Chapter 8
"Why does Devlynn call her Tryst?" Sirius was sure that Diablo had to know the answer to that. After all, he was Dev's best friend.
"Her middle name is Trystan. Dev's the only one she'll let use that nick- name so far, other then the rest of her family." Diablo completely misinterpreted the meaning of Sirius' mischievous grin thinking that he thought it funny to watch Keara impersonate a bouncy ball. He hadn't realized that Sirius hadn't noticed her hyperactivity yet. He would soon, it was hard to not notice when she accidentally knocked over a chair and it made a loud thud as it crashed onto the floor knocking Harry out of it.
"OW! Dev I TOLD you that this would happen! If you ask me I'd swear she has it in for me!" Harry yelled across the room to Dev who merely laughed.
"You're the one who didn't move out of the way," Dev grinned.
"Keara's bouncing off the walls! She's LITERALLY bouncing off the WALLS! Like a rubber ball or something!" Sirius stared in shock as a black blur swooshed by him narrowly missing him and Diablo.
"Don't worry. She does that a lot." Sirius turned to see Diablo grinning. He had just been staring open mouthed at Keara who resembled more of a blur than a young woman anymore. Dev had stolen her away from him half an hour ago to 'catch up' as Dev had called it. Sirius wasn't sure what they had been talking about, but she had ended up getting hyper and Dev had laughed. Sirius assumed that Dev had done it on purpose to scare him away from his sister. If that had been the objective, it hadn't worked. It was too much fun to irritate Devlynn. Sirius hoped that he could get a chance to talk to Keara and get her to go along with his little prank on her brother. She seemed to be the type that would be willing to.
"Doesn't she get hurt?"
"She used to."
"What, did she finally lose all feeling in her nerves?" Sirius snorted and thought that she was probably just about as insane as he was.
"Nah, she wouldn't do it if it hurt. When she was little she couldn't help it though. She might be crazy when she's hyper but she's not dumb."
"Then why doesn't it hurt her anymore?"
"Well, when she was about eight, her Mum and Dad got tired of her breaking bones and such so they stuck her on an all sugar diet until they could find a charm that would keep her from getting hurt."
"All sugar? Wouldn't that make it worse?"
"That's what I thought, too when Dev told me. She was bouncing off the walls one day and her Grandma came over for a visit and gave her some chocolate for a treat. She hadn't known that Keara was hyper so she didn't think anything of it. Her Mum flipped when Dev ran and told her that Grandma gave Keara chocolate while she was hyper. She went looking for Keara and found her peacefully sitting on the living room floor playing with her toys while she finished off her treat. They figured out that sugar calms her down and if she eats enough of it it'll eventually put her to sleep, albeit she'll feel extremely sick, but she'd still be calm. They conducted a little experiment every time she got hyper and gave her sugar. Worked every time. Luckily they didn't have to put her on the sugar diet for long. She doesn't tend to like too many sweets. Makes her feel sick."
"How long was it for?"
"A little less than a day. Her parents found a spell that would in a way turn her to rubber or at least it makes her look that way when she 'hits' walls. What it actually does is quicken her reflexes so that she can cushion herself to the impact in an extremely short amount of time. It takes less than a second so to her, while she bounces, she feels as if she's going very slow when in reality she's going too fast for anyone to really see any more than a blur," Diablo laughed. "The spell's only supposed to kick in when she's hyper. Otherwise it just wouldn't be fair to anyone trying to prank her, although I think she figured out how to make it kick in whenever she wants too because she moves inhumanly fast sometimes. That's why when we pull pranks on Snape we use her. She's never gotten caught. She once used a spell that washed his hair, bubbles and all, while he walked down the hallway. It was hilarious; she made him act as if he were in the shower and sing about caterpillars. Anytime a student looked at him funny or snickered, she made him snap that he actually did take showers but he preferred to look like a greasy git. Snape was so mad when he couldn't figure out who had done it," Diablo burst into a fit of laughter shortly followed by Sirius joining in. "Th.th' best part was. Keara got. She got PICTURES. an'. an' posted them. i'. Hogsmeade! Snape refused to go into Hogsmeade for the rest of the year!"
