Loss
By BlackPotterGrl
Chapter XXVI-New Beginnings
Harry got onto the plane, feeling very self-conscious, and apprehensive. Sirius instructed him to sit down in row 10 A, and he noticed that Sirius and his fiancé where sitting in an empty row next to him. He sat down, uneasy about the whole thing. Perhaps the fact that he was surrounded by muggles was making him on edge.
A painful throbbing had started in his stomach the night before and it was all Harry could do to ignore the stabs of pain. He hadn't told Sirius this because he didn't want him to worry about him.
He fastened his seatbelt, and tugged on the loose end, looking for something to preoccupy himself. He knew they would be showing a movie on the flight, but he knew he wouldn't be interested in it, and it was an eight-hour flight. He wished he could have brought his holiday homework on the plane with him, but he realized that with all of the muggles on board, he couldn't risk it.
The plane took off a half-an-hour later, and by that time, Harry had completely run out of things to do. He looked longingly at the books in the muggles hands, wishing he could have brought one- even a muggle book would do.
The movie came on and it turned out to be a stupid romance, chick-flick that he had no interest in. He looked to Sirius for conversation to see that he was busy snogging Professor Murphy. He could watch the movie and see less cheesiness. It wouldn't have been as disgusting if it had been with someone he didn't have a horrible dislike to.
He wondered if someone he liked were marrying his godfather, would he react differently to her? But Professor Murphy had already had two strikes against her when Sirius announced his engagement.
Without having anything to preoccupy himself with mentally, it was only so much he could do to stop himself from crying out in pain as the throbbing seemed to grow into pulsating. He bit his lip, and reclined his seat, whimpering in pain.
He firmly resolved that he wasn't going to spoil the vacation by telling Sirius. He looked over at him, looking away as he saw that Sirius hadn't stopped kissing Murphy. He wiped the sweat that had broken out on his forehead away. The pain seemed to go away slightly as he bit his lower lip.
One part of him felt happy that Sirius hadn't noticed, but he had an angry buzzing little voice telling him that he should be angry that Sirius hadn't noticed at all. It wasn't like that before. It always seemed like Sirius was the all-powerful all-knowing older figure that he could look to for advice and never get anything past. He always assumed that Sirius would stay that way, but Carmon had changed him.
Even the person sitting next to him noticed how much pain he seemed to be in. She was an older woman, with graying hair and a kind smile. At the sight of Sirius and Carmon, she smiled wistfully. "Isn't it nice to see young people so in love?"
"Not when one of them is your Godfather."
"Well, you should be happy for him!"
"I hate her! Coming in, ruining everything…" He realized he had started mumbling, but Hermione had heard it so many times from him, she left the room every time he started up.
"Oh, you'll get used to her… say, are you okay?" She had noticed him hunched over in pain. He sat back reluctantly, not wanting to draw attention.
"Yeah… fine. I guess I just have a little air sickness." She dug around in her tote bag and pressed a bottle of pain reliever into his hand.
"Works for me every time." Harry had been expecting an antacid, but he guessed this would work a lot better for him, and he thanked her.
Harry turned the station to some music, but nothing good was on. Sirius had Murphy had stopped kissing, but were in deep conversation about a stupid subject like who should be in the wedding party. He wasn't sure if he should refuse if Sirius offered him the spot of best man.
Harry just winced painfully as the pain hadn't been alleviated yet, despite the pill. He started reading the travel magazine in his desperation to find something to do to keep his mind off the pain. Finally, after what felt like days to Harry, the pilot came over the loud speaker to announce that everyone should fasten their seatbelts, as she was getting ready to land. By that time, the pain reliever had done its work.
Harry settled back into his seat happily. By the end of the trip, Harry realized how much he hated planes. 'I think I'll stick to my broom the next time I want to fly'.
Harry hadn't had any carry-on luggage for which he was grateful. The painkiller was starting to wear off, and the throbbing was coming back with a vengeance. He realized, however, that Sirius had turned his attention on him for the first time since they had taken off. "Figures", he thought, "Just when I need some privacy." Harry followed Sirius into the airport, towards their luggage. Harry only needed one bag as it had another bottomless charm on it. The weightless charm on it didn't put strain on his stomach so he happily carried it off.
