Chapter 4 ~ Diagon Alley
The remainder of the morning was spent wandering in and out of shops in Diagon Alley. It wasn't until they stopped for ice cream that they were confronted with someone they knew.
"Do you hear that?" Sirius asked suddenly, turning sharply in his chair and scanning the passing crowd. Muriel only shook her head. "It's Bellatrix," he groaned a moment later as the laugh rang out again.
Muriel swore. She remembered Bellatrix well enough from their parents' parties. She could just imagine what the girl was like now. "I didn't see her at the Christmas Party fourth year," Mur commented, realizing it for the first time.
"I heard she was on some special mission for Riddle," Sirius replied vaguely. As much as he despised his family, it wouldn't do to tell their secrets. Mur's eyes narrowed.
"The Casa," she whispered distractedly.
Sirius started. "You know about that?" He'd thought for once he'd protect the family's secrets and not mention exactly what his cousin's mission had been. But he'd been told. Indeed, Bella's favor with the Dark Lord had been flaunted before him as if she'd been elected Minister of Magic.
"Black, do you know who owns the Casa de la Fontana Affascinato? We learned about it in History of Magic once. Third year, I think." Her tone was teasing, though her face still held a shadow that Sirius had come to associate with trouble. He shook his head, unconsciously fingering his wand. "Currently the only resident is my Aunt Rosa, but Papa owns it. It was enchanted by an eccentric uncle to the family around the time Hogwarts was founded. The Casa was attacked over holiday our fourth year. No one was killed, and the Fontana wasn't breached, but Papa was furious. I wonder if he knew it was Riddle who ordered the attack?"
Sirius' eyes were wide and he swallowed hard. "What do you mean, no one was killed?"
"Well, the fountain has only killed a handful of people over the centuries. Er- twelve, total, I think. It drowns them. A compulsion spell to open the person's mouth, then the water forces itself into his lungs."
"Twelve is more than a handful, Mur," Sirius said dryly, shaking his head. He didn't remember hearing about the Casa de la Fontana Affascinato in class, but then, he skipped History of Magic pretty regularly. But he now remembered what little his mother had told him of it. It wasn't the sort of place one should try to attack.
"Depends on the size of the hands," she replied glibly. She could sense his discomfort with the subject and was trying to change topics.
"Yours are tiny," he replied, immediately distracted. He took her free hand in both of his, ignoring his ice cream, and forgetting, for the briefest moment, what had spurred their conversation.
However, Bellatrix LeStrange wasn't easily forgotten. "Ah, look. My disgraced cousin and his new mudblood girlfriend." She was standing close behind Mur, who swung out of her chair with her wand in her hand so quickly that even a dangerous woman like Bellatrix was forced back a step. Sirius stood as well.
"Sit down, Black," Mur spat, not sparing him a glance. He sat, wand in hand and glaring, as Bella laughed. Behind her, Mur could see Bella's sister, Narcissa, her arm linked with Malfoy's as they hurried toward them.
"What's your name, mudblood?" Bella taunted. Mur locked her eyes with Malfoy's, who looked far more concerned than she'd expected. She could take advantage of that.
"Women of my social standing don't present themselves, Mrs. LeStrange," she said, smirking. Sirius stood again, but Mur continued before he got a chance to speak. "Perhaps Mr. Malfoy will present me?" she asked sweetly. She was gratified when Bella swung around to look at the nervous couple. Malfoy recovered quickly, a familiar sneer settling over his features.
"Well, Bella, it seems you've offended Miss Deesia." As he spoke, Muriel summoned Bellatrix' wand, which she had not drawn, and passed it behind her to Sirius, who hid it quickly. She could feel his nervousness. He'd never purposely antagonized his older cousin before, knowing how cruel she could be.
When Bella turned around again, she'd plastered a smile on her face. "Deesia? I was told Sirius was dating a Ravenclaw."
"Apparently Regalus forgot to mention that not all Ravenclaws are inferior to you. I'll take some time before school begins to be sure he's clear on that point." Mur kept her voice smooth, not realizing just how much like Malfoy she sounded until she saw his knowing smirk. She returned it as Bella's eyes darkened.
"Come on, Bella, we need to stop at the apothecary before we get back." Malfoy sounded remarkably pleased for someone whose newest crony was just embarrassed in the middle of the street. Muriel spared him a rare smile as Bellatrix turned to follow him. She reminded herself again to give his odd behavior some thought. Just then, Sirius tapped her shoulder and held out his cousin's wand. Mur took it and remained standing, watching them walk away.