"I remember doing that. Slytherin got one hundred points taken away for it because Snape thought only the Slytherins were smart enough to pull it off," Keara grinned as she plopped down on Sirius' lap clearly not as hyper as she had been before, but still in a cheerful mood.
"You're a fruitcake. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"No one other than you about a bazillion times already."
"So then you're still in denial about it?"
"I can't be in denial about something that doesn't have at least some basis in fact to begin with. Does it look like I'm made of dried fruit and some other inedible substance and do I resemble a brick?"
"I think she looks very edible so she can't be a fruitcake whatever that is," Sirius grinned as Keara blushed.
"It's a Muggle thing," Diablo explained.
"See? So therefore I can't be a fruitcake. I'm definitely no Muggle, not that I have any problems with them, but I'm still not one of them," she grinned knowing that she had won that argument. She decided not to read too much into Sirius' comment. He was probably just teasing anyway and did that kind of thing with every girl.
"Humph. You're still a fruitcake," Diablo glared as Keara just rolled her eyes while she looked at Sirius clearly implying that she felt sympathy for Diablo. Sirius laughed and gave a smug smile over the top of Keara's head at Devlynn who was glaring at him. Sirius knew that Dev wouldn't do anything in front of Keara because it might embarrass her or piss her off. He respected that. Now all he had to do was stay around her, so that Dev didn't have a chance to get to him. He wasn't all too sure of what Devlynn was capable of yet.
~ * ~
There were a few things Keara loved about the Muggle world. One being her electric guitar upon which she had placed a charm so that she wouldn't need electricity, but could still get the same desired effect. Another was a great source of entertainment on unsuspecting brothers and friends. Dev gave a yell when the first cool contact of the silly string hit him in the side of the face. He then conjured up his own can and officially started the Silly Sting War when everyone looked down to find their own cans laying in their hands. It took Ron a little longer than everyone else to figure out how to work them, but he joined in full heartedly after he had it all figured out and learned not to point the side with the hole at his face. It had been a nasty shock when instead of it shooting at Hermione, it had hit him in the face the first time. The war lasted long into the night and sometime between three and four they headed off to bed leaving the mess to be dealt with in the morning being too exhausted to deal with it then.
Keara shared the smaller bedroom that night with Ginny, Lily and Hermione since there were fewer girls than boys. Diablo, Devlynn, Zeta, Psi, James, Remus, Sirius, Harry and Ron shared the larger one that night.
The gang trudged down to breakfast the next morning arriving well after everyone else had, but not caring. They sat down silently and ate. They were still tired from the previous night.
"I'm gonna head to the library for a little while. I'll be back later when your classes are done," Keara got up to leave after she had finished eating.
"I'll come with you."
"If you want to, Sirius. I'm not very interesting while I'm reading."
"That's alright. I'll still come," Sirius didn't miss the look that Dev gave Diablo telling him to tag along and watch the two of them.
"I'll come, too," Diablo said hastily. "At least for a little while before class starts. I have to finish some homework for it anyway."
"Uh, okay," Keara shot a suspicious glance at Dev who only shrugged and told her to have fun. The three left the room and headed off in the direction of the library.
"Dev wanted you to come didn't he?" Keara asked after a few minutes. Diablo wisely chose not to respond. "Honestly, I don't know why he doesn't trust me to be anywhere within fifty feet of Sirius. He wouldn't hurt me. Would you, Paddy?" Keara smiled brightly up at Sirius.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Tryst," Sirius smiled back down at her. She was a good number of inches shorter than he was. He wondered if he'd get away with using that particular nickname. He assumed it was okay when she only smiled more at him.
"See? I told you, Diablo. He's harmless." Diablo made an unintelligent sound. He knew Dev would not be happy with how close Sirius was getting. Keara didn't even let him call her Tryst and he'd been like a brother to her since he was five.
"I wouldn't say I'm harmless, but I'd never intentionally hurt you," Sirius corrected, taking her hand and kissing it.
"Aw, you're more of a knight in shining armor than Sir Cadogan. Last time I saw him he wanted to fight me," She grinned. "And well last time I checked his armor was still grass stained from falling off of his fat pony. Not at all shiny," she giggled.
