Chapter 17 – Money Matters

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that belongs to J. K. Rowling and am not making any money from this. If you want proof, look at my bank balance!

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Heather sat alone in the dark of her flat. She dare not turn the lamp on, as it would only shed light onto the emptiness of her surroundings, as they were in comparison to the homeliness of the house she had shared with Sirius.

Just the thought of the man that had caused her so much happiness and pain throughout the course of her lifetime was enough to bring acrid tears to her eyes, and they spilt over, despite her attempts to wipe them away.

She didn't think that she had ever felt so lonely before.

The urge to just get up and floo him was so great that she had thrown every scrap of floo dust out of the window onto the heads on unsuspecting passers-by, and thus had deprived her of all companionship.

In the case of her mother, this was probably best, as she would only go on another 'I-told-you-so' rant or try and set her up with another one of her old-fogey friends.

Heather crossed her legs and sipped again at her coffee, it was the only thing keeping her going. She had signed on for extra time at the Ministry, which would earn her more money, so she could afford to live in this flat and eventually pay off Sirius. It would take a long time, but she would do it.

Calling to her owl, she gave it a note to give to Gringotts, informing them to transfer the first instalment of her debt to Sirius out of her account and into his. She gave the owl the last treat she had and sent it on its way, knowing that it would get to the bank by morning.

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"I need to know the address of a Miss Heather H. Harris."

The goblin leant back on his stool and fixed Sirius with a stern look. "We cannot give out those sort of details, sir."

"But you must do! It's an emergency! She's got you putting money into my account and I don't want you to!" Sirius cried, waving the letter he had received from Gringotts that morning in the air.

"Even so," the goblin retorted, "we will only give out those sort of details if the customer in question expressly asks us to and, in this case, we have heard nothing of the sort. Only that we should transfer…" he consulted the piece of parchment in front of him, which was covered in Heather's handwriting, "two-hundred Galleons at the end of every month from Miss Heather Harris' account to a Mr Sirius Black's. I presume that is you."

Sirius stretched up to his full height and peered at the parchment, attempting to read it upside-down, but his plan was thwarted when the goblin quickly snatched it away.

Sirius frowned fiercely at the creature. "Two-hundred Galleons? She can't afford to give me that much money monthly! Unless she has got herself a job and a real good one."

The goblin reluctantly turned back to him and fixed him with a glare. "That is none of my concern. I am only following Miss Harris' orders as shown here." He traced a long finger along a line of writing.

"Can I see that?" Sirius asked.

"No. It is confidential information! I believe this concludes our business, sir," the goblin announced and put the parchment back into a heavy folder, which he slid under the counter.

Sirius rubbed his hand over his hair in thought. "No, I don't think it is. Let me see…"

The goblin looked at him expectantly.

"Can you arrange it that two hundred and fifty Galleons go from my account into Miss Harris' every month until I say otherwise?" Sirius asked with a rakish grin, as an idea popped into his head.

"Yes, sir…" The goblin started scribbling on a form. "Sign here."

Sirius scrawled his signature on the parchment with a flourish and a wicked grin. "If Mohammed can't get to the mountain…"

"Sorry, sir?"

"Never mind."

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"What? But this isn't right!"

"On the contrary, Miss, everything is in order," the goblin looked affronted at the fact that she thought that Gringotts could make a mistake.

"No, it can't be! There are more Galleons in my vault than before. There shouldn't be that many, if you were giving the money to Mr Black as I specified." Heather gave the goblin a steely-eyed look. "You are doing what I instructed you to do, are you not?"

"Yes, Miss. We are transferring two hundred Galleons from your account into Mr Black's monthly."

"Then where has this extra money come from?"

The goblin looked worried. He beckoned with one long finger to another goblin and they had a whispered conversation with many sidelong looks at Heather, as if they were trying to determine whether she was trying to cheat them. Eventually, a look of comprehension dawned on the first goblin's face and he turned back to Heather.

"Yes, we are doing as you instructed. But we are also doing as Mr Black instructed."

Heather's face became pinched. "And what has Mr Black asked you to do?"

"We are to take two hundred and fifty Galleons out of his account at the beginning of every month and transfer them to your account."

"What?!" Heather's voice echoed loudly around the room and caused many heads to turn in her direction.

The goblin sent her a fierce look. "Miss, perhaps you should calm down."

Heather muttered curses savagely under her breath. "Is there any way you can stop the money from going into my account?"

"We can only stop it at his order," the goblin declared. After a brief pause, he gave her a steely look. "Miss, I hope you are aware that this is a place of business and not somewhere that condones conducting private vendettas under its roof."

Heather sent him an angry look that made him take a step back.

