A/N: Just to set the record straight from the last chapter, folks, the 'using Harry as a babe-magnet' thing is credited to Unicorn Whisperer. I fully and freely admit that she was the one who gave me the idea. (Yes, P.A.R. needs to come up with some ideas of her own.). The reason Uni was not credited was because, whereas I remembered the concept, I couldn't remember the story it came from.
Also, it's not often that I endorse other story in my author's notes, but I feel I would be doing you a great disservice not to mention this to you. There is a story out there called It's A One Time Thing That Just Happens A Lot, by Starlight. This is a Snape Romance and is beyond a shadow of a doubt one of the finest Snape stories I have ever read. Starlight has written a wonderful, intriguing, beautiful story while managing to somehow stay absolutely true to the character of Severus Snape. I have simply not to date read a finer story dealing with this character than Starlight's and I can not recommend highly enough that you hit the title button right now (I wasn't able to pull it up under Author) and go read this truly wonderful story.
That's all. Thank you.
On with the story.
Chapter Three: What's A Godfather To Do?
Sirius sat on the steps of an alleyway door of a large, old building in downtown London. The rain had been falling steadily all that day and, it seemed to Sirius, for days before that as well.
From somewhere nearby a church steeple rang out the time. Eight o'clock.
Things had started out so well, Sirius could hardly believe how rapidly they had deteriorated.
Over a week ago he and Harry had arrived in London. A city Sirius knew probably better than any other. He had driven the sports car to a small nearby town and left it there. He hoped it would be several more weeks before the police started making any connections between him and the car and where it was found. By then he planned to have Harry and himself entrenched within the population of the city so deeply no one could ever find them.
Once he had gotten rid of the car, he had managed to hitch a ride into London where he and Harry had spent the last several days. Safely lost among the thousands of people in city. But from the minute they arrived Sirius began to realize things weren't going to be as easy as he thought. Everything just seemed to be working against him all of the sudden. The story of the large, baby-food stealing dog was well known in London and the small store owners, Sirius soon found out, were weary of any dogs in their stores. And Snuffles size alone made him hardly inconspicuous. Out of desperation Sirius had even taken to threatening one storeowner, growling at him as the man tried to shoo him out of the store. All Sirius had managed that trip was a can of powdered baby formula. But it had served well in keeping Harry fed for a few days.
Sirius' original plan from arriving in London had been to wait for things to settle down, stay hidden for a while, and then perhaps go to Remus for help. Moony was usually good at straightening out messes like the one he was currently in. But only a few days after he and Harry had arrived in London, Sirius had been perusing a newsstand when his attention was suddenly drawn to the front page of the daily paper. There, in a clear black and white muggle photograph, was his picture. The caption underneath had listed his name and briefly stated that he was being sought for questioning involving the kidnapping of a infant.
Sirius saw all his plans suddenly dissolve. How could he hope to go to Remus' now? The muggle police were looking for him, which surely meant the ministry was looking for him as well. He tried to read some of the article next to the picture, but the newsstand owner was staring at him in a way that made Sirius very nervous suddenly. And so he had hurried off without getting much out of the story.
Since that day, Sirius had stayed away from crowds as much as possible as well as think what he was going to do now. The public at large knew that the police were looking for a man with a young infant. Hardly a common sight. A woman, yes. But a man? More of a rarity. And so Sirius had taken to hiding with Harry during the day either out in the country away from the city, or staying in abandoned buildings until sunset.
Sirius sat slightly hunched over, trying to keep the crying infant in his arms dry with his body. Harry had been crying as steadily as the rain had been falling for the past hour. Sirius had tried everything he could think of to pacify his crying godson. Everything but what he knew the baby actually wanted. Food. And food was the one thing Sirius didn't have.
He desperately tried again to quite his crying godson. But in the middle of trying to sooth the infant, he suddenly began coughing. He turned his face quickly away from Harry. Despite the spell he had cast to keep Harry safe from his illness, he still feared the baby would get sick.
