Authors Note: I'm so, so, so sorry that this chapter took so long! However, it contains a few things most of you have been waiting to see since the very beginning!!
Dedicated to the world's finest beta reader; Static, for her awesome insight, and always listening to my ideas, and inspiring me!
Two Roads Diverged
Chapter Seven: Like London's Bridge
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Sirius was pacing the house. His mind was at a million places at once. However, it was a frequent visitor to a question that he wanted to answer just as much as he didn't.
Could he live his life this way? He remembered, with vivid flashes, the night of Lily and James' death, arriving in the yard to find the lifeless bodies of his best friends still warm on the ground. Too many regrets, too many things that he would want to change, too much sorrow for such a young man.
For years, he had never understood the love between Lily and James. How they could get up everyday together, go to sleep at night next to each other, and spend all day with each other, never tiring of love, or the others company. It had, and at many points still did, seemed like an impossible feat.
Then he remembered his fickle days before Azkaban. A woman a week, and a never-ending supply of willing ones at that. Could it have been that the person he was meant before had come along..and he had shut her out of his life after a one-night stand? Definitely not. He would never have wanted a woman like that anyway...
But he had. He had wanted them. He had pretended to love them. Made love to them, and then dropped off the face of the earth. Andromeda? What about her? How could she have this hold on him? Weakness, that's what it was. Surely she would never want him when she discovered his identity. What woman would?!
So why was he living this lie? He would tell her. But not through an owl. For the first time in his life, he would do something the way it was meant to be done. In person. Or so he hoped. It was 5:30 in the morning; she had to be awake now. Why? Because he didn't trust himself to wait for one more minute.
Grabbing his cloak off the peg, he turned to the floo can near the fireplace. With a shaky hand, but a firm grimace he threw a handful of powder into the flames, which roared in response. The black cloak swayed around his legs as he stepped into the fire and he ran his fingers through his hair in an absent-minded way. "Andromeda's room at Sagitta Estate!" And he was gone.
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Back in a hallway of her house, Gemini was crouched near the ground with her head in her heads. She knew it must be nearly dawn. She supposed that Cassiopeia, like many other older adults, would be an early riser, and didn't fancy being tripped over.
How would she explain her absence? This wasn't going to work. Who was she kidding? Madame Pomfrey would flip out when she saw their stuffed beds. Her pillows weren't *that* good...
Expelled, that's what she would be, thrown out from the school, or worse yet; arrested for dragging a person, Lucius Malfoy's boy no less, out of school; tied up! He had saved her life...most people would be glad to be alive; she was upset about who it had been to save her. Twisted perhaps, but utterly Gemini.
And where the heck was he? He couldn't be up in her room, if it was indeed *up*. Maybe he had just taken off on his broomstick, and left her behind. If he died, would it be her fault? Would she be responsible? Manslaughter? She didn't really know what the term meant, she had heard it tossed around by adults before though, 'Oh dear lord! How could he be so dumb as to have the potato chip girl try to cook French fries. Unintentional manslaughter, but manslaughter all the same...'
As she sat balled up in a miserable little heap, deciding the probability of her defense 'He was just such an insufferable git, honestly, I wouldn't have been shocked with a medal, but arrest...' she felt something tap her lightly on the head. Tilting her chin upwards, she saw the beautiful gray owl on her shoulder.
"Tempra!" She greeted the owl.
Untying the owl's letter, she settled back to read it.
Dear Gemini,
You know, I was starting to get a tad concerned. It's been a while since you last wrote me. You got my owls, didn't you? I suppose you're just busy with school.
How are things going? Tell me which house you were sorted into! Are the kids nice? Are your teachers good and helpful? Do you already have homework? I remember Hogwarts from when I was there; I'm sure it's absolutely lovely there this time of year.
I met with an old friend Hydra the other day at a new restaurant. I'll have to take you there when you're back on vacation! I miss you very much! It seems much too quiet around here without you. I think I'm going to start job hunting soon, I just can't stand being around the house 24 hours a day with your grandma. Even adults have their limits.
I hope you're having a great time, and making tons of new friends! I know you're homesick, and I think you are an absolute doll for going along with this. I'm sure your grandma appreciates it too! Write back soon, I'm simply dying to know how things are!
All my love,
Mom
"Smart owl!" Gemini praised Tempra, "you found me even when I wasn't at school!"
'I suppose I had better respond to this letter as soon as possible, who knows when I'll have another chance,' Gemini thought as she stood up, squinting as her eyes lingered on the bright overhead hall lights. She quickly spotted a nearby door and stowed inside.
Crossing the room, she found everything that she needed to write a short letter. Relaxing into a spare chair, she leaned onto the nearest table to scrawl:
Mom,
Hi! I did get your last letter. Sorry I didn't write sooner, I've been so busy with getting used to school here. It's a lot different than back in America. And everyone has the cutest accents like you do!
My first days were ok. I was sorted into Gryffindor house, I've heard it supposed to be the best one. Most of the people here are pretty nice. Except for this girl, Hermione who doesn't seem to like me very much at all. But I suppose I don't have to worry about her, there are enough people here anyway.
My teachers are all good, but some of them seem rather tough. I've already got homework assignments for a few of my classes. And a few of them are very strict! Not to mention my potions teacher, Severus Snape - he just plain out hates me.
I'm sure I'll adjust soon enough, though. You and grandma are too much! Honestly, you fight like sisters! I gotta go, homework and all. I miss you both and love you too! I'm already looking forward to the first holiday break. Talk to you more later!
Love,
Gemini
Gemini felt somewhat guilty about 'forgetting' to mention the fact that, oh yeah, she snuck out of school, and dragged another student into the mansion in the middle of the night, to find the notebook she had been using for the last few years to secretly try and find out who her father was from where she accidentally left it in her room.
But it wasn't like she could explain all that in a P.S. And she didn't particularly care to try. All that mattered was that she find the notebook, and Draco, and get back to their brooms to high tail it to school before anyone had a chance to detect that they were absent.
