Chapter 2


"Victoria!" an overly excited voice called upstairs.


"Yes?" she answered back, groggily opening one eye. She rolled over and looked at the clock, which read eight o'clock in the morning.

"Come here quick!" Juliana begged. "I'm downstairs in the living room."

"Coming, coming," she yawned, wondering what was so important that she needed to leave the bed before noon. Victoria padded down the staircase, down the hallway, and finally found the living room.

"Look, it's him." Juliana's nose was practically touching the windowpane.

"It's who?" She rubbed her eyes and walked over to the window. Her friend discreetly pointed to the next-door neighbor's front porch. Victoria gasped loudly. "Oh, no. Not him."

"Yes, him. I was in the kitchen getting a glass of water, when I saw him outside. I wonder what he's doing next door?"

"Good question." Victoria's face reddened with anger at the mere sight of the young man standing outside.

"I wonder what business he has with Stephen Potter?" Juliana inquired curiously.

"You mean to tell me that that insufferable, horrid git lives next door?" she seethed.

"Yes, he bought the house a couple of months ago. Why, do you know him?"

"Unfortunately. We went to school together. If it were up to my parents, they'd have married me off to him by now. He's exactly the type of boring prat they want me to suffer through life with," she said sourly.

"He can't be but so boring if he's talking to William Black." Juliana's voice pronounced the last two words in a very high-pitched tone.

"You have no idea." Something suddenly occurred to Victoria. "I bet they're talking about work. Both of them work at Gringotts' Bank with my father, I think. I remember seeing William there a couple of months ago, and I'd bet anything that dull Stephen took a job at the bank when he graduated."

"A banker. Well, that's not exactly creative, but still respectable."

"Listen to you! You have half of a conversation with a man and you're completely nutters over him."

Juliana tilted her head in an effort to see the porch more clearly. "It's called love at first sight. I bet that you fancy the boy next door."

"You are off your nut." Victoria's entire face was pursed. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much," she teased, grinning evilly.

"Oh, come on. Stephen and I have absolutely nothing in common. In fact, we were mortal enemies at Hogwarts, especially seventh year when were stuck doing stuff together as Head Boy and Girl. We can't be in the same room for two minutes without being at each other's throats."

"Still protesting," Juliana said in a singsong voice, wheeling towards the kitchen. "Besides, don't opposites attract?"

Victoria frowned, carefully studying him for the first time. He wasn't so bad looking, really. Pretty cute, if she was totally honest with herself. And, he was incredibly clever. Furious at herself for thinking about him this way, she took out her wand and turned his hair bright blue. She watched William's face turn red from trying not to laugh, and couldn't help herself. Against all common sense, she threw open the window and stuck out her head.

"Hey, Potter – how do you like your new look?" she screamed.

Stephen instantly recognized her voice and shot her a look of pure venom. "What are you doing here, Gates? And what did you do to me?"

"For a Ravenclaw, you're being awfully daft this morning. Obviously I live here. As for your hair, I think it's a marked improvement over your usual brown scraggly mop," she hollered, making fun of his multi-directional hair. No matter what he did to it; it was always messy, which gave him an absent-minded professor look. She laughed hysterically as he tried to charm out the color.

"Ok, you've had your laugh. Now fix my hair!" Stephen roared.

"Nope. Have a good day, and please tell Daddy I said hello if you see him. Thank you!" she answered sweetly, swiftly closing the window. When she turned around, Juliana was looking at her with an amused smile. "What?"

"Oh, yeah. You're definitely in love with him," she pronounced.

"I am not!" Victoria argued.

~~~~~

"So, what can I get for you?" Victoria asked, removing a small quill from her back pocket and smiling at the handsome café patron.

One of the things she enjoyed the most about her work is the constant stream of good-looking men. She never had a lack of dates for the weekend, or when she was forced to attend one of her parents' boring dinners. And this dark-haired stranger has a lot of potential, she thought with an internal smile.

"Do you serve some sort of Colombian blend coffee?" he inquired.

"Sure do."

"Great. I'll take the largest cup you serve." He smiled, and she felt a little weak-kneed as she cheerfully walked back to the kitchen.

"What's got you in such a great mood?" Juliana asked teasingly, knowing full well what her friend had in mind. In fact, she'd bet anything that this new customer would make an appearance at the house in the next couple of days.

Victoria rolled her eyes and walked back into the café. Her eyes scanned the room briefly, as was her custom whenever she left the kitchen. As usual, William Black was parked at his usual table. But, tonight he wasn't alone.

Curious, she squinted to try to discern the other person through the dim lighting. She dropped her tray with a loud crash and stared with her jaw dropped. Juliana rushed to her side as soon as she heard the noise and began laughing.

"It's not funny," Victoria huffed. "What's he doing here?"

"Probably what everyone else is doing. Getting a cup or two of coffee on his way home from work."

"I don't want him here. It's bad enough that I live beside him and am forced to see him at least once a day. Now he's invaded my work environment?"

"Drama queen."

"You don't understand. I spent seven years at Hogwarts stuck listening to his inane prattle. He's exactly what I'm trying to get away from!"

"So, don't talk to him. Just ignore him," Juliana said practically.

"Easier said than done."