The cough had started their second day in London. That had been over a week ago. But what had started as a slight cough was now a frequent cough, a high fever, and extreme difficultly breathing. He could feel each breath he took as it rattled into his chest, where it felt like someone had a tight grip on his lungs and was only allowing him a minimum amount of air. On top of that, the illness for some reason had affected his ability to transform into Padfoot, cutting off the only way Sirius had had to get them food and other supplies. The last time Harry had had any milk was two days ago. And his last ration of food for the baby had been last night.
His greatest fear currently was that he would pass out, or worse. He was the only protection Harry had. If anything happened to him, Harry would be completely defenseless.
"Well, you've done a fine job, Black." Sirius muttered to himself as he gently rocked the crying baby. "You've got your godson out in a back alleyway in the rain with no shelter, no food, and quite frankly, no hope." Sirius turned to his squalling godson. "Well, what do you think, Harry. Time to admit to failure?"
The baby continued to cry.
Sirius soothingly caressed his godson's cheek with his finger. "I wish I knew what to do, Harry." Sirius said softly. "But I honestly don't. I think I'm about as far down as a person can go without getting out a shovel. And the worst part of this is that I brought you here with me."
Harry paused long enough to take several gulps of air, then let out a long, howling cry.
Sirius began coughing again.
The world slipped a little out of focus.
When it came back clearly Sirius found himself leaning back against the door behind him. Harry let out a screaming howl as the rain fell on him.
"Oh lords!" Sirius cried as he staggered to his feet, holding tightly onto the rail next to the stairs for balance. "Harry, I'm sorry."
Sirius quickly looked about for somewhere drier as he hunched his body back over the baby. Fortunately he had been able to remember a spell that waterproofed his jacket, so at least they could stay somewhat dry. Sirius had cast the same spell on his boots as well as the blanket Harry was wrapped in. To that item he had also added a comfort spell, so that the blanket maintained a comfortably warm temperature despite the cold that surrounded them.
Stumbling out into the street he made it a few blocks before turning down another alleyway when he started to get too many looks as he walked along with the crying infant.
To his great relief, down the alleyway was a covered doorway. A safe haven from the cold rain.
Sirius barely made it to the steps as he collapsed onto them. He knew the haven was only temporary. What he needed to find was an enclosed space where they could sleep.
Sleep.
The concept pulled at his senses. All he could think of besides his godson was how badly he wanted to simply lie down and go to sleep. How wonderful just a few hours of peaceful slumber would be. In the morning he could think about what to do. Maybe he would feel better then. Maybe he would be able to transform again and get them some food to eat. But none of that was going to happen, he convinced himself, if he didn't get some sleep.
Sirius suddenly snapped his head up. The same church steeple had started to chime again. Sirius listened to it, counting off each ring of the bell. Nine o'clock. Merlin's Beard! He had been asleep for over a half-hour. How could he have allowed himself to fall asleep? What was going to happen to Harry if he didn't stay awake?
"That's it, Black." He admonished himself as he pulled himself back to his feet. "No more sitting about if you're just going to doze off. Walking is the best way to stay awake."
Sirius directed his tired feet back out to the main street and started down it. He had to keep moving. He had to find a decent place for them to sleep.
Several blocks more and Sirius allowed himself another break. This time on the steps of a small alcove of a shop off the main street. Harry's cries had quieted a bit. But Sirius believed it was only due to the baby crying himself hoarse.
Sirius looked down once more at the sobbing child in his arms. He could feel the baby shivering in the blankets. The spells were starting to fail as the illness claimed more and more of his strength.
"Lets face it, Black." Sirius told himself. "You're no good at this. And it's Harry whose suffering for you're pride. It's time to admit defeat. You aren't going to be better in the morning. You aren't going to be able to transform. You aren't going to be able to feed you're godson. Harry's starving and you're sitting around hoping for miracles."
Sirius painfully began thinking over the various places he had seen over the past few days that he thought would take in a child. There had been hospitals, churches, social service agencies. All places with people trained to deal with these situations. He could wait until morning and leave Harry with one of them. At a church would be best, he thought. The Dursley's would never think to look for him there, if they bothered looking for him at all. There had been no sign of Deatheaters since they arrived in London, so Sirius felt fairly sure he had escape them for the moment. And even if they did catch up to him, he would no longer have Harry. The baby would have become just one more faceless person in the crowded city. The church vicar would likely be able to find a good home for Harry. With people who wanted a child. Who would love him and take care of him. Yes. That was the best thing to do.
