"I don't use drugs, my dreams are frightening enough." - Mauritis Cornelius Escher

Helen's Holiday

Helen nearly screamed when she saw who had come to pick her up from the airport.

'Mark!' she exclaimed, laughing and running up to hug her older brother.

'Missed you too, kid,' he said, laughing and putting an arm around her as they walked out of the airport.

'When did you return?' Helen asked.

Mark studied in Paris and Helen had not seen him for nearly two years now.

'About a week ago… it's been a right blast with them, I tell you. I forgot how dull it got,' he said, rolling his eyes.

'Now you know how I've felt since you left,' Helen said, shooting him a reproving look.

'Look, kid. I had to get out of there. You're not bad yourself- you only have to spend two months there a year anyway,' he said, lighting a cigarette.

Helen sighed. She wasn't quite sure if Hogwarts would be that wonderful when she returned; now that she had both Sirius and James hating her.

'So… how's the witching business going?' he asked with an amused smile.

He had always found the concept of Helen being a witch rather funny… though it did explain a lot of the strange things that happened when they were younger- such as the time the vase which they broke whilst fighting mysteriously became good as new as soon when their parents returned home.

Helen laughed.

'It's okay... Good, I guess. I just finished my OWLs- you know, those exams I was telling you about.'

'You have become dull without me. Is the only thing you can talk about your school work? Come on… what's going on in your life? The last time I heard from you, you seemed to be getting pretty friendly with some guy… he had a funny name… something Black…'

'Sirius,' Helen said quietly. 'No, we're over,' she added, snatching the cigarette from her brother and taking a drag from it.

Mark raised an ironical eyebrow.

'Now that's something I never saw in you before… You always used to tell me that it was a disgusting habit,' he said reprovingly.

'You still taught me how to smoke,' Helen shrugged, 'and my life is such that getting premature lung disease would not be unwelcome.'

Mark stopped and placed a hand on her shoulder.

'Hey, is everything okay? You seem a bit down,' he said concernedly.

Helen raised an eyebrow.

'Well… more down than usual, anyway,' he said with a small knowing smile. She had never really been a happy girl at home.

Helen shrugged. 'Nothing that a few drinks can't fix… not that that'll be possible with our parents,' she finished miserably.

She really didn't want to have to put up with them now. It would be too much to bear.

Mark surveyed her before smiling at her.

'Oh, but didn't you know? They're in Sydney with their prodigy child, Christina, for a piano competition- apparently she's going to make it, so they love our youngest sister,' he said sarcastically.

Helen laughed, before starting.

'That means that they're not here?' she asked, an excited smile coming to her lips.

'We've got two weeks of hangovers to look forward to,' Mark grinned, stopping by a motorbike in the car park.

'Madamemoiselle,' he said, handing her a helmet.

Helen stared at the bike in front of her. Her usual self would never get on it in a million years.

'Does daddy know about this?' she asked, raising her eyebrows at the motorbike.

'No, and he's not going to,' Mark said nonchalantly, stubbing out his cigarette. 'You ready, or am I going to have to call a taxi for you?' he asked, sitting on the bike.

Helen grinned and sat on the back of the bike.

She was tired of being good and was embracing this opportunity to be bad with daring recklessness.

----

'Oh, joy. Home,' Helen said sarcastically, flopping down onto the pristine couch.

She heard Mark taking her trunk up to her room.

'Now I suggest you go get some sleep and freshened up, or whatever it is you girls do, because we're going out tonight,' he called.

Helen sat up. This was just what she needed to get over Sirius- not Lily telling her that it was not her fault or Remus telling her that Sirius did still like her. She just needed to get out and move on, and there was no one better than Mark for that.

Helen groaned as she woke up the next day. She sat up, squinting, and faintly registered that she was on the lounge room couch and still in her short dress and high heels. She had no idea how she got home. All she did know was that she had a massive headache and that she never wanted to see alcohol ever again… for now, anyway.

Massaging her temples, she got up, swaying slightly, and made her way to the kitchen to make herself a cup of strong coffee.

'Water would help more,' Mark's amused voice came from behind her.

Helen turned to find him with ruffled bed hair and in pyjama bottoms.

'Argh… never drinking again,' Helen croaked, leaning hear head on the kitchen bench.

There were footsteps from upstairs.

'Someone upstairs?' Helen asked shrewdly.

