Chapter 42: Unexpected

Sirius hadn't had his Unspeakable job for more than a week when something completely out of the ordinary happened. It was a Friday night and I had just arrived back home from Hogwarts. The girls were visiting our flat for dinner. Sirius was randomly gone, which tended to happen often. We were just gathering around our tiny kitchen table, when a familiar rumbling in the fireplace told us someone was coming. Several seconds later, Sirius stepped out, looking exhausted, beaten and covered from head to foot in something that looked horribly like...

"Blood!" Marianna exclaimed, looking at him in horror. "You're covered in blood! What the hell happened?" We'd all left our seats and come to gather around Sirius in front of the fireplace, everyone keeping a considerable distance.

"S-sorry, I wasn't expecting you all to be here," said Sirius quickly, taking a step backward.

"That doesn't answer the question, Sirius," said James. "What's going on?" Sirius sighed.

"I can't tell you. You know that."

"It was okay for you to not tell us when it was just some new job," I said. "But when you come home beaten and drenched in blood, I think we have a right to know what's going on."

"It was an accident, all right?" said Sirius. "That's all I can say." Mari, Lily and Addi looked horrified at the sight of Sirius.

"Why don't you go get yourself cleaned up, and then get some rest," Lily suggested, frowning.

"Sounds good," said Sirius, quickly leaving the room. When we went to look for him a little while later, he was gone again. We had no idea what Sirius' job was, but we knew it wasn't anything ordinary. He was almost never around, and usually he would leave without telling anyone. He had no schedule; it was completely random.

Our Christmas spirits were quite dampened that year, although we did plan to spend the holiday together. It would be a rare gathering time for all of us outside of Death Eater attacks. Of course, as usual, nothing went as we planned. An attack on Christmas Eve landed James, Sirius and I in the infirmary for Christmas, and Lily, Addi and Mari spent the day crowded around our bedsides. The only perk to the situation was that Dumbledore set up a huge feast for us in the infirmary.

One weekend, I was at home alone. Addi and Lily had decided they needed to take a girls' weekend, James was out on call for auror duty, and Sirius and Mari had planned a date for the evening. I had just settled on the sofa and flipped on the muggle television, which I had taken to watching, when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" I called, wondering who it could possibly be. The door opened, revealing Mari, red-faced and teary-eyed.

"Hi Mari," I said slightly startled. "What are you doing here?" She shook her head.

"Did something happen with Sirius?" I asked, almost hopefully. She didn't respond. Against my will, I felt bad for her.

"Why don't you come in and sit down awhile. I'll make some tea."

"Alright," she replied.

"So, do you want to talk to me about what's wrong?" I asked, boiling some water. "I thought you were going out with Sirius tonight."

"I was," she said bitterly. "Except he never showed up."

"Oh," I replied. I sat down in the armchair. I didn't know what else to say. Mari sighed and shook her head.

"Sometimes I just don't know about Sirius," she sighed, slipping her engagement ring off of her finger and holding it in front of her, examining it. Her bottom lip trembled, and tears streamed from her cheeks. "I mean, he's never around. He's missed so many of our dates, and he's always got some pathetic excuse. I don't understand this whole Unspeakable thing. He says he's at a job, but he can't even tell me about it. I don't even know if I can trust him at all. He says he loves me, but I have to wonder if even that's true." She moved the ring between her fingertips so that light reflected off of the diamond.

"You know, that ring almost belonged to someone else." The words slipped from my mouth, unintentionally bitter.

"What?" Mari asked, staring at me intently.

"Sirius never told you about any of his other girlfriends?" I asked.

"Well, no not really," said Mari, looking at me curiously. "He has other girlfriends?" she asked slowly, her eyes full of hurt. It would have been so easy to say yes. We would have been rid of Mari forever. But I couldn't do it.

"No, no, he doesn't have any other girlfriends now," I explained. "But he used to."

"Oh," Mari said. "And he was going to marry one of them?"

"Yes, that's true," I replied.

