(Authors note: I refuse point blank to except Sirius our Remus's death. OR the getting together of one Remus Lupin and Tonks. After an unsatisfactory end to the stories I've decided to not be angry with myself for taking the charters and stories and twisting them for my use. Lol. I feel no guilt.)
Chapter Two: The Boy Who Lost His Brows
I'm lost at sea, the radio is jamming, but they won't find me
I swear it's for the best, and then your frequency is pulling me in closer till I'm home
and I've been up for days, I finally lost my mind,
and then I lost my way, I'm blistered but I'm better
and I'm home – "Watch The Sky" by Something Corporate
It was November, all but the evergreen leaves staid that fall. The leaves of the oak and maple left with the last of October, bidding a fond farewell to the land they dwelled upon and leaving the trees to stand bare in the cold gusts of November. Upon a hillside, above the village of Allister Hill a lone figure roamed near the edge of the steep cliffside looking out onto a sea of steel blue. The wind howled through the evergreens, rustling their long shaggy green limbs and tickled the dry wheat colored grass. Remus looked out at the harsh steely sea, listening to it crash upon the land with a fierce anger. The sky above him wasn't much better; it hinted of snow, its lumpy gray clouds covering what he was sure a promising blue sky.
Closing his eyes he let the smells of the sea and the land wash over him like a shower, letting the wind twist and turn his sandy colored hair, letting it brush its crisp cool touch against his skin. He listened to the world about him, the crashing of the sea against the cliffside, the voices that filled the streets of the village below, and the barking of a dog slowly creeping into his mind. Opening his eyes he glanced behind him at the large black dog bounding towards him. "Sirius." He said to the approaching dog that was quickly changing to the form of a man. "You're crazy for being out here. It's freezing." Sirius said with a shake of his head, pulling his tattered blue velvet coat closer to him and hunching his shoulders forward as he walked towards Remus. "You need a new coat." Remus said with a nod of his head. "I have other things to think about then coats at the moment…I got a letter from Harry. He doesn't sound so well. And from what he says of Ron andcHermione, they aren't doing so great either." Sirius said with a pause, kicking a small pebble of the side of the cliff. The wind whistled by the two old friends, pulling at Sirius's old coat and shaggy hair, playing with Remus's scarf.
"Nobody's doing very well at all Sirius. I thought…I thought it would be over. The pain…I thought it would be gone. But it's still there, like a dull ache." Remus said quietly, staring off into the distance. Resting his hand on his old friend's shoulder Sirius stood beside him for a long while before replying. "Remus it will take years before it's gone. Perhaps for us, and Harry, and the rest order, those emotions, those images, they'll never leave. But we must keep moving forward, rebuild, and move on. Standing here and looking at the past…that won't change anything." Sirius said solemnly, looking at his friend. "I suppose you're right." Remus said with a glance at his friend. "Come on lets go in, it's getting chilly out here." Remus said turning his back on to the sea. "Getting chilly? Excuse me I think we pasted chilly several hours earlier. It's down right freezing now." Sirius said following his friend's retreating back as tiny specs of snow began to drift lazily down to the hard earth. Sirius stopped and looked up at the sky above him. "Now that's just mean." He said to lumpy gray sky. "Sirius you can't blame God for making it snow." Remus said with a laugh, looking back at his friend. "I'm not blaming him, I would just like to know what I ever did to him to make him make it snow on me." Sirius said crossly. "Don't argue with him, you won't win." Remus said with a grin as he began to head towards the small cottage that sat several feet away from them; smoke floating out of its stone chimney. The snow starting to become heavier. "See! He is doing it!" Sirius said as if he'd caught someone with their hand in the cookie jar. Remus just shook his head, intent on getting inside and escaping the snow before it got worse. That was the thing about old friends, friends who knew you like the back of your hand, you could go from the darkness were serious conversations dwelled to the pile of fluff were nonsense sat.
