A/N: I know, I know; I promised you I'd update regularly, and I haven't. I feel awful. But fear not, my dissertation is finally finished, my university life is officially over, and Dear Lizzie is BACK! Hope you all enjoy this chapter; if you've forgotten what was happening the last time, take a look at the last couple of chapters to refresh your memories. And don't forget: review, review, review:D thanks to everyone for your support!
"Shall we go in?" Sirius asked with a smile, hand outstretched towards Lizzie. She swallowed loudly, and nodded briefly. They were standing in front of the normal looking door at the entrance of Number 12, Grimmauld Place, and Lizzie felt a certain tension mount as Sirius raised his hand to knock on the door.
"Technically, I could open the door myself," Sirius said, grinning sheepishly, as the doorbell announced their arrival with a mighty fanfare, "my father had made it so that only members of the family can open this door, and he had used our blood for the spell when we were little. There's no way he could have changed that without taking more of my blood, even if he wanted to." The thought seemed to console him to no end.
The door creaked as they made their way in to the darkened corridor. Looking inside, Lizzie felt as though she had entered an ancient museum. The room was lined with paintings and sculptures all along the way, and though there were different sources of light, there was more of a glow that gave a rather sombre tone to the house.
An old house elf with drooping ears and several folds of skin in his face approached them quickly, squinting in the darkness since he could not see them well.
"Master Sirius, you here?" he squeaked, when he finally recognised his former master. "Mistress does not know, does not expect, will not be pleased." He turned his head and continued to mutter. "Traitor, breaks Mistress' heart; always hanging with Muggles, no respect to the family. Mistress will be disappointed."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Where is my family, Kreacher?" he addressed the elf with a stern glance, never loosening his grip on Lizzie's hand.
"Parlour," Kreacher replied, as though unable to control himself and, bowing his head with disdain, he left the corridor as fast as he could, no doubt to warn his beloved Mistress about the intrusion.
"Let's go," Sirius motioned to Lizzie. "Are you ready? They won't be nice, I can assure you."
Lizzie nodded, "I'm ready if you are," she said, squeezing his hand and gracing him with a small smile.
The parlour was a rather old-fashioned room, adorned with paintings of all types like the previous room had been, and with a definite sinister tone to it. There were two occupied armchairs, and Lizzie found herself unwittingly looking into the surprised faces of Sirius' parents.
Orion Black, his face as handsome as Sirius' though distinctly older, rose abruptly to his feet. "What is the meaning of this? What are you doing here?" His wife merely looked at Lizzie without saying a word.
"We come in peace," Sirius said feebly, raising one hand in an attempt to control him. "I need to speak to you."
"Then speak," Wallburga, his mother, said with defiance. "Say what you have to say, and go. You're not welcome here."
Lizzie gasped, shocked, but Sirius merely grinned. "I had no doubts about that mother. I see I've been blasted off the family tapestry; it breaks my heart, really it does." He motioned to the tapestry behind his mother, sounding anything but heartbroken.
"Who is this?" Wallburga looked at Lizzie with a menacing glance. "Your Mudblood lover? Sirius, you shame us!"
"I'm not a Mudblood!" Lizzie burst out, infuriated, before Sirius could say a word.
"Half-blood, then" Wallburga replied lazily, examining her nails. "What does it matter? Your blood is tainted nevertheless, you're disgusting and filthy."
Lizzie opened her mouth to give her a piece of her mind, but Sirius preceded her, incensed. "Elizabeth Potter is neither a Muggle-born, nor a half-blood! She's my girlfriend and I love her."
"Potter, you say?" Orion interjected, looking with sudden interest at Lizzie. "Then she really is a pure-blood, Wallburga. I'm almost impressed."
"The Potters are blood traitors, Orion." Wallburga said with disdain. "Just say what you have to say, and go." She addressed her eldest son.
"You know what," Sirius replied, suddenly angry, "I came here, because I felt that I had to see you again, at least one last time, because you're the only family I have. But coming back here I've realised, you're not my family. You've never been my family, and you never will be. I have a new family now," he caught Lizzie's hand and squeezed it, "so this was all a waste. I'm leaving."
He grabbed Lizzie by the elbow and started to drag her towards the door.
"Wait!" Orion's voice stopped them.
"I don't have time to waste." Sirius turned to say, still walking towards the door. He turned the knob and found that it was locked.
