The Message.
Pat stared at Sirius. "What did you just say?"
Sirius looked at Pat, he smiled gently. "I said "Yes to both." Yes Lunar is my sister, and I think I love you."
Pat backed away from him. "You… think you love me?"
He started towards her, but noticing her flinching he stopped. "Yes."
She shook her head and started walking around the room muttering. "This is nothing like the movies, or book said it would be like."
He frowned. "You were expecting something else? Something grand? I should declare my love in front of the entire school? Do you want me to ask Albus for his permission to court you?"
She laughed awkwardly. "I don't think he'd say no. If he knew what you just said he would be preparing the wedding invitations."
He grasped her hands and pulled her into a sitting position on the floor. "You wanna get married?" He asked shocked.
"No! It's just what Albus… Never mind, you've changed the subject."
He smiled at her, brushing her hair with his hands. "I would have thought you wanted the subject to be changed. You were talking about books. Love is not a fairytale sweetheart. You have to work hard at it." He grinned mischievously. "For example you never hear of Prince Charming going to the loo, or Heaven Forbid! Burp! Life and love are nothing like stories!"
He grasped her chin with his hands so that her eyes met his. "Love is nothing but a risk."
She looked at him, unable to move her head with his firm hand holding her. "I never wanted a fairytale love. Just, to feel as if someone wanted me."
She looked at him, knowing deep down that he was telling the truth. She closed her eyes, breathed in slowly and kissed him. He reciprocated the kiss letting go of her chin to take the clip out of her hair. He pulled her closer to him so she was nearly on his lap. Her hands raked down the length of his back. They knelt together. She waited until she could think no longer and put her hands on his muscled chest slowly stroking down until she could feel his belt. She stroked his hips, and thighs.
"Whoa!" He said pushing her back. Her lips felt swollen, they had been crushed and pulled and bitten. He looked at her, a serious expression in his eyes. "You do know that if we carry on…" He pushed his fingers through his hair in desperation. "Hell woman! I may have been celibate in Azkaban but…"
Pat looked at him. 'I trust him implicitly'.
She decided to take matters into her own hands. She sat up slightly, pulling him gently up with her. She lifted her hands and was surprised to see them shaking slightly. She touched his cheek, trailing her fingers down his neck and onto his chest. He sat motionless. She trailed her fingers down his chest, but she still wasn't happy there. She picked up every piece of shattered courage she had left and kissed him on the lips. Stopping when he didn't respond she looked at him.
"Sirius?"
He took this as an invitation.
His lips swooped down to savagely, but not altogether unpleasantly, and she gave as good as she got. He picked her up as if she was made of air and carried her into her bedroom firmly kicking the door closed behind them.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
Sirius had left Pat's room in a state of shock. He couldn't believe what he had said or done. Never in his life had he said those three words to someone outside his family. His deep sense of honour meant he had never used them to get a woman, and he had never found someone irresistible enough to say them.
'Will Pat believe that I didn't say it to get her into bed though?' He sighed frustrated.
He laid out on his bed his pillow covering his head, the position he had usually taken as a child when he was worried or thinking.
'This is ludicrous! I can't go around hiding because of mutual passion. Running away from my problems is definitely not like me! ' Sirius wondered exactly how much Azkaban had affected the happy-go-lucky womaniser he had been.
He sat up, an epiphany occurring to him. 'I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about what she thinks. I'm worried that she may not like me as much as I like her.' He sighed.
He launched himself off of the bed and stretched. His eyes alighted on the envelope that Lunar had given him about Pat. He shrugged. "Might as well take a look." He ripped the top off the envelope and looked inside. There was a white sheet of paper and a brown folder. He took out the paper.
Sirius,
I couldn't find a Pat Carver, so I searched on
last name only. This one seemed right.
Why are you so interested little brother?
I have copied the note for blackmail purposes,
so there is no escape!
Love Andromeda.
He put the piece of paper back in the envelope and removed the file.
"Cleopatra!" He all but shouted. "Her name is Cleopatra!" He laughed and continued reading the file. The murder of her mother by Death Eaters, the slow degradation of her father's mind, everything that she had confided in him; all detailed in her history.
He dropped the folder down on the table and sighed. Rubbing his hands over his face and in his hair he felt tired. Looking around the room he saw the butterscotch the house elf Dobby had brought him. He decided to go and give them to Pat, and see whether she was still talking to him or not.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
Pat had spent a lovely day talking to Lunar. Not only had they talked about their least favourite members of the ministry (and done some rotten impressions), but Lunar had also come up with some childhood photos of Sirius. She had secretly (and Lunar approved silently) kept one aside.
