DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of Harry Potter.
Chapter III: A Changing Position"So, Harry," Sirius said affectionately as he walked into the kitchen. "Who won the game last night?"
"I don't know," Harry replied, looking up from the kitchen table, where he was watching the Quidditch team zoom around the photo in the Arabic Cairo Post. "I can't read yet. I just like watching the pictures." Sirius laughed and ruffled his hair.
Adam leaned over from across the table and pulled the newspaper towards him. Studying the photo carefully, he said, "It might be France."
"Let's see," Sirius said, looking over Adam's shoulder. "Yeah, I think that's France. I'll see if I can't find an English newspaper somewhere today, and we'll check if we're right."
"What are you boys all discussing so seriously in here?" Jessica asked, coming in from her own room to start some breakfast. "Good morning, Sirius," she added.
"Morning, Jess," he replied cheerfully. He had to admit, it was sort of nice to have somebody else in the house, even if it was just a convenient living arrangement: he didn't have to find somebody to watch Harry while he worked, and Jessica had the semi-security of a man in the house, and somebody capable of magic, in case her ex caught up with them. And it didn't hurt that she was a very beautiful, charming young woman, although he tried not to think about what it would be like to be more than just a fake husband. That would create some definitely awkward moments.
They had chosen to continue their 'married with children' façade when they had reached Cairo as a sort of mutual benefits package. It helped to dissolve any rumours surrounding their arrival, and it stopped questions about the boys, because they were still going by Black. To the average person in their neighbourhood, they were a nice, normal young family. Maybe a little distant, but what couple wasn't with a pair of active 4-year-old twin boys? At least Adam and Harry had quickly adapted to this lifestyle, treating each other like real brothers and both Sirius and Jess like parents: the only issue was that neither boy called Sirius 'Dad' and Harry didn't call Jess 'Mum'. Before they went out to any social event, Sirius and Jess had to remind both boys to keep up the pretending.
"You're going to be home on time for dinner tonight?" Jess asked briskly, putting on the frying pan for eggs and bacon.
"No," Sirius replied. "I've got to stay late at work. I'll be back about nightfall, I think."
"Sirius," Jess started to sigh.
"I'm sorry, Jess, but I don't have an option here," Sirius said, a warning tone in his voice.
"You've worked late every night this week," Jess continued, sliding eggs and bacon onto a plate and handing it to him.
"Mama, remember I don't like bacon," Adam called.
"And I don't like smashed eggs, Jess," Harry added.
"Yes, boys, I know," Jess sighed in slight irritation.
Sirius quickly finished his breakfast. "All right, I'm off," he said. "Bye, Harry," he said, kissing the top of Harry's tousled hair. "Bye, Adam," he continued, ruffling Adam's hair.
"Bye, Sirius," both boys chorused.
"Goodbye, Jess," he ended, getting the idea she'd rather he walk into the Red Sea and drown himself.
"Would you go already, if your work is so important to you?" she snapped, turning away from him.
"Gracious, Jess, you'd think I was actually married to you," he muttered, going out the back door.
Sirius sighed as he walked into the quiet house. The boys would've both gone to bed long ago: he was going to have to do something really special with them this weekend to make up for missing their evening roughhouses all this week.
He caught sight of a blonde head sitting in one of the armchairs by the fireplace. "Hey, Jess," he said quietly, leaning over the back of the chair.
Jess looked up. "Hello," she replied tersely, getting up. "Finally in, I see."
"Listen, what did I do?" he asked in frustration, going to block her from exiting.
"Nothing," she said shortly.
"Why are you treating me like this?" he demanded. "What did I do to upset you? Jess, you knew late nights were a part of the deal with this job!"
"Well, I wasn't seeing Adrian everywhere I went when you took the job, Sirius!" Jess exclaimed, voice cracking.
"What?" Sirius asked, startled. "Why didn't you say something, Jess?"
"I didn't want to look paranoid," Jess muttered, swiping the tears away from her eyes. "How is he finding me? I don't understand how he knows where I am!"
