Disclaimer: I know, I know...
SO it's been a long time, hasn't it? I'm a little ashamed to say that I've had this chapter done for over two weeks, I just haven't had the chance to upload it, and write this AN, which I add onto the chapter on FF. This is an important chapter, people! Seriously, this one is really important in plot and in character development, especially Nat. I hope you guys all like it!
Read, Review, and Enjoy,
Stars.
"Nat! Nat! Get up you lazy ass! It's a Hogsmeade day you dolt!" I roll over and muter something garbled along the lines of,
"Something better be on fire, Lils."
"Oh, shut up! Get up! I have to pick something to wear!" I sit up and blearily rub my eyes,
"Lils, it's just a Hogsmeade trip, we've only been there, oh, I don't know, about a hundred times." I watch her run around and pull things out of all of our dressers, frantic
"I know, but I have to go do Head Duties with James while we're there and—" She cuts off guiltily, caught in the act.
"Lillian Evans. Do my ears deceive me? Are you dressing up for James Potter? My goodness, someone call the newspaper." She chuckles a little at my joke but blushes nonetheless.
"Okay, okay, maybe I like him." I squeal, unable to contain my girly urge at this declaration and hop out of bed, reality setting in on me. Remus was sick with his Furry Problem, no one knows where Peter is, and L and Care have detention. Again. I'm down a Lily and a James, which means that I'm going to be either alone or with Black, er, Sirius. I pause to consider this.
Would I rather spend the day with Sirius Black, or with the fabulous Natalia Holmes? I sigh and just shove this question to the back of my mind as I help Lils get ready for her date…encounter…thing with Jamie. I put on a floral blue off-the-shoulder top and a pair of white short shorts. I leave my hair down and put my wand in my back pocket. I really need to do something else with it eventually. I yell into my bathroom,
"I'm going down Lils! Hurry your ass up!" There is a sound of general acknowledgement and I head down stairs into the now nearly empty Common Room. Jamie and Bla—Sirius are both still in the empty Common Room, both looking pretty worn out. The full moon was last night, so I suppose that would account for their obvious exhaustion. Jamie yawns and says,
"Beetle. Where's Lily?" I smirk and reply to the confused boy,
"She's coming James. She can't fly out the window you know. What am I not good enough for you?" I feign a hurt expression and he rolls his eyes,
"Nattie, we've been through this. You're my little sister, and I'd die for you in a heartbeat, but I love Lily." I fake-sniffle,
"Aw, Jamie's growing all up. I so proud of you! I'm going to go to give you two lovebirds some time alone. And I am not your little sister. I'm younger by two months, not years." I head out the door and wheel back around and say, "Oh, James, tell her she looks really good today. Don't ask me why, just do." I look around the Common Room and see Bla—Sirius has disappeared mysteriously. Those boys and their secret passages. I shrug and head out of the Common Room alone, and I am still alone when I run into Mulciber and Avery. Lucky me.
"Oh, look, it's itty bitty Holmes, all alone. Where're your bodyguards, girlie?" I'm taken aback for a moment. I'd heard people (all Slytherins) call James my 'bodyguard' before, but never, ever, plural. I do my best to ignore them and try to push past them. They easily push me back, even though I'm pretty average height and weight, maybe a little on the small side on both accounts, but I'm still nothing compared to the two beaters in width or height. I try to discreetly slip my hand back to where my wand is, er, was. Mulciber is twirling it around in one of his hands, a good two feet away from me. The castle was empty and I here I was, stuck up in here with these two creeps.
"Aw, she's all alone. No one to save your pretty self this time, Holmes." I back up from Avery, and Mulciber grabs me by arms and pushes me towards his companion. I say nothing, knowing that silence would infuriate them more than anything I said. Just as I swear they're going to pull me into the dungeons and put me in chains, they both look over my head and Mulciber speaks to someone I can't see,
"Got a problem, Black?" I turn around suddenly enough that Mulciber and Avery are both caught of guard and I snatch my wand back from the former of the pair. I don't think I've ever been so glad to see Sirius Black in my entire life.
"Let her go, Avery." Yeah, let me go. Or don't, depending on whether you'd like to keep all of your appendages or not. I think to myself. Sirius' lips twitch. Oh, he was one of those that can hear thoughts. A Legimens, I think it was called. I shut my mind as Avery says,
"I don't think so Black, Natalia here is so pretty, and we'd never get the likes of her on our own, so we'll just keep her." He touches my face and I push him away with one of my few free body parts, my shoulder. Just then there is a noise from behind me they both look at and Sirius widens eyes at me for a second. I nod and they both turn around and I grip my wand tighter. He smirks and pulls out his wand and I stun Mulciber as Avery goes down on my left.
"Are you okay?" I nod and gratefully take his hand over the unconscious forms of Mulciber and Avery, "They didn't, er, do anything did they?" I shake my head and drop his hand as I say,
"No, they're just creeps. Thanks though, I was getting ready to scream 'kidnap'." He chuckles and I ask, "Why were you heading back to the Common Room?" He responds easily,
"To make sure Evans hadn't disemboweled James yet. I should probably find him." It was a lie, and we both knew it, but I remember what Lils had told me and I say now,
"Don't. A little Ginger Birdie told me she had a thing for my brother. Give them some alone time and do whatever it is that little Sirius' do on their own in Hogsmeade." He looks at me like I'm nuts. Which I probably am, but that's beside the point right now.