"You really need to change your look, Keara. You know that?" Diablo interrupted them before they had a chance to make him feel any sicker than he was already beginning to feel.
"Why?" Keara was already sounding bored with the conversation as if she'd had it numerous times in the past, which she had.
"Because it's boring." 'Thank god it worked,' Diablo thought.
"How is it boring?"
"Because you're always in black and then an occasional red when you dress up which isn't often."
"There's something wrong with that?"
"Yes. You look exactly the same every day. Your hair is always up the same way and you're always in black. Aren't I right Sirius?"
"Actually, yesterday it was in a messy bun and today it's in a ponytail. Yesterday she wore a turtleneck and shorts and today she's wearing a tee shirt and pants," Sirius grinned at Diablo knowing that he wouldn't be happy to hear that he didn't agree. "She's also got a silver ball chain necklace along with another silver necklace that has two turquoise stones in it, so she's not entirely in black."
"Whose side are you on?!" Diablo looked outraged. Sirius was supposed to support him not her. Guys were supposed to stick together.
"Hers," Sirius grinned and pointed at Keara. "I think she looks great."
"Aww, thank you," Keara stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
"I still say you need a new look," Diablo just didn't know how to give up before he got too far behind.
"And what do you suggest I wear then?" Keara looked slightly put off and irritated with him.
"Why don't you try wearing a lamp shade?" Diablo suggested 'helpfully.'
"And what may I ask is that?" she knew perfectly well what one was. One of her best friends back in the states was a Muggle, but she had a feeling Diablo didn't know what one was.
"It's a Muggle thing," Diablo shrugged.
"Why is everything a Muggle thing with you? You're a pureblood!"
"Uh."
"Do you even know what a lampshade is?"
"Uh, well it's a. Um and it's.uh." Diablo stuttered trying to think of what it could actually be. "It uh, gives shade to lamps. so they uh. don't get too hot."
"In other words no you don't know."
"No. Not really," Diablo blushed then glared at Sirius who had started sniggering.
"I think you've been spending too much time in Muggle Studies. Last I knew, you've never even seen half of the Muggle stuff you talk about," Keara grinned as Diablo stalked off. "You know what one is?"
"Nope. Not a clue. Can't be too important though," Sirius shrugged.
"Guess not, but you'd think he'd learn to leave my wardrobe alone by now. He's been nagging at me about it for years and it hasn't gotten him anywhere. We did get rid of the babysitter though," Keara grinned.
"'Bout time, too."
"Wanna explore a bit instead of going to the library?"
"Sure, why not? Maybe we'll find some more passages and rooms that we can put on the Map."
"We might. You never know. Race you!" and with that, Keara took off running.
"To where?!" Sirius took off after her.
"The dungeons! Last one there has to say they love Snape!"
They were careful not to run into any other students or teachers. They were running too fast for any of the teachers to recognize who it was that was wreaking terror on the poor first years who were afraid of being ran over on their way to class.
Once they got there, Sirius asked, "So now. now what do we do?" He was out of breath. They had been running for the past fifteen minutes and had both reached the dungeons at the exact same time.
"Well, we both have to say it," Keara stated as if it were obvious. "On the count of three. One. Two. THREE!"
"They love Snape." Each said at the same time.
"Hey!" They yelled together and both burst out laughing.
"You didn't think I'd catch that loop hole did you?" Sirius laughed accusingly.
"Of course I didn't," Keara grinned. "I thought you might be too tired to think of it. Dev wouldn't have. He trusts me too much sometimes. Not that I'm complaining about that."
"I'm not Dev and I wouldn't be a Marauder if I didn't catch things like that."
"Good point."
"You'd make a good Marauder yourself."
"You really think so?"
"Of course I do."
"Thank you. I think that's one of the highest compliments that I've ever received."
"It should be," Sirius leaned down and kissed her nose which made her giggle. He took her hand. "Come on. Let's explore." Sirius was glad that he still had the Map in his pocket from when James had given it to him days before. That way he could add to the map as they went along. The dungeons hadn't been one of the places they had worked on exploring yet, so he guessed that he and Keara would find a lot to add.