"Okay, calm down," Sirius said reassuringly, a little taken aback when she fell into his arms crying. Okay. He could deal with this, he was a coolheaded, mature young man. He did not lose his head just because a beautiful woman threw herself at him. Sobbing, but threw herself at him still the same.
Jess started playing with her wedding ring, staring at it broodingly. Sirius watched her for a moment, then frowned. She had been wearing that same wedding ring when they had first met, three years ago… "Jess?" he asked suddenly.
"Yeah?" she replied.
"Did Adrian give you that ring?"
"Well, yeah, it's my wedding ring."
"Let me see it for a second," Sirius said quietly, pulling it off her finger and taking out his wand. Tapping the ring, he said, "Specialis revelis!"
From the ring came a smoky set of words: 193 Mehmet Drive, Cairo, Egypt. "Mm-hmm," he muttered. "Deletrius."
The words disappeared, and he tossed the ring into the fire, watching to make sure it melted. Jess' eyes were wide as saucers. "What did you do that for?" she yelped.
"It had a tracking spell on it, Jess," Sirius replied. "You can't take those off. We had to destroy the ring."
Jess swallowed with some difficulty. "He still knows where I am, Sirius," she whispered, leaning her forehead against his shoulder as tears sprung to her eyes. "He can still find us."
"All right, relax," he said softly, wrapping his arms around her. "We can work through this."
"We have to go again," she continued hoarsely. "We can't stay here, Sirius, not while he knows where we live. I don't want to move, but we have to."
"Jess," he repeated, tilting her face up gently. "Jess, listen to me. We'll get through this. This what we're going to do: we're both going to go to bed, and tomorrow morning we'll go out with the boys, and we're going to figure out what to do about Adrian after a day of fun, all right?" Then, before he had quite thought about what he was doing, he leaned in and kissed her.
For a moment after the kiss had broken, Sirius and Jess stared at each other in shock. Then Jess smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "How did you never get married, with a kiss like that?" she asked smoothly, as Sirius slid his hands onto her waist and kissed her again.
"I thought I was married," he murmured into her lips. "I thought I was married to you."
Laughing softly, Jess wove her hands through his hair, leaning into the kiss. "Well, if that's the case, I think we have some catching up to do."
"Oh, really?" he asked, slowly guiding her up the stairs and into the master bedroom, where Jess had been sleeping. "How's that?"
"Mmm, I don't seem to remember a wedding ceremony," she said.
"Of course there was," Sirius laughed, easing her down onto the bed. "We were standing in line at Glasgow International, trying to escape from about a half dozen people. Adam and Harry were our witnesses."
"I don't remember any honeymoon," she countered.
"Well, that's easily remedied."
"Wake up!" came Harry's happy shriek as he and Adam both dashed into the master bedroom of their new house in Cairo.
Jumping up onto the bed, both little boys tackled the sleeping couple. "It's Christmas!" Adam proclaimed loudly, tugging at his mother's arm.
Jess groaned and snuggled closer into Sirius' side. "Not right now, boys, it's early," she mumbled.
"No, it's not!" Harry insisted, crawling onto Sirius to pull at his hair. "It's 7:00, it's late! Come on, get up!"
"Ugh, Harry, get off of me," Sirius said blearily, trying to shield his eyes from the sunlight. "You're kneeing me in the lungs."
"Not until you both get up," Harry said determinedly.
"Yeah," Adam added, clambering onto Sirius as well.
"And how am I supposed to get up with the both of you sitting on me, I ask?" Sirius managed to gasp out. "Go find your stockings. Let Jess and I wake up."
"Okay!" Both boys exclaimed, jumping down and running out. Sirius groaned and buried his face into Jess' neck.
"I think I'm permanently bruised," he murmured. "That kid's got knobbly knees like his father."
