Apple or Cherry?

Part B (2/3)

Contact at: tenshi_no_nozomi@hotmail.com

Author's Blurb:
This is probably going to be the shortest out of the three chapters... I should think so, anyhow. Oh! Also... the letter from Usagi's mother will be centered and written in bold.

And you know how I said this would probably be the shortest chapter? … I think I lied. ^^;; (I hope I did…)

I was surprised by the number of reviews I got! And, uhm, the numbers of semi-violent reviews… ^^;; lol. People, remember- boys are defective by nature. It's in their gender. So don't be so harsh on poor Siri…

Thanks to:

Usa-chan for kindly beta reading this for me. Doomo arigato for all of your suggestions! This work would not be as good as it is if it weren't for her!

Also! Thanks to all of the wonderful, wonderful people who reviewed my work! I received 25 reviews for the first chapter alone, plus at least two reviews sent to my email! I can't even list all of your names!! Well, I could, but it would delay the update. Do you really want that? ( I promise, on the last chappie I will list all of the people reviewed me, even though it may take half a page.)

But you guys don't know how much I really appreciate the way you took the time to review for me. Thank you ever so much- it was inspiring!

****



The gossip and whispers and excited conversations that had sprung up after Usagi's departure had been amazing, almost deafening. Sirius had clutched at his cheek for a long time, oblivious to the whole world. It had taken all of them to drag Sirius to the library where they might not be bothered.

"Wow! Did you see that girl? She was livid," Peter commented, sounding awed and a little cowed. "She reminded me of my mum..."

"Somehow I'm not sure your mother would appreciate that comparison," James replied, shaking his head. Her anger had been something to marvel at, but at the same time...

Remus returned from Madame Pomfrey's office with a bag of ice. "She won't give me a healing spell," he explained. "She said you'd have to do it the muggle way if you wouldn't go in to see her."

Sirius pressed the cool bag wrapped in a paper towel to his cheek, looking just as silent and thoughtful as he had for about the past half hour. Lily was beginning to get annoyed; the shock should have worn off by now.

So what if every girl in the world didn't worship the ground he walked on? It would be good for Sirius to learn a lesson or two before he got in over his head at marriage and his wife had to beat him into complacency.

"I can't believe you, Sirius. I mean, that girl was ready to accept your apology, and then you went and screwed it up. Why did you do that," she demanded, her hands on her hips, scowling at Sirius.

Sirius frowned back at her, finally coming out of his stupor. "I didn't mean to," he growled sullenly.

Lily sighed, and sat back on a stool. "Well, I guess it's not your fault you're a failure... But that girl had some points," Lily commented, growing a bit thoughtful. She was teasing, of course, but she caught a look in Sirius's eyes that was something akin to a brief flash of pain.

Sirius would never have bothered to be offended by something she said, so what was... It dawned on her that she'd seen that same expression of his face when Usagi had slapped him. A flash of hurt, almost betrayal...

Was it possible that Sirius had a light crush on that girl? Interesting...

But they'll never get together at this rate. Not after Sirius made such a total ass of himself. A conniving grin slowly spread across Lily's face. Maybe it was time to start playing matchmaker...

"After all," she went on, "you are incredibly insensitive, or at least a total block head."

"You don't what you're talking about," Sirius growled back, beginning to feel more than offended.

"Don't I, though? I mean, even Peter is more of a man than you are..."

At once, both parties cried out in protest at Lily's claim. James felt very nervous about this- he could tell that Lily was up to something, but he wasn't sure what. Remus just watched the sparks fly as the two argued amongst themselves.

"It's only the truth! A real man would have apologized to her instead of trying to place the blame on her just because he couldn't stand to take the blame!"

"That's not what happened," Sirius protested.

"Then what did? I bet you couldn't have apologzed to that girl and ever really have meant it. The point of that pie- as I've heard- that you so callously destroyed-"

Sirius interrupted Lily's dramatics, practically yelling at the top of his lungs by now. "Damn it, that was Snape's fault!"

The sudden sound of a wand being wrapped on a desk and an insistent 'shh'ing sound broke through their argument. From behind her desk, the librarian was giving them the whole lot of them a death glare. She wrapped on the scroll on the wall where the words 'No Talking' were clearly printed in several languages.

Both parties lowered their voices considerably, but continued to argue.

