Chapter 49

When Sirius woke the next day, it was late and his head hurt badly. The sun was glaring into his room, and one glance at the clock told him that it was a little past noon. Letting out a loud groan, he flipped over and dragged himself out of bed. He shouldn't have had so much to drink last night. He wondered how James and Remus were feeling. Remus always knew exactly when to stop himself, but James was probably worse than Sirius; he'd had almost two entire bottles himself.

He was about to leave his room, when he paused. Rochelle was probably in the living room; he didn't want to face her, not after the way he'd lost control and touched her last night. Sirius wanted to hit himself for being so stupid. He'd seen the hurt and pain in her eyes when he pulled away; he didn't need to see it again. He turned back around and stepped into the bathroom for a shower. Maybe he could just hide out here until Lily or someone came over and he wouldn't have to be alone with Rochelle.

The shower was relaxing, and once he was finished, he sat on his bed. Screw it, I can't stay here forever. I'm hungry, and I might as well just face her now. He shoved the door to his room open, and gaped at what he saw.

The living room was spotless. Sirius's apartment had always been on the borderline between messy and unhygienic. He didn't really give a damn where he put his things, and more often than not, he left food wrappers around the house. But now everything was perfectly in its place. The floor looked like it had just been cleaned, and even the bloody cushions on the sofa were arranged.

Did Rochelle do this? Sirius wondered. He gaped as he even saw a small pot of sunflowers sitting on the windowsill. Where did she even bloody get the flowers from? Shaking his head to clear it, Sirius quickly marched into the kitchen and yanked the fridge open. Apparently she'd even gotten around to throwing away old, expired food and rearranging the contents. He frowned, poured himself some juice and sat down.

After a few minutes, Sirius couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't fathom why Rochelle would take the time to clean his apartment, especially after their awkward encounter last night. He stood up, marched over to her bedroom door, and knocked.

'Rochelle?" he called. There was no answer. He frowned. "Rochelle, are you in there?"

No reply. Trying not to jump to conclusions, Sirius slowly grabbed the door handle and pushed it open. The room was empty. Clean, admittedly, like the rest of his apartment with the bed neatly made and another pot of flowers in the windowsill; but empty.

"Where did she go?" he muttered to himself, stepping inside. The bathroom door was wide open, and she clearly wasn't in there either. He stepped out of the room and called out loudly. "Rochelle! Where are you?"

Sirius couldn't control the slight panic that rose up inside of him. Where the hell could she have gone? He checked the house once again, and even scoured the kitchen and dining table to see if she'd left any note. Then he took a deep breath. I'm panicking over nothing. He picked up the telephone that Lily had had installed in his apartment, and jabbed his fingers at it quickly to dial the Potters' number. It rang for a long time. Stupid Muggle device.

"Who is it?" James Potters' voice asked groggily over the phone.

"Prongs, it's me. Listen-"

"Sirius?" James demanded, sounding sleepy and annoyed."Mate, it's not even 1 pm. Do you have any idea how much I drank last night? Go to bed."

"James, shut up. I need to know if Rochelle is at your house right now," Sirius replied. "I woke up, and the entire apartment was clean, and now she's missing."

"What do you mean the apartment was clean?"

Sirius groaned. "It doesn't matter. Please just got out of bed and tell me that Rochelle is at your house with Lily right now. I mean it, James."

Sirius waited impatiently, as he heard the muffled sounds of James calling for Lily. He could hear a vague conversation, and Lily's voice, before James picked the phone up again. His voice was a little more clear, and he sounded more awake. "She's not here, Sirius. Lily hasn't seen her. What do you mean by gone? Are her things still there?"

"Yes, they are. Bloody hell, why would she leave the house without telling me? She doesn't even know this neighborhood," Sirius muttered. "James, I'm not sure where to look."

James Potter frowned. "Well, if she's just gone out shopping or something, I'm sure she'll be fine, Sirius. But… well, are you sure she left voluntarily? I mean, are there any signs of a struggle or something?"

Sirius' eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"Sirius, I don't want to scare you. But she did announce to an entire courtroom yesterday that You-Know-Who murdered her parents. I wouldn't be surprised if-"

Sirius cut James off and slammed the phone down. What if James was right? What if the Death Eaters were after her? He'd been fast asleep all morning, dead to the world. Would he have known if someone had entered the apartment during the night and done something to Rochelle. Panicked, he quickly ran towards the front door, and knocked on his neighbor's house. Mrs. Farnheim opened it with a smile.

