Chapter Twenty-eight: Compromise

Summary: Twenty-eighth chapter. Twenty-one to go. That about sums it up.

Sirius came out of the bathroom dressed in a robe to find Arabella leaned up against a stack of pillows as she poured over a large book, a pair of reading glasses perched on the end of her nose.

"Very attractive." Sirius commented.

"It's not suppose to be." Arabella replied, not bothering to look up.

Sirius sat on the edge of the bed next to her and tilted his head as he looked at the spine. "Thirty curses in thirty minutes. Very nice."

"Well, one of us should be prepared."

Sirius took the book from her and laid it on the nightstand. "One of us is. Me. And that's all that's going to be prepared if you don't get some sleep."

Arabella started to protest as she reached for the book. But Sirius caught her wrist.

"'Bella," he stated gently, "you've had your pretty little nose stuck in a book all day. And all your effort has gotten you it seems is to make you just that much more apprehensive. And don't think Harry didn't notice. The more you fretted, the more worried he became." Sirius took her hand and rubbed it between his. "'Bella, Harry depends on your calm reassurance. And you'll hardly be your usual calm and focused self if you don't get some sleep. All right?"

Arabella sighed and nodded.

"All right then." Sirius got up and took off his robe. Laying it over the foot of the bed, he eased himself under the covers and laid back, sinking into the soft pillows with a grateful sigh as Arabella switched off the lights.

"You sound very tired." Arabella observed in the darkness.

"Lot of windows." Sirius answered. "Goodnight, 'Bella."

Arabella smiled slightly as she felt the weight next to her roll over under the covers.

"Don't hog the blankets." She warned.

A muffled replied answered her.

Arabella lay for several minutes staring up at the ceiling, thinking over the day and the possibilities of those to come.

Why now? If Harry's dream was an accurate portrayal of some future event, why was Voldemort taking an interest in her now? What had changed in her life to attract his attention? Surely it wasn't because Harry was now living with her? But if that wasn't it, what had sparked his interest in her? What if he succeeded in killing her? That would only leave Harry with one protector. With Sirius. And Sirius wasn't likely to continue to escape the dark lord's attention then.

Arabella rolled over to face the side of the bed. But shifting her position didn't help much to ease her mind. A hundred unanswered questions were still racing around looking for answers.

She listened in the darkness to Sirius' breathing, which had since fallen into a slow, regular pattern.

"Just like him," she muttered to the darkness. "Could sleep through a hail of curses and never even notice."

But he had been tired, she reminded herself. It took a long time and a lot of magical spells and charms to check every entrance to the house. She had lived there for several weeks now and she doubted she had seen half the windows in the huge estate. And Sirius had been over the whole house twice that day. And his magic was still a bit weak, and the spells and charms took an immense amount of concentration for him and twice as long to check. So she couldn't very well be jealous that he was able to sleep just because she couldn't. But how could he fall asleep so quickly? Arabella glanced at the clock.

Eleven-thirty!

They'd been in bed for over an hour. To her it seemed like only minutes. Sirius was right. She had to try and get some sleep.

Arabella rolled back over onto her back and took to staring at the ceiling once again. Tomorrow they would go see Dumbledore. That had to help the situation some. Dumbledore usually had some plausible solution or plan. Something she could actively work on. Not just sit in a house and wait to be attacked.

She rolled back over to the side. Her eyes fell on her book laying on the nightstand next to the bed. Maybe she would read a bit more. Reading always helped her sleep.

An arm snaking its way around her waist caused her to jump slightly.

"What's wrong?" Sirius mumbled into her back.

Merlin's beard! She must be tired. She never even felt him roll over in the bed.

"Nothing." She murmured back. "I thought you were asleep."

"I would be if someone wasn't bouncing all over the mattress."

Arabella sat up. "I am not bouncing! I rolled over!"

"'Bella!" Sirius whispered. "You'll wake Harry."

Arabella huffed slightly as she scooted back down under the covers. The arm quickly wrapped its way back over her waist as a body moved up against her's under the covers.

"Sirius?"

"Hmmm?"

"Get back over on your side."

A discontented sigh came from the darkness as the arm withdrew and Sirius rolled over onto his back on his side of the bed.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, 'Bella."

Arabella turned her eyes back to the ceiling as she listened to the breathing next to her. She smiled slightly at the scene they'd just played out. In his younger days nothing short of a stick (or her asking) could have made him let go of her. Throughout their sixth and seventh years it seemed he was always there. Following her around like a love-sick puppy with no need for a leash. He had gone from the worst scoundrel in the school that all the girls warned each other about to the perfect boyfriend. And she had gone from hardly being noticed by the other girls in her year to being the most envied. Plain, mousy-haired, nothing-special-about-her Arabella Figg had captured the heart of the most notorious and one of the best looking boys in the school.

Their first year together had been a very insecure time for her. She was always waiting for the punch-line. This had to be some elaborate joke James and Sirius were playing on her.

But the punch-line never came. During that summer Sirius had owled countless letters to her, expressing his love as eloquently as any seventeen-year-old could. When they met on platform 9 3/4 for the return trip to Hogwarts that September, the look of pleasure on his face couldn't have been more genuine, and Sirius had all but ignored the others in the compartment the entire trip as he focused his attention solely on her.

That year, their last at Hogwarts, he spent exclusively in her company. There was no new girlfriend every week this year. Now it was always her perched contentedly on his lap in the evening in the commonroom. Snuggled up against his shoulder as she listened to the group of friends planning their great prank for the end of the year.

Arabella sighed quietly to herself as she rolled over to face the other side of the bed. A move that found her with her head laying against Sirius' shoulder. She was so lost in her reminiscing that she had completely forgotten that he was even there. Almost pulling back, Arabella stopped herself abruptly. Oddly, in that position some of the tension that was wound up inside of her seemed to release a slight bit. She shifted her position a little so that her head was pillowed more comfortable against his shoulder.

"That's not your side of the bed." A soft voice reminded her in the darkness.

"That rule only applies to you. You can't come on my side of the bed." She replied, stifling a yawn.

"My mistake." Sirius whispered in her ear with a small smile as she shifted against him again. He lifted his arm and draped it over her shoulder. "Better?"

Arabella nodded slightly, snuggling up against his body under the covers.

"Goodnight, 'Bella." Sirius murmured into her hair.

Arabella smiled slightly, then relaxed against the warmth of his body. "Goodnight, Sirius."

Within minutes she was sound asleep.