"Why does Devlynn call her Tryst?" Sirius was sure that Diablo had to know the answer to that. After all, he was Dev's best friend.
"Her middle name is Trystan. Dev's the only one she'll let use that nick- name so far, other then the rest of her family." Diablo completely misinterpreted the meaning of Sirius' mischievous grin thinking that he thought it funny to watch Keara impersonate a bouncy ball. He hadn't realized that Sirius hadn't noticed her hyperactivity yet. He would soon, it was hard to not notice when she accidentally knocked over a chair and it made a loud thud as it crashed onto the floor knocking Harry out of it.
"OW! Dev I TOLD you that this would happen! If you ask me I'd swear she has it in for me!" Harry yelled across the room to Dev who merely laughed.
"You're the one who didn't move out of the way," Dev grinned.
"Keara's bouncing off the walls! She's LITERALLY bouncing off the WALLS! Like a rubber ball or something!" Sirius stared in shock as a black blur swooshed by him narrowly missing him and Diablo.
"Don't worry. She does that a lot." Sirius turned to see Diablo grinning. He had just been staring open mouthed at Keara who resembled more of a blur than a young woman anymore. Dev had stolen her away from him half an hour ago to 'catch up' as Dev had called it. Sirius wasn't sure what they had been talking about, but she had ended up getting hyper and Dev had laughed. Sirius assumed that Dev had done it on purpose to scare him away from his sister. If that had been the objective, it hadn't worked. It was too much fun to irritate Devlynn. Sirius hoped that he could get a chance to talk to Keara and get her to go along with his little prank on her brother. She seemed to be the type that would be willing to.
"Doesn't she get hurt?"
"She used to."
"What, did she finally lose all feeling in her nerves?" Sirius snorted and thought that she was probably just about as insane as he was.
"Nah, she wouldn't do it if it hurt. When she was little she couldn't help it though. She might be crazy when she's hyper but she's not dumb."
"Then why doesn't it hurt her anymore?"
"Well, when she was about eight, her Mum and Dad got tired of her breaking bones and such so they stuck her on an all sugar diet until they could find a charm that would keep her from getting hurt."
"All sugar? Wouldn't that make it worse?"
"That's what I thought, too when Dev told me. She was bouncing off the walls one day and her Grandma came over for a visit and gave her some chocolate for a treat. She hadn't known that Keara was hyper so she didn't think anything of it. Her Mum flipped when Dev ran and told her that Grandma gave Keara chocolate while she was hyper. She went looking for Keara and found her peacefully sitting on the living room floor playing with her toys while she finished off her treat. They figured out that sugar calms her down and if she eats enough of it it'll eventually put her to sleep, albeit she'll feel extremely sick, but she'd still be calm. They conducted a little experiment every time she got hyper and gave her sugar. Worked every time. Luckily they didn't have to put her on the sugar diet for long. She doesn't tend to like too many sweets. Makes her feel sick."
"How long was it for?"
"A little less than a day. Her parents found a spell that would in a way turn her to rubber or at least it makes her look that way when she 'hits' walls. What it actually does is quicken her reflexes so that she can cushion herself to the impact in an extremely short amount of time. It takes less than a second so to her, while she bounces, she feels as if she's going very slow when in reality she's going too fast for anyone to really see any more than a blur," Diablo laughed. "The spell's only supposed to kick in when she's hyper. Otherwise it just wouldn't be fair to anyone trying to prank her, although I think she figured out how to make it kick in whenever she wants too because she moves inhumanly fast sometimes. That's why when we pull pranks on Snape we use her. She's never gotten caught. She once used a spell that washed his hair, bubbles and all, while he walked down the hallway. It was hilarious; she made him act as if he were in the shower and sing about caterpillars. Anytime a student looked at him funny or snickered, she made him snap that he actually did take showers but he preferred to look like a greasy git. Snape was so mad when he couldn't figure out who had done it," Diablo burst into a fit of laughter shortly followed by Sirius joining in. "Th.th' best part was. Keara got. She got PICTURES. an'. an' posted them. i'. Hogsmeade! Snape refused to go into Hogsmeade for the rest of the year!"