Harry had to stand around for another fifteen minutes while Sirius rented the car and they drove off to the hotel.
When they had finally checked into the hotel, Harry was almost delirious with pain. Sirius informed him that he and professor Murphy were sharing a room, and he would have one to himself. Harry didn't even respond to that as he didn't have the strength to. He did, however, feel a bit nauseous at the thought.
He got up to the room, threw his bag across the room and collapsed on the bed. He didn't even have the strength to get up and unpack. He did, however, have to get up with excruciating pain and rush to the bathroom to throw up everything he had eaten on the plane. Walking back to the bed, he remembered the pills, and dug through his pocket to find them. He read the instruction, and realized his mistake. He had been supposed to take two of them. He popped them in, hoping they would work faster then before. He went back to the bed and curled into the fetal position, trying to stop the pain.
Fifteen minutes later, he heard a knock on the door, and didn't have the strength to open it himself. "Harry? Oh there you are." He angrily noted that Sirius didn't seem to notice that he was in agony. "Well, we're going down to the buffet for dinner."
"Uh, I'm kind of tired. Maybe I'll just order room service or something." Harry said, glad he could just add it to the tab. "You go ahead without me."
It was very unlike Sirius not to argue about it, but Sirius just shrugged, and left. Harry just buried his head in the pillow, relishing the coolness of it against his fevered forehead. Harry fell asleep there, desperate to escape the pain.
Harry had a dream that Snape had poisoned him and it had made his stomach explode.
He awoke again, to find to his pleasure that the pain had dulled. Sirius suddenly walked into the room. "Oh, I just wanted to say goodnight to you. I hope you get some rest, you look kind of pale. Maybe you'll look better when you go out in the sun. You have to see the beach, Har! The view is amazing." He left after a whine of recognition.
Harry ordered some food, but when they brought it up, the sight of it made him nauseous. He ended up neglecting his soup and eating the crackers and sipping the soda. He remembered that whenever he was sick as a child, his aunt would give him a can of ginger ale and screech at him not to throw up on any of the furniture.
He fell asleep again. He woke up during the night to find that the pain had come back. He checked the time and realized that the pain killers must have off, so he took more. He woke up once more that night to throw up his dinner, and then the next time it was day.
He laid watching cartoons for most of the morning. He took another dose of medicine before Sirius came in and told him that they were going to the beach, which, conveniently enough, was right off the hotel. Harry knew he couldn't tell Sirius that he didn't want to go because that would cause him to be suspicious.
Harry packed a bag with a beach towel, and sun block. He followed Sirius, being careful to mind his still dully throbbing stomach. He went down to the beach, laid out his beach towel next to Sirius, who rested next to Murphy, and rested, perfectly content to lay there all day long. He was clad in a pair of cutoff jeans and an unbuttoned white shirt.
He lay there for ten minutes before Sirius suddenly came into his line of vision. "Aren't you going to swim or something?" he asked him.
"Nah, that's alright. I'm fine here." Harry said. Looking at him through his sunglasses.
"But, isn't that the point of going to the beach? To go swimming?" Sirius prodded.
"Why don't you go?" Harry asked.
"Well, I wanted you to come with me." Sirius said, slightly hurt. "I mean, you don't have to, I just thought you might want to."
Harry felt obligated to go and swim, but his stomach, almost sensing his guilt, seemed to grow more painful. "I- sure. I guess I can go for a couple of minutes." Harry heaved himself into a sitting position, cringing at the pain it provoked. He took off his shirt and threw it near the towel, gratefully for the charms that he looked up to cover up the scars on his arms. He noticed that Sirius must have done similar to him, for his torso looked untouched.
He then made his way toward the ocean, watching the wave crash down on the shore as his stomach clenched causing him more pain.
The water was extremely cold as he stepped into it, feeling the water splash his feet. He got about waist deep before he began to shiver violently, causing surges of pain in his lower stomach. It always seemed like Sirius was numb to temperature. He kept heading out toward the ocean, Harry in his wake. Harry got up to his shoulders, until the waves became too violent for him, and they swept him off his feet.
