you were only waiting for this moment to arise…

Two people are sitting in silence against the oak tree near the lake. It was weird, the blackbird thought, seeing people lounging around outside at this time of year, when the sun was hot and lasted for a long time. They were silent too, which was strange; usually people were loud when they were outside with a companion unless doing work. The blackbird wanted to get closer to the people just to watch this strange phenomenon, so he flew and perched on the tree against which the people were leaning. It wasn't a very good view, but anytime the blackbird lands on the ground, he is chased by animals or people. From his view above, the blackbird could see that the people were two men: one man with light-brown feathers and the other with black feathers. (The blackbird preferred the latter, if the truth be told; he's a tad biased toward the colour black.) The blackbird, while not used to seeing people out during this time of year, was even more surprised that the two people were two men. Usually when there are only two, it is a male and a female. There were usually only men when they were in a flock. The men stayed still and silent for a long time before the black feathered one spoke. His voice was hoarse and grainy from, the blackbird guessed, not speaking for a while.

"Just like old times," he said quietly. The man was trying to keep his voice light, but the blackbird could hear a little sadness behind it.

"Not exactly," said the other one. He didn't try to keep the sadness out of his voice.

The black-feathered one quickly looked over at the other as if trying to not be noticed. "I always wanted to come sit here during the summer."

The other laughed. "No you didn't, Sirius. You were too busy terrorising James's mum."

"Yes, well," said the black feathered one, who was apparently called Sirius. He sounded like he was upset, but the blackbird could tell he wasn't, really. There was something underneath the sadness and bitterness that the blackbird couldn't place: contentment, maybe?

The brown-feathered one was now staring at Sirius. He didn't notice for a while. Sirius looked back and reached over to touch the other's face. "You know," he said, "it's kind of amazing."

"What's amazing?"

"That my heart still flips in my stomach even after all of this time. I thought-" he broke off after his voice suddenly went really high.

"Sirius…"

"No, Remus, shut up. Let me finish." Sirius moved his hand to somewhere in the middle of Remus's face, under his nose.

"Sorry."

Sirius continued. "I thought, when I was in Azkaban- I thought that I would never see your smile again. And even- after a while- I forgot how happy it made me. I forgot what it looked like." His shoulders heaved and he sniffed a couple of times. Remus's hand had, by now, found its way to Sirius's. He was gripping it so tight it looked like it hurt. The blackbird wondered why Sirius didn't pull away. "It was the last memory to leave, your smile," he continued. "I didn't want them to- to take it from me. I couldn't- I didn't want- I'm sorry."

Remus suddenly put both of his arms around Sirius's shoulders and Sirius suddenly looked like he turned into the pudding the children eat sometimes. He was shaking all over, and some strange and terrifying and powerful sounds were coming from him; it was almost as if he had broken. Remus buried his face into Sirius's feathers and made sounds that sounded like the wind rustling leaves during the time of year when the trees loose their leaves.

They stayed like that, wrapped in each other's arms, for a long time, and soon the sun began to go down behind the earth. The blackbird suddenly realised why he had gone away from his nest in the first place: he needed to get food for his family! He didn't want to leave (he had grown strangly fond of these two humans), but he needed to. As he was flying away, he crowed a farewell to the men. He looked back and found that they were once again facing the lake, except this time they were sitting closer and their hands were intertwined.

you were only waiting for this moment to be free…