Summary: Sirius flees to America shortly after Peter Pettigrew's "death". How will a chance encounter with a lonely American journalist change his life… and Harry's? (AU, obviously)
A/N: This is my first "Harry Potter" fanfic so any criticism you have to make is welcome. Please don't just review saying 'this story sucks' tell me why! Thanks.
Chapter 2
Keira looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. Sirius was sure it was over now. He'd end up in Azkaban. With the same thoughtful look on her face, she placed a colorful bandage on his head. Sitting back, she spoke, "Well, Sirius Black, don't take this the wrong way but, well, umm you seriously need a shower." She said with a nervous laugh. He stared at her completely bemused. She scrunched up her nose a little, "and a toothbrush wouldn't hurt either." Sirius was completely astonished. She was offering him a shower instead of prison? The man couldn't complain.
"I think maybe you're right," he stood but the dizziness came over him and immediately he sat back down. "One little problem." He croaked.
"That's a pretty nasty cut you had there on your head. Maybe you have a concussion." She looked deeply concerned. I should probably take you to the hospital."
"NO!" Sirius roared. Keira jumped. "I, I'll be fine. I don't need to go to the hospital."
"Ok, well, I'm not a doctor, but I know you're supposed to take it easy and if you sleep someone needs to wake you up every two hours or so. Are you nauseous?"
'Not a doctor?' Sirius thought, 'sounds like she's reciting a book.' "Just a headache."
"Well, why don't I help you into the bathroom and get you some Tylenol. You can take a bath."
"Tylenol?"
Keira gave him a strange look. "Yeah. . . for your headache."
'Muggle medicine,' he thought, "I should go." He mumbled.
"Do you have somewhere else to go?"
"No." He admitted.
"Then you're staying here until you get better." She helped Sirius up and into the tiny bathroom. Sirius sat on the closed toilet. Keira handed him two Tylenol capsules and a cup of water. He swallowed. He looked up at her and noticed she was eyeing his clothes.
"What?"
"Your clothes are. . . filthy. Want me to wash them?"
"Wha-no, you don't-"
"Wait! I'll get you something to sleep in for now. We'll worry about clothes tomorrow." She disappeared for a few minutes and when she returned she handed him a large white T-Mobile T-shirt and an appropriately sized pair of happy face boxers. Sirius looked down at the clothes and then up to Keira hoping for some sort of explanation.
"You're wondering where I got those from, right?" He nodded. "Ok, well, the cell phone people were handing those out at a free concert I went to. It's never been worn. The boxers. . ." she blushed slightly, "I bought those from this weird little store. The owner convinced me they belonged to Johnny Depp." Sirius smiled slightly at her clear embarrassment. "Ok, so you go ahead. The soap and shampoo are in there. Just come on out when you're done."
"Thank you."
No more than ten minutes later, Keira rushed in with a large pink towel. "Here you go, I…" She froze, staring at him lying in the bath. He had his eyes closed and his elbow-length black hair was floating around him. He looked like a corpse.
"Thanks, you can just set that down if you want." He said, his eyes still closed. She turned her head and set the towel down on the toilet before hurrying out.
A short time later, Sirius was dressed in the unusual outfit and as he headed out the door, he took a quick glance in the mirror. He had to double back. He looked very carefully at the bandage on his head. "What is that, some sort of cartoon square wearing short pants?" He shook his head and went into the living room. There he saw Keira was sitting on the couch she had pulled out into a bed. The bed was all made up for him too.
She stifled a giggle when she saw him in his outfit. "Feel better?" she asked.
"I know, I know, I look ridiculous." He deadpanned. "But thank you."
"You're welcome, come sit." He did as he was told. "Is this ok?"
"This is too much, really, I don't know how to thank you."
"You don't have to thank me, it's nice to make a friend." She looked away and the expression on her face changed. She looked a bit sad. They sat in silence for a minute not looking at each other. "I have a question." Sirius croaked.
"Hmm?"
"What the heck is on this bandage?"
Keira's face broke into a grin and she faced him again. "That's Sponge Bob Square Pants! You've never heard of him?"
"No, I can't say I have." Sirius was rather amused.
"Well, it'll be on tomorrow morning, we can watch it. But, you should probably get some sleep. Do you need anything?"
"Oh, no, I'm fine."
"Ok then, g'night Sirius. Don't forget, I'll be waking you up every two hours!" She said cheerfully and headed into the bedroom.
"Goodnight."