Harry was finding that swimming in the ocean looked more fun then it was, but that could be his stomach talking. Sirius by his side, Harry was feeling overwhelmed by the pain in his stomach, and the unrelenting waves around him, and he belted toward the shore. When he was on the beach again, he rushed forward to the first trashcan he saw and puked the little that had remained in his stomach.
He felt Sirius rubbing his back after a while, realizing he must have followed him. He turned, flushed, and tried to make an excuse. "I think I swallowed too much sea water. You know that stuff can make you really sick." He said hoping Sirius would buy it.
"Why don't you go back to the hotel and take a nap?" Sirius told him. As Harry walked toward the beach, he saw Sirius head toward Murphy, who was wearing a strange smile, as he grabbed his towel, happy to turn away from the scene, he headed back toward the room.
Sirius woke Harry up later that day, and he noticed that the pain was back.
"Come on Harry, we're going to be late for dinner." Harry didn't get a chance to grab the pills to his dismay.
"The restaurant off of the hotel has really good food. You know, fancy. I was hoping for some seafood. You like lobster? Shrimp?" He asked, as they walked down the hall towards the restaurant off the lobby. Murphy walked next to Sirius, holding his arm wrapped around hers once again.
"Oh, the boy can have salad if he doesn't like seafood. It's expensive you know."
He was happy to see a glare in her direction. "Don't worry about the price. And you can have steak if you don't like seafood."
He pressed his check against the cool metal of the elevator wall and leaned heavily against the railing.
Sirius turned to look at him. "You don't look good at all. How do you feel?"
"I'm… fine." He tried to perk up, but it hurt to stand up straight. He felt Sirius's hand on his forehead. He couldn't help but appreciate the coolness of it.
"You have an awful fever… I think. Feel his forehead Carmon."
"I'm fine! Seriously! My forehead is just sunburnt." He responded at the thought of her putting her hands on him.
"If you're sure."
They arrived at the restaurant and Harry felt nauseous again, looking at the food. Harry managed to sit down for fifteen minutes trying to look like he was eating his dinner. Inside he felt like his intestines had exploded. His stomach felt like it had been pumped with thousands of bolts of electricity.
"I… I have to go to the bathroom." Harry said in a very strained voice. He stood up from chair next to Sirius, when he collapsed to his knees in pain.
Sirius looked down in concern. "Harry? What's wrong?" Harry didn't notice it though. He had tears of pain streaming down his face and he was biting his lip until it drew blood.
He couldn't take it anymore. He let out a cry of pain. The entire restaurant had stopped what they were doing to stare at him.
He cried harder as he felt Sirius take him in his arms and carry him away. He could feel every step Sirius took reverberating and causing pain to his stomach. He felt Sirius lunge up the steps and through the elevator door. He couldn't tell any of his surroundings, but he could make out the blurry form of Sirius's concerned face looking down at him.
He felt himself being put down on a soft surface but this did nothing to ease the pain. He saw Sirius looking bewildered and he suddenly moved out of his line of vision. "No!" Harry called through the tears. "Come back!" He said hoarsely.
Sirius looked scared. This frightened Harry more then anything. Sirius was never scared! Harry had never seen Sirius afraid in the entire time that he had known the man. "I- I'm going to call a doctor. I- I'll b-be right back! I promise!" Sirius told him. Harry cried out to him but he disappeared from view.
Harry cried in anguish and pain. Even the Cruciatus curse had ever caused such concentrated pain before. Sirius suddenly reappeared by him and kneeled by his bedside. He entangled a hand with Harry's own, and Harry squeezed it tightly. He realized that he was probably hurting him, but Sirius made no move to pull his hands away.
Sirius stroked Harry's sweat-soaked, dripping wet hair. "It's going to be alright, Harry. You're going to be okay. Where does it hurt?" Sirius asked him.
"Stomach" Harry stammered hoarsely. "It hurts so much Sirius! Please. Make it stop. Please, make the pain go away!" Harry pleaded, not caring that Sirius must have felt helpless.
