Disclaimer: All people and places belong to J. K. Rowling
Life Had Just Begun
By Terra
Chapter Twenty-three: China Doll
Sirius left to go back to his old flat (I had been paying the rent to make sure it was still there) on that Monday and the mothers left the following Sunday. We were finally left alone.
I soon found myself being pulled back to work at the same time the Ministry hinted that Lily should make a decision whether to stay at home or not. Lily and I spent many nights discussing this. On one hand, Lily liked working and her job. On the other hand, we didn't really need that extra income and there was no telling how Harry would act in later months. Lily, being a modern woman, decided that she would return to work.
Our next task was to find what to do with Harry during the day. Lily timidly suggested a nanny but I put my foot down. I had been raised by a nanny and I had hated my nanny immensely. Besides, I could remember more than one of my playmates calling their nanny "mother" much to the parents' horror. Harry was not going to have a stay-at-home nanny. Outside childcare seemed like a good solution. It would provide interaction with other children. He would develop close friendships with little children like him. Of course, I brought up the story of Sirius' experience to counter the argument but we reasoned that his case was probably quite rare. We agreed that this was the best solution and went to one such childcare facility to check it out (to prevent a case like Sirius).
It was very pleasant and bright with three aides playing with children from infants to ten years old. There were lots of games and toys and a shelf of very well maintained books. We couldn't help but smile. If I was a kid, I would have wanted to be there. When we told the head teacher that we liked the place and wanted more some information (as in cost), she smiled with all her white teeth and led us into a little office.
"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, I'm so glad that you've liked what you've seen here," she breathed. She was slightly older than us, no more than mid-thirties, with a light, breathless voice filled with excitement. She could have made a shopping list sound intriguing.
"Oh, yes, this is a wonderful place," Lily answered, grinning. "Harry will just love it here."
"I want to stay here myself," I added. The woman laughed.
"Most people do. Well, now, I'm afraid we have to talk about grown-up stuff now."
We turned stoic. We were parents now and Harry's future was in our hands. "Yes, we would like to know the cost."
"Of course. Well, the cost is 17, 000 Galleons."
I heard Lily's breath catch in her throat at that same time mine caught in my throat. That was a bit steeper than what we expected. We looked at each other and then at the children playing beyond the window of the office. Lily raised her eyebrows at me. It was nice. We could afford it and this was Harry we were discussing. He only deserved the best. I nodded at her.
"We think that's reasonable," Lily answered. "That's yearly, right?"
The woman shook her head, her bright blue earrings rattling like dice. "No. That's monthly."
Lily gasped. "Monthly?"
The woman nodded. "Mm-hm."
We looked at each other in shock. "That's..." I stammered, doing quick calculations in my head. "204, 000 Galleons." The woman nodded again, smiling as if this was a perfectly reasonable price. "A year."
"You must live very well," Lily commented.
The woman shrugged. "Well, I guess I do." She smiled mindlessly and then hastily added, "Oh, but I don't do it for the money, obviously."
I'm sure you don't, I thought.
Lily seemed to be trying to catch her breath. "I think... we need a little time to think this over."
"Oh! Of course! I wasn't expecting a split second decision!" She grinned but I could tell she was mildly disappointed. We shakily rose from our chairs, thanked her for showing us around when she was so busy with her work, and then she led us to the main entrance.
"Now remember," she cautioned brightly as we turned to go. "this is your child we're talking about. Our care is worth every Knut."
"We'll keep that in mind," Lily stammered.
When we Apparated home, Sirius was still there (we had left little Harry in his care) and Peter had joined him. Harry was staring bemusedly at them both as we staggered in.
"You look like you just saw a train wreck," Peter remarked.
"Was the place really that horrible?" Sirius asked.
"No, it was wonderful. There were toys and games and oodles of wonderful, beautiful things there. It was heavenly," Lily answered.
"Then why do you look like someone died?"
"It costs 17, 000 Galleons..."
"Oh, that's not too bad, of course, childcare is never cheap..."
"A month."
Peter exclaimed a swear word so loud that he startled Harry and he began to cry. Lily ran to him to comfort him. Sirius clutched his head. "Do I even make that much?" he wondered aloud.
"It's 204, 000 Galleons a year," I added. Peter went so white I was afraid he would faint. He didn't but instead mumbled, "Do I make that much?"
"I certainly don't," Sirius replied. "Man, I could use an extra 200, 000 Galleons to throw around."
"Throw around?" Peter demanded. "I'd keep it! Keep it in my vault and visit it on holidays and on its birthday. Never touch it ever!"
