You Leave Me Breathless
By Lily Orange
Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...
A story of romance, friendship and humour
"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - Charles Caleb Colton
A/N: Aw, thank you for all the reviews! Thanks to Rabid-Sirius-Fangirl, vanillabean18, Squid7000, sarlovesoccer, , .limits111, stewart02, Stephie Cat-Kat, LittleRed22, EllieBaby, vampire-luver101, xolunaxx, DSS Special Agent and ClaireMarieCullen for reviewing (thanks to everybody who reviewed multiple times) and thank you to Legolassss for adding my story to your favourites! It's New Years Eve!!! :)
Chapter Twenty-One
A Change of Scenery
The little group of five teenagers trundled out of King's Cross station slowly, pulling along heavy trunks and, in the case of the curly-haired brunette girl, a cage containing a rather agitated owl. The girl looked pretty agitated herself and kept trying to calm her owl down, but to no avail. The hooting owl was drawing more and more attention to the teenagers – the three boys found it rather amusing, as did the red-haired girl, but the brunette was blushing more and more at the strange looks she was receiving from the people using the Muggle trains who knew nothing of Owl Post.
"Alethia, shut up!" she hissed, pulling her suitcasealong with great difficulty. The owl just hooted in response.
"I don't think she wants to shut up, Iz," the tallest boy, who was extremely handsome with shoulder-length dark curly hair, said, grinning charmingly. Several girls – and indeed middle-aged women – were watching this good-looking boy with much interest as he strolled past them confidently.
"Well she'd better damn shut up!" Isabel retorted, causing her friends to laugh. "It's not funny! She's always like this!"
"Maybe you should let her fly ahead?" the red-haired girl suggested, who was manoeuvring her own suitcase whilst concurrently holding the hand of the messy-haired, hazel-eyed, tall (but not quite as tall as the first boy), handsome (but not quite as handsome as the first boy), bespectacled boy who appeared to be her beloved boyfriend.
"Fine," Isabel agreed, and opened the door to her owl's cage and Alethiaflew free, soaring above the London skyline. "Have you all got everything?"
Her friends nodded, and Isabel led them over to the car park, in which was parked a dark green car with a strange emblem on the side, entwined letters saying 'M.O.M.' – Isabel's father had hired them a car from the Ministry of Magic to take his daughter and her four friends – Lily Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin – to their house on the Cornish coast. Her father, who worked at the Ministry, apparated to and from work, but none of them had taken a test and were only just starting apparition lessons after Easter.
As soon as they were in the vicinity of the car, a driver jumped out and immediately put the trunks and the empty owl cage in the boot, and opened the car door for them to jump in. Lily and James sat in the front two seats together, smiling at each other adoringly, and Sirius, Isabel and Remus sat in the back three seats.
"So – you live on the Cornish coast, with no neighbours, right next to the beach, overlooking a beach, which we were planning to turn nudist–" Sirius grinned.
"You were planning to create a nudist beach," Isabel corrected him swiftly, "but we won't be joining you."
"Yeah, we don't want to engage in your sick little fantasises Padfoot," James smiled wickedly from the front seat.
"Oh it's not a fantasy – it's going to be a reality!" Sirius informed them assuredly.
"Not if I can help it," Isabel warned him.
"So is it like a cottage sort of thing you live in?" Sirius asked inquisitively. Lily turned round, her large emerald eyes as wide as saucers.
"Cottage? No, it's a c–" Lily tried to tell him, but Isabel quickly cut across her.
"Sort of, yeah," she said. Lily looked at her strangely, scrutinizing her facial expression, but Isabel just shot her a meaningful glance. The boys were oblivious to this, and were just thinking about how it was getting slightly warmer and they might be able to spend time on the beach by her house.
Ten minutes later, Sirius tapped the driver on the shoulder and said, "Are we there yet?"
"No, we are not, sir," the driver replied politely. Isabel guessed that Sirius liked being titled as "sir," as he asked the same question repeatedly until they were about fifteen minutes from the village near the coast, which was relatively near to her home.
"Are we there yet?" he asked.