Tempra held perfectly straight while Gemini tied the letter to her leg, and then soared out the door. Gemini gave one last glance around the room before exiting into the hallway. With a questioning look to both her left and the right she debated for a few minutes. Then Gemini set off to the left, for no real reason in particular.
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When the room materialized around Sirius, he stepped out of the fireplace. He cast a suspicious eye around the room as he slowly emerged. Everything seemed to be antique. An old dresser and wardrobe set looked to be predating the first goblin rebellion. The carpets looked old and Arabian, and he wondered if they might be flying carpets. A bookcase stood with shelf upon shelf of more books than Sirius had ever seen outside of the Hogwarts Library.
Yet, what caught his eye for the longest was the tall, queen-sized bed in the center of the room. It had curtains, but they were not drawn, and in the bed lay the obvious form of Andromeda. Nearing the bed, and being careful not to trip on the stray book, he seated himself on the bed. Sirius just sat there for a few moments, watching as the covers slowly rose and fell with each steady breath.
As he was about to attempt to wake her up, the bed shifted under his weight, producing the smallest of squeaks. Andromeda's eyelids slowly parted until she was staring straight up at him. At first she looked dazed, confused and apprehensive. As she continued to awaken, understanding dawned in her eyes, and she leaned forward to whisper, "Severus?"
Sirius gulped, and simply nodded.
"What are you doing here?" Her voice had quickly lost its tiredness and had taken on the air of wonderment.
"I had to see you-- I couldn't stop thinking of you..." but the second he said this he realized how it must have sounded, as her features softened, and her eyes sparkled unknowingly.
He wanted to finish, but he couldn't find the words. For a moment, they just sat there, staring at each other. Andromeda couldn't tear her eyes away from his rugged good looks, and the way the light played on the lines of his face. He felt silenced by her subtle beauty, the way her whole face lit up when she smiled, how her long hair tumbled over her shoulders and behind her back.
Unknowingly they had moved closer. He was so near that she could smell the leather of his jacket and it made her dizzy. She lowered her eyelids, and leaned in, not knowing what she was doing, yet had she known what she was doing, it hardly would have mattered.
He leaned in, seized her by the shoulders, and pulled her into a deep kiss. He felt so right to her, so close, like she couldn't exist without him. Mumbling incoherently as she pulled him ontop of her, she struggled to control her emotions. Passion has a strange way of making the old person feel young, the ugliest person feel sexy, and the least represented man into a king. Andromeda felt emotions she never could have imagined; sexy, wanted, and for once, in control.
His hands were sliding up and down her arms, and his mouth was pressing insistently against hers. Her heart was racing, and she knew he could hear it, yet all the while she could feel his beating just as rapidly against her too. Memories were flooding the shores of mind, some good, some bad, so instead she concentrated on creating new, more powerful memories as her nervous system short circuited.
Pulling his mouth up to hers, she hooked one arm around his neck. She felt like a dizzy 16-year-old, and for the time being she could forget her problems. She allowed herself to become as totally preoccupied by him as he was by her, and she could feel the tension in his muscles. Each kiss was like a bolt of lighting, striking her heart and radiating out to her whole body, bringing with it new sensations she had never known she was capable of feeling. Some kind of hormone, unavailable in any store, was racing through her, her body was going double time, while her mind was struggling to piece together the parts of some classic movie.
"....Severus...." she murmured against his mouth as he struggled to unclasp the top button of her robes. He flinched, and for a second he seemed about to draw away so she deepened the kiss. All her life she had waited for the man she could kiss like this, and now she had found him. She felt like she was drowning, but it was a good drowning; she was drowning in her own happiness, drowning in him.
"Tap, tap, tap." Something was hitting against her door. She didn't care, all that mattered was him, him kissing her, him being with her, as close as possible, and promising to never stop. She felt as though she had known him forever, he was a part of her very being. Drawing away was not even an option.
What was he doing? This hadn't been part of the plan. He hadn't told himself 'Ok, I'll go to her house, have a snog session and *then* tell her...' But at the moment what was he *supposed* to do? Turn away from her? Hardly! Did he care that he was digging his own grave? That he could never talk his way out of this one? No, instead he wondered what he would use as his reason when the court asked him why he wanted to change his name...
"Tap! Tap! Tap!" 'This can't be happening,' she thought.
"Should...you...get...that...?" He asked between urgent kisses.
"No!" her answer was immediate and final so he returned his attention to the beautiful woman in front of him. His fingers were still holding her clasps, but he had temporarily forgotten them in his preoccupation with her face. 'Why is his hair so wonderful?' She pondered as she ran her hands through it in her passion.
"TAP, TAP, TAP!"
"Damn it!" She slid out from under him. "Don't move a muscle," she said slyly as she made her way to the door. Opening it in a hurry she saw Tempra flying through the air, with a letter attached to her leg.
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Unfolding the letter, she glanced down and carefully scanned its contents. Slowly her mind filled with questions. Severus Snape was Gemini's teacher? He had never mentioned it. Surely it was no coincidence that there was another man out there named Severus Snape, it had to be one and the same person.
She turned slowly around to set him under her coldest stare, and Sirius shifted uncomfortably under her glare. It felt as though someone had plunged a hand down his throat and pulled his stomach inside out. "Who are you?" There was obviously a dangerous tone in her voice.
"Severus Snape." He was trying harder to convince her than was natural, and he knew she would detect the worry in his response.
"I'm sorry," Andromeda began in a cold, sarcastic tone, "I wanted your real name, not the one you play house with." The same passionate woman stood before him, but her passion was different - not of desire, but of betrayal.
"Well," he began, "my name isn't technically Severus Snape."
"I'm guessing that it's not simply Sevie Snape either."
"No..."
"Would it be too much trouble to ask what your name *is*?" Her eyes were flashing, no room for lies, no time to create them, no desire to enforce them, he opted for the truth.
"Mynameissiriusblack." He said in one breath, very quickly.