"Perhaps, if you talked to Mr Black in person and sorted this whole thing out, then there wouldn't be so much confusion and money flying about," the goblin suggested impatiently.

Heather gritted her teeth. "Hm. Yes. Perhaps I'd better do that."

Heather walked out of Gringotts muttering under her breath and casting nasty looks at anyone who got in her way.

"What on earth is he playing at? He knows full well that I owe him money and I need to pay it back. So why is he trying to mess up my plan?"

She screeched to a halt when she saw a familiar dark head bent over a stall filled with quills outside Flourish and Blotts. Marching towards him, she tapped hard on his shoulder and waited for him to turn around.

Sirius spun around and gazed down at where Heather stood, her hands on her hips and a sour look on her face.

"Sirius Black, I want you to explain yourself."

Ignoring her tone, Sirius' face broke out into a grin and he reached down and picked her up, spinning her around in the air. "Heather! How great to see you!"

"Put me down!" Heather spluttered. "Put me down this instant!"

Sirius stopped spinning and held her still, close to his chest. "Why?"

Heather, unused to the proximity, felt her face getting redder and redder. "Because I need to talk to you about something serious!"

Sirius set her back on her feet. "Yeah, I need to speak to you about something serious, too."

"Great. Me first. Why, in Merlin's name, are you putting money into my account? I don't need your help! I've got myself a job and I'm trying to pay you back."

"Pay me back for what?" Sirius gave her an intense look.

"For taking care of me! I'm not cheap, you know. I'm sure I've cost you over a thousand Galleons per week."

"So, you're attempting to pay me for services rendered?"

"Yes!" Heather cried. "No!" She changed her mind at the downcast look on his face.

"So, this is your idea of friendship? Paying people for helping you out?"

"No! You don't understand! You paid my debts; I'm paying you back for paying my debts."

"So, what is it? What's the going rate?" Sirius ignored her last words. "Thirty Sickles per hug? Fifty per kiss?"

"No!" Heather protested.

"You drive a hard bargain, but here," Sirius said harshly, putting three Galleons in her hand.

"What are these-?" Heather had only a second to be confused before Sirius grabbed her and held her hard against him, forcing her mouth under his and kissing her breathless.

Heather was almost driven senseless by the kiss, forgetting her surroundings, her reason for seeing him in the first place. Suddenly, she realised what was happening and her arms, which had subconsciously wound themselves around his neck to deepen the kiss, loosened. She pressed her hands firmly against his chest, pushing him away.

Sirius let her go, content to stare at her flushed face and listen to her breathing, which was as uneven as he supposed his own must be.

"Why did you do that?" Heather asked, once she had caught her breath.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sirius ran a hand through his hair, which was standing on end from where, only seconds ago, she had been running her fingers through it.

Distracted by the movement, she stared at his hands for a minute.

"Heather?"

"Hmmm…?" She gazed up at him with confused eyes and licked her dry lips.

Sirius groaned. "Heather, why don't you just give in and come back home with me. We'll sort things out. Whatever you thought I did, it can't have been that bad as to provoke a reaction like you had."

Heather's eyes became steely as she listened to his speech. "Give in? Can't have been that bad?" she parroted angrily.

Sirius' brain did an internal 'oops' as he realised that he had said something wrong.

"There's just no use in trying to work anything out with you. All it comes down to is you trying to get me to agree with you using animal attraction and then using your chauvinistic male brain to try and work out my female psyche. It's just not going to work, Sirius. Why don't you get that through your thick head and leave me alone to get on with my life?" Heather's eyes were bright with anger and she began to back away. "And stop paying money into my account!" she called as she became lost in the crowd.

Sirius scanned the people for her, but couldn't see her anymore. "Heather? Heather! Come back!" he called, but to no response.

Sighing, his shoulders slumped and he was back at the drawing board.

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Authors' Notes:

Hiya!

Sorry that this chapter is a bit short. I thought it would be best to update soon with a short chapter than make you wait for a long one! J

Luckily for me, my university has broken up for the Easter holidays (yay!) so I have a big break for six weeks! SIX WEEKS! That means a serious lot of time for writing fanfiction! And of course revising for my exams…(or not!).

Anyway, back to the subject. This story should be finishing quite soon. A couple more chapters, I think.

Special thanks to every one who reviewed, you lovely, lovely people!

Drachenaugen, Cate O'Hara, blackcandy, Sam, The Elfin Child,  Empress Genevieve, KeeperOfTheMoon, Fawkes, Harriet Potter, sortofevil, sapphireskies, Honor Blaze Pendragon, Hopeful Writer, SumChick, Kori Lewis.

Love,

(Martha and) Squirrel.

xxx.