"Actually, Sirius, we kind of are," Isabel informed him and he grinned like all his birthdays and Christmases had come at once. It had been a long drive, and the weather was heating up slightly, so it was very warm in the car.
They were driving along a quiet road which had leafy green trees hanging about it, almost like a natural tunnel. Isabel had been under this tunnel many times – and so had Lily, as they often walked under it together when Lily came and stayed with her in the summer. Isabel knew that once they exited this tunnel, they would have to drive down a slight hill into the village: a pretty place full of neat little houses decorated with items from the sea such as driftwood, shells and little rocks; her home would be visible up on the cliffs from the village and then they would have to drive round a windy road to get to the top. It was quite easy to walk into the village from her home – but it was about five miles or so. It looked relatively close when you viewed it from the top of the hill at the end of the tree tunnel, but it wasn't. The beaches at the base of the cliffs by Isabel's home were always empty because it was far from the town, you'd maybe get the occasional walker there. This wasn't something Isabel complained about, as it meant it was nice and private. She usually spent all of her time down on the beach when she was home – when Lily was there, they would sunbathe, build sandcastles (like the young sophisticates they were) and play in the sea. Sometimes Isabel's cousins would come, and they would play in the sea all day, shrieking, splashing and having fun. Isabel could remember many good times in the sea at the base of the cliffs.
When she was eleven, the summer before she entered Hogwarts, her Auntie Lou and Uncle Philippo came to visit from Italy with Alessandra, Fiorella and Sienna (who were then six, four and two years old respectively) and they all went down to the beach, Isabel's parents and her auntie and uncle sat on deck chairs in the shade, watching Isabel play with her little cousins. Isabel and Alessandra had helped Fiorella learn to swim, and Isabel swam out with Sienna on her back.
When she was fifteen, Lily had come to stay and they had set up towels on the beach to sunbathe – they were in their bikinis and everything when an extremely good-looking boy from the village had walked past and smiled at them. She and Lily had spent all night talking about it, analysing his actions, facial expressions and what he'd said (a mere "Hello,") and whether it meant that he liked them or not.
Later that summer, her cousins, the twins Will and Ollie, had visited and they had buried Isabel in sand, except for her face, when she had fallen asleep. That had been funny – especially when she chased them up the beach asking them for a hug.
Isabel had happy memories of her home – and as they reached the end of the tree tunnel, she widened her sapphire eyes to catch the first glimpse of it. It was almost like trying to catch a glimpse of Hogwarts in first year – but for some reason, Isabel's actual home felt like her second home in comparison to Hogwarts. She had loving parents, a large bedroom containing a comfy bed and a beach she had practically to herself but Hogwarts was where her friends were and where she looked forward to being. Hogwarts was where Lily was, where James was, where Remus was, where Peter was. Hogwarts was where Sirius was.
Suddenly, the sunlight blinded the teenagers as the trees stopped and they were at the top of the hill looking out onto the village. They could see the sea clearly, glittering in the spring light, shimmering under the cloudless sky. And on a hill which looked quite far away behind the village, was Isabel's home.
"Wow!" Sirius grinned as he looked down at the cute little village – he presumed that Isabel lived in the village.
"I don't live there, Sirius, I live on that hill over there," Isabel said, pointing to the structure on top of the hill – a huge turreted castle made out of brown and grey stone, weathered by the sea. It was built into the cliffs and looked dark and foreboding – though simultaneously stimulated much excitement amongst the teenagers.
"Bloody hell!" Sirius said in shock. He was counting on her living in a little cottage, surrounded by flowers and a vegetable patch. Not a full-blown ancestral castle overlooking the sea!
"Do you like it?" Isabel asked anxiously. Lily was the only one who had seen it before and actually knew about it. She had led her other friends to believe that she lived in a little house on top of the cliffs.
"I bet it's so interesting to live in a castle, I bet it's full of family history," Remus assured her. Isabel hugged him thankfully.