"As I was saying, that pie was supposed to be given to the person she loved as a 'confession of love," Lily hissed, waiting to see if Sirius would take the bait.

"Confession of-" Sirius's eyes widened as he absorbed that information. There was a curious look to his eyes, half-delighted almost... Before the look was promptly brushed away, though not before Lily got enough proof that she could possibly need.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of in my life," he hissed.

"I bet she didn't think it was stupid," Lily defended. "That pie was probably very important to her."

Sirius snorted in return. "Then she should just make antoher one," he replied dismissively... trying to hold off the curious thoughts at war in his mind.

Who would she have given it to...?

"Is that what you think, then," Lily said, feeling more than a little angry at Sirius's lack of compassion. She wouldn't go so far as to say he was completely insensitive, but he obviously didn't understand what it meant to put your heart into something.

"Well, then I guess you wouldn't mind making one for her to offer as a sincere apology. Maybe then you'll understand just how much something like that can mean to someone!"

Sirius let out a loud laugh, earning him another death glare. He struggled to keep his voice low as he replied. "Hell, no. Like I'd ever do something so stupid."

And yet...

Lily could see a small flicker in his eyes of interest despite his protests. She was winning! It was time to pull out the big guns, now. "Oh, I see.... Well, if you're afraid to apologize to her, well, then I guess there's not much anyone can do..."

There was nothing like the appeal to the male ego to get them going. And if that didn't do it, then as an extra measure of procaution... "I wonder what Severus and Lucius would think if they knew you were afraid to apologize to one girl...?"

Sirius had to bite the cheek of his mouth to restrain himself from yelling at the top of his lungs. "I'm not afraid of apologizing to anyone. And making a pie'd be a synch."

Lily couldn't help but feel like the cat that had managed to capture the canary and get a hold of the cream as well. Lily: 2, Sirius: 0. "Then you accept the challenge," she asked, unable to stop the sly tone from creeping out of her voice.

"Of course, you stupid tomboy," Sirius shouted, using his usual insult for her when he was pissed off at her.... which was more often than not.

"We're going to get kicked out of the library for good, aren't we," Peter asked.

"It would seem that way," Remus replied as the librarian began to stalk towards them, her popping veins looking rather unhealthy.

**


Usagi sat quietly on her bed, hugging her plush bunny close to her body. There was silence in the room at the moment, as most people were off with their friends doing whatever they did in their free time. She cuddled her plush doll a little bit closer and heaved a large sigh from her chest. The day's events had exhausted her, and truth to tell... she was already beginning to regret her actions.

She hadn't treated him with any consideration, slapping him like that. If anything, she was just like him- humiliating him in front of all sorts of people, and then leaving him stranded. She was sure that his friends would come to his aid, but that wasn't the point.

No. I was worse... Above all that, I called him names. Usagi squeezed her eyes shut and breathed deeply, despite the fact that she had no tears left in her to cry. I acted like a spoiled child.

There was no point in dwelling in the past, she knew, or in feeling sorry for herself. But it was so much easier to state those truths than to follow them, and Usagi had never been very good at taking advice.

Sighing to herself again, Usagi pulled out a small scroll from her book bag. It was from her mother, and she had received it during mail call earlier in the day, though between all of the fiascos... she had never had the time to open it. Usagi gently ripped the red and gold seal on the scroll, and spread it out to read.

Dear Usagi,


 How are things going for you? I know with Christmas having passed only a short while ago, you are most likely recovering from having to study and overwork yourself. Were your exams hard?

A few of your friends stopped by the other day-- the ones that you told about you going off to a foreign school. They seemed so shocked that you hadn't come back yet. I suppose the silly muggles thought you were going to fail, or find it too hard and simply give up and come home.

Your brother's been a bit irritated. Your father and I think it's because he hasn't shown much in the way of magical potential, and here we are spouting off about you every day. I think maybe he could use a little rest...

Which isn't to say that we are going to forget you or stop talking about you. You've made the both of us- no, all of us- terribly proud. I'm so happy that I was able to give you what I couldn't have myself. I'm a little jealous, I must admit, but whenever we receive those little photos of you with your new friends, I just feel my heart about to burst.

Anyhow, I know that you must have been disappointed about you not being able to come home for Christmas. I'm very sorry about that, dear. But with your father working over time during the busy season and the emergency that we had last-minute... Well, we were very grateful that Dumbledoor was so kind.

