Chapter 23 Another Howler

The Easter holiday came much too quickly for the seventh year students. Even James and Sirius hadn't had much time for pranks with all the homework, and the motorbike they were piecing together in the boys' dormitory. Quidditch games were suffering too. Most of the fifth and seventh year players were skipping practices, and James was furious. He was even more upset when Lily announced that she was going home for the Easter holiday.

"James!" She had sounded very exasperated at breakfast. "My sister is getting married! I can't very well miss it!"

"You said yourself that she's always mean to you when you go home!" James responded hotly. Sirius put a restraining hand on his arm, but it didn't seem to help.

Lily stood abruptly. "She's still my sister, and my parents would kill me if I didn't go! Besides, it's only a few days, I'll be back Sunday night!" By this time, most of the Gryffindor table had turned around to look. Muriel and Marisa, sitting one table over, exchanged a worried glance. Muriel thought hard, then sent the thought to Lily, hoping that she was open minded enough, in spite of her anger, to hear it. She breathed a sigh of relief when Lily added, "But if you're so worried that she'll hurt my feelings you could always come with me!"

"Thanks, Evans, that's a great idea. I think I will." James stood too, grinning victoriously.

Lily looked flustered for a moment, then smiled. "Good, then it's settled." They headed out of the hall so James could pack as their friends sniggered loudly into their hands. At this moment, owl post arrived. Muriel was watching the boys laugh and didn't notice the red envelope that had landed in front of her until it was too late. She turned just as her father's voice boomed across the hall.

"Muriel, you will come home immediately! Mrs. Black informed me last night that the fool boy you're engaged to was disowned from the family last summer and I will NOT have you associating with blood traitors. I've arranged for you to take your N.E.W.T.s at the house and I expect you and all your things at King's Cross this evening!"

The envelope tore itself to shreds before her eyes. She was a bit shocked, but recovered quickly when she heard heavy footfalls. She looked over in time to see Sirius running from the hall at top speed. She followed as the Slytherin table erupted with laughter. Severus made sure she was gone from the hall before he cast a silencing charm on the entire table and stalked out, careful to go the opposite direction.

"Sirius, wait!" She didn't often use his given name, but he ignored her anyway, not even slowing down. Muriel saw him open the mirror ahead of her and followed. He hadn't lit the end of his wand, so she couldn't see anything, but she heard horrible explosions up ahead. When she found him, he was casually using his wand to blast large holes in the rock walls around him.

"Sirius, stop!" She grabbed his wand and he turned to face her. His eyes glinted strangely, even with almost no light in the passageway. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"It was bad enough that it happened, I didn't need the whole school to know about it," he said furiously.

"He was trying to save face. When your mother told him, he had to make it look like he disapproved of us. Do you understand?"

"WELL, YOU COULD HAVE WARNED ME!"

"I didn't know that he would do this, and I didn't know that he ever spoke to your mother!" She was starting to get annoyed now. This was not her fault. "He's in a dangerous position. If he doesn't play the part perfectly, one side or the other will catch him!"

"AND HOW MANY MORE FRIENDS WILL YOU SACRIFICE BEFORE THEY DO?" Sirius grabbed his wand and shoved it into his robe pocket. He turned back to the entrance to the castle. It occurred to him, when she didn't respond, that perhaps he'd gone too far, but he was too angry to care.

"Impedimenta," Muriel said, stopping him in mid-stride. "Now you listen to me. You never told me they disowned you. All you said was that you weren't ever going back there." Her voice was low and dangerous, and Sirius felt his anger turning swiftly to worry. "I had nothing to do with that howler, and I'm sorry it hurt you, but it doesn't change anything. Papa already told you how he really feels, and you ought to know by now how I feel." She walked around to face him. Strands of hair had fallen out of his ponytail, and she pushed them out of his face, then stood on tip-toe to kiss him gently.

When he could finally move, he wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. She was surprised when she felt his tears on her neck. "I knew Mother hated me, but I never thought Father would let her disown me. He just stood there. He never said a word." His breath was coming in gasps and Muriel was shocked. "I never told anyone, not even James." He sank down to the floor of the passageway and she sat beside him, her arms still around him. Slowly his breathing evened out. "I'm sorry," he said, when he trusted his voice again.

"So am I. I had no idea." She stood up, and pulled him up after her. "Come on, let's go." She set off in the direction of Hogsmeade.

"Where are we going?" Sirius asked quietly. It wasn't that he wanted to go back to the castle, only that he wasn't sure he was really up for an adventure just then.

"We could both use a drink," she answered dryly.