Work Text:
It was hard.
Two pairs of hands passed around the cigarette, breathing in the flames and blowing out works of art.
Sirius grabbed the poison vials, his skin stretching painfully across the newly formed scars as he snuck out of Slughorn's supply closet.
Some obscure song on the recorder, filling the room with white noise. The clinking of beer bottles. Lips pressed hard together at the thought of what's to come.
A breathy laugh from Remus as Lily told a joke, his mind wandering.
Short breaths, deep moans as they joined together the closest way in life.
The celebrations of another won Quidditch match. An empty dorm room while James basked in the attention and Peter following him.
Writing out their final words, apologies to some and curses to others.
Grabbing hands, saying goodnight as they ascended the stairs.
A final 'I love you'. The last words for life, and the first ones for death.
Questions. 'Are you sure?'. 'We don't have to.' 'Let's do it.'
The vials on their lips, drinking it all. Cuddling together and holding the other tight.
It's as easy as falling alseep.
Peter's scream was heard throughout the common room, halting all celebrations and laughter. He tumbled down the stairs in tears, blubbering to anyone who kept their eye trained on him for more than a moment that 'They're dead! Oh Gods, they bloody killed themselves!'
James pushed past the silent and confused crowd, running up the stairs and into their dorm room. Bottles and two vials sat on the bedside tables near Sirius's bed. Two figures lay together on the blankets. They looked like they fell asleep together, and maybe James would have believed it had it not been for the fact that they were too pale and their chests didn't move. He sniffed one of the vials and dropped it.
Poison.
He reached out to touch them when Professor McGonagall burst in, wrenching him out of the way. She shoved everyone out, Professor Slughorn, Madame Pomfrey, and Dumbledore being the only ones that went in with her.
Please.
Abuse. Discrimination. Registration. The War. All were reasons according to Sirius and Remus, but none were embraced by the remaining people left. They wanted them back, and no reason would change that. Hope and Lyall wept for their son and his lover, Walburga and Orion Black remained stony-faced for their son and his "friend", Regulus Black had a look of such longing and regret, Lily and the girls wept openly for their friends, while James and Peter remained silent, mourning in quiet for their fallen Marauders. The boys were buried by the lake, a large stone was engraved with their names and status.
Pureblood. Half-Blood. Werewolf. Marauders.
It was meant as a testimony to the power of love, but all it did was invoke whispers from students. They talked and gossiped about the pureblood and the werewolf, wondering what their real motives were. But James and Peter and all those people who really cared simply talked of the good times, and cried about the missed ones.
The grave would draw in the future first-years, wondering who Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were and how they were important enough to be buried on Hogwarts grounds. And if one of them was a dark skinned, light eyed boy with a tell-tale scar on his forehead?
They would never know.