'It's completely white out there." Sirius said incredulously as he peaked out the foggy windows. "No really? I was sure it was pink. It always snows pink, something must be wrong with your eyes Padfoot." Remus said taking a sip from the coffee mug he held in his hands. Sirius turned away from the window and walked over to the two oatmeal colored chairs were Remus sat occupying one. "I didn't want to be the one to tell you this but you're not that funny. In fact your attempts at cynicism are rather pathetic. You should stop all together." Sirius said as he slouched down into the other chair. Remus rolled his eyes at his friend's words. "What did Harry have to say?" Remus said, changing topics. Sirius stared into the fire that blazed merrily before them, lost in thought. "Nothing really. Same stuff as last time, he is coming home for Holiday though, wanted to know if Hermione and Ron could come too…Can they?" Sirius said looking over at Remus questioningly. After the battle Sirius could never bring himself to return to his family home and without an ounce of thought to it, sold it many months ago to a lovely young couple by the name of Pruett, or was it Pratt? Perhaps it was Paisley? He really couldn't remember. "This is yours and Harry's home as well as mine." Remus replied, taking another swig from his mug. "You're a good man Moony." Sirius said simply. That night the two old friends sat for many hours by the fire as the first snow of winter came early that year and quietly blanketed the world in white fluff, sticking to the limbs of the trees and coating the roofs of the village cottages like powdered sugar.
Many miles away, in the town of London, in a small flat near the river Thames, sat a young woman, her dark honey colored head bent over a book she held in her lap, and a very empty black trunk beside her. The dim glow of candles illuminated the room, casting shadows on the pale pink walls; clothes were strewn about the young woman messily, though she seemed not to notice. Her attention focused solely on the inky black words written across the old pages of the book she held in her lap. Hermione Granger was a brave Gryffindor who had never run away from anything. She'd stood and fought next to her best friends, never giving up, faced her fears time and again, and always chased after the light at the end of the tunnel when it was but a spec in the distance. Tonight however, as the wind howled outside the walls of her small flat and snow fell, covering the city of London with a thick blanket of sticky white fluff, Hermione hid away in her bedroom by herself with naught but a book to keep her company.
For the first time in her life Hermione was running away from something. She couldn't take it anymore, the repeating nightmares, every night the same fear built in her heart, naught but despair surrounding her like a heavy cloke in the land of dreams. The scenes blurred by her in a whirlwind of colored emotions, every night she was tossed into the depths of despair, unable to save herself from the nightmarish world around her, terrifying fear clutching her in its cold and clammy grasp. So tonight, she willed herself to stay awake, the familiar surroundings about her doing nothing to ease her angst. If anything they seemed to increase her discomfort for she was alone. Hermione pulled her sleepy eyes away from the book and cast a glance at the clock that hung upon the wall, it read 3:45 a.m. Hermione let out a tired sigh, she still had seven more hours to go till she left. She glanced back at the book, it was one she'd read many times before, none other than Hogwarts A History. Though every time she read it a new chapter was always popping up in it. (She'd still yet to figure out how it did that, and it irked her to no end not knowing.) Setting the book aside and rubbing her sleepy eyes, she let out a small yawn. Standing up slowly she stretched her sore muscles and looked about the room she stood in with distaste. She'd put off packing long enough, always saying she had time. She was to the point were she could no longer put it off, so with a tried mind, filled to the brim with thoughts of no significant matter, she trudged over to the large mahogany chest that held an array of clothes and began to pull out the pieces she wanted to take with her and set them inside the trunk neatly folding them. Moving about her room she slowly picked up the articles of clothing, papers, quills, and other odds and ends that laid scattered on the dark cherry floor about the trunk and packed them away into the compartments of her trunk. With a final look about her she closed the trunk with a hollow sounding click of the lock.
In a blaze of green fire and fit of coughing Harry Potter stumbled out of the fireplace and into the warm sitting room of the cottage. "Harry!" Sirius yelled his voice booming as he walked in the room, startling the disheveled boy-who-lived who lay face down on the wheat colored floor, his jet black hair sticking up in every direction like a confused tourist, streaks of soot marking his face. "Harry my boy you okay?" Sirius said concerned, rushing over to his godson and pulling him up and setting him to rights. "I'm okay, just really bad at that whole thing." Harry said nodding his head towards the fire that had now returned to a bright orange and red tinged fire. "Let me have a look at you. Well my boy, you've gotten taller. And- wait what have you done to your eyebrows?" Sirius said brushing up Harry's bangs that hung messily over his forehead, skirting his scare. "It's nothing." Harry said unconvincingly, brushing away Sirius's hand and trying to cover his brow. "Harry stop it and let me take a look would you?" Sirius said paternally. "My God boy! Have- have you drawn on your eyebrows?" Sirius said incredulously, licking his thumb and whipping away half of Harry's left eyebrow.
