My youth was nothing but a black storm

[purmoncul.livejournal.com]

WHO: purmoncul, bestunrevealed and brevipennate
WHERE: Nill's Church (...we are so sorry, Nill)
WHEN: Sunday!
WARNINGS: ...Snape and Sirius together in one place without proper supervision
SUMMARY: Snape has decided Nill's is a good place to hide from his gaggle of mothering women keep an eye on, without investigating whether or not other people are already doing so.
FORMAT: Paragraph!

It's Sunday, which seems like a fine day to visit a church. Not that Sirius is going to pray, mind you, as he hasn't been on speaking terms with God for a good thirteen years now, but there is one little angel that he always feels better for visiting. And after the week she's had, he figures she might benefit from some positive reinforcement.

Knocking on the main door, Sirius sticks his head in to see if she's at home.

"Hallo the church! Dovie? You in?"

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[purmoncul.livejournal.com]

Sirius is on his feet a heartbeat later, wand at the ready, but he lowers it when he sees Nill. Without sparing the other wizard a glance, he moves out of the pews and begins walking down the aisle.

"Don't mind us, Dovie. Mister Snape and I were about to get into a spirited debate about the works of Cornelius Agrippa and how magic relates to the soul." Sirius isn't even trying to hide the fact that his blood is up, snarling over his shoulder at the other man, too angry to care how childish his behavior was. It was this or just fly at the man.

"He's taken it rather personally," Sirius spins, and yells back at Snape as he continues backwards toward the door, "because he doesn't like it when other people know things."

Having vented, Sirius takes a deep breath, gives Snape one last sidelong glance, and is able to speak to Nill in a gentler tone. "And I don't like him, period. I do, however, like you, and I'm sorry I yelled in your church. Are you well?"

[culver]

And when suddenly there were two wands pointed at her, her stomach dropped. She knew that they used those for magic, and neither of them looked happy at all. In her mind, it didn't bode well. It meant there could be pain, there could be a fight. She could bear being hurt and hit, but to see people she liked fighting, that was the worst. Because she knew there was nothing at all she could do to stop them. She simply wasn't strong enough.

Her wings pressed close to her back, her body shook. Even as they greeted her, she couldn't do anything but stare, unable to do anything about the fear that was overtaking her body. She shouldn't be afraid of them, she knew, but it was so hard. Shouting men, the hateful atmosphere. It was so familiar, too familiar. All she could see was the whorehouse, the men chasing her down, Heine being shot out a window. The scream she wanted to let out but couldn't.

Reality hit her as Sirius' tone changed, and she was able to bring herself back to the church, back to what was really going on. She forced her wings to extend, stretch, and relax. She forced herself to nod and offer her friend a smile. Heine said it, sometimes: That girl is sharper than you think. She knew what Sirius wanted to see then, and that was what she gave him. She just hoped he would believe it.

[onewrongword]

"Are you done scaring the girl?" Snape asks, sliding his wand away. "I thought it was my job to become young people's boggarts."

Not that he doesn't know that there's a perfectly good reason WHY Neville Longbottom had him as a boggart -- beyond the fact that the boy had been raised to have no spine -- and neither is he proud of it nor, really, ashamed. That was at the moment, unimportant. What he was at this moment, was trying to remember what had been asked of him, and applying it as it was needed.

It was just so hard with Sirius Black being anywhere near him, making him remember so many things...

And seeing Nill quake reminds him of how he had just failed it. Unlike Sirius, he does not approach. Instead, he goes to gather his things, picking up the notepad and pens he'd been using, as if he might take his leave without another word.

[purmoncul.livejournal.com]

The steely anger is back in Sirius's eyes for a moment as Snape's flings his self-righteous comments across the room - of course he wouldn't take any of the blame, oh no. Poor ickle Snivellus, never at fault for anything.

He closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath and ignores Snape. It's not Nill's mouth that Sirius is watching, but her eyes. He gives her a sheepish smile back.

"You're polite to say so, dovie, but you can scold us for scaring you. Heine'd have skinned us by now." What? Body language was still language.

"I gave Mr Snape a present since he was here, but I originally came to deliver some flowers to you. I'd like to give them to you, if that's alright? I can go after that if you've had enough of my growling for one day."

[culver]

He was right; Heine probably would have shot both of them, or at the very least beaten them up. That wouldn't have helped her, of course, but it would have made him feel better. But she doesn't give any indication that she's going to reprimand them for shouting and such. Just because she was easily frightened didn't mean they had to tip-toe around her when it came to their own personal problems. She just keeps on smiling.

Flowers would be nice. She nods and ducks around him to start up the aisle. She saw that Severus was packing up, and she wanted to give him a proper hello and goodbye. The two of them reminded her a bit of Heine and Naoto; they didn't like being around each other, but managed to deal with it while she was around. At least for a little while. It was obvious that Severus wasn't going to stay long, but Sirius would probably hang around. Even if he said he could leave, she hoped he knew she didn't particularly want him to.

She paused a foot or two away from Severus, and gave him a little wave.

[onewrongword]

Snape glanced to the side -- down at Nill with black, beady eyes that gave no clue to how he felt about the display, or her disturbance. She was a small, frail thing and Albus, he was sure, would have adored her and showered her with sweets.

Snape could only look at her impassively, and say, "I won't be long."

The mirror was carefully wrapped in a conjured cloth, and the other items he'd had, with names and notes scribbled on them, were tucked into a messenger bag and then slung back over his shoulder.

A curt nod to Nill; as silent as she is-- then he was striding down the pews-- on the OTHER side of them, as not to bring himself in Sirius Black's reach. He trusted the man about as far as he could throw him with his bare hands.