𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜𝗜 ━━ 𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗜𝗗𝗗𝗟𝗘
059. as the darkness caves in

          𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗞𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗢𝗟𝗩𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗔 𝗙𝗨𝗟𝗖𝗥𝗨𝗠 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗬. A hint of darkness still roamed around in Scarlet Bridget's mind and heart when she quietly sat in the Prefect compartment of the train back home. 

"What about no loitering in the corridors," Lily Evans chimed in with an exciting smile, looking around the compartment full of individuals from different Houses. 

From the edge of her sight, Scarlet saw Rosier rolling his eyes, "This is a free country, if a kid wants to stand and admire, let it."

"Are we referring to First Years' as 'it' now?" One of the Ravenclaw with luscious hair pointed out, a look of grimace on her face.

"I refer to things however I like," Evan shot her a sarcastic smile, and before the two could get into a long-lasting argument, Remus cut in sharply.

"And Bridget, what do you think?"

"I think we let Evan and Evans argue, it's 'ought to be interesting." She sent a tight-lipped smile. It was as clear as day that troubles had been lifted off her shoulder, and her words and expressions certainly seemed a tiny bit lighter.

"Do you s'pose our Herbology homework is a little irregular, perhaps I can speak to Professor Sprout about this." Lily's words caused everybody else to let out a loud groan, and Scarlet tried to stifle a laugh when she saw the absolute look of horror rising on Evan's face.

"If you don't agree on a matter, I will tell Dumbledore we do not need any renovation." As soon as Narcissa Black uttered those words in an authoritative tone, everybody else burst out into arguments about multiple proposals they put forward to improve the living of Hogwarts. Narcissa was graduating that year, and her solemn last action as a Head Girl was to terrify everybody else. Least to say, Scarlet had her eye on that glinting badge.

      The students orderly made their way out of the train when they arrived at King's Cross Station and stepped onto the pavement to find their families. Suddenly, Scarlet's heartbeat reached its maximum speed, and she suddenly gasped in uttermost pain as horror encapsulated her. A terrible voice constantly nagging in her head, 'something bad is about to happen, something terrible is going to happen', and the warning only intensified.

       A gentle hand on her back caused her to snap out of her gaze, and she realised she had been zoning out. 

"Everything okay?" Evan asked in a worrisome tone and watched as she nodded with a smile she managed to muster. 

"Yeah, a little tired is all," she told him.

He shrugged nonchalantly, bringing his index up to lazily point in the distance, "Look, there's your mother dearest, I'll see you at the dinner."

"Goodbye, Rosier." She bowed her head a little, watching him walk away.

      Over the summer, Celeste is meant to host a glamorous dinner party gathering many families of the Sacred 28 community, and the Rosiers were one of those luxurious bunch. With her heels clicking against the cobblestone, she started to approach her mother.

      The moment her eyes locked with Celeste's, a dark cloud blurred her vision. Contrary to her initial guess, this was not an illusion. Screams flooded the station, and parents grabbed their children and started to run. 

      A couple of strangers in black exterior, and black masks drew their wands and threw hexes at every single person they were coming across. The atmosphere was heavy with the dark trails, the black cloud becoming denser every second. She yelped when a man dropped right beside her feet, unable to move. 

Before she could run for her life, she saw one of the masked killers pointing their wand at her. 

"Expelliarmus!" Another voice said, and she turned to see Sirius Black disarming the man who growled angrily in return. Scarlet did not waste another second to draw her own wand, clutching it in her hand tightly.

The pair started to walk away, avoiding looks of the violence. 

"Are—were those Death Eaters?" She asked breathlessly. 

Sirius did not spare her any glance, and instead, started to guide her away from the running crowd of people. "Unintended attack, an Auror caught them sneaking about, so now they're alerted and trying to get away."

Scarlet pushed herself away from his grip, "I have to find Everest,"

However, he did not let her go, and his grip on her arm tightened as he pushed through the panicking individuals. "There's no time." He pulled her aside and the two of them walked, brushing closely against the ancient walls of the station, and parents and students started to fight back bravely. Some decided to use their brains and tried to flee.

"Where are the others?" She asked him. "Your friends."

Sirius cast her a small look, "Safe, and I'm going to get you to safety, too."

"Wait—why didn't you go with them?"

He shrugged calmly, "I came back for you, the prefects always leave last." Of course, he knew that. The Marauders practically owned the compartment next to the Prefects', mainly to be close to Remus and torment the group with clever pranks. It did not cross Scarlet's find that there might be another reason why he kept an eye out on when the Prefects exited. 

As the two tried to be out of sight and walked secretly away from the fights, Scarlet's heart swelled at his words. "You came for me?"

"Obviously," he admitted nonchalantly, using his grip on her to push her behind him protectively. "I'll always come for you." 

Before she could respond to the heartfelt confession, she saw her mother against a Death Eater, wand raised and prepared to duel, "Wait, we have to get to my mum, Sirius, come on." He closely followed her eye line and the two started to walk towards Celeste Bridget only to be pushed away by multiple running people, everyone's figures slamming against one another with haste in an anxious manner. 

