Chapter Fifteen: A Solemn Promise. 

It was nearly midnight before they finally returned home.  Both Andromeda and Richard had consumed a fair amount of wine and stayed downstairs, talking excitedly, repeatedly hugging and kissing.  Completely unnoticed, Sirius and Ursa slipped away upstairs to their rooms.

Closing his door on the happy voices, Sirius flung himself onto his bed.  Cosmic jumped up beside him, mewing.  Sirius stroked the cat's silky fur as Cosmic lay down and promptly made himself comfortable.  Reaching over to the bedside table, Sirius picked up his clock and set the alarm.  He shoved it under the pillow, and then changed into his pyjamas and got into bed.  He closed his eyes, trying to block out the muffled sounds of the continuous celebration downstairs.  Within minutes, he drifted off to sleep, accompanied by the rumbling purrs of Cosmic beside him.

*

Two hours later, a harsh ringing sound drew Sirius abruptly into consciousness.  For a moment, he couldn't think what could be making such an awful racket; then, as though his body had woken up faster than his brain, he reached under his pillow and swatted at the alarm clock.  It took several attempts to actually hit the clock and turn it off.  Silence fell, only to be broken by the disgruntled grumbling of Cosmic; the cat snarled and stalked to the end of the bed where he settled himself down again.

Rubbing his eyes furiously, Sirius sat up, determined not to accidentally fall back to sleep.  He sat perfectly still, listening for any sound at all.  The house was silent.  A shaft of moonlight fell through the window onto the bedspread, sending a silver-grey glow across the room.  Cosmic's fur gleamed, his green eyes shining through the darkness.

Moving up to sit at the window, Sirius slid it open.  A cool breeze blew pleasantly across his face.  The garden below was dark and still.  Cautiously, Sirius leaned over the sill.  The window next to his was dark; the curtains were drawn, but the window had been left open a crack.

Putting two fingers in his mouth, Sirius gave three short whistles.  He paused, and then whistled again.  A short, shrill whistle was heard in reply.  A few moments later, Ursa appeared at her window.  Her face significantly pale in the moonlight, she gave a tired smile.

'Are you okay, Ursa?' Sirius whispered anxiously.

She nodded.  Sirius wasn't convinced.  She didn't look okay at all.  Her eyes were over-bright and her expression looked troubled.

'What about you?' she asked quietly.  'You okay?'

'I'm fine,' said Sirius, brushing aside her concern.  He'd just opened his mouth to speak when Ursa beat him to it.

'You're lying,' came the soft accusation.

Ursa's face was grim, her eyes meeting Sirius' with a firm stare.

Sirius faltered, swallowing the words he'd about to say.  He sighed dejectedly, looking down at his hands.

'Is it really that obvious when I tell a lie?' he muttered.

'No,' said Ursa, the corners of her mouth twitching.  'But seeing as you've just admitted to it …'

Sirius looked up at her.  She gave a small smile.  Sirius gave a short laugh; it sounded strained.

'Okay, that was sneaky.'

'Well, I did learn it from you,' she said, making an attempt at sounding cheerful.  Sirius looked pained.

'Ursa, I'd rather you didn't look to me as an example all the time,' said Sirius, his voiced taking on a bitter edge.  'You'll only get into trouble.'

For a minute or so, both were silent.  Ursa continued to watch her brother as he gazed morosely into the garden, his eyes downcast.

'I believe you.'

Confused, Sirius blinked and looked up.

'Sorry?'

'I believe you,' said Ursa softly.  'What you said about Richard hurting you.'

Sirius stared at her.

'Y – you do?  Why?  You weren't even there; how could you have heard?'

'I was only upstairs, Siri.  Besides, it tends to be easier to hear people when they start shouting, particularly if they're right below my bedroom.'  She gave a small guilty smile.  'And I … er … used a glass to listen in …'

For some reason, that didn't surprise Sirius in the least.  Back in the days when their father had still lived with them, both Sirius and Ursa would eavesdrop on their parents' arguments from time to time.  The most useful method they'd discovered was using an upturned glass to amplify sounds through walls or floors.

These midnight 'meetings' had also come about during those times.  Nearly every night they'd stayed up late, talking into the early hours of the morning, trying to reach some sort of understanding of their situation and their parents' divorce.  Those talks had usually ended with Sirius reassuring his little sister that everything would alright; even if he never really believed it himself.