Sirius snorted. "Trust Remus to think of the academic side of things – why didn't you tell us, Iz? It's amazing! I'd loveto livein a castle – well, I sort of do with Hogwarts – but when you're older you'll get to livein a place like Hogwarts! How amazingly awesome is that? I wish I'd grown up in a castle. Well, anywhere was better than number twelve, Grimmauld Place," he finished grimly.
"It's brilliant, Isabel," James said. She smiled at them all as the car descended the steep hill, driving on the windy road through the village, past the post office, the fruit and vegetable shop, the surf shop, the fish and chip shop ("Aw, Iz, can we go there later?"), a Muggleprimary school, plenty of little houses, a bakery, a butchers and a patisserie. Sirius was particularly eager to try out all the food-related shops, but his friends shushed him as they left the village and drove onto the road that would take them, admittedly a rather long way round, up the cliffs and to Isabel's home.
"So how many bedrooms does this place have?" Remus asked interestedly as the castle sat ominously on the cliffs, towering over the little Ministry of Magic hired car.
"Fifteen," Isabel said automatically, "and they're all going to be filled for the ball my parents insist on holding for me."
"Wow," James smiled.
"Isn't it magical?" Lily beamed at him. She remembered when Isabel confessed to where she lived to Lily just before the summer between first- and second-years, when Isabel's parents had invited Lily to stay for a week and Lily's parents had invited Isabel to stay.
"It's going to be so exciting!" Lily gushed, clutching the letter her parents had sent her with the invitation for Isabel to stay for a week within its contents – it also said about Petunia had a new boyfriend or something, and that she had passed a Geography exam with flying colours, and that her dad had bought a new lawn mower. Lily had had friends at her Muggleprimary school – she had had three best friends, three girls, Mollie, Danielle and Emma – but they had lost touch so she doubted that she would be seeing them over the holidays. Anyway, Petunia was close friends with Danielle's older sister Heather so had no doubt spread a rumour that Lily was at a school for "freaks", as she so nicely put it.
"I know," Isabel beamed at her – she had also had an invitation from her parents for Lily to stay for a week. Isabel was best friends with Lily – after Lily it was Sirius. She didn't think that her parents would be very willing to have Sirius to stay as he belonged to a very old pureblood family that were heavily into the Dark Arts and were very against Muggle-borns being allowed into Hogwarts. Isabel decided that she would haveto explain that Sirius was nothing like them – for one thing, everybody else had been in Slytherin in his family. Sirius, much to the annoyance of his family (he was sent a Howler every day for a week afterwards), had been sorted into Gryffindor – something he was immensely proud of.
"You can share my bedroom – we have a spare room but we can put the bed in mine so that we can have one long sleepover!" Lily said excitedly.
Isabel gave her a hollow smile. Lily lived in a little cottage in a village known as Spinner's End – though Lily lived on the nice side by the forest, not the side by the river. Lily hadn't said that she lived in the nice side in so many words, but it was implied; Lily's friend Severus Snape lived by the river, and, judging by the dilapidated condition of him and his possessions and what people had said, the river wasn't as nice as the forest. No doubt Severus would be around some of the week – Isabel presumed that Lily found comfort in a magical friend, considering the horrible way Petunia treated her. Severus practically worshipped the ground Lily walked on, hung on to her every word and would do anything for her. The only thing that concerned both Lily and Isabel (and the Marauders, especially James, who was trying – and failing – to prove that he was the right man for Lily, even at the tender age of eleven) was that Severus Snape was a Slytherin. It wasn't so much that he was a Slytherin, it was the people he inevitably hung around with because he was a Slytherin. Avery and Mulciber were already detestable creatures who Isabel had a vehement dislike for – they had called Lily a "mudblood" more than once that year.
Isabel didn't live in a cottage – Isabel lived in an ancestral castle on the Cornish coast. Whenever the others discussed their homes, Isabel was very vague. She didn't want people to think she was showing off – the Willoughbyslived there becauseit was passed down through her mother's side of the family, and none of her siblings had wanted it. It wasn't because they were rich – they were quite well-off, but not rich, per se– but Isabel thought that to somebody else it would appear that way. But if Lily was coming to stay, then Lily would have to know where exactly Isabel lived.