"What I could do with that money... I'd buy another motorcycle. Hell, I'd buy two. Ride one on even days, the other on odd days, keep the one I already have for parts."
"Sirius, you have your parents' vault," Peter said. "If you wanted another motorcycle, you could buy one."
"That vault is for dire emergencies! I meant just an extra 200, 000 Galleons that would just come every year, no strings attached."
"Forget you two," I answered, "I'd like an extra 204, 000 Galleons that I didn't have a use for!"
"What do they do at this place? Feed the babies caviar for snack time before laying them down on down mattresses covered in Chinese silk for naptime?" Sirius demanded.
"We're not paying that much, James. I love Harry but that was insane," Lily gasped.
"I completely agree. We could just send him to Norway to hang out with Remus for an afternoon at that rate."
But similar childcare centers seemed to carry similar price tags. We began to worry. Lily outright refused to send Harry to her parents and I didn't feel right about asking my mother.
Our savior came in the form of Remus through a letter. We had told him our trials with the childcare places and he wrote back, "Why not Mrs. Figg?"
*** ***
Mrs. Arabella Figg had been a friend of the Pettigrews before Peter's father's "death" and their eventual move and of the Lupins when they had moved near where she resided. It wasn't until Peter and Remus entered Hogwarts that the two families realized they had a mutual friend.
Mrs. Figg is around my mother's age and has had five children. Remus even had short fling with one of the daughters, Caroline, after his breakup with Narcissa. Unfortunately, hard times had fallen on Mrs. Figg. Her husband died suddenly of a heart attack during our sixth year. Her eldest son, Borgis, went missing during our seventh year; he's still missing. Her twin boy and girl, Julius and Julia, were killed in a Death Eater attack two years ago. Caroline was given the Crucio by her own boyfriend and went mad as a result that same year. She is currently at St. Mungo's, completely unresponsive to anyone or anything. The youngest son, Theodore, who had been an Auror, was killed when they captured Percy Weatherby. The story goes that Theodore shielded a young Muggle girl with his own body from the Killing Curse. Theodore had been the only casualty, besides the Muggles that Percy's men had already killed.
In desperation, we called up Mrs. Figg and asked if we could come over. Mrs. Figg is a Muggle lifestyle researcher or a Mugglogist. If you look carefully on the Muggle Studies textbooks, she is listed as one of the advisors, as Sirius pointed out when he took the class. Her most famous work is Muggles in the Mist. When all her children had grown up, she moved permanently into Muggle society in a little town called Little Whinging in Surrey.
Her house smelled strongly of cabbage and I wondered aloud if she was brewing Polyjuice Potion (I had made a batch for my seventh year Potion final project. Not fun. Although, it was pretty entertaining to look like Lily for an hour).
"What makes you say that, dear?"
"Well, it smells like cabbages in here."
"Oh! I'm cooking some fresh cabbage right now. Would you like some?"
"No, thank you," I mumbled, grimacing.
"It's full of vitamins!"
"No, thank you for offering."
"How about some nice piece of cake?"
Knowing that her cakes are slightly better than those of the old Gamekeeper's apprentice, Hagrid, I answered, "No, we just ate."
"Well, do sit down," she requested, indicating a relatively beaten-up sofa. Lily and I sat and as soon as we did the cats began to swarm. All of Mrs. Figg's children had been huge cat lovers and when they had died or at least rendered unable to raise their cats, Mrs. Figg had taken them in. All of them. The cats seemed to like me best as they all made efforts to make themselves at home on various parts of my body.
As I fought to detach them, Lily explained our problem with Harry and our attempts at outside childcare. She meekly beseeched her to baby sit Harry while we were at work. Much to our surprise and relief, she agreed right away.
"It will make this house fuller during the day. Don't worry, I can research at the same time, believe me. I did it four times, one time for twins and that should be worth four alone."
After practically getting down on our knees and worshipping her, we promised to return that Monday and we promised to pay her a reasonable sum on every Friday. That Monday, we stopped Harry off at Mrs. Figg's house, who was enjoying her breakfast of toast and jam.
"Oh, that's a glorious baby boy," Mrs. Figg cooed.
Lily blushed and answered, "Thank you."
"Oh, we'll have lots of fun, Harry and I. But I'm afraid I have some bad news," she said solemnly.
"Bad news? What happened?" Lily asked, clutching Harry to her chest.
"Come with me. Try not to call attention to yourselves."