~~~~~

Loud music blared throughout the house, but Juliana barely noticed it or the throngs of people milling about. She was completely focused on the man seated beside her on a small couch in a well-hidden corner. Time had only deepened her feelings for him, and she often found herself counting down the minutes until he got off work.

"You know what amazes me?" William said loudly in her ear to speak over the music.

"What?"

"How this place gets trashed every night, but is completely spotless in the morning."

A small smile played at her lips. "It's a miracle."

"Miracle, huh? The only miracle I believe in is how I managed to find such a beautiful woman, who actually gives me the time of day," he said, turning on the charm.

"Well, right now it's a quarter of three," she replied in a mock serious tone. Her face fell. "Which means that you have to be at work in exactly five hours and fifteen minutes."

"Looks like we have to make the most of the time we have."

He gently brushed away a couple of stray strands of hair from her face and kissed her softly. Unlike most women, Juliana seemed nearly immune to his charm. She was far too smart to fall for his usual lines, which made him want her even more. But, every time he went to get a little closer to her, whether it was physically or otherwise, she pulled away.

He figured that it had something to do with her being mostly wheelchair-bound, and was determined to prove to her that that didn't matter one bit to him. For once, she didn't tense up when he kissed her. In fact, she was fully reciprocating his advances. After a minute or two, he couldn't take the frustration any longer.

"Juliana?" he rasped in a barely audible whisper.

"Yes?"

"I, uh, could we go somewhere a little more private? Snogging my girl for half of London to see isn't, um--" he fumbled.

"Sure." She looked up at him through her sultry grey eyes. "Private as in the study, or private as in my bedroom?"

William didn't know whether or not he should answer the question honestly, because he had the distinct feeling that if he got too forward with her, he'd find himself on the receiving end of her fiery Spanish temper. Or, maybe she wanted him to make a move on her. He sat silently for a minute, puzzling over what to say. "Follow me," Juliana instructed him, taking him by the hand and leading him up the stairs.

She performed an intricate, lengthy set of charms to open the door and pulled him inside. The room faintly smelled of her perfume. It was if her spirit was everywhere, assaulting his senses and driving him crazy.

Compared to her, he felt like a bumbling idiot, especially when she embraced him passionately. He was by no means inexperienced, but this was different. And, he wanted to treat her right, show her how much he cared for her.

"Juliana?" he mumbled between kisses.

"Si?" she murmured in Spanish.

"I just wanted to let you know that you mean everything to me. That is, I love you." He said the last part nervously, never having told a woman that before.

"And I love you."

"You do?" He was genuinely shocked.

"Don't act so surprised. I am hopelessly, desperately in love with you, and if you don't mind, I'd like to continue showing you that fact."

He could make out her wicked grin in the semi-darkness. "By all means." "Just one little problem. My legs, they're getting awfully wobbly and--"

"Oh, I see," William interrupted teasingly, scooping up her tiny frame in his arms and carrying her towards the bed. When he got halfway across the room, a loud banging at the door pierced the silence.

"Liana! Are you in there?" a male voice screamed.

"I'm kind of busy, Diego," she called back distractedly.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Sorry to interrupt your private fiesta, but about fifteen policia are on the front porch demanding to talk to the homeowner. Which happens to be you. So, if your amigo can excuse you for a minute, your presence is required downstairs."

"I can't believe this," Juliana huffed.

William reluctantly put her down and she stomped over to her wheelchair. After straightening her appearance, she opened the door to a smirking Diego. She charmed his robes into a flowered mumu and conjured up a hat with tall peacock feathers sticking out of the top, which she levitated on his head.

She wheeled into the hallway and floated down the staircase, followed by two extremely grumpy, brooding men. Wincing a bit at the mess, she joined Victoria in the foyer, who was trying to fend off the small crowd of policemen gathered around her.

"Sorry," she said apologetically to Juliana, who sighed.

"It's alright," she lied, turning to the officer who appeared to be in charge. "What can I do for you, sir?"

"Well, Miss Piedra, we received a call about an hour ago about a noise violation," he said in an official-sounding tone.

"A noise violation?" Juliana repeated innocently, staring up at him with huge doe eyes. William quietly cracked his knuckles and fought the urge to punch the officer as he openly gawked at her.

"Yes, there's a noise ordinance in this part of Chelsea. But, seeing as how you didn't know about it, we can excuse you this one time." The officer winked and Victoria grabbed the back of William's robes to hold him back. He settled for giving the policeman a withering stare.

"I appreciate it, sir. Would you mind telling us who made the call, so we can go apologize to them properly?" Victoria asked in her most penitent voice as the officer checked his notepad.

"A Mr. Potter," he said, reading.

"I knew it!" she screeched, running out of the front door. Everyone watched, wide-eyed as she pounded on the door like a woman possessed. "Stephen James Potter, open the door right now! I know you're in there, you bloody git. Calling the Muggle police because you're too cowardly to come over here yourself. That's fine, just hide behind--"

"I'm not hiding! I'm trying to sleep. That's generally what people do at three thirty in the morning." He stepped onto the porch, extremely disheveled and yawning.

"Only because you're too daft to be doing anything else!" She threw up her arms, forgetting that they had a captive audience.

"Awww, did I interrupt something?" Stephen mocked her.

"Actually, yes," William answered quietly, swearing to make his coworker's life as miserable as humanly conceivable as a payback.

"What's it to you?" Victoria fired back.

"Nothing, as long as you're not interrupting my sleep! Some people work for a living."

"That does it, Potter."

Everyone watched wordlessly as Victoria charged him and started whaling away. Stephen just laughed, which made her angrier. He effortlessly picked her up in the fireman's carry and walked her over to the property line between the two houses, plopping her down on her rear end in the dirt. She immediately stood up and ran after him.

"I wouldn't do that. Take another step, and I'll have those policemen over there arrest you for trespassing." He crossed his arms and grinned crookedly at her.

"You wouldn't dare," she spat.

"Try me."

Victoria stood for a minute, thinking. She spat on the ground at Stephen's feet, turned on her heel and marched back into the house. He watched her with an amused expression before walking back into his own home.

"Well, where were we?" William asked hopefully after the policemen left, and Victoria had cursed the entire Potter family and gone to bed in a fury.

"I don't know. Care to remind me?" Juliana smiled seductively.

"Gladly."

~~~~~


Victoria stormed into her bedroom and slammed the door, nearly unhinging it. She didn't know what irritated her so much about Stephen Potter. The mere thought of him made her so angry that she screamed into her pillow for at least thirty seconds. Once she was hoarse, she flopped on her back and settled for plotting her revenge.

Her eyes narrowed as she considered her options. Their parents were friends, so it was only a matter of time before they would meet socially. She could embarrass him in front of their friends and family.

Or, she could get William or her father to make his life a living hell at work. William would do anything Juliana wanted, and she was still a daddy's girl. She decided that this plan had real potential. With a wicked grin, she rolled over to go to sleep, making a mental note to owl her father in the morning.

Victoria looked around, confused. She was standing in her own bedroom, but it was completely redecorated. The walls were a deep green, instead of rose. And Quiddich posters covered nearly every available inch of wall space. A large mahogany bed was in the far corner of the room, where it appeared that someone was sleeping. A fairly small someone at that.

She heard a rapping noise at the window, and then saw the window open slowly. A leg swung over the ledge, quickly followed by a dark-haired girl, probably about ten or eleven. The girl reached outside and pulled in a bulky-looking package, which she quietly set on the floor. She adopted a wicked grin not unlike Victoria's, took off running, and leapt on the bed.

"Happy birthday!" she hollered, jumping up and down.

"Huh? Regina, you're a prat." A tousle-haired boy sat up, rubbing his eyes. He yawned and rolled over.

"Wake up, Sirius! Today's the most important birthday ever. Don't you want to be awake when the Hogwarts owl comes?" she said excitedly, shaking him.

"No, because I'm probably a squib. Can I go back to sleep now?"

Regina frowned. "No. Come on, wake up please?"

"Why? Today's no different from any ordinary day, ok? Leave me alone," he barked in a hurt tone.

"Is not, and you know it. If it was, then you'd be getting ready for school by now," she pointed out. "And besides, it's Valentine's Day. Do they even have Valentine's Day at Catholic school?"

Sirius bolted upright. "Regina, it's called Valentine's Day because of Saint Valentine. You know, a Catholic guy?"

"Oh. Didn't know." She shrugged.

"How could you not? Everyone knows that," he pointed out obnoxiously. Regina's lower lip trembled.

"Sorry. Just trying to help. I'll let you go back to sleep now." She stood up and walked towards the open window.

"Wait!" Sirius called after her. "I'm sorry, Regina. I should've have said that. I'm just mad at my father, that's all."

"I know." She rushed back over to him and gave him a huge hug.

Victoria noticed that he held onto her a little longer than necessary. And that he looked an awful lot like Juliana, just like the girl favored herself. Are they our children? she wondered, sitting on the ledge.

"Do you have Valentine's Day at your school?" Sirius asked. She nodded.

"Yeah. I'm glad that I get to skip it this year, though. All these girls always walk up to James and give him all these Valentines and candy. Yuck!" She made a face.

"They do?" He had an evil glint in his eyes. "He never told me that."

"And they kiss him, too. Some of them on the lips and everything," Regina added in a whisper.

"No way," he said in disbelief.

"I know. It's gross. Be glad that you don't have to see it."

"So, who brings you candy and kisses you?" Sirius asked a little too casually. Victoria's eyes opened wide. He was definitely hitting on her little girl, who was absolutely oblivious.

"No one." Her face fell. "No boy likes me."

"I bet they do. It's just that you're so pretty that they don't think that you'd ever like them."

"I am not pretty. Stop lying, Sirius Black." She pouted and turned away from him.

"You are too," he insisted. "If you'd ever get your nose out of a book, maybe someone other than me would notice."

"I like to read, though."

"Then don't complain when no boy kisses you," Sirius said. He allowed himself a small smile, and Victoria knew exactly what he was up to. The boy was shameless.

"I wasn't complaining in the first place," she huffed. "Besides, who do you kiss on Valentine's Day?"

"Any girl I want to," he said confidently.

"Yeah, right. Prove it," she challenged him, unknowingly walking right into his trap.

"Fine, I will."

Victoria watched helplessly as he leaned over and kissed a surprised, but not unwilling, Regina. How dare Juliana's son do that to her little girl? And, why wasn't she smacking that little, presumptuous Black brat? She checked her watch. The hands read ten after eight o'clock.

A loud thud hit the floor, and a messy haired boy stood up. He picked up his glasses from the floor and cleaned them off, giving Sirius and Regina enough warning that someone else was in the room. They broke apart and scooted to opposite sides of the bed just as James put on his glasses.

"Mum sent me to tell you that she knows what you just did," he accused them. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," they said together.

"Well, Mum's really mad at you, Sirius. She says that you've got a lot of nerve. Oh, and that breakfast will be ready in ten minutes."

"Nerve? All I did was kiss her! It's not like it meant anything," he lied.

"You kissed my sister!"

"She dared me to!"

The two boys were practically nose-to-nose, glaring at each other. Victoria got an eerie feeling, knowing that she was next door. And that the her next door sent her son to chaperone her daughter, knowing that her eighteen year old self was watching the entire scene unfold. Sometimes being a Seer was just too strange.

~~~~~


"I can't tell you how much this means to me," Victoria said thankfully.

"What are friends for? Besides, it's a great excuse to see William in dress robes."

She rolled her eyes as Juliana winked. "Where is Prince Charming, anyway?"

"Getting punch, I think. Probably mingling a little, too. The one drawback about spending the evening with coworkers," she lamented.

"Hey! What's wrong with that?"

Both women started giggling, earning odd stares from people as they walked by, which only made them laugh harder. Victoria had never had so much fun at her parents' annual Christmas party before. Usually she was stuck mingling with her parents and listening to their drivel, but this year she begged off with the excuse of introducing Juliana to everyone.

Which she did, but added commentary in between introductions, giving her friend the dirt on everyone. So, they hardly had stopped laughing for two hours. Victoria charmed the robes of her prissy pseudo-friends to do odd things, so whenever one of them walked by, she could barely keep her composure.

"Oh, there he is," Juliana pointed across the room.

"Must you point him out?"

"I meant William, but now that you mention it, Stephen is standing about two feet away from him."

"Yes, and actually looks pretty good for a change. But, who is that pathetic excuse of a date?"

"Jealous?"

"No." Victoria stood stewing for a minute. "But, honestly, who wears lime green during the holiday season? It's tacky!"

Juliana tried not point out how obvious it was to everyone in the room that she was eyeing Stephen, including him. Who kept checking Victoria's reaction through the corner of his eyes. He put an arm around his date and whispered in her ear, smiling wickedly when Victoria gave them a withering stare.

"Ergh, Daddy's waiving me over to meet one of his incredibly boring friends. Be back in a few, ok?"

Victoria trudged to where her parents were standing, determined not to get sucked into their vortex. Unfortunately, her mother seized the opportunity to parade her around the entire house. She felt like a show dog, but politely smiled and chatted until she felt like her face was going to crack and fall off.

She watched Juliana wheel out onto the patio with William in tow wistfully, wishing she could be outside with them instead of describing her latest art exhibit for the fortieth time. Outside, Juliana gave her boyfriend a forced smile and fiddled with her punch glass. He frowned and sat down across from her.

"What's wrong, love?"

"I feel a little out of place here. And, this is your world…" her voice trailed off.

"Juliana, you're the color in my life. Literally," he joked, nodding at her stylish, vibrant robes, which stood out so vividly against the muted tones of the other guests' outfits. "I don't know what else to say to make you understand how much I love you. This isn't really the time or place that I would've picked for this, but you're always telling me to be spontaneous. So here goes."

She gasped as he pulled out a ring box from his robes, got down on one knee, and smiled sheepishly. "Will you marry me?"

"Of course!" she shrieked, throwing her arms around him. "Oh, I love you."

William smiled into her hair before pulling her to her feet and dragging her inside. "Excuse me! Sorry to interrupt your evening, but I have an announcement to make."

Everyone within earshot, which was quite a large number of people because he had an extremely loud voice, fell silent. He practically beamed at everyone, making Victoria's stomach a little queasy. She had a suspicion about what he was going to say, and it made her sad in a way. Things were going to change, just when everything was going so well. And change worried her; she didn't like it one bit.

"If you haven't met her already, I would like for all of you to meet Juliana Piedra." Murmurings erupted through the rooms at the name, which nearly everyone recognized. William held up his hand for silence and grinned again. "Who has foolishly agreed to marry me."

Congratulations sounded through the air as family friends and coworkers surrounded the couple. Juliana couldn't believe how friendly they were, especially after Victoria's descriptions. She caught her friend's eye and waived happily.

~~~~~


Romantic, huh? Just wait until you read about how Papa proposed to Mom. The Black men can be very charming, from what I've seen. Usually it's because they've done something stupid that they need to atone for. In the case of my grandparents, I'd like to think that my grandfather was making up for the rest of his life early on.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself again. Once Abuela heard that Grandma Juliana was engaged, she immediately Apparated at their house and gave Grandma a piece of her mind. Abuela told her that she was being stupid for marrying my grandfather, and naïve for thinking that she could lead a normal life.

That didn't go over well. Grandma accused her of not accepting the fact that she didn't depend on Abuela for everything anymore. And that she was mad because she couldn't run Grandma's life. Abuela said that she needed someone to remind her of her physical limitations before she killed herself.

But, despite their arguing, my Grandma became Juliana Piedra de Black the following May in a little church in Barcelona. One day, I want to get married there. It's right on the water, and the view is breathtaking at sunset.

They headed off on their honeymoon, and when they arrived back in London, Grandma was already pregnant. She waited until the end of the summer to tell Abuela, putting off the inevitable fighting that would ensue.

You see, Grandma wasn't supposed to have children because the polio left her body very weak. But, no one could control her, and she wanted a baby. My grandparents were sickeningly happy, and spent the entire fall planning and dreaming. Even Abuela gave up her fussing and got caught up in the baby fever.

By early November, Grandma was more or less on bed rest, so Mummy P (I just can't bring myself to call her Victoria) kept her company during the day while Grandpa was at work. Then, she'd go to work. It was a nice comfortable routine, which all fell apart shortly after the annual Gates Christmas party.

~~~~~

Again, thanks for reading, & please review? Thank you kindly...:-D