"Lily – I live in a castle," Isabel said slowly. Lily blinked at her, then her mouth widened into an impossibly large smile.
"Really? Oh Merlin, that is so cool! Are there any ghosts? Could you give me a guided tour? Are there secret passages?" she had rambled. Isabel smiled.
The car drew to a halt in front of a large oak door in the outer castle wall. The ministry driver looked at Isabel quizzically. She grinned – "You can leave us here. I have a key," she told him. He unloaded their suitcases and the empty owl cage, and began the long drive back down to the village. The road up the cliffs was a steep, winding one which had rendered Remus slightly queasy but Sirius had loved it and asked the driver many questions about whether this would be the same on a motorbike.
"So where's this key?" Sirius asked.
Isabel fished her hand in her little shoulder bag and produced a large, old-looking brass key with an ornate design at one end.
"There's no lock on the door," James pointed out helpfully.
"It's a magic lock," Isabel told him.
"Is it a magic key?" Sirius asked excitedly.
"Yep," Isabel answered.
"Can I do it? Can I?" Sirius pleaded, jumping up and down on the spot like a jack-in-a-box.
"I suppose," she said, amused, holding out the key. He took it, then turned back to the locklessdoor. "And I suppose you want some help?" she asked, and he nodded.
"Right, you tap on the door three times with your wand above the door handle," she told him. Sirius did just that. A lock materialized out of nowhere. "Now, you just put it in the hole and it sucks it in."
Sirius poked around at the lock, trying to find it. "I can't find the hole!"
"There it is," Isabel pointed out exasperatedly, slightly regretting agreeing to let Sirius try and unlock the door. At this rate they would be here all night.
"Hang on, it won't fit in the hole – I don't think this is the right hole!" he moaned as he tried to shove the key into the lock without success.
"There's only one hole!" Isabel cried as James, Lily and Remus chuckled at Sirius' efforts to open the door.
"Aha, I knew I could get it in!" Sirius beamed at her as the key dissolved into the lock and the door swung open. They pulled their suitcases through the door and they were now in the castle gardens. Facing them was the main castle building, which had a courtyard and fountain in the middle. To get into that, where all the bedrooms and everything were, you had to go over a little moat which surrounded the colossal building via a drawbridge. Isabel was intelligent enough not to let Sirius attempt to do this and did it herself, and soon they were in the courtyard – and were met by Mr and Mrs Willoughby, Isabel's parents.
The Marauders and Lily wouldn't have been lying if they said that Isabel was a complete mix of her parents. Her chocolate brown hair was exactly the same shade as her father's, whose hair showed no signs of greying, something he was very pleased about as his wife's honey-coloured hair was liberally streaked with silver. Isabel's corkscrew curls were inherited from her mother, who was, no other word could describe it: glamorous. Isabel shared her mother's sapphire blue eyes and her father's skinny frame, though as Sirius had previously assessed, she was beginning to curve out and echo the curvaceous figure of her mother.
Isabel hugged both of her parents tightly – she always missed them when she was at school.
"Isabel, are you going to do the introductions?" her mother asked expectantly, though not in an unkind way. Her delicately lined face was creased into a warm smile.
"Of course," Isabel winked at Sirius, who smirked. "Mum, Dad, you know Lily," – Isabel's mother hugged Lily like she was a niece she rarely saw – "this is James Potter," – James grinned and shook the hands of both of Isabel's parents; he then returned to holding Lily's hand discretely but Isabel's mother smiled, as she had heard Lily talk about James and his frequent attempts of winning her heart often – "Remus Lupin," – Remus copied James' polite gesture of shaking the hands of both parents – "and Sirius Black," Isabel finished.
"Oh, so this is the famous Sirius Black?" her father asked as Sirius shook his hand firmly.
"I assure you, Mr Willoughby, I am nothing like the rest of my family. They'vedisowned me and I live with Prongs– er, I mean, James now," Sirius promised him.
"I didn't mean it like that, Sirius. Isabel writes about you in all of her letters," he said kindly. Sirius turned to Isabel, raising an eyebrow cockily. She tried to stop herself, but she blushed.
