38. Fly By Us

"Cheer up Vi, its Christmas holidays," Sirius said as they left the station, waving to the others as their parents picked them up. She gave him a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. "Oh, come on, you can do better than that!"

She shook her head and started walking, grinning despite herself. "Vienna! Vienna, it's the other way!"

"Come on," he said, his face breaking into a smile. He swung her into his arms and started down the street. "How about we hit a pub?"

"Let me go you great lump!" she said laughing and unsuccessfully trying to jump free.

"No way," he said kissing her on the nose.

"Let me down!"

"Is that blood?" Sirius asked, suddenly concerned. He placed her back onto the pavement and stared at her intently. She looked at her hand which still had clear traces of Avery's blood.

"That's nothing, it's not mine. I just got into a fight with Avery, that's all. Broke his nose."

"No, you're bleeding, look at your jumper." She looked and sure enough there was a thin stripe of red slowly spreading. She put her hand to it and pulled it away, her fingers soaked in blood.

"Come on, my flat's only a few blocks," Sirius said tugging her forward.

Sirius's flat was certainly a bit farther than a few blocks. By the time they got back Vienna was leaning heavily on his shoulder, the stain covering most of the left side of her jumper.

"It's ok, you'll be fine," Sirius said, trying to unlock the door with shaky fingers. Vienna gave him a weak smile.

"I didn't even notice."

"Got it!" he said, pushing the door open. "It's right- Oh, come here," he said, sweeping her into his arms once again. He carried her up the stairs waving his wand at the topmost door so that it flew open.

"Ok!" he said, laying her on the bed. "Let's see, essence of dittany!" he said, running into the other room. Vienna's eyes fluttered shut, one hand still clutched on her side.

"Here we have it!" Sirius said, reappearing with a bottle full of brown liquid and a fluffy towel. "Oh, Vi!" he said, tossing the little bottle onto the bed and running a hand down her cheek. "Please don't hit me for this later," he murmured, pulling off her bloodstained jumper and quickly undoing the buttons on her blouse.

Sirius grabbed the towel and pressed it to the deep gash on her side. "This wouldn't have happened if you'd just stayed out of trouble for a change," Sirius said to Vi's unconscious form as he look at the ragged wound. He took the bottle of dittany and dropped three drops onto the gash. It knitted up before his very eyes, already looking a few days old.

Vienna's eye fluttered open. It was dark, with unfamiliar shadows looming out of the blackness. She sat up quickly, grabbing her side. It was still painful. She got out of bed and made for the door, swearing loudly when she tripped over something large on the floor.

"Vi, honey, are you ok?" Sirius said, opening the door as she hopped in a circle, clutching her foot. "I see you've found your trunk," he said fighting a smile as he dragged it out of her way. "I've seen you fall fifteen feet off a broom and complain less."

"That's different," she said, still clutching her foot.

"Why, because you broke your arm?"

"I don't know! Maybe the trunk was just really, really solid."

"Sure, whatever you say," Sirius said, mussing up her hair. She put her hand on his and sat on his lap, her head falling gently on his shoulder.

"Stop it," she said tiredly, nestling into his shoulder. "You'll put knots in it."

Sirius grinned, twining his fingers in hers. "I know another way we could put knots in it-"

"Sirius!" she said, laughing as he flipped her onto the bed. He kissed her, his hands tracing up her naked thighs to the hem of his tee shirt she wore. Her hands found his and knitted themselves between his fingers.

"Not tonight," she said softly. "Can we just sleep tonight? I'm just really worn out."

Sirius stared at her a moment, a foreign hunger clear in his eyes before rolling over and getting up.

"What are you doing?" Vienna said, her eyebrows knitting together.

"You said you wanted to get some sleep. I'll be on the couch in the other room," he said opening the door.

"Aren't you going to stay here? It is your bed after all," she said, looking at him hopefully. He looked at her for a moment before saying, "Shove over," and climbing in, wraping his arms around her.

She fell asleep in a matter of minutes, her head nestled on his shoulder.

Vienna awoke early the next morning and quietly rolled out of bed. Her side was still aching. She examined it in the mirror, wincing as the fabric of her shirt rubbed against it.

It was still an angry red line ringed with purple bruises. She quickly changed into a pair of Levi's and a jumper. That was definitely the worst she'd gotten of Snape's signature hex. And that was saying something considering she'd been the beta tester during its developmental phase.

"What are you doing up so early?" Sirius asked blearily, rubbing his eyes. Vienna jumped, too lost in her own thoughts to have noticed him wake up. Sirius laughed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

Vienna quickly pulled the sweater down, her cheeks heating up.

"It's nothing," she said quickly.

"Is it your side again?"

"Sirius, I'm fine, really-"

"Vienna, just let me take care of you," Sirius said, coming up behind her. She bit her lip but allowed him to lead her to the bed.

"Just lie down, ok?" Sirius asked. She did and he rolled up the hem of her sweater, revealing a thick strip of her midriff. He reached over to the bedside table and grabbed the bottle of dittany, releasing a few drops on the angry skin. Almost at once it seemed to become a pink puckered line.

"See," Sirius said, stowing the bottle in a drawer. "Was that really that hard?"

"No," she said grudgingly before sitting up. Sirius grinned.

"Ok, so normally I would make breakfast, but I haven't gone to the market yet-"

"That's fine, I know this great place down by the river. My treat," she said with a smile. Then it slipped of her face.

"What's the matter?" Sirius said as he pulled on his coat.

"I don't know why I know that," she said, a look of great concentration on her face.

"I don't know why I know half the things I do," Sirius said, holding the door open for her. She shook her head.

"No it's not like that. It's like I remember, like things are starting to slip through."

Hi everyone! I'm so sorry for not updating in a while, my computer snuffed it. So now I have a new one, which is wonderful, except I hate the keyboard, because it's different from my old one which means it takes me twice as long to type. ARRRRGG! But nevermind.

So guess what? I've got the whole rest of the story planned out, which, holy crap is a lot of chapters. But it means I can stop sitting here with my head on the keyboard going "AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGG! WRITERS BLOCK!" so hopefully I'll be able to update faster. Except for fluff chapters, because I f*cking hate writing fluff (I say as I give you one. Sorry)

So just to let you know, a lot of the rest of the story is going to be a bit chunky-er, which is awesome for me because it means less fluff, but you can leave your comments on that. To be honest, it's definitely necessary considering the rest of the story is going to span I think eighteen or so years. I'll have to check my math but around that. But don't worry about it being super short or whatever for that length because it'll probably end up being a hundred or so chapters longer. Is that ridiculous?

So yeah, no you've heard my whole rant on writing and fluff and nonsense and I know some of you hate it when I leave super long author's notes but it was very necessary in an unnecessary sort of way.

Please review and what not.

Loves ya all.