Sirius glanced down again as Harry's squeaking voice cried out again. Tears that had been washed away by the rain were now running down his red cheeks again.
One of Sirius' own tears fell on the baby's face and joined Harry's.
"I don't want to lose you, Harry." He said quietly, brushing the baby's tears away. "But what else can I do? I promised you're parents I would take care of you. And that's what it'll be. Taking care of you. Doing what's best for you."
Sirius sat on the steps watching the rain fall for some time, trying to fight back his tears. But trying to keep from crying yourself with a sobbing infant in your arms was no easy task. Especially when every tear that rolled down the tiny cheeks you blamed yourself for.
Sirius struggled to think of something to distract his thoughts. Sitting on a stoop in an alleyway crying wasn't going to solve anything for them.
So Sirius turned his thoughts instead to dinner. A thought that was easy enough to grasp hold of as the smell of food from the varied eating places on the main street came whiffing down the alleyway corridor. Sirius' keen sense of smell picked up on the smell right away and his stomach growled in protest at the tease of food nearby. But before himself, he had to get something for Harry to eat. Sirius struggle for a minute, trying to focus on one clear thought. From his memory of the city he remembered a place a few more blocks away where they threw out food at night. A fairly nice restaurant, as he recalled. It wasn't the best thing, but it was something. He was sure he could find some small decent thing for Harry amid the scraps of food. Some small thing to give him something to eat.
Sirius could feel sleep again beginning to pull at his thoughts. It was getting harder and harder to concentrate on anything. He was actually relieved as another coughing spell overtook him, since the violent jarring of his body and the pain in his lungs brought him sharply back to consciousness. But it was short lived at best. And all too soon he found himself drifting off again.
But something else abruptly jarred him back to full consciousness.
The sound of his name.
Sirius fought the urge to look up. To see who was calling him. Instead he concentrated on the sound, not making a move to acknowledge it. Trying to make sure he had heard right.
"Sirius?"
Sirius suddenly pulled himself to his feet. Trying to contain his growing fear, he tried to walk away from where he had heard the voice calling from. He tried to remain aloof, pretending he hadn't heard the person. To act like he was just continuing a stroll down the street.
"Sirius?" The voice called again.
It was closer this time.
Sirius quickened his pace a little, nearly falling over as he tried moving his feet faster. He tried to focus solely on getting away.
If he could only transform! Padfoot could easily outrun any human trying to give chase. He and Harry could get away.
"Padfoot!"
Sirius abruptly stopped his staggered shuffling and slowly turned to the voice.
He nearly cried out for joy.
Standing not five feet away from him was Remus Lupin.
Sirius never thought he could be so happy to see anyone in his whole life.
"Moony?" Sirius asked tentatively, unsure if his illness had now given way to delusions.
But the figure in front of him gave him a small smile. "How are you, Sirius?"
Sirius started towards his friend, wanting to grab him in a hug and rattle on and on about how happy he was to see him. To tell him everything that had happened since he had taken Harry from the Dursley's. How sure he was now that everything would be all right.
But something caused him to stop abruptly.
Something wasn't right. Remus' smile and the tone of his voice weren't his own. They were more things someone was forcing out of him.
Sirius took a step back.
"Sirius?" Remus asked. "What's wrong?"
Sirius stood staring vaguely at the man before him. But around him he listened intently. The rain had let up some. Enough that Sirius could hear the whispers around him and the shuffling of feet against the wet pavement.
Sirius took another step back.
Remus watched the man standing in front of him. He could tell by Sirius' expression that he knew something was going on. Something he didn't like. Remus remembered the warnings from the ministry agents. Sirius wasn't thinking right. If he felt trapped, he might hurt Harry.
Remus had spent the last few weeks going through all the old areas of London that Sirius had known so well from their younger days. While on holiday from school, Sirius had several times taken he, James, and Peter to London and showed them around the city. Not the usual tourist traps, but places you would never even think existed, both muggle and magical. Underground passageways through the subways, back alleyways that hosted an assortment of strange and unusual shops, clubs and bars and a host of places Remus racked his brain to remember the locations of. If Sirius ever needed to disappear, Remus felt certain London was the place he would come to. The city he knew better than anyone else.