Mark winked at her and took a sip from her coffee before handing it back to her.

'Speaking of which… I hope you aren't as friendly with the boys at your school as you were with those at the club last night,' he said, adopting the air of a responsible elder brother which did not suit him at all.

'Why, what did I do?' Helen frowned, not able to remember any boys.

Mark raised his eyebrows.

'No brother likes to see some guy shagging his little sister,' he said, a little sternly.

'Did you stop me?' Helen asked, wondering why she wasn't more horrified at this thought.

She didn't really care.

'Oh I bashed the guy up and took you straight home- and picked up Maddie on the way,' he added thoughtfully.

Helen wrinkled her nose at her brother's attitude. It reminded her of someone else.

Someone who she was trying very hard to forget.

'Go away,' Helen groaned, not wanting to get up now that she was waking up with her tenth hangover in a row. The rapping noise, however, did not stop and Helen looked up with her heavy head to see none other than Sirius' owl, Maera, tapping at her window.

'I'm not interested,' she muttered, putting her pillow over her head.

The tapping did not stop. Helen was starting to generate murderous feelings towards both the owl and its owner as she reluctantly got up and opened her window, squinting as the sun hit her.

'What do you want?' she snapped at the owl.

Maera clicked her beak disapprovingly and dropped the heavy letter on Helen's bed, before perching on the window sill and looking at Helen expectantly.

'What?' Helen snapped.

The owl continued to glare at her- Helen was sure that she was glaring- and did not budge.

'Oh all right. For the record, though- just because I'm giving you water and food, it does not mean that I like you any more than I do your owner. What is he doing sending me letters, anyway? He hates me- he made that pretty clear to me last term, the bastard. Anyway, I'm over him and we are not getting back together and I am not accepting any apologies if that, indeed, is the purpose of his letter. He treated me most disrespectfully and I do not tolerate such behaviour from anyone- especially him. Do you understand?' Helen finished, setting a saucer with water and food for the owl on the window sill.

The owl gave Helen what she was sure was an incredulous look.

'Don't you give me that look, you. You are on his side, as is everyone. I don't understand it. I didn't do anything wrong, but bloody James still takes his stupid lover-boy Sirius' side. Maybe they like each other in that way… ew,' Helen shuddered.

The owl paused in its eating and looked up at Helen for a moment, before continuing.

'No, you're right. That would be gross. Well, I'm just going to tell you that I am not reading this letter of his. No. I am not,' Helen rambled, dropping the letter in her paper waste bin.

Perhaps it was the after-effects of the pot from the night before, but Helen could have sworn that the owl shook her head at Helen before flying off.

'Don't you shake your head at me!' Helen shouted after it. 'Why don't you shake your head at him? Huh?'

'Er… Helen, apart from pot, did you take anything else last night? Because you're starting to scare me now,' Mark said, entering the room with a cup of coffee.

Helen sighed and sat on the bed miserably.

'The bloody owl was shaking its head at me,' Helen grumbled.

Mark felt her head for a temperature.

'Oh don't be ridiculous,' Helen snapped, slapping his hands away. 'It was Sirius' owl- it just left. See… here's the proof that it was here. Here's the letter,' Helen said, taking out the letter and holding it out to Mark.

Mark laughed.

'Relax. I believe you… that's a pretty fat letter,' he observed, weighing it with his hand. 'Why was it in the bin?' he asked, looking at Helen curiously.

'I don't care about anything he has to say,' Helen shrugged.

'Well it seems he had a lot to say,' Mark observed, handing the letter back to Helen.

Helen had an idea.

'Can you read it for me? I don't want to know anything about us getting back together- or any abuse he have to hurl at me- but if there's anything urgent; like someone sick or dying etc, could you tell me?'

'You expect me to read all this with a hangover?' Mark asked, staring at length of the scroll as he unfurled it.

It was long.

Helen smiled sweetly. 'Yes, because you love me,' she said, pouting.

Mark rolled his eyes and started to read. Helen sat opposite him and had to sit on her hands to prevent herself from snatching the letter from her brother so that she could read it herself. Instead she read his face, although this made it worse as his expressions would make her blurt out things like: 'what? Is it bad?'

Mark ignored her questions for the whole letter. After fifteen minutes, he rolled it up and looked at Helen.

'Well?' she demanded.

'There are a few things which you should know, and I also have a few questions too,' he said, his voice no longer joking.

