Chapter Twenty-Five:
Sirius sat on the couch in the living room of James and Lily's house. He held a pillow clutched to his chest and refused to show anything more than a scowl on his face. James sat across from him, looking at his best friend and feeling very worried for him. Sirius had told him about the argument he had with Sarah mere hours before and for once James was speachless. He couldn't think of one thing to say that would comfort his friend.
"I can't believe she would say things like that," he continued. "Now that I know what she's really feeling I don't know what to do. I'm devastated, James. Just last month I felt like the happiest mad alive. I had the perfect home, I was dating the perfect girl and we were about to start a family, but now I'm just confused."
Before James could reply to this, they heard Lily's voice from behind them, "Why are all men so stupid?"
They looked over and saw her standing in the doorway of the kitchen with an apron on. She had been in the middle of cooking her and James dinner when Sirius had come over with his problems. Lily hadn't been in the room for the explanation but she was able to hear the whole conversation from in the kitchen.
"What is that supposed to mean, that girls are smarter?" Sirius asked, annoyed by her remark.
"About girl things we are, obviously." Lily walked fully into the room and stood in between the two boys. Facing Sirius she said, "You have to keep in mind, Sirius, that Sarah is pregnant. She's obviously going to be hating herself right now because she's as large as a beach ball. Constant thoughts are going to be going through her mind about the whole situation and she's always going to come up with the worst conclusion. She's going to be thinking that because she's pregnant and so big that you don't love her as much and that you're just going to leave her for another girl. This is going to be doubled especially since her mother told her you would. She just doesn't want her mother to be right."
"But I did tell her I thought she looked good," Sirius interjected, "and she just blew me off."
"No, you told her you thought she looked "sexy", which is totally different than her looking beautiful. I'm sure if you used a word like beautiful she would have took it differently. She probably thought all you wanted was a piece of ass and since she wasn't feeling up to it she also thought you would just leave her to hook up with someone else. What you need to do is go home and fix this."
"I don't wanna," Sirius replied very childish.
"Stop being a wimp, Sirius! You have to do this or else nothing will be the same between you two." Lily went to go back in the kitchen and as she was leaving she said, "Oh, and Sarah also makes another valid point. Get a job, the both of you."
"What!" James called out, which made Lily stop in her tracks.
Turning to look at them both again she said, "Yes I said both of you. Sirius you need to get a job because you are about to be a father in the next few months. Babies are expensive and you want to have a good start. Also you both are grown men now. You're out of school and you need to start making your own money, especially if you want to keep a roof over your head," she looked pointedly at James and then added, "I'm going to go look for a job as well so don't even start to say that I'm a hypocrit." She turned her back to them again and as she reached the door that lead into the kitchen she announced, "Oh, and dinner's ready James," before disappearing from sight.
Sirius stood up, "I should leave you now. I never thought I'd be saying this but, Lily's right, I need to go make this up to Sarah."
James stood up and walked him to the door. Right before he left James gave him some advice of his own, "Go buy her some flowers or something to make it up to her. Also, if you want, we'll both go job hunting in a day or so."
Sirius smiled at the suggestion, "Thanks James, you're the best." Giving his best friend a hug good bye he left for the store and then for home.
25
Sirius opened the door to the apartment. He stuck his head in and looked around. There was no sight of Sarah and Sirius hoped that she was still here. If she wasn't there was only one place he knew she would go and he hoped against hope that she didn't. For some reason he still didn't trust Sarah around Peter, but even more so when she was upset with him. Not that she would do anything but for the fear that Peter would. He slipped into the room and quietly closed the door. Hiding the flowers he bought for Sarah behind his back he called out, "Sarah, are you home?"
A shuffling noise came from the kitchen and in mere seconds Sarah came rushing into the room.
"Sirius! Where have you been?" For a moment he thought that she was mad at him until he realized the look on her face was not anger, but relief. He hesitated for a moment, walked over to her and pulled the flowers out from behind his back.
"These are for you," he said. "It's my way of apologizing. I was being a complete prat earlier and I didn't consider your feelings at all."
Sarah smiled at him and took the flowers. "Sunflowers," she whispered, "my favorite." Looking from the flowers, into his eyes she said, "Thankyou, but you shouldn't take all the blame. I was being extremly moody earlier and-"
"As you should be. You are six months pregnant after all." There was an awkward silence between them which was broken when Sirius said, "James and I are also planning to go job searching in a day or so as well. You were right, again. I should start looking for a job so I can support us."
