Chapter XXV- dumped (don't get too excited)
Walking into the classroom, Sirius looked a bit unsure of himself. Harry could only assume he hadn't gotten a very good reaction to his engagement, but he didn't want to get his hopes up.
"Hello class."
"Hello Sirius." It had taken them almost two months to finally start calling him that. Sirius was still working on weaning them off replying as a group.
"Today is the start of our section in the physical repercussions of hexes that have gone wrong. Make sure you take notes. Especially those you who have a problem casting hexes."
"You can use my name." Called Neville. The class laughed a bit.
It seemed like it would never end. The class period went on and on, and it felt to Harry, like Sirius was staring at him the entire time. He was still mad about the joke he had played on him, and he made sure that Harry knew it. He really couldn't blame him. Murphy probably would never kiss him again. The satisfaction he felt outweighed the discomfort he got from the glares he received. He was going to be asked to stay after class again, he was almost sure.
It wouldn't have been enough to break their engagement, he was sure. A gold digger like Murphy would hardly give up in finding out that her rich fiancé had eaten a few rats.
"Class, as you may have heard around the school… Professor Murphy and I are engaged."
There was a collective gasp from all of the girls (bar Hermione). Moaning deeply, they trudged out of the classroom, Harry in the lead.
"Where do you think you're going?" He felt an arm on his shoulder tug him away from the group.
"My next class?" He asked.
"You know, Carmon still won't kiss me thanks to you." Sirius scowled.
"Well, let's look on the bright side. At least nothing of importance was lost through all of this."
"I must admit, I am a bit proud. That was a stroke of genius."
Harry looked up with surprise. "Wow, and here's me thinking I'm going to be yelled at."
"What makes you think you aren't going to be?"
"Crap. I knew! As soon as I said it, it was going to come back."
"I'm not going to yell. I'm going to punish you." Harry groaned.
"Judging from experience, any punishment you dish out is going to suck!"
"Yes. Well, I've decided that you aren't allowed to fly your broom for as long as Murphy won't kiss me."
Harry looked confused for a moment. "But you all ready… does this mean that you're extending my-" He broke into a tentative smile. "Does this mean…"
"Yes, Harry. It does."
"Wait… which one. The good one, or the bad one?"
"Depends on which way you look at it. It's good for you, but it just plain sucks for Slytherin."
His mouth hurt from the smile on his face being as big as physically possible.
"Thanks to you, that may take a while, though."
"Thank you!" He said, ignoring his comment.
"All right. Go tell your teammates and have them stop tormenting me."
"Thanks again." He called running out of the classroom.
December moved very fast. Most professors gave up trying to shove as much knowledge into their students heads, in light of attempting to keep their students from blowing up the school. Sirius gave up trying to give them lectures, and had partnered everyone up for elimination OWL review games.
The most stressing thing about the entire lesson was him praying that he got Hermione as a partner. Of course, when Sirius did assign them to be partners, there was an outbreak of booing and cries of "Nepotism!" from those of which knew what the word meant.
"Would you prefer a pop quiz?" Sirius replied.
Needless to say, the booing stopped. Harry did, however, turn his head in utter shock upon hearing, "Damn! I wanted Potter!" Apparently Hermione, who had been smiling with satisfaction, had heard it as well, and pouted.
The way Murphy went on, he wondered if she celebrated a holiday at all. The festive cheer outside of the History of Magic classroom came to a close where-upon entering the classroom, though it was barely a change from the potions room.
To the shock, and utter joy of everyone in the school, a Santa hat had attached itself to the head of one greasy haired professor. Students commented that he had no way to wash his hair, to which Harry would reply, "He must have had an invisible hat on all these years then, huh?"
Dumbledore, seeing the smiles taking place whenever their potions teacher entered the room decided this would be standard wear for all of the teachers. Dumbledore, himself, looked like he was jolly old Saint Nick himself.
A hat adorned Sirius's head, which he wore with pleasure, though he might have heard the whispers he got from the female population that he looked adorable in it.
One would have to be blind not to notice the spiteful looks that almost every girl in Hogwarts threw at Murphy. He himself thought it probably would have been best if they had kept it a secret.