"Sorry, but I'm not native in the tongue of Giberish, so humor me and say that without trying to first die of asphyxiation."
He just stared at her, his eyes desperately conveying to her the message that his lips could not, trying with all his heart to subliminally say to her, 'Don't make me do this to you.'
But there was no room in her heart for any such message, and as he stood before her he plunged recklessly ahead, "My name," and here he paused, "is Sirius Black."
Most unfortunately, Andromeda was still standing next to the table that was at the side of her door. Her fingers were shaking, and as she stood there, the words echoing in her mind, her hand grabbed the nearest thing, an antique clock, a very pretty, and very valuable one at that, and with a rage unknown to even herself she hurtled it across the room, straight at his head, with a cry to wake the dead, "YOU BASTARD!"
It couldn't have been a closer call. Sirius was a tick away from being eligible to join the headless hunt when his defense instincts kicked in and he ducked, just in time to feel the air above his hair blow with the breeze of the propelled object.
The wall however possessed no instincts, nor the ability to duck - the antique clock came in contact with a gut wrenching CRACK! as it became only recognizable through its erratic ticks and tocks.
"What the HELL are you doing here?!" Her body shook, but her voice did not.
"I came to tell you..."
"Like hell you did! You were never going to tell me, you slimy, insensitive, self absorbed, conceited ASS! You were just going to lead me on in circles, while you silently joked over how hilarious it was that you could ruin the same person's life TWICE." She screamed the last word, and she saw him flinch.
"Ruin your LIFE!? A one night stand ruined your LIFE? I bet you didn't even remember it! Know why? Because you were schnokled up to your ears! "
"I remember it everyday, it's not something that you can just forget, not with a living, breathing, constant reminder!"
"What? What reminder?"
"YOU wouldn't understand."
"Let me *explain*." He was obviously checking his emotions much better than she, and this did not comfort her; it simply provoked her even more.
"What is there to bloody explain? I think I can figure this one out on my own! You saw me, knew who I was, lied about who you were, and lead me on, totally aware of the fact that you took advantage of me all those years ago."
"Congratulations, Sherlock Holmes, you couldn't be more wrong. And you know what, the reason why you're so pissed is because you know I didn't take advantage of you - you just wish I had."
"WHAT!"
"That's right! You wish I had, so that you could pretend that you had nothing to do with anything that happened that night, so that you could add your name to the list of Women Taken Advantage Of By Sirius Black. I'm here to let you know, my dear, you'll be hard pressed to find any such list."
He stalked past her, back to the fireplace, with one quick grab of some floo powder, and an utterance of his address he was gone.
Andromeda found her way back to the bed; covered in its tangled sheets were little pieces of the alarm clock on top.
'Tick...tock.......tick..tock........tick......tock.'
"Shut up!" Andromeda yelled at the pitiful remainders, and her head sunk down into her pillows, willing herself to believe it all a dream, or perhaps, more fittingly, a nightmare.
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Gemini need not have worried about her defense, because Draco, for the meanwhile was ok: sleep deprived, annoyed, and hungry, but ok. The gargoyles had long since stopped whispering, because they finally decided it was a lost cause.
Draco slowly trudged ahead, along the path through the East Wing, without the slightest inkling that he was in any danger at all. The halls continued to get somewhat darker, and call it a cliché, but there was danger in the air. He could have been walking to the gates of hell for all he knew. One thing he was sure of was the great fun he would have when he found her room first.
'Uh, oh,' he said to himself, 'dead end.'
Looming in the distance some feet ahead was a great brick wall. Exactly how old it was, you couldn't quite tell. But for the purpose of knowledge it will suffice to say that it was indeed very old. Draco was just about to turn away when a glint of silver caught his eye, drawing his attention. He closed the distance between himself and the wall with a few long strides.
Using the sleeve of his robe to wipe away the calcium deposits that had formed over the years, he leaned in to read:
You will find many versions of me
Yet only one is right
I can be bent, twisted, thrown away
I have been known to bite
In pure form I'm clear as day
You can find me in black and white
'A riddle,' Draco thought to himself, 'and not a very hard one at that, almost too easy...the answer is obviously 'the truth', yet who-'
His last sentence was cut off as the stone wall shifted aside allowing him passage. Chancing a look inside he saw the deep brick walls lined with torches, none of them lit - a pathway to darkness. What to do?
Surely this wasn't the way to Gemini's room, yet it looked so interesting...what was special enough to have a wall in front of it? And who was devious enough to seal a chamber with a riddle that anyone could decipher? Draco turned around to look behind him, back into the hall, and then to see into the hidden passage; it was obvious which one seemed more interesting. A piece of his robe got snagged on the ancient rock and Draco reached down to pull himself free, ripping a few inches apart from his robe, and tossing them aside. He turned his attention back to the decision.
It wasn't like there was anything deadly inside... Setting his mind, he picked his wand out of his pocket and placed it into the palm of his hand. Grabbing the nearest torch, he used a simple spell to set it alight and then took the step over the threshold and a few more to see further ahead.
Behind him he heard the faint sound of the door sliding back in place. Draco turned and ran back to the door, searching with his hands to find some hidden opening. Yet there was none. "Alohomora," he directed his wand at the wall in a desperate gesture. A black hole formed in the wall, swallowed up the light from his spell, and sealed again. No magic could open this. In the place of the door there was now a picture, missing many parts. Looking once more to the passage ahead, he began to walk; there was no turning back.
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Gemini had been wandering for a little while now. One thing was for sure, she was no longer going in circles. She was quite certain that this was the way to her room, as some of the pictures on the walls became familiar.
A few of them had begun to wake up and were beginning to say their cheery, "Hello's." A few hundred years old perhaps, but cheery all the same. And as the halls began to get brighter Gemini could tell she was entering the inhabited part of the mansion.
A door was coming up on her right, and she made up her mind to look inside to get a general feel for her location. Approaching the door she slowed down, in case someone was inside, and placed her hand firmly on the handle. Turning the knob a fraction of a degree with every turn, she finally made enough progress to see inside.