'How much did you hear?' Sirius asked.

Ursa shifted uncomfortably.

'Something about Richard hitting you … you calling him a liar … Mum sounded angry, she didn't believe you … I heard you come upstairs with Mum – I didn't catch what you said but when you went back downstairs you … um, shouted … at Richard,' Ursa avoided Sirius' gaze as she spoke.  'Then Mum started shouting at you … and you came running upstairs to your room and you didn't come back out.'

She paused, fidgeting a little, then added, 'I think I heard someone else go into your room, but I'm not sure.'

Sirius didn't say anything.  A warm, gratifying feeling inside him had grown at her first few words.  She believed him.  Somehow lacking the words to express his immense relief and gratitude, he asked, 'You really believe me?'

'Of course I do.  You wouldn't lie about something like that; I know you wouldn't.  Besides, I don't know how else to explain why your friends would sneak into the house to see you in the middle of the night, especially when they all live so far away.'  She frowned, thinking hard.  'It was really weird; Richard seemed to know that Lily had come to see you, but told her she couldn't because you were being punished for something.  As soon as he'd gone upstairs, Lily asked me if I was hurt, then if I knew whether you were okay.  I thought she'd lost her marbles; she was acting kinda scared.

'Then the rest of your friends turned up and I was totally lost, and since no one thought to explain anything to me, I was left to try figuring it out for myself.  Of course, you turning into a reclusive hermit didn't help much.' She gave him a sardonic half-smile, but it faded quickly.  'Siri, why did you do that?  Why wouldn't you talk to me?'

'I …' Sirius paused.  Was it absolutely necessary to give Ursa all the details?  That Richard had threatened to hurt her if Sirius dared to cross the line again?  No, it would only frighten her.  Hesitantly, he tried again.

'Richard warned me not to cause any more trouble,' he said slowly.  'So I figured it was best to stay out of everyone's way.'

'But – but why did you never talk to me?  Answered me when I knocked?'  Ursa's eyes were round with confusion.  Sirius felt another stab of guilt, but he tried to ignore it.

'It was easier if I just kept my distance,' he said shortly.  'I'm sorry, Ursa, but I didn't want to get you into trouble again.  Last time I did that we lost all our Hogwarts stuff, remember?'

'I remember that it wasn't your fault.'

'Maybe, but I didn't want to take any chances. I don't want to see you get hurt.'

A cold sense of dread washed over Sirius as Ursa's posture changed subtly at his last comment.  Her eyes flickered uncertainly, her hands twisting.  She was almost cowering, like a caged animal. 

'Ursa?'

She didn't look at him.

Sirius' stomach dropped.

'Ursa?  Has Richard ever … hurt you?'

Slowly, Ursa lifted her head, and then shook it slowly in answer.

'Has he ever touched you?  Made you feel uncomfortable?'  Sirius could hardly believe he was asking these questions, but they were important.

Ursa hesitated.  Sirius held his breath, watching her closely.

'No,' replied Ursa, softly.  'He hasn't.'

Sirius breathed again.

'I just … I don't like him near me.' Brow furrowed, Ursa struggled to explain.  'One minute he's really nice and I like him, but then it's like he changes … like he's someone else.  He's horrible to you and then I don't like him.  I don't understand how I can like and dislike a person at the same time … he's never been nasty to me, but … I don't know …' She blinked hard, her eyes watering.  'He scares me,' she whispered.

Sirius would have given anything to have been able to put his arms around his sister and given her a hug at that moment.  Leaning out of the window as far as he could, Sirius reached out.

'Hey, don't cry, Ursa,' he whispered.  'It's okay.'

Slowly, Ursa reached out and took hold of his hand.  She sniffed.

'No, it's not,' she said miserably.  'I don't want Richard to be our dad.'

Sirius couldn't think of an answer to that.  Squeezing her hand, Sirius tried to reassure his sister, but it felt like such a lie when he didn't believe it was going to get better anymore than she did. 

'Ursa, I want you to promise me something,' said Sirius at last.  'Promise me that you'll never do anything that Richard asks you to do if you aren't comfortable about it.  You don't have to tell him or show him anything if you think it's wrong, okay?  Promise me you'll remember that?' 

Ursa gave another sniff and nodded.

