Arc I: part II
During the days following his meeting with Ryan, Sirius grew fond of his company and how interesting he found the man. At only 20 years old, Ryan volunteered for the U.S. Army and took part in the Normandy landings during the muggle second World War. He advanced with his regiment's company through France to Germany, where he remained until the war ended. After returning to the United States where he spent a few years travelling around the country, either working in factories or as a seasonal on farms or building sites before leaving again with the army for Korea this time, where he stayed for three years before casting off in the direction of the hell that he described as Vietnam.
After the horrors he experienced during the war, he never returned home, preferring returning to Europe where, while paying tribute to those who didn't survive that beach, he met Elise, the woman he describes as the love of his life. They got married and lived in a small house by the sea for a few happy years before tragedy came to interrupt. From that day on, he lived in solitude, going to the nearby village only once a week to buy supplies and sell the painting he spent his days working on and the wooden furniture he made under order.
He received no visitors or even mail, which was an ideal situation for a fugitive such as Sirius. When Ryan wasn't working, he was busy sailing out in his self-made fishing boat or tickling his guitar's cords, with Sirius on the porch of his house. Despite his fear of being found, Sirius spent his days walking barefoot on the sand, swimming in the sea, and whenever Ryan was not busy, he would sit next to him and listen to him play his guitar and tell his youth stories...Sirius could not see the time pass while he sat listening to Ryan; he was utterly hypnotized.
Sirius was dying to tell him about Hogwarts and reveal to him all about magic, about all the marvellous things whose existence was unknown to him... However, it didn't stop him from telling him how he met James and Remus on the train at the age of eleven, their many adventures in a private boarding school in the north of Scotland. He admitted to him what he never did to James, that is, how much Sirius wished he had had a better relationship with his family, especially his mother...Unfortunately, they had chosen their shitty standards, to keep up appearances whatever could be the price. Ryan listened silently to his stories, never interrupted him. Offered him a beer when he broke in tears, thinking back to James and Lily, laughing with him when he started to talk about the few moments he had spent with Harry.
After a few days, Ryan and Sirius had become very close. Sirius liked living in that house; he knew that it was only temporary, that sooner or later he would have to get back on the road, even if he didn't know which way he would go. The surrounding calm even made him venture out to the sea with Ryan, who took pleasure in watching him struggle with the fishing rod, lose his cool and throw himself into the sea out of frustration after spending two hours waiting for a catch that ended with no result. One day he felt brave enough to venture near the village.
A Tuesday morning, he woke up early and went downstairs to join Ryan for breakfast. Ryan greeted him with wide eyes before bursting into laughter. The day before, Sirius was worried to be recognized, even though he strongly doubted that English wizards were frequenting the little muggle village. So, Sirius had cut his hair very short and obviously, had miserably failed at the task. He rolled his eyes, sat down at the table, and served himself a coffee cup.
"Good morning, Ryan, did you sleep well?" Sirius asked, ignoring the old man who choked on his toast.
"Very well, thank you!" he answered with a big smile.
"So, what's the plan for today?"
"First, we shave your head...I'm joking!" he said when Sirius glanced at him grimly, his hand gripping tightly the knife he was using to butter his toast." OK, more seriously, first of all, business, we have to deliver a bedside table to a client, then we'll go to the convenience store. Since you arrived, we are almost always out of beer, and I wouldn't hang around too much on this matter since in the region the alcohol shelves don't stay very long...er...supplied...And last, we'll go to the church to deliver a painting".
"First of all, blaming me for the beers is unfair; I remind you that two days before, I found you at 10 pm passed out on the floor, and had to carry you to your bed. You weigh around 1000 pounds, and you threw up on me..." Sirius said.
"You rather want to talk about four days ago when you downed our last supplies and started barking like a dog and told me to call you Padfoot from now on" Ryan replied
"Er...Right...Let's forget about that..." Sirius said.
"Deal... I'm going to load my pickup; meet me outside when you're done. I've left some clean clothes for you in the bathroom." Ryan said.
"Are you sure you don't want me to help you?" Sirius asked, his mouth full
"Don't worry, save your strength, in any case, it's you and your delicate little arms that will unload it when we get there," Ryan said to him with a smirk leaving the kitchen.