Helen gulped. Mark was rarely as serious as this.

'Firstly, I want to know what the fuck this guy did to you that he spent so much of his letter apologising to you? Honestly, even I nearly cried myself by the end of it,' he said, sickened at the thought of himself crying.

Helen shrugged.

'We just had this fight which kind of went out of control… anyway, that's not what I want to know about. What should I know about?'

'He ran away from home,' Mark replied, not entirely satisfied with his sister's response to his initial question.

Helen momentarily forgot about the fact that she was no longer with Sirius.

'He did? He really did that? Where is he now?' she asked, excited for him.

'He's with his friend- James,' Mark replied shrewdly.

Helen bit her lip and remembered herself.

'Good for him,' she shrugged nonchalantly.

Mark cleared his throat, knowing his sister well enough to see through this act.

'Anything else?' Helen asked, raising her eyebrows.

'They would like you to join them like you did last year in the last week of holidays,' Mark said, scanning the letter for other important information.

Helen snorted.

'Nothing else?'

'Oh… and I think he loves you,' Mark shrugged, handing her the letter again.

Helen rolled her eyes.

'Whatever. He actually wrote that and thought I'd believe him? Ha! I'm actually going to start laughing now…'

'No, I think he loves you. He didn't write it, but I think he really regrets whatever he did to you and he really wants you back sissy. Now you tell me, here- you never behaved like this- partying, smoking, drinking- before. Is this because you're depressed about you two breaking up?'

Helen sighed.

'It was never just the two of us home like this,' Helen pointed out.

'No, but still…'

'Yes,' she interrupted. 'I really liked him. I don't know why or how or what it was... It was just like we… oh God I'm sounding like a complete idiot now…' Helen laughed, shaking her head at herself.

Mark surveyed her for a moment.

'You know, kid, sometimes you're more of a guy about your feelings than we men are,' he remarked.

Helen shot him a reproving look.

'No, I'm being serious…'

Helen was about to make a Sirius/serious pun joke but stopped herself. She was not with Sirius, and Mark would not understand it anyway. She marvelled, nonetheless, at how much of an impact Sirius had exercised upon her life.

'How do I look?' Helen asked Mark as she entered the living room.

They were waiting for their parents' arrival and they had cleaned up both the house and their appearances.

'As angelic as someone who has spent the last five years of their lives studying witchcraft can look,' he said, smirking at her conservative dress, her makeup free face and her hair which was pulled back into a formal, plain bun. In short, Helen's appearance contrasted widely to what it was last week.

'I'm not looking forward to this,' Helen said quietly, after a while of silence.

'Neither, but at least you're not alone this time,' he said, squeezing her hand.

----

'Sit,' Helen's father ordered her upon her entering his study.

Helen gave a closed smile and sat on the opposite side of his desk, her back straight, eyes emotionless. It was always that distant, unloving tone from him; it had never been otherwise.

'What are these?' he asked icily, throwing a bunch of letters across the table to her.

With shaking hands, Helen picked one up. It was from Hogwarts.

-

Dear Mr Asterios,

It is with great regret that I inform you that your daughter, Helen Asteria, has received her fiftieth detention for fighting in class with another student.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall.

-

Helen looked up at her father with trepidation as he rose from his chair.

'Thirty letters!' Helen's dad shouted, grabbing her arm with a death grip.

Helen's chest heaved as he pulled her by the ear and pushed her to the floor.

'Please, dad, it's not…' she gasped.

He slapped her stingingly across the face and Helen tasted the blood which was now dripping from her nose.

'Get up,' he snarled.

Helen stumbled as she tried to get up.

'Ever since you left for that school your attitude has been disgusting,' he shouted at her.

Helen felt tears streaming down her cheeks.

At that moment, Helen's mother entered the room with a letter.

'This letter says that your school term starts on September 1st and always has started then, but last year you said that it started on August 20th,' she said eyeing Helen accusingly as she handed the letter to Helen's father.

Helen closed her eyes, waiting for it...

When Helen woke up, her head was sore. She had been knocked out from her father's blows; this much she gathered.

Her door burst open.

'Get up, you lazy girl. It's six o'clock. Get up right now and practise piano,' her father said angrily, throwing off her covers and pulling her long hair as Helen hastily tried to get up.

Helen recoiled in the corner of the room as her dad glared at her.

