2.Down by the river. Part I

'…and tonight we'll have a great match: the always interestingThundelawa Thunderers versus Woologong Warriors.This match has been catalogue as one of the most dangerous Quidditch matches in England because its players, but especially its supporters are well known for being extremely violent. Remember that this year theThunderersare not getting so lucky since they've lost every home match. They couldn´t even beat theChudley Cannons who are amazingly approaching the top three. We'll see what happens tonight. Meanwhile, theCannonsare preparing their match tomorrow against –'

The bedroom door was opened and a hand turned off the radio. The owner of that hand, a 43 year-old woman, looked around clearly looking for someone. Her eyes stopped at a point where an 8 year-old boy was seating, his arms around his legs, his sight outside of the window far away from his place, thinking about who knows what and apparently, unaware of that new silence.

'Sirius, I've told you ten minutes ago that we were going to be late if we didn't hurry up! You didn't have to do anything! You didn't even need to prepare your things, Kreatcher has already done it for you, so I can't understand why you're still here!' she approached her son 'are you listening to me, Sirius?'

The boy turned to look at his mother 'I don't wanna go…' he whispered looking at his mom's grey eyes, so much like his.

'Nonsense' replied the woman 'uncle Cygnus and aunt Druella are very happy to share their house with us for these two weeks. And you know that your cousins are very kind with you' Sirius was not so sure about that last piece of information.

'I don't wanna go…' he repeated.

But Wallburga Black was not listening. She seized her son's arm and pulled him out of the room. They went downstairs to find the other members of the Black family – Orion, the father, and Regulus, the younger son – already dressed up and prepared for the journey.

'Three minutes for the Portkey.' said Mr. Black in a quite irritated voice. He was staring at a plastic banana on the kitchen table and he looked as though he enjoyed that trip as much as his elder son.

'But why can't we go by floo?' asked Sirius innocently.

'I've told you' replied his mother, anxiously. She didn't stop staring at the banana, as though it might disappear without them 'The chimney communication is extremely weak with that part of England, we cannot do it that way. And I wouldn't want to lose your brother on same strange southern village.' Sirius actually wouldn't mind losing Regulus for a while.

Three minutes later the four Blacks were holding the plastic banana and after several shivering moments they landed on a grassy area. But they were not alone. A tall black-eyed woman with long dark brown hair and her 16 year-old daughter, a girl with an extremely pale skin and her mother's dark eyes, stood in front of them. Mother and daughter were standing up in the middle of a big mountainous ground, about 2 inches from where the arrived family had just landed and 10 from a river that appeared to be quite cold.

Wallburga was the first to stand up and then she helped Regulus and Sirius.

The dark-eyed woman approached Wallburga 'I'm glad to see you, darling. Your things have just arrived in time and good conditions, I'm sure it's thanks to that house elf of yours.' Then, she looked at the rest of the family 'so we're all ready, right? Let's get inside, then'

'Thank you very much, Druella' answered the arrived woman. 'come on, boys.'

While Regulus immediately followed his mom's orders, Sirius felt more reluctant to do so. He looked around hoping there was another place more interesting to go. But, since he did not find it, he had no choice but to go behind his mother's steps.

-x-x-x-x-

For Sirius, life at Cygnus' and Druella's holiday house was as exhaustingly boring as in Grimmauld Place.

He was sick and tired of the tedious boy he had for brother, who was constantly trying to imitate every single move Sirius did but at the same time, who tried hard not to annoy Wallburga – things which were a bit of a contradiction in themselves. He also seemed to enjoy the company of the cruel Bellatrix and her sister Narcisa, their cousins. Sirius, on the other hand, did not like them at all, in particular Bellatrix, that 16 year-old pale girl who had an strange concept of the word fun. And since Sirius favourite member of the family, his medium cousin Andromeda, was spending those two weeks on a trip with some friends, he found no interest in staying at home whatsoever.

So, on his second day in that torturous conditions he decided to get outside of the house for a walk. He did not even ask his mother for permission. He did not want it, he did not need it. Besides, he was sure she was not going to let him go, at least alone. He had just arrived to the last step on the stairs, and he was about to move toward the front door when…

'Sirius, where are you going?' asked Wallburga from behind a door.

'I'm going outside. For a walk' he turned round to face her. He did not want to be afraid of her. And right when he thought she was about to argue back and make him stay at home, his aunt Druella appeared next to his mother to help him.

'It's ok, Wallbu. There's no need for the boy to spend the whole day in here. There's nothing bad outside, you know, he can stay on the surroundings. Unless he crosses that hill there, where the Mugles live…' she pronounced that last bit as though she was spiting 'but I'm sure he won't do it, isn't it that right, boy?'

He nodded innocently. After smiling kindly to his mother, he turned round again and started to walk towards the front door before his aunt – who was now talking about how horrible the Muggles were – could change her mind.

Sirius did not exactly understand what was so bad about those Muggles. He had heard about them ever since he remembered, and he knew that back in London, he and his parents and brother lived in a Muggle neighbourhood. Actually, he had seen many of them quite often from his bedroom's window, and he couldn't really tell what was wrong about them or what the danger could be. Whenever he had asked that to his mother or father, he just understood that the only difference was that Muggles couldn't make magic. However the way their parents talked about the perfection of the Black gift (that is to say, the fact that they have been wizards for so long) seemed as though they were practically royal.

Sirius' smile changed into the most malicious grin an 8 year-old boy could produce the moment he stepped outside of the house. If there was something he liked about his family was how much he enjoyed when they get really angry about his misbehaviour. He really wanted to discover how the Muggle zone was, and the fact that his mother didn't want him to draw near the non-magical part was definitely significant to make him desire to approach it even more.

He started to walk rapidly away from the house. After crossing the cold river, little hills came into view. It was rather clear that there was a secret separation between that part in which the house was in – the magical zone – and the other side of the nearest mountain. It wasn't a visible obstruction but a sensed one he clearly felt when he walked into it. He guessed Muggles could not see it either, but they may thought there was nothing else beyond the top of that mountain.

The Muggle zone was… not that unusual. Actually, if it hadn't been for the thing he felt when he crossed the magical barrier he wouldn't have said that he had arrived to a different place.

Birds sang and the stream produced a beautiful sound whenever its water crashed against a rock. Trees, heathers, bushes, flowers and all kinds of plants encircled that little river and its stones. The green gamut that was so scarce near his aunt and uncle's house was the uppermost colour there.

Sirius liked that place where he could find comfort, safety and, above all, quietness. He moved carelessly around for a couple of minutes until he found the right place to sit down by the river.

But his break ended quite soon when suddenly a noise came from behind him. Somebody was trying to arrive to that same point where Sirius was sitting. He did not want to look back for he knew that it could be his mother – or even worse, Bellatrix – but when this someone spoke its voice had nothing to do with any Black.

'I used to sit there, it's such a nice place… I guess I should have left a sign telling it was my seat.'

Even though those words seemed a little bit of a threat, the sweet and innocent voice that produced them gave the impression to be nothing like that.

'But anyway, we can share it'

And, as she said that, a skinny blonde girl attempted to sit next to him. She seemed a bit clumsy as she did so, trying graceless to fit the right stone so she could prevent herself for falling. Finally she managed to sit down and so Sirius was able to see her properly. She was young, around Sirius age, and quite small. Her hair was blond and short, and she had freckles all over her pointed nose and her cheeks. She was wearing a blue sleeveless dress (definitely a muggle dress), and she was looking at him – undoubtedly, she had the weirdest eyes Sirius had ever seen: her right eye was brightly blue, whereas the left one was emerald green with a few little blue dots. Sirius, unable to stand her staring at him, turned his head to look at the water. She did the same and said:

'Beautiful, isn't it? I like throwing little stones into the water, you know, so they do that flip-flop thingy over the surface' she waved her hand in three curves as she spoke 'but I can't never actually do it… you know what? I think such things just happen in films.'

She then started to talk about those films and how someone did amazing things on them, or for them, or to them, or whatever she was talking about. But Sirius was not listening because he had just realized that he had met a Muggle, the first one he had ever seen so close and definitely, the first one who had ever talked to him. It was so obvious that she was so gracelessly unmagical – or maybe unmagically graceless – that Sirius understood it straight away. But what was the danger in it? He found the girl a bit clumsy but nice, though.

'Who are you?' she suddenly asked.

"I'm a wizard and I'm talking to a Muggle. I bet my mom would've had a heart attack if she saw me right now."

Instead of that, he simply replied. 'Sirius Black'

'Sirius?' she seemed surprised. 'Is that a name?'

