The Dark Witch

P.O.V. – Albus Dumbledore

I have always found it interesting how often love can spring from hate. The emotions are so intimately connected. In fact, I thought, surveying the livid expression on Sirius’ face, an expression that would have made anyone quiver, as he stared at the staircase leading up to the girls dormitories, where Maria had been standing mere moments ago, it is my personal belief that without a certain essence of hate there can be no love.

“You didn’t have to hit her, mate, you could have just jinxed her.” Said James, breaking the tension in the common room, as he rubbed his stomach, the place where Maria had kicked him a few minutes prior, “I mean, a good bat-bogey hex or furnunculus jinx followed by a quick obliviate could have done it.” Ah, never a better Head Boy could I have chosen.

Sirius turned away from the staircase to give James a silencing look, before stuffing his wand into his pocket, and without saying a word, he stormed up the steps to boy’s dormitories. Leaving James alone wearing an expression of both pity and anger as he looked between the two staircases, quite a contrast I thought.

The Gryffindor common room began to dissolve around me as I switched to another memory, the third memory. A moment later I found myself in the library sitting beside Sirius at a table. I was surprised to find him without the company of the other marauders, without anyone at all. He wore a dark expression and his long black hair was flopped over his eyes as he stared in the direction of two girls surrounded by a mob of boys near the library’s entrance.

I couldn’t quite see who they were through the crowd, but I could take a guess. Red hair flashed through one of the few gaps in between the boys, clearly Lily’s, I have never known a prettier shade than hers, and if my instincts were any good, raven colored hair shone through another gap, I would bet the other girl to be Maria.

My mind reeled for a moment, what an odd person for Maria to have become friends with, I thought to myself, a person who her creed deemed too unworthy to tie their shoelaces let alone befriend. Interesting…

A moment passed, and Lily and Maria had finally cut their way through the crowd of eager 5th, 6th, and 7th year boys, and into the jealous looks of the rest of the girls in the library. They didn’t seem to notice however. Lily too preoccupied in eagerly showing a piece of paper to Maria, who was obviously disinterested as she placed her hand to her black eye, meeting Sirius' dark gaze from across the room.

I watched as Maria whispered something into Lily’s ear, causing the red head to quickly nod and lose herself amongst nearby bookshelves. Leaving Maria standing there by herself for a moment, the look on her face was as if she was deciding between running away or moving closer to our table. She chose the latter, and in a couple of short strides, was standing directly in front of Sirius, only separated from him by a few feet, a look of determination on her face.

“Black.” She said neutrally, working hard to conceal her nervousness.

Sirius looked away, a smirk forming on his face, before turning back to look at Maria, all traces of his smirk gone now as he stared at the impatient girl, “Le Fay.” He replied in the same neutral tone, as he gave her a quick once over, “Nice eye.” He added coolly, enjoying the flush that appeared on her cheeks at his words, as he flipped his hair back from his face and in the process revealed two black eyes of his own.

A tension filled silence engulfed the pair, allowing me to notice that I wasn’t the only one watching them, the entire library was as well, I even could see a younger Madam Pince watching the pair from the comfort of her desk. But, Sirius and Maria, so locked in their silent standoff, did not notice any of this. In fact, I believe if Hogwarts were to implode this very moment, the two would still remained unmoved, their eyes fixated upon each other.

“I wanted to…” Began Maria, suddenly looking vulnerable for the first time in all my study as she nervously twirled a strand of her hair around her right index finger, “to…” She teetered off helplessly, her face losing any coloring it had left.

Sirius raised his eyebrows, and everyone in the library, including myself leaned forward, desperate not miss a single word. “Yes?” He asked, drumming his fingers on the wood table.

Maria closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “I wanted to apologize.” She finally said, the words coming out in a rush. Her eyes snapped open, an element of fear and wariness in them, “For the night,” Maria rubbed her black eye with her left hand as if reliving Sirius’ punch, “And…the past few weeks.” She paused taking another deep breath, her gaze leaving Sirius’ as she finally took in all the people openly staring at them. Maria took in shaky breath, and leaned across the table, closer to Sirius, who looked only mildly interested, “I’m not good at dealing with people like you.” She whispered chokingly, my face went slack at her expression. It reminded me of the wonder filled five year old girl that she had once been.

Sirius blinked, his face hardening, “People like blood traitors you mean.” He snarled causing Maria to jump back like he had punched her again. The look of wonder vanishing off her face as quickly as it had appeared.

I felt a sudden flicker of anger towards Sirius, couldn’t he see…I let my thought trail off, and I forced myself to resume focusing on the scene in front of me.

Maria had turned an ashen color, her moist eyes not leaving Sirius’ cold ones, she swallowed hard, “No, that’s not what I meant.”

My heart broke for her, as she once again noticed, the now, shell shocked people gawking at the two of them. A deep blush appeared on her pale cheeks, and she shot one more tearful look at Sirius before bolting out of the library, books flying off their shelves as she passed, much to Madam Pince’s obvious displeasure. Lily, who had appeared out nowhere from behind a nearby bookshelf, sprinted after her, muttering an apology to Madam Pince as she passed by her desk.

The previously quite library was now abuzz with voices of students speculating over what they had just seen. I myself, even though I knew somewhat of the events that would follow, was stunned. Adjusting my glasses, I turned to look at Sirius beside me, his expression was unreadable, completely devoid of any emotion.

Then, sighing to himself, he slowly rose from his chair, ignoring the chatter around him. He clearly didn’t care, and after waving away a particularly eager group of 6th year girls, he exited the library as well.

I tilted my head, in deep thought as the room began to fade away and another setting took its place.

I now found myself by the lake, it was night, and I was sitting there alone, the dark waves crashing against themselves as they rolled through the water. Where was Sirius? I wondered, standing up and looking around the dark grounds, after all, these were his memories.

My eyes then caught two dark forms resting underneath a nearby oak tree, one was a girl and the other was a dog. I smiled and slowly made my way over to the pair. Sure enough, the girl was Maria, her black eye was healed now, and tears were streaming down her broken hearted face as she clutched the large black dog, Sirius, to her.

“Amicus,” whispered Maria into Sirius’ fur, her voice hoarse from crying, “Why does he have to hurt me so? Why am I not good enough for him? You know how much I’ve done for him and he still doesn’t love me!” She broke into another round of sobs, as the large dog did its best to lick her tears away.

My eyes softened as I watched them. Inadequacy. I thought to myself as Sirius the dog gave Maria a lick on the lips causing her to giggle. She only murdered to try to please her father, and naturally, Lord Voldemort was impossible to please. I suppose that was part of what endeared her to Sirius, like him, she too had been unloved by a parent who was dissatisfied by whatever she did, right or wrong.

I felt tears appear on my own cheeks, of joy unlike Maria's, as I watched Sirius the dog lunge at her causing her to laugh and stand up. The black dog gave a playful bark and lunged for her again.

“You wanting to play, boy?” Asked Maria sweetly, stifling a laugh as Sirius gave another bark. Maria smiled deviously, leaning forward to look the dog in the eyes, “You’re on!” Then she turned and ran across the grounds, back towards the castle, the large black dog chasing after her all the way.

It was good of them to have each other, but what, I thought, stroking my long white beard, had torn them apart? And why was Sirius masquerading as a dog with her? From what she had called him, Amicus, the latin word for friend, she obviously didn't know that he was, in fact, Sirius Black. Things were getting very interesting in this romance between the Dark Witch and Sirius, and I braced myself as the scene began to shift again. Taking me to the next episode in their saga.