A.N.--*sigh* Alright, I know I promised you EVIL, but.
The EVIL Plot Ideas got attacked by the Romantic Mush Plot Ideas, who apparently aren't ready to give up control of the story yet. As a result, all the EVIL Plot Ideas have been hospitalized, and the Romantic Mush Plot Ideas are once again running the show. I'll get the EVIL in here eventually.just not yet.
Chapter Four
Sirius entered the Great Hall one morning to find an eerie quiet settled over the students. Everyone was talking in hushed voices, and he couldn't see anyone smiling. Even on a Monday, that was definitely not right. Remus, James, Peter, and Lily were clustered together in their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. Sirius hurried over to join them.
"Hey guys, what's going on?" he asked as he reached them. "Did exams get rescheduled for this week or something?"
Lily glanced up, looked at him incredulously. "You haven't heard?"
"Heard what? What happened? Who died?" He was still half joking, and totally unprepared for the answer he got.
"Alexandra's father."
"What?!" Sirius turned and stared at Remus. His friend hadn't looked up as he spoke, he was staring at the table, tracing meaningless patterns on the wood with his slender fingers. His face was completely, deadly serious. He glanced up now, meeting his friend's eyes.
"Alexandra's father is dead, Sirius. Murdered, if what I've heard is accurate."
Sirius's head was spinning. Part of his mind was screaming that this couldn't have happened, but the blunt sincerity in Remus's gray eyes made disbelief impossible. Besides, Moony would never joke about something like this.At that moment, Dumbledore stood and asked for the students' attention.
"Several of the faculty and most of the parents I've spoken to so far don't think I should tell you what I'm about to. They tell me you are too young to understand or cope with this kind of tragedy. I think you deserve more credit than that-in my experience, children sometimes understand tragedy better than adults. Besides, there already seem to be several variations of the truth being told, so I feel I should tell you all now.
For some time, the Ministry of Magic has been aware of a wizard who calls himself Voldemort. This Voldemort has certain.ideas about how wizards should use their powers, as well as who should be allowed to study wizardry in the first place. We suspected he might turn to violence, but hoped we were wrong.our hope has now been proven vain.
Several nights ago Nicodemus Merlin, a respectable wizard and an old friend of mine, was murdered. Many, including myself, believe his death was the work of Voldemort.
Many of you already know that his daughter, Alexandra, is a student here. I can't ask you not to discuss this incident, but I do ask that you refrain from mentioning it around Alexandra. She will have more than enough grief to deal with already."
Before Dumbledore had finished, Sirius was already searching the Ravenclaw table with his eyes. Alexandra wasn't there. Without saying a word to his friends, he stood and left the room.
"Sirius-" Remus and James caught up with him on the stairs. "Sirius, you might just make it worse, don't-"
"I have to talk to her, James. If something like this happened to Lily you'd be doing just the same, so don't bother trying to stop me." They had reached the Ravenclaw tower now, and Remus stepped in front of the portrait that marked the entrance.
"Sirius, use your head, for God's sake. Even if anything you could say or do would possibly help, she's in the tower and none of us knows the password. Let's just go back to breakfast, and you can talk to Alexandra once she's had a chance to deal with this."
At that moment, the portrait entrance swung open and Alexandra and Professor Flitwick came out. Flitwick looked like he was about to tell them to go away, but Alexandra spoke before he could.
"It's alright, Professor, I wanted to leave the dormitory so I could find Sirius." She gave the Professor a smile-a trembling, teary-eyed smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Can you give us some time alone? I'll some by Professor Dumbledore's office later."
"If you're sure you'll be alright, my dear-" She nodded, and Flitwick patted her hand sympathetically and walked off. Alexandra turned to Sirius. She was obviously on the verge of tears, but she smiled at him as well.
"Hey." Sirius returned the smile-or tried to anyway, and then said, weakly, "How-how are you feeling?" Instantly he wanted to bang his head against the wall, and called himself all kind of insulting things under his breath. In a history of jerky comments and bad jokes, that had to be the single stupidest thing he had ever said. "I mean-are you alright?" Damn it, that was just as bad!
Alexandra stood there and watched him make an ass of himself, a tiny hint of a real smile playing about her lips. Suddenly she almost laughed, and ended up bursting into tears. Sirius was at her side in a minute, wrapping his arms around her. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry-I'm such and idiot-"
She sighed and nestled her head against his shoulder, still crying. "It's alright, it's not your fault. Anything would make me cry right now."
Sirius glanced over his shoulder. Remus was already dragging James, who would have preferred to stay and watch the melodrama, back down the stairs. And as much as he wanted to just stand still and let Alexandra cry into his shoulder, they should go somewhere else, too. Picking her up in his arms, Sirius carried her to the empty library and settled them both into a comfortable spot on a window seat. The seat was big enough for both of them, but Alexandra curled up next to Sirius until she was practically in his lap.
