Enduring

Rated: PG

Category: Double Drabble. Gen, Angst, Remus and Sirius Friendship, Sirius POV.

Spoilers: None per se. Set in PoA.

Summary: A circle does, in fact, have a starting point, as a line. But that line truly never ends.

Disclaimer: Accio, Copyrights! Oh, darn. Wand backfired. Well, it was worth a shot.

---

I counted one hundred and forty-six full moons while I was in Azkaban.

And in my cell, if it still stands, one hundred and forty-six circles are carved in stone.

Each marks a night that tortured me more than most.

A night that was almost beyond my endurance.

A night when I truly thought I was mad. Or rather, when I wished for madness.

When I longed for catatonia to come and take it all away. To blank my mind and wash me clean.

But it never came.

Instead, images of the past and imaginings of the present overcame me.

I saw a face, over and over again, as it turned away from me.

And I couldn't help but wonder what that face might look like now.

Was there still a ghost of a smile behind the sadness?

Or were all traces of my friend gone?

For that matter, what remained of me? Was I even recognizable as human?

Back then, I had no way to know.

But now… now he stands with me, ready to fight at my side once again, and I know.

I know that Remus Lupin is not gone, and neither is his friend, Sirius Black.