For the First Time
lone astronomer
Disclaimer: The song is by Bryan Adams, everything recognizable as not mine (most of it) belongs to J. K. Rowling, and that is all.
Archive: Anywhere, as long as you have ALL of it and you tell me.
Summary: Events after 'Darkness on the Road to Nowhere'.
Author's Note: I like this song, don't flame me… at the end I'll put up a funny song that has nothing whatever to do with the fic, but it is dumb and funny and… well, it's not my personal opinion, but it makes me laugh… I dunno, read it. Like I said, it's not my opinion, so don't flame me, 'cause I only posted it.
* * *
When you love someone - you'll do anything
You'll do all the crazy things that you can't explain
You'll shoot the moon - put out the sun
When you love someone
You'll deny the truth - believe a lie
There'll be times that you'll believe you can really fly
But your lonely nights have just begun
When you love someone
When you love someone -
you'll feel it deep inside
And nothin' else can ever change your mind
When you want someone - when you need someone
When you love someone
When you love someone - you'll sacrifice
You'd give it everything you got and you won't think twice
You'd risk it all - no matter what may come
When you love someone
You'll shoot the moon - put out the sun
When you love someone
-Bryan Adams, When You Love Someone
* * *
"Great Greek gods," someone in the hospital wing at Hogwarts muttered, swiping sleep from his eyes. He snorted. "Greek gods… I'm starting to sound like Allya!" He opened his eyes and surveyed the room he was in.
The seven of them- Lily, James, Remus, Mioré, Siren, Allya, and Sirius- laid on assorted cots spaced relatively evenly around the room. By far the worst damaged were Mioré and Remus- they were still unconscious. Mioré, who had been tortured for several hours by a certain Mr. O'Maley, broke several bones, smacked her head off of the dungeon walls, and bit through her lip, causing a nasty scar just below it. Remus had been attacked by a vicious three-headed dog on the way out of Mr. O'Maley's dungeon during their rescue attempt; he had a nasty scar running down the side of his leg, where the dog had bitten him. (More canine bite-marks for Remus, poor guy!) The two of them were still out cold, and being watched over by an anxious-looking Madam Pomfrey and a grim Professor Dumbledore.
"So we have a live one, do we?" Dumbledore commented, making his way toward the cot Sirius was laying on. "You have a habit for getting yourself into sticky situations, Mr. Black."
Sirius shook his head. "Wasn't me this time. Mioré got herself kidnapped by Siren's crazy uncle."
Dumbledore blinked, allowing some of the sparkle back into his usually merry blue eyes. "I get the feeling there are some steps in between you've left out."
"Uh, you could say that," Sirius answered sheepishly. "For example, there was a ransom note that said if we told you, he'd kill her just like that."
The old headmaster thought for a moment. "Perhaps I should wait for everyone to be awake before asking any further questions."
Sirius looked relieved. "That might be best, sir."
The next morning was not entirely pleasant.
"This is not a pleasant sensation," Mioré commented as Madam Pomfrey mended the bone that had been broken into four in her left leg. "Ouch."
"If you hold still," Pomfrey told her, "it will hurt less."
"If I hold still," Mioré countered, thinking of everyone she had yet to visit with that morning, "I'll go insane."
"Better crazy with a healthy body than sane with eight nonfunctional legs, crossed eyes, and the inability to stop drooling."
Mioré shut up after that, and she stopped squirming, too.
Professor Dumbledore and the six rescuers entered the room at this point, excusing the nurse and taking seats on different cots. Dumbledore spoke first. "You seven have some explaining to do, I gather."
Exhausted, at first no one spoke. Very gradually, pieces of the story began to spill out, beginning with Mioré's story.
"I was walking back from the Ravenclaw common room," she began, only to be interrupted momentarily by Sirius.
"And what were you doing in the Ravenclaw common room?" he asked.
Mioré just glared at him and continued, "I was on my way back from the Ravenclaw common room when I heard a noise behind that one suit of armor… I went to investigate and someone muttered something, I felt all sleepy. The last thing I remember before unconsciousness is the sensation of my hair being pulled."
"Which is how you lost this," Sirius filled in, tossing her hair ribbon to her.
She caught it from the air, examining it to hide the fact that she was touched by his gesture. Little did she know, it was only a duplicate… Sirius had the real thing hidden in the bottom of his trunk. "Thanks."
Siren took the story from there- conveniently leaving the part about the room behind the portrait of Sir Cadogan out, and minimizing the parts about Death Eaters, trolls, nearly getting eaten by the giant three-headed dog, the Boggart, and everything else that was dangerous.
When she finally paused at the end of the tale- "… and then we saw you at the main entrance to the school, we came to the hospital wing and here we are."
"Alive and exhausted."
"But alive. Alive is the important thing."
Dumbledore took his time digesting this knowledge. "Then I would say," he said finally, "that you deserve the week off. Use it wisely," he advised, "it ends on Monday… you'll be excused from classes. Go home if you like. Miss O'Maley, I believe your father is here to pick you up this very moment, so… today's episode of the People's Court will reconvene next Monday after classes. Dismissed!" he finished merrily, and off they went.