It was the old living room, complete with bay view windows. A light was on inside the room, which frightened her enough to close the door before looking any further. She contented her self with the knowledge that her room was only a hall away.
Humming a tune to herself as she carried on, she stopped to look in one of the mirrors that lined the walls. Her eyes had large bags under them and her hair was a disarray of tangled strands; she looked as though she hadn't eaten in days. Slowly backing away, she turned the last corner to her room.
The door looked so familiar and not daring to believe it she thrust an arm out to quickly turn the handle for all it was worth. Her heart filled as she saw the room come into view. Scurrying in, she opened her bedside drawer...the notebook wasn't there.
Gemini ran to her bookshelf, nor was it there. Finally she pulled the key to her trunk out of her pocket and plopped down to unlock it. Placing aside spare knicks and knacks at the very bottom of the trunk she found what she was looking for, her notebook concealed in the picture.
The bed looked so inviting, and she was tempted to lie down. But she needed to get back to school, and she couldn't leave without that Malfoy. She couldn't just turn up in broad daylight, and not even bring him back! Where was he? She knew he was going to be a problem like this!
All ready to go, and could she leave? No! Because that stupid, smirking, 'I'll find your room first,' Malfoy was still wandering around the house. She mused how hilarious it would be if he got lost in the East Wing and eaten by some passing tiger. She hoped that if this happened the tiger would at least send her a letter; she didn't fancy waiting around for the rest of her life for Malfoy to come back.
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Andromeda was still lying in her room. Who cared if she missed today? The world would keep turning...
Fool, that's what he had made of her. An idiot, she must have seemed. All these years, she had actually thought that she had found someone; she should have known better. How could she have for even a moment thought that she might for once be happy? That the world might not be such a horrible place? That she could allow herself to loosen the strings that held her captive so tightly?
Why had he waited so long to pull his joke? And why did he have to seem so cool and collected, yet hurt all the same? He hurt more than her feelings, he hurt her pride too. She doubted her sense of judgement, and the accusations he had thrown at her stung like a wound that just wouldn't go away.
And why hadn't he done a better job? She told him that she had a daughter, yet he continued to use the name of a teacher at Hogwarts? Rather dumb idea, if you asked Andromeda. Had he known who she was all along? From the first get go in the bookstore? Or had it taken him until she told him her name to put the pieces together?
Oh why?! Why had she gone first with the introductions? Why did she have to be in the bookstore on that day? Or at the party all those years ago? Why did the world have to make people like Sirius Black? Why did she have to come across them? And most importantly, why did she have to care as much as she did? Some of these were the same sort of questions she had always asked herself over the years, and it ached to believe that it was fate. That the world *wanted* her to experience hurt like this. That it was supposed to happen. And that she was helpless to do anything about it.
Perhaps she would just stay in bed all day? Maybe she could stay here for the rest of her life... Surely no one would notice, or at least no one would care. Far less painful to hold the world at arms length then to embrace it, both good parts and bad. And then she thought of Gemini. And a light in her heart went on, in a room she had forgotten existed.
Gemini was all she had left. Gemini was her sunshine at moments like these, when the world seemed like one big problem, with out any solution. And Gemini was off at school. Gemini wouldn't be thinking of Andromeda, or of Cassiopeia either. Andromeda could benefit from taking a leaf out of Gemini's book. Get more involved. Make it so that for once Gemini wasn't all that she had.
How could she have ever let Cassiopeia force them into moving? Andromeda had been so happy back in America with her new life, new friends, new job, and nothing to remind her of her past. Then, at the drop of a hat she had given it all up. For what?
Cassiopeia's health? Just exactly what the heck was wrong with Cassiopeia anyway? She sure as heck didn't *seem* to be sick with liver cancer. Come to think of it though, Cassiopeia *had* been taking pills. Andromeda had never stopped to see what kind though. And who exactly was Cassiopeia's doctor?
Far too many questions. Things Andromeda should have dealt with before she had threw her life away to come to the aid of her poor sick mother. But not too late, not for Andromeda. If Cassiopeia was dying of liver cancer, she wanted to know exactly what the heck was up. Liver cancer rarely effected wizards! And usually it was treatable with common spells, only the most severe cases were untreatable by wizard magic.
Cassiopeia may not have done her homework, but Andromeda intended to do hers. Sirius Black could kiss her ass for all she cared, she was going to get involved in something!
Smoothing her ruffled robes, she exited the room and slowly crept her way down to the family storage room, the room entirely devoted to keeping track of the families taxes, receipts, and records. If there was anything to be found this was the place to go.
What Andromeda failed to realize was that she could bury herself in work, but she couldn't bury the pain. Exactly how she intended to go about answering even the simplest of those questions was a good thing to wonder indeed.
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And there you have it. Tune in next time to see what happens! Thanks for reading, I hope you'll make my day and review too :)
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Big thanks, for their reviews goes to:
Ann (thanks for the awesome review!), Leap, Siria Snape (I know, somehow I have to work Snape into this! And where, might I ask is the next part of p&d, I'm dying here!) , Bill Weasley's Girl (I LOVE the picture of Sirius!), Blueberry Syrup, Emma (the promise to Tabby is not keeping Hermione mean throughout the whole story), Static (yay, you did such an awesome job!!! I can't thank you enough! I loved all your suggestions and corrections, you are AWESOME!) Lene (I'm so sorry that you had to wait this long, but hey, you got your Sirius and Andromeda! And I hope you'll review again ;) ) Hayley Granda Potter, DolphinZ (of course I'll continue!), Tabby (Gosh I keep missing you, we need to synchronize our sign on times ;) ) Gem, Beatles, Lísa Hlín Óskarsdótirr (I'm glad you see Sirius this way too), Zannuuh, Sarah Anne Black (I aggre, Draco is so HOT, and so is Sirius too ;) ), Ingenious
See you all when I post part 8, and now, I leave you to review!
