Chapter 53 ~ April, 1997
Warm sunshine streaming through the window was an absolutely lovely way to wake up, Artemis decided, stretching lazily under the covers. Four hours of blissful, uninterrupted sleep. It was official, she was going to survive motherhood. Rolling over to peek at Ana, who had yet to make a sound, she was surprised to find her cot empty. Artemis sat up, and realized Remus was sitting in the little armchair, holding their daughter, but watching her.
"Good morning," she said sleepily, smiling at him.
"Morning," he responded, his own voice rough with sleep.
"Have you been up with her for a while? You should have woken me."
"No, I haven't been up long. She just started to stir a little bit and then went back to sleep after I picked her up, so I've been enjoying the view."
Artemis blushed, smiling a little. "As long as I wasn't drooling on the pillow," she said, trying to quickly finger-comb her hair a little, sure it was closely resembling a rat's nest.
Remus chuckled. "No drool that I noticed."
Biting her lip a little, Artemis drew her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "So…you proposed yesterday," she said hesitantly.
Remus winced and her stomach dropped. "Yeah, about that…" he said slowly.
"Hey, I get it, it's ok," she interrupted. "It was the just the heat of the moment…" She swallowed back the sudden lump in her throat.
"Yes," he said nodding. "Exactly. That was nothing like how I'd planned to ask you. I mean, I didn't even have the ring on me, and then the words just sort of popped out…"
Artemis' eyes widened, and her heart began to pound. "You mean…you really did want to ask me to marry you?"
Remus stared at her. "Of course," he said. "I would have asked you weeks ago, but you'd said you wanted to take things slow, so I thought we should date a little first, but it was really hard to find the time after Ana was born because you were so tired and busy. And then I thought staying in the same room would at least help us have more time together, but wow, that has been far more…um, frustrating…than I'd realized it would be." His eyes swept over her, and Artemis felt her cheeks grow warm.
"Oh," she said in a small voice. "So you, um, you already have a ring?"
Remus nodded. "Yes, but you aren't getting it yet. I'm going to do it properly."
Artemis felt tears spring to her eyes, and tried to sniff them back, but one still managed to escape and trail down her cheek.
"Why…why are you crying?" asked Remus, apprehensively. "If you…if you don't want to get married, I guess…I guess we don't have to. We can just pretend yesterday didn't happen, and…"
A loud crack announced the arrival of Kreacher, bearing a tea tray and a crooked smile. "Kreacher has brought Mistress morning tea," the old elf croaked cheerfully. As he moved to set the tray on the bed, he noticed her tears, and frowned. "My poor mistress," he said soothingly, patting her hand. "Ill-used by the Half-Breed no doubt," he then muttered to himself, shooting a glare at Remus, who was glaring right back at him. "Treating her like a kept-woman." Then a wicked, conspiratorial smile creased his face, and he leaned in closer to Artemis. "Kreacher can take care of everything, Mistress," he tried to whisper. "Just a little something in his soup, and the Half-Breed won't hurt Mistress again."
Remus began to sputter in astonishment and Artemis' eyes widened in shock. "Kreacher, I absolutely forbid you from harming Remus," she said firmly, grabbing Kreacher's hand. "Or any guest in this house," she added as an afterthought.
Kreacher frowned in concentration, but seeing no way around the order, nodded his head grimly. "My poor Mistress," he said, patting her hand again. "So brave and selfless."
"Um, Kreacher, I think Sirius would really appreciate some tea this morning also. Do you think you could bring him some, please?"
Kreacher nodded knowingly. "Yes, Master Sirius is missing the Mudblood, Miss Lina. Kreacher will bring him some tea with the firewhiskey that makes him feel better."
"No!" exclaimed Remus and Artemis at once. "Just tea, please, Kreacher. Master Sirius doesn't need any firewhiskey this morning," Artemis said pleadingly.
With another loud crack, Kreacher was gone, and Artemis and Remus looked at each other in disbelief. "That elf is a menace," stated Remus, shaking his head.
"He means well," protested Artemis, "and without him I wouldn't have been able to get off the reservation."
Ana began to squirm in his arms, and Remus shifted her to his shoulder, patting her back gently. "I…uh…that is…why were you crying?" he asked anxiously.