She led us outside and we walked three streets down to a street called Privet Drive. A moving truck was being unloaded outside of Number Four. We kept to the bushes to watch the family presumably moving in. It was obvious who it was. It was Vernon and Petunia. Vernon had his big, beefy arm around Petunia's shoulders as she cradled her enormous four-month-old son. He was raising a huge fit in his mother's arms but they ignored him for the time being, transfixed by their new home.
Lily nearly screamed in rage. "Petunia! Why does she always do this to me?!"
"Now, now. I'm sure she has no idea about our arrangement. If this makes you uncomfortable, you can always find another..."
"No," Lily snapped. "You're not the problem, it's her, Vernon, and Dudley that are the problem. Please, Mrs. Figg, keep Harry away from that dreadful kid. Actually, keep him away from the whole family. He might be traumatized or Dudley's habits might rub off on Harry and I can't have that! Please, Mrs. Figg, keep him away from them!"
"Of course, Lily. I don't want any trouble with my Muggle neighbours. Remember, I may need them for research purposes someday. I just wanted you to know."
"Thank you, Mrs. Figg." Lily looked down at Harry who was beginning to wake up again. "You know, every time I see Dudley, I'm reminded on how blessed I was to have you, Harry." She gave a kiss on his forehead. "Mummy has to go to work soon but Mummy and Daddy will be back at lunchtime and then later, we'll all go home again."
*** ***
Soon enough, it was December. In our excitement about Harry's first Christmas, we bought a wide assortment of cute little presents whenever the mood took us. Harry managed quite a haul by the time we hosted our Christmas party.
Our Christmas party served two purposes. One was to let our friends and family come to us rather than us to them. Two was to show our almighty child to everyone. Our party took place on the 23rd of December. Remus, home in England for the holidays, volunteered to help us decorate the house.
As Remus and I were finalizing the last touches, Lily carried Harry downstairs dressed in a red sleeper with reindeer heads sewn into it. "Sorry," Lily explained, "Harry keeps ripping the antlers off."
"That's okay, he's cute enough," I replied, taking him from her. Lifting him up several times, I said, "Who's a big boy? Who's everyone coming to see?"
"He's grown since I last saw him," Remus interrupted.
"Hasn't he?" I grinned. Turning him around so he faced outward, I muttered in Harry's ear, "Do you like our decorations? Uncle Remus came all the way from Norway to help decorate our big house." Harry kept trying to turn his head around to look at me. "I could eat you up!" I kissed the top of his head and bounced him in my arms. He giggled and kicked his little legs.
"Do you want to hold him, Remus?" Lily asked politely.
"Maybe later," he answered.
"Good, because he's mine and you can't have him," I added, sticking out my tongue. I whispered into Harry's ear, "You're all mine. Never going to let you go." I lifted him up into the air. "Never! They'll never take us alive!"
"What about Hogwarts?" Remus teased. "His letter will come and off he'll go."
"I'll hide him. Won't I, Harry? We'll live in boxcars and sing for our suppers!" I joked, laughing. Harry kicked into the air and made sounds of delight. "We'll always be one step ahead of Dumbledore! The Amazing Potter Father Son Team: men will worship us, ladies will love us, and future generations will compose songs about us!"
"Ugh, maybe you two should be separated." Lily chuckled and then sighed. "Oh, it's weird how Harry will be going off to Hogwarts someday. He'll leave us forever."
"That's a million years from now," I argued. "We have plenty of time to waste." I brought Harry back down to me and bounced him a little more.
"So, is everyone coming?" Remus asked.
"Yes," Lily answered, "Peter is even bringing Blithe."
"If she doesn't show up," I added, "then we'll have to assume that Peter made her up." The clock chimed the hour. "Time for the guests to arrive."
*** ***
Everyone who said they would come, did come. One by one and then by couples, our guests began to arrive. The party was in full force by the time Sirius and Marguerite came. Sirius helped her with her cloak as Lily and I went over to greet them.
"Well, hello!" Lily chirped.
"Sorry we're late," Sirius said.
"Oh, that's alright, you're not the only one. Peter isn't here yet."
"Peter's my other friend," Sirius answered to Marguerite's questioning look. "He's blond. I'll show him when he comes."
"Okay," Marguerite agreed nervously.
"Well, how are you, Marguerite?" Lily asked softly.
"Oh, fine," she replied automatically.
"Are you back at work?"
"Well, I have to intern a bit... um... uh..."
"Lily," Sirius whispered a bit too loud.
"What?" Marguerite mumbled.
"Her name is Lily."
"Lilith?"
"Lily."
"Lillian?"
"Lily."
"Lesley?"
"Li—ly," he answered, not bothering to whisper anymore.