"Are you serious? You think I'm going to leave you alone after that? I know them both; I had the distinct pleasure of growing up with them. They weren't keeping you to play checkers, I promise you that." I shiver a little at the thought of them. They really were repulsive people, inside and out.
"Fine. You win. What do you want to do? Oh, and under no circumstances is this a date. Understood?" I tack that onto the end as a disclaimer. He better not expect a happy ending today, because he's not getting one.
"Understood. Well, where do you want to go? Please don't tell me Madam Puddifoot's. I'll do it, but only because you're my best mate's sister." I laugh and say,
"What kind of person do you take me as? I'd rather pull all my teeth out than go in that place." He relaxes and whispers quite suddenly,
"Stop. Look." I look up to see Lily and Jamie sitting in the Three Broomsticks, in a booth, very, very close to each other. I grin and whisper back,
"Aww, how adorable. There will be little Jamie's and Lily's entering the world in no time." he chuckles and says,
"Well, is there a particular reason you came here today?" I shrug.
"I like seeing the town. I don't really need anything while I'm here. Do you? Or did you just come along to spy on the lovebirds?"
"Nah, same reason, I suppose. We should probably give them some privacy. Unless you want to watch them suck face in approximately 5 minutes." I wrinkle my nose,
"Nah, no thanks. Let's go somewhere far, far away from those two." There is a sound of agreement form where he is standing next to me and we wander down the streets, but eventually there starts to be nasty looks from Sirius' exes and he leads me off the main road, away from the masses of unnecessarily jealous girls.
"Do you think a bookstore would ward off all 58 of your exes?" He chuckles and agrees. We slip into a used bookstore and hide in the back, between the Russian Revolution and the Religious section. I sit on the floor and lean up against the shelf that was behind me. He does the same opposite me, his feet next to me.
"Sirius?" I ask softly. He looks up from his hands, which seem to have grown in interest lately,
"Yeah?"
"Why were you really going back to the Common Room?"
"I told you."
"You were lying."
"Yeah…well, when I left the Common Room, I was a little ahead of you but stopped to pick something up, so I saw you walk by on the Sixth Floor, so when you weren't down in the Great Hall, after like 10 minutes, I went looking."
"Why did you think there was something wrong?"
"Dorea and Charlie both play down what is going on in the War, but when I lived back with my parents, summer before last, I heard all kinds of things, and not many, if any, were good. Its' really bad, and you're a prime target: A half-blood, who had a powerful Auror for a father, an orphan."
"They wanted to kill me?" his eyes darken, making him look older than 17. For a moment I saw the man in my house, killing my mother. I start at the similarities to the man I had killed but say nothing else. Not yet.
"No, they didn't want to kill you. I'm almost positive they wanted to recruit you, to be a Death Eater. Actually, marry you to a Death Eater is probably more accurate. Pureblooded women are a hot commodity these days in the darker parts of the world." My head snaps up at that,
"What did you just call me?" he looks confused for a moment.
"A Pureblood? It's what you are, you know. You mother wasn't a Muggle as she had you believe. You're a powerful witch, Nat, from a powerful pureblooded family. Trust me, I know the names and marital statuses of all the Pureblooded girls under the age of 30, and you're on the list. And single, if I'm not mistaken." I shake my head,
"That's—that's impossible. My mom…she was a schoolteacher. She wasn't a witch! I would have known, she would have told me." His eyes widen,
"I thought you knew. Shit, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you that." I wave him off.
"It's okay, I guess. It makes sense sort of, how I didn't want to go to school that day, and she forced me to go, said that I had to go to school, because it was the most important thing in the world. It was like she knew she was going to be killed." I sigh and run my hands through my hair,
"Nat? I'm sorry. It wasn't my place to tell you that. Maybe you could talk to Dorea and Charlie when we go home for Christmas?" I nod.
"Maybe. Do you know who the man was that killed my mother?" He doesn't meet my eyes,
"Sirius? Do you know?" he nods,
"Yes, I do. He was a distant relative of mine, a third cousin, I think. I had no idea that he was killed on the raid on your house until you told me how your mom died. No one ever told me it was the attack on your house. If I had known, I would have told you." I nod, absently and think over my life. I had always identified with Half bloods, one foot in each world. But that wasn't me. I had both feet in this world. The Muggle world didn't belong to me. It never had.
"Why did you take Jenny's bet?" I ask suddenly.
"Er…well, I want to know who she is. She ruins lives, and she's not a good person." Well, ouch. "I just want to see her get what she deserves. So, if you'll be willing to help me out with that…" I laugh and stand, ruffling his hair.
"In your dreams. Bye now Sirius. And thanks for today." I add softly. I leave the bookstore thinking about what he had said. How will he react if he finds out it's us? How will they all react? I shudder and decide that they never will know.