"Oh!" said Artemis, Kreacher's strange behavior having quite shoved their previous conversation from her mind. "Relief," she laughed. "Knowing you really want to get married. I think part of me kept wondering if you were going to leave again."
Remus closed his eyes, regret over all his past actions brought home. Opening his eyes, he seemed to look directly into her soul. "We live in uncertain times," he said in a low, intense voice, "but as far as it depends on me, I swear I will never leave you."
Harry and Ron trudged yawningly into the kitchen several days after their arrival at Twelve Grimmauld Place for the Easter holidays, having decided to spend one week here and one week with the Weasleys. Rooms had been enlarged once again to accommodate the extra people; Ron and Harry were bunking with Gareth, Joshua and Hezekiah, Ginny and Hermione with Catherine, Isabel and Daisy. They had all pretty much hit it off, apart from some tension that seemed to be drawn across gender lines. Harry simply opted to ignore it, since that was how his year was playing out anyway, constantly mediating between Ron and Hermione. Plus he was more focused on getting time alone with Sirius and Remus to discuss what he'd learned from Professor Slughorn's memory.
Ron was currently mourning the fact that he was having to choose between extra sleep and breakfast. Fred and George had been right, Jane's cooking was incredible, but if you weren't in the kitchen when meals were being served, you just missed out and had to wait until the next one. Coming into the room, he spotted a couple familiar faces whispering together at one end of the table. "What are you two doing here?" Ron asked his brothers, pulling out a chair near them at the crowed table.
"Oh, we're frequent purveyors of Jane's cuisine," said Fred.
"Yes, and we'll have to start feeding people in shifts if we get any more frequent purveyors," Jane called from the stove, where she and Artemis were working companionably.
"We can always stay at the Burrow if you're too crowded," Harry offered, sliding into a seat.
"Not a chance," said Artemis. "Sirius has been too eager to have you home."
Harry grinned at her. Home. He liked the sound of that.
"That's some loud music coming from the drawing room. I assumed you lot had started in early." Sirius remarked to Gareth, as he took Ana out of Remus' arms and settled into the rocking chair by the fireplace, bouncing her lightly.
"Joshua and I aren't allowed to participate right now. Isabel is dealing out her own special brand of therapy," Gareth said matter-of-factly.
"What does that mean?" asked Sirius.
Xander laughed. "They're playing every 'we're angry at men' song she can think of, like Aretha Franklin's Respect."
"Or that one by Frank Sinatra's daughter, These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," added Gareth.
"Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac."
"And that newer one by No Doubt, Just A Girl. I'm sure that one will make an appearance."
"Hit the Road, Jack."
"Cryin' by Aerosmith.
"Love Stinks, that one's my personal favorite."
"And when Cat gets going on her violin she likes to shred bows playing The Devil Went Down to Georgia. Nothing like an angry fiddle. They'll probably be at it all day." Gareth smiled and sipped his coffee.
"Why are they angry?" asked Harry.
"I couldn't tell you exactly, but I'm sure it's their fault," Gareth said, gesturing between Joshua and Xavier.
Joshua stabbed at the eggs on his plate irritably. "I already told you, Daisy's not angry, she's…stand-offish. And I don't know why she's upset. I didn't do anything."
Xavier simply glared at Gareth, who smiled and held up his hands. "Come on, it was a perfect set up. I can't help it if you blew your chance."
"You locked us out on the roof in a rainstorm," Xavier muttered. "And nobody asked you to set up anything."
"You could try turning it back on them," said George thoughtfully. "Play American Woman by The Guess Who."
"George has become quite the connoisseur of Muggle music since our first karaoke night," said Fred, grinning. "Of course, he's been more interested lately since he's met some of you." George glared at the last remark, but no one else seemed to notice anything.
"Where's Hermione and Ginny?" asked Ron, looking up and down the table. "We stopped by their room, but it was empty."
"Probably with the girls," Gareth shrugged. "Do they have any reason to be angry with men?"
Harry shot Ron a pointed look. "Uh, no idea," Ron stammered, blushing.
"Likely story," laughed Gareth, but not unkindly. "Don't worry about it. We can go play pool or something later. Xander found a pretty good Snooker Hall nearby. Leave the females to their own devices."