"MAMA!" Scarlet shouted loudly, and from behind her, Sirius slammed his palm over her mouth to quiet her down until only muffles came from her, and her tight grip on his arm relaxed. She cursed him in her mind.

"SHH!" he whisper-yelled harshly, with a tint of warning in his tone as his lips touched behind her ear. His warm breath landed on her neck, and it was a little suffocating when he stood that close behind her with his arms wrapped around her. "Can you not attract attention." 

"They'll hurt her—" Before her eyes, the Death Eater disarmed Celeste. For a moment, the witch did not believe it, for some reason, she always considered her mother inevitable. However, flashes of her past, Celeste standing opposite her husband, practically trembling in fear changed her mind. Her mother was not unbreakable, that icy-cold mask she wore surely was. Scarlet stepped forward again, only to be dragged away into a corner by Sirius. "Let me go!" 

"It's not safe." Sirius argued, his eyes glittering with concern. "Your mother can handle herself!"

People were still screaming, grey clouds colliding with everyone's eyesight. "She needs help," she pleaded as Sirius stopped right by the exiting area, watching everybody pushing through the magical gate all at once, resulting in no one being able to leave at all through the crowded area.

From the corner of his eyes, Sirius saw Celeste put the Death Eater to the ground somehow without her wand, and seconds after she did so, she started to call Scarlet's name, trying to get hold of her. Without her wand, she started to push through people, trying to find her daughter within the fighting crowds. 

      Because no matter what happened—even if the world caved in—Celeste would choose her daughter's safety over the values of her meaningless last name. Whilst everybody pushed everybody else to fight to death, Celeste ran around the crowd screaming Scarlet's name with such agony in her throat, that Sirius thought she might collapse. It sent the pang in his chest even higher, because none of his family would ever desperately attempt to get him to safety.

      Between the teenage pair, and Celeste stood two masked Death Eaters, and Scarlet instantly pointed her wand. Luminescent light seeped through the narrow tip of her wand, melding together to form a shard of magnifying lighting. The blinding light balled into a wide bolt and serrated light darted across. The wave of energy threw away the Death Eaters and they crippled to the ground like a pile of bricks. 

      When she looked up, she saw a lot of the surrounding people halting on their steps, watching the event taking place with raised palms and alerted reflexes. Some of their jaws dropped with lips parting in shock, and the harsh wind of her magic caused people to back away and stumble out of imbalance.

"So much for not attracting attention," Sirius whispered, tilting his head towards her with arched brows, although he found it a little amusing. 

      In the end, Scarlet did have a cage of emotions in her head, contrary to popular opinion of the Hogwarts population. Emotions that could only be combated through temptation and ruthlessness. 

      Power.

"CARLY!" Celeste reached Scarlet as they stood right by the gate of Platform 9 ⅓, "Oh, thank Salazar, you're safe," she sighed with relief and ran a hand through her daughter's blonde hair, her eyes trailing to Black. "And you, son? Are you alright?"

      Sirius was taken by surprise at the concerned question and mustered a sharp nod, and Celeste grabbed onto the two teens' forearms and pushed against a couple of people. When the panicking individuals saw Celeste coming through, they moved aside and provided a clear path for the woman to exit through. 

      Scarlet and Sirius shared a look at the action, and the latter sent her an impressed expression due to the impact her mother brought. When they entered the Muggle station, Sirius could see his parents walking away from the place along with Regulus, and his face fell. 

      Sharply, Celeste scoffed, "Walburga!" The woman frantically turned around, and his shoulders relaxed when she realised she was not in any sort of trouble. However, Celeste shoots her a look of grimace, "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

"We had to flee," Orion replied, although he was not being spoken to. Scarlet did not like him at all. When the man was not stuck at work (bringing forth bewildering influence to the community, as he mentioned once) until midnight, he was drunk out of his mind in his room. "It was dangerous."

"It certainly was dangerous for your defenseless young son, Orion." Celeste shot back, and the three teens' jaw dropped and practically melted to the floor. Regulus looked away with wide, starling grey eyes, looking down at his shoes.

Orion looked as though someone had filled him up with helium, the pink tint on his sharp cheek darkening, "Correct, I've been distracted, Celeste. My apologies." Sirius let out a snorted laugh as his father said the last two words, and covered it with a couple of little coughs.

Walburga's face remained rigid, and her intense eyes squinted at her older son. "Glad to see you made it back home this time,"

"You didn't want me to come over for Christmas," Sirius snapped through gritted teeth. The atmosphere started to feel heavier than it was when Death Eaters were attacking. 

"Sirius, come, we must hurry," Orion cut through coldly, his gaze held no love and only signified cruelty. Then, he grimaced. "What's the filth you're wearing?" He asked, pointing a finger at the eyeliner decorating his eyes. Sirius' expression remained neutral. 

      Scarlet looked to her right to see Celeste eyeing every member of the Black family cautiously, and without greeting them goodbye, she started to walk away with her tight grip on Scarlet's arm, moving past them. 

