The File.
'That kiss blew my socks off!' thought Sirius as he headed towards the owlry. 'Can't do too much more of those or I might have to go to Madam Pomfrey!' He whistled as he jumped the stairs two at a time. He had just been to see Professor McGonagall, and although she didn't mention what she had seen, he could tell she disapproved.
"Speedy!" he called his owl to his side. Speedy by name and nature, according to Ron who had named him. "Take this to Lunar or Andromeda." He re-read the note, and hoped that they would forgive the scrawled handwriting.
Dear Lunar and Andromeda,
I hope you are all well. Sorry for not writing sooner.
There is an Auror here from the Ministry, and I was
wondering if you could tell me about her. Her name
is Pat Carver. Give my love to all the family.
Missing you my sisters.
Sirius.
He attached the note to Speedy's leg and hoped that their response would be as quick as the owl that carried it. He waved at Professor Flitwick who had come to send a letter, then left. Heading back down the stairs, he heard the dinner bell, and grinned in anticipation.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
She approached the Banquet hall with a mixture of excitement, embarrassment and disgust. Excited at the prospect of seeing Sirius, embarrassment because she practically threw herself at him, and disgust at herself for feeling the two other emotions. 'I have to avoid him.' She told herself, and repeating this like a mantra she entered the hall. Her eyes were inexplicably drawn to Sirius, who was sat at the head table next to Dumbledore…. and an empty seat. As if there was some psychological link between them, Sirius looked up. 'Damn the man!' she thought to herself, as he patted the chair next to him.
Scanning the room she saw another empty seat at the head table and, purposefully headed toward it, trying (and failing) to prevent eye contact with Sirius. It was only when she sat down that she realised why this chair was empty. Turning to the left she encountered Sybill Trelawney.
"Someone will die tonight." She confided in Pat. "Mars has told me."
"Great!" Pat replied enthusiastically, hoping that it might be Sirius or herself. Turning to the right her heart sunk even more.
"10 points from Hufflepuff! I saw that Mary!"
Pat smiled at Snape, deciding to go for the better of two evils.
"So… you know why I'm here?" She asked brightly. He looked down his long nose at her and sneered.
"I know everything that goes on here."
'God I hope not.' Pat thought risking a glance in Sirius' direction. He was still looking at her! The cheek of it!
"So could you give me any information about an unregistered animagus?" She asked hopefully.
"No." He pushed his plate away from him and abruptly stood up. Stalking from the room he had just enough time to remove a further 10 points from Gryffindor "I saw that Potter!" and Pat was alone.
"I saved you a seat!"
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
"What?" she looked up at him, and he felt something tug at his gut.
"I said "I saved you a seat over there." You mustn't have seen me." He said, knowing that she was avoiding him, but something in him couldn't keep away.
"Yeah, that must have been it." She avoided his eyes.
He smiled at Trelawney. "Give my love to Uranus!"
Sitting down in Snape's empty seat, Pat gaped at him.
"Did anyone invite you to sit here?"
"Nooo… I can go if you want me to." He smiled benignly. 'Come on Pat. Don't give up the fight!' He thought. She sniffed.
"You can stay if you want to, it's a free country."
He moved his chair closer to her so he was inches away from her face, and settled there. He watched her shuffle around, trying to find a way to get away from him without moving her chair.
"Sooo… do you have any leads yet?" 'Talking about work rather than … well, should make her more comfortable in my presence.' He thought.
She looked him square in the eye. He was sure they changed colour every time he saw her. Hazel with flecks of honey when she was calm. Chocolate brown with flecks of baileys after he had kissed her,
or ….
"… Are you listening to me at all?" This time her eyes had turned a dark brown colour with flecks of fudge. These were her angry eyes.
"Do you know that you eye colour changes with…?" He decided to rethink this conversation. "You were talking about an animagus?"
"No, I was talking about your dog Blacky." She said bluntly, ignoring his first few words.
He could feel the heat spreading around his neck and up onto his cheeks as he remembered her soft touch, her fingers running through his fur. He had wanted to fervently kiss her then, and he felt the urge again now.
"Blacky?" His voice cracked like a hormone filled teenager! What was happening to him?
"Yes, your dog Blacky. Not exactly an original name is it Sirius Black." She raised one eyebrow sardonically.
"Oh! Blacky! Yes he's mine."
He hated lying to her, but he couldn't tell her the truth – could he?