It was of Sirius on his 7th birthday, his curly mop of black curls bouncing slightly as he waved excitedly at the camera, and covered his face in the multicolour icing on his cake!
She looked down and smiled at the young Sirius. Her attention waned for a moment as she looked at the reply she had received from the Ministry. She frowned and looked back at Sirius. Staring at his rosy cheeks and mischievous eyes that hadn't changed a bit, she couldn't believe what he'd done last night.
She recalled how after the best night of her life. His face had lost all colour, to go a pale shade of grey, and how he had sped out of her room faster than the speed of light, mumbling some excuses.
'He's probably had his fun now, which is why he ran out.' She thought, her brow creasing with anxiety.
"I'll leave it with him." She decided and mumbled to herself to reaffirm the thought. "If he meant it he will come back, if not…" She sighed. "… If not, then at least I know what's going on."
She suddenly shook her head to clear the cobwebs out.
"This is no time to be thinking about him." She said firmly to herself. "I have a case to crack."
Deciding to look around Hogwarts, she set off towards the first floor. This, if it didn't do anything for the case, would at least take her mind off of Sirius.
She started by looking around the Great Hall. It was futile as there had been so many students and staff members through here that nothing stayed still for long.
Giving up, she headed towards the kitchens, wondering if the house elves could help her.
"Miss Carver!" Dobby the house elf's face lit up as she walked into the pristinely clean kitchen. It looked as if no food had ever been cooked in there. The health board could never find a fault in this room (this was balanced by the fact that Professor Snape's potion classroom had been condemned unsuitable for wizard contact at least a hundred times since his arrival at the post!)
A chair was whisked around to her and she was fed samples of practically every type of cooking under the sun. It was as if they had been cooking especially for her arrival!
"You must try this!"
"No, no! Try this first!"
Pat got so full she had to refuse the last few types of cake.
The kitchens became very silent as every elf looked at her as if she had discarded them. Dobby saved Pat from some very distraught elves.
"Never mind! Dobby will make a small bag of food Miss Carver can eat later!"
There was a rush of activity as each elf added something to a pile that was building up in a corner. She decided that if she was going to get out of there without gaining weight she had better ask the questions and go quickly.
"Dobby!" She called out over the hive of activity. "Have you seen anything strange around here?"
Dobby stopped what he was doing for a second. "No Miss Carver. Dobby not seen anything strange."
He paused and frowned. "Gangly? Where's Gangly?" He looked at Pat. "Gangly saw something. Dobby sure of it."
A small female elf wearing what looked like a bag from a bag of sugar came forward. She held out a cup of hot chocolate (the seventh she had drank after they discovered that she didn't like tea or coffee).
"I'm Gangly."
Pat accepted the cup, with a small shudder that she tried to conceal, and turned to the elf.
"Dobby said you've seen something strange recently. What was it?"
Gangly looked about, unsure whether she should say anything. Dobby came over and frowned at her.
"Gangly is a free elf. Gangly can say whatever she wants. There will be no punishment if Gangly tells the truth."
Gangly still looked unsure, so Pat decided to intervene.
"If it's something innocent then nothing will happen to anyone. If, however, it is dangerous and the person is to use it against a student or a staff member then you will blame yourself. Please Gangly, it might be important!"
"Well… Gangly saw… a bowl."
"A bowl." Pat wasn't sure whether this was relevant or not but, for the sake of peace she decided to hear her out. "Right, carry on Gangly. What was strange about this bowl?"
"Gangly was cleaning on the fourth floor, when Gangly saw a bowl. It was gold, with jewels around it. Gangly looked around to see if anyone dropped it, when Gangly looked back it was gone."
"A gold bowl you say?" Pat wrote the description down. "Was there anyone around at the time?"
"Gangly didn't see anyone. It was too late for students to be out."
"Right… Anything else you'd like to tell me about the bowl?"
Gangly shook her head and ran away into the horde of elves.
"Okay, thanks Dobby." Pat stood up and peered into the crowd. "Thankyou everybody!" She said. She turned to go.
"Wait Miss Carver! Don't forget the snack!"
Pat turned around and gaped at the giant hamper that they were staggering around with.