Sarah's smile became wider, "I love you so much, Sirius." Happy to hear these words, Sirius pulled her close, not caring if the flowers became crushed. He wanted nothing more than to just hold her. After they pulled apart, Sarah cleared her throat, for she was on the verge of tears, and said, "I made dinner. It's a little cold but I wasn't sure when you would be coming back so I just made something anyway. I can always reheat it. It might not taste as good but it's better than nothing, right?"
"I'm sure it's still delicious," Sirius replied with a smile. "Let's go eat."
25
"Well, Mister Potter, you seem qualified," a wizard at the ministry of magic was saying. "You're grades from Hogwarts before your seventh year were pretty decent and your grades from your last year were excellent. Not to mention juggling being Head Boy and Quidditch Captain. Also your O.W.Ls and N.E.W.T scores were phenominal." James smiled at the compliment and the Ministry worker looked from the papers in front of him to James. "It would be foolish of me to turn away a young promising man such as you. We would be proud to have you in the Auror training unit." The man stood up and so did James. They shook hands and James said, "Thank you, sir."
"Training begins next week, Monday morning bright and early. Be here by seven a.m sharp." With those words James walked out of the room very thankful that it was over with. The whole interview he felt as though he would vomit all over himself.
Stepping outside the office, he turned and saw Lily waiting in a chair by the door.
"Well?" she asked standing up anxiously.
"I got the job," James said not able to supress a wide grin.
"That's great!" Lily exclaimed, flinging her arms around his neck in a hug. Pulling away she asked, "So both you and Sirius will be working together?"
"Well, we're both in training together right now and hopefully we'll both be accepted at the same time. If that's the case then we will be working together." Looking around James added, "Where did Sirius and Sarah go?"
"Oh they went to get lunch," Lily replied, "I wanted to wait for you but Sarah really couldn't wait much longer."
"It's okay, we'll go and get lunch now."
"Alright," Lily laced her fingers with James' and they walked for the exit so they could go and get lunch.
25
Sirius and Sarah sat outside a little restaurant just down the street from where the Ministry was located. They were having a celebratory lunch after Sirius' interview at the Ministry for a position in Auror training. Sarah had gone along for support and comfort, in case he didn't receive the position. Fortunately he did and now that it was over he had realized how hungry he was. Trhoughout the whole lunch, though, something was bothering Sarah. At the table across from them sat a man that looked very familiar and yet she couldn't quite put her finger on where she had seen him before. It was annoying Sirius to no end because his back was facing the gentleman and Sarah wouldn't let him turn around to see if he could figure out who it was.
"He'll see you and then it will be very awkward when he comes over and asks what we were staring at," she had put it simply which Sirius still didn't get. There was still a chance that he would notice Sarah staring at him. Obviously she hadn't thought about this and when Sirius went to point it out she just made a face at him and said he wouldn't notice as obviously. It was also annoying because Sarah was too busy trying to remember where she had seen the man before to pay much attention to Sirius.
"When you're done gawking at the man behind me, please let me know so that I know I can speak."
"I'm not gawking," Sarah replied looking at him for a split second before her eyes went back to focus behind him. "Maybe I went to muggle school with him," she began to say in a low tone. "He looks too old to have been in my grade but maybe he was in a higher grade." Sirius sighed and began to move the food on his plate around. Sarah gasped, "He's getting up!" and she began to act as though she had not been staring at him for the past half hour. As the gentleman walked past their table he dropped something on the ground. After he had passed Sarah bent down and picked it up. "It's a business card," she said as Sirius looked at her curiously.
"What does it say?" he asked looking back down at his plate. At least she'll finally figure out who this bloke is, he thought. When Sarah didn't reply Sirius looked up at her and the shocked look on her face. "What is it?" he asked, truly curious this time.
Sarah remained looking at the card, looked behind her where the gentleman had left, and back at the card. "I can't believe it," she whispered.
"Can't believe what?" Without a reply Sarah got up from the table and left Sirius sitting there. "Sarah! Wait!" Throwing down some money on the table he followed her out the door. It was a good thing that Sarah was pregnant and couldn't move as fast as she used to or else he probably would've never caught up. As soon as he got outside he saw her standing in the middle of the sidewalk looking from side to side. "Sarah, what is it?" Sirius asked again.
"I have to find that man," she said sounding determined.
"But why?"
"Because Sirius," Sarah said turning to face him, "I think that man was my father."
"You're what?" Sirius asked in shock. Sarah hadn't seen her father for years but to have forgotten what he looked like completely was a shock. Without a reply though Sarah began walking down the street and Sirius had no choice but to follow. Shortly they had caught up with the gentleman and Sarah said, "Excuse me! Excuse me, sir!" The man turned around to face her and her words became caught in her throat for a moment. There could be no mistaking that this man was her father. Even though Sarah looked an aweful lot like her mother she still had some traits of her father which she could clearly see on his face. She was just surprised how much he had changed since she had last seen him eight years before, it was no wonder why she couldn't quite remember who he was.