As he stood staring at his long-time friend, Remus tried to bury the feeling that was screaming inside of him for release. The one that had started just as a little nagging sensation in the back of his mind every time he sat and started to listen to the ministry members. For days he had listened to them telling him how deranged they thought Sirius was. He had attacked the muggles looking after his godson. Destroyed their house. Surely, they had told Remus, that wasn't something Sirius would ever have done were he in his right mind, no matter how angry he was.
Past that the ministry had practically harped on the point that they didn't want to see Sirius or Harry hurt. That if Sirius wasn't thinking clearly, then his ability to protect Harry was severely impaired. All they wanted, they told him over and over, was to get Sirius and the infant into their custody so that they could make sure they were both protected. Then they would start trying to sort things out.
But over the past few days the feeling had grown until it was such a sense of growing unease Remus could hardly stand it. Maybe it was part his lupine nature. Some sixth sense trying to warn him of something.
The problem was, he didn't know what. And so he did his best to just focus on the problem at hand. Get Sirius and Harry to safety.
"Sirius," Remus said cautiously, trying not to frighten the man before him, "give Harry to me. Please. No one wants to see you or Harry hurt. But you have to give him to me. All right?"
Remus wasn't sure at all how Sirius would react to the request. From how the ministry described him, Remus expected to be yelled at. But instead Sirius stood in silence, holding tightly to the crying infant in his arms, looking like he was desperately trying to think something through. He wavered slightly on his feet, but managed to regain his balance. But instead of yelling, Sirius finally answered the request in a quiet, sad voice.
"I've made a great mess of things, Moony. I tried to take care of him."
From where he stood, Remus could hear how hard Sirius was fighting for each breath. The man was clearly very ill. So much so that to Remus he barely seemed able to hold onto consciousness. "What do you mean, Sirius?"
"Harry. I tried to take care of him. But I just couldn't." Sirius paused as he seemed to fight for balance again. Then slowly he started forward with slow, shuffling steps. With trembling hands, he carefully handed his godson to Remus. "You take him. You'll be a better godfather to him than I was."
Remus reached up to take the baby, keeping his eyes on Sirius the whole time. Something was desperately wrong. This wasn't a man acting deranged at all. If anything, Sirius' actions seemed quite sane, given how very ill he looked. The sense of warning that had been plaguing him for days was chasing all other thoughts from his mind now but one. Something simply wasn't right.
But before Remus could put things together, Sirius suddenly stepped back from him quickly, putting several feet between them before Remus could do anything but shout his name.
The flashes of light came seconds later, several hitting Sirius.
The body crumpled to the wet pavement before Remus, who was still standing staring at the form as ministry wizards rushed past him. Several of them immediately grabbed Sirius' unconscious body by the arms and disapparated. Others were rounding up the few people on the street and placing memory charms on them.
From behind him Remus felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He turned to see Albus Dumbledore standing behind him.
"You did what needed to be done, Remus." He said softly. "For Harry and for Sirius."
Remus slowly shook his head. "He wasn't going to hurt Harry, Albus." Remus said confidently. "I'm sure of it. He wasn't deranged. He wasn't acting crazy at all." Remus turned to face the headmaster. "I didn't have to take Harry from Sirius. He handed him to me. He knew the ministry wizards were here. He knew what they were going to do. And still he gave Harry to me and then stepped away so they didn't risk hitting Harry. Does that sound deranged to you, Albus?"
"That isn't a decision for us to make, Remus. It's in the hands of the ministry now, I'm afraid."
Remus stopped a wizard as he hurried by them. "Wait a minute." Remus stated. "Sirius Black. What's the ministry going to do with him?"
The wizard seemed to ponder the question for a few seconds. "Most likely he'll be taken to the ministry for questioning about the affair concerning the muggle house he attacked. And the ministry wants to question him about the events at Godric's Hollow the night the Potter's were killed as well. The following morning, he's likely off to Azkaban."