"What is wrong between you and Daisy, mi hijo?" asked Rosa, patting his shoulder after catching the tail end of the conversation. "You two are usually very tranquilos."
"It's nothing, Mamá, don't worry about it," said Joshua.
"I will tell you from experience, it does no good to stand on false pride, son," offered Oscar. "Always apologize, even if you aren't sure why you're doing it. That principle has saved me many a night on the sofa."
Rosa rolled her eyes at him, as Hawthorne chuckled. "I would have to agree with Oscar," he said. "Sometimes women seem to prefer to be coddled regardless of who is right and who is wrong."
"Really? Coddled?" said Jane, shaking her head. "Maybe they should try just asking the girls what's wrong and offering to talk through it, rather than patronizing them."
"No, that never works," argued Hezekiah. "If you ask what's wrong women just get more upset because we're supposed to already know what's wrong."
Xander laughed. "Maybe we need to start off apologizing for not knowing why they're upset in the first place."
"Well for heaven's sake, just never say or assume it's anything to do with hormones," added Ellie. "That makes it sound like you think we have no control over our emotions at all."
"Maybe if you didn't act like it…" began Kieran teasingly, before he quickly ducked away from Ellie's raised wand. "Listen and learn, Finn," he whispered to the little boy beside him. "Don't intentionally aggravate your mama."
"What do you think, Moony?" asked Sirius, a twinkle in his eye.
"Oh no, there is no way I'm getting involved in this conversation," said Remus quickly. "Most werewolves I know have no business judging how anyone else's emotions can be influenced by, um…monthly cycles."
Sirius' barking laugh echoed in the room. "You did used to get quite grumpy around your time of the month."
"A very wise woman, who has been married for a long time, once told me the only way to know for sure how a person feels about something is to ask them," said Artemis. "It doesn't do any good to assume."
"Who said that?" asked Ron.
"Your mother," said Artemis, laughing.
"Arthur and Molly certainly learned to handle arguments somehow. Seven children after all…" said Sirius thoughtfully.
A mix of groans, laughter, and blushing red heads greeted the girls as they finally joined everyone else in the kitchen, pointedly choosing seats at the opposite end of the table from the boys. Another round of laughter broke out as Artemis' radio suddenly began playing, I Will Survive.
Shoes clicked loudly along the empty corridor, robes swishing along as she walked. Completely impractical for surveillance work, those shoes. She'd have to review the Transfiguration spell to be able to quickly change them to something silent and maybe more comfortable. Stopping outside the heavy wooden door to Professor Snape's quarters, Lina took a deep breath, and knocked firmly.
"Enter," called the deep, clear voice.
Seizing the handle and pushing the door open, Lina poked her head around it. "Severus, I wanted to invite you to have a drink with me in Hogsmeade. Do you prefer the Three Broomsticks or The Hog's Head?" Lina asked.
"I prefer to remain alone in my room with a small glass of wine and a book," Severus replied icily.
Glancing into the hallway, where a couple portraits were unabashedly eavesdropping on the interaction, Lina swept her hair back over her shoulder and tilted her head coquettishly. "That's disappointing. Are you sure there's nothing I can say to make you change your mind…" Slipping inside the room, she quietly closed the door and leaned against it. Snape watched her, looking mildly annoyed. "Please don't make this difficult, Sir," Lina sighed. "You know we need to be seen together."
Severus scowled. "This isn't going to work. No one in their right mind would expect me to take a woman out for a drink in Hogsmeade."
"Oh, drop the angry eyes. What would they expect, then?"
"Me to die a lonely, miserable old man."
Lina opted to ignore the self-deprecating comment. "Sir, you have devoted a good portion of your life to working against the Dark Lord. I can help you, if you'll let me."
"As you said, I've been doing this for a while. Why do I need help now?"