"Shall we go inside then?" Isabel's mother suggested, saving her daughter from further embarrassment.
The teenagers lugged their cases through another door and into a hallway.
"Leave them down here, they'll be taken up later," Mrs Willoughby said. "Isabel, do you want to show them to their rooms? We'll be putting the finishing touches to dinner."
Sirius' eyes lit up at the mention of "dinner" and couldn't stop grinning as Isabel led them through a maze of corridors to a grand staircase. They went up it, past the first floor and the second floor and then into the third floor – which seemed to be like an attic.
"Isabel, you live in a castle and you're making us sleep in the attic?" James grinned.
"Well, there are two bedrooms up here. One is mine and the other is Lily's when she comes to stay, but I thought that we should be next door to each other, especially when the rest of my family descends upon us next week," Isabel told them.
Sirius, James and Remus entered their bedroom, and found a large room with a sloping ceiling and big windows looking out to sea, containing three single beds with red and gold embroidered duvets. One wall was the original stone of the castle and the others were painted a crimson colour which matched the duvets and they were covered with moving portraits. There was a large wardrobe for them, and when James opened the doors, he happily exclaimed, "It's like the Narnia wardrobe!"; and proceeded to shout into the wardrobe, as if expecting a reply, "Mr Tumnus!"
Lily and Isabel were sharing Isabel's room – the same size as the boys' room, with large windows presenting spectacular views of the ocean. Underneath she had created long window seats with blue velvet and silver mirrored cushions, the same cushions that were littering the huge king-sized bed (Lily also had a king-sized bed, but hers was covered with emerald cushions and an emerald bedspread rather than Isabel's sapphire-coloured accessories). Many framed photos of Isabel, Lily and the Marauders decorated the walls (painted sapphire blue) along with family photos. Isabel's large stuffed toy, a soft sheep with the name of Woolly, sat on her pillows.
"Do you reckon we should take the boys down to the sea this evening?" Isabel asked, glancing out of the window. It was just beginning to get dark as it was half past six – dinner would be ready around half past seven, so it would definitely be dark then.
"Why not – though we need to make sure that Sirius doesn't turn it into a nudist beach," Lily laughed as she pulled on her jumper. Though it had been quite sunny today, the air had turned bitter cold so the girls sensibly decided to layer up before leaving the house.
"We'd better knock on the door, Merlin knows what they're doing in there!" Isabel smirked as they crossed the short landing to the boys' room. As soon as she knocked it, Sirius opened it.
"Yes?" he asked in a very businesslike voice.
"Hi Sirius – do you want to go down to the beach with us before dinner?" Isabel asked.
"Before dinner?" he said, shocked. "I don't think that's going to work. Couldn't we go after?"
"When I said, 'do you want to come down to the beach with us before dinner', I meant, 'you are coming down to the beach with us before dinner'," she grinned.
"I suppose – hey, can we start up that nudist beach?" Sirius winked. Lily and Isabel rolled their eyes as Remus and James came and joined them on the landing.
"No," the answer was chorused back to him.
"Spoilsports," he muttered as they wandered down the stairs and out into the courtyard. Isabel led them back over the drawbridge (ignoring Sirius' offers to help her operate it. After the fiasco with the key in the main door, she wasn't letting him do it again) and into the castle gardens. Instead of walking out of the large oak door they had entered by, they walked through the flowers and plants to a tower on the back wall facing the sea. There were no doors to go through now, but there was a winding spiral staircase to descend in order to get down through the cliff onto the sand.
Isabel had walked this staircase many times – but the darkening sky, chilly air and whistling noises of the ocean were making it eerie. Added to that, there wasn't much light apart from that of Sirius, James and Lily's wands (Remus and Isabel weren't of age yet) – Isabel had never really been one to have fears, but the combined conditions were putting her on edge. Her breathing quickened as they walked down the staircase. When they were about halfway down, she stopped briefly to catch her breath, feeling vulnerable in the low light. Somebody's hand was placed on her shoulder, a warm, comforting hand that felt like it was guiding her. She felt safe as she continued to clamber down. The staircase was a long one, and finished in a cave eroded into the bottom of the cliffs. Luckily, this wasn't filled with the water and there was still a wide enough strip of sand to walk on out of it.