'And you're never going back to that school of yours ever again,' he spat. 'Your mother and I decided that you have become a liar and a disgrace to this family over there and we will not allow it any more.'

'What!' Helen shouted, before she could stop herself.

She had gone too far. His eyes almost bulged out of his head.

'What did you just say? How dare you speak to me in that insolent manner,' he said, slapping her across the face.

Helen could no longer take it anymore. She really couldn't.

Suddenly, her father relaxed and Helen recognised him to be confunded. She looked around to see if someone was in the room and had done it, but then realised that she herself had done it- without a wand.

Helen sighed.

'Leave the room please,' she said to him in a shaking voice.

He obliged and Helen sighed with relief as he shut the door.

She began packing everything frantically- throwing everything and anything into her trunk. As she threw her books into her trunk, Sirius' letter fell out. She looked at it with half a mind to throw it out, but realised that it would be a bad idea to do so lest her parents read it in her absence. She threw it in her trunk and slammed it shut, wheeling it out of her room.

'Mark, wake up!' Helen shouted, banging her fists on his door.

He emerged at the door, a minute later, looking dishevelled.

'I'm leaving,' Helen said frantically. 'I'm leaving right now. Can you take me to the airport?' she asked breathlessly.

She didn't know how long her father would remain confunded for.

Mark's eyes widened.

'They'll kill you!' he whispered hoarsely, shaking her by the shoulders.

Helen shook her head.

'I did magic accidentally- he'll accept whatever I say… please Mark, just take me to the airport. I'll never ask you for anything else, please…'

Mark nodded.

'Give me ten minutes,' he said, disappearing again.

---

Helen tapped her foot frantically as she waited for Mark at the front door. She felt a cardiac arrest coming on as she saw her father approach her, but relaxed when she saw that he was still confunded.

'Now you make sure that you're a good girl and that you study hard,' he said sternly.

'Yes daddy,' Helen managed to say in a high-pitched voice, wishing Mark wouldn't take so bloody long.

'Ah- Mark! Now you be a good boy too. I want to hear good things about you,' the father said, clapping his son on the shoulder.

Mark shot Helen a quizzical look before smiling uncertainly back at his father.

'Will do, dad,' he said, patting his father hesitantly on the back, before both he and Helen left the house quickly, each carrying their trunk and suitcase.

'You're leaving too?' Helen asked Mark as soon as they reached his motorbike.

Mark nodded.

'No use staying if you're not there. What kind of time would I have?' he laughed sarcastically.

Helen sunk to the ground, shaking.

'Oh God. I don't know how I did it without a wand… I hope I won't get into trouble,' she said, placing a hand to her head and snatching the packet of cigarettes from Mark's breast pocket.

'No,' Mark said softly, but firmly, as he took the cigarettes from her.

Helen looked at him incredulously.

'No. I should never have let you get drunk like that and smoke and do all those drugs. I've been a bad older brother. You're young- you shouldn't be doing those things to yourself. You've got your whole life ahead of you,' he said, throwing out the cigarettes in the bin next to him.

'And what about you?' Helen challenged.

Mark shook his head.

'I'm stopping too. I was thinking, last night, that we've only been doing this because of them. They're not worth us wrecking ourselves over, Helen. We're better than that,' he said sagely.

A smile played upon Helen's lips.

'Who are you and what have you done with my brother?' she laughed, feeling freer now that she didn't have to return home until next holidays.

'We should catch a cab,' Mark said, pointing to their trunks which would obviously not fit on the bike.

Helen nodded, very glad that she had Mark these holidays. She knew that she wouldn't have survived without him.

'I'll go with you to London-make sure you get there ok- and then I'll catch a train to Paris,' Mark said to Helen after he had bought them their tickets.

'You don't have to,' Helen said.

'No, I want to. I shouldn't have left you for so long with them… and I don't want to hear of any lecherous men trying to take advantage of my sister,' he added with a wry smile.

Helen laughed.

'You know, I think I could show them where to go better than you could,' Helen said, raising an eyebrow which Mark understood to refer to her being a witch.

'Probably… but still. Anyway, let's just have one more adventure for the holidays. You can show me a bit of this crazy world you belong to!' he laughed.

---

'Where are we exactly?' Mark asked, looking around what appeared to be a junk yard.

'The back of a pub,' Helen replied, taking out her wand and tapping the bricks.

Mark's eyes widened as he saw the opening.