Lina was quiet for a minute. Snape lounged easily in an armchair, the book and glass of red wine on the side table adding credence to his earlier assertion. He had intentionally not invited her to sit, preferring to keep their interactions formal, but Lina leaned casually against the door, acting like she was completely comfortable and had all the time in the world. A carefully constructed persona, he concluded. Whenever he had called her into his office as a student, she acted more like tightly wound spring, eyes darting everywhere, shoulders stiff, and her demeanor entirely untrusting. As she grew older she was able to exhibit more control, and that coupled with her disconcerting ability to lie right to your face, made for some very difficult disciplinary moments. By her seventh year he'd practically given up trying to rein her in, especially because she'd shifted from targeting students who could benefit her financially to targeting bullies. And as much as he was loathe to admit it, even to himself, he admired her. Snape was self-aware enough to recognize that his prickly and bullying attitude sprang from a warped method of self-protection. The one person he'd loved in his life had been lost due to his own foolishness. And now he was being set up to lead another person, a person he grudgingly had to admit he was actually rather fond of, into the lion's den.
"There's a shift coming," Lina finally said. "I can feel it. The darkness is preparing to make a move. And I think Dumbledore is aware of it too, and he's trying to get some back up in place. And please believe me, I understand this is horribly awkward for you, but all he told me was she had red hair. If we are to pull this off, you need to tell me at least one or two things about her that…that drew you to her. And they can be generic, I don't need to know any details. I just need to know how to behave to make this believable."
"No."
"I'm sorry?"
"No. I will not be party to this ridiculous plan. When the school year ends, we can decree the teaching training program a failure, and you can return to your…whatever you've decided that mongrel, Black, is to you."
"Sir, you should know that I'm not above throwing myself at you," Lina said flatly. "I hope that you'll reconsider before I am forced to do something that makes both of us even more uncomfortable, and will be arguably less effective at convincing the other Death Eaters."
Snape scowled at her again, as she raised her eyebrows challengingly before quietly slipping back out the door.
"What is a horcrux?" asked Sirius heatedly. "And why the bloody hell did Albus not deem it necessary to inform me that he was feeding my godson inside information on defeating Voldemort!"
"It's a way to become immortal," said Harry. "You split your soul up, then if you die, part of you still lives. Professor Slughorn was the only one who knew that Tom Riddle had asked specifically about it being in seven pieces. And…I did mention at Christmas that Dumbledore had been telling me stuff about Voldemort."
Remus was frowning. "Horcruxes are very dark magic, old blood magic. You have to kill someone to enact it, like a sacrifice. It's bad enough, thinking he'd managed it once, but seven times? Voldemort could come back again and again as long as the horcruxes are there."
"So we need to destroy the horcruxes first," pondered Sirius. "How would one do that? What are they made of?"
"No idea," sighed Remus. "He'll certainly have them hidden and protected if he's managed to do it."
"Since he's already come back once, I think it's safe to assume he's managed it," said Sirius darkly.
"Dumbledore's been looking for them," offered Harry. "I finally figured out that's why he's been gone so much."
Sirius frowned suddenly. "You don't think that's what Lina's job is, do you?" he asked Remus.
Remus shrugged. "I don't think there's any way we can know for sure. She did say once that she was a retrieval specialist."
"Who's Lina?" asked Harry, puzzled.
"You met her at Christmas," said Sirius. "The blonde woman who came to dinner with us."
"Oh right, the one you couldn't stop staring at," said Harry, grinning.
Remus snorted, and Sirius grinned back at him. "Yeah, she's pretty hard to look away from," he said sheepishly. "Even if that's not her job, I bet she'd know something about horcruxes. She's worked with some pretty dodgy people."
"Wait a minute, she fought at the Ministry, didn't she?" said Harry suddenly. "She was the one that pushed you off the platform and then tried to fix your arm?"
"That's right," said Sirius, looking confused by the ardent tone of voice.
"Does she have a sister?" Harry asked, a far off look in his eyes.
"She has a brother," began Remus slowly, as Sirius just looked at him, flabbergasted.
"No, it's definitely a woman. They check for Polyjuice now," said Harry cryptically.
"Harry, what on earth are you on about?" asked Sirius.
"Snape's got an assistant," Harry said. "She seemed familiar, but I couldn't figure it out at first. I think…I think she reminds me of Lina."
"What's she look like?" asked Sirius, at the same time Remus said, "Why would Snape need an assistant?"