His Quidditch team – after giving him the cold shoulder for almost a week – finally came around, and he worked with vigor to get himself back up to the standard he had been at before all of the commotion had broken out. They were still in first place, and their approaching game after the holiday was supposed to be a way to redeem himself to the team for giving them that horrible scare.
Fred and George had a hard time staying mad at a Marauder, and the rest of the team consisted of girls. Enough said there. The new Keeper didn't know him good enough to be mad at him.
He didn't get a chance to talk with Sirius alone until holiday break was only a week away, and even then he was anxious about talking about what they would be doing over the holiday. Now that Murphy was in the picture, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go home if she was coming with them.
Finally, when it became undeniable that they would need to talk, Sirius told him to visit him in his room in the teacher's wing. He hadn't visited since his suspension, and noted with disgust that her perfume had completely infiltrated his room, but that wasn't what he noticed first.
Both Sirius and Murphy where sitting on the loveseat. He also noted Remus was sitting on the couch farthest from them looking somewhere between ticked off, and disappointed.
"Hey." He said tonelessly. He sat next to Remus as far away from the 'happy couple' as he could.
"Hey, Harry." Sirius smiled, though Harry sensed a bit of unease in it.
Murphy made no noise, but she glared at him as she always did. Both arms wrapped around Sirius's own; her long, fake nails cutting into him.
"Sirius." He said, blowing a strand of hair out of his eyes.
"So the holiday is coming quick, huh?"
He exchanged a look with Remus, as if he could tell him with his eyes what Sirius was getting too, but Remus's glance at him was sad, and he turned back towards Sirius with a glare.
"Yes." He remained nonchalant.
"Erm, yes. Harry." He said, as if trying to get his attention, pretending he didn't notice that Harry's full attention was on him.
"mmhm?"
"I thought it might be a good idea if we went on vacation." He turned his eyes towards his fiancé.
"Really?" His blank face morphed into a huge grin. "I've never been on vacation before! Every time the Dursleys went away, they always left me behind. I've never been outside of Britain. Are we going abroad? Where are we going, anyway?" He could almost ignore the fact that Murphy was still in the room. He wasn't sure who 'we' referred to, but even if he were to go with Murphy, he was still excited at the prospect of going somewhere.
In the corner of his mind, he wondered why Remus looked unhappy. A thought occurred that maybe he would go with him.
He continued talking, not paying much attention to his surroundings.
"Ron once went to Egypt, but you know that, right? He said it was cool going in all of the pyramids. And Hermione went to France with her parents once. I was a bit worried, because she mentioned that she was going on holiday with her parents for Christmas, and that I would be stuck here all alone."
He noticed Sirius flinched when he said that, and stopped speaking, in confusion.
"Harry." His voice was cheerful, but it sounded fake. "Um, well, see, I'm really sorry, but…"
He didn't let himself look disappointed. Denial was always good. He heard about people doing that before. People who knew that bad news was coming but wouldn't let themselves feel disappointment or sadness until they actually heard it.
"Potter, you're not coming with us." Her voice was cold, as if she were mocking him.
He immediately turned to Sirius, hoping she might be lying. He just turned and looked at her with a glare on his face.
"Don't talk to him like that." He scolded.
"I thought we agreed on this, baby." Harry almost gagged.
"I know we did, but you don't need to be so rude about it."
He wiggled his fingers to make sure he still could; the numbness that spread over his body was so intense.
Sirius turned back towards him to examine his reaction. When he didn't say anything, he kept talking to bridge the silence.
"Uh, I asked Remus if he would take you in for the holiday, and he said he would."
He suddenly became aware that Remus had a hand on his shoulder. Then he became aware that his shoulder was shaking.
"So." Sirius clapped his hands together.
Harry ignored the fact that everyone was waiting for him to speak. He knew if he did, his voice was going to break. He spoke to himself to soften the blow. "You shouldn't have expected to go. The Dursley's never let you go with them, why is this any different? It wouldn't be much fun anyway with Murphy around. You'll probably get sunburnt if you go to the beach."
When he thought he could probably speak, he said "I heard it's overrated anyway." Kind of stupid, seeing as he had just been raving about what a good time they would be having.
"The Dursley's never took you anywhere?"