"Hang in there Har. Please, I know it hurts. I know." Sirius told him. He sat on the bed next to him and gently placed his head on his lap.
"It's going to be okay in just a little bit, Harry. Just hang in there!" Sirius said from somewhere as the world faded to black. He could feel Sirius's hand stroke his forehead.
"I'm afraid he has sever food poisoning. He will have to be rushed to the hospital immediately." Said a voice somewhere in the darkness.
"Yes of course." He heard Sirius say back.
"Well, I'm going to call the ambulance. They will be on their way soon." Said the first voice. There was a silence.
"Sirius, baby?" he heard another female voice; Murphy.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I was just thinking, you know, the boy-."
"His name's Harry."
"Yes, Harry. Well, Anyway, I was thinking, Harry's going to be in the hospital for a while. He isn't going to miss us. We shouldn't let this spoil the trip." Harry couldn't believe the nerve of her.
"What are you trying to say? I'm not leaving Harry alone in a hospital for Christmas!"
"No, no, of course not!" she persuaded. "I would never imply that! I was just thinking; we could be back before Christmas. We could just stay for another three days. It would be no big deal. We'd be back by Christmas eve."
"Are you suggesting that we go on vacation while my godson has his stomach pumped?" Sirius replied in a scoffing voice.
"Well, it's not like he's going to care. You know, I'm marrying you, not your godson! Besides, It's only for three days. And he'll probably be so drugged up that he won't even notice. Come on sweetheart! It'll be nice and romantic. We won't have the kid to look after… Just you and me. Like we planned it." She was using that oh-so sugary sweet voice that irked him so.
"First of all, his name is Harry. He's not 'the boy', and he's not 'the kid'! He's Harry, and he's my godson, okay! And secondly, is that all you can think of; the stupid vacation? Didn't you see the pills on his nightstand? He's been in pain this entire trip, I'd bet you. He probably didn't want to ruin the trip for us. I am not leaving him a in a hospital bed over the holidays. I want to sit around on a beach for three days too, but I have this little thing called a conscience."
"Go ahead and go Sirius. I'll be fine. It'll be a quick stay and then I'll be out in time for Christmas. Don't worry about me." Harry persuaded in a drugged voice, finally opening his eyes.
Sirius looked at him with such… incredulity? Love? Like he couldn't believe that Harry would do something so selfless. Harry didn't understand the look. Sirius took Harry's hand in his, and sat down in a chair at his bedside. "Har, you are either the most generous person I know, or the stupidest. Or perhaps the morphine has gone to your head."
"Love you too Sirius." Harry replied coolly, "I think that I would rather you go with the former."
"No, I'm going with the latter. Do you honestly think that I'm going to leave you alone in a hospital?" Sirius asked.
"Come on Sirius, I want you to have a good trip. It's Christmas time. You and Professor Murphy enjoy your vacation. I'll be fine. Trust me, I'll be back in time to have a nice Christmas. I've had worse Christmases then this." He knew that he had overdone it with the last statement. Sirius would never go now. Not that he really wanted him to. "You didn't have a problem leaving me with Remus in the first place."
"That was before you got sick, Harry. I'm coming with you. You know what Carmon; you can stay here if you want to be on vacation so bad. In fact, you can live here for all I care. If you can't accept my godson, I don't think I can marry you. I'm sorry. You're going to have to choose. You get me and Harry, or you don't get either." Sirius told her.
"Sirius! Shut up you stupid prat." Harry hissed, though he didn't know why he was doing it. He didn't want Sirius to marry her anyway, but he definitely didn't want Sirius to lose his fiancé at his expense. Maybe the morphine was affecting him, but an idea was sparked in the back of his mind.
"No Harry, I'm serious. I love you Carmon, but… I love Harry more. I'm sorry." Carmon looked furious, even more so at the look Harry had on his face.
"How dare you! This is an outrage! You know, if anything, I should be dumping you. You didn't tell me about your fucking godson when we first started dating. If I had known about the boy, I never would have gotten so serious with you. Honestly!" and she stalked towards the door.
"You did it, didn't you? You poisoned me!"
"What are you talking about?" her heavily made up face was burning with anger. She didn't remotely attractive.