Please try to understand that we never intended for you to have to stay there. We all missed you very much- I know I was not the only person lonely. Christmas just isn't really Christmas without your loved ones, even if you have all the decorations in the world.

We were thinking, though, that we'd come and pick you up during the Easter holidays. I know you probably would have preferred for this to be the other way around, but we really do miss you. I want to see my little girl again before Summer rolls around. I feel like you're growing all up, and I'm not even around to see it...

That's pretty much it. Send us an owl when you get the chance, dear- but don't feel rushed.

Love,
Mommy

PS: When do you plan on getting yourself a boyfriend? I want grandchildren!

Usagi gave a small, dry laugh at the last part. It was a bit of an inside joke- her father often times joked that just after Shingo was born, Ikuko began to whine about grandchildren (even though at the time Usagi would have been about two, almost three).

Her smile faded as she thought about the day's events. I wonder what she'd say if she knew I'd gone off and ruined my chances of being with the person I love... She'd probably start trying to train me to properly propose. Another small smile haunted her lips momentarily.

So, her friends had come to see if she had come home and had been too ashamed to return to school...? Usagi couldn't help but feel a small wave of anger- which normally would have been about the size of a tsunami- roll through her.

When she had told them she was 'transferring' to a foreign school in Europe in order to get a better education, they had all nearly laughed. Rei and Makoto had even placed bets on how soon it would be till she dropped out.

She couldn't really blame them, though. Between all of her studying and trying to fight as a senshi, she had stretched herself far too thin- consequently, she became a horrible student, always sleeping in, coming in late, and hardly ever doing her homework.

Usagi wasn't a very physical person- she'd nearly flunked Phys ED in elementary school, if such a thing were possible- and she didn't like physical violence. Fighting youmas had been a terrifying experience for her, from the beginning up until the very end.

In Usagi's opinion, they were too young to be out fighting the forces of evil- and if her father ever found out that she had ever worn a pleated mini-skirt around town along with boots... he'd murder her no matter the circumstances. As Luna had once pointed out to her, though, you couldn't choose when evil would strike. You just had to make do.

Usagi had handed over her moon wand the day she'd left Japan. Not wanting to possibly lure any monsters out of Japan, she had figured she could defend herself with the wand her mother bought for her. (1) Plus they'd need it to finish off the youma. Why they still had refused to believe it even after that, she didn't know.

She wondered briefly if they were all right, but figured since they were still alive that they were just fine. Not to mention the fact that she'd- thankfully- never gotten any emergency rings on her Communicator. She still had a feeling that when she got back, she'd be in for an earful.

Christmas... Usagi had so been looking forward to Christmas. The plan was she'd take the Hogwarts Express back to the train station, her parents would pick her up, and they'd Portkey back home. It had been only a couple of days 'till Winter Break that Dumbledoor had broken it to her that there had been a family emergency, and that instead of going home... she'd stay there for winter break.

Usagi had been, ultimately, crushed. She had missed her friends and family so dearly, and even though she would still have people to celebrate with... it hadn't seemed the same. Not to mention that the few friends she'd made here were leaving for the holidays.

In fact, on Christmas Eve, she'd cried so hard and so long that when she got up in the morning, her eyes were swollen shut for a whole twenty minutes. She must have made a sad picture on Christmas Morning, red eyed and red-nosed as Rudolf. But if anybody had noticed, they hadn't said anything, aside from giving her pitying or curious looks.

If anything, though, it was a pretty good day- because when she'd sat down to eat she'd ended up across from Sirius, who'd shared a cracker (1) with her. When the paper had busted open, the confetti had fallen, and both of them had purple faces... when he had started laughing at the two of them... Usagi had smiled, feeling alright again.

Why. Why did you continue to show me those sweet, wonderful sides of you... and then go and prove me wrong? Usagi sighed. She was tired of thinking things over, and would rather do something spontaneous... but she was just too tired. She felt worn and cold and exhausted in seemingly every way.

The room to the girls' dormitory opened, and in strode Lily, much to her shock. The other girl looked around, spotted Usagi, and headed right over. I wish I had confidence like that…

Usagi felt her stomach twist into nervous, apprehensive knots. Would she be mad about the way she'd treated Sirius earlier? Of course she would. She wondered if the older girl would just make a cold comment, chew her out, or beat her up.

"That pie," Lily began. "Who did you make it for?"

Of all the things Usagi had been expecting the other girl to ask, that hadn't been it. Not in a million years would she have guessed. "Huh," Usagi asked, confused, sitting up.

"Your pie- I know it was kind of an 'aphrodisiac' to give to the person that you love. In order to bind them to you, or something."

For a moment, Usagi said nothing. Very quietly, with lowered eyes, she responded, "You're supposed to give it to the person you love the most, as symbolism of offering yourself to them... and when they accept it and eat it, that's supposed to be symbolism of them reciprocating that love. Though I don't know how truthful the second would be with an aphrodisiac in it..."

Lily's eyes widened in surprise; she would have thought for sure that the teachers would have forbidden something like that. An intrusion of free will to that proportion wasn't generally accepted very well by the school, and could result in the perpetrator's expulsion because of how hard it was to break aphrodisiacs, especially when they'd been consumed.

"You mean there was an aphrodisiac in you pie," she asked, sounding more amazed than she meant to. In truth, she should have been disgusted by such an impulsive, selfish love- the idea of making someone return your love wasn't exactly one Lily liked.

Usagi's eyes instantly rose to meet hers, becoming almost steely. "No," she replied just as softly as before. "That was strictly prohibited for us to do by the teacher." She paused for a moment, as though considering her words before adding, "And I would never have put one in, anyhow. I want my love to be returned truly."

Lily remained quiet for a moment, before repeating her question. "Who were you going to give it to?"

Instantly Usagi blushed. "That's kind of personal, don't you think?"

Lily fought off a grin. "Really, though. I wanna know- who were you going to give it to?"

Usagi rose from her seat hastily, gathering her things to take a bath. She had decided to skip dinner for once- gasp!- and go to bed early. She was hungrier for sleep, anyhow. "It doesn't really matter now, does it," she asked, skirting around the question as she walked off.

"Please," the older girl pleaded with her, stopping her in her tracks. "Please, I need to know-- who were you going to give that pie to," she demanded once more, sounding almost beseeching.

Usagi slowly turned back around and met the girl's gaze with a solemn look of her own. She studied the other girl's eyes for a moment, before reaching her conclusion. Somehow, in some way, despite- or perhaps because of- her actions, the girl had guessed.

"You shouldn't ask questions that you already know the answers to," Usagi replied steadily before heading to the shower room.

**

Professor McGonagall sighed to herself. It was on days like this that she was glad she ordered imported tea from China, spelled strongly against colds, fevers, and above all… migraines. It would have been horribly bitter if it weren't for the sweet honey in it.

"Did I do the wrong thing, Albus," she asked, taking a sip of the naturally sweetened tea.

"Why do you ask that, Minerva," he asked, looking up from some paper work and pushing his spectacles up his nose. Even now, when both adults were being perfectly serious, his eyes still sparkled with that mischievous air.

"To send those boys to your office. To request that they serve detention with Filch. To have them apologize."

Dumbledoor placed his quill in his ink jar and leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands thoughtfully. "You did the right thing, Minerva. They earned punishment this time- you are not the only person who has warned them against fighting.

"As for the girl… It would probably do them good to learn to apologize. I don't think any of them have learned how to do it yet."

Professor McGonagall became thoughtful herself for a moment, uncertain if she should reveal  the rumors she'd heard running around about her own students. Would it make her sound unable to control her own charges…?

"From what I've heard, the young lady in question reacted… very badly to Mr. Black's apology."

"Oh, did she," Dumbledoor asked, sounding amused this time. Sure enough, his bright eyes twinkled knowingly. Perhaps he knew before I even said anything…?

"Should she be disciplined, sir?"

For a moment, Dumbledoor didn't answer. Instead, he got up and stared out of one his bay windows. "Normally, I might say yes… But… We will not always be around to guard these children. It would be best if we leave their interactions and the solutions to their problems for them to solve…

"Though I must say it's odd that Ms. Tsukino would resort to physical violence, I do not think we will have to much to worry about from her. She's a more cheerful, sweet person. In fact," he said, concluding as well as perhaps convincing and speaking to himself, "much good might come out of this."

"Headmaster," McGonagall asked, feeling confused. She couldn't always keep up with Albus; his mental wanderings were too much for her to try to keep up with. The man was wise, kind, and forgiving, but he was also a genius- which meant he wasn't always totally sane.

"Minerva, my dear, we must let these children grow up. For now, let them be- if things continue to go downhill, then we will intervene."

The older man sat back down, adjusted the glowing orb of light over head, and picked up his quill to write again.

**

Lily grinned to herself, quite pleased with her findings. It had taken a good deal of digging, but they'd managed to come up with a copy of that recipe for an Aphrodisiac Pie- which, despite its unoriginality, had been its name. Provided, they'd had to sneak into the Forbidden Books area with James's Invisibility Cloak, but the risk was worth the cause.

The risk? That if they got caught back not only in the Forbidden Books section but up after curfew wandering around… It'd be more than a week with Filch and Mrs. Norris for the both of them.

And with only a few alterations, it'll be just fine… We'll call it a 'Confession Pie' instead, she decided. She quickly copied down the recipe, taking care to make sure all of the ingredients were spelled correctly and that she had the correct numbers written as well.

"Just where are we going to get the ingredients for this, Lily," Sirius asked, sounding half-annoyed and half-curious.

"The only place in Hogwarts where food's kept, Sirius," she said, giving him a look that said 'Duh!' all over it. "The kitchens."

Sirius understood immediately. The House Elves in the kitchens were only all too happy to shove food on you, they'd discovered one year. They hadn't spent a single night hungry, that was for sure. Heck, they might even make the pie for Sirius…

But do you really want that, something inside of him asked. Do you want to take credit for something a House Elf did and try to apologize to her with that? That's not really the point, is it.

Sirius was more than a bit confused. His cheek still stung from earlier in the day, though if he'd just break down and see Madame Pompfrey… The strange thing about that was that it almost felt like an honor to wear the proof of her anger.

He knew that she put up with a lot of razzing her first year. Every once and a while, there would be some comment about her ethnicity, but in most cases, it wasn't her getting mad and casting a curse on the unlucky bastard- more often than not, a Slytherin.

Even he had seen the way her eyes sometimes looked far off and sad. That Christmas she had looked heart broken and ready to cry. He'd felt for her, being an unwanted son himself at his home, and done his best to cheer her up.

You don't know much about her, do you, that same small voice pointed out. How can you be so sure that you love someone when you don't even know about them?

It was true. He didn't know about her family or her background, and he didn't know what she liked to do or wanted to be. He'd seen, though, her smiling face around the school enough times to have her grinning face branded into his mind- there was such sincerity in that smile even when she was obviously sad, such a genuine feeling that the world wasn't so bad after all, that you wanted to go along and smile with her.

He'd certainly felt it when she'd slapped him. Oh, he'd felt the force of her hand on his face and the stabbing pain from her words… Neither of those had compared to the feeling in his heart, though. He'd felt like he'd gone and swallowed it and was ready for it to come out the other end.

I felt like something inside was dying

It had been an awful sensation, not one he was accustomed to. Like falling forever and ever while you were making a swoop on your broom, without that rush of adrenaline. Like his stomach was dropping away from him as well…

It had matched the intensity of the hurt in her azure eyes. Those eyes couldn't hide anything from anyone, didn't even bother trying to. They were too complex, though, to be understood- to complex and too raw and too real, and if you looked at them too long then you might just end up feeling along with her…

He'd thought maybe that was why he'd felt so hurt and betrayed and simply empty when she'd walked off without looking back at. Wasn't worth her time… If she'd slowed down, given him time to recover and figure out just what an idiot he was and how much he was beginning to care, then he probably would have crawled to her on hands and knees and begged for mercy.

That's why I love her. It doesn't make sense, so… I'm going to find out, he thought with finality. He was pleased when the voice didn't pipe up this time, didn't try to distract him.

"Sirius," Lily hissed, sounding agitated. He snapped to attention and out of his reverie- what did she want…?

"Didn't you hear me trying to talk to you? We have to get going now, before we get caught! And besides, if we want any sleep tonight, we need to get cracking on that pie!"

Sirius nodded in agreement, climbed to his feet, and ducked under the shelter of the invisibility cloak with Lily.

****

(1) – Originally, this was written plain 'wand,' and I'm afraid I confused my beta-reader… What I mean is, that she left her moon wand in Japan, but her mother bought her a wand made specifically for wizarding needs.

Part B: Fin!