"Don't tell him the truth." He told himself. He didn't know why he was trying to make Sirius feel better about this, but it could have been that he was trying to save face in front of Murphy.
"Once in a blue moon…" He noticed Remus shudder besides him. "Sorry, Remus."
"Where are you going?"
He replied with the name of some foreign island, where, as he mentioned, it was very sunny and beautiful.
He thought it odd that someone who was trying not to make him feel bad was talking about his vacation with such excitement.
"I heard it rains a lot over there around this time of year." He said, having absolutely no idea where this place was.
Sirius rose his eyebrows, realizing exactly what Harry was trying to do.
"Seriously, though. Hermione offered to let me go with her on vacation with her family but I said I had to wait to see what you were doing. I guess this works out okay, then huh?" He lied through his teeth. At some point, he was going to have to confront this lie, but not now. Now, all that mattered was that Sirius thought that he felt okay about all of this.
"I'm not sure I would feel too good about you going on vacation without a wizard with you, Harry. We'll have to talk with her parents."
"That's all right Sirius. I really don't care. I'll just stay here, it doesn't matter to me." His throat was getting tight again with depression. Feeling the urge to blow off some steam, he said, "Hell, with all the homework your fiancé is packing down on us, I'll be lucky to be able to acknowledge Christmas."
"Please, Harry, don't act like that. You'll have a good time with Remus." He said, smiling sadly.
He turned with sudden guilt. "Oh, I'm sorry Remus…"
"Don't even worry about it Harry. He's acting like an asshole." He said looking towards Sirius. "Maybe we could, I don't know, do something fun for Christmas. Have you ever seen 'The Nutcracker'? Would you like that?"
"That sounds like fun." He said, giving a smile, though it didn't reach his eyes.
"It's only for one holiday. How about we exchange gifts when I get back? I think you're going to like my present, Harry."
"I'll talk with Hermione. It really isn't that big a deal. There will be another Christmas next year. With my OWLs, I should be studying anyway."
Sirius looked at him sadly.
"I have to go, I'm late for Quidditch practice." He headed back towards his dorms feeling utterly empty. The more he walked, though, the angrier he got. At Murphy for brainwashing Sirius into not including him in the trip. At Sirius, for going on vacation without him, and ruining their first Christmas as – well, sort of a family. At Hermione, for leaving him on Christmas as well when she was the only one left. And at Ron, for not being there to help him hate Murphy.
He stormed through the common room, feeling extreme anger.
He found it sort of ironic that Sirius was so contrary to him cutting himself when he was the one that was crushing his spirit. He might as well have handed him the knife.
He knocked over a table full of books that a second year was studying. "HEY!"
He suddenly wished he could just run into Malfoy and beat the shit out of him, but then he remembered that if he were to get suspended again, he would be expelled, and he couldn't risk that.
He settled on trashing his dorm room. He tore down the curtains around his bed, and ripped them to pieces.
"You can destroy my old books if you want. I don't have any use for them." Said Neville, rummaging through his trunk.
"Thanks." He said, tearing the front cover off of one.
"What happened to you?"
"Sirius ditched me for the bitch."
"What?"
"He's going on vacation for the entire holiday with Murphy and didn't even invite me."
"That sucks." He said. "But how much fun would you have anyway? I mean, they'll probably be making out the entire time."
"I've never even been on vacation before, and Sirius knows that, and still, he'd rather spend Christmas with that whore then with me."
"I've never been on vacation either."
He stared at Neville, feeling a bit sorry for him. "It must suck living with your Grandmother."
"It's okay, I guess. I'd rather live with her than those relatives you used to have."
He winced at 'used to have'. "Yeah."
"It must be a relief to be living with Sirius, huh?"
He paused, the book in his hands – Magical Me – stopped mouthing screams. It finally collapsed and spilled from his hands. He lowered his eyes. What was he complaining about, anyway? At least he had Sirius. Christmas vacation was the only time Neville could even visit his parents, and then, still, it would probably make everything hurt more, visiting with them.
He sighed. "Thanks Neville."
"For what?"
"Ruining my rant."
"You're welcome."
"I'm sorry, Harry, but my parents are pretty upset with me right now, having only having spent one week with them this summer. They want some time to talk with me."