Dedicated to the world's finest beta reader; Static, for her awesome insight, and always listening to my ideas, and inspiring me!
Two Roads Diverged
Chapter Seven: Like London's Bridge
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Sirius was pacing the house. His mind was at a million places at once. However, it was a frequent visitor to a question that he wanted to answer just as much as he didn't.
Could he live his life this way? He remembered, with vivid flashes, the night of Lily and James' death, arriving in the yard to find the lifeless bodies of his best friends still warm on the ground. Too many regrets, too many things that he would want to change, too much sorrow for such a young man.
For years, he had never understood the love between Lily and James. How they could get up everyday together, go to sleep at night next to each other, and spend all day with each other, never tiring of love, or the others company. It had, and at many points still did, seemed like an impossible feat.
Then he remembered his fickle days before Azkaban. A woman a week, and a never-ending supply of willing ones at that. Could it have been that the person he was meant before had come along..and he had shut her out of his life after a one-night stand? Definitely not. He would never have wanted a woman like that anyway...
But he had. He had wanted them. He had pretended to love them. Made love to them, and then dropped off the face of the earth. Andromeda? What about her? How could she have this hold on him? Weakness, that's what it was. Surely she would never want him when she discovered his identity. What woman would?!
So why was he living this lie? He would tell her. But not through an owl. For the first time in his life, he would do something the way it was meant to be done. In person. Or so he hoped. It was 5:30 in the morning; she had to be awake now. Why? Because he didn't trust himself to wait for one more minute.
Grabbing his cloak off the peg, he turned to the floo can near the fireplace. With a shaky hand, but a firm grimace he threw a handful of powder into the flames, which roared in response. The black cloak swayed around his legs as he stepped into the fire and he ran his fingers through his hair in an absent-minded way. "Andromeda's room at Sagitta Estate!" And he was gone.
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Back in a hallway of her house, Gemini was crouched near the ground with her head in her heads. She knew it must be nearly dawn. She supposed that Cassiopeia, like many other older adults, would be an early riser, and didn't fancy being tripped over.
How would she explain her absence? This wasn't going to work. Who was she kidding? Madame Pomfrey would flip out when she saw their stuffed beds. Her pillows weren't *that* good...
Expelled, that's what she would be, thrown out from the school, or worse yet; arrested for dragging a person, Lucius Malfoy's boy no less, out of school; tied up! He had saved her life...most people would be glad to be alive; she was upset about who it had been to save her. Twisted perhaps, but utterly Gemini.
And where the heck was he? He couldn't be up in her room, if it was indeed *up*. Maybe he had just taken off on his broomstick, and left her behind. If he died, would it be her fault? Would she be responsible? Manslaughter? She didn't really know what the term meant, she had heard it tossed around by adults before though, 'Oh dear lord! How could he be so dumb as to have the potato chip girl try to cook French fries. Unintentional manslaughter, but manslaughter all the same...'
As she sat balled up in a miserable little heap, deciding the probability of her defense 'He was just such an insufferable git, honestly, I wouldn't have been shocked with a medal, but arrest...' she felt something tap her lightly on the head. Tilting her chin upwards, she saw the beautiful gray owl on her shoulder.
"Tempra!" She greeted the owl.
Untying the owl's letter, she settled back to read it.
Dear Gemini,
You know, I was starting to get a tad concerned. It's been a while since you last wrote me. You got my owls, didn't you? I suppose you're just busy with school.
How are things going? Tell me which house you were sorted into! Are the kids nice? Are your teachers good and helpful? Do you already have homework? I remember Hogwarts from when I was there; I'm sure it's absolutely lovely there this time of year.
I met with an old friend Hydra the other day at a new restaurant. I'll have to take you there when you're back on vacation! I miss you very much! It seems much too quiet around here without you. I think I'm going to start job hunting soon, I just can't stand being around the house 24 hours a day with your grandma. Even adults have their limits.
I hope you're having a great time, and making tons of new friends! I know you're homesick, and I think you are an absolute doll for going along with this. I'm sure your grandma appreciates it too! Write back soon, I'm simply dying to know how things are!
All my love,
Mom
"Smart owl!" Gemini praised Tempra, "you found me even when I wasn't at school!"
'I suppose I had better respond to this letter as soon as possible, who knows when I'll have another chance,' Gemini thought as she stood up, squinting as her eyes lingered on the bright overhead hall lights. She quickly spotted a nearby door and stowed inside.
Crossing the room, she found everything that she needed to write a short letter. Relaxing into a spare chair, she leaned onto the nearest table to scrawl:
Mom,
Hi! I did get your last letter. Sorry I didn't write sooner, I've been so busy with getting used to school here. It's a lot different than back in America. And everyone has the cutest accents like you do!
My first days were ok. I was sorted into Gryffindor house, I've heard it supposed to be the best one. Most of the people here are pretty nice. Except for this girl, Hermione who doesn't seem to like me very much at all. But I suppose I don't have to worry about her, there are enough people here anyway.
My teachers are all good, but some of them seem rather tough. I've already got homework assignments for a few of my classes. And a few of them are very strict! Not to mention my potions teacher, Severus Snape - he just plain out hates me.
I'm sure I'll adjust soon enough, though. You and grandma are too much! Honestly, you fight like sisters! I gotta go, homework and all. I miss you both and love you too! I'm already looking forward to the first holiday break. Talk to you more later!
Love,
Gemini
Gemini felt somewhat guilty about 'forgetting' to mention the fact that, oh yeah, she snuck out of school, and dragged another student into the mansion in the middle of the night, to find the notebook she had been using for the last few years to secretly try and find out who her father was from where she accidentally left it in her room.
But it wasn't like she could explain all that in a P.S. And she didn't particularly care to try. All that mattered was that she find the notebook, and Draco, and get back to their brooms to high tail it to school before anyone had a chance to detect that they were absent.