'Promise.'  She still looked upset.  'But, Siri, what if he does?  What do I do if he gets mad?'

'Just don't act like you know what he's done, okay?  If he thinks that you know something, he may decide …' Sirius trailed off.  He didn't need to finish that sentence.  Ursa understood.  'But I don't want to you worry, Ursa,' Sirius' expression hardened, a cold fire burning in his pale eyes, 'I'm not going to leave you again.  I'm not going to let him hurt you, okay?'

Ursa gave a small smile, blinking hopefully at her brother with watery eyes.

'You promise?'

Sirius nodded firmly.

'I promise.'

*

To Be Continued. 

*

Author's Notes.

NightSpear – As this chapter has just shown, Ursa hasn't been blind to what's been going on, she's just lacking a good explanation.  She's very confused as to Richard's behaviour but naturally believes that her brother wouldn't lie.  So the prospect of marriage isn't a great one for her either.  In your words; it sucks!  As for Sirius in his Animagus form, personally I feel that instead of seeing things purely from a human perspective, you are more influenced by the animal instincts, which is why Sirius took more notice of the scent – he wouldn't have known it was there while he was still human.  But I didn't want to make it sound as though Sirius is in total control of the animal nature, so I noted that he had to concentrate to try and make sense of what the instincts were telling him, to translate it for his human mind.  Makes it more complicated, but there you are.  ^_^   Good luck with your SATs!

Christy – Good plan!  Although I don't know what his friends would think of running away with him to another country.  But I guess that it does sound like a reasonable solution at the moment.

Sweet A.K – Ah, everyone's got a suspicion about evil Richard; some really inventive!  Orion will turn up again soon, I promise!

WallyTheWhale – 'future stepfather'; yep, that was a sinister note to end that chapter on.  I was very pleased with it.  ^_^  Yikes, hold up!  Sirius is not suicidal.  Suicide is a bit of a touchy subject with me.   I have known several people who have taken their lives, and another who tried but he was stopped just in time.  I just can't see how ending your life solves anything; it's my personal view that no matter bad things may seem; taking your life is never an option.  While Sirius' situation is a horrible one, the only way out is to never give up.  In my opinion, death is not the solution; it's giving up on yourself and it causes pain to those who love you.  How can you justify ending your life to end your pain, if you're just passing it on to others?

Sorry, depressing reflection over now.  

Hmm, you've come up with some really interesting theories – your poltergeist one (though I agree it's farfetched!) I felt was very original.  But you are wrong on that one.  Richard is not dead despite how much some people wish he were, but he's very much alive. (An animated corpse does not count before you start on a zombie theory!)

The implication of the scent seems to have intrigued some people.  Well, you've had another week to mull it over, but I will say that there isn't necessarily a magical explanation for the scent.  Scent is a perfectly mundane thing; it's just that dogs have such a highly developed sense of smell that Padfoot could detect it.  (Dogs have something like over 200 million olfactory cells in their nasal cavities, while humans only have approximately 5 million – just don't ask me how on earth scientists worked that out!  It's like them saying that a cat can see eight times better than humans in the dark; how exactly do they measure that??)

Lovevanillacreme – I have an 'adoring fan'?  Yay!!  *does the happy dance*  I have fans!  It's such a nice thing to actually see that written down.  ^_^  Sorry, but it's one post a week only!  If the fic were more than twenty chapters long then I would do a twice-weekly post, but as it is, I'm sticking with a Friday post.   I'm so glad that someone still likes Andromeda; she's not evil, just misled.

Semmel – Don't go giving up, Sherlock!  Wow, you've really been thinking this through!  You've had lots of ideas, and my apologies that this chapter doesn't really shed any light on your theories.  I'm afraid that that had to be done; Richard is now on course to marrying Andromeda and being Sirius' stepfather.  (Just as soon as you think he's hit rock bottom, someone hands him a shovel; 'oh look, here's a lower place!' *sadistic laugh*)

Songsmith – Welcome back, songsmith!  Yes, it was a reasonably quick courtship.  Though they have been seeing each other since Easter, so that's about five or six months before Richard got down on one knee.  Before I started writing this, I decided that it would have more of an impact if Sirius and Ursa had never met Richard before, so Andromeda met Richard shortly after they returned to school after the Easter break, and their relationship went from there.  And yes, Andromeda has completely fallen for him - *sigh* Oh, how love is blind.