"What if I were to beg?" he said, in a whisper, as not to attract anyone's attention during class.
"I don't see why you don't just stay with Professor Lupin."
"It's not that I don't want to stay with him, Hermione. It's just…"
"Well, he's got no one to spend Christmas with either."
"That's Sirius's fault as well." Sirius glared at him from the head of the classroom, probably because he was being loud, but he still found it coincidental.
"You're being obnoxious. I can't believe you would be such a bastard. He's spent Christmas alone since your parents-"
"What is the incantation for the spell that makes teeth grow?"
"Densaugeo." Harry replied, winking at Hermione as she flinched.
"UHH!" The class moaned as the chalk added another point to the board under their names.
"…Died. I can't believe you would do that."
"If I offered to pay for my own plane ticket, do you think your parents would let me come along?"
"I'm not sure I want you to come along."
"Oh, don't act like that, Hermione."
"I'll write a letter, but I don't know if my parents are going to go along with this. They don't really know you all that well."
They grabbed their book bags, and took the candy canes that Sirius handed to them, with a "congratulations".
Time was running out fast, and Hermione still hadn't gotten a reply from her parents.
About three days before the holiday, Sirius came and sat down at the Gryffindor table, next to Harry, ignore the stares of his classmates, and a girl who looked like she was going to pass out two seats down from him.
"So, any idea what's going on with you?"
"Do you care?"
"No, I don't Harry. In fact, you could spend Christmas in box for all I care."
"That's looking like an option…"
"Well, fear not… I have good-"
Owls soared through the window, and the school owl that Hermione had borrowed to send the letter to her parents arrived back.
Hedwig stopped in front of him with another pink letter. "This is obviously for you…" he said handing the letter to Sirius.
"My dearest Harry, last night was great. Cho." Sirius pretended to read. A burst of orange juice gushed out of Hermione's nose. Harry coughed for a good minute, amidst choked laughter.
"Mum wrote back."
"Can you read past the orange juice stains?" He teased, wiping his face with a napkin.
Dear Hermione,
I think it's a great idea if you bring your friend along with you. It would give us an opportunity to get to know him. Is this the one with the black hair, or is that the one that…
Hermione cut herself off.
Tell him that he doesn't have to worry about paying for anything. I want you to make sure that his guardian is okay with it though. This is the one that lives with his godfather, or was it his Aunt and Uncle? In any case, I think it was utterly irresponsible for this person, or people to just desert him, though I think you mentioned once that he wasn't very happy with them, but I could be mistaken. You can tell him that he's welcome at our house anytime he wants during the summer, since he doesn't seem like he's being treated right where he's living now.
Write back and tell us what his response was. Don't pressure him into going if he doesn't want to. We can always take your cousin Gertrude if he can't make it.
Love, Mum
"I'm really sorry about that, Sirius. Mum is a bit… sensitive. You know, donates to all of those 'feed the children' causes. She wants to be a foster mother now that I'm not around half the time, but thank God for Dad, he keeps her from adopting an orphan in Africa twice a year. I figure she going to want to adopt you if she think that you're being mistreated, Harry."
Sirius had a ticked expression on his face.
"Well that's it. He's definitely not going with you, Hermione."
"Oh, please, Sirius!" She begged. "She's not that bad. She just misunderstood what I said in my letter."
"No, the point is that she's right."
Both Harry and Hermione turned to face him.
"Carmon be damned, you're coming with us."
"Really?" Harry and Hermione said simultaneously. Harry with excitement, and Hermione with dread.
"Uh… I hate Gertie."
Over the next two days, Sirius's attitude went from sulky, to ticked off, to nonchalant, and then finally back to his normal happy self.
The second day, passing him in the hallway, Harry asked, "What are you so happy about? Isn't Murphy still giving you the cold shoulder for inviting me along on your romantic getaway?"
Hermione, who stood next to him, was still yet to forgive him for forcing her to spend her holiday with her cousin. She smirked.
"Nope. We made up." He said his smirk widening.
"Oh! Well then that explains your mood. Everyone knows the best part of fighting is the make-up sex."
Poor Hermione looked like she was going to have a heart attack hearing this.
The hallways seemed to freeze. Harry realized that he seemed to be having this effect a lot lately.