Just then the fire once again turned a bright green and withered in the fireplace when the lanky body of Ron Weasley made a much more dignified entrance then the previous man's entrance, his trunk landing next to Harry's on the hearth. "Ron! Good to see you! Have you seen this?" Sirius called over Harry's shoulder to the redhead standing on the hearth and nodding his head towards Harry who stood before him. Harry was beginning to regret coming. A mischievous grin graced Ron's lips as he walked over to the pair. "Oh yes I've seen it. That's a good look for you Harry." Ron said referring to Harry's one and a half magic marker brows. "Sod off Ron." Harry said glaring at the snickering redhead. "What'd you do? Run into a blast ended screwt?" Sirius asked letting go of Harry and standing beside Ron. "I wish." Harry muttered glancing about the room. "Where's Remus?" he said desperately trying to change the subject, anything to delay the humiliation of the truth that was sure to come out. "In his library. And don't change the subject." Sirius said as an after thought as he moved to take a seat in one of two oatmeal colored chairs that sat facing the fireplace, Ron taking the other chair beside him. "So?" Sirius said with a raised brow, signaling for Harry to begin his tale. Ron looked to be enjoying himself immensely as he watched Harry squirm. "Fred and George." Harry said, his magic marker brows furrowed. "Fred and George?" Sirius questioned looking at an amused Ron. "Harry owns them a few gallons and has yet to repay them, so they decided to take his eyebrows as payment for now." Ron said laughing. "I think I'll go put my things upstairs. Come on Ron." Harry said hurrying out of the room pulling his trunk behind him. Ron stood up and pulled out his wand and pointed at his old tarnished black trunk. Without a word the trunk jumped up and began to float out of the room and up the stairs ahead of the two young men. "Show off." Harry said dropping his trunk and copying his friend's movements. "Magic brow." Ron said following Harry out of the room. Sirius stayed in his chair, his laughter floating up the stairs after the two.
"Harry its not that bad! It's not even noticeable. Really." Sirius said unconvincingly trying to hold back his laughter as he moved about the kitchen of the cottage, opening cabinets and pulling out dishes the color of a dusky burnt red and setting them in the round wooden table. "Oh really? Because when we arrived you seemed to notice it." Harry said as he and Ron sat across from each other and started to fill their plates with a verity of colorfully cooked dishes. "Yes well, I'm your godfather. When you were born I'm the one who made sure you had ten toes, fingers, and two eyebrows. So reasonably I'd be shocked to find out I miscounted." Sirius said good-naturedly. "'Arry wut 'ime is 'ermione supposed 'oo be 'ere?" Ron asked as he crammed food into his already stuffed mouth, causing food to fly out of it when he spoke and hitting poor Harry and his magic brows, who sat across from Ron, to be hit in the face with drool drenched food. A look between horror and disgust came across Harry's face, a piece of cornbread sitting comically in the middle of his forehead. "I've been violated." Harry said in a shaky voice.
Hermione quietly and gracefully stepped out of the blazing green fire and into the sitting room of the cozy cottage. She'd been here just once before and fell in love with it. Something about it felt safe, a feeling she'd lost long ago. Setting her trunk gently on the wheat colored floor she gingerly removed her soft lambskin gloves and tucked them into the pocket of her long cloke. The room was just as she remembered it. The walls were the color of a rich silky chocolate, deep and dramatic in coloring, providing a sense of warmth. Two comfy looking overstuffed chairs sat in front of her, facing the tall glazed white mantel above the fireplace behind her, two large windows sat on either side of the fireplace, draped in fabric the color of the sky. Photos in frames of silver with delicate carvings in them dotted the mantle, a vase of bright yellow dragon snaps sat in a clear square cut vase in the center. Hermione looked at them in wonder, a slight smile played across her lips as she smelt their sweet fragrance. Turning around Hermione moved through the room, glancing at the photos that hung on the walls, the people in them smiling back and waving silently. Two large mahogany bookcases sat on either side of the large wooden archway that led to the foyer, their shelves holding books of different kinds bound in anything from leather to fabric of the deepest greens and golds. Two large couches of cream with sat facing one another, their backs against the walls in front of the bookcases, leaving just enough room to shimmy in between the bookcase and couch to find a book. Pillows of sky blue and chocolate rested on the couches, a few tossed upon the floor hitting of a pillow fight sometime before.