Harry shrugged. "He didn't seem too happy about her being there, but he almost seemed like he might have enjoyed dueling with her. She was pretty good, and the way she fought…it was kind of like Lina, I think. But this one's got red hair."
"Of course she has," muttered Sirius.
"Well, getting back to our original topic, Harry, is there anything from the memories Dumbledore's shown you that might indicate what a horcrux could look like?" Remus asked.
"It's things that are important to him," he said firmly. "I've already destroyed one — the diary that came to life in the Chamber of Secrets my second year. And Dumbledore said he's destroyed one as well — the Gaunt Family ring. The snake that attacked Mr. Weasley is another one, according to Dumbledore. And the last memory I saw was about a locket that had belonged to Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff's cup."
"So we really only need to find one more that's somehow connected to Gryffindor or Ravenclaw," said Remus.
"The only artifact I've ever heard about Gryffindor having is Godric Gryffindor's sword. You can't use that to make a horcrux," said Sirius. "Only a true Gryffindor can access it."
Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It appeared in the Sorting Hat when I was fighting the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. So Ravenclaw then. Do you remember anything important about Rowena Ravenclaw?"
"Not about any particular belonging of hers," said Remus, shaking his head. "Not off the top of my head, anyway. We can go back through Hogwarts: A History and maybe see about finding a biography of her."
"Once we've identified them all and figure out how to destroy them…then he can be killed?" asked Sirius. "The only bit of soul he'll have left is the one in his body. Then we can kill him?"
"I…" said Harry softly. "I have to kill him."
"Harry, you don't have to set any store by that prophecy," began Sirius cautiously. Remus remained silent. His own life had been completely turned upside down by a prophecy, so he didn't think he could speak definitely on that issue one way or the other.
"I don't have to set any store by the prophecy, but Voldemort already has," argued Harry. "And he won't stop coming after me until I'm dead. So I can't stop going after him either."
"But you don't have to do it alone," said Sirius sternly, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. "We will be with you."
Remus nodded, feeling suddenly like James was in the room with them. "Until the very end," he murmured.
A chilly spring rainstorm was pounding down on London, keeping the residents of Twelve Grimmauld Place sequestered inside. Clustered near the drawing room fireplace, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Joshua, Daisy, and Fred were all focused on a rather cut throat game of Exploding Snap. Harry's cheek was streaked with soot, and Fred had already lost his eyebrows. Hermione and Gareth were eagerly talking about some intricate goblin history and it's impact on precious metal manufacturing, and George was trying to teach Isabel how to play Gobstones, but Fred personally thought there was far more whispering going on between them than Gobstones called for.
Ron had a weird niggling feeling that the girl, Daisy, reminded him of someone, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. She talked like Luna sometimes, but not so airy. And it wasn't her mannerisms anyway, it was something about her eyes? Or maybe her profile?
"Stop staring at her," Joshua said, far more gruffly than he'd intended to.
"Sorry," Ron mumbled, flushing a dark red. Fred and George had gone on and on about how brilliant the Americans were, but he sure wasn't seeing it. They'd been avoiding each other or snapping at each other the whole time he'd been at Grimmauld Place. Not that he was any expert in smoothing things over with members of the opposite sex. He'd spent plenty of time this year doing his own avoiding and snapping.
"I'm afraid you're not catching us at our best," Daisy said, smiling at him, to try and let him know she wasn't bothered. "We've just had some family drama. Please don't take it personally. It's pretty weird, huh? Hanging out with werewolves?"
"Oh, no, that wasn't it," Ron said. "You just look really familiar. Don't you think so?" he asked, turning to Hermione.
Hermione looked up from her conversation with Gareth, and glanced from Ron to Daisy. "I don't…think so?" she said in confusion. "What looks familiar?"
Ron turned back to study Daisy, and Joshua made a frustrated noise. Daisy, quite out of character, frowned at him. "Why are you so grumpy? After everything that happened you should be pleased!"
"Pansy…" mumbled Ron in surprise, and both Hermione and Harry's heads shot up to look at Daisy.
"Did you figure it out?" Daisy asked, smiling at them in a puzzled sort of way.
"Well," said Hermione in surprise. "It just goes to show how dispositions and facial expressions can differentiate people!" and Harry gave out a strangled sort of laugh.