Sirius gaped a bit, mouthing words Harry was pretty sure he shouldn't be saying. After finding his voice, he looked like he was about to yell at him.
"Truce." Harry stuck out his hand.
He must have remembered the joke he had played at breakfast, because he sullenly took his hand, practically yanking it out of the socket.
Finally, the day arrived when they were to go back home. Murphy would be staying in Sirius's and his house with them, and Harry, as much as it pained him to admit it, realized that this was going to be a permanent arrangement.
Sirius and Murphy had a compartment all to themselves in the Hogwarts express the next day, and Harry was at the far end away from them.
Not having Hermione, Harry sat next to Neville who kept trying to talk to him about Herbology stuff, and how the Venus flytrap had come upon the muggle world.
Harry started wondering if going on this trip was worth all the effort he made in getting to go. Murphy and Sirius making out all the time, and no kids in sight that he knew. This summer hadn't been that bad, just having Sirius around most of the time, but he refused to be in the same room with the two of them.
He got off the train, bidding farewell to Neville, who met his grandmother at the station and gave him a distressed look.
Walking along behind the two, who had their arms wrapped around each others waists, he called, "How are we getting back to the house anyway?"
"We'll call a cab." He said, not even turning around.
Harry loaded his trunk into the back seat of the cab. He hadn't taken Hedwig with him, hoping to avoid strange looks.
Wedged in the backseat, were he and Sirius, and Murphy, by the grace of God, got stuck next to the driver who spoke such strong cockney they had no idea what he was talking about.
Sirius cleaned up the mess that was the refrigerator as he had forgotten to throw out all of the food before they left for Hogwarts, and got rid of the smell that filled the house. Before he could escape to the haven that was his room, he was corned by the bitch.
"Listen, you little bastard. If you screw up my vacation, I swear to God, not only will you fail my class worse then you already are, but I'll have your Godfather dump you on the street like the trash you are. Don't pretend I can't do it either."
Harry gaped openly. He knew Murphy hated him in school, but she was actually threatening him.
He was so shocked, he couldn't think of anything to reply with, when Sirius called them both for dinner… pizza.
He stared at Murphy with shock… and eventual fury through all of dinner. She didn't even stare back; her hand intertwined with Sirius's.
End Chapter XXV- dumped
Notes: So, Loss has been completed. Not on ff.net, but I've finished writing it, unless my last chapter totally sucks, in which case, I'll be writing it over again…
I did cry when I finished it… more like a delayed reaction though, because it was three in the morning, and I was practically falling asleep, but yesterday in Health class, it caught up to me. Of course, it also could have been because I'm failing Algebra, but I'll leave that one alone.
Thank you all, for being so awesome through this story. (God, this isn't the last chapter! I have to quit being so melodramatic)
Lory In Love: This about the third consecutive chapter I've had someone tell me they either cried, or where close to crying. This chapter I know my beta was close to tears as well. I'm glad you saw the humor in it. I've never been very good with humor, but I try. Yeah, I actually had the idea in class, and when I started thinking about it, I couldn't conceal my laughter, and everyone was sort of looking at me. Jokes are funnier in your head anyway, though.
Eruve tinwen: Thanks. Yes, I know, I'm sort of proud when someone says they cried, but I always feel bad about that. Yes, we did find out what kind of a person she was, but the end of this chapter… I didn't even plan it, I think it wrote itself.
Savoy Truffle: Next chapter will tell, and I was thinking about doing an alternate reality fic, where what would have happened in the end will happen, and see how Harry's life would have been different, though I'm not really sure if I have the time to do it. Did this chapter satisfy that? No, I made Remus a keeper, and Sirius wasn't on the team… Peter was a beater. And in an interview with J.K. Rowling, James was a chaser. A keeper catches the balls, and the chaser throws them. Ron was a keeper in the fifth book.
Katani Petitedra: I'm not sure if you reviewed or not. It's all right if you didn't though. We all need to take a break sometimes. Thanks a lot. I'm really glad you liked that so much.
Gaby11: Please don't hate Sirius too bad. I know that this chapter doesn't really fuel many pro Sirius sentiments, but maybe the next chapter will. I'm not really sure. I know what you mean. When my Mom was getting remarried, my family members would always be like "Katie, don't you want what's best for your Mom?" I'm like, not really. I want to bitch and moan right now, and you're ruining that.