Isabel breathed in the cool oceanic air as they walked out of the cave and onto the beach. The crescent moon glinted in the night sky and the stars were beginning to twinkle.
"It's beautiful," Lily concluded as the five teenagers stood speechless.
"Can we go in?" Sirius and James requested simultaneously.
"It's freezing!" Remus pointed out in a tone that quite clearly said 'my-friends-are-completely-bonkers'.
"So? What's life without a little adventure?" James smiled roguishly.
"You can go in, but if you freeze, it's not my fault!" Isabel said. The two boys raced each other across the sand into the ocean – which, as Remus so accurately predicted, was of a sub-zero temperature.
"MERLIN'S PANTS!" James yelled, causing Lily to laugh uncontrollably as they hopped about in the sea, trying to find a bit that was warm.
"I despair of them," Remus said, shaking his head.
"It's mutual," Isabel chuckled.
"Are you coming in?" Sirius hollered to them.
"You think we're coming in after you've just told us that it's bloody glacial in there?" Isabel called back, hugging herself to keep warm.
"Of course you are," he said slyly, and then, with a quick look at James and a nod, they ran forward, catching her unawares as they picked Isabel up and ran full pelt towards the sea.
"No! No! Put me down!" Isabel screeched as she writhed in their arms. They stopped when they were standing ankle deep in the water.
"You want us to put you down?" Sirius asked innocently.
"YES! No, no, I MEANT NO! Sirius Black if you drop me in the water! NO!"
"Sorry, we take first answers only," Sirius apologised and dropped her in the water.
"AAARRRGGGHHHH! OH MY MERLIN!" she shrieked as the water attacked her like icy daggers – her jeans and jumper soaked through, sticking to her slim body. Sirius and James howled with laughter.
"You think this is funny, do you?" Isabel roared. Then she had an idea. "I suppose it is," she conceded.
"Oh bloody Merlin it's flipping hilarious! You crack me up!" Sirius gasped between laughs.
"You are priceless," James agreed.
"Yes, yes, very funny," she said, grinning to herself wickedly. "Do you want to help me up? I'm kind of freezing my arse off here."
"Okay," they said, reluctantly holding out a hand each to pull her up. Now, Isabel was very tall anyway and in heels was the same height as James, but James and Sirius were big, muscular Quidditchplayers and six foot two and six foot three respectively. Isabel was a skinny five foot ten bookworm – but when she tried, she had a lot of strength, and thus when she grabbed both of their hands, they were pulled forwards and into the water, soaking them to the bone. Now it was Isabel's turn to laugh – and they could hear Lily and Remus chortling on the beach as their three best friends sat in the freezing cold water.
"How did you do that?" Sirius gasped, wiping his sopping wet hair out of his handsome face.
"It's my Quidditch muscles, baby," she said, batting her long eyelashes, the picture of innocence.
"Don't rip off my lines!" he scowled, then splashed her with the water.
"ARGH! BLOODY MERLIN!" she screamed.
"Watch your language, dear," he smiled as James turned to Lily and Remus.
"Come in the water, it's lovely and refreshing!" he tried to persuade them. Remus raised an eyebrow as Lily glanced at the water tentatively.
"You might as well because you know that we're just going to pull you in if you don't get in willingly," Sirius shouted. Lily shrugged and tiptoed into the water, practically falling over in shock as the iciness hit her.
"Don't worry Lil, I'll keep you warm!" James assured her.
"Who'll keep me warm?" Isabel protested.
"I will!" Sirius said chivalrously, and wrapped his wet arms around her, making her even wetter than before.
"So who's going to keep me warm?" Remus asked.
"Sorry Moony," James apologised.
"Oh that's just great," Remus sighed. "Nobody to keep me warm on this cold winter–"
"Spring," Isabel corrected as they watched Remus' 'poor me' speech in amusement.
"On this cold spring night," he whined.