Keira woke Sirius up around six A.M. and after answering her questions, (What's your name? What's my name? Where are you?) he fell right back asleep. He had the right answers every time she woke him and he seemed to be doing ok so she let him alone and left the house. She returned a little after eleven o'clock. She smiled slightly when she saw Sirius. He was sprawled on his back still asleep, only this time Allergen, her cat, was contently sleeping on his stomach.
Sirius slowly opened his eyes to see a smiling Keira staring at him only an inch away from his face.
"I went shopping!" She said excitedly. "I'm going to clean you up today."
Sirius groaned.
Keira frowned slightly. "Look, obviously you're not in the greatest shape. I assume you don't have a job and that you're probably homeless. Am I right?"
Although, technically, he wasn't homeless, he nodded.
"Ok then, let me help you."
Reluctantly he agreed. "I think I should get a meal first." He added.
Keira grinned and signaled him to follow her into the kitchen. "I'm one step ahead of you. I went to McDonalds and got you two sausage McMuffins, hash browns, hotcakes, and orange juice." Without a word, he sat down and began shoveling food into his mouth. She laughed. "Meet me in the bathroom when you're done."
Feeling quite a bit better after a bath, a good night's sleep, and a fatty meal, Sirius knew in the back of his mind that he should leave. However, he found that he was enjoying this comfort and being able to talk to someone. 'Besides, this girl seems like she needs a friend,' Sirius thought, trying to convince himself. He joined Keira in the bathroom.
"Before we start, I bought you a toothbrush." She handed it to him. "The toothpaste is on the sink." He chuckled a little and brushed his teeth (and his tongue) for a good five minutes.
"Ok, sit." Keira commanded, pointing to the bathtub. Slightly confused, Sirius stepped in. "No, no! Sit on the ledge!" She laughed. She sat across from him on the toilet a brush in hand. "When was the last time you used one of these?"
"It's been a while." He replied trying, and failing, at getting his fingers through his tangled hair. It was quite a bit painful and fairly time consuming but Keira managed to get all the tangles out of his hair. She reached her arms around his neck and tied his hair into a ponytail. "We'll deal with that in a minute." She grabbed a bottle of shaving cream and a man's razor out of a bag lying next to her. "You can decide, beard or no beard?"
"No beard I guess. "
"Good." She came at him with a pair of scissors and quickly chopped off the beard hanging off his chin. Next, she sprayed some shaving cream into her hands and smeared it all over his face. "I can't believe I'm doing this." She mumbled.
Sirius was a little worried. "Have you done this before?"
"No, have you?" She asked jokingly.
"Yes, I have. It may surprise you to know that I was quite the heartbreaker in school." He said with a cocky grin.
Keira laughed, "Well, I'll be careful not to hurt your pretty face then."
"Please do, one Sponge Bob bandage is enough." They both laughed.
Carefully Keira proceeded to give him a clean shave. He rinsed the shaving cream and she handed him a small bottle of aftershave. He slapped some on and sat back on the edge of the bathtub. "Ok, time for that hair! Scoot!" Sirius scooted over a little allowing Keira access to the bathtub faucet. She filled a pitcher up with water. "Ok, bend your head back and pull out that hair tie." He did as he was asked. She poured the water over his head. Once his hair was wet, she ran a comb quickly through it and began to cut.
"Have you done this before?" Sirius questioned.
"Actually I have. How short do you think I should make it?"
"Whatever you want as long as I don't end up bald." She cut and cut and cut. The bathtub was filled with hair. She cut it just long enough for him to tuck behind his ears, slightly angled in front. "Finished?"
"Yep, I think so." Keira sat back to get a better look at him. Her breath caught in her throat. He looked amazing.
Keira stared motionless at Sirius who, with a half smile, stared back at her. Finally he spoke, "What next?"
Keira jumped up. "I got you some clothes! They're in that bag there," she said pointing to a rather large bag just outside the door, "try them on!" The phone rang. "When you're done, you can clean up too!" She yelled back as she ran to get the phone.
"Hello?"
"Keira, it's Chris. I'm calling from work."
"Hi Chris, what's up?"
"Williams told me to do a small story on that Sirius Black guy, but I was hoping you'd want to do it instead since I'm still working on-"
"Chris wait, a story on who?"
"Sirius Black, I'm pretty sure that's his name." There was silence on Keira's end. "He's the guy who murdered all those people in England like ten years ago." He clarified.
Keira dropped the phone.
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