"Lily..." Marguerite repeated. "Sorry, I'm still pretty bad with names. Do you mind," she asked, revealing the box-like bag which her camera had come in, "if I take your picture? I make flashcards of people I meet so I can practice."
"No, that's perfectly alright." Lily stood in front of the wall as Marguerite took her picture.
"And your last name is... don't tell me... I can get this... Lily Pettigrew."
"Potter," Sirius corrected. "It's Peter Pettigrew and Lily Potter."
"I got the 'P' right," Marguerite answered sullenly.
Sirius took a deep breath. "Yes, you did." As Sirius took off his cloak, Marguerite brought out her black marker and had Lily spell out her full name so she wouldn't mess up when practicing. I noticed that she had a large stack now, about thirty pictures total at least.
"Anyway," Marguerite remarked cheerfully, "your house is lovely, Jarod."
"Jarod?" I asked. "Who's Jarod?"
"It's James, Marguerite," Sirius corrected wearily. "Your brother is named Jarod. Your host is James."
It was a full fifteen minutes before Peter and his girlfriend arrived. They came unnoticed in the din of noise and conversation. Once we realized that they had come, Lily and I made our way to greet them.
The first thing I noticed about the girlfriend was her height: extremely short. She barely reached Peter's shoulder and made me feel positively tall. She was very fair with an even, almost doll-like skin tone. Her glossy black hair, that almost seemed fake, was in very tight curls that hung slightly past her chin. She was busying herself with finding a place to hang her cloak when Lily came over and greeted them.
At first, I thought that Peter must have brought along one of his mother's students; it obviously wasn't Blithe as she couldn't be older than sixteen years old, I thought, unless Peter had suddenly become a pedophile. So, it didn't surprise me when Lily said, after saying hello to Peter, "My, are you one of Mrs. Pettigrew's students?"
She finally turned her attention to her hostess and her look was like stone. She answered in a strangely nasal voice, "I'm Blithe." Our eyes must have bugged out because she laughed mockingly. "Has Peter never described me?"
"Peter," Lily said, turning back to Peter, "you can't be serious!"
Blithe laughed again. "Your faces!"
Lily faced Blithe again. "How old are you? Give me an honest answer. Does your mother know you're here?"
"Actually, yes, my mother does know I'm here. Let me ask you," Blithe commanded, "how old do you think I am?"
Lily and I looked at each other and I answered, "You can't be older than sixteen, eighteen tops, I'd say."
Blithe nearly fell over from laughter as she searched her handbag. Still laughing with her head rolled back, she handed Lily an Apparation license. It was clearly hers and the birth date was printed clearly in the corner as it always is. We both gasped as we did the math in our heads.
"You're five years older than Peter!" Lily shrieked in surprise. "How can... how can that be?"
"Wonderful, wonderful genes," Blithe announced proudly. "I once got a boyfriend arrested because a stupid Muggle called the authorities on us."
"I was about to say that she looks younger than she is," Peter explained weakly. "You just didn't give me a chance."
Lily took out her wand and pointed it at Blithe. "Finite Incanteum!"
Blithe remained unchanged and pushed her curly hair back as if to prove that it was connected to her head. "As you see, I do nothing to achieve this."
At first glance, I could have argued that Blithe was adorably cute like a little Daddy's Girl with pink ribbons in her hair and licking a lolly. However, now that I could give her a second look, it was quite clear that "cute" was the last word to describe her. Her eyes were harsh. She had a firm gaze as if committing our floor plan to memory. Again, I was reminded of a porcelain doll with perfect skin tone, perfectly styled hair and inhuman glass eyes. It was the eyes that gave any hint of her true age.
As Lily helped Blithe with her cloak, Blithe stared at Lily strangely. "Why are you putting my cloak away?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you didn't want to wear it inside!" Lily apologized.
"No, I mean, shouldn't House Elves be doing this?"
Lily straightened up. Lily is morally opposed to House Elves. She always told me that it made her uncomfortable to exploit a whole race for her leisure. She realized, however, that many would not agree (my parents included) and I argued that many do treat their elves kindly so Lily did not begrudge others of their servants. But Lily would never allow us elves of our own, which was fine with me. "We don't own House Elves," Lily explained calmly.
Blithe stared at her as if she had said that we didn't take baths. "You don't own House Elves."
"No, we don't."
Blithe stared at Peter as if wanting conformation. Peter nodded. "They don't have House Elves."
Blithe stared at me. I nodded as well. "We've never had House Elves."
"The Potter estate is full of House Elves," Blithe replied.