"Aren't you going to – "
"As soon as she's far enough away that half the street will hear, yes, I am." Mur said, cutting him off. She heard him grumble something and sit down, his spoon clattering loudly. He was relatively sure she had a death wish.
"Mrs. LeStrange?" Muriel called sweetly, but loudly, turning more than a few heads. "It seems you've left your wand at our table. I'd hate to think of you being without it." Muriel kept her tone carefully friendly, and a slight smile on her face as Bellatrix moved swiftly through the crowd to claim her wand.
Muriel realized that Malfoy must have cautioned the older girl not to anger her further as Bella thanked her stiffly. Muriel ignored her thanks, choosing instead to make sure the girl never made the mistake again.
"Give Malfoy a message for me," Mur said in a dangerous whisper, still holding Bella's wand. She was painfully aware of the other students around them, and for once, she didn't care to offend them. "Tell him that if he insists on surrounding himself with purebloods, he'd do well to find the ones who can tell a mudblood from one of us. Even the Dark Lord won't be pleased if you go around killing your own."
Bella left in a huff as Muriel sat down. Sirius didn't look at her, choosing to keep his eyes on the street where Malfoy and Narcissa were headed toward the apothecary, Bella trailing behind in disgrace. Perhaps his mother had been right about Muriel trying to make a dark wizard out of him. He was grateful when his roving eyes caught a glimpse of someone he recognized in the crowd. Even if it was only Peter, maybe it would help break the tension he suddenly felt around Mur again.
"Peter! How are you, mate? How was your summer?" Sirius leapt up and hurried out into the street to greet his friend. Peter was happy to see him too, and didn't take much convincing to join him for ice cream, until he realized Sirius wasn't alone. When he spotted Muriel, he blanched a bit and told Sirius that he'd forgot that he had to meet his parents in just a few minutes. He left with a short wave and long strides.
Sirius shook his head and came back to the table. "Wonder what's up with him?" Then he saw the look of disgust on Muriel's face. "You know, I've been meaning to ask you about that."
"About what?" Muriel was only beginning to feel her heart rate slow. Her little game with Bellatrix had been more dangerous than she was willing to let Sirius know.
"On the train, when you were explaining how you found out we were animagi, why did you send Peter away?" He was looking at her curiously as she set down her spoon and sighed.
"It's hard to explain. I've never really trusted him. You and Remus, and even Potter, you all inspire confidence somehow, but Peter doesn't. He's just a little too eager to please." Sirius seemed to think about this briefly, but then shrugged and picked up his now melted bowl of ice cream.
"I don't know. It's nice having him around. Anything we don't feel like doing, he usually does for us. Besides, he's been in on everything the marauders have done since first year, and he hasn't gotten any of us in trouble yet. That is, if you don't count tripping over James' invisibility cloak when we were running around the school at night. I thought we'd given Professor McGonagal a heart attack, appearing out of nowhere like that. She felt well enough to give us all detention, though." Sirius clamed up suddenly, realizing that he'd just mentioned the invisibility cloak. As before, he scanned the passing shoppers for someone, anyone he could bring over to break the tension.
Mur looked up to answer, but quickly looked back down to concentrate on her ice cream. James and his parents were headed toward them. As she knew he would, Sirius ran to greet his friend. She watched as they walked back toward her, Sirius obviously explaining as quickly as he could so there would be no repeat of what happened with Peter.
"Deesia," James greeted her coldly as he sat.
"Hello Potter," she replied resignedly. 'Maybe I should have owled him an apology,' she thought as Mr. Fortunesca bustled out with another sundae for James. She was spared the embarrassment of coming up with one, however, because the two friends were more than happy to chat together. She finished her ice cream in silence, thinking that no matter how she felt about Sirius it would be impossible for them to spend any time together once school started. She smiled to herself. It would probably be better to forget about the whole thing. That would be far more convenient than finding him in a broom closet with another girl anyway. She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of her name.
"Muriel, do you want to come with us?" Sirius was looking at her, and James was looking the other way. She wasn't sure where they were headed, but it didn't matter.
"No, that's all right. I have a few other things I want to pick up. I'll just meet you back at the Leaky Cauldron tonight." She hated the disappointed look he gave her, but felt a great deal more comfortable when they'd gone. She pulled out a new book, 'Dark Arts Defeated,' by Tanasha Rendor, and sat happily in the sun.