"It's a girl at our school," explained Ron. "That's who you remind us of. But she's…uh…she's kind of horrible. That's why I couldn't quite put my finger on it!" he hastened to add. "I didn't really see it until you…well, until you got mad at him."
"What's her name?" asked Daisy, softly.
"Um, it's Pansy," offered Hermione. "Pansy Parkinson." The other kids froze when she said it, and all turned to look at Daisy. Joshua instantly forgot his bad temper and moved to sit beside her, reaching for her hand.
"Pansy…" Daisy whispered. Did she remember something about a girl called Pansy? She would have been a baby…or not yet born? What could the connection be? Sister…a cousin…just a coincidence? It didn't feel like a coincidence, though. "Who is she?" she asked, looking directly at her wolf, who was sitting behind Harry.
Sister. The wolf looked sympathetic, as Daisy tried to take in the news.
"She's a Slytherin in our year," answered Harry, thinking she was addressing him. "Hangs around Draco Malfoy."
"Thank you for telling me," Daisy said softly. "We don't know much about our families…I think…I think I might be related to her…Um, excuse me for a moment…I just…I just need to think…" She quickly got up and fled the room, the others staring after her.
"Fix it," said Gareth sternly to Joshua.
Joshua looked at him helplessly. "She hasn't wanted to talk to me all week. Why would she want me right now?"
Isabel sighed. "Josh, she's hurt. You said — in front of all the men, I might add — that you didn't have to claim her anymore. So she thinks that was your way of saying you're not planning to go through with the betrothal."
Joshua's eyes widened before he jumped up and ran out of the room. Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys exchanged questioning glances, clearly knowing they were missing some information.
"What does that mean, that he didn't have to claim her anymore?" asked Hermione, her senses perked for new knowledge.
"Just a werewolf thing," Gareth said, brushing aside the question.
"So Joshua and Daisy are…engaged?" asked Ginny. "Is that…I mean, betrothal is sort of an old fashioned word."
"We do arranged marriages," said Isabel slowly, looking at Gareth, "And they were fine," she added, frowning at him. "Why did you have to meddle?"
"That's rich, coming from you," he said incredulously, sitting up straighter on the couch. "Who's idea was it to have Cat sing that song anyway? She never would have done that on her own."
"You egged Joshua on in front of the others. Of course he was going to defend what Daisy saw! That roof trick was just…amateur! Xavier needs to be slowly coaxed, not pushed. He's too stubborn. The song was just to get Catherine to feel more confident in herself."
"Well that worked beautifully, didn't it?" Gareth snarked back.
"I already told her I was sorry!" Isabel burst out, her wide eyes filling unexpectedly with tears.
The rest of the group watched them in uncomfortable silence. Gareth was instantly remorseful, slumping back against the couch. "You're right," he said softly. "I'm sorry. I should have stuck with the rules and minded my own business. I just…I want all of you to be happy."
Taking a shaky breath, Isabel walked over to the couch and sat beside him. "Why did we seem to be happier on the reservation?" Isabel whispered, snuggling into his side.
Gareth wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "I think it's like Sirius said, freedom can be complicated. Rather than being content with what's been thrown at us, we get to choose what makes us happy now. There's bound to be some trial and error along the way."
Isabel sat up abruptly and wiped at her eyes. "I'm sorry, guys!" she said, looking from George to the rest of the group. "You've really had to put up with a lot of nonsense from us this week, huh? I'd like to try another shot at Gobstones if that's ok?"
"Sure," nodded George, looking quickly down at the board and beginning to arrange the stones.
"Hermione and I can fill in for Joshua and Daisy on Exploding Snap," Gareth offered. Hermione made a quick face, but moved over to the rest of the group.
"I can help you," Ron offered to Hermione, shifting over to make room for her beside him.
"It's just a game of chance, Ron. You can't really help with which cards I'm dealt," said Hermione, wrinkling up her nose.
"I seem to guess pretty accurately most of the time. Plus, if you pay close attention to what cards others are playing sometimes you can determine likely outcomes."
"Oh…that's clever of you," said Hermione in surprise, and shot him a quick smile.
"It's been known to happen," mumbled Ron, blushing a little. "Maybe not too much this year, though."