"I remember doing that. Slytherin got one hundred points taken away for it because Snape thought only the Slytherins were smart enough to pull it off," Keara grinned as she plopped down on Sirius' lap clearly not as hyper as she had been before, but still in a cheerful mood.
"You're a fruitcake. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"No one other than you about a bazillion times already."
"So then you're still in denial about it?"
"I can't be in denial about something that doesn't have at least some basis in fact to begin with. Does it look like I'm made of dried fruit and some other inedible substance and do I resemble a brick?"
"I think she looks very edible so she can't be a fruitcake whatever that is," Sirius grinned as Keara blushed.
"It's a Muggle thing," Diablo explained.
"See? So therefore I can't be a fruitcake. I'm definitely no Muggle, not that I have any problems with them, but I'm still not one of them," she grinned knowing that she had won that argument. She decided not to read too much into Sirius' comment. He was probably just teasing anyway and did that kind of thing with every girl.
"Humph. You're still a fruitcake," Diablo glared as Keara just rolled her eyes while she looked at Sirius clearly implying that she felt sympathy for Diablo. Sirius laughed and gave a smug smile over the top of Keara's head at Devlynn who was glaring at him. Sirius knew that Dev wouldn't do anything in front of Keara because it might embarrass her or piss her off. He respected that. Now all he had to do was stay around her, so that Dev didn't have a chance to get to him. He wasn't all too sure of what Devlynn was capable of yet.
~ * ~
There were a few things Keara loved about the Muggle world. One being her electric guitar upon which she had placed a charm so that she wouldn't need electricity, but could still get the same desired effect. Another was a great source of entertainment on unsuspecting brothers and friends. Dev gave a yell when the first cool contact of the silly string hit him in the side of the face. He then conjured up his own can and officially started the Silly Sting War when everyone looked down to find their own cans laying in their hands. It took Ron a little longer than everyone else to figure out how to work them, but he joined in full heartedly after he had it all figured out and learned not to point the side with the hole at his face. It had been a nasty shock when instead of it shooting at Hermione, it had hit him in the face the first time. The war lasted long into the night and sometime between three and four they headed off to bed leaving the mess to be dealt with in the morning being too exhausted to deal with it then.
Keara shared the smaller bedroom that night with Ginny, Lily and Hermione since there were fewer girls than boys. Diablo, Devlynn, Zeta, Psi, James, Remus, Sirius, Harry and Ron shared the larger one that night.
The gang trudged down to breakfast the next morning arriving well after everyone else had, but not caring. They sat down silently and ate. They were still tired from the previous night.
"I'm gonna head to the library for a little while. I'll be back later when your classes are done," Keara got up to leave after she had finished eating.
"I'll come with you."
"If you want to, Sirius. I'm not very interesting while I'm reading."
"That's alright. I'll still come," Sirius didn't miss the look that Dev gave Diablo telling him to tag along and watch the two of them.
"I'll come, too," Diablo said hastily. "At least for a little while before class starts. I have to finish some homework for it anyway."
"Uh, okay," Keara shot a suspicious glance at Dev who only shrugged and told her to have fun. The three left the room and headed off in the direction of the library.
"Dev wanted you to come didn't he?" Keara asked after a few minutes. Diablo wisely chose not to respond. "Honestly, I don't know why he doesn't trust me to be anywhere within fifty feet of Sirius. He wouldn't hurt me. Would you, Paddy?" Keara smiled brightly up at Sirius.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Tryst," Sirius smiled back down at her. She was a good number of inches shorter than he was. He wondered if he'd get away with using that particular nickname. He assumed it was okay when she only smiled more at him.
"See? I told you, Diablo. He's harmless." Diablo made an unintelligent sound. He knew Dev would not be happy with how close Sirius was getting. Keara didn't even let him call her Tryst and he'd been like a brother to her since he was five.
"I wouldn't say I'm harmless, but I'd never intentionally hurt you," Sirius corrected, taking her hand and kissing it.
"Aw, you're more of a knight in shining armor than Sir Cadogan. Last time I saw him he wanted to fight me," She grinned. "And well last time I checked his armor was still grass stained from falling off of his fat pony. Not at all shiny," she giggled.
