remus forced a dry laugh.
"Likewise."
Remus turned to look at him suddenly.
"Oh, yes," said Sirius, wearing an everso-slightly haughty smile. "I was just about to go on with the whole marriage thing—" (He waved his hands in the air here, as if to clarify just what he meant) "— and I realized that I'd rather spend the rest of my life with some awful sort of disease than spend the rest of my life knowing I'd contradicted myself. I said I loved you, and then denied it. It was killing me. I must have sounded completely…" He trailed off here with another wave of his hand. "Idiotic. I kept worrying you were laughing at me for being such a dunce."
Remus sighed, looking away from him again. "So, then, you came here to avoid embarrassment."
"Unless you don't love me anymore, in which case I'm only embarrassing myself further."
"I already told you that I do. Love's a stupid sort of thing; it makes scholars feel foolish. Fools like us think it will make us more sophisticated, so we seek it, and then find ourselves controlled by it. It only makes sense that I would: Love likes to play jokes."
Sirius placed his hand over Remus's, smiling to himself. "This isn't a joke," he said quietly.
Remus turned his head to the side, locking eyes with Sirius. They both wore a solemn expression, although Sirius's face was tinged with amusement.
And Sirius kissed him. It was light, innocent, and feathery. It might have even been considered chaste by some, but neither of the two men had words for it.
"Shall we?" Remus murmured, gesturing towards the house. A look of realization crossed over Sirius's features at these words, and he suddenly looked worriedly in the opposite direction.
"But, that—" He looked back at Remus. "Will you ever be able to leave?"
"I might," Remus said, smiling slightly. "If you're on the other side."
And, without realizing it, the words left Sirius's lips almost before they had run through his mind. "I never will be."
Sirius Black had fallen in love, then out, and back in again— it was something he had never dreamed of, not ever. He'd thought that he had built up an immunity to that sort of thing, and yet he was just as defenceless against is as anyone else.
Remus Lupin had only ever fallen in love once, but it felt to him like it had happened a million times over. He had expected it would happen for a long time, if he ever had contact with a human. The idea of being loved back, though, was beyond his comprehension.
Both were still recovering from these shocks, but neither showed it. These surprises were not unwelcome. They were in love, and as Remus had said, that was something sought after, something dreamt of until it became a reality. Some treated it like a blessing, some treated it like a curse. Both Remus and Sirius had tried thinking of it as a curse. Now, their opinions had changed.
And, of course, dear reader, as you may have guessed, they lived happily ever after.
The End
Again, here's a big thank you to all the reviewers:
Goody2sho, Ishy, Azure Myst, XxXtAP-daNCiNg-sPIdeRsXxX, Lizzie24, varis, Ivy Crane, Happy Dappy Drunk, Gold Silk, The Hallowed Cat, Grimy Grunhilda Grunt, Shadow Cat17, Aluminum Tomato, Vee017, Elizabeth Tears, Miss Anonymous hp, firesnake, Obviously Oblivious, Summer Rain of '89, Shuffle Queen, goldmund, Juliet Rose, korosu, LLPotter, DepressedScatterbrainedRanter (or GriffinFox, since that's less to type and easier to say), sappjody, ugly yodeler, Queen of the Paperclips, Hollow Haven, crazygurl, chimerical, bkwrmbenny, elvenwolf123321, orly23, kathryn, Sylvia Sylverton, Crowley Black, and my mother.
Hugs to those people who gave me constructive criticism, and I apologize for rushing earlier.
Also, I've lost nearly all of my documents, including the first 10 000 words of the R/S story I was planning to post. So, don't be surprised if the first chapter isn't up before November. Just know that I've learned my lesson (rushingbad) and it'll be worth the wait.