"That's right. My parents do own House Elves but Lily and I do not."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't believe... I don't feel comfortable having servants that hu--... I just don't feel comfortable about having them." I have warned Lily many times not to say "we don't have House Elves because it's wrong and evil" because people get rather defensive when you say things like that.
Blithe stared at Peter again, looking absolutely aghast and seemed to be silently asking him why he had brought her to such a madhouse. Peter tittered nervously and asked, "So, is Sirius and Remus here?"
"We're right here," Remus answered as Sirius, who appeared to be scowling at Remus' back, followed behind.
"This is Blithe Tambre," Peter announced. "And no, she's not sixteen, thank you for asking."
I handed the license to Remus, which they read. No longer scowling, Sirius whistled. "I must say, you look good for your age."
Blithe shrugged smugly. Our little group forayed into the main room where the party was. Marguerite was sitting in a single overstuffed chair, calmly sipping a cup of punch. "This is Marguerite Malina," Sirius pronounced as an introduction to Blithe Tambre. Marguerite looked up into Blithe's face and looked startled.
"I'm so sorry about your accident, Miss Malina. This must be a trying time for you and your loved ones," Blithe said. Maybe it was just me but I clearly heard a hint of sarcasm but I really can't see why Blithe would find Marguerite's situation funny.
Marguerite stared at Blithe. "Do I... do I know you?"
Blithe was taken aback. "Know me?"
"I recognize your face... your voice. I can't really place where but I swear we've met before."
"You've met each other?" Sirius asked, looking from one woman to the other.
"I can't see how we could have. I certainly don't recall her," Blithe answered haughtily.
"But I swear, we must have met before," Marguerite insisted. "Where did we meet?" She appeared to be thinking hard. "It was recently. Something in my gut tells me it was recently, within the past year."
"Have you been sick for any reason?" Remus asked. "Made any visits to St. Mungo's? Visited a friend?"
"I don't remember even if I did," Blithe answered.
"It's on the tip of my brain," Marguerite muttered.
"You know what I was just thinking," Peter interrupted. "Sirius, do you still have that horrible picture of your mum with the curly hair?"
"When she was twelve?" Sirius asked. "Yeah, why?"
"Have you shown it to Marguerite?"
Sirius clapped his hands and looked up at the ceiling. "You're right! I did! I just showed to you last week, didn't I, Marguerite?"
"Did you?" Marguerite wondered.
"Yeah, it was in black and white so my mum's hair looks black like Blithe's. Oh, why didn't I think of that?"
"Well, it flew into my mind just now so I don't blame you," Peter answered. "See? Problem solved."
"What about her voice? The picture doesn't talk," Marguerite demanded.
"I did a commercial on the Wireless a few months back," Blithe explained. "Perhaps you recognize my voice from that."
"You act?" Remus asked.
"From time to time. It was a favor for an old classmate of mine," Blithe admitted off-handedly. "I usually do it when the mood takes me."
It was then that it finally hit me. Ever since I had first heard her name, I had wondered why it sounded familiar. "Excuse me, but are you the daughter of Gene Tambre?" She nodded. It was hard to stop myself from falling over in shock. The Tambre family is an ancient family; they can't even trace back to the last Muggle in their family. They were pureblood when Hogwarts was being founded; many families can not claim that. Even the Malfoys, who go on and on about how old the family line is, could rightly be called "Mudblood" by a member of the Tambre clan. The Tambres could buy and sell my family five times, buy and sell the Malfoys a few times, buy and sell a few other notable families, and still have some left to buy a mansion or two. Whenever we pureblood children would all visit, we were all told to be on our very best behavior. Every pureblood child was gobsmacked by the sheer wealth of the family, even Lucius and he is hard to please. None of the Tambre children went to Hogwarts however; they all went to a much more selective school in Italy.
"Now I know you. You once played the violin for everyone."
"You threw up during the performance," Blithe added, smiling in a mocking way. "And it was the viola, not the violin."
"Well, I wasn't very healthy back then. I must have been around five," I answered, embarrassed.
"Yes, I know," she reflected as if this was the most ridiculous conversation and her eyes rolled just a tiny fraction as she fought to not roll her eyes but couldn't resist.
"Sorry about that."
"It's alright, it was a long time ago."
"So, do you still practice Dance Dueling?" I wondered.
"Yes," she answered, "I do. I teach it privately as well as music and singing."
"What's Dance Dueling?" Lily asked nervously.
"It's like ballet," I explained, "except you use the wand to create spells of light as you prance around. Back in the old days, it was a form of dueling practiced only by witches. The spells could really hurt people. It was more dangerous than the wizard version."