"Good morning, Sirius. Are you-"

"Mrs. Farnheim, have you seen Rochelle today?"

She looked startled. "Hm? Oh no, I haven't. Why, has she gone out somewhere?"

Sirius' heart sank. "Never mind, it's all right. Thank you," he muttered, before running down the stairs and out onto the street. He had to find her. He needed to know she was safe.

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"No, she's not there either. James, I checked the grocery store," Sirius replied, angrily. "And the apothecary, and every single bloody building for five miles, all right? She's not here."

James Potter sighed over the phone. "Mate, you need to relax."

"Relax? How am I supposed to relax? It's been three bloody hours, and I have no idea where Rochelle is!" Sirius snapped. He could feel his breathing was speeding up, but he wasn't in a any state of mind to control it. "Did you tell Remus to go check St. Mungo's? Or am I going to have to go there myself?"

"Remus is on his way there. Lily's going to Dumbledore right now; if somebody's taken Rochelle or is trying to hurt her, he's our only chance. Mate, just sit tight. We'll find her, I promise."

"How the bloody hell can you promise that-" Sirius broke off abruptly, as he stared up in shock. The front door to his apartment clicked open slowly, and Rochelle walked in, carrying a large box in her arms. He stared at her silently as she set it down on the dining table, and closed the door behind her. James' voice brought Sirius back to reality.

"Sirius? Sirius, are you still there?"

Sirius' voice was blank. "She's here."

"Wait, did she come there? To the apartment?" James asked, confused. But Sirius had already slammed the receiver down and turned to face Rochelle. She was standing a few feet away from him, a slightly confused expression on her face.

"Were you just talking about me?" she asked. Sirius stared at her. Her long dark hair was tied back in it's usual plait, and a few strands escaped the tie, brushing her flushed pink cheeks. Clearly she was slightly out of breath from heaving the box up the stairs. "Who was that?"

There was a long tense pause, as Sirius' dark grey eyes glared at her. "Where the bloody hell have you been?"

Rochelle flinched. He'd never yelled at her like that before. "What? I don't understand, what's-"

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" Sirius demanded. Rochelle frowned when she realized that his hands were trembling. "I thought they'd kidnapped you! I thought Voldemort had captured you and you were lying dead somewhere, do you realize that?"

"There's no need to yell," she began in a small voice, but Sirius cut her off.

"No need to yell? Bloody hell, Rochelle, you can't just disappear off the face of the earth for a few hours and expect that there won't be consequences! James, Lily and Remus are all out there looking for you! You couldn't have left a note telling me where you were going?"

Rochelle frowned. She was starting to get angry now. "I didn't think you'd care."

"I'm responsible for you! Dumbledore trusted me to keep you safe, you can't go wandering off on your own! Do you want to get yourself killed? Do you have a bloody death wish or do you just enjoy getting me worked up, eh?" Sirius bellowed.

There was a long pause. Rochelle took a deep breath, and blinked the tears out of her eyes. "I'm not going to talk to you until you lower your voice."

The sight of her tears snapped Sirius back to reality. He ran his hands over his face and sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry, I just-"

"What?' Rochelle asked coldly. She shook her head, and turned away from him. "I don't have to give you an account of every single thing I do, Sirius. You don't own me, and you've made it quite clear that you want nothing to do with me. Well, congratulations. Your wish might be granted a lot sooner than you think."

He stared at her, as she pulled out her wand and levitated the box carefully into her room. He closed his eyes, and tried to calm himself down. She's safe. That's all that matters. Opening his eyes slowly, he saw that she was giving him an odd look. "Where have you been?" he asked quietly.

"I went to the Ministry," Rochelle replied sharply. "To get my parents' will, which you'd have known if you hadn't been too drunk to hear a word I said last night. I'm not in the mood for your childish tantrums. Just spare me the drama, I've had a rough day."

Sirius frowned. He could see that she looked exhausted. There were bags under her eyes, and one of her hands was clutching the dining table for support. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"After you just screamed at me like that? Not particularly."

Rochelle stared at Sirius for a few moments, as he slowly sank down onto the sofa, and put his head in his hands. Anger flared up inside her. What right did he have to be concerned about her after the way he'd treated her last night? Furious, she turned around and reached for the front door when his voice stopped her.

"Where are you going now?" he asked. He didn't sound angry anymore; which was the only reason Rochelle turned around and looked at him. He was still sitting on the sofa, but his grey eyes were staring at her.