"My arms are just fine!" Sirius shouted at him." I'll show you...just wait..."
Sirius didn't drag his feet before joining Ryan outside. Ryan had already loaded his pickup and ignited the cars' engine; when he saw him get out of the house, he honked and tapped his watch with his finger urging him to get in the car.
Sirius sat down in the passenger seat and fastened his seatbelt. As soon as he got in, Ryan started, under Sirius's curious eyes, who had always been interested to learn how cars were driven and began to praise the quality of his car. If Sirius was an expert on flying brooms and motorbikes, he was utterly ignorant about cars, so he spent the 20 minutes of the trip listening to Ryan's boasting with a smile, burning with envy to ask him about the radio or the objects hanging from a roof-mounted mirror that Ryan regularly glanced at.
They drove along a road by the sea for at least twenty minutes before changing direction at a crossroads, where Ryan turned the circle, he used to steer his pickup to the left, leaving the ocean behind them and continued for another half an hour. During that time, Ryan seemed to follow attentively some drawings on signs on the right side of the road, stopping for a few moments in front of sizeable red-light bulbs, and only started driving again when the light turned green. Sirius had become very interested, even admiring the intelligence with which Muggles organized their daily life, and how he used logic to overcome the need to use magic. The objects of their everyday life, which, in his opinion, were cleverly engineered, proved how much muggles were creative when they had to overcome certain obstacles when wizards were satisfied with the simplicity of a wand movement.
About a month after leaving the house, they arrived in a small medieval-looking rural village that looked like a little Hogwarts. Ryan had a hard time getting through the village streets but seemed to know his way around as he bet Sirius that he would be able to make it back home blindfolded. Arriving at a stone house, Ryan parked the car in front of the door and turned off the engine. The two companions got out of the car and saw an elegant young woman with brown hair tied up in a bun wearing a maid's uniform waiting for them with a broad smile. When her hazel eyes met his, Sirius couldn't help but blush. He walked towards her, Ryan took off his beret from his head and smiled at her before greeting her politely, only Sirius understood that the two were familiar.
"Good morning, Ryan, how are you doing today?" the woman said
"Good morning, Miss!" Ryan said, shaking her hand, then he turned to Sirius and pointed to him with his hand "This is Evan, my nephew who is visiting us from Kansas for a few days, and insisted on coming to help me as soon as I mentioned the presence of a pretty lady" he said, winking to the woman who seemed to answer to the name 'Julie' who giggled making Sirius look suspiciously at Ryan, then said to him " Evan, please meet Miss Julie"
Sirius smiled politely at Julie and shook her hand, then said: "It's a real pleasure to meet you, miss, a real pity I can't speak French. Nothing would have given me greater satisfaction to get to know you more deeply."
Julie smiled at him and replied, imitating the tone of his voice: "The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Evan, I am fluent in English, and you'll find me charmed by young men so skilled with their mouths." Making Sirius blush even more.
"Be careful, my dear, you're going to make him faint," Ryan said, laughing at Sirius's face. "Evan, please unload the order to show Miss Julie what a strong and virile man you are." Making Sirius roll his eyes before nodding his head and heading towards the pickup truck's cab.
Sirius unloaded the order, and he and Ryan followed Julie through a matt fence and into a garden, inspired by the architecture of churches and religious places: a large rectangle, divided into small separate plots, everything being quite geometrical, but above all, everything in it was modest and at the same time not lacking in charm. As they progressed through the garden, The utility side of the garden gave way to a more aesthetic or rather artistic side, characterized by flowerbeds forming different patterns, perfectly bounded by lines of light green trimmed bushes, crossed by a gravel path that led to stairs, that gradually led to a large door.
They slowly walked through while Julie and Ryan happily chatted in French, Sirius behind them, more focused on the garden around him. Nevertheless, he felt quite flattered by Julie's furtive glances; and after noticing he did not look away, making sure each time, her eyes could find him looking back at her, smiling. Why would he lie to himself, even if they only met a few moments ago, he felt attracted to the girl, and she didn't seem to be indifferent to him either, although he might have been imagining it.