"Using it for dueling has been banned for about fifty years," Blithe added smugly, "Now you use a wand without a magical core, called a 'dead' wand, like the ones used for children when learning to spell, to create light and harmless sparks instead. Of course, if you used a real wand, it could hurt or kill someone; the technique is the same."
"Oh, that's really interesting. Are you very good?" Lily remarked.
"I won several awards in my youth." She shrugged as if winning several awards was no big deal. "I rarely perform now, just teach."
"Do you sing too?" Lily asked. Blithe nodded impatiently. "I wish I was that talented."
"She's in that new play," Peter interrupted. "The one about Virginia Lenore."
"I'm just an understudy, Peter, nothing big. I'm in the pit mostly, playing my viola," Blithe stuttered, looking very flattered. She lowered her eyes and blushed slightly as if he had paid her the highest compliment.
"What play about Virginia Lenore?" I asked, startled slightly by Blithe's reaction to Peter's statement.
"Oh, it's a play about her life and her work," Blithe explained, snapping out of whatever mood Peter had temporarily placed her into. "It was postponed because she died. They had to add her last pieces and that weird letter." She sighed and remarked, "I don't see what the big deal is about her."
"Well, she was a famous author and she had a sudden death," Peter said quickly.
Marguerite raised her hand shakily and Sirius replied, "I'll explain later. It's a long story."
Lily took a deep breath. "So, anyway, Blithe, would you like to see Harry?"
"Oh, I'm not good with children..." Blithe answered, trying to back away.
"You'll be fine," Lily replied cheerfully. Before Lily could retrieve Harry, two of my cousins shyly came over. The older, Flora, stepped up to Blithe.
"I'm so sorry to interrupt but my sister and I were wondering," she asked with a smile, looking over at Winfred smugly, "where you bought that lovely outfit."
Now that attention was called to it, I took in what she was wearing. It was made entirely dark blue velvet. There was a long skirt with petticoats underneath with a stiff coat buttoned up all the way with black buttons. The entire outfit was trimmed with black lace.
Blithe glanced down at her wardrobe. "This? In Avalon Designs, why?"
Flora looked startled, like that wasn't the answer she was expecting. "You're joking."
"I'm not. I bought it last week."
Winfred charged up excitedly. "That's the same one they had the window display, isn't it?"
"Not the very same but the same design, yes."
Winfred turned on Flora. "I told you that was the outfit! I told you and you wouldn't believe me!"
"That's impossible! It costs a fortune!" Flora countered. She straightened up and asked sweetly, "Was there a sale that day, perchance?"
Blithe shook her head. "No. I paid full price."
Both of the women's jaws dropped. Winfred stuttered, "But it's so much! Around eighty Galleons!" Blithe shrugged, unconcerned. "What in Heaven's name do you do for a living?"
Blithe seemed to think about this. "I guess I don't really have an occupation of sorts. A little of this, a little of that."
"My goodness! What is your name?"
"Blithe Tambre."
Their shoulders relaxed and they looked at each other. They raised their eyes to the ceiling and they both muttered, "Ooohhh, Tambre. Should've known."
"Sorry for disturbing you," Flora apologized. "My sister has been wanting to buy that outfit for ages now. She was just surprised that someone managed to buy it. Sorry again." They smiled at her and walked away, chattering frantically to each other, their heads close together.
"Eighty Galleons?" Peter demanded incredulously. Blithe just mumbled something and fiddled with her cuffs.
"Oh, there's Harry," Lily said, going over to fetch him.
Harry was currently being held by Olivia Longbottom who was chatting with another old school friend of Lily's. Lily asked to have Harry back and gently handed him over to Blithe. Within seconds, Harry's face scrunched up and he wailed. Blithe scowled at him and gave him to Peter. Harry screamed louder. Deeply embarrassed for Peter's sake, I grabbed Harry and made to walk upstairs but Harry let out a whimper and fell silent.
"I told you," Blithe growled, "I'm not good with children."
"Handing him to me just made it worse," Peter added.
"He's just over-stimulated," Lily explained nervously. "It probably has nothing to do with you or Peter."
"I'm going to lay him down," I offered. "He's probably really tired."
I went upstairs with Harry in tow and walked to the darkened bedroom. I laid him in the crib and spun his mobile over his head. He seemed to have calmed down so I journeyed back downstairs.