Over at the Gobstone Board, Isabel was acting oddly withdrawn. "You've made a lot of progress, but I don't think you'll beat me this time," said George, trying to engage her.
Isabel huffed a small laugh. "Yeah, I've never had the temperament to stick with anything but music."
"So, uh, if Joshua and Daisy are supposed to get married, and Catherine is with Xavier, who, uh, who are you going to marry?" George asked in a low voice.
Isabel frowned down at the board. "I was supposed to marry Gareth, but…we don't have to do the arranged marriages anymore. Joshua and Daisy really love each other, so they'll probably get married anyway. And if Catherine can stick to her guns, I think Xavier will come around. But for me and Gareth it was just an arrangement." She looked up at him suddenly, studying his brown eyes as if she was checking to make sure he was trustworthy. "It's a weird feeling, you know? I'm the sister nobody wants. I mean, Gareth was willing to put up with me, but…that was just him being the big brother. He was the one who convinced Papá that we should hold off on the marriages now that we live here and had a chance to meet new people."
She keep looking at him intently, and George felt as though all her trust in him was hinging on what he said in this moment. "Sometimes I feel like our family just puts up with us too," he began slowly. "Plus, me and Fred, we're sort of a package deal. And sometimes I wonder if people even see me as my own person."
Isabel knit her brows together. "Don't people see how you're different?" she asked.
"Not usually," said George, shaking his head. "Most people can't even tell us apart." Isabel looked genuinely surprised, and George decided to ask the question he'd been dreading. "How do you tell us apart, then?"
"Well, sometimes if you're moving around a lot and both talking at the same time it's a little difficult," she acknowledged thoughtfully, her eyes looking off away from him. "You are the tiniest bit taller than he is. But it's more how you are, than how you look. You're a little more calm and serious than Fred is. It seems like the times that you're being really silly, it's because you're responding to him, not initiating. Fred's brain is always going a hundred miles an hour thinking of new ideas and you…you take the time to really see and listen to people."
George smiled as he felt a warmth grow in his chest that he fervently hoped was not making it's way onto his cheeks as she spoke.
"And you smile differently," Isabel said decisively. "You smile with your mouth more and Fred smiles with his eyes more."
"We do?" George asked in surprise. "I've never noticed that."
"Well you don't usually see yourself smile, do you?" laughed Isabel.
"Isn't it better to smile with your eyes more?" asked George. "I feel like in books people always have eyes that are smiling."
Isabel shrugged. "I think you have very kind eyes. And they stay kind through your smiles. I think that's a good thing."
George cleared his throat to cover up the fact that he had absolutely no idea how to respond to that statement. "Um, so about this plan of yours," he finally said, lowering his voice a little more. "What should the first steps be?"
"Well," she said, drawing out the word as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger, "I think electric is out. I don't know the spells Hezekiah's come up with to insulate all the pieces of electronic stuff, and so they tend to run amok. But if each instrument has to have it's own set of keys…"
"You have a sizing problem," finished George, nodding. "What if we copy something more like an organ? At your height I think you should be able to manage maybe four separate rows of keys. Can you choose just four instruments? Would it work to just be able to focus on two instruments at one time?"
He watched that admiring smile break across her face again, and the heat that had started to fade in his chest threatened to become a forest fire.
"That sounds perfect!" Isabel enthused. "Wow, you are so smart!"
George couldn't hold back the blush that bloomed across this cheeks. "Well…Fred always says he's the idea man and I'm the problem solver. I can usually find ways to make his ideas work…"
"It's going to be wonderful!" she exclaimed, ducking down a little when her louder voice caused several heads from the rest of the group to turn their way. "Now we just need to find a way for me to get away by myself to help with tuning and to practice with it."
George swallowed hard. "Um, we could uh, pretend to go on a date, maybe?" he said, his stomach feeling like he had a pile of flobberworms rolling around inside. "Or just say we're going out for ice-cream?" he added hurriedly, looking down at the table. "You know, if a date sounds too formal."
"I think that would work fine," Isabel said, softly. "And maybe we could…really stop and get some ice cream afterwards."
George looked up to meet her eyes. She was smiling a little hesitantly, and he thought maybe they both understood what they hadn't quite been able to say.