Tempra held perfectly straight while Gemini tied the letter to her leg, and then soared out the door. Gemini gave one last glance around the room before exiting into the hallway. With a questioning look to both her left and the right she debated for a few minutes. Then Gemini set off to the left, for no real reason in particular.
*****
*****
When the room materialized around Sirius, he stepped out of the fireplace. He cast a suspicious eye around the room as he slowly emerged. Everything seemed to be antique. An old dresser and wardrobe set looked to be predating the first goblin rebellion. The carpets looked old and Arabian, and he wondered if they might be flying carpets. A bookcase stood with shelf upon shelf of more books than Sirius had ever seen outside of the Hogwarts Library.
Yet, what caught his eye for the longest was the tall, queen-sized bed in the center of the room. It had curtains, but they were not drawn, and in the bed lay the obvious form of Andromeda. Nearing the bed, and being careful not to trip on the stray book, he seated himself on the bed. Sirius just sat there for a few moments, watching as the covers slowly rose and fell with each steady breath.
As he was about to attempt to wake her up, the bed shifted under his weight, producing the smallest of squeaks. Andromeda's eyelids slowly parted until she was staring straight up at him. At first she looked dazed, confused and apprehensive. As she continued to awaken, understanding dawned in her eyes, and she leaned forward to whisper, "Severus?"
Sirius gulped, and simply nodded.
"What are you doing here?" Her voice had quickly lost its tiredness and had taken on the air of wonderment.
"I had to see you-- I couldn't stop thinking of you..." but the second he said this he realized how it must have sounded, as her features softened, and her eyes sparkled unknowingly.
He wanted to finish, but he couldn't find the words. For a moment, they just sat there, staring at each other. Andromeda couldn't tear her eyes away from his rugged good looks, and the way the light played on the lines of his face. He felt silenced by her subtle beauty, the way her whole face lit up when she smiled, how her long hair tumbled over her shoulders and behind her back.
Unknowingly they had moved closer. He was so near that she could smell the leather of his jacket and it made her dizzy. She lowered her eyelids, and leaned in, not knowing what she was doing, yet had she known what she was doing, it hardly would have mattered.
He leaned in, seized her by the shoulders, and pulled her into a deep kiss. He felt so right to her, so close, like she couldn't exist without him. Mumbling incoherently as she pulled him ontop of her, she struggled to control her emotions. Passion has a strange way of making the old person feel young, the ugliest person feel sexy, and the least represented man into a king. Andromeda felt emotions she never could have imagined; sexy, wanted, and for once, in control.
His hands were sliding up and down her arms, and his mouth was pressing insistently against hers. Her heart was racing, and she knew he could hear it, yet all the while she could feel his beating just as rapidly against her too. Memories were flooding the shores of mind, some good, some bad, so instead she concentrated on creating new, more powerful memories as her nervous system short circuited.
Pulling his mouth up to hers, she hooked one arm around his neck. She felt like a dizzy 16-year-old, and for the time being she could forget her problems. She allowed herself to become as totally preoccupied by him as he was by her, and she could feel the tension in his muscles. Each kiss was like a bolt of lighting, striking her heart and radiating out to her whole body, bringing with it new sensations she had never known she was capable of feeling. Some kind of hormone, unavailable in any store, was racing through her, her body was going double time, while her mind was struggling to piece together the parts of some classic movie.
"....Severus...." she murmured against his mouth as he struggled to unclasp the top button of her robes. He flinched, and for a second he seemed about to draw away so she deepened the kiss. All her life she had waited for the man she could kiss like this, and now she had found him. She felt like she was drowning, but it was a good drowning; she was drowning in her own happiness, drowning in him.
"Tap, tap, tap." Something was hitting against her door. She didn't care, all that mattered was him, him kissing her, him being with her, as close as possible, and promising to never stop. She felt as though she had known him forever, he was a part of her very being. Drawing away was not even an option.
What was he doing? This hadn't been part of the plan. He hadn't told himself 'Ok, I'll go to her house, have a snog session and *then* tell her...' But at the moment what was he *supposed* to do? Turn away from her? Hardly! Did he care that he was digging his own grave? That he could never talk his way out of this one? No, instead he wondered what he would use as his reason when the court asked him why he wanted to change his name...
"Tap! Tap! Tap!" 'This can't be happening,' she thought.
"Should...you...get...that...?" He asked between urgent kisses.
"No!" her answer was immediate and final so he returned his attention to the beautiful woman in front of him. His fingers were still holding her clasps, but he had temporarily forgotten them in his preoccupation with her face. 'Why is his hair so wonderful?' She pondered as she ran her hands through it in her passion.
"TAP, TAP, TAP!"
"Damn it!" She slid out from under him. "Don't move a muscle," she said slyly as she made her way to the door. Opening it in a hurry she saw Tempra flying through the air, with a letter attached to her leg.
*****
*****
Unfolding the letter, she glanced down and carefully scanned its contents. Slowly her mind filled with questions. Severus Snape was Gemini's teacher? He had never mentioned it. Surely it was no coincidence that there was another man out there named Severus Snape, it had to be one and the same person.
She turned slowly around to set him under her coldest stare, and Sirius shifted uncomfortably under her glare. It felt as though someone had plunged a hand down his throat and pulled his stomach inside out. "Who are you?" There was obviously a dangerous tone in her voice.
"Severus Snape." He was trying harder to convince her than was natural, and he knew she would detect the worry in his response.
"I'm sorry," Andromeda began in a cold, sarcastic tone, "I wanted your real name, not the one you play house with." The same passionate woman stood before him, but her passion was different - not of desire, but of betrayal.
"Well," he began, "my name isn't technically Severus Snape."
"I'm guessing that it's not simply Sevie Snape either."
"No..."
"Would it be too much trouble to ask what your name *is*?" Her eyes were flashing, no room for lies, no time to create them, no desire to enforce them, he opted for the truth.
"Mynameissiriusblack." He said in one breath, very quickly.
"Sorry, but I'm not native in the tongue of Giberish, so humor me and say that without trying to first die of asphyxiation."