"Do you like anybody at the moment Moony?" Sirius asked inquisitively. "Perhaps we could conjure them up and they could keep you warm!"
"There's girls at school, but I don't really like to get involved with anyone," Remus said softly.
"And why not? Lots of girls would love to go out with you," Lily told him truthfully. She knew – she overheard a lot of conversations in the girls' toilets. Remus was quite a favourite of the Hogwarts girls.
"I have my reasons," he said imprecisely.
"Remus, if this is about the fact that you are a werewolf, Lily and I figured it out in second year. It doesn't matter, it's not your fault," Isabel said soothingly.
"You figured it out? How?" Remus asked, perplexed.
"Lunar charts, you disappearing, visiting your sick mother, aunts, etcetera," Isabel provided.
"And we also know about you two and Peter being illegal animagi," Lily said sternly, turning to her boyfriend and Sirius.
"Once again – how?" Remus questioned them.
"You left some library books open on the table once when we were in there about animagi, you disappear with Remus every full moon, and your nicknames," Lily told them.
"You girls are more intelligent than we give you credit for," James smiled.
"So Remus, if a girl is bothered about your lycanthropy then it's their prejudiced problem!" Isabel said. They seemed to have forgotten now that they were all sat in the sea and had become accustomed to the temperature. Lily was sat on James' lap, his arms wrapped around her protectively, Isabel was sat next to Sirius, him hugging her tightly, and Remus was sat in the middle, twiddling his thumbs.
"Anyway, Moony my baboony, you have a secret admirer – well, a not-so-secret admirer," Sirius said, winking like he had a nervous twitch.
"For the last time Pads: I don't have an admirer!" Remus informed him.
"Who's this?" Isabel asked interestedly, a grin materializing on her face.
"Don't encourage him..." Remus warned, but nobody heeded his warning.
"My cousin's daughter is utterly in love with Remus," Sirius said, grinning evilly.
"Your cousin?" Isabel asked sceptically – Sirius' cousins were Bellatrix and Narcissa Black, two people Isabel could not stand. Bellatrix was dark, harrowing, tough and always ready for a fight or duel; Narcissawas as pale as her sister dark, immensely beautiful but in a kind of disturbing hollow way – she was conniving, manipulative and nasty.
"Not Narcissa or Bellatrix – Andromeda," Sirius informed her. "Andromeda married Ted Tonks, a muggle-born, therefore automatically got burned off my mother's family tree – like I am now," he said proudly, "and they have a little girl who is, what, seven? She's obsessed with Moony. Andromeda and my Uncle Alphard are the only people I keep in touch with from my family, the ones who don't engage with the dark arts or torturing people. Anyway, the little girl is a Metamorphmagus and her hair always turns bubblegum pink when she sees Moony. We sometimes babysit her in the holidays for a little extra cash, and Nymphadora – though she'll attempt to wrestle you if you call her anything other than 'Dora' or 'Tonks' – is obsessed with Remus. She follows him round and makes him read stories to her."
"Awww," Isabel cooed as Remus blushed.
"Nymphadora Lupin – that's such a pretty name," Lily teased as Remus frantically tried to splash her.
"It's not funny! She's not obsessed with me!" he moaned.
"Ah, denial, the classic first stage," Sirius said, putting on a serious psychoanalytical voice.
"Be quiet you, fake-psychologist person!" he gabbled as everybody else laughed.
They stayed quiet for a few minutes, listening to the calming sound of the waves lapping against the shore.
"We'd better go," Isabel concluded, "dinner's probably ready and we need to dry off, seeing as we all got extremely wet," she said, looking meaningfully at Sirius and James, who began to innocently whistle tunes as they made their way back to the caveand the staircase.
"Don't play innocent with me, or there's no pudding," Isabel warned dramatically as she led them up the staircase.
"Okay, I'm sorry, just don't deny me pudding!" Sirius whined.
I hope you liked that, it was quite long; don't worry the Sirius/Isabel confession comes along quite soon! Please review for the next chapter which involves a bit of romantic realisation between Isabel and Sirius... have a great new year, thanks for reading!
:) x Lily Orange x (: