thank you PadFootCc and tear-of-the-night for reveiwing! you guys totally made my day/night. i'll try to keep updating in a timely manner, but it'll probably be more of a weekly thing.
ONWARD!
We sat in companionable silence for a few minutes after that, both of us drinking when we felt the need and smiling when we felt the urge. Finally he pushed his half-empty goblet away.
"Let's go for a walk, kitty."
I raised a scandalized eyebrow at him. "Kitty?"
"A puma is a cat. Come walk!" He tugged at my hand.
"Okay doggy, I'll walk you." He rolled his eyes at me.
"Very funny." He pulled me towards the back of the pub.
"You started it!" I tripped on someone's shoe. "If we're going for a walk, don't you think we ought to go out front to the street?"
He stopped and stared at me. "You've never been to Diagon Alley?"
"Obviously. This is my first night in England. And I didn't get much tourism done today."
"That's right, you were having a bad day." He started walking again, continuing towards the back. "You never did tell me about that, little Puma."
"You can't just call me Puma, can you Padfoot?" We walked out the back door and he grinned at me.
"My little Puma. Of course not." He kissed me again, melting me. "Close your eyes."
"Why?" I was suspicious. I was in a back alley with a member of the Marauders who was also calling me his little puma. I didn't entirely trust the situation.
"Trust me." I eyed him. "You can always use your vicious puma skills against me if I lead you astray." I closed my eyes, smiling. "Vicious puma skills" was an understatement. But he didn't need to know that.
"Something's funny. I plan to find out what it is later," I heard him say. Then I heard what sounded like the shifting of bricks. Sirius' hands slid in mine. "Follow me, but keep your eyes shut."
I followed him, my eyelids being flooded with what seemed like fake light. "Open up." I opened my eyes. "Welcome, my little Puma, to Diagon Alley."
0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0
Because it was so late, there was no one around, and all the stores were closed. But Sirius took me window shopping, telling me stories about when he first came to Diagon Alley for his school supplies, and how he kept coming back every summer for Quidditch. He told me that he met James in the Quidditch shop and how they were immediate friends, and that the first view of Remus was in the bookstore, though they didn't really meet until the train ride. He told me stories about Hogwarts, about the Marauders and their endless pranks. He even told me that there are things the teachers still don't know about that the Marauders did.
Eventually we ended up at Ollivander's, which was the only shop open that late. Sirius told me that Ollivander kept his shop open 24/7 nowadays, in case of an emergency. He asked me if I wanted to go inside, but I was already pulling open the door.
Back at home, there are wand makers all over the place. And some of them are just amazing. But even in the States Ollivander's is known to be the best, no questions asked. When I was younger I always wanted to visit his store, and here I was, with no one around, and the perfect opportunity.
The shop was dimly lit, but it was warm. Sirius slid his hand back into mine and pulled out his wand. "Dangerous times," he muttered.
A rolling sound startled both of us, and an old man with crazy hair on a ladder slammed into the end of his shelves. "Mr. Black, an American?"
"This is Rya." Ollivander stepped slowly down his ladder, staring at me. I was intimidated.
He gaze shifted to Sirius as he stepped up to his counter. "Out late, are we?"
Sirius swallowed hard. "Thought we'd go for a walk. Rya wanted to see your shop, when we passed it."
He looked at me again. "I…well… Back home, even, they say you're the best, at making wands and making wands that choose properly. I was…just wondering…" I trailed off and he smiled.
"You wonder if I can give you a better wand than the one you've got."
"Well, yes. I mean, it's not a bad wand, it just…doesn't always work the way I want it to. It's a bit…retarded, I guess." He held out his hand, and I placed my wand in his palm. He stared at it for a moment, and handed it back.
"We'll see what I can find." He disappeared into his shelves of wand boxes.
I leaned into Sirius, exhaling heavily. "Is he always that…?"
"Overpowering?"
"Yeah."
"Yes."
"You may want to sit," came Ollivander's voice, from down a completely different row than the one he left through.
Sirius pulled me towards the one chair next to the door and sat down, patting his lap. I laughed softly and sat on his lap. His arms wrapped around my waist and I leaned my head against his, wrapping my arms around his.
"It feels like we're dating," I muttered.
"We are. Didn't I tell you?" he said jokingly.
"I'm serious."
"No, actually, I'm Sirius."
I rolled my eyes. "Goofball."
"Rya?"
"Hm?"
"Will you go out with me?"
I sat straight and looked at him. He was smiling, but he wasn't kidding.
"We just met," I said.
"We don't act like it." I thought about how we were sitting, how we had been acting. He was right.
"I live a thousand miles away from here."
"Quit looking for reasons to say no when your heart says yes." He pulled me towards him again, taking one of my hands and kissing it as I leaned back. I smiled. "Besides, you are a witch and I am a wizard. Magic eliminates miles in minutes."
"Nice alliteration."
"Thanks. Now give me the answer your heart is giving you."
I hesitated for only a minute. "Alright." He kissed my hand again. I smiled.