He just stared at her, his eyes desperately conveying to her the message that his lips could not, trying with all his heart to subliminally say to her, 'Don't make me do this to you.'
But there was no room in her heart for any such message, and as he stood before her he plunged recklessly ahead, "My name," and here he paused, "is Sirius Black."
Most unfortunately, Andromeda was still standing next to the table that was at the side of her door. Her fingers were shaking, and as she stood there, the words echoing in her mind, her hand grabbed the nearest thing, an antique clock, a very pretty, and very valuable one at that, and with a rage unknown to even herself she hurtled it across the room, straight at his head, with a cry to wake the dead, "YOU BASTARD!"
It couldn't have been a closer call. Sirius was a tick away from being eligible to join the headless hunt when his defense instincts kicked in and he ducked, just in time to feel the air above his hair blow with the breeze of the propelled object.
The wall however possessed no instincts, nor the ability to duck - the antique clock came in contact with a gut wrenching CRACK! as it became only recognizable through its erratic ticks and tocks.
"What the HELL are you doing here?!" Her body shook, but her voice did not.
"I came to tell you..."
"Like hell you did! You were never going to tell me, you slimy, insensitive, self absorbed, conceited ASS! You were just going to lead me on in circles, while you silently joked over how hilarious it was that you could ruin the same person's life TWICE." She screamed the last word, and she saw him flinch.
"Ruin your LIFE!? A one night stand ruined your LIFE? I bet you didn't even remember it! Know why? Because you were schnokled up to your ears! "
"I remember it everyday, it's not something that you can just forget, not with a living, breathing, constant reminder!"
"What? What reminder?"
"YOU wouldn't understand."
"Let me *explain*." He was obviously checking his emotions much better than she, and this did not comfort her; it simply provoked her even more.
"What is there to bloody explain? I think I can figure this one out on my own! You saw me, knew who I was, lied about who you were, and lead me on, totally aware of the fact that you took advantage of me all those years ago."
"Congratulations, Sherlock Holmes, you couldn't be more wrong. And you know what, the reason why you're so pissed is because you know I didn't take advantage of you - you just wish I had."
"WHAT!"
"That's right! You wish I had, so that you could pretend that you had nothing to do with anything that happened that night, so that you could add your name to the list of Women Taken Advantage Of By Sirius Black. I'm here to let you know, my dear, you'll be hard pressed to find any such list."
He stalked past her, back to the fireplace, with one quick grab of some floo powder, and an utterance of his address he was gone.
Andromeda found her way back to the bed; covered in its tangled sheets were little pieces of the alarm clock on top.
'Tick...tock.......tick..tock........tick......tock.'
"Shut up!" Andromeda yelled at the pitiful remainders, and her head sunk down into her pillows, willing herself to believe it all a dream, or perhaps, more fittingly, a nightmare.
*****
*****
Gemini need not have worried about her defense, because Draco, for the meanwhile was ok: sleep deprived, annoyed, and hungry, but ok. The gargoyles had long since stopped whispering, because they finally decided it was a lost cause.
Draco slowly trudged ahead, along the path through the East Wing, without the slightest inkling that he was in any danger at all. The halls continued to get somewhat darker, and call it a cliché, but there was danger in the air. He could have been walking to the gates of hell for all he knew. One thing he was sure of was the great fun he would have when he found her room first.
'Uh, oh,' he said to himself, 'dead end.'
Looming in the distance some feet ahead was a great brick wall. Exactly how old it was, you couldn't quite tell. But for the purpose of knowledge it will suffice to say that it was indeed very old. Draco was just about to turn away when a glint of silver caught his eye, drawing his attention. He closed the distance between himself and the wall with a few long strides.
Using the sleeve of his robe to wipe away the calcium deposits that had formed over the years, he leaned in to read:
You will find many versions of me
Yet only one is right
I can be bent, twisted, thrown away
I have been known to bite
In pure form I'm clear as day
You can find me in black and white
'A riddle,' Draco thought to himself, 'and not a very hard one at that, almost too easy...the answer is obviously 'the truth', yet who-'
His last sentence was cut off as the stone wall shifted aside allowing him passage. Chancing a look inside he saw the deep brick walls lined with torches, none of them lit - a pathway to darkness. What to do?
Surely this wasn't the way to Gemini's room, yet it looked so interesting...what was special enough to have a wall in front of it? And who was devious enough to seal a chamber with a riddle that anyone could decipher? Draco turned around to look behind him, back into the hall, and then to see into the hidden passage; it was obvious which one seemed more interesting. A piece of his robe got snagged on the ancient rock and Draco reached down to pull himself free, ripping a few inches apart from his robe, and tossing them aside. He turned his attention back to the decision.
It wasn't like there was anything deadly inside... Setting his mind, he picked his wand out of his pocket and placed it into the palm of his hand. Grabbing the nearest torch, he used a simple spell to set it alight and then took the step over the threshold and a few more to see further ahead.
Behind him he heard the faint sound of the door sliding back in place. Draco turned and ran back to the door, searching with his hands to find some hidden opening. Yet there was none. "Alohomora," he directed his wand at the wall in a desperate gesture. A black hole formed in the wall, swallowed up the light from his spell, and sealed again. No magic could open this. In the place of the door there was now a picture, missing many parts. Looking once more to the passage ahead, he began to walk; there was no turning back.
*****
*****
Gemini had been wandering for a little while now. One thing was for sure, she was no longer going in circles. She was quite certain that this was the way to her room, as some of the pictures on the walls became familiar.
A few of them had begun to wake up and were beginning to say their cheery, "Hello's." A few hundred years old perhaps, but cheery all the same. And as the halls began to get brighter Gemini could tell she was entering the inhabited part of the mansion.
A door was coming up on her right, and she made up her mind to look inside to get a general feel for her location. Approaching the door she slowed down, in case someone was inside, and placed her hand firmly on the handle. Turning the knob a fraction of a degree with every turn, she finally made enough progress to see inside.
