AUTHOR'S NOTE: SORRY, ANOTHER SHORTIE. Okay, now remember this: when you
review, tell me what you think Ari should be like. Because I have NO IDEA!
So talk to me. Oh, and I made up the two percentages from vanilla extract
except the last one.
Chapter Six:
"Sirius WHAT?" Hermione squeaked.
Damn. Harry really shouldn't have tried to confide in Ron and Hermione about how worried he was with Sirius alone in Grimmauld Place. Okay, so maybe that wasn't the problem. He just really shouldn't have told them about Sirius' . . . er . . . issue.
"Shh," Harry implored, "Hermione, please. I told you, he's trying to quit!"
"But you said you weren't sure -" Hermione whined.
"If he told me he will, he will. Hermione, don't look at me like that!"
"Ron!" Hermione said quickly, looking to Ron for help.
"It's not *that* big of a deal, you know," Ron said carefully, "I mean, it's not like he's violent or anything. I'm surprised, I can usually tell . . ." Harry had not told Ron or Hermione about *how* he had found out about Sirius' drinking.
"What do you mean, you can usually tell?" Hermione said suspiciously.
"Er . . . nothing," Ron said, but Hermione opened her mouth and looked as if she was about to say something, "All I'm saying is, it happens to a lot of people. Just because he drinks doesn't mean he's got a problem. People go through phases in their lives when they drink. Bill did, when his friends at work were."
Harry was starting to feel a little better about all of this, but Hermione squashed it, "So Bill went through a phase. He shouldn't have done it at all, and none of *us* would ever even *think* about it. Ron? Why are you looking at the floor? Ron?"
"Hmm?" Ron said, at a failed attempt at someone coming out of a daydream.
"Ron, you *haven't,*" Hermione breathed.
"I've had a couple of shots before, okay?" Ron snapped, although Harry noticed that he looked rather pleased with himself. He guessed that if Ron had not been in the presence of Hermione, he would have made quite a show of his few wasted hours.
Everything else that happened that night in the common room was comprised entirely of argument between Harry's friends, but at the end of the night he was completely confused. Sirius drinking was bad, but Fred and George giving their younger brother a couple of shots was harmless? It made no sense whatsoever to Harry, so he went to bed extremely bewildered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sirius sighed and got up from the dark maple chair he'd stationed the previous day by Ari's bedside. The boy had been stirring that morning, but it looked like that was all he was going to do.
He sloppily trudged down the stairs and set a pot of coffee to heat up. Damn, he'd had a lot of coffee lately. But it wasn't alcohol. It wasn't alcohol. It was coffee. And Sirius was practically living off it. He kept wondering if he should feed the Dengised boy anything, but he was still asleep, and Tonks had said not to try to help . . .
When the coffee was lukewarm, Sirius decided he couldn't wait any longer for it, so he blew the heavy dust covering off an old, chipped mug and set it down on the counter. He poured the coffee in carelessly, spilling a little on the counter and taking just enough time to consider wiping it up before deciding not to. The monotony of it was just as he'd been doing a few times a day since Ari Dengised had gotten dropped off. Pot to stove, coffee to mug, don't wipe up the mess. With a sigh so audible it could beat down every other sigh Sirius had let out that day, he dumped a two-ounce bottle of vanilla extract into his coffee mug and casually stirred it before setting off to return upstairs to his babysitting job.
But something was missing; Sirius noticed it as soon as he hit the second landing. It was the heavy, labored breathing of Ari Dengised; it was absent from the dank hallway as well.
Sirius' immediate thought was that Ari was dead, that he had finally given out, just as it looked like he was about to on a daily basis. When he raced into the room to see, he met a huge surprise.
Pure Vanilla Extract 2 Fl oz, 118 mL Ingredients: 19.5 % Vanilla bean extracts in water 45.5 % Corn Syrup 35 % Alcohol
Chapter Six:
"Sirius WHAT?" Hermione squeaked.
Damn. Harry really shouldn't have tried to confide in Ron and Hermione about how worried he was with Sirius alone in Grimmauld Place. Okay, so maybe that wasn't the problem. He just really shouldn't have told them about Sirius' . . . er . . . issue.
"Shh," Harry implored, "Hermione, please. I told you, he's trying to quit!"
"But you said you weren't sure -" Hermione whined.
"If he told me he will, he will. Hermione, don't look at me like that!"
"Ron!" Hermione said quickly, looking to Ron for help.
"It's not *that* big of a deal, you know," Ron said carefully, "I mean, it's not like he's violent or anything. I'm surprised, I can usually tell . . ." Harry had not told Ron or Hermione about *how* he had found out about Sirius' drinking.
"What do you mean, you can usually tell?" Hermione said suspiciously.
"Er . . . nothing," Ron said, but Hermione opened her mouth and looked as if she was about to say something, "All I'm saying is, it happens to a lot of people. Just because he drinks doesn't mean he's got a problem. People go through phases in their lives when they drink. Bill did, when his friends at work were."
Harry was starting to feel a little better about all of this, but Hermione squashed it, "So Bill went through a phase. He shouldn't have done it at all, and none of *us* would ever even *think* about it. Ron? Why are you looking at the floor? Ron?"
"Hmm?" Ron said, at a failed attempt at someone coming out of a daydream.
"Ron, you *haven't,*" Hermione breathed.
"I've had a couple of shots before, okay?" Ron snapped, although Harry noticed that he looked rather pleased with himself. He guessed that if Ron had not been in the presence of Hermione, he would have made quite a show of his few wasted hours.
Everything else that happened that night in the common room was comprised entirely of argument between Harry's friends, but at the end of the night he was completely confused. Sirius drinking was bad, but Fred and George giving their younger brother a couple of shots was harmless? It made no sense whatsoever to Harry, so he went to bed extremely bewildered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sirius sighed and got up from the dark maple chair he'd stationed the previous day by Ari's bedside. The boy had been stirring that morning, but it looked like that was all he was going to do.
He sloppily trudged down the stairs and set a pot of coffee to heat up. Damn, he'd had a lot of coffee lately. But it wasn't alcohol. It wasn't alcohol. It was coffee. And Sirius was practically living off it. He kept wondering if he should feed the Dengised boy anything, but he was still asleep, and Tonks had said not to try to help . . .
When the coffee was lukewarm, Sirius decided he couldn't wait any longer for it, so he blew the heavy dust covering off an old, chipped mug and set it down on the counter. He poured the coffee in carelessly, spilling a little on the counter and taking just enough time to consider wiping it up before deciding not to. The monotony of it was just as he'd been doing a few times a day since Ari Dengised had gotten dropped off. Pot to stove, coffee to mug, don't wipe up the mess. With a sigh so audible it could beat down every other sigh Sirius had let out that day, he dumped a two-ounce bottle of vanilla extract into his coffee mug and casually stirred it before setting off to return upstairs to his babysitting job.
But something was missing; Sirius noticed it as soon as he hit the second landing. It was the heavy, labored breathing of Ari Dengised; it was absent from the dank hallway as well.
Sirius' immediate thought was that Ari was dead, that he had finally given out, just as it looked like he was about to on a daily basis. When he raced into the room to see, he met a huge surprise.
Pure Vanilla Extract 2 Fl oz, 118 mL Ingredients: 19.5 % Vanilla bean extracts in water 45.5 % Corn Syrup 35 % Alcohol