"You really need to change your look, Keara. You know that?" Diablo interrupted them before they had a chance to make him feel any sicker than he was already beginning to feel.
"Why?" Keara was already sounding bored with the conversation as if she'd had it numerous times in the past, which she had.
"Because it's boring." 'Thank god it worked,' Diablo thought.
"How is it boring?"
"Because you're always in black and then an occasional red when you dress up which isn't often."
"There's something wrong with that?"
"Yes. You look exactly the same every day. Your hair is always up the same way and you're always in black. Aren't I right Sirius?"
"Actually, yesterday it was in a messy bun and today it's in a ponytail. Yesterday she wore a turtleneck and shorts and today she's wearing a tee shirt and pants," Sirius grinned at Diablo knowing that he wouldn't be happy to hear that he didn't agree. "She's also got a silver ball chain necklace along with another silver necklace that has two turquoise stones in it, so she's not entirely in black."
"Whose side are you on?!" Diablo looked outraged. Sirius was supposed to support him not her. Guys were supposed to stick together.
"Hers," Sirius grinned and pointed at Keara. "I think she looks great."
"Aww, thank you," Keara stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
"I still say you need a new look," Diablo just didn't know how to give up before he got too far behind.
"And what do you suggest I wear then?" Keara looked slightly put off and irritated with him.
"Why don't you try wearing a lamp shade?" Diablo suggested 'helpfully.'
"And what may I ask is that?" she knew perfectly well what one was. One of her best friends back in the states was a Muggle, but she had a feeling Diablo didn't know what one was.
"It's a Muggle thing," Diablo shrugged.
"Why is everything a Muggle thing with you? You're a pureblood!"
"Uh."
"Do you even know what a lampshade is?"
"Uh, well it's a. Um and it's.uh." Diablo stuttered trying to think of what it could actually be. "It uh, gives shade to lamps. so they uh. don't get too hot."
"In other words no you don't know."
"No. Not really," Diablo blushed then glared at Sirius who had started sniggering.
"I think you've been spending too much time in Muggle Studies. Last I knew, you've never even seen half of the Muggle stuff you talk about," Keara grinned as Diablo stalked off. "You know what one is?"
"Nope. Not a clue. Can't be too important though," Sirius shrugged.
"Guess not, but you'd think he'd learn to leave my wardrobe alone by now. He's been nagging at me about it for years and it hasn't gotten him anywhere. We did get rid of the babysitter though," Keara grinned.
"'Bout time, too."
"Wanna explore a bit instead of going to the library?"
"Sure, why not? Maybe we'll find some more passages and rooms that we can put on the Map."
"We might. You never know. Race you!" and with that, Keara took off running.
"To where?!" Sirius took off after her.
"The dungeons! Last one there has to say they love Snape!"
They were careful not to run into any other students or teachers. They were running too fast for any of the teachers to recognize who it was that was wreaking terror on the poor first years who were afraid of being ran over on their way to class.
Once they got there, Sirius asked, "So now. now what do we do?" He was out of breath. They had been running for the past fifteen minutes and had both reached the dungeons at the exact same time.
"Well, we both have to say it," Keara stated as if it were obvious. "On the count of three. One. Two. THREE!"
"They love Snape." Each said at the same time.
"Hey!" They yelled together and both burst out laughing.
"You didn't think I'd catch that loop hole did you?" Sirius laughed accusingly.
"Of course I didn't," Keara grinned. "I thought you might be too tired to think of it. Dev wouldn't have. He trusts me too much sometimes. Not that I'm complaining about that."
"I'm not Dev and I wouldn't be a Marauder if I didn't catch things like that."
"Good point."
"You'd make a good Marauder yourself."
"You really think so?"
"Of course I do."
"Thank you. I think that's one of the highest compliments that I've ever received."
"It should be," Sirius leaned down and kissed her nose which made her giggle. He took her hand. "Come on. Let's explore." Sirius was glad that he still had the Map in his pocket from when James had given it to him days before. That way he could add to the map as they went along. The dungeons hadn't been one of the places they had worked on exploring yet, so he guessed that he and Keara would find a lot to add.