My best friend hates Ron with vengeance. I was planning in the very early stages of Loss to have Ron and Hermione go out amidst Sirius going out with his namely fiancé, and Harry having no idea what to do, because everyone is having a great time and he's left all alone. And me being the sadistic person I am, would absolutely not give him a girlfriend, because I hate the idea of him dating. My biggest problem with Ron right now is his hat in the movie. It looks like he has pigtails, and it's creeping me out.
Yes. I must say that, although SarahPeach is my beta, I had the idea to have a suicidal Remus before she came out with her story, so I wasn't copying. Not that anyone has accused me of it. Sometimes I think we share one brain, the two of us. Maybe I'll check out your story sometime when you put it up.
Shawn Pickett: Thanks a lot. Yes, Harry's calming down and accepting this a bit better then before, but who knows how long that will last? I was referring to Krum, actually. I haven't mentioned him much, but I did in the beginning of the story…
FroBoy: Thanks a lot.
Sailoranime: hmm, interesting. Yes, I just realized how dated this review is. fake gasp Sirius's eye's are gray!?
I was going on a limb with the 'married' thing, because I was probably a bit too subtle with the 'Hermione has a small crush on Sirius' thing. It doesn't seem that realistic, but not much fanfiction is anyway.
What was the plot bunny? I NEED to know now. Yeah, I think I forgot that too, but I'm too lazy to go look. A lot of people miss Ron, actually. Or maybe they don't, and they just like bugging me to see what happens.
You really liked that? Looking back on it now, I think it was sort of silly, but maybe I'll do it for the last chapter. And yes, a lot of the stories my reviewers wrote, I'll either look at the summary of, or I'll have read in the past. I've stopped doing that as much, but that's usually because my loyal reviewers… you, A.Dee, and SP… well, you know I'll read your stories, and no one really has anything good out lately.
That would just be really freaky if I checked my stories and found you updated after me. I would be very alarmed.
Aalikane: Still, I'm sorry for making you tear.
Calen: Yes, well, Harry is quite the innocent victim in my story. I do sort of like the idea of Harry having his whole world crash around him, but at least not all at once, so that he doesn't realize how screwed up he has it.
TPoR: Aww, I'm sorry. That's sort of a compliment though, right? Well, that could explain the 'congratulations'. Thanks for your vote of confidence.
Hedwigs-biggest-fan: Well, you're the first one to come out and say it. To tell the truth, you were a bit more rational then some of my other reviewers… just kidding around. We would never accuse Remus of that! Poor guy… he's a werewolf, see? That makes him instantly an innocent bystander… and a cutie pie. Don't ask me where I got that from, I've never called anyone that in my life. He seems like the 'pet' of the book though. You know? I'm making this story so that it can stand alone a part from not knowing what happened to Ron…
Lt. Jaina Solo Fel: Thanks a lot.
Solaris Day: Unfortunately, I only have on more chapter left, and that's all ready completed, so, this fic is officially over. Wow. God, I hate to Burst into hysterical sobs admitted it. sniff No! Not again! I hope the last part of this chapter did it for you. Yes, I like snarky Harry too. I think my 'Bitter' Harry kind of seeped its way into Loss, right around the end there. I can't make any promises for the sequel, unfortunately. Thanks for your review though.
Rose Estraz: Wow. That really sucks. I have some odd teachers, but I don't think any would grade us on a college level. This one I like is retiring this year, and I for one am devastated. He was like my Mr. Feeny, from Boy Meets World, you know? Don't worry if you don't though.
Oceanjewel: I didn't want it to either. But now it's over.
Juli Black Potter: I can't tell you that, unfortunately. I think I might cover it in the sequel, but I can't be positive. Thanks for your review.
Kari Kamiya10: Guess you can't read this until you get up to chapter 25, but thanks for reading anyway. : )
Notes: So… I'd decided that, if everyone wants me to, this next chapter, I'll have Padfoot do the reviews for one last time. Sailoranime gave me the idea, so I'm not sure it's a good one winks. Everyone, what ever happens this last chapter, I want you all to know that I really appreciate your reviews.