By the time I came down, Remus was fishing out some pictures of people from his work in Norway. He handed them around to all of us. He had pictures of his boarding house, his landlady and her family (Gerd really is ugly. Troll-City), his boss, Ulric, a fierce looking silver haired short and stocky man ("He's a big softy"), Kovit, a spindly man with a beard and glasses over a serious face ("He's married and has three kids. Very cute kids. The youngest who is five years old forces me to read Ronny Johan, which the Norwegian translation of Ron Seannings, to her whenever I baby-sit. Her favorite characters are Hermine Bolle and Skorpus, this rat of Ron's who later turns out to be Ron's father or something"), Svein, a young clean-shaven man with sandy blond hair dangling over his eyes ("He's marrying Sonja this summer. He's kind of crazy and he never gets tired"), Gudrun, a waif-like woman with short red hair with a cocky smile ("She was a Seeker, or a speider as they call it, during school. She runs every day early in the morning and her legs are pretty powerful. She's kicked Svein pretty hard more than once and one time she broke his leg, so don't let her appearance fool you"), Sonja, a well-endowed girl with a bright smile and her brown plaits put up into loops ("She doesn't usually wear her hair like that, it's usually in a plait bun thing. She can be summed up in one word: perky. I don't even think dementors, or desperants, bother her. Kind of creepy really"), and finally Hilda. Hilda's hair was almost bleach blond and went all the way down her back in one long plait. She was muscular and held a firm gaze to the camera with only a hint of a smile. Out of all the pictures, she was the only one wearing their uniform: a simple everything-from-stains-to-curses-proof black robe with a wand holster and side bag for anything else needed. The contrast between her pale face and hair and the dark outfit made her specter-like and have a more severe expression. No wonder he was afraid to ask her for a drink; she really looked like she could seriously hurt someone.
After Remus was done with his show and tell, Lily and I played hosts once again, mingling with everyone. As I passed, Blithe was hissing at Peter, "It's fine, it's fine." I was about to ask what was fine but Blithe asked Peter to tell her where the toilet was located, which he pointed out and she left. I shrugged, telling myself that it probably wasn't a big deal in the first place if the discussion had concluded so swiftly. Not asking him about what they had just been discussing, I chatted with Peter. A few moments into the conversation, he gasped in pain and gripped his left upper arm.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
He panted and answered, "Fine. Just fine."
"You don't look fine."
"No, it's okay. Don't worry about it." His eyes were watering up and he seemed grit his teeth against the pain.
"Peter, it looks painful. Do you need a painkiller or want Lily to charm it? Where is it hurting anyway?" I made a move to grab his arm for a better look but he stepped away.
"No!" he shrieked, then shook his head and said more calmly, "No, it's probably just asleep or something." He shut his eyes. "Oh, ow."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, fine," Peter answered, panting. "Where did Blithe go?"
"To the toilet, I saw her go in that direction," I answered. "You don't want ice or anything? Nothing at all?"
Peter ignored me and went towards the downstairs toilet. Blithe was no where nearby in the corridor. He knocked on the closed door, wincing, with his left hand, still clutched in his right hand. "Blithe? Are you in there?"
"Yes," she answered weakly. It sounded like it was coming from the floor.
"Blithe? Is your stomach bothering you again? Me and James were wondering where you went."
"James is out there?"
"Yes, I'm here," I answered. "Are you okay? Are you not feeling well?"
"No, I think my stomach is acting up again. It's feels like I'm being stabbed," Blithe whined.
"James, do you mind if we head home? She hasn't been feeling very well all week and she only came because I insisted. I'm sorry," Peter apologized.
Oh, that's what they must've been talking about before, I realized. "Sure, go ahead. I don't want her to suffer."
"Blithe, we're going to go now. Are you decent?" Peter asked. The lock clicked and the door opened. Blithe's right arm was against her stomach and her hand clung to her left upper arm, probably to keep herself from crying out. She was hunched over and she was sweating slightly. Her pale face was even paler and her eyes were tearing up as well.
"You should go have a rest when you get home," I suggested. She nodded. "And you should take something for your arm, Peter."
"I will if it doesn't right itself in half an hour," Peter promised. The pair quietly left the party and it was several minutes before anyone but me noticed.
*** ***
"Well, that was fun," Lily concluded when everyone but Remus, Sirius, and Marguerite left. Marguerite was in the toilet as Lily and I made a half-hearted attempt to clean up. Sirius sat in a chair waiting for Marguerite to finish as Remus stood against a wall. "Too bad about Blithe though. I hope she feels better."
"Me too," I answered.
"I have a feeling that she didn't really enjoy herself," Lily remarked sadly.
There was only the sound of us clearing up until Remus declared suddenly, "I don't like her."
"Like who?" Lily asked.
"Blithe. I didn't like her."
"Oh, is that so?" Sirius drawled. "And why is that?"