"I got you all wet." She murmured after crying for a few more minutes. "Sorry."
"S'ok." Sirius gently rubbed one hand against her back, giving with his body the comfort he seemed unable to give with words. A sudden thought occurred to him, and he lifted his head to look down at her. "Your little sister.is she--?"
"She's okay. Well, not okay, but.you know what I mean. She's not hurt. She was visiting our brother in Wales."
"That's good." Sirius lowered his head again, resting his cheek on her soft hair. "Ally."
"Ally?" She raised her head, smiling slightly. "No one's ever called me that before. Even to my family I was always Alexandra."
"Oh. Well."
She answered his question before he could ask it. "I like it."
Their eyes met, and without really thinking Sirius bent down and kissed her, really kissed her for the first time. Her mouth was softer and sweeter than he could ever have fantasized. They moved slightly against each other as the kiss deepened, both shifting their bodies until they seemed to fit perfectly. Sirius only broke the kiss when it got hard to breathe, and their mouths came together again almost immediately.
Finally Ally lowered her head and nuzzled against his neck gently. "Weren't you about to tell me something?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah." Lifting her chin with his hand, Sirius looked into her eyes. "I can't think of anything that I could say that would help you feel better about this-most things I can think of would probably make it worse.but if you need anything, I'll be here for you. And if you want to talk, I'll just listen and not say anything stupid."
She actually laughed. "Go ahead, say something stupid. It might cheer me up."
Sirius grinned, responding to her challenge. "Alright, you asked for it." He looked her straight in the eye. "I love you."
Alexandra's eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, she just stared at him. Then, in a heartbeat, she was hugging him so tightly he couldn't breathe.
"Oh, Sirius." She raised her head and kissed him. "You're an idiot." Another kiss. "And a troublemaker." Another kiss. "And you're a teacher's worst nightmare and I want to be a teacher and there's all sorts of reasons you're the wrong person for me to be with." One more kiss, so deep and passionate it made his head spin-"And I love you, too."
A.N.-Don't you look at me that way! It's all his fault! (points to Sirius) Every time I try to write something non-mushy, he pops up in my head all cute and romantic.If he'd just behave himself, we could make some progress here!
The EVIL Plot Ideas got attacked by the Romantic Mush Plot Ideas, who apparently aren't ready to give up control of the story yet. As a result, all the EVIL Plot Ideas have been hospitalized, and the Romantic Mush Plot Ideas are once again running the show. I'll get the EVIL in here eventually.just not yet.
Chapter Four
Sirius entered the Great Hall one morning to find an eerie quiet settled over the students. Everyone was talking in hushed voices, and he couldn't see anyone smiling. Even on a Monday, that was definitely not right. Remus, James, Peter, and Lily were clustered together in their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. Sirius hurried over to join them.
"Hey guys, what's going on?" he asked as he reached them. "Did exams get rescheduled for this week or something?"
Lily glanced up, looked at him incredulously. "You haven't heard?"
"Heard what? What happened? Who died?" He was still half joking, and totally unprepared for the answer he got.
"Alexandra's father."
"What?!" Sirius turned and stared at Remus. His friend hadn't looked up as he spoke, he was staring at the table, tracing meaningless patterns on the wood with his slender fingers. His face was completely, deadly serious. He glanced up now, meeting his friend's eyes.
"Alexandra's father is dead, Sirius. Murdered, if what I've heard is accurate."
Sirius's head was spinning. Part of his mind was screaming that this couldn't have happened, but the blunt sincerity in Remus's gray eyes made disbelief impossible. Besides, Moony would never joke about something like this.At that moment, Dumbledore stood and asked for the students' attention.
"Several of the faculty and most of the parents I've spoken to so far don't think I should tell you what I'm about to. They tell me you are too young to understand or cope with this kind of tragedy. I think you deserve more credit than that-in my experience, children sometimes understand tragedy better than adults. Besides, there already seem to be several variations of the truth being told, so I feel I should tell you all now.
For some time, the Ministry of Magic has been aware of a wizard who calls himself Voldemort. This Voldemort has certain.ideas about how wizards should use their powers, as well as who should be allowed to study wizardry in the first place. We suspected he might turn to violence, but hoped we were wrong.our hope has now been proven vain.
Several nights ago Nicodemus Merlin, a respectable wizard and an old friend of mine, was murdered. Many, including myself, believe his death was the work of Voldemort.