"Mmm, now that we're alone," Jess said, biting back a shriek as Sirius started to kiss her neck. "No, not that, Sirius, they'll come back," she laughed. Sirius emerged and watched her sparkling blue eyes. "I have something to tell you."
"What?" he asked, sneaking another kiss. "That you're the most beautiful woman in the world? That I am absolutely addicted to you? That I love you? I know all that."
Jess smiled and sighed. "But did you know that I'm pregnant?" she said teasingly.
Sirius looked momentarily shocked and then grinned. "No, no, I didn't know that." He kissed her, saying, "Darling, that's wonderful. When?"
"The doctor said in early, mid-July," she replied, resting her head back down onto his chest. Then she sat up rapidly, followed by Sirius when they heard the sounds of Adam and Harry screaming in terror. "Sirius?" she said nervously, getting up as her husband jumped out of bed and grabbed his wand.
"Just wait here, okay?" he said, catching Adam and Harry with his free arm as they tore into the room, clinging desperately to his legs. Harry seemed particularly distraught. "Guys, what's wrong?"
"There's a man downstairs," Adam sobbed. "He said… he said…"
"Go see your mama, okay?" Sirius said reassuringly, detaching both boys from his legs. Nodding, Adam and Harry both transferred themselves to Jess' waiting arms as Sirius headed down the stairs.
There was silence on the main floor. It seemed clear. Sirius still held his wand out at the ready, looking around the sitting room, the kitchen, to try and see any sign of an intruder.
Sirius jumped as he nearly stepped on something furry and squeaky, and then his face contorted in rage as he realized what it was. Or more precisely, who it was. "Why hello, Peter," he snarled, pointing his wand at the rat squeaking in terror on the floor and stepping on the tail to keep it pinned in place. "Fancy finding you here." Grinding his teeth, Sirius said, "You know what I do to rats in my house, Wormtail? I kill them. Nasty things, rats." And just as he raised his wand to deliver the fatal blow, Peter transformed, leaving a cowering man pinned by his robes to the ground.
"P-P-P-Please, Sirius…" Peter begged, watery eyes darting everywhere but to Sirius' stormy face. "You wouldn't k-k-k-kill a man. Would you?"
"I'm not entirely sure you are a man, Wormtail," Sirius said coolly, keeping his wand pointed. "You still look like a rat to me. A two-faced, double-crossing, murdering rat. You tell me you're not here to finish the job you botched for your precious master three years ago and I'll tell you you're a liar."
Peter didn't respond, still quivering as he drew his wand.
"Oh, don't do that," Sirius said. "You know you could never duel. You got pummeled by a first-year in seventh year."
"You think k-k-k-killing me will b-b-b-bring James back?" Peter asked suddenly.
"Don't you dare talk about James to me. Don't you dare say his name like you were ever worthy of his friendship," Sirius snapped.
"He l-l-l-looks like James, d-d-d-d-d-doesn't he?"
"What did I just finish telling you about speaking James' name?" Sirius snarled angrily, sparks flying out of his wand in his rage. Peter recoiled from the sparks.
"Does it m-m-m-make it hurt less, Sirius? T-T-T-T-T-Taking Harry? You ever l-l-l-l-l-look at him and w-w-wish he was James?"
"Shut up!" Sirius growled.
"C-C-C-C-Can't do it, can you, Sirius?" Peter said softly. "You c-c-c-can't kill me."
"Harry's seen enough death, thanks to you," Sirius replied quietly. "Stupefy! No!" he growled as Peter transformed again and started skittering away through the open back door. "Get back here, you rat! Take it like a man!" Growling in frustration, Sirius kicked the kitchen wall.
"Sirius?" came a frightened voice from the doorway to the sitting room. Turning around, Sirius sighed and knelt down, opening his arms.
"Come here, Harry," he said softly, catching Harry into a tight hug as the little boy ran to him. "I'm sorry you had to listen to that, kiddo," he whispered, lifting Harry up into the air.
"Sirius?" Jess asked quietly, appearing in the doorway with Adam clinging to her leg. "What's going on?"