She had finished half the book by the time the sun went down. She marked her page and slid it back into her shopping bag. The Leaky Cauldron was only a few minutes' walk, and soon she was back in the dingy darkness of the bar and making her way out onto the street. Sirius was waiting for her. The walk home was silent. Mrs. Black and Regalus had finished earlier, so it was just the two of them.
The house was in sight when Sirius suddenly stopped and put down his bags. She turned to see what was wrong. He took her bags and put them beside his, then he mumbled a banishing charm and they watched as the bags flew through the window to Muriel's bedroom. "Come on," he said, offering her his hand. She hesitated a moment, then took it, curious.
He led her down an alley between two houses and they came out near a little pond surrounded by trees. They sat down and watched a family of ducks swimming by. Muriel bit her tongue, knowing this would be a bad time to talk about ducks.
"I know what you're thinking," Sirius said finally. The sun was completely down by this time, and crickets were chirping everywhere, making Muriel's head hurt. She sighed. He probably did know, but that didn't make it any less true.
"How James and Snape feel isn't a good enough reason for us not to see each other," he said. "At least, it isn't good enough for me." He made it sound like a challenge, and she had never yet passed up a challenge. Muriel almost laughed. If she hadn't been so lost in her own thoughts, she would surely have seen this coming. He'd obviously planned it out very well. He reached out to run his fingers through her hair again and she let him. "I can't think of a good enough reason, to be honest," he whispered. He leaned forward slowly and their eyes met. She felt his lips on hers a moment later, and was shocked to find herself kissing him back. His hand behind her head, he pushed her backwards, lowering her gently to the ground. Muriel could feel her face flush; his lips were so soft. When he finally pulled away, he was lying beside her, propped up on his elbow.
He stared at her as she stared up at the stars. "What are you thinking about?" he asked finally. Her eyes darted to him so quickly that he was sure he'd startled her. He wondered briefly if she was thinking about Bellatrix, then he pushed the thought out of his own mind. He REALLY hoped his cousin wasn't waiting for them at the house.
"How long it will be before I can convince you to do that again," she replied, surprising them both. He saw a flicker of humor in her eyes as he pulled her closer.
The remainder of the morning was spent wandering in and out of shops in Diagon Alley. It wasn't until they stopped for ice cream that they were confronted with someone they knew.
"Do you hear that?" Sirius asked suddenly, turning sharply in his chair and scanning the passing crowd. Muriel only shook her head. "It's Bellatrix," he groaned a moment later as the laugh rang out again.
Muriel swore. She remembered Bellatrix well enough from their parents' parties. She could just imagine what the girl was like now. "I didn't see her at the Christmas Party fourth year," Mur commented, realizing it for the first time.
"I heard she was on some special mission for Riddle," Sirius replied vaguely. As much as he despised his family, it wouldn't do to tell their secrets. Mur's eyes narrowed.
"The Casa," she whispered distractedly.
Sirius started. "You know about that?" He'd thought for once he'd protect the family's secrets and not mention exactly what his cousin's mission had been. But he'd been told. Indeed, Bella's favor with the Dark Lord had been flaunted before him as if she'd been elected Minister of Magic.
"Black, do you know who owns the Casa de la Fontana Affascinato? We learned about it in History of Magic once. Third year, I think." Her tone was teasing, though her face still held a shadow that Sirius had come to associate with trouble. He shook his head, unconsciously fingering his wand. "Currently the only resident is my Aunt Rosa, but Papa owns it. It was enchanted by an eccentric uncle to the family around the time Hogwarts was founded. The Casa was attacked over holiday our fourth year. No one was killed, and the Fontana wasn't breached, but Papa was furious. I wonder if he knew it was Riddle who ordered the attack?"
Sirius' eyes were wide and he swallowed hard. "What do you mean, no one was killed?"
"Well, the fountain has only killed a handful of people over the centuries. Er- twelve, total, I think. It drowns them. A compulsion spell to open the person's mouth, then the water forces itself into his lungs."
"Twelve is more than a handful, Mur," Sirius said dryly, shaking his head. He didn't remember hearing about the Casa de la Fontana Affascinato in class, but then, he skipped History of Magic pretty regularly. But he now remembered what little his mother had told him of it. It wasn't the sort of place one should try to attack.
"Depends on the size of the hands," she replied glibly. She could sense his discomfort with the subject and was trying to change topics.