"Azkaban? Without a trial?"
"Black's seriously disturbed. Azkaban will be the safest place for him and for the public until they sort out what's what."
Remus watched the wizard walk away before turning to Dumbledore. "They're going to try Sirius for what happened at Godric's Hollow?"
"They only want to question him about it, Remus. You heard the ministry wizard."
"Yes, I did," Remus replied curtly. "And I'll tell you what I heard. They've already convicted Sirius. All they need of a trial is a show for the public, and they'll bury that if they can. I don't like being lied to, Albus. But I have been played for a fool. When they asked me to help them find Sirius it was only to try and find out what had happened at the Dursley's. Now I'm being told they're going to 'question' him about James and Lily's murders? We know who was responsible for that, and it wasn't Sirius."
"Remus, I understand your concern. Sirius is your friend. But he has not been behaving like an innocent man."
"No, he hasn't." Remus agreed, hardening his tone. "He's been acting like a scared one."
Dumbledore sighed quietly as he watched the ministry wizards finishing their work. "There's nothing more we can do here. Let's return to Hogwarts. This poor child sounds a bit hungry."
And with that Remus and Dumbledore disapparated from the street.
Q&A:
Boy! Were you people good to P.A.R. this week! Lots of questions.
But, a few things first.
One, I just wanted to say that, yes, I know this chapter had some problems. The problem is I was pressed for time like you wouldn't believe. I try to post regularly, and sometimes that's a bit of a strain for me to try and get the chapter up every week. So, bare with me this time. I apologize if the chapter seemed a bit stilted.
Two. A lot of you (boy, was there a lot of you) felt that Remus was betraying Sirius by working with the ministry. I tried to make it a bit clearer in this chapter, and please try to understand, Remus believes he is helping Sirius, not betraying him. He honestly thinks Sirius isn't thinking to clearly (he thinks he's nuts), plus he has the ministry working on him, not giving him much of a chance to sort things out too clearly himself. So give poor old Remus a break, O.K.?
Three, how....HOW is it everybody found that scene with the Deatheater so convincing? I worked that scene over I forget how many times, and I still thought it came off sounding a bit false. Oh, well. Your worst critic is yourself, I guess. Thanks for loving it. I was very pleased by that.
Back to the Q&A.
Unicorn Whisperer: WHAT!? You think I got the 'babies are a great babe-magnet' thing from All In The Family? *P.A.R. stands about looking indignant for a minute.* Oh.....,all right. Point is, I can only give credit where credit is due if I can remember where the idea came from. So, here's your gold star (*) not only for the babe-magnet borrowing thing without proper paper work, but for letting me know it was your story where it came from. Forgive?
Deatheater is now a hitchhiker. Look again. Sirius tossed her out on the side of the road before they left.
No tracer on the car.
Nope. No Pettigrew at this point.
Lotesse: Oooooh...., goody! Not only am I back. I'm back with a VENGEANCE! Goody! (And I vengeanced the dickens out of your story, didn't I?)
I know what you mean about Lord Of The Rings. In my high school days, it was the geeks and the honor roll students that read it. The rest opened the book, saw long words they didn't know, and gave up.
Cute. (There. See? I can say cute.)
Actually, trust me, you haven't seen cute yet.
Did yours and Uni's copies miss a paragraph or somethin'? (Or did I delete this part in the upload or so?) Sirius left the Deatheater by the side of the road. She is now taking the shoe-leather express back to town.
Where's he going in a sports car? That's this chapter.
Sorry. No Arabella. And there's a reason for that. This is an AU. A completely independent story from my other ones. With that in mind, I didn't want to use any crossover of characters for the simple fact it can get real confusing real fast trying to keep the different relationships separate. Arabella's relationship with Sirius in this story would not be the same as she has with him in Family Life. This story is set in the past. It also confuses the dickens out of P.A.R..
Yes, yes. Bad P.A.R.. Bad, bad, bad P.A.R.. (I'd give you a gold star to make you feel better, but Whisp got it this week.)
Voltora: What!? But....but I was depending on you find yours! (Haven't seen mine in ages.).
Low level praise? Heavens! What do you give the stories you really like?