Their walk ended at the mansion's entrance. A 16th century stone mansion, with a tiled roof and flanked by a stair tower, large windows and a pavilion with broad openings. Julie invited them to follow her inside; to an elegantly furnished hall as in the center, stairs with golden railings led to the upper floor, the floor was a succession of black and white tiles, and a chandelier hung from the ceiling on which a large-scale fresco expanded on the entire surface, depicting cherubim and angels flying in a blue sky while other lied on clouds, Sirius growled quietly, finding that the place looked a little too much like the Malfoys' manor for his taste. Julie gently asked them to wait a moment then went upstairs, followed by Sirius' eyes. She returned a few minutes later, following a man's steps who Sirius guessed could only be the housemaster.
The owner of the place was a man with milk-white skin, a clean-shaven face, not more than forty years old, tall, slim figure, black hair with a bowl cut similar to the ghost of Hufflepuff, to the great amusement of Sirius, who refrained from laughing, dressed in a dark blue tailor's suit, obviously tailor-made for him, and wearing brown moccasins. He walked towards them and held out his hand to Ryan. Sirius smiled at Ryan when he saw him bow his head in reverence when he greeted the man, as he found this kind of behavior hilarious coming from an American muggle, especially one who never lost an opportunity to make fun of the British monarchy and tease Sirius about it. Afterwards, he turned to Sirius and gave him a wide smile, shaking his hand.
"Hello! You must be the famous Evan, Julie just told me about. I am Gilbert, Duke of Poitou. Welcome to Normandy!".
"Thank you, Sir, it's my pleasure to meet you. Uncle Ryan speaks very highly of you," said Sirius, smiling at him.
"Really?" he asked smiling at Ryan, "thank you for your kind words, but I must make clear that it is your uncle is too nice as he is the one to honor me with his friendship," he said, resting his left hand on Ryan's shoulder, "However, where did my manners go? May I invite you to join me for lunch, gentlemen? " He asked them hopefully.
"It would be our pleasure, Sir. But we still have some other deliveries to do first, and we also are not dressed well enough to meet your kind invitation," Ryan replied.
"Oh, what a pity...I understand...I would not want to delay you or cause any inconvenience to your other clients. Anyway, I would be very harry if you accept joining my guests and I on Saturday evening at the dinner, we are organizing in Mr. Martin honor as he will soon be retiring. For once, it would be a real pleasure to have an unrelated to business, conversation with you Ryan, and also have a chance to know you more Evan, before you leave!" he said to them. "Even though I think my wonderful Julie won't let go of your arm," winking at Sirius, who saw Julie smile at him behind her employer's back.
"Count on us sir, thank you for the invitation," said Ryan.
"Wonderful! Yes, Wonderful! See you on Saturday then!"
Sirius and Ryan said goodbye to the Duke and Julie and left the property. They left the car there, preferring to walk through the village to a grocery store where they quickly made their purchases. If Sirius had felt like an angel in the company of the Duke and Julie earlier, he could not help feeling worried in the village; he had the impression that someone was watching him closely, maybe he had been recognized, and that it would not be long before he would find himself surrounded by the Aurors of the French ministry. He was sure that the villagers looked at him through their windows or from the barrels that served as tables on the bars' terraces.
Was it out of curiosity, seeing a foreigner, or were there wizards living in the village who may have recognized him? He accelerated his march towards the car without paying attention to Ryan's protests and went up to take refuge inside.
Ryan joined him in the car, drove off, held out one hand to the back seat and grabbed a can of beer, which he opened, and took a sip before setting off.
"Is it allowed to drink and drive in France?" Sirius asked.
"No, but there's never any police around here, at this time of the day, you'll find all of them taking a break at the station..." Ryan replied, "OK, just one more stop, and we will be back home, I'm already fucking starving..."
"OK, let's go."