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
Sirius couldn't concentrate. He had been attempting to mark the same paper for half an hour now. Every time he tried to read it the lines became blurry, and all he could see was her face. He couldn't believe his reactions to her. It wasn't like he hadn't been attracted to anyone before her. There was a time, in his youth, when he got any girl that he wanted. Lunar and Andromeda had schooled him in the art of girls since he was old enough to join their sleepovers. He would read women's magazines to his sisters while they painted their nails.
Usually he would romance the girl, flowers, chocolates, cards, poetry, he did it all. He didn't remember backing them up against a wall, and kissing them like randy teenager. Or for that matter using his animagii powers to get cheap thrills. He gave up on the marking; it wasn't due back for a couple of weeks anyway. Crossing the room he wondered what she was doing, and looked at the clock. 2am. She was probably asleep.
"Dreaming of Knights on White Chargers, not a History Professor with a tortured past."
He looked in the mirror hung on the wall. "Haven't changed that much, have I?" he asked his reflection. He saw the dark bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. The wrinkles of anxiety that weren't there when he smiled.
"I shut my eyes and see them." He whispered to his mirror like a child's confession. The reflection understood, but could offer no ideas, no comfort from the Dementors.
He sat on the bed looking out of the window. It must be the exhaustion that makes her affect me. It couldn't be her. She wasn't any different to any other woman he had admired.
"Pat." He sighed.
He looked at the mirror again, his eyes glazed over and for a minute he saw her, the soft red hair glinting in the candlelight. A far cry from the woman in the business like suit, her hair was free, long and flowing and she was wearing a loose cotton robe.
She smiled at him. His vision blurred.
It must be her, could this be…?
"No, it can't be."
Sleep.
Sirius woke up. He didn't care that his clothes were crumpled and wrinkly, or that his neck ached from the position he slept in. All he cared about was the fact that he slept – without dreams, without disruptions, for the first time since he left Azkaban.
It was Pat who had unknowingly helped him.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
Pat woke up. She had had a dreadful night, unable to get to sleep. The last time she looked at the clock it was 2am. The lack of sleep was caused by her irrepressible thoughts, dominated with a kiss.
"Urrrgghh!" She buried her head under her pillows. "If I don't see him today, I won't be disappointed…. And if I do see him today, I won't stare at him." She promised herself.
She looked over at her desk that had her notebook on it. The mirror that hung above the desk was covered in little notes.
"Is Sirius Black the animagus I'm looking for?" she murmured to herself. "Or is he just intruding on my thoughts too much?"
She threw off the bed sheets got out of bed, and stretched. Her dark blue pyjamas clinging to her every movement. She decided to take a shower. Humming to herself she crossed the room, and picked up her bag full of Lavender Valley smellies (her favourite).
Today she would go to Hogsmeade to ask the residents what they had seen.
"Which means I won't be in Hogwarts to see Sirius!" She chuckled. "And if I should happen to go into Honeydukes and get some butterscotch, then the day will be a complete pleasure!"
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
He was waiting for her.
Pat had just left the breakfast table. Neatly avoiding Sirius she had theorised with the Grey Lady at the Ravenclaw table, something she had often done as a student. She wandered back to her room to get her bag, and on her return to the main doors she saw Sirius.
"Hi!" He said casually. "Dumbledore asked me to accompany you around Hogsmeade. Ready to go?"
Pat wasn't sure if she should jump for joy, or cry. A whole day alone - with Sirius.
"Well… if Dumbledore thinks I need a babysitter, than I suppose I could tolerate you."
She walked out of the main door.
'You won't be getting me easily Sirius.' She thought. 'One kiss does not mean I am yours.'
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
They arrived in Hogsmeade just as the shops started to open. Pat shivered, the black trousers, lilac shirt, and black jacket that she was wearing was smart, but not too warm.
"It's quite cold out here. Shall we go into The Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer? Or would you like me to warm you up another way?" Sirius suggested smoothly.
'Just like him to notice a sign of weakness and use it to his advantage!' She thought, but agreed anyway.
"Whichever you think would be better." She asked, and looked up meaningfully at him through her eyelashes. 'Two can play at the flirting game.'
"The butterbeer sounds good though." She spoke before he had a chance to reply. "Are you buying?"
He smiled suggestively at her statement, and leaned towards her. His mouth was a few inches from hers when he whispered.
"I always splash out on a pretty lady. The question is how are you going to pay me back?"
She smiled at him, and moved closer, whispering in his ear.
"No. I'm going to make you pay."
Before she had a chance to withdraw from the intimacy he captured her arm.
"Lets go."
They walked arm-in-arm into the pub.
"Two butterbeers, and a quick chat please Madame Rosmerta." He called to the woman behind the bar. "This is Miss Carver, an Auror." He announced to the customers in the bar, all of who were fighting to control their curiosity of the young woman who had appeared to catch Sirius Black's attention.