She said horrified by the amount they had packed for her, and the fact that if she threw it away they would know. She heaved up the basket and headed towards the door, or what she thought looked like the door through the heap of food. "Thanks!" She called out as she headed out of the door.
She reached her room with the help of two Hufflepuff students. As a thank you she gave them half of the hamper to share out in their common room. She decided to take a run around the grounds.
"I've got to do something to get rid of this food!" She said to herself.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
Sirius watched from his classroom window as Pat returned from her run. He had been to her room earlier, but she wasn't in. He still had her butterscotch in his desk.
"I have a couple of minutes before my next lesson. I can give her the box and be back before they arrive." He persuaded himself.
Arriving at her door he was surprised to see it slightly ajar.
"Hello? Pat?" He called out.
"Sirius?!?! What are you doing in here?" Pat's shocked voice came through from another room.
"Yes. It's me Pat. Where are you?" He headed towards the room he thought her voice came from.
"Nooo! Don't come in! I'm in the shower! What do you want?"
Images of Pat came rushing through his head. His hand reached out to the door handle. Faltered and then was lodged firmly in his pocket. He wanted her, but he wasn't going to take her now. The fear in her voice as she showered was enough to stop that.
"I brought you something." He called through the door.
"Ummm.. Okay! Leave it on the desk. Don't bother waiting for me to get out! See you later!" Pat called out from the bathroom. He could hear the desperation in her voice and it made his heart almost break. He put on a falsely bright voice and said.
"Okay! See you at Dinner!" He placed the box on top of a piece of parchment on the desk, and turned to go. The box highlighted the name "Sirius".
'Strange?' He thought, and moved everything out of the way. It was a letter from the ministry.
He scanned it and blanched. The letter dropped from his hand onto the floor and he stalked from the room.
The bathroom door opened cautiously.
"Hello?" Pat's head popped out of the door. She sighed in relief and came out of the bathroom wrapped in a lilac towel. A white square on the floor caught her eye. "Funny. I thought I left that on the desk…" The penny dropped.
She dragged her clothes on and sprinted out of the door.
"Sirius! Wait! Sirius!"
Pat knew what Sirius had read. She had received the letter just before their dinner together.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
Miss Carver,
The ministry is willing for you to stay on at Hogwarts.
We will expect a weekly report of your progress.
Included in that we would like another report.
We advise that you put Sirius Black under observation.
He was released from Azkaban, however we still believe
he is dangerous….
A/NI know! I know! I just can't get them together yet!!
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! It's really pissing off Martha and Squirrel! (They introduced me to this site & now I have more reviews per chapter than them!) (*cough* Not that reviews are the reason why I'm writing this!!)
Jestr017 are you psychic??? I had only just posted the chapter when you reviewed!!
I'm sorry, it's another cliffhanger, but I'll let you in on a secret. (By the end of the story Sirius & Pat should be together!!)
Eleanor. It's out now!!
Thanks for the compliments. I decided since Sirius was such a lady-killer that he MUST have some sort of woman-based background, and Sisters seemed the easier option. (Plus they can take the piss out of him! What are sisters for?)
Eressa. Thanks for the compliments I appreciate them!
Kbear I seriously hope Ron doesn't turn into a fish!!! (It would cause havoc!!) And I'm surprised no one has commented about the Hagrid/Minerva eloping thing!! (It disturbed me as I wrote it!!) Thanks for reviewing.
Siriuslyinlove. Thanks for continuing to bear with me, even though I still haven't given you any clues about my elusive shadow! (They are getting closer! The bowl is a testament to that!) Lunar is a great character (which is why my brain has been addled with storylines for her and Remus. (I know it's corny. Lupin as in Werewolf and Lunar as in relating to the moon!))
Mrs Grim. I can guarantee that my story will probably get worse!! (Great at beginnings, okay at middles, Endings stump me!!) Thanks for your compliments!! I will probably put a couple more hurdles in Pat and Sirius' relationship, but there will also be a lot of good times!! *grins cheekily*
And finally to the writer of my weirdest review – ever!! (Will mention anyone who does better in a chapter somewhere!!)
To Ittybittytreefrog thanks (I think) for the review. Just a question though. Have you read my story or were you just seeing if you could review other peoples???
Thanks anyway.
Love to you all,
Krusty.
P.S. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Plus I created the kismet e-mail account esp. for this, so if you really want to e-mail me that's fine. I keep checking them and getting confronted by "No Messages!"