"Yes?" he asked very politely.
"I- I think you dropped this," Sarah pushed the words out and held up her hand to hand him back the business card.
"Oh, thank you," he replied and turned to walk away but Sarah wasn't going to let him get away so easily.
"Sir," he turned back and faced the couple again, "I think you dropped that card purposely."
He smiled at her, "Why would you think that?"
"Because no wizard in their right mind would purposely drop a Ministry business card in front of a muggle couple."
The man smiled wider, "I knew you would be too smart for me, Sarah."
There was an awkward silence before Sarah said, "Dad?"
Sarah's father nodded, "It's me honey."
"But, you look so-"
"Different? I know, but everyone changes once in a while." He eyed her for a second before saying, "We both should know about changes though. You sure did let yourself go a little, didn't you?"
Sarah blushed crimson and said sheepishly, "Dad, I'm not fat, I'm pregnant. It's about to be my sixth month to be exact."
Sarah's father clutched his hand to his chest and, with wide eyes, said, "You mean I'm going to be a grandfather?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I must say that this is one of the happiest days of my life."
A wide smile spread across Sarah's face. "Really?" she asked, not sure if she heard him correctly.
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Well, I mean mama totally freaked out. Kicked me out to be exact."
Mr. White waved his hand at those words, "You're mother is too uptight. Of course she wouldn't understand." Suddenly he noticed Sirius standing next to Sarah. "Who is this young gentleman?" he asked.
"This is Sirius Black, daddy," Sarh introduced him and he held out his hand which Mr. White shook.
"Black... Black... Are you by any chance related to the infamous Black family? Or are you a muggle?"
"No, no I'm not a muggle," Sirius replied, "Unfortunately I am related to the Black family."
Thismade Sarah's father laugh, "Glad to hear it." He tok a long look at the couple, "Well Im glad you bth are happy together, at least. I know I haven't been around a lot after the devorce, and I'm sure you understand but if you guys need anything, anything at all, you can always ask me for help."
Sarah smiled, very relieved that her father was taking this all so well, "Thanks, dad."
"No problem, sweetie." He looked down at his watch and said, "I better be off or I'll be late." Handing the business card back to her he said, "Keep this in case you ever need to get ahold of me. it was nice meeting you, Sirius, and nice seeing you again Sarah." Giving them both a quick hug he tunred and left them standing in the middle of the sidewalk.
25
Remus slumped down on a chair in the lobby at the Ministry of Magic. Unlike James and Sirius, Remus did not have a good day. While James and Sirius only aplied for one job, knowing they had to be a shoe-in, Remus applied for several. Also while James and Sirius were accepted into their jobs Remus was turned awa from every job he applied to. Some were nicer than others but mostly they flat out told him they weren't interested. Not because he was underqualified, he was more qualified than James and Sirius combined, not to mention he had very good social skills. No, the reason why he was turned away by so manh positions was because of his condition.
"Can I help you, sir?" Remus looked up at the woman who was speaking to him and almost made an audible gasp.
"You're that girl!"
She smiled, "I prefer to think of myself as a young woman but girl isn't wrong either."
Remus blushed at his outburst so he cleared his throat and explained, "I mean, you liev across from me now."
"Oh yeah, I saw you the other day."
"Yeah," remus said nodding his head, "You know, I had no idea that you were a witch." The girl smiled and laughed, but it wasn't a bad laugh. She wasn't mocking him, it was more of a 'that's pretty weird' laugh. "What?" he asked interested.
"Well, I just find that odd since I knew who you were."
"Really?"
"Yeah, you're Remus Lupin, friend of James Potter and Sirius Black," she laughed again at the look on his face. "Don't look so surprised, I was only in the grade above you." That's when Remus realized why she had looked so familiar the other day.
"I remember now! You were a Ravenclaw and hung around with that Lindsay girl! You're Racquel, right?"
"Yup," she said with a smile and held out her hand, which he took, "So what are you here for?"
"I was looking for a job but I seem to be not as qualified as I thought."
"how? From what I remember you were Prefect and surely Head Boy."
Remus shook his head, "No, James became head Boy."
Raquel looked shocked by this news, "Really? I thought you were a shoe-in!"
"Me too, me too."
Racquel noticed how sad Remus looked, even thogh when they first started talking he began to cheer up.
"Hey, do you want to go get lunch? I'm off in a few minutes."
Remus began to smile again, "Sure."
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please, please R&R! Cheers!