Chapter 3: The Juggernaut of the Babbling World

A/N:

Yes, I did make a tiny screw-up in the last chapter with Willow saying Sirius' name, but it's been edited- thanks for looking out faithful readers! Let's just say that Nyquil does funny things : )

Also, thanks SOOO much to everyone who has reviewed and/or read! I really appreciate it! I totally agree- we *seriously* need some Sirius/Willow love ;) heehee

Willow sat in the in the cozy breakfast nook connected to the kitchen and took another sip of her hot tea. Her nerves were calming down and she was reminded of the fact that she had been so worried about her intruder earlier that she did not have a proper meditative walk. That would have to be remedied after dinner.

Speaking of dinner… Her eyes kept straying to Padfoot as he moved around the kitchen. His shower seemed to have done wonders, thank goodness. He wore new pants, but still did not have a shirt. Typically, her inner hostess would have offered to remedy that, but…

She bit back a grin. With his hair still wet, occasional drops of moisture would fall onto his back or his chest, thus her lack of haste in helping out his wardrobe at the moment.

Okay, maybe she did find him teensy bit attractive… Not that it mattered, anyways.

Besides all prettiness aside, she was still perplexed by the man. Obviously, he had not told her his real name, which was rather suspicious itself. Add in a strange creature, references to words like 'muggle' and 'wizarding community', and the fact that he used a different kind of magic, well, color her intrigued.

Willow went into research gal mode as she watched him subtlety. She presumed that he must be a 'wizard' from this 'wizarding community', although Willow had never heard any reference to such things. There were witches and warlocks, but not wizards. Except for in the Lord of the Rings, and this guy was too young and attractive to be Gandalf.

His shabby appearance and nervous behavior earlier indicated that he had been living outside and away from people for a long time. But why? Was someone after him? And why would someone be after him?

She bit her lip in frustration. Her natural tendency when faced with the unknown was to learn all about it - and she disliked not knowing.

Of course, she *could* just ask him… But something in him seemed broken and she was unsure if he would truthfully answer any questions just yet.

Besides… she knew what it was like to be broken. No, she wouldn't push him. Not yet. Her gut was telling her that much.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Sirius knew he had a silly grin on his face, but he didn't really care. He was cooking - actually cooking! He hadn't been able to make his own food in a kitchen in thirteen years!

Of course, he had never really known how to cook in the first place, always leaving it to James' mom or Lily or a house elf. And he certainly was never taught to cook in the Muggle way!

But he knew how to read and figured he was faking it well so far. He had just finished mixing together the mashed potato mix that Willow had left and now put it on the stove. The box had said to keep the pot on the stove until the water came to a 'rising boil'. Peering at the controls, he turned the one onto 'High' and saw the wires underneath the pot light up.

Turning, he grabbed the box of pasta sitting out and dumped it into another pot filled with water. Again, he put the control on 'High' because he figured the sooner it cooked, the better. His stomach was positively growling at this point.

When he had finished his tasks he asked, "Willow? I had a pair of extra trousers in my sack but I'm afraid my shirt and my other pair of trousers are quite dirty. Might there be a place where I can wash them?"

She raised her head, having looked deep in thought while staring at her tea, and nodded. "Sure. There's a washing machine and dry in the basement. Make yourself at home." She smiled sweetly and Sirius felt himself return it. A shower, fresh clothes, and a real dinner - This was the best day he'd had since escaping Hogwarts at the beginning of the summer.

"Thank you." He made his own cup of tea and sat across from Willow. "For everything. I don't deserve it."

His chest tightened at his words. He truly didn't feel deserving of any kindness. For thirteen years he had lived with the guilt that because of him Peter had been made Secret-Keeper and not him, and with it came the deaths of his two friends. Although he felt a bit better by at least avenging his friends by outing Peter's true loyalty in front of Remus and Harry, his heart still felt heavy.

Her head cocked to the side and a stray strand of hair fell across her eyes. He was tempted, rather irrationally so, to push it back for her, but she did so herself.

"Why do you say such a thing?" she inquired softly.

Sirius' jaw tightened and he looked out the bay window. "I- It's a long story." He stayed silent, unwilling to go any further. Even if he felt like talking about it - which he did *not* at all - he couldn't tell her. Likely she would turn him in or something. He knew even the Muggle authorities had his wanted poster, although they didn't advertise it as often anymore since so much time had passed.

Willow nodded. "I get that. I do. Long stories tend to make up my life. But, well," she shrugged. "If you ever want to talk about it, you can. To me. I've been told that I'm a good listener when I'm not doing my infamous babble."

Sirius let out a barking laugh. This woman was definitely humorous, albeit strange. He was still confused about her outburst earlier when he found her both crying and laughing, and then rambling about not being crazy. He sensed that she probably had her own version of dementors chasing her.

"You babble is infamous?" he asked with a grin.

She laughed and covered her eyes with her hands. "As if you hadn't noticed already, Padfoot.

Strange how he found himself relaxed in his seat, conversing with her like it was a normal occurrence.

"Well, true, but I had no idea it was so infamous. I may need your autograph, Willow," he teased.

Instantly her hands dropped and her face darkened. "Trust me, you don't want my autograph," she said in a low, soft voice with faraway eyes.

Sirius' spine straightened and he was at a loss for words. What had he said wrong? He let out a defeated sigh. He was such a sodding idiot and obviously couldn't last five minutes in a normal conversation. Here she was, a perfectly nice and attractive young woman, letting him, a dirty wanted murderer, into her home and he had the nerve to upset her? Merlin, he *was* an idiot.

"I'm sorry if I offended you."

She didn't respond right away and just took a long sip of her tea, eyes staring out the window. Finally she turned them back to him. "It's not you, please don't mind me. Crazy, remember?" she responded with a weak smile as she pointed to her temple.

He gave her a smile of his own and reached across the table to grab her hand. "Hey, don't forget. I'm the dirty homeless man that smells like dog and who also happens to be crazy sometimes. So I'm not judging."

He was pleased to note that the sadness left her eyes and her smile looked more sincere. "True. But at least you don't smell or look bad anymore. So points for you," she offered.

A smirk formed at her words. "That's good to hear. Especially to hear you say I don't look bad, which much therefore mean that I look good," he said with a wink. Alright, perhaps flirting was not the right thing to do at the moment, but Sirius couldn't leave that hanging there. He found that the more he talked, the more he felt his old mannerisms return. And the Sirius of old was quite the ladies man.

Willow pulled her hand away from his and smoothed her hair back behind her ears. "That isn't what I meant, you know that," she said with rolled eyes, although her cheeks seemed to pinken. "Oh, not that I mean to say you are ugly or anything, because that would just be rude of me. I just meant that, yay, you are no longer the dog-man with your smells and looks. And…" She trailed off and smiled.

"You know, it's really just best for you to cut me off when I start to babble. Because once I get going, I can't stop. Xander calls me the Juggernaut of the Babbling world."

"Who's Xander? And what is a Juggernaut?" Sirius asked, amused by her reaction.

"Ah, well, Xander's my- my best friend," she replied hesitatingly. "From back home. And the Juggernaut is some comic book character, but I've never paid attention to that stuff."

Sirius had to stop himself from frowning. After all, it was not like he had any reason to… But he just didn't like the idea of this Xander guy. She may have said he was her best friend, but with the way she hesitated he knew there was a story somewhere. Was this Xander bloke her boyfriend? She was obviously a Yank, judging by her accent. Did he break her heart and she retreated here? Or was she here on earth witch business and missed him terribly?

He mentally shook himself. He just met the bird, she was far too young for him, and he really had no reason to wonder about her romantic life.

"Back home? Where's that?" he asked casually.

"California."

"Miss it?"

Willow bit her lip and Sirius felt like kicking himself. "Sorry, forget I asked. I'm obviously in sore need of expanding my conversational skills past just talking to a hippogriff every day."

"Hippogriff?" she asked with a confused smile, appearing content to overlook his verbal snafu.

"That's what Buckbeak is, a hippogriff."

"Really?" He nodded. "Wow. I think I've heard about those in Greek mythology or something, but I had no idea they were real. How'd you get one?"

Now Sirius was the one to feel awkward. "Uh, a friend gave him to me. Sorta, anyways. Hippogriffs are very particular animals and don't just let anyone ride them. In fact, you have to-"

But he stopped speaking when he heard a hissing noise emitting from the stove. "Oh bollocks!" He jumped up and rushed over to snatch the two pots off the stove top. The mashed potatoes had come to a rising boil alright - they rose up and over the pot. The pasta wasn't as bad, but he realized all the noodles were stuck together now.

He felt Willow approach and look over his shoulder. "Hmm. Well." She giggled. "Guess you don't cook much, do you?"

Sirius frowned. "Well, no, actually." If possible, it seemed that she laughed harder. "It's not quite that funny, you know," he chastised, but in truth he found it amusing to see her laugh at his cooking attempt. She seemed like the kind of woman who didn't laugh much anymore.

"I know, it's not that funny," she said between laughs. "It's just, this completely reminded me of the one time I let my friend Buffy try to cook for me." Willow calmed herself and smiled up at him. "Didn't your mom ever teach you to stir the noodles, or have you just been living in a cave for the past ten years?"

He winced, on both accounts of her words. His mother never taught him much besides the fact that Blacks were practically bloody royalty and that he was a traitorous, lousy son. She certainly had no time to teach him anything worth of value. As for living in a cave for ten years… She was more right then she knew.

"Oh, Goddess, I'm sorry," she declared with wide eyes. "Obviously I found you in a cave and I totally should not judge you on your living style, I'm so sorry." She sighed deeply and gave him a sorrowful look. "Forgive me?"

He shrugged and then smiled, wanting to make her feel at ease. "You have already forgiven many of my verbal mistakes. Of course, Willow."

"Good, I'm glad. How about, since we both are so not the cooking types today, we just put in a frozen pizza?"

Sirius had no idea what that was, but he was more than happy to stop his cooking attempts. "That sounds like a bloody wonderful idea."

So, what doth thou thinkest? Reviews are always lovely ; )

I know not much has happened yet, but stick with it. I've read too many Willow or Buffy HP x-overs where love and romance happen asap and I'm trying to go for something more believable here.

Juggernaut -- Mutant from the X-Men universe who is physically unstoppable once in motion-- .org/wiki/Juggernaut_(comics)