"Alohomara," Sirius said, pointing towards it with his wand, but nothing happened. Lizzie looked slightly alarmed.
"Let us go." Sirius told his dad, who was giving them a rather sinister smile.
"But naturally," Orion replied, "but what sort of a father would I be, if I let you leave alone at this late hour? No, it will not do. You will both dine with us and stay the night."
"Orion!" Wallburga started, clearly furious.
"Hush, Wallburga," Orion glared at her, silencing her with his glance. "I've made up my mind."
Sirius looked nervous as his father looked at him menacingly. "I'll instruct the kitchens to set up dinner for you," Orion said darkly.
"We've already eaten," Sirius interjected, lying through his teeth. "We're not at all hungry."
"Very well then, an aperitif before you call it a night?" Orion continued, "Surely at your age you're well acquainted to the wonders of alcohol by now."
Sirius shook his head, "We're not taking anything."
Orion faked disappointment, "Really now, not at all expected from the proud son I raised. Very well, have it your way then. Wallburga, kindly make arrangements for the guest room on the second floor to be prepared for our visitor," he said, looking at Lizzie with an evil glint in his eye."
"No!"
It was Sirius who spoke.
"No?" his father replied, "Would you rather she sleeps down here on an armchair? Huh? Or downstairs with the house elves?"
"She'll sleep with me," Sirius said, putting one arm around her waist and pulling her closer towards him. "That's how we sleep every night anyway."
Wallburga looked furious. "You little whore," she pointed her finger at Lizzie, "I raised him for all those years and looked at what you turned him into."
"Wallburga, silence." Orion said, looking furiously at his wife in turn. "Elizabeth is our guest. We will treat her as such." His wife fumed silently.
"I take it you remember where your bedroom is then," Orion turned to Sirius. "I wish you a good night. Wallburga and I will also go to bed." And with a last glance around the room, he grabbed his wife's arm and they disappeared from sight.
"Come on," Sirius said in a whisper, never letting go of Lizzie's hand. "Hurry, they must be up to something." He dragged her up two flights of stairs, up to a small dark corridor with two identical doors. She read Regulus' name on the first one, and the last door was Sirius' room.
When they were inside, Sirius got out his wand and pointed towards the door knob. "Claustralamo." He whispered, and the door sealed itself. "You do it too please," he asked Lizzie. "They might have found some way to make my spells ineffective here." And so they proceeded for the next half-hour, casting all forms to spells to seal the room and make it inaccessible, sound proof and impenetrable.
"I guess this is safe enough," Lizzie said finally, sitting down on the edge of Sirius' four poster bed and sighing. Sirius joined her.
"I'm really sorry about this, Lizzie," he said, looking genuinely worried. "I had no idea he'd go this far."
"Do you have any idea what he's planning?" Lizzie asked, half-curiously. "I wonder why he wanted us to sleep here at all costs. Your mother certainly didn't seem too happy about it."
"He's most likely trying to poison you, or bewitch you. He'd be a right little hero if a Potter suddenly turned to the Dark side. Don't you dare eat or drink anything while you're here. And don't touch anything either. In fact, just don't do anything at all. Just stick beside me, and I'll get you out of here as soon as we can."
Sirius lifted his head in surprise as he heard Lizzie giggle. "What's so funny, if I may ask?"
"You are!" she replied, giggling some more. "You get so nervous when you're worried, it's so cute."
"Cute," Sirius said in disgust, still too worried to find the situation remotely funny. "I'm just trying to protect you."
"Yes, it's very cute," Lizzie repeated, turning to kneel on the bed. "Very cute indeed," she added, placing her lips next to Sirius' earlobe with a small kiss.
"What are you doing?" Sirius muttered, lowering his defences slightly as she covered his face with small kisses, and then bent her head forward so that their lips could meet.
"I'm trying to show you just how cute you are," she whispered, never breaking the rhythm of her kisses. Her hands were around his neck now, and she was pressing so tightly towards him that, as he snaked his arms around her waist, he thought his heart would escape from his ribcage.
"What are you doing now?" he complained rather gruffly when she finally stopped kissing him and started to take off her jacket.
He bent forward to draw her firmly back in his arms, but she stopped him, continued to remove her jacket and bent forward to unlace her shoes. When she had finished, she placed her hands on both his cheeks and looked straight into his eyes.
"Sirius," she whispered with a small blush, "I want you to make love to me."