'Welcome, my brother, to Diagon Alley,' Helen said, laughing at his reaction.

---

'Tell me, kid… your running away has nothing to do with that boy you who you 'don't like', does it?' Mark asked as they wandered through Flourish and Blots.

Helen shot him a reproving look.

'I did not run away. I will return next holidays… I just… left a bit early,' she finished unconvincingly, scratching her head.

Mark laughed and put an arm around her as they walked out of the shop.

Helen stopped in her tracks and stared at a boy who had just gone to enter the shop. Upon his seeing Helen, he stared at her too, his face paling slightly as his glance flitted to Mark who still had his arm around Helen's shoulder.

'Sirius! There you are!' a female voice called. She joined him and linked arms.

Helen's face now paled as she took in the witch's appearance. She had thick dark brown hair. Although Helen thought of Bellatrix upon initially seeing the witch, she did not look so much like Bellatrix upon closer inspection- she looked too kind-hearted.

'Hello,' Sirius said stiffly to Helen.

She never replied to his letter and the way she looked at him now made Sirius lose any hope whatsoever of them getting together ever again... That was forgetting the fact that she had obviously moved on if she had some guy's arm around her.

'Hello,' Helen said, nodding jerkily.

So, despite Mark's insistence that Sirius could possibly have been genuinely sorry, Sirius had still moved on and found someone else; she was beautiful too.

Mark looked at Sirius with scrutinizing eyes. He could tell that he was a good-looking boy and one who had gotten around a fair bit too. The way he looked at Helen now, though, also told him very much that he had not gotten over his sister at all and that everything he had written in his letter was genuine.

Similarly, Andromeda looked at the girl who had caused Sirius so much heartache these holidays. At first, she couldn't believe that her cousin- the infamous playboy of Hogwarts- could have been affected so badly by a girl. She was beautiful, to be sure but that wasn't what struck Andromeda. She could see that this girl had strength of character; something which Sirius had probably never seen in any other girls who he pursued; and Andromeda saw this as the girl looked at Sirius levelly now.

'I'm Andromeda,' Andromeda smiled, trying to dispel the tension.

'Mark,' Mark said, shaking her hand.

Helen turned and smiled politely to Andromeda.

'Helen,' she said, shaking her hand. 'This is Mark,' she said.

Sirius pursed his lips as he shook Marks hand quickly.

'Sirius,' he nodded abruptly.

'Well, nice to meet you Andromeda. We have to go now, though,' Helen said, forcing a smile at her and steering Mark away from the awkward group into Madam Malkin's.

'So… that was the famous Mr Black?' Mark smiled slyly.

'Shut it, Mark,' Helen snapped, pretending to search through the rack of dress robes.

'He's not bad looking. You two would look good together…' he continued.

'Well it's not happening, so drop it,' she said testily.

'He doesn't seem to be over you,' Mark remarked.

'No? Well I'll have a hard time believe that seeing as he was with his newest girlfriend,' Helen snapped, stalking out of the shop.

'I don't think that was his girlfriend,' Mark mused.

'No? Well I don't care. Listen, can we talk about something else?' Helen rounded on her brother, becoming rather annoyed that he was not being more sympathetic to her cause. She felt unsettled now that she had seen Sirius again; she had not expected it and it had taken her unawares.

Hmmm... this 'day' in the chapter shall be continued, but first (i.e. in the next chapter) we shall see how Sirius' holiday went as, from what Mark has told us in reading Sirius' letter, it was also quite eventful.

So although she nearly completely lost it, Helen seems to be gaining some control back in her life now that she's not at home anymore. She hasn't properly run away, either, because she really is holding out that her parents might love her, somehow. Her parents really do treat her badly, though. I guess she was lucky this time that she had Mark as some kind of moral support.

Oh and let's not forget the huge misunderstanding between Sirius and Helen over their shopping companions. Heh.

... and I'm pretty sure there is something else which a few of you might be writing to me about which I haven't mentioned, but I don't find it that significant in the grand scheme of things, so I won't discuss it here.

Anyway, so now that it's not Christmas anymore, there are no excuses... get typing, because the next chapter is pretty long and very eventful and important in many different ways.

So... review and I shall update again tomorrow (if the internet god is willing, that is)!

Lots of love, Anya

p.s. A special thanks to those who have been reviewing. We've passed the 400 review mark! Yay!