"To the Daily Prophet office. My father left me the Vittori mansion, and I'm going to sell it. The man at the Ministry thinks I should get a good deal; then I'll buy my own place and I'll leave you alone. That's what you wanted isn't it?" she snapped. When he didn't respond, she turned around and yanked the door open again. She was about to step out when she heard him speak again softly.

"I don't want you to leave."

She froze, and whirled around. Her blue-grey eyes had gone wide. She stared at Sirius as he slowly got to his feet and started to walk towards her. Her mouth went dry. "W-what?"

Sirius took a deep breath. He spoke clearly, and with more confidence in his voice. "I said that I don't want you to leave, Rochelle. I want you to stay. Here."

He didn't expect what happened next. A furious expression crossed her face, similar to the one she'd had when she was about to strangle Abraxas Malfoy. There was a sudden movement and she'd flung the nearest object- a set of keys- straight at his head. He managed to duck it aside, and moved closer to her.

"Stop; stop right there," Rochelle hissed, her voice cracking. There was a combination of fury and pain in her voice, and her eyes were brimming with angry tears. "How dare you say that to me after all you've done? How dare you?"

"I dare to say it because I know you love me," he replied. He was standing closer, now; he had Rochelle almost backed up against the door. She stumbled back, feeing the wooden door behind her as Sirius' determined eyes stared into hers. "And because I know that no matter what I might think, I can't handle watching you walk away from me again. Stay. Please."

Rochelle swallowed, as she tried to find her voice. She couldn't think, he was too close. His scent was filling up her nose, his grey eyes the only thing that she could see. "Stay, and do what, Sirius? Skirt around each other like we have for the past few days? Sit here and make myself cry while I know that you don't trust me as far as you can throw me?"

Sirius lifted his hand to touch her face. Her eyes drifted down as she watched his hand hover over her skin before placing itself on her cheek. "I want to trust you. So much. I'm just terrified that you'll leave me. I can't go through that again."

Rochelle closed her eyes as his warm hands caressed her skin. It was so easy to fool herself that he loved her as much as she loved him. She took a deep shuddering breath, and kept her eyes closed. She knew that she wouldn't be able to control herself if she looked at his face. "I'd have to be a idiot to leave you again."

'Well. No argument there," he joked. Rochelle's eyes shot open and she saw that there was a hint of a smile on his face. "No, the idiot is me, for thinking I could stay away from you. Rochelle, you don't know how scared I was that something had happened to you. I thought that… that if someone had hurt you, or done something to you, I could never forgive myself."

Rochelle was silent. Her breath caught in her throat again, and she watched as his head moved down. His lips were millimetres away, and they brushed lightly against hers as he spoke.

"I don't want to regret anything. And if I let you go right now… I think I'd regret that."

He looked up into her eyes, and they stared at each other for a long, tense moment before Sirius finally pressed his lips against hers. The kiss was passionate, and for a moment Rochelle's mind went blissfully blank. She could feel nothing but his hot breath on her face as he moved his mouth against hers; teeth tugging at familiar lips as his arm went around her waist and pulled her so that her body moulded into his. For a moment, they were no longer standing in Sirius' living room, but in the Room of Requirement late at night, where there was nothing but each other.

"I love you," Rochelle whispered, as Sirius broke away for a moment to let her breathe. His hand was cupping her face, tilting it so that she was looking straight up into his eyes. "Sirius, I love you. Let me back in. Please."

"I already have," he whispered softly, before leaning down and capturing her lips with his again.

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A/N – So... yeah. No comment. I really don't know what to say about it. Here's what I think; this chapter is either amazingly brilliant or painfully terrible. It's up to you to decide which.

Thank you so much for the reviews last chapter! They were amazing, and really helpful!

lovinMaya, Veritaserum actually ISN'T foolproof. Harry Potter Wikia claims that some witches and wizards can resist it, while others can't. JKR herself said that it only really worked on the unsuspecting and the weak, neither of which Abraxas Malfoy was. There is one thing though; mainly because of it's undependable nature, it's not commonly used in trials. Abraxas used his influence to ensure that it would be used in this trial, so that Rochelle would be forced to tell the truth (which you have to admit, wasn't very convincing) and then he could tell a nice, well-rounded lie that made her look like an idiot. But I suppose my explanation in the story was kind of vague. I'll take another look at it.

Let me now what you think! Review!