Sirius had just gotten into his pajamas Thursday for a long and much-needed rest when he felt the draft of the open window. He shivered. Since he, Remus, and James had been having trouble sleeping, it was always open, even through the winter. It seemed to help a bit, but tonight…
He was the only one in the dorm. Andy was in the common room studying for an Arithmancy test, James and Lily were having a verbal bashing, Remus and Allya were 'talking'- no, they really were talking, so at least they weren't angry at each other, he thought. But why was it so cold?
Sirius slammed the window shut, falling back on his bed.
"Hey! Is that any way to treat a lady?"
The voice- Sweet mother of God, he thought, I know that voice… Sirius turned around slowly, only to be shocked enough to fall back on his bed. "You- what- how…?"
She drifted over the furniture, wrinkling her pale nose at the socks and underwear littering the floor. "Not very neat, are you?" She finally settled into a chair.
"But- you're- you're a ghost," Sirius finally choked out, looking up at Siren. "You have to be dead to be a ghost!"
Siren's ghost snorted. "Well put. So there we have it: I am dead, Sirius."
Sirius' mouth hung open. "You're dead?" he said finally. "Um- Sorry to hear that?" he continued lamely.
Siren could have laughed. "The look on your face, Sirius Black! It's priceless."
It was Sirius' turn to snort. "Cherish it for eternity." He stopped for a minute, "Bad choice of words," he said. "Sorry again. I'll make a note- no death jokes."
A faint ghost of a smile graced her transparent lips. "I suppose you'll be telling Dumbledore I won't be returning, then. And your friends."
"Our friends," Sirius corrected absently.
The smile turned full. "Our friends," she repeated, then to herself, I like that.
"News!" Sirius yelled into the common room, Siren following at a distance. "We seem to have a bit of a problem with Miss O'Maley…"
"Oh, no," James groaned, "she hasn't decided to turn into an awful Slytherin and run our knickers up the flagpole, has she?"
"Um." Sirius answered. "Actually, it's worse than that." He moved to one side, allowing the ghost to come forward. James, Remus, Lily, Allya, and Mioré all gasped. "She's dead."
And, at the sorrowful expressions on their faces, Siren cried for the first time.
"So can you tell us the Slytherin password? We promise to only steal Snape's knickers… wait, wait, we did that last year…"
"What's left?" Allya asked miserably. "There is nothing left!"
"No, no," James said. "There's always something else. We just have to be creative."
"Mhm…" Sirius mused. "Have we put dungbombs in the Slytherin common room?"
"Yep."
"Turned Snape into a rabbit?"
"Been there."
"Done that."
"Set a Boggart loose in the Hufflepuff-"
"It's all been done," Allya said with finality. "The only person we haven't pulled a prank on is-"
Sirius and James stopped dead in their tracks, Sirius' eyes burning bright with anticipation. Allya let the words roll over her tongue, savoring their sweetness. "Brady Graves."
James' grin lit the entire hallway. "This is going to be so much fun."
"Defense homework again?" Mioré growled, silver eyes flashing. "We were just assigned a six-foot-long essay last week!"
Lily, who was pouring over her third roll, checking the spelling, mumbled, "At least it isn't for Potions…"
"Why are you doing this, anyway?" Allya asked, not looking away from her current project- bewitching the ceiling to reflect the outside weather, just as it did in the Great Hall. Realizing that it would probably wake her up early in summer months did not deter her- it was, after all, the end of November. "Dumbledore gave us the week off, remember?"
Lily frowned. "Just because you and Remus are acing the course doesn't mean the rest of us are worry-free."
"And you and James are on top of everything else, so I wouldn't complain!"
"Don't mention his name around me," Lily growled. "If you must speak of him, call him by his true name: the Source of All True Evil."
Allya snorted as James entered Gryffindor Tower. "Speak of the devil."
James grinned. "Who, me?"
"You're the one,"
If at all possible, the grin widened. "Just been to the Ravenclaw common room…"
A slow smile spread across Ally's face. "You've done it, then?" she asked, as Sirius, too, followed closely by Remus, entered the common room. "Excellent…"
A shadow of nervousness appeared on Mioré's visage. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"
Even Lily almost smiled.
Friday morning at breakfast, even those six Gryffindor students that had the day off showed up for breakfast on time- Sirius, James, and Remus because they didn't want to miss their show, Allya because she was curious, Lily because she was going to classes to avoid James, and
Poor Brady. He walked into the Great Hall with bleach-blond hair (it was normally black) and hot pink eyebrows, a white polecat-like stripe down the back of his robe, green flippers, a Hogwarts cap with a little flag on top, and an orange umbrella. Heaven only knew how the boys had done it without him ever noticing. Allya howled, especially when he started speaking in German. Actually, most of the Great Hall howled (poor Brady!) but, alas, he had no knowledge that he looked any different than normal. As I already mentioned, the boys had done a terrific job.
Mioré shot daggers at Sirius- if looks could kill, he would have joined Siren in the land of the dead. Sirius just shrugged. "He deserved it."