"Yours are tiny," he replied, immediately distracted. He took her free hand in both of his, ignoring his ice cream, and forgetting, for the briefest moment, what had spurred their conversation.
However, Bellatrix LeStrange wasn't easily forgotten. "Ah, look. My disgraced cousin and his new mudblood girlfriend." She was standing close behind Mur, who swung out of her chair with her wand in her hand so quickly that even a dangerous woman like Bellatrix was forced back a step. Sirius stood as well.
"Sit down, Black," Mur spat, not sparing him a glance. He sat, wand in hand and glaring, as Bella laughed. Behind her, Mur could see Bella's sister, Narcissa, her arm linked with Malfoy's as they hurried toward them.
"What's your name, mudblood?" Bella taunted. Mur locked her eyes with Malfoy's, who looked far more concerned than she'd expected. She could take advantage of that.
"Women of my social standing don't present themselves, Mrs. LeStrange," she said, smirking. Sirius stood again, but Mur continued before he got a chance to speak. "Perhaps Mr. Malfoy will present me?" she asked sweetly. She was gratified when Bella swung around to look at the nervous couple. Malfoy recovered quickly, a familiar sneer settling over his features.
"Well, Bella, it seems you've offended Miss Deesia." As he spoke, Muriel summoned Bellatrix' wand, which she had not drawn, and passed it behind her to Sirius, who hid it quickly. She could feel his nervousness. He'd never purposely antagonized his older cousin before, knowing how cruel she could be.
When Bella turned around again, she'd plastered a smile on her face. "Deesia? I was told Sirius was dating a Ravenclaw."
"Apparently Regalus forgot to mention that not all Ravenclaws are inferior to you. I'll take some time before school begins to be sure he's clear on that point." Mur kept her voice smooth, not realizing just how much like Malfoy she sounded until she saw his knowing smirk. She returned it as Bella's eyes darkened.
"Come on, Bella, we need to stop at the apothecary before we get back." Malfoy sounded remarkably pleased for someone whose newest crony was just embarrassed in the middle of the street. Muriel spared him a rare smile as Bellatrix turned to follow him. She reminded herself again to give his odd behavior some thought. Just then, Sirius tapped her shoulder and held out his cousin's wand. Mur took it and remained standing, watching them walk away.
"Aren't you going to – "
"As soon as she's far enough away that half the street will hear, yes, I am." Mur said, cutting him off. She heard him grumble something and sit down, his spoon clattering loudly. He was relatively sure she had a death wish.
"Mrs. LeStrange?" Muriel called sweetly, but loudly, turning more than a few heads. "It seems you've left your wand at our table. I'd hate to think of you being without it." Muriel kept her tone carefully friendly, and a slight smile on her face as Bellatrix moved swiftly through the crowd to claim her wand.
Muriel realized that Malfoy must have cautioned the older girl not to anger her further as Bella thanked her stiffly. Muriel ignored her thanks, choosing instead to make sure the girl never made the mistake again.
"Give Malfoy a message for me," Mur said in a dangerous whisper, still holding Bella's wand. She was painfully aware of the other students around them, and for once, she didn't care to offend them. "Tell him that if he insists on surrounding himself with purebloods, he'd do well to find the ones who can tell a mudblood from one of us. Even the Dark Lord won't be pleased if you go around killing your own."
Bella left in a huff as Muriel sat down. Sirius didn't look at her, choosing to keep his eyes on the street where Malfoy and Narcissa were headed toward the apothecary, Bella trailing behind in disgrace. Perhaps his mother had been right about Muriel trying to make a dark wizard out of him. He was grateful when his roving eyes caught a glimpse of someone he recognized in the crowd. Even if it was only Peter, maybe it would help break the tension he suddenly felt around Mur again.
"Peter! How are you, mate? How was your summer?" Sirius leapt up and hurried out into the street to greet his friend. Peter was happy to see him too, and didn't take much convincing to join him for ice cream, until he realized Sirius wasn't alone. When he spotted Muriel, he blanched a bit and told Sirius that he'd forgot that he had to meet his parents in just a few minutes. He left with a short wave and long strides.
Sirius shook his head and came back to the table. "Wonder what's up with him?" Then he saw the look of disgust on Muriel's face. "You know, I've been meaning to ask you about that."
"About what?" Muriel was only beginning to feel her heart rate slow. Her little game with Bellatrix had been more dangerous than she was willing to let Sirius know.