Joshua had checked the roof first, wondering if Daisy would venture into the greenhouse despite the rain, but she wasn't there. Coming back down the stairs he stopped in front of the girls' room, and knocked softly on the door. He didn't hear anything, but opened the door to check anyway. Daisy was curled up on her bed, with her back to him; he could see her shoulders shaking as she cried. Not pausing to think, but simply reacting, Joshua crossed the room and climbed onto the bed. He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close to his chest, murmuring over and over again, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
After a couple minutes, Daisy tried to pull away, frowning at him. "It's not your job to take care of me anymore. I don't want you to feel sorry for me."
Joshua dropped his arms and shifted away from her. "Daisy, I don't feel sorry for you," he said in a low voice. "I am sorry that I hurt you. And I'm sorry I didn't have the courage to say what I needed to say earlier."
Daisy moved further back towards her headboard, and Joshua noticed her hands were clutched around something. "You said it plain enough when Gareth asked," she said. "I should have thought to tell you as soon as we figured it out that…that you didn't need to feel…obligated anymore."
"No, that's not what I mean," said Joshua, shaking his head. "I told Gareth I didn't need to claim you anymore. That didn't mean I didn't…that I don't…" He swallowed, his stomach twisting and turning. Why couldn't he get the stupid word out?!
Daisy had started shaking her head, ready to try and assuage his guilt again, when Joshua noticed what was in her hand. He had spent weeks carving the little wooden beads of the bracelet for her sixteenth birthday, hoping that when she opened them she'd smile at him in that particular way that made her nose crinkle and her freckles stand out on her cheeks. And he hadn't been disappointed. She'd started smiling from the moment she read his name on the package, and then blinded him with the glow of it as she tentatively asked him to help her put the bracelet on. His hands shook a little as he did it, he was so nervous. She didn't wear it all the time, like he'd hoped she would, but he did notice it was there for every dancing night, every birthday dinner, every holiday.
Joshua reached for her hand, turning it over and gently folding back her fingers that were grasping the beads so tightly. Cupping her hand with his, he ran his thumb over the small beads. This time it was her hand that trembled as he closed her fingers back over the bracelet and brought her hand up to his lips, kissing it softly. "I don't need to claim you," he repeated, the dam on his words suddenly breaking. "But I still want to marry you, whenever you will have me, because I love you. I've loved you since I was fifteen, and I love you so fiercely that sometimes it scares me."
Daisy felt like she couldn't make her body take a full breath. She wanted to weep and sing and laugh all at the same time, but couldn't do anything but sit there, frozen. It took her a couple heartbeats to realize Joshua had shifted back towards her, and was delicately pushing some of her hair back, before cupping her jaw, tilting her head up slightly. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she felt as if a dozen songbirds erupted in praise in her chest. His lips pressed gently against her cheek, and Daisy blinked in surprise. "Oh…" she said, not sure if she should be disappointed or relieved. "I..um…I thought…"
Joshua's cheeks were bright pink, and he gave a nervous half laugh, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah…um…Daisy, I'm pretty sure once I kiss you I'm not going to be able to stop. And I'd rather that not happen in a room you share with other girls that could walk in any second. I, uh, I've been waiting for a while. I guess I can wait a little longer for the right time."
And that bright smile he so cherished, that crinkled her nose up and made her freckles stand out, beamed across her face. Joshua stood up, and offered her his hand. Daisy took it, and stood as well, then intertwined his fingers with hers as they walked toward the door. "Joshua," she said in almost a whisper, "I love you too."
Thank you so much for reading! Have we met our fluff quota yet? Guest, I just love you! Your reviews are so thoughtful. Xavier is thirteen years older than Catherine. So she was ten and he was twenty-three when they met. Now she's twenty and he's thirty-three. I had already planned him to be an ex-Marine that was discharged after being injured in the 1983 Beirut bombing. I didn't really plan for him to fall for Catherine, that just sort of came up later, and those Remus-like tendencies I think would be/should be normal for a thoughtful man given the age and life experience differences. Hopefully the difference is Remus was thinking he should pull away forever, and Xavier is thinking Catherine just needs to grow up a little more. Maybe...we'll see!
