A/N: All right, here's chapter 29... geez, it's been awhile, hasn't it? Anyways, I tried my best with this one, but I'm going back to school in less than a week and silently having several nervous breakdowns, so I could only do so well :3
Rachel pointed the unfamiliar wand in her hand at a bare wall of Ollivander's wand shop. An explosion followed and once the dust had cleared, the three people in the room stared ruefully at the large, gaping hole in the cream-coloured wall.
Rachel winced and looked over at Ollivander. "Once I get a wand, I swear I'll fix this all up," she promised with a small shrug. There was only so much she could do.
"No, no, there's only so much that can be helped," Ollivander said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Usually, it's fairly simple to use another's wand if you're an educated wizard, but these wands are without owners, so the job is that much more difficult."
The old wizard disappeared into a small hallway and Rachel looked over at Sirius with a sigh. Five bloody wands and every single one of them wreaked havoc on the quaint little shop. Rachel was pretty much ready to call it quits and spend the whole day sulking with a tub of ice cream.
"Oh, come on," Sirius said with a small smile. "Don't give me that look. There can only be so many wands that don't agree with you and your stubbornness."
Rachel scoffed and crossed her arms. "Don't jinx it," she grumbled.
Ollivander came back out with another dusty and tattered box in his hands. Rachel took the wand and pointed it a boxed wand. She muttered a simple Summoning Charm, knowing she'd have to go easy at first. Fortunately for her, the box easily floated towards her and neatly landed into her free hand. She looked up and gave Ollivander a grateful smile.
"I think we have a winner!" she declared happily.
"Amazing!" Ollivander cheered, heading over to his register. "Now, it will feel a bit funny at first, but all wands take a bit of getting used to. It'll be especially more easy since you are already an experienced witch!"
"Hopefully, I won't be stuck with it for long," Rachel admitted. "I'm crossing my fingers that I'll manage to get my wand back."
The old wandmaker gave Rachel a sad look. "It would be rather foolish of someone to arm their enemy, don't you think, Miss Fredricks?" Ollivander said quietly.
"Who said they were going to give it back willingly?" Rachel questioned, only slightly jokingly.
Ollivander laughed lightly. "Nevertheless, it was very nice seeing you," he said cheerfully and looked over at Sirius. "You too, Mister Black!"
Sirius smiled. "Nice seeing you again too, Ollivander," he said.
Once Rachel had fixed the torrential mess she created in the shop, her and Sirius said goodbye to Ollivander and exited the small shop into the cobblestoned streets of Diagon Alley. Sirius let his arm rest lazily on Rachel's shoulders as they departed from the shop.
"He's quite nice, Ollivander," Rachel said. "I always liked him."
"Me too," Sirius admitted. "Always seemed a decent fellow."
"Let's go to Florean's and get some ice cream," Rachel suggested, her gaze fixed on the small, blue and pink ice cream shop.
"And celebrate you getting a new wand," Sirius added with a smile.
"And, me going back to work tomorrow," Rachel said.
Sirius rolled his eyes, but the smile remained on his face. "Yeah, sure, whatever."
Rachel laughed lightly as the two of them entered the ice cream parlour. Once they had ordered their ice cream, the pair sat down at a small booth with their heaping bowls of dessert.
"Just so you know," Sirius started with fake seriousness, "if you get kidnapped again, I'm not coming to save you."
Rachel feigned a look of hurt on her face. "And here I thought what we had was special!" she said dramatically. The two began laughing only a few seconds later.
"Remember when you said you wanted to go into the Muggle world once you were done school?" Sirius asked after their laughter ceased.
Rachel nodded lightly. "That followed the plan, didn't it?" she replied sarcastically. "To be honest, I think at one point I realized that there was no way I could completely alienate myself from the Wizarding world because I was a part of it."
"So you just let it devour you whole," Sirius said with a smirk.
Rachel rolled her eyes and smiled. "Guess I did," she replied. "Not that I regret it. The way it seems now is that I have more of a home here than in the Muggle world."
"And besides," Sirius added. "You couldn't escape even if you wanted. Either Dorcas or Lily would be the first to clog you in the head and tie you up, refusing to let you go for the rest of eternity."
"Wow," Rachel said with a small laugh. "That, surprisingly, is an understatement."
They laughed again, enjoying their time together. It was hard nowadays to find time to spend together. And Rachel would never admit it, but she was happy she skipped those two days of work because she got to spend them with Sirius.
"Are you two stark-raving mad?" Rachel shouted angrily.
"Unbelievable!" Lily huffed. "Do you know what could've happened?"
"We could've died," Sirius replied with fake seriousness. Rachel turned and glared at him.
Just when Rachel and Lily thought that James and Sirius might have matured since their graduation from Hogwarts, they were blatantly proven wrong. The pair thought it would be fun to go on a bit of a motorcycle joy ride through London. In Rachel's opinion, the fun stopped when they started getting chased by the cops and when the Death Eaters showed up.
So this is how Rachel and Lily found themselves at Lily and James's house, scolding the two supposed mature men in front of them. And only two weeks after Rachel started her first official Auror job too.
"You could've been killed by Death Eaters," Rachel began, "you could've been arrested by the Muggle police, you could've been arrested by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and you could have revealed the whole Wizarding world to prying eyes for Merlin's sake!"
"But we didn't," James said helpfully.
Lily shook her head. "I don't understand how you two can be reckless in times like these," she said. "I'm not saying don't have fun, but that was far too reckless."
"Okay, well, we're sorry," Sirius said. "Right, Prongs?"
"Right," James confirmed.
"Yeah, well, to hell you are," Rachel grumbled. "No motorcycles for a month. If I so much as catch you glancing at a motorcycle these next thirty days, you will see hell."
"Aw, come on!" Sirius exclaimed. "We won't do it again. We've learned our lesson!"
"No motorcycles," Lily said firmly.
"You guys aren't our mothers, come on," James said.
"No way!" Rachel exclaimed. "You are not talking your way out of this one. You've got to face the music."
Sirius sighed heavily. "Fine," he grumbled. "No motorcycles."
James shrugged disappointedly and leaned back on the couch he was sitting on. With a tired sigh, Rachel sat down on an armchair and Lily on a rocking chair in her living room.
"Do you guys know what Death Eaters were after you?" Rachel asked after a moment of silence.
"No… I don't know… I was thinking Rosier would be there," Sirius answered.
"You guys can put it in a report at the next Order meeting," Lily said.
James and Sirius agreed with a silent nod of their heads.
Sirius looked over at Rachel, who was sitting on the armchair with her arms crossed and a fairly neutral look on her face. "I'm sorry, okay?" Sirius said pointedly.
Rachel turned to him with a blank look. "Yeah, okay, I got it," she said. "I didn't say anything."
"Okay then," Sirius muttered.
Lily stood up with a sigh. "So are you two willing to stay for some tea and biscuits?" she asked.
"At this hour?" Rachel countered.
"Oh, you think you'll be able to fall asleep now, do you?" Lily asked challengingly.
Rachel sighed dejectedly. "Better be some bloody good biscuits," she grumbled.
"All right, Rachel," Lily said with a smile. "You wanna help me?"
"Don't really have a choice," Rachel replied smartly.
Lily rolled her eyes and then focused on James and Sirius. "And you two—don't do anything stupid," she ordered.
"All right, okay, we got it!" James exclaimed. "We were a little too reckless tonight. We've learned our lesson."
"Good for you," Lily sniffed. She turned around and Rachel followed after her.
Lily and Rachel entered the small kitchen of James and Lily's flat. Lily set the water to boil and started moving scones from a cookie pan to a plate. She looked over at Rachel.
"They're just a couple of idiots, aren't they?" she said quietly.
Rachel nodded in agreement. "You'd think they would've grown up a bit by now," she muttered.
Lily smiled. "They're going to be the death of us, aren't they?" she noted jokingly.
"They wouldn't have it any other way," Rachel agreed.
Rachel and Lily laughed. The two hadn't gotten a chance to spend time together in awhile, and Rachel truly missed her friend. It was quite nice to have all four of them together for tea and biscuits, despite the pretenses the get-together was under.
Lily poured hot tea in four mugs. Rachel helped her take the mugs and the plate of biscuits back into the living room. They set the plate and mugs on the coffee table and the four of them gathered around it, quickly reverting back to their normal mood. Happy, talkative, cheery, not a worry in sight.
As Rachel took a bite out of her scone and a large sip of her tea, she realized how at peace she finally felt.
All right, so, meh, I tried :/
-Grammar/spelling?
-Can someone spot the canon in this chapter? :)
Thanks for reading! :)