"For what?" she inquired.
"Um… gotta go!" And so Sirius raced off down the hall.
Saturday morning, owls delivered packages to the survivors.
"Wonder what this could be?" Lily wondered, staring at the ominous Ministry seal.
"Subpoena," James answered noncommittally, speed-reading through the first three paragraphs. "Mr. O'Maley's trial. They need us to testify?" he asked aloud, bewildered.
"Subpoena?" Sirius asked, reading his more thoroughly. "Oh. And a commendation for bravery… mmhm… Wonder if they give awards for most original prank?"
"You've already won that," Allya muttered, flipping through the three rolls of parchment that made up the subpoena. "Greek gods… what do they expect of us, anyway?"
"Witnesses for the prosecution," Lily explained. "Great… I've always wondered how a wizard's courtroom works."
"Sparky, you read a one-thousand-page book on that just last month…"
"But this is real life!" Lily protested.
"'But this is real life!'" James mocked.
"Shut up, Spike-boy."
"Make me, Carrots!"
Lily's wand shot Spello-tape out the end and adhered James' mouth closed.
The trial, which included eight witnesses (including Mr. O'Maley), lasted two days (during which all seven students- sorry, six students and one ghost- were put under a witness-protection program) and convicted Mr. O'Maley, sending him to Azkaban.
When they returned to Hogwarts, more than a little exhausted, Mioré was immediately sought out by none other than Brady Graves.
"Hey, Mioré," he said, approaching her from behind with a grin.
Mioré didn't look quite so enthusiastic- but Brady didn't notice. "Hi."
Graves offered her his arm. "Walk with me, talk with me…" They escaped the scrutiny of Peeves the Poltergeist with relative ease- a diversion created by an extremely orange Mrs. Norris was the perfect thing for it. So they wound up outside near the lake, and even though it was freezing out, Brady forgot to offer Mioré his cloak ('cause I said so! He's another stuffy guy, okay!?). Somehow they ended up talking about past relationships (Mioré suspected Brady was just jealous of her friendship with Sirius, but didn't mention it), and Brady commented, "You know, normally I go out with girls who talk so much if you hooked them up to a wind turbine, they could provide electricity for a small town in Surrey…" (*almost a direct quote from 'Good Morning Vietnam', which I also don't own.)
Mioré didn't laugh.
Brady, again, didn't notice. Mioré grabbed her head in agony- this was not going to be a long relationship. (Thankfully, she thought.)
Sirius wasn't doing so well.
"Cheer up, Padfoot, old friend," James tried. "It's not the end of the world- and how long can it last, anyway?"
Sirius muttered something under his breath, then, "Don't know what you're talking about."
James, frustrated, left the dorm. "Going to find Remus…"
Sirius didn't follow him- he was feeling a bit off. It wasn't as if the usual crowds of girls weren't following him around… it was Mioré. Obviously. It was that- for the first time- he really liked a girl, and couldn't tell her.
THE END
lone astronomer: Sorry, sorry, sorry to end it there… I'm tired again. You can wait a couple days for the next part if I give you this now, right? Right. So…
Mioré: Darn it all… Brady's boring me…
Brady: Hey! You forgot the 'Proud To Be Canadian' song!
lone astronomer: No, I didn't… like I said, not my opinions. The song belongs to the Arrogant Worms…
Proud to Be Canadian- Arrogant Worms
Our fair country Canada is north of the USA
Our Maritimes are lovely, and our prairies give us hay
You may think you Yankees are better than us Canucks,
But we don't need no micro-chips inside our hockey pucks
We know that you've got Disneyworld, and you keep it very clean
We don't have Bob Dole, we can drink when we're nineteen
We may watch your TV shows for hours and hours and hours,
We'll give you Alan Thick
But Shania Twain is ours
We're proud to be Canadian
We're awfully nice to strangers,
Our manners be our curse
It's cool in many ways to be Canadian
We won't say that we're better, it's just that we're less worse
Your beer is not too tasty, and your weather can't be beat
We all fly south in the wintertime to escape the snow and sleet
We're pleased to say that we've enjoyed all your southern charms
But we get sunburned when we exercise the right to bear our arms
We're proud to be Canadian
We're awfully nice to strangers,
Our manners be our curse
It's cool in many ways to be Canadian
We won't say that we're better, it's just that we're less worse
Alanis Morrisette, she is our latest pride and joy
She used to sing about high-school dances and chasing after boys
But now she is fed up and about as angry as can be
She's got one hand in her pocket and the other's on guard for thee
We're proud to be Canadian
We're awfully nice to strangers,
Our manners be our curse (We're just too darn nice)
It's cool in many ways to be Canadian (Oh I like being Canadian)
We won't say that we're better (no), it's just that we're less worse
We're proud to be Canadian
We're awfully nice to strangers,
Our manners be our curse (Can I get the door for you ma'am?)
It's cool in many ways to be Canadian (It's cool because it's cold up here)
We won't say that we're better, it's just that we're less worse
We won't say that we're better, it's just that we're less worse
(In a fake, high falsetto) Tears are not enough…
