Scarves N Hats: Day 11

[melayneseahawk]

scarvesnhats

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Needed a break from all t3h a|\|g5t...

prompt for Day 11
A Treehouse, Two Boys, a Blanket Tent, and a Torch | Day 11 | G | 352 words

"I always wanted a tree house," Sirius whispered, curled up underneath a tented blanket with Remus, photo album, and a Muggle invention that Remus called a torch. He thought it was fascinating, and Remus had had to take it away to keep him from playing with it's switch. Better than lumos, this is, he'd said, and Remus has smiled. "Mother said that only Muggles had treehouses, and wouldn't stretch the yard to fit one."

"They're fun," Remus said, running long fingers for an eleven-year-old boy over the still, Muggle photograph. He wasn't smiling, though, and Sirius was once again reminded that Remus never smiled. "My da built this one for me when I was six, after..."

Sirius waited for Remus to finish the sentence, but the brown-haired boy didn't. Remus was an enigma, though Sirius wouldn't have used that word to describe him. He felt like Remus was wrapped around a terrible secret, and it kept him from smiling and laughing like other boys their age. Sirius couldn't imagine anything worse than his family, but he'd always told everyone about that. He knew that the secret had something to do with why the other boy was sick all the time and had all those terrible scars and Sirius wanted to know Remus' secret, so he could share the burden. Sirius, who knew from unhappy childhoods, knew that Remus was more sad than he’d ever let on, and he loved to see his new friend smile.

He was smiling now, at a happy memory, it seemed. "Someday, you can visit me and see my treehouse," Remus said, and Sirius nodded happily, glad to be let in a little bit more. "It's best on days like this, when the walls are covered in red and yellow leaves. Someday, you'll see."

Later that evening, when the rest of the dormitory was asleep, Sirius looked out the tower window at the edge of the Forbidden Forest and imagined a treehouse, wreathed with crimson and gold leaves. There were two boys inside, camped out with a torch inside a blanket tent. Sirius smiled, and went to bed.

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