Many of you already know that his daughter, Alexandra, is a student here. I can't ask you not to discuss this incident, but I do ask that you refrain from mentioning it around Alexandra. She will have more than enough grief to deal with already."
Before Dumbledore had finished, Sirius was already searching the Ravenclaw table with his eyes. Alexandra wasn't there. Without saying a word to his friends, he stood and left the room.
"Sirius-" Remus and James caught up with him on the stairs. "Sirius, you might just make it worse, don't-"
"I have to talk to her, James. If something like this happened to Lily you'd be doing just the same, so don't bother trying to stop me." They had reached the Ravenclaw tower now, and Remus stepped in front of the portrait that marked the entrance.
"Sirius, use your head, for God's sake. Even if anything you could say or do would possibly help, she's in the tower and none of us knows the password. Let's just go back to breakfast, and you can talk to Alexandra once she's had a chance to deal with this."
At that moment, the portrait entrance swung open and Alexandra and Professor Flitwick came out. Flitwick looked like he was about to tell them to go away, but Alexandra spoke before he could.
"It's alright, Professor, I wanted to leave the dormitory so I could find Sirius." She gave the Professor a smile-a trembling, teary-eyed smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Can you give us some time alone? I'll some by Professor Dumbledore's office later."
"If you're sure you'll be alright, my dear-" She nodded, and Flitwick patted her hand sympathetically and walked off. Alexandra turned to Sirius. She was obviously on the verge of tears, but she smiled at him as well.
"Hey." Sirius returned the smile-or tried to anyway, and then said, weakly, "How-how are you feeling?" Instantly he wanted to bang his head against the wall, and called himself all kind of insulting things under his breath. In a history of jerky comments and bad jokes, that had to be the single stupidest thing he had ever said. "I mean-are you alright?" Damn it, that was just as bad!
Alexandra stood there and watched him make an ass of himself, a tiny hint of a real smile playing about her lips. Suddenly she almost laughed, and ended up bursting into tears. Sirius was at her side in a minute, wrapping his arms around her. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry-I'm such and idiot-"
She sighed and nestled her head against his shoulder, still crying. "It's alright, it's not your fault. Anything would make me cry right now."
Sirius glanced over his shoulder. Remus was already dragging James, who would have preferred to stay and watch the melodrama, back down the stairs. And as much as he wanted to just stand still and let Alexandra cry into his shoulder, they should go somewhere else, too. Picking her up in his arms, Sirius carried her to the empty library and settled them both into a comfortable spot on a window seat. The seat was big enough for both of them, but Alexandra curled up next to Sirius until she was practically in his lap.
"I got you all wet." She murmured after crying for a few more minutes. "Sorry."
"S'ok." Sirius gently rubbed one hand against her back, giving with his body the comfort he seemed unable to give with words. A sudden thought occurred to him, and he lifted his head to look down at her. "Your little sister.is she--?"
"She's okay. Well, not okay, but.you know what I mean. She's not hurt. She was visiting our brother in Wales."
"That's good." Sirius lowered his head again, resting his cheek on her soft hair. "Ally."
"Ally?" She raised her head, smiling slightly. "No one's ever called me that before. Even to my family I was always Alexandra."
"Oh. Well."
She answered his question before he could ask it. "I like it."
Their eyes met, and without really thinking Sirius bent down and kissed her, really kissed her for the first time. Her mouth was softer and sweeter than he could ever have fantasized. They moved slightly against each other as the kiss deepened, both shifting their bodies until they seemed to fit perfectly. Sirius only broke the kiss when it got hard to breathe, and their mouths came together again almost immediately.
Finally Ally lowered her head and nuzzled against his neck gently. "Weren't you about to tell me something?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah." Lifting her chin with his hand, Sirius looked into her eyes. "I can't think of anything that I could say that would help you feel better about this-most things I can think of would probably make it worse.but if you need anything, I'll be here for you. And if you want to talk, I'll just listen and not say anything stupid."
She actually laughed. "Go ahead, say something stupid. It might cheer me up."
Sirius grinned, responding to her challenge. "Alright, you asked for it." He looked her straight in the eye. "I love you."
Alexandra's eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, she just stared at him. Then, in a heartbeat, she was hugging him so tightly he couldn't breathe.
"Oh, Sirius." She raised her head and kissed him. "You're an idiot." Another kiss. "And a troublemaker." Another kiss. "And you're a teacher's worst nightmare and I want to be a teacher and there's all sorts of reasons you're the wrong person for me to be with." One more kiss, so deep and passionate it made his head spin-"And I love you, too."
A.N.-Don't you look at me that way! It's all his fault! (points to Sirius) Every time I try to write something non-mushy, he pops up in my head all cute and romantic.If he'd just behave himself, we could make some progress here!