"Who was she?" Mari asked.

"Well, her name was Erin White," I began, pouring two mugs of tea and handing one to Mari. I sat down on the couch next to her. "She was a witch, one of our best friends at Hogwarts. James and I were convinced that Sirius liked her since the very first day of first year when she sat with us at the back to school feast. It turned out that we were right. Sirius took Erin to the Winter Ball fourth year, and they remained boyfriend and girlfriend from then on." I paused for a moment to keep my eyes from tearing. Mari listened intently. "Erin and Sirius were complete opposites; Black and White. It was obvious in their appearance for one thing. Erin was short; really tiny, and very pale, with blue eyes and hair so blonde it was practically white, unlike Sirius, of course. Erin was always so quiet and patient; there was nothing that could get her temper going. She was one of the smartest, most capable girls in our year. She was the kind of person you couldn't get past with anything. If you were up to something she knew about it; if you were upset about something, she tried to cheer you up. She was always friendly to everyone, even the people we considered enemies. I guess sometimes the worst things happen to the nicest people." I wiped tears from my eyes, and looked at Mari.

"What happened between them?" she asked looking concerned.

"I'll explain," I said shakily. I didn't want to talk about it anymore, but I couldn't stop where I was.

"It was seventh year, just a little over a year ago," I began. "New Years Day, to be exact, also Sirius' birthday. He had a ring; that ring, ready to give to Erin. He was planning to propose that very day. There was a huge quidditch—er, wizard sport match coming up, and so Sirius and James were out training for days. We hadn't seen them at all, and one morning we recieved a note from them telling us to meet them in the forest. Erin didn't want to go; she said she had a bad feeling about it, but we talked her into coming along. When we got to the woods, the person we found awaiting us wasn't Sirius at all. It was Lord Voldemort. The note was a trick. He captured us and kept us there. Finally, Sirius arrived, and we planned our escape. As we got away, Voldemort tried to curse Sirius, but Erin jumped in the way and took the curse for him. She saved his life, but it cost her her own." I looked at Mari through watery eyes. She was crying, still looking at the ring.

"I had no idea," she sobbed. "That's so awful. I feel horrible for not knowing."

"It's not your fault," I said. "It's our fault for making you feel unwelcome. I'm really sorry about all the things James and I did. I guess we just didn't want anyone replacing Erin."

"I'll never try to replace her," promised Mari. "I'd never want to do that."

"I owe you a huge apology, though. We shouldn't have treated you so badly."

"I understand. If it were me, I'd have probably done the same thing. I guess I should be giving Sirius his ring back."

"Mari, you can't do that," I insisted.

"Why not?"

"Because Sirius loves you. He loved Erin, but she's gone. You're all he has now. You don't want to hurt him worse than he already is?"

"No."

"Then please put that ring back on your finger and make my best friend happy," I pleaded, with the first sincere smile I'd ever given Mari.

"Okay," she agreed slowly sliding the ring back onto her finger. There was a moment of silence, followed by a knock at the door.

"Come in," I called. Sirius stumbled through the door, exhausted to the point he could hardly stand.

"Mari?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Remus was just telling me a story," she said. I got a sickening feeling in my stomach. Sirius wasn't going to be pleased that I told her.

"About what?"

"Erin."

"Remus told you about Erin?" Sirius' eyes fell to me.

"Sirius, she deserved to know!"

"I'm so sorry," whispered Mari, pulling her arms around Sirius before he could say another word. After a moment, Sirius had calmed down.

"Where were you tonight?" Mari asked finally. "We had a date planned."

"I'm sorry, Mari. I really am. I had every intention of coming. It's just that there was a last minute attack, and they needed me. No one else could take the job. I'm really, really sorry. I'll make it up to you."

Normally, Mari would have either yelled at him, or gotten angry and stormed off. But she did neither of these two things, just nodded understandingly and kissed Sirius goodnight. Shortly after, she left, and Sirius and I went to bed without a word.