It was the old living room, complete with bay view windows. A light was on inside the room, which frightened her enough to close the door before looking any further. She contented her self with the knowledge that her room was only a hall away.
Humming a tune to herself as she carried on, she stopped to look in one of the mirrors that lined the walls. Her eyes had large bags under them and her hair was a disarray of tangled strands; she looked as though she hadn't eaten in days. Slowly backing away, she turned the last corner to her room.
The door looked so familiar and not daring to believe it she thrust an arm out to quickly turn the handle for all it was worth. Her heart filled as she saw the room come into view. Scurrying in, she opened her bedside drawer...the notebook wasn't there.
Gemini ran to her bookshelf, nor was it there. Finally she pulled the key to her trunk out of her pocket and plopped down to unlock it. Placing aside spare knicks and knacks at the very bottom of the trunk she found what she was looking for, her notebook concealed in the picture.
The bed looked so inviting, and she was tempted to lie down. But she needed to get back to school, and she couldn't leave without that Malfoy. She couldn't just turn up in broad daylight, and not even bring him back! Where was he? She knew he was going to be a problem like this!
All ready to go, and could she leave? No! Because that stupid, smirking, 'I'll find your room first,' Malfoy was still wandering around the house. She mused how hilarious it would be if he got lost in the East Wing and eaten by some passing tiger. She hoped that if this happened the tiger would at least send her a letter; she didn't fancy waiting around for the rest of her life for Malfoy to come back.
*****
*****
Andromeda was still lying in her room. Who cared if she missed today? The world would keep turning...
Fool, that's what he had made of her. An idiot, she must have seemed. All these years, she had actually thought that she had found someone; she should have known better. How could she have for even a moment thought that she might for once be happy? That the world might not be such a horrible place? That she could allow herself to loosen the strings that held her captive so tightly?
Why had he waited so long to pull his joke? And why did he have to seem so cool and collected, yet hurt all the same? He hurt more than her feelings, he hurt her pride too. She doubted her sense of judgement, and the accusations he had thrown at her stung like a wound that just wouldn't go away.
And why hadn't he done a better job? She told him that she had a daughter, yet he continued to use the name of a teacher at Hogwarts? Rather dumb idea, if you asked Andromeda. Had he known who she was all along? From the first get go in the bookstore? Or had it taken him until she told him her name to put the pieces together?
Oh why?! Why had she gone first with the introductions? Why did she have to be in the bookstore on that day? Or at the party all those years ago? Why did the world have to make people like Sirius Black? Why did she have to come across them? And most importantly, why did she have to care as much as she did? Some of these were the same sort of questions she had always asked herself over the years, and it ached to believe that it was fate. That the world *wanted* her to experience hurt like this. That it was supposed to happen. And that she was helpless to do anything about it.
Perhaps she would just stay in bed all day? Maybe she could stay here for the rest of her life... Surely no one would notice, or at least no one would care. Far less painful to hold the world at arms length then to embrace it, both good parts and bad. And then she thought of Gemini. And a light in her heart went on, in a room she had forgotten existed.
Gemini was all she had left. Gemini was her sunshine at moments like these, when the world seemed like one big problem, with out any solution. And Gemini was off at school. Gemini wouldn't be thinking of Andromeda, or of Cassiopeia either. Andromeda could benefit from taking a leaf out of Gemini's book. Get more involved. Make it so that for once Gemini wasn't all that she had.
How could she have ever let Cassiopeia force them into moving? Andromeda had been so happy back in America with her new life, new friends, new job, and nothing to remind her of her past. Then, at the drop of a hat she had given it all up. For what?
Cassiopeia's health? Just exactly what the heck was wrong with Cassiopeia anyway? She sure as heck didn't *seem* to be sick with liver cancer. Come to think of it though, Cassiopeia *had* been taking pills. Andromeda had never stopped to see what kind though. And who exactly was Cassiopeia's doctor?
Far too many questions. Things Andromeda should have dealt with before she had threw her life away to come to the aid of her poor sick mother. But not too late, not for Andromeda. If Cassiopeia was dying of liver cancer, she wanted to know exactly what the heck was up. Liver cancer rarely effected wizards! And usually it was treatable with common spells, only the most severe cases were untreatable by wizard magic.
Cassiopeia may not have done her homework, but Andromeda intended to do hers. Sirius Black could kiss her ass for all she cared, she was going to get involved in something!
Smoothing her ruffled robes, she exited the room and slowly crept her way down to the family storage room, the room entirely devoted to keeping track of the families taxes, receipts, and records. If there was anything to be found this was the place to go.
What Andromeda failed to realize was that she could bury herself in work, but she couldn't bury the pain. Exactly how she intended to go about answering even the simplest of those questions was a good thing to wonder indeed.
*****
*****
And there you have it. Tune in next time to see what happens! Thanks for reading, I hope you'll make my day and review too :)
**
Big thanks, for their reviews goes to:
Ann (thanks for the awesome review!), Leap, Siria Snape (I know, somehow I have to work Snape into this! And where, might I ask is the next part of p&d, I'm dying here!) , Bill Weasley's Girl (I LOVE the picture of Sirius!), Blueberry Syrup, Emma (the promise to Tabby is not keeping Hermione mean throughout the whole story), Static (yay, you did such an awesome job!!! I can't thank you enough! I loved all your suggestions and corrections, you are AWESOME!) Lene (I'm so sorry that you had to wait this long, but hey, you got your Sirius and Andromeda! And I hope you'll review again ;) ) Hayley Granda Potter, DolphinZ (of course I'll continue!), Tabby (Gosh I keep missing you, we need to synchronize our sign on times ;) ) Gem, Beatles, Lísa Hlín Óskarsdótirr (I'm glad you see Sirius this way too), Zannuuh, Sarah Anne Black (I aggre, Draco is so HOT, and so is Sirius too ;) ), Ingenious
See you all when I post part 8, and now, I leave you to review!