'Actually' he answered in the best adult-like way he could come up with 'It's the name of a star. Sirius is the brightest star on the sky.'

'So your parents are astronomers?' the girl looked interested.

'Not exactly, they just like stars.' Sirius lied. He did not want to explain that he was named after the brightest star because of his family's pretentiousness.

'Weird.' She then added 'I think I've never seen you before. My name is Kelly Bolton. I'm on holidays in this village but I'm from Coventry, do you know Coventry? You're not from here, are you?'

'No, I'm from London and I don't know Coventry, sorry.'

'LONDON!' shouted Kelly, exited 'that's amazing! I love it every time I go! You normally use the Tube, don't you?'

'I… actually I don't. I don't use it.' Sirius was confused. Speaking to a Muggle was more difficult than he imagined. What was that "Tee-you" thing she was talking about? Did she expect him to understand that word? He guessed she did. 'Do you want to play a game?' he asked before the girl could start interrogating again. But actually, he did fancy playing with Kelly.

'Yeah, great!' she seemed enthusiastic with the idea of playing with that boy 'why don't we try to build a stone bridge to cross the river from one side to the other?'

Sirius had never imagined himself playing with a Muggle girl. He had spent the first years of his existence sharing games with his brother until he realized how boring he was. That happened less than a year ago and since then he had wandered alone, annoying his mom, plotting the worst jokes for Kreatcher, but basically spending the time with no one else but himself.

And that thing that was happening there was very, very different. Not only had he found a person with whom he really wanted to play, the most important point was that the girl was a Muggle.

For about a week, Sirius spent every morning and every evening with Kelly – he only went back to the family house to eat and to sleep so they didn't really think he had vanished.

On the riverbank Sirius and Kelly laughed and talked, and built, but they also spent time running and throwing stones into the cold water.

The girl was filled with enthusiasm with the challenge of building a stone bridge. However no matter how hard she tried, how many strategies she used, her monument was everything but a proper bridge. Sirius, on the other hand, was about to arrive to the other side of the river by the third day, but seeing how badly Kelly was doing, he decided to destroy half of it in a moment the girl was not looking.

But in spite of the destruction, Kelly was conscious Sirius was doing much better than her.

'How come you're so good?' she asked on the fourth day, when she had only put three stones together while Sirius' bridge was becoming bigger and longer.

The boy hesitated. 'Well, my father is…a constructionist, so I guess it's in the family blood'

'Constructionist? You mean builder?' Kelly had stopped to stare at him.

'Well, he's a kind of builder…' Ouch, how strange Muggle words were! 'But, you know, just a type. Constructionist'

Kelly didn't look very convinced but it seemed as though she didn't really cared how weird he was.

On the following day – the fifth – Kelly gave up. She admitted she had lost and she asked if she could help Sirius finish his bridge. And he loved it.

The morning Sirius stepped out of the house to meet Kelly for the "official inauguration" of their bridge, he felt a peculiar sensation. He put it down to the emotion of their achievement, but the truth was that he had the impression he was being followed on his way to the Muggle riverbank. Since he couldn't see anyone else and he was about to arrive, he soon got rid of the idea. Especially the moment he saw how bright and big Kelly's smile was that morning.

'Today is my birthday' Kelly couldn't hide her excitement 'the 10th of August and Kelly Bolton turns 9. How does it feel to be nine?'

'I don't know, I'm gonna be nine in a couple of months'

'I am the older in here.' Her smile became even bigger. 'Cool'

'So' there was only a stone left for the bridge to be perfect, the last stone. They had already selected it the day before. Sirius leaned down to take it. 'It's up to you to place the last stone' he smiled kindly 'I think this is a good present… the inauguration of our bridge'

Kelly's eyes, normally filled with brightly enthusiasm were more colourful than ever looking at the round stone she was holding in one of her tiny and bony hands. She extended the stone towards Sirius 'we both do it'.

And there she was, happily sharing her birthday present with her new friend. And there he was, as delighted as her, holding both of Kelly's hands and touching the stone with his cold fingers. After placing it in its correct position they stood up and Kelly couldn't stop jumping all around until she ended up in his arms…embracing him. Suddenly, their distance almost disappeared, their heads were cheek to cheek. They separated a little bit to look at each other and then… and then they got closer… and thus they shared their sweet and innocent first kiss.