Passing through the archway she glanced across the foyer to the large white closed doors that she knew to lead to a quiet study. Hermione listened to the laughter and commotion that came from the kitchen that lay at the end of the hall. Her mind racing with ideas of what she'd see once she entered the room. It had been a year since she had last seen them all, she'd be lying if she didn't admit to herself that she was nervous. Her stomach fluttered with excitement. Hermione walked quietly so as not to alert them to her presence, leaning against the edge of the archway she peeking into the room, her heart lifting at when she saw them. Harry and Ron had both gotten taller, the latter taller then the former, his body still just as lanky as it was a year ago. Harry's hair still was the color of coal and sticking out at all angles, his round glasses sat on his nose, a smudge of soot running down the side of his slightly unshaven jaw, and his eyebrows looking oddly dark and crooked. Ron's hair was still as bright as a new penny and as shaggy as a dog, covering his blue eyes. He was of course shoving food into his mouth. Hermione giggled a little as she watched Ron point with his fork at the ceiling and then at Harry. What he was trying to convey to a disgusted looking Harry she had no idea. Suddenly a wooden spoon hit Ron over the head, the owner of the hand, which held the mighty fighting spoon, belonging to one Sirius Black.
Hermione watched them talk amongst themselves, even though they fought it was playful. Sirius looked younger, his tattoos still covering his hands and peeking out from his dark red shirt and green waistcoat. His dark brown hair was silky and shaggy and streaked with silver, parted on the side, his bangs were long and swept to the side, so of course they fell roguishly into his eyes, giving him a mischievous look that only caused him to be more endearing. Hermione giggled at their antics. "'Ermione!" Ron yelled dropping his fork and struggling to swallow the rather large bite of food he held in his mouth, as he caught sight of her slim form. "Ron don't talk with your mouth full." Hermione chided gently as Ron quickly moved from his seat to wrap her in a hug. "Hey, hey! Move aside, I haven't seen her either." Harry said elbowing Ron out of the way so that he could hug her next. "I'm happy to see both of you." Hermione said laughing as she hugged Harry tightly. "Harry? What happened to your eyebrows?" Hermione asked pulling away to get a better look at Harry's face. "Nothing." Harry said peevishly rolling his eyes. "I'll tell ya later." Ron whisper in her ear with a wink and grin, then walked back to the table and took his seat, were he began to stuff his face with food once more. It was slightly disgusting. "Good to see you again Hermione." Sirius said, moving behind Harry, a smile on his face, and his hands in the pockets of his dark pants. "Sirius!" Hermione said excitedly moving away from Harry to so that she could hug him. "It's so good to see you! How've you been? Well I hope?" Hermione said looking into Sirius's kind dark eyes that, for the first time, seemed to be at peace. "I'm brilliant love. And you?" Sirius said, like the others wrapping her in a tight hug. Hermione hesitated for a moment. "Well." She said simply. Sirius knew instantly that she was lying. "Later." She said quietly so that Ron and Harry wouldn't ask questions. Sirius nodding his head in understanding, pulling away his eyes searching hers, concern blooming in his eyes. "Come take a seat and grab a bite to eat. These two have already eaten half! And once Remus gets down here there's no telling what will be left. If any." Sirius said good naturedly pulling out a chair for Hermione to seat in.
The four figures sat about the round cherry wood table in mismatched chairs all painted a pale green, talking and sharing tales of their lives from the past year with one another, their bellies finally warmed with sweet drinks and tasty foods of every kind imaginable. "Sirius, where is Remus?" Hermione asked, setting her teacup down. She'd long ago noticed the absence of her old professor. "He's fine love, just resting. Full moon last night and all." Sirius said gently. "Oh. Well hopefully he'll feel better soon and we'll get to see him." Hermione said as she pushed back a lock of her dark honey colored hair that had escaped the simple French twist she and put it in earlier. "Oh I'm sure you will. You were always his favorite student." Sirius said with a laugh at the two identical looks of indigence that Harry and Ron wore at his words. "What were we then?" Ron asked defensively. "A pain in the ass?" Hermione offered helpfully with an innocent look over the edge of her teacup. "Ha-ha. You're so funny." Ron said sarcastically.
"You were all good students. Hermione was the brightest though. Harry tried the hardest to do his best, and Ron…well you did try your hardest…to avoid any work what so ever." Came a deep calming voice filled with mirth from under the archway.