Ollivander came back then. "Rya?" I stood up and met him at his counter. He placed three boxes in front of me and told me to try all three. The first, a twelve-inch willow with a unicorn hair core, made me explode the shelves next to Sirius. He yelled and jumped in surprise, making me laugh. The second, a six-inch birch with unicorn core, broke the chair Sirius and I had been sitting on. The third, however, was quite different. An eight-inch oak with a phoenix tail feather core, carved with swirls and a handle sporting a paw print at the bottom, glowed when I lifted it. White sparks lit up the tip, while a shimmering black surrounded me. Black was the color of my house at school. I was amazed. My old wand had just thrown out a few black sparks.
"I thought so." Ollivander put the other two wands behind him. "You can trade in your old wand, young miss, and take this for free."
I gaped at him for a moment. "Oh no, I could never…this is…no I'll pay for it. This wand is worth so much more than my battered old thing." I went for my purse. Sirius pulled my old wand out of my pocket and handed it to Ollivander.
"Let's let the expert tell us if you're battered old thing is worth anything," Sirius said, and Ollivander smiled at him before examining my wand. He held it up to at least four different lights, ran his hands along it, drew it close to his eyes, even tried a few spells.
"A good cleaning, and a few minor repairs, and this wand will be perfect for re-sale to someone who truly fits it." I began to protest that I would pay for the repairs then. "No need to worry, Rya. Your debt to Ollivander's does not exist." He stepped back into the shadows of his shelves, disappearing, taking my old wand with him. I was speechless.
"Come on, little Puma," Sirius whispered in my ear, taking me by the waist and leading me to the door. "The old man has work to do. Let it be."
Once we got outside, the light of the moon struck me and brought me back to reality. "I can't believe he did that for me," I said.
"Why?" Sirius asked, holding my hand and leading me back to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Well, he's never seen me before. I didn't need a new wand, I wasn't going to school, my old wand worked perfectly fine—"
"Except that it was slightly retarded. According to you."
"Well, that was only sometimes. But still. I'm a foreigner, and he just gave me this gorgeous wand for free." My new wand, still shimmering from newness, was glowing in the moonlight.
"It wasn't for free. He gets to examine American craftsmanship now. Plus, he got a new wand to sell without going through all the work of actually making it." Sirius led me through the arch back into the pub.
"He still has to revise it and fix it and make it presentable!" I stopped. "Can we please go back so I can pay him?"
He chuckled. "He won't let you, little Puma. Trust me." He pulled me forward again. "Take it as a random act of kindness and accept it. There's no use in worrying about it."
"I'm not worrying." I said, pouting. We stopped in front of the stools we had been sitting on. The pub had emptied considerably since we left.
"Liar." He pulled me to him, kissing me and sliding his tongue in. After a minute the barkeep cleared his throat loudly. I blushed furiously and we pulled apart. I didn't want him to leave, but this felt like goodnight.
"You should stay here," I said, playing with his shirt. He covered my hand with his.
"Why don't I just stay with you?" I looked quickly up at him. "No, I didn't mean it that way. Just, sleeping. No more." I relaxed and hugged him, letting him wrap his arms around me. I felt so safe in his arms…
He kissed the top of my head. "It's late, little Puma."
I pulled away and tilted my face to look up at him. We kissed. "I guess we ought to go to bed then, dear Padfoot." I smiled at him and led him upstairs to the room I had rented. I opened the door easily and let him in. It was a single room, with a twin size bed. The window faced a Muggle street, filled with Muggles that didn't even know this pub existed.
"Not bad," he said.
I dug into my bags, finding my pajamas at the very bottom. "I'm going to go change in the bathroom…I suppose you have nothing else to wear?"
"Nah, I sleep in my boxers any way," he said. He looked up at me grinning. "If that's okay, of course," he added.
"Well…we'll just be sleeping, so it's not like it matters." I grinned wickedly at the surprised look on his face before turning and walking out the door. I wouldn't say it to him, not yet, but I was looking forward to seeing him in nothing but his boxers.
When I returned, he had both pillows under his head and was already under the covers, as if asleep. I could tell by the smile on his face that he was faking it. I walked up to the side of the bed, ripped a pillow out from under him and whacked him on the head with it. He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me on the bed with him, throwing me down next to him and leaning over me. I had the pillow in my left hand, hanging off the side of the bed. His hair hung around his handsome face, and he was grinning madly.
"Meanie," I said. He was shirtless, and damn sexy too.
"You hit me," he replied, still grinning but trying to sound upset.
"You stole my pillow!" I said, attempting to hit him with it again. Instead he caught my wrist and pushed it back on the bed before the pillow ever made contact.
We stared at each other for a moment. My right hand moved up his toned arm over his shoulder to his face, pushing back some of his gorgeous hair. "You're hot," I said suddenly. He grinned. I blushed and pulled my hand away.
"I could say the same to you, little puma." I blushed even deeper. "And the fact that you blush every time I compliment you is absolutely adorable." I continued to blush. He laughed, a deep, heartthrob-worthy laugh. He kissed me, hard, and rolled away.
After we finally got situated, we both fell asleep smiling.
