Diagon Alley was surprisingly busy for a Friday morning. You would think it would be less crowded with all the children away at Hogwarts with the exception of Naos and Andrew at the Goldstein's for Thanksgiving. Not to mention most adults having work during the day. Yet Harriette found herself pushing through a crowd of witches gathered around the Flourish and Blotts window front. Bumping elbows with strangers was not how she pictured her leisure walk down the alley while Mickey worked. Annoyed that she couldn't continue in peace, she stopped to see what the fuss was all about. Short of starting a riot and several stepped on toes later, she finally managed to push her way to the front of the crowd.
"Excuse me!" a stout woman with a rather large mole on her cheek exclaimed. "I was at the front first!"
"Pardon me, I was just trying to see what was going on." The woman glared at her and thrust her chin back towards the storefront. Harriette followed the woman's gaze while dusting off her jumper when her jaw practically hit the floor. Apparently, a new book was being released and it was no wonder why there were salivating women waiting to get their hands on it. Sirius Black posed on the cover of the book with just his prison striped trousers. He looked completely different from his mugshot in the Daily Prophet all those years ago.
The title of his book, Mémoire Noire was written in beautiful calligraphy, and just under the clever title was 'A Biography of the Heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.' She had to give it to the publicist. Who wouldn't want to read that book, full of the life drama of a once convicted felon who was brought back to life after presumably dead? Especially with a half naked man on the cover? She definitely needed to get herself a copy, for research purposes only, but there was no reason for her to have to purchase it right now; she would save it for a later date.
She shoved her way back through the crowd to the other side of the alley, apologizing to every 'hey,' 'watch it,' and other, nastier protests along the way. Just in the knick time too! The doors to Flourish and Blotts opened and the stampede of women nearly trampled the shopkeeper.
She leaned against the wall of the apothecary across from the bookstore to watch the madness unfold. The witches were quite literally tearing the books out of each other's hands to get a copy. It only took a few minutes for Harriette to become annoyed by such outlandish behavior. She couldn't understand why some people were obsessed with cat fights, as they were called. The manager, assistant manager, and the assistant of the Flourish and Blotts finally managed to kick the patrons, if they could be called that, out of the shop, and just like that, her "entertainment" was over. Maybe now she could continue her walk in peace.
A glance at her watch showed her that it was half past three; almost time for Mickey's shift to be over. He might appreciate a treat. Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor was on the way to the Leaky Cauldron. She could easily grab a couple cones and be back at the inn just as he was getting off, but what flavor would he like? His class and charm screamed old fashioned, but his humor didn't quite seem vanilla. You can't go wrong with chocolate, but something told her that devilish smirk had strawberry flavor written all over it. Definitely strawberry.
Harriette was just about to open the door when she spotted the unmistakable wild hair of Bellatrix Lestrange. The dark witch skulked towards Knockturn alley- no doubt up to no good. The unhinged woman turned and their eyes met briefly. Only two questions popped into her mind at that moment, how and why was Bellatrix roaming free in Diagon Alley? Seeing her made Harriette's blood run cold. She quickly ducked into the store. Hiding behind the door, she waited for the inevitable. At any second the deranged killer would come in and off her, or worse, torture her again. The memory of Bellatrix carving the word mudblood into her arm still burned. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting.
"Can I help you?" She jumped, yelping at the unexpected sound of the shopkeeper's voice. She placed her hand to her quickened heartbeat and swallowed the lump in her throat.
"No thank you," she laughed shakily. "I'm just, you know, trying to escape the horde of angry women wanting a copy of that new book. Scary lot." she managed a weak smile at the portly man. He scratched his shiny scalp and returned to reading his copy of the Quibbler with a dismissive grunt. She sucked in a ragged breath and faced the entrance. The chime above the door sounded as she opened it to glance down the alley for any sight of Bellatrix, but the witch was nowhere to be seen. Relief washed over her for just a moment. She couldn't stay in London any longer with Bellatrix hanging around; she had to get back to Hogwarts as soon as possible. With the coast clear, she hurried back to the Leaky Cauldron to pack, the thought of ice cream long forgotten.
