Thank yous: AfireByNight, RavenMirage, Dragon Voldemort, and nikki black. Thanks for the reviews and the tips! -Big silly grin-
Sirius is a surprisingly difficult character to write... any suggestions you have are welcome!
Chapter Three
"Hey, how do I look?" Sirius had just entered the room dressed in clothes Keira bought for him. Keira, scared to death, spun around to face him. Seeing the terrified expression he had begun to get used to Sirius's smile turned into a frown and he sighed.
"Don't come n-near me!" She yelled. "I know who you are Sirius Black, I know what you did! I'm calling the police!" She had meant to bend down and pick up the phone but she felt frozen to the spot, she couldn't tear her eyes away from him.
"Ruddy hell," he muttered under his breath. "Keira," he said softly, "please don't do that. You don't know the truth."
"YOU MURDERED THIRTEEN PEOPLE!" She screamed back at him.
"It wasn't me Keira, I swear it. If you just hang up the phone and talk to me, I can explain everything. But please don't call the... err... anyone. I have to get to my godson!" He pleaded. If she wouldn't listen, he'd have to run. Why didn't he just run though? He could get out of the house, transform back into a dog and he'd be free.
He was about to do just that when she spoke, "Ok. I'll hear you out. But if I don't believe you I'm having you arrested."
Sirius nodded and sat down on the couch. Keira slowly grabbed the phone, apologized to Chris and promised to do the story. She hung the phone up and stood in front of Sirius. He motioned for her to sit down next to him but she refused. "Ok, let's hear it." She said as she crossed her arms.
"This may be difficult for you to understand being a muggle and all-"
She slapped him across the face.
Sirius looked back at her angrily.
"I'm a WHAT?" She glared at him.
"A MUGGLE!" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing calmly, "a muggle is a non-magic person."
"So that makes you a magician?" she sneered.
"I'm a wizard."
Keira laughed. "I'm calling the police."
"Wait! You said you'd listen."
"Fine. So you think you are a wizard of some sort."
"I am a wizard. I attended Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. It is in England and invisible to a muggle eye."
Keira didn't understand what she was hearing. Witches? Wizards? Yeah right. But when she looked into his eyes, he could see he was telling the truth... or at least what he believed to be the truth. 'Maybe he's just insane' she thought to herself.
Sirius continued to explain about witches and wizards, wands and spells, Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, and the whole wizarding world, and then he got to Voldemort.
"Who's Voldemort?"
"Voldemort is the most evil of wizards. He deals in the dark arts. He is what is called a 'mudblood' though that term is an awful one to use. It is a person who has one muggle parent and one magical parent. His original name was Tom Riddle."
"Ok, so what does this Voldemort guy have to do with anything exactly?"
"He has everything to do with it." Sirius said heavily. "Many years ago Voldemort began recruiting people to his side. His followers became known as death eaters. One of his death eaters was one of my good friends, Peter Pettigrew." A dark expression came over Sirius's face and Keira watched him with greater interest. "Voldemort wanted my best friends, James and Lily Potter dead so they had to go into hiding." Sirius went on to explain about the spell and the secret-keeper. "So you see, I knew I would be to obvious a secret keeper so I convinced them to choose Peter." Sirius paused and put his head in his hands. For the first time in a long time it choked him up to talk about James and Lily's death.
Keira sat down next to him and gave his shoulder a slight squeeze. "Please keep going," she whispered.
"James and Lily were murdered... by Voldemort. Peter had been betraying us the whole time. He told Voldemort where they were. They had a little baby, a boy named Harry. Voldemort tried to kill him too but failed. He left nothing more than a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead. Voldemort was reduced to nothing and hasn't been heard from since. Harry's my godson." Sirius quickly wiped a tear from his eye and Keira rubbed his back. She was surprised at his show of emotion. "I knew it was Pettigrew. I hunted him down and cornered him in the street. Before I had the chance to kill him, he had his wand behind his back. He turned into a rat, cut off a toe, and blew a street full of muggles -"
"Wait, he turned into a rat??"
Sirius explained about Animagi and then about Wormtail, Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs.
"So, you can turn yourself into a dog?"
"Yes, and that's how Peter escaped. I was left standing so the muggles assumed it was me. I ran, naturally, and was able to turn myself into a dog before they caught me."
"So you didn't murder thirteen people or your best friends."
"Nope."
"That sucks." Keira blurted.
Sirius laughed. "That it does."