"I don't really know. She just rubs me wrong."
"She rubs you wrong? What kind of stupid reason is that?"
"I know it's stupid but I can't put my finger on what is it about her I don't like."
"No, there is something. I can tell, you just don't want to say."
"Well, I get a weird... I don't know... vibe from her."
Sirius burst out into a mocking laugh. "A 'vibe'? What? Can you read auras now or something?"
"I didn't say that. I guess she reminds me of Gertude a little..."
"Gertude? Gertude? Evil lying, cheating Gertude? What are you trying to say? That she's cheating on Peter, stringing him along for kicks?"
"No, that's not what I'm saying!" Remus shouted defensively.
"It sure sounds like it! So Peter's girlfriend is musically talented, smart, rich, and very pretty, does that automatically mean she doesn't like him? Do you have a problem with Peter being happy and content?"
"I don't have a problem with Peter being happy! Who said I did? I just said I don't like her!"
"Well, I like her fine, I don't see what your problem is!" Sirius stood up with his fists clenched and stared Remus in the face.
"Because she was rude! Didn't you notice how she spoke to us? Like we were scum! And how she spoke to James! This is his house! This was his party and she was invited to it!" Remus pointed his finger at him. "And you! You've been acting like I'm a criminal or something all night! What is your problem?"
"I haven't got a problem! Maybe you feel like you have something to hide!"
"What are you talking about? I haven't the faintest idea what you could mean! What is going on inside your head?!"
"It should be obvious!"
"Obvious? Yeah, Sirius, that's right, I'm really the drunk driver who ran into your parents!"
"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY PARENTS LIKE THAT!"
"Both of you!" I screamed. "Stop it! Get a hold of yourselves!" Still shaking from fury, both of them stepped back from each other. Their faces were flushed and their fists were tightly clenched. "What is the matter with you two? Never mind, that was rhetorical."
"I'm sorry I said all those things, Sirius," Remus muttered. It wasn't until just now that I realized that Sirius never once apologized. I think I know why but I'm getting ahead of myself.
"I think there's a simple explanation for Blithe's behavior," Lily said softly and calmly. "I think she wasn't feeling well first of all so that made her a little cranky. She was also probably really nervous. She didn't know anyone except Peter and she probably felt like making a good impression. She probably acted like she was better than us because she didn't want to show us that she was so nervous. I've met plenty of girls and women who do this when they're in a situation where they are nervous or lost. She probably didn't mean to come off like that. She was just nervous, that's all."
"Besides, would Peter date someone if she was really that horrible?" I added.
"No, I guess not. I never thought that she might be nervous," Remus admitted.
"That was the whole point," Lily explained.
"So, you admit to being judgmental?" Sirius offered slyly. Remus flushed with anger again but Marguerite came into the room and called out, "I'm ready, Sirius." I could tell from the expression on her face that she had heard the entire argument. Her entrance seemed to calm Sirius down slightly. Sometimes, I wonder if Marguerite was the only thing holding Sirius back from doing... I don't know what and I frankly don't want to know. She was like Clarissa in that respect. She gave him freedom but always had a hand on his collar to prevent any disasters, pulling him back away from an ungodly error.
"Alright, come on," Sirius said, still glaring at Remus who was glaring back. Marguerite thanked us for a lovely time as Sirius gathered her things and led her out the door.
Lily and I stared at Remus who continued to stare at the door. "I have no idea what is going through his mind right now. Absolutely no idea."
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: School's over, yeah! Blithe's appearance is actually based partly on a coat I owned when I was little and a doll I saw once in a magazine. Although, strangely enough, a girl in my math class looks exactly like her. They don't act alike though. Originally, Blithe was very soft-spoken and meek but then Blithe started channeling the soul of Tsubasa Shibahime from Karekano and got that weird voice and that attitude and it stuck. The Norwegian words are really from the Norwegian version of Harry Potter except Ronny's and Hermine's last names. Johan is the Scandinavian version of John. Sean is the Irish version of John so I used Johan. Bolle means "roll" and since Rowling is pronounced "rolling", that's the name I used. Everything else, however, is real and I got it from Harry Potter International at and they have translations for English (duh), German, Dutch, Norwegian (duh), Swedish, French, Italian, Polish, Finnish, Hungarian, and Czech. I support the theory that Mrs. Figg is exactly how Harry Potter saw her except she happens to be a witch too. None of that Polyjuice Potion or Age charm or anything. Let her stay weird and old. I'd like some reviews! E-mail at destinyplot@lycos.com. I love all your little comments! Be nice to me! See ya later!