I'm pleased beyond words how much everyone liked the Deatheater scene. I enjoyed writing that one a lot.
Dumbledore's True Love: Sorry I'm not making you happy this week. Go see if Uni will share again. She won again this week.
Why doesn't Sirius conjure up food? Why didn't he in the cave in GoF? Remus and Sirius together likely could have found a way to get him hooked up with a wand. Instead he depended on Harry to get him his food. But even past all that, I work by certain conventions in my stories. And one is, ya' gotta have somethin' to start with. No bread out of stones miracles here, folks. Yes, if you have some grain you can make cereal, or some wheat you can make bread. But I never saw anywhere in the books where a witch or wizard could create something of sustenance out of nothing. Even the food at the feast came from somewhere, not thin air. Also, Sirius has the (right) idea that the ministry can track magical activity. Therefore he tries to keep it to a minimum. Past that, can we all just say 'continuity error' together and let P.A.R. go to bed? It's getting late.
SiriusBPadfoot: I update once a week. I try to make it on Sunday nights, between 6:00PM and 10:00PM EST. But things happen and some times I may miss. On those occasions, I try to have it up the next day.
Thanks for reading.
Me: I soooooo did not need to hear the fish story.
Sere: I try to post every Sunday, between 6:00PM and 10:00PM EST. For the rest of this see above answer.
Nearly all of my stories involve Sirius and Harry , with the current exception of Diamond, which was strictly a Snape story.
Currently I have several stories in the works, though not all of them are Sirius/Harry stories. (And I do not mean that as slash. P.A.R. does not write slash. Yet.). However, Family Life is being sequeled as well as is the sequel being sequeled. I have another Sirius and Baby Harry story coming, and of course, I have to finish The Bonds That Tie. So you will likely be hearing from me for a while.
Lady FoxFire: Making money from being sue? Can you do that? Anyway, as you saw, there's a lot of people being sue for having a thing for Sirius. So your court date is like.....AGES away.
Actually, Katlin is most definitely a woman (ask any man), but her being a lady id still up for discussion.
Personally, I think I'm going to catch heck from my readers when you see her again and find out just who she is in later life. At least as I am currently planning on developing her character.
Good question about Padfoot.
Lyn: See the opening notes of Q&A about the Deatheater scene. I am absolutely amazed it was so well received. I was so sure I would catch heck for having good old noble Sirius hitting a woman.
Elizabeth Bathory: Thank you.
Kiara O. Lawrence: *P.A.R. shakes her head.* I just don't understand. How did that scene get so well received? Oh, well. I am glad it was liked so much by so many.
No, no. P.A.R. is BAD for forgetting one of her most faithful reviewers. Bad, bad, bad P.A.R..
Mayleesa: Goody. Questions.
O.K.. First off, this is an AU. Means I get to play around with the facts as they stand in the books.
Past that, even if you follow canon here, would it not stand to reason that the Deatheaters, (who were still around), would want to try and get a little revenge on poor little Harry for nearly dispatching Voldemort? Also, no, Voldemort was not killed by Harry (well, by his own spell, actually). He was rendered nearly powerless and barely alive, but still alive. And he was bound to have a few faithful Deatheaters around.
Kcarke: Yeah, non-reviewing guilt is a problem, isn't it? P.A.R. knows about that feeling.
O.K., rest of the questions in order.
You will see Katlin again. She is in an individual story of her own with Harry tentatively called Runaway, which I am currently working on, and she turns up again in the sequel to Family Life.
Sorry, but the Deatheaters will likely not be in the story very much from here on out. I'm always making revisions in the story, so nothing is for certain. But at this point I don't have plans to bring them back into things.
London.
Why was answered in this chapter.
Yeah. Ditch it as fast as possible. After all, now he's up for Grand-Theft Auto.
Depends on your view of evolution, really.
I simply don't believe in getting a bunch of very nice people interested in one of my stories and then dropping it and them. It's sort of rude in my book.
Sandrine Black: Thank you for liking that scene. It was very well received. For which I am grateful.
Alexa Black: I'll say this much. Your train is on the right track, but once again, girl, you left the station without all the passengers on board.