"But we were supposed to have a lazy day in bed!" Mickey followed Harriette around the inn suite as she picked up discarded clothes from around the room and stuffed them into her overnight bag. She found a pair of her lacy knickers on the armrest of the chair by the fireplace; into the bag it went. "Harriette-"
"Mickey, I had a wonderful time. I truly mean that, and there is nothing I would love more than to be here, naked with you in bed-"
"Then stay-"
"BUT, there is an abundance of sick children needing to be cared for at Hogwarts who need me. I simply must go." She really didn't want to lie to him, but short of telling him her complete history and who she really was, she couldn't tell him why she was actually leaving. That, and they were practically strangers, occasional lovers. No, she couldn't tell him the truth. Not yet, anyhow. Not yet seemed to be a frequent reason lately. "I will miss you, you know." She grabbed Mickey's hands in hers, the half smile on her lips pleaded with him to let her go.
"I will miss you too. Truly." She rose on her tiptoes to kiss the sullen man goodbye. It was chaste, but sweet. She stepped into the fireplace with a calm demeanor though her mind was anything but. Flashes of Bellatrix Lestrange in Diagon Alley swirled in her thoughts as she swirled through the emerald embers back to Hogwarts.
Her grace eluded her as she spilled out onto the castle floor. She didn't recognize the dimly lit room in which she arrived. Even without the darkness, the tears that threatened her eyes obscured her vision plenty. It was with the comfort of the castle surrounding her, that she let go of the composure she had managed to put on back at the inn. The room swirled. She gasped for air. Why couldn't she breathe. Wild hair. She could hear muffled footsteps hurrying to her. She squeezed her eyes shut and screamed. Did she scream? She couldn't hear herself. Bellatrix. She couldn't breathe. She grasped onto the wall, pulling herself up, gasping, reaching. Reaching for what? Haunting eyes staring back at her. 'Mudblood' burning. Her throat began to close and her clammy hands slipped on the wall. Hands pinned her arms down to her sides. Who's hands? "BELLATRIX!"
"Look at me!" Sirius was shouting at her. Sirius! Hot tears spilled from her eyes as she tried to break free of his attempts to subdue her. "What about Bellatrix?"
"In Diagon Alley! She went into Knockturn Alley, I saw her!" She continued sobbing and ranting hysterically. He pushed her up against the wall, his long fingers encircling her throat. Her pulse quickened against the pressure of his thumb as he bent his head down to hers. A gruff whisper tickled her earlobe, "You are safe." She was. She was in the castle where Bellatrix couldn't harm her. Her sobbing eased into a soft cry as she relaxed against the stone wall. With every throb of her quickened heartbeat, her thoughts became more clear and she realized that Sirius's body was awfully close to hers.
She looked up into his silver orbs and could tell he was very well aware of their proximity to each other. Her tongue glided across her bottom lip, nervously wetting the swollen flesh. He stepped closer. The loud pulse in her ears drowned out every sound in the room and the warm aroma of Firewhiskey and vanilla saturated her senses. His left hand tightened around her throat ever so gently, but firmly and he lifted his free hand, placing it on the wall next to her ear. A soft whimper escaped her parted lips. His face drew nearer. The thumping in her ears grew louder. Just before he could taste her, Harriette turned away. She wanted so desperately to kiss him, but she couldn't. She shouldn't.
"I'll uh-" Sirius cleared his throat, "alert the Ministry of Bellatrix." He slowly lowered his hands to his sides, taking a step back and she released a breath she didn't realize she was holding.
"Thank you. I should return to the Hospital Wing." The soft pitter patter of her feet on the stone floor echoed in the dark room as she walked to the fireplace to pick up her fallen bag. After standing, her eyes were level with the mantle. A few plain, black picture frames lined the shelf in an even row. Various pictures of Harry, Ginny, and their kids laughed and smiled at her. There was even a picture of Harry as a baby zooming around on his toy broom. On either end were pictures of the Marauders and Lily. Sirius' family. Guilt weighed heavy in her heart; Naos should be up there, right in the middle.
She donned a small smile before turning towards the door. Sirius shuffled to the side to let her pass but before she could step out of his room, Sirius called to her.
"Ms. Dahl?" She turned to look back at him. "Did Bellatrix attack you or something? Why were you in hysterics?" A small sigh escaped her lips. She was hoping he wouldn't ask. She looked at the oak door she was holding onto and started picking at a splinter in the wood; avoiding his gaze.
"Oh, I uh, just remember reading about all the horrible things she had done and I tend to get rather emotional thinking of such things."
"I see. Take care, Ms. Dahl."
"Thank you." She shut his door behind her and made her way to the infirmary. So much for a shut in weekend with Mickey. She was supposed to get Sirius out of her head, not come back and almost snog his brains out. Now she had both strawberry and vanilla on her mind.