Friday, 25th August.
Fenix was drying her hair as she went in to the sitting room where they will have breakfast. Remus was already seated, sipping on hot chocolate as he peeked at the Daily Prophet from Hermione's shoulder. Snape was already up, immaculately dressed in his black wizard robe and Ginny, looking far too alert than usual.
"Ginny? Aren't you a little too early to be out of bed?" Fenix asked the girl curiously as she began to brush her hair.
"The twins…they popped a Lemon-wakees when I was still groggy," Ginny growled. "I'm feeling a little grumpy."
"Because you think you should be grumpy at not getting enough sleep," Remus said in a distracted manner as he scanned the paper. "They had better keep themselves undercover before the Muggle undercover police spots them…really this is absurd," Remus shook his head in disapproval.
"What's absurd?" Fenix asked him, as she sat down on the floor. Sirius had just entered the room, still sleepy-eyed and he scowled at his oathsister.
"Fenix, why must you bathe every morning? Not only that…you also bathe before dinner. I haven't encountered anyone who is so crazy about baths before."
"I bathe every morning because I like to bathe in the morning. Anyway…it does make you feel clean. And if you feel clean…you will feel happy and energized to tackle the day," Fenix replied flippantly.
"Crazy…" Sirius muttered to himself and sat down on the armchair. He carefully sipped at the hot chocolate slowly, watching the couple with amusement.
"Remus," Fenix tapped him lightly on his shoulder, "you still haven't tell me what's so absurd…"
Remus flushed slightly in embarrassment. "Sorry…it's just that some of the wizards and witches had taken it to themselves that they have to keep an eye on King's Cross. Some of them do not know how to be subtle about it. They had to do a Memory Charm on two private investigators when the Muggles caught them acting very strangely in public," he sighed. "Why can't they be more professional?"
Fenix nodded her head in comprehension and sat down beside the bushy-haired Hermione. She had a minx-like expression on her face and it stirred the Fire Master's curiosity.
"Why are you looking as though you're a cat who's just gotten itself into a bowl of cream?"
Hermione kept on smiling as she gave Sirius the newspaper then turned a fully wicked smile at Fenix.
"Am I in trouble or something?" Fenix asked warily.
"Wind said you know how to play Reversi…" Hermione leaned towards her in excitement.
"Yes…" Fenix replied uncertainly as she blinked her silver eyes in confusion.
"Good!" Hermione quickly got out the board, with beads already divided in two.
"Early in the morning?" Ron exclaimed just as he saw what she was up to. "Hermione, you've gone mental!"
"I don't mind the mental exercise…ouch…that must have hurt…" Fenix said, looking towards the entrance of the house.
"What's going on?" Harry asked curiously.
"It seems that some early Muggles are a triple bit irritated this morning. Some of the Dark Lord's lackeys are at the shield again and the Muggles threw back some very, very sharp little stones at them. There's even one old fellow who's showing off his crossbow…" Fenix said amusedly.
"Isn't that going to get us in trouble?" Remus asked, his brows bunching up as he frowned.
"No, they would not bother to call the authorities. They've lived in weirder times…" Fenix answered with a smile. "Black or white?"
"Black," Hermione answered, and the rest gathered about the two contenders as they munched on their breakfast. Fenix drank her chocolate calmly as she stared at the board in ultimate concentration, making her moves slowly. Hermione stared in horror as Fenix captured two whole rows of her beads. It had seemed that there were more black beads a minute ago but now it seemed that the blacks were merely dotting amidst the whites. Hermione placed her last bead in defeat as she captured three more beads yet she could count her beads on her two hands.
"Wait a minute, Hermione won us all and with Professor Snape, a draw. So how come you defeated her so soundly?" Ron asked in amazement. "Play with Hermione, one more time…" the Weasley urged. Fenix defeated Hermione again.
"Unbelievable…what's your secret?"
"Strategy…what else?" Fenix said, as if she could not believe that Ron had asked such a simple question. "Remus, do you have any idea how I did it?"
"I was watching pretty carefully but it evaded me completely."
"I am so disappointed…Sirius?" Fenix looked at her oathbrother and shook her head in disappointment. "Severus, I want you to watch how I play carefully. If you ferret out my secret I'll just eat salad for dinner."
"And serves you right if he finds the answer," Sirius said dryly.
"Just giving him the incentive…so watch carefully…I'll be terribly disappointed if you just let the bet go to waste," Fenix replied easily, giving a small smile.
Fenix played with Hermione for the third time and Snape paid careful attention to where Fenix had placed her beads. She seems to snake her way around to get the corners of the board… Snape found that his observation was not far from wrong. Granger is concentrated far too heavily in the center that it won't make a difference with her last bead, Snape mused, scratching his chin lightly.
"I give up," Hermione sighed.
"Would you allow me to play?" Snape asked Fenix politely.
"Testing your theory on how it works?" Fenix said with a broad smile. Snape nodded and Hermione made way for the Potion Master as he knelt on the floor. They held their breaths as they watched the slow contest between the two. Fenix's smile grew wider and wider, and as Severus placed his last bead, she laughed happily.
"Thank goodness you didn't disappoint me!"
Ron and Hermione took the task of counting the beads with the Potions Master losing five beads to Fenix. "So what's the secret to play this game successfully and to make it more challenging?" her silver twinkling merrily as she questioned Snape.
"Maneuvering your way so you'll be able to occupy the edges…and to make your hits last…" Snape said haltingly.
"Good man!" Fenix applauded. "Now you guys can practice while I get myself a good breakfast."
Ron snorted his amusement and watched Hermione dreamily as she began to play with the Potions Master. The Muggle game seemed to gather everyone closer to each other and soon enough, Harry got the courage to banter back at the Potions Master and Snape was mellow enough to be treated like the rest of them. Fenix suppressed the urge to go outside and yell out with happiness, but she found she could not stop smiling every time she watched the rest of the group interact with the Potions Master easily.
Dear Gods! I'm so happy that I think I'm going to cry… Fenix quickly blinked her eyes as she felt tears welling up. This is good! So good!
: So it worked… : Silver watched her carefully. Fenix hugged the silver wolf in pure glee.
: I wasn't sure if Severus was keen to be led along…but he's doing fine! He still has a few barbs but that's okay! : Fenix giggled in his mind, her mindvoice filled with elation.
: Good job, dear, : Wind approved, and watched the company with surprising gentleness in her eyes.
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