Ryan wasn't bluffing when he said he could drive blindfolded and insisted on trying before Sirius begged him to stop when he nearly collided with another car on the road. They stopped near the village square, where an old Gothic-style church was built on a rectangular plan with a Latin cross. The square in front of the edifice formed a large esplanade, enlighten by a few sun rays despite the dark clouds covering the sky, while overhanging, leaning into the void, mainly located on the large buttresses of the choir, gargoyles sculpted in stone first designed as decorative elements and as a protection measure for the walls to let rainwater run-off, which alters the conservation of the stone, seemed to have their eyes fixed on the village as if watching for the slightest danger, ready to deploy their wings and leave their place. Ryan nodded towards the back and at the painting.
"Bring it there, find the priest and hand it to him. We were supposed to arrive half an hour ago so hurry up. He should be waiting for you..." Ryan said, rushing him to get down from his pickup.
"Why don't you come with me?" asked Sirius.
Ryan pocked his beer. "If I walk through that church gate, I might catch on fire," Ryan said.
Sirius laughed, then went to the back to the back and took the painting, then slowly carried it to the church. Once inside, he carefully put down the painting on the floor, leaning at the wall before taking a look around the large interior, trying to find the priest, only the church was empty. It was a large cold space, built on two levels, lit by large stained-glass windows. A double ambulatory was built around the nave, which characterized its gothic style with a ribbed vault, reserved for the worshipers during the service as it required a large space to accommodate a large number of people. It determined the dimensions of the building, raised from the ground to the vaults to form the central vessel of the building. Composed by ten bays, each corresponding to the space between each pillar, the first two bays supported the building up to the towers and also served as a transition after passing through the portal. There were also pillars, arcades, pilasters that accentuate the effect of verticality, broken up horizontally arcades. This way, the whole shaped a regular rhythm between verticals and horizontals giving the nave a great harmony.
Sirius walked slowly on the pavement, each of his stapes echoed. He wasn't a believer himself, but he could easily grasp the sacrality of the place and the respect he had to display while between these walls. He walked slowly along a path set between two rows of long wooden benches, whose smell had a certain soothing effect coupled with the gentle warmth emanating from lit candles whose flames danced without succumbing to the rhythm of the air circulating inside the old edifice. As he walked, Sirius couldn't help but keep his eyes up, bewitched by the architecture, that remembered him his seven years spent exploring every corner of Hogwarts to make their map, or better said, their 'gift to posterity. Sirius kept walking, not watching his steps until he was startled as he heard a tiny, gentle voice near him. Then, his eyes found in front of him a small old nun who was googling at him.
"Good morning…May I help you?" she gently asked.
"Good morning...I've come to deliver Ryan's painting ... "Sirius said, pointing at the painting he had left behind when he entered the church, near the entrance.
"Oh, of course…You can leave it there. Thank you." she said. Then she took out some Muggles money from her pocket and handed the bills to him. "For Mr Ryan. And this is your tip," she said, approaching him to slip another single bill into his pocket, with a smile.
"No ma'am. I cannot accept..."
"Please, do accept" she said before leaving.
Sirius watched her leave and disappear a few seconds after behind a door, shrugged, then went back out to join Ryan in the car. The drive home was quicker than expected; both men kept yawning during the entire ride back, and only exchanged a few words. Once arrived, they got busy in the kitchen and after less than an hour, they sat down around the kitchen table to eat.
"So, Julie caught your eye, didn't she?" Ryan asked him, "you don't regret coming with me this morning."
"Let's say I'm looking forward to meeting her next Saturday" Sirius replied.
"Yes, of course, to get to know each other better, that's all. Up just as friends... Talk about the weather, your hobbies, whether she likes dogs over cats, that sort of thing..." Ryan said.
"Yes, I don't think I'm up for more," said Sirius, reaching for some water.
"...then she'll ride you until you scream her name" Ryan added. ignoring Sirius wince.
"I'm not going to reply to that," said Sirius as Ryan burst out laughing.
As soon Sirius finished eating, he went up to his room, took off his jacket and threw it on the bed, dropping on the carpet a piece of paper which he recognized as the tip the nun had given him earlier, picked it up and sat down on his bed to examine it. It was a '50 franc Quentin de La Tour' banknote, on the back of which was inlaid in black ink the following words:
Et s'est escrit que il ert ancore
que toz li reaumes de Logres,
qui jadis fu la terre as ogres,
ert destruite par cele lance.
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