"Do you suppose everyone will be safe?" Scarlet asked in a worried manner, "I know those attackers are outnumbered, but I'm a little concerned."

"Don't be," Celeste shook it off, "Aurors will be here in no time, I've sent information off to the Ministry already."

      Scarlet looked at her darkly and mustered all her strength to ask her about what had been happening. The look Celeste shot the Blacks was cold, and it was surprising considering the irritating scene she had created after Christmas about maintaining an alliance with the House of Black.

"Is everything okay back at home?" Scarlet asked, "With you and the Blacks."

"All is well, love, don't you worry," Celeste smiled softly. 

"How is preparation going?" Scarlet asked, "For the dinner."

"It's going lovely, a lot of your friends are coming over," Celeste informed with a charming smile, "I've bought you a pretty dress, you'd like exquisite in it."

      Not much time passed before Scarlet was back in the Bridget Manor, entering and greeting Jaggy who watched her in absolute awe.

"Jaggy is so glad that Little Mistress Bridget is back, Jaggy has utterly missed her!" He greeted me with a bright smile.

"I've missed you too, Jaggy, Mama says you've been a great help with the dinner and all," Scarlet hung her coat by the door.

Celeste turned to the house-elf, "Fetch us some waters, will you, Jaggy?"

"Of course, Jaggy is glad to serve the Bridgets," he walked away with little steps. 

      From the corner of her eyes, as the young blonde started to walk into the living room, she saw her mother eyeing her weirdly, and it caused her posture to stiffen. In a few seconds, her mother smiled at her, for no reason. That did it. Scarlet turned to her with a whirl.

"You know, you can just say it—" she was cut out.

"Scarlet, we are all very aware of your relationship with Sirius," Celeste blurted out, and Scarlet almost choked on the air she was breathing in. That came out of nowhere. "In fact, Walburga asks all her acquaintances at Hogwarts about you all the time,"

"That is a little creepy," Scarlet sinisterly commented.

"All they talk of is marriage and family alliances, and I need you to be careful," she sharply turned. "Very careful."

"Mama," she groaned and started to plead. "I do not wish to speak of marriage right now."

Celeste stopped on her steps, and that made the younger halt too. "You need to keep an eye out, the Blacks are cunning people and if there is a chance that you might marry Sirius in the future, you have to be very aware of your surroundings and know what you're getting into."

      Scarlet was always able to see the line that she never crossed. The line between good and bad. Celeste was looking out for her, before Scarlet's life also reached a destiny clouded by wrath and overcome with regret, carrying out revenge to seek solace. It was a fate she did not want for her daughter. 

Celeste placed her hands on Scarlet's shoulders, "There are things you do not understand, after what has happened to their honour due to Andromeda, they will want a bride that is practically a diamond, and if you fail to maintain their expectations, they will bury your reputation to the ground."

      "And a woman's reputation is all she has in a world like this," Celeste softly spoke, "You're a Slytherin... be cunning, and always have the upper hand, always be one step ahead of everybody else. Do you understand?"

      Scarlet wanted to challenge. She wished to tell her mother that if she were to marry Sirius, he would never let any cruel fate reach her. He would protect her from whatever cruelty his family would plan upon her. 

      Would he? Scarlet could not help but wonder if any of this was real if it was anything more than a silly way to pass time. A chase. A challenge. She often wondered to what extent any of their snogging meant anything. During those thoughts, she tried to convince herself that she was not serious either. If she were honest, nobody would ever be able to make her feel what Sirius does, although, she hasn't exactly met a variety of people yet. 

      All she knew was that in a world full of wicked boys and opportunists, Sirius had been an exception. He was the one with the purest intentions. There would be chances that she would be risking her reputation, perhaps the Blacks would somehow manage to bring more darkness into her world. Force her to change the rebellious heart of Sirius which she adored. She wouldn't change a thing about the boy even if Walburga threatened to dishonour her to the entire world... Sirius Black was the one who was worth risking everything. 

      It's always been you, he told her on the last day of school. Did he say that to all of his other girls? Before she could help it, the world flooded out of her crimson lips.

"I understand, mama," Scarlet nodded. Lying was never difficult for her. "Don't worry, it's nothing serious and I'll absolutely look out for myself."

"Nothing serious?" Celeste squinted her eyes, arching a brow in the process.

Scarlet bit the insides of her cheeks harshly before speaking, "Whatever Sirius and I are doing, it doesn't mean much." She saw a flicker of relief running through Celeste's suspicious eyes and curiosity deepened in her heart. 

Celeste took another sharp inhale. "After what happened to you back at Hogwarts, we know that someone is watching you, and I can't let you come in the way of harm again," 

      It was peculiar at best. Celeste did her best to shape Scarlet into the perfect pureblooded witch and reminded her on every step in her path to marry well—and find her way into the wealthiest pureblood family.

      All of a sudden, none of it mattered anymore. Not when all of their lives were at risk.

𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑺

IN A WORLD OF BOYS,
HE'S A... GENTLEMAN😭

so excited for seventh year 
it'll be sm more eventful

hope u enjoy where it leads!!!