"So... how did you end up here?"
"Pure luck really. As a dog, I managed to make my way on a ship. Eventually, I ended up here."
"And your wand?"
"Long gone."
Keira gazed at him for a long time. There was no way a story this complicated could be a lie. However, what if he read it in a book or something? "Sirius, I think I believe you but... could you... I mean would you mind..."
"Turning into a dog?" Sirius asked. Keira nodded. Immediately Sirius turned into a black shaggy dog. Keira giggled in delight and eagerly petted his head and scratched his ears. Sirius played along by wagging his tail and licking her fingers. After he changed back, he fixed his hair and adjusted his clothes. "So, how do I look?" He grinned. His smile was brilliant and infectious. Keira smiled back.
"You look fabulous!"
"So, you're not going to make any calls?"
"No, not today." She thought for a moment. "It would make a great story though." Her eyes lit up at the thought of it.
"What would?" Sirius questioned.
"You, how you were framed for those murders."
Sirius laughed. "Yeah, the newspapers will love that."
"I'm a writer, I'm supposed to do a story on you! I have a great idea."
"Should I be scared?"
"No! I'll write the story and then we'll leave."
"He's at Hogwarts." Sirius exclaimed.
"What?"
"I completely forgot. I found a copy of the Daily Prophet, err... the wizarding world newspaper. There was a picture of boy about Harry's age with a rat on his shoulder. It was Pettigrew. He's at Hogwarts."
"So we'll go there! We'll go to Hogwarts and capture Pettigrew! Just give me a day or two to write the story."
"No, you can't come!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Oh really? And how is it you expect to get to England without me?"
"I got here didn't I?" Sirius retorted.
"And you're a corpse of a man with yellow teeth who was starving to death!"
They glared at each other, neither one blinking. "No."
"Sirius please! After I write this story I'll be out of a job. Please let me come Sirius, I can help you!"
"What about your family? Friends? Boyfriend? Don't you think they'll wonder why you wrote a story claming the innocence of a free man and then disappeared?"
Keira turned away from him and was silent. Sirius didn't know when to shut his mouth. "What? Don't you have anyone?"
"NO!" Tears clouded Keira's eyes as she flew down the tiny hall into her bedroom and slammed the door.
Sirius sighed and leaned his head back. He ran his hands over his now cleanly-shaven face and then through his unusually clean, cut hair. "I'm such a bloke." He muttered. He walked down to Keira's door and knocked. "I'm sorry Keira, I didn't mean to upset you. Please come out. We need to talk about this plan of yours." He tried. The door remained closed. He sighed and sat on the floor, leaning against it. He waited a while before trying again. "Sweetie, please open the door so we can talk." The door flew open and Sirius fell flat on his back. "Oomph."
"Sweetie huh?" she teased, looking down at him. She held out her hand and helped him up like nothing had just happened. "I'll make dinner." She said and walked into the kitchen leaving a rather bewildered Sirius standing in the hallway.
Keira watched in awe as Sirius finished off his seventh piece of pizza. "You do realize that you've eaten more than half of a large pizza, three breadsticks, and a salad."
"Yes. Do you realize that you said you were going to make dinner?" He smirked.
"I did, kind of. I made dinner come to us." They both laughed. 'Sirius looks pretty handsome when he laughs.' She mentally noted. "Now come on, I think we should go watch 'The Osbournes!'"
Sirius looked at her blankly, "The who?"
"No, not 'The Who', 'The Osbournes!'"
Sirius was thoroughly confused. "Who are the Osbournes?"
Keira feigned a look of horror. "You're from England and you don't know who the Osbournes are?" Sirius gave her a 'look' and she laughed. "Just come watch with me." She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the living room.
"What about Square Bob Sponge Pants?"
"You slept right through that this morning silly."
They sat on the couch and watched MTV together. Keira rested her head against Sirius's arm. After an hour of 'The Osbournes' Sirius adjusted himself slightly so he could see Keira's face. She was sound asleep. Carefully he lifted her up and carried her the short distance to her bedroom. He pulled back the covers and laid her down gently. She stirred slightly but didn't wake up. Sirius shut the door behind him and went to sleep on the couch.
It felt like he had only been asleep for a few minutes when he heard Keira scream.
TBC. . .
.
.
.
.
.
. Oh, cliffhangers are fun. I realize this is moving a bit slow. I'm going to work on that, I PROMISE! Please review!