~Author's Note~
Sorry it's taken so long, I've been busy!
Here is the next chapter!
Ch13: Decisions
As he walked up to his front door, Lucius spied his wife on the steps.
"What 're you doing out here?" he asked, wondering where his son was, for his wife was hardly seen without her son.
"I can't stand to go back in there!" she cried, then seeing the confused look of her husband's face, she explains further,
"Your friend, Sarah, is here Lucius, and I can't stand her!" Narcissa. Tying to conceal her anger, but failing to do so.
"How long has she been here?" he questioned, wondering what Sarah would want.
"All day, and I have already broken two plates because of it! Lucius, get her out of there!" she cried, getting angrier by the minute.
"Now, just calm down," he commanded,
"and come back inside while I talk to our friend," Narcissa just nodded and headed up the stair and into the house. Lucius was glad that she didn't put up a fuss, for he could not deal with her anger, especially since Sarah was there. But he thought he heard Narcissa mutter "your friend" under her breath.
Sarah, who had been playing with little Draco, was now looking outside and wondering how long Narcissa would stay out there when she saw another figure approach. It was male, she noted, and handsome.
It was Lucius, her heart told her, and her mind told her she was probably right.
She continued to look as the shadows passed through one another in the beams of sunlight. As she saw them approach, she quickly returned to her task of entertaining the little child in her lap.
As they walked through the door she almost laughed at the sight of Narcissa, for she was totally stressed over the situation. Suppressing a laugh, she greeted Lucius and his wife politely,
" Hello, Lucius, Narcissa, how are you today?" Knowing what she was doing, Narcissa glared at her, and picked up her son, saying,
"I'll take my son thank you!" and she left the room in a huff.
"Lucius," Sarah said as she turned to face him,
"Just the person I want to talk to."
"What was so important that you had to wait here all day and drive my wife crazy?" he said with the same sort of patience that she had remember in Sirius.
"Well, I must warn you, I may cry… But anyways, it's about Sirius," she explained.
"What about him?" he spit the question out like venom, almost with the same sort of hatred that Sarah had used when she had spoken Sirus' name. Lucius noted this, but said nothing, knowing she would explain in time. But he couldn't help but wonder what was going on between the two.
"Well, we broke up," she told him as the inevitable tears began to well in her eyes.
"And-"
"And you want to know if you made the right decision," he interrupted, his voice slightly rigid,
"Sarah, that is for your heart to decide. Come, sit, and tell me what happened."
He knows me too well, she told herself as she floated to the couch and sat down. Then she began her tale…
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Where is he? Sirius asked himself, he's late!
About a moment later, James, looking rather good for seven in the morning, strolled up to the porch and into the house.
"James, you're here!" Sirius cried as he rushed to meet his friend. James hugged him with a friendly embrace, but asked,
"Now, what do you want?"
"James," Sirius began, swallowing his pride,
"I have done something totally stupid," then seeing James' face, he want on,
"I broke up with her!"
"What?! Oh my, this is what you called me here for? Sirius!" James impatiently expression lax for a moment,
"Go on, continue," James listened with extreme intent as Sirius went over the details of that morning. When he was finished, Sirius asked the question that James had known was coming,
"What do I do now?"
"Sirius, it sounds to me like you still love her. Why don't you go and apologize for being an idiot and tell her you still love her?" James asked.
"Because! First of all, I don't know where she is at the moment, but she's probably at Lucius'. Second, I tried that once, remember? It was right after we broke up last time! I went looking for hours! I finally gave up and when this new student asked me to the dance, I said yes. I didn't know that the girl would tell everybody! Well, about ten minutes later, who should I bump into? Sarah! She was stark-raving mad, and didn't speak to me for a month!" When Sirius finished, James, trying to be understanding, calmly asked,
"Well, if you know that you aren't going to make up with her, than what do you want my advice for?"
"I need you advice about Malfoy!" the name tasted like poison in his mouth.
"What about Lucius?" he asked and James was beginning to regret the question.
"I don't know, I just have a feeling that something will go wrong." Sirius shuttered,
"And that it has something to do with Sarah."
"Well, he is a death-eater, so-"
"You knew! Once again, I am the last to know!" then seeing his friend's reaction, he continued,
"But that is not important is it? That Malfoy works for the same person who killed your brother!" Sirius sneered sarcastically, and he felt James tense. Just punch me, he mused, I deserve it! But instead of hitting him, James responded,
"I know, but he never would betray us or Sarah!"
"First off, " Sirius countered,
"You don't know what Sarah might accidentally say when she's upset. Second, since I hurt her, he might get really angry and…" his voice trailed, there was no point in finishing the sentence, for the meaning was all to evident. There was a silence that hung in the air for a minute of two, than James spoke,
"I understand your concern What should we do?"
"Well, I'm the secret keeper, right. Well, we'll just change the secret keeper to someone else. Someone they won't expect," Sirius answered.
"Ok," James agreed,
"Well gather for a secret meeting, You, me Lily, Peter, Remus-"
"No, not Remus," Sirius interrupted,
"He's to close to Sarah."
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A couple hours later, they were all sitting in the Potter's living room.
"Why are we here?" Lily and Peter asked together.
"We are going to change the secret keeper because," James paused,
"Sirius' life may be in danger."
"So," Sirius continued,
'Who could it be?"
"Well, it could be me!" Lily offered.
"No," James' tone was firm,
"I'll not have you endanger your life like that, and besides it had to be outside the family."
"Well, it could be Peter!" Sirius suggested. And James, who had been suspicious of Peter's actions for some time, shifted uncomfortably.
"Why don't we just tell people that we swapped, but not really do it," he changed the subject.
"No, people might not know and still hurt Sirius," Peter explained, wondering James changed the subject. Why doesn't he want me as the secret keeper?
"Well, if we have no other choice, then it has to be Peter," James gave in. And they spent the rest of the day making preparations and altering the spell that they had cast on themselves.
When they were all leaving, Peter pulled Sirius aside.
"Why are you in danger?" he asked.
"Well, Sarah and I broke up and she is friends with that good-for-nothing Death-Eater, Lucius Malfoy!" Sirius explained.
"Huh!" Peter let out a sigh,
"What did you do now?" he asked.
"Nothing!" Sirius cried, before stomping out the door. Peter, just stood in the sunlight. If he did anything to her, I'll kill him. It's not Lucius he has to worry about, it's me! he told himself, wondering, again, why James had been so cold.
Time to see my master again, Peter noted, as he strolled down the garden path.