Zimmy Russell: No, no. You said in one of your reviews that the kitten in Diamond, or a scene in that story, resembled one in the Grinch movie.
Katlin is an interesting little lady. Trust me. Although she doesn't come back in this story as far as things go right now (I do revise stories from time to time due to continuity errors or just new ideas), she does appear in other stories currently in production. Check some of the other review answers for more on that.
Technically, Remus didn't 'turn' Sirius in. And he really believed right up to the end he was doing the right thing.
Oh, good, someone did realize Katlin wasn't still in the car.
Yup, Sirius' rap sheet is growing.
What's he gonna do next? Currently, go to jail.
Share the jolt!? I gotta find it first!
Lin-z: Well, had a car, actually.
Got them to London!
O.K., I had other questions about this. First, this is an AU. Forget what ya' know about the books. (Yes, yes, if I'm straying from canon I should have spelled it out.). Next, I'm not really going that far from canon, actually. Voldemort isn't dead (or gone). He's just a little low on fuel right now. But there are still Deatheaters around, and some of them are bound to be really loyal to him.
What's Katlin playing at? Oh, heavens! There's a question. For there is no more complicated woman in the Deatheater group than Katlin. She's definitely a handful as her character is being sketched out. Whereas she doesn't appear in this story again for the moment (my stories can always change as I do revisions before posting), she is in several up-coming stories. See answers to this in other Q&A answers. A lot of people were interested in Katlin.
There was little fun in re-grouting the shower. Especially when the first attempt failed and I had to redo that. But I'm kinda at the point of no return. I got grout out, now I gotta put grout back in.
Ya' know, eight years of Spanish and I still can just about only say Hola!.
Wyltk: People! Show some mercy for heavens sake. Poor Remus!
He's being manipulated (and very well, might I add) by the ministry. Can we hear a few bad words about the ministry please and leave poor Remus alone? Honestly!
What new "ideal"?
I would think wands could stand a few seconds in a flame, like any stick. Go try and get a tree branch the size of a wand to light after only a few seconds in the fire. Besides, he only 'tapped' the base of the fire with his wand. He didn't leave it sitting there.
Sorry, I wasn't very clear on that. The Dark Mark is on her arm, not her wrist. She just had to turn her arm wrist-side up to show the mark to Sirius.
Voldemort has no tracking system on the car because one, he trusts Katlin to be efficient in her mission, and two, Katlin has some agenda items of her own to take care of while in that car that she doesn't want Voldemort knowing about. Sorry those weren't spelled out in the story, but they weren't actually important to the plot, or so I thought. (Oh, and Katlin's other agenda matters aren't important to this story, but may turn up in others. She's a busy girl. Has places to go. People to kil...er......see.).
Thank you for sticking with me. I hope to still be posting when Book Five comes out.
Nagini: It's your own fault, dear. Don't blame me for no supper.
Ohhhhhh, Nagini almost got a gold star (but Uni already got it), for thinking P.A.R. should be on everyone's favorites list. Thank you!
Oh, that I can tell you. In fact, I mentioned it to someone else a few chapters back. I write mostly in the fantasy genre, some science-fiction, and a little mystery. My last story was on vampires. Age range is probably 13 to 25. But that hard to say for sure. I mean, hey, Harry Potter was written for children!
Nope. Across the street from me is a swamp. And P.A.R. loves her swamp. One of it's current occupants, one of P.A.R.'s cats. (Domestic life was not for her.).
It's been 'years' due to a very busy schedule and some problems between me and my publisher (minor, nothing big) and the company having some problems. I also technically no longer work for them. I'm a free agent at present. But they still have intellectual property rights on me through my contract. So I can't work for anyone else until the contract expires.
I am...or was...currently working on a novel, but got side-tracked by this. When I get bored I go back and work on the book from time to time.
Wait a minute! Am I currently working on something? Heavens, I'm currently working on about five separate fanfictions. So, yes, I am currently working on something, I guess.
It takes a lot to confuzzle me, child. Feel free to try. But few people have managed that yet.
As always, sorry if I missed anyone. Let me know if I did.
Thanks for reading and reviewing. You guys are the best!
See you next week.