"She's here about the animagus you've all seen around, and is very interested in all of your stories."
He dragged her to a table in the corner of the bar and pushed her into the seat. She could have sworn there was a roguish twinkle in his eyes.
"You stay here and conduct your investigations. I'll be back in a while. I have a few errands to run."
She opened and closed her mouth a few times 'I look like a fish!' she thought.
"Umm…." She started, but was cut off as he swiftly kissed her on the lips.
"Just checking." She thought she heard him murmur. "See you later!" He called to everyone as he walked from the bar. Reaching the door he winked a slow intimate wink at her and was gone.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
"Two and a half hours?" She growled at him when he eventually returned. "What "errand" took you two and a half hours?"
He grinned sheepishly.
"You mean you didn't get any information about the case?"
She could have killed him. Killed him, and buried the body in Professor Sprouts greenhouse. Or even better, find a carnivorous plant and then there'd be no evidence.
"I have information! Plenty of information! I heard about a ginger tom cat that digs up that guy's…" She motioned to a lanky man in the corner. "... azaleas every year. A fish that can speak to that woman." A woman with bright orange frizzy hair waved at Pat who pointed at her. "A horse that must be Elvis, when everyone knows that Elvis is in the Maldives looking after Dragons. And finally – my personal favourite. A monkey wearing a pink bowler hat, and a lime green waistcoat that only seems to appear to that one guy!" The finger that had been stabbing the air came to rest on an old man, collapsed unconscious on a table full of empty glasses, bubbles coming out of his mouth at every hiccup. "Which I find surprising don't you?" She said sarcasm oozing out of every pore.
"Okay, okay. I surrender!" Sirius put his hands in the air. "But before you condemn me to a life of torture, perhaps I have something that will change your mind?"
She scowled at him. "I doubt it."
He smiled and threw a rectangular blue box, with lilac ribbon on the table.
"A present for the lady. You told me I'd pay – and here it is."
She looked at the package suspiciously. No man had ever bought her a present before. Her anger faded, and she hesitantly reached for the gift and put it in her bag.
"Aren't you going to open it?" He asked, astonished that she hadn't already done so.
"No." She smiled. "I want to save the surprise for later."
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
She placed the gift gently on her desk, fingering the wrapping with care. Large writing on her desk caught the corner of her eye. It was Filch's file, Animals on the Grounds.
"Well, it might be useful!" She told herself.
Opening the folder she flicked through the papers restlessly, until she came across some photos.
The blood drained from her face, she gasped and dropped the papers as if they had burnt her fingers.
The pictures on the floor showed a moving image of a figure near the lake turning from man into dog.
It was Sirius.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
A/N
Sorry guys, but I just can't help ending chapters on a cliffhanger! I just can't help it! I guess I'm trying to do a kind of "Who shot JR?" and turning it into a "Who shot Harry Potter! (And who's that kissing in the background?)" !!!
Thanks to everyone (Again) for their lovely reviews. It makes writing this seem more worthwhile.
It is great especially when you ask questions & I will try to answer them so, here goes!
Siriuslyinlove: Your welcome. Thanks for reading another chapter! If you keep reading then I promise to keep writing (no matter how many essays I have due in! (That's 2 and counting at the moment!)
All Mighty Terrestrial: I'm not sure if Dumbledore is clever or not either! (Great start to this answering questions lark!) Pat would have probably been told that Blacky belonged to Sirius anyway, maybe even by Snape! So I suppose if he hadn't told Pat she would have been pissed off with him as well as Sirius! So (being a typical male!) he chose to tell her himself!
Starlight: Thanks for writing. I read your story when my sister – Squirrel (That's the one who scratches her nuts of "Martha and Squirrel" fame) was trying to get me to write something! Thanks V. much for continuing the story! It's great to hear what Snape and Meg are up to! (P.S. I know they aren't real. Please don't think I'm some sort of nutter!)
Mrs Grim: I couldn't agree more about the tall, dark and handsome part! I will try to write something to include Peter. He is – of course – vital to Sirius' past. As far as I know Filch was at Hogwarts when the Marauders were. (This might explain the sullen face! In fact whenever I read about Filch I can't help but think of one of my teachers from my old school! – He was a dour git as well!)
(P.S. Sorry about the Uranus joke! There is not going to be a prequel where Sirius and Sybill are doing it doggie style! My fingers put it in when I wasn't looking and then my sister convinced me to keep it in there! (Not at all unlike the sentence I just wrote about the prequel!))