"On the train, when you were explaining how you found out we were animagi, why did you send Peter away?" He was looking at her curiously as she set down her spoon and sighed.
"It's hard to explain. I've never really trusted him. You and Remus, and even Potter, you all inspire confidence somehow, but Peter doesn't. He's just a little too eager to please." Sirius seemed to think about this briefly, but then shrugged and picked up his now melted bowl of ice cream.
"I don't know. It's nice having him around. Anything we don't feel like doing, he usually does for us. Besides, he's been in on everything the marauders have done since first year, and he hasn't gotten any of us in trouble yet. That is, if you don't count tripping over James' invisibility cloak when we were running around the school at night. I thought we'd given Professor McGonagal a heart attack, appearing out of nowhere like that. She felt well enough to give us all detention, though." Sirius clamed up suddenly, realizing that he'd just mentioned the invisibility cloak. As before, he scanned the passing shoppers for someone, anyone he could bring over to break the tension.
Mur looked up to answer, but quickly looked back down to concentrate on her ice cream. James and his parents were headed toward them. As she knew he would, Sirius ran to greet his friend. She watched as they walked back toward her, Sirius obviously explaining as quickly as he could so there would be no repeat of what happened with Peter.
"Deesia," James greeted her coldly as he sat.
"Hello Potter," she replied resignedly. 'Maybe I should have owled him an apology,' she thought as Mr. Fortunesca bustled out with another sundae for James. She was spared the embarrassment of coming up with one, however, because the two friends were more than happy to chat together. She finished her ice cream in silence, thinking that no matter how she felt about Sirius it would be impossible for them to spend any time together once school started. She smiled to herself. It would probably be better to forget about the whole thing. That would be far more convenient than finding him in a broom closet with another girl anyway. She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of her name.
"Muriel, do you want to come with us?" Sirius was looking at her, and James was looking the other way. She wasn't sure where they were headed, but it didn't matter.
"No, that's all right. I have a few other things I want to pick up. I'll just meet you back at the Leaky Cauldron tonight." She hated the disappointed look he gave her, but felt a great deal more comfortable when they'd gone. She pulled out a new book, 'Dark Arts Defeated,' by Tanasha Rendor, and sat happily in the sun.
She had finished half the book by the time the sun went down. She marked her page and slid it back into her shopping bag. The Leaky Cauldron was only a few minutes' walk, and soon she was back in the dingy darkness of the bar and making her way out onto the street. Sirius was waiting for her. The walk home was silent. Mrs. Black and Regalus had finished earlier, so it was just the two of them.
The house was in sight when Sirius suddenly stopped and put down his bags. She turned to see what was wrong. He took her bags and put them beside his, then he mumbled a banishing charm and they watched as the bags flew through the window to Muriel's bedroom. "Come on," he said, offering her his hand. She hesitated a moment, then took it, curious.
He led her down an alley between two houses and they came out near a little pond surrounded by trees. They sat down and watched a family of ducks swimming by. Muriel bit her tongue, knowing this would be a bad time to talk about ducks.
"I know what you're thinking," Sirius said finally. The sun was completely down by this time, and crickets were chirping everywhere, making Muriel's head hurt. She sighed. He probably did know, but that didn't make it any less true.
"How James and Snape feel isn't a good enough reason for us not to see each other," he said. "At least, it isn't good enough for me." He made it sound like a challenge, and she had never yet passed up a challenge. Muriel almost laughed. If she hadn't been so lost in her own thoughts, she would surely have seen this coming. He'd obviously planned it out very well. He reached out to run his fingers through her hair again and she let him. "I can't think of a good enough reason, to be honest," he whispered. He leaned forward slowly and their eyes met. She felt his lips on hers a moment later, and was shocked to find herself kissing him back. His hand behind her head, he pushed her backwards, lowering her gently to the ground. Muriel could feel her face flush; his lips were so soft. When he finally pulled away, he was lying beside her, propped up on his elbow.
He stared at her as she stared up at the stars. "What are you thinking about?" he asked finally. Her eyes darted to him so quickly that he was sure he'd startled her. He wondered briefly if she was thinking about Bellatrix, then he pushed the thought out of his own mind. He REALLY hoped his cousin wasn't waiting for them at the house.
"How long it will be before I can convince you to do that again," she replied, surprising them both. He saw a flicker of humor in her eyes as he pulled her closer.