"Because you didn't want me to go. You did something to my pizza, or something, so that I would have to go to the hospital. Admit it!"
She glared at him with utmost fury, then she slid –quite snakelike, actually – towards the door muttering "Brat."
Sirius's eyes bugged out of his head, and he walked forward towards Murphy. "You poisoned my Godson?" His voice was low and dangerous.
"Get out of my sight before I do something that I know I'm going to regret!"
Sirius's eyes bugged out of his head, and he walked forward towards Murphy. "You poisoned my Godson?" His voice was low and dangerous.
Harry, not wanting to miss an opportunity to leave her with a few parting words, let slip, "Enjoy the warm weather, professor! You'll be feeling a lot of it where you're going!" He relished in the look she gave him. He turned to Sirius to yell at him for being stupid though.
"Well I'm definitely going to fail History of Magic, now. You're an id-"
"Shut up Harry. I don't want to hear you say that I shouldn't have done that, okay. It needed to be done for a long time. I can't marry someone who would do something that ruthless to a kid." Sirius said.
Harry sat up. Despite the strong painkiller he still flinched slightly at the small movement. "Sirius, you are either the most generous person I know, or the stupidest. And you don't have morphine as an excuse." Harry repeated with a smile. "Either way I love you though." He said, and Sirius pulled him into a hug.
Harry recovered slowly, and had to stay in the hospital until Christmas Eve. Since it was a muggle illness, and he couldn't exactly get to a wizarding hospital, he had to stay in a hospital on the island. Dumbledore had to send them a portkey to get back to their house.
He was glad to be home. Sirius had to do some major last minute decorating, but Harry and Sirius found a huge tree to decorate. Well, Sirius decorated. Sirius let him put the star on the top of the tree with his help, as Harry couldn't do much in his weak state. Harry found that admiring the tree was even better than thinking about the presents that would be under it. Even in all of their years at Hogwarts, the two agreed that it was the best tree either of them had ever seen.
The night of Christmas Eve, they both just sat down on the couch, watching the fire sparkle in the baubles on the tree, drinking hot chocolate.
"I've only had a few, and the only ones that could really count were the ones spent at Hogwarts, but I'd have to say that this is the best Christmas yet."
Sirius nodded his head. "I just wish that you had better ones in the past to compare it to. Your dad would have made a spectacular Christmas for you."
Harry smiled, and softly said, "He did."
He saw Sirius try to catch his eye, but Harry looked toward the fire. Harry laid his head down against Sirius, and curled up under the blanket. Sirius put his arm around Harry's shoulders. Harry fell asleep feeling warm, and loved.
Through the fog of sleep, he could hear voices.
"Oh, come on, Moony! You have to come over! You just have to! Firstly, and most importantly, you can't spend Christmas alone. That's just not right. You're spending Christmas with your friends. And secondly…" Sirius's voice got slightly awkward. "Uh, see, since that bitch poisoned him, Harry is still having problems with his stomach, and he can't really be on his feet a lot."
"And let me guess… You are going to be having spaghetti O's for dinner tonight unless I come over and cook for you."
"Actually, it's more like cold cereal. But the point is, we want you over for company… and we don't want to starve, or burn the house down. And, I mean, you wouldn't subject Harry to cooking days after recovering from acute food poisoning."
"She the bitch now. She was the love of your life a few days ago…" he could hear the growl starting in Sirius's chest that he rested against. "and you need to quit being so bloody dramatic."
"Look at his poor little malnourished face, Moony! He'll be eating cereal for Christmas!"
"Well, okay Padfoot." Said Remus's voice.
"Really? You'll come?"
"To tell you the truth, you had me at 'Hey Moony!', but I liked watching you beg, and drag poor emaciated Harry into it."
"Remus, have you been watching Jerry Maguire?"
He opened his eyes to a huge pile of presents underneath the tree. Even bigger then the pile Ron usually got.
"Hey Harry? How are you?" asked Remus, who's head was floating in the fire.
"Oh, hey Remus! Merry Christmas." He said groggily.
"Happy Christmas!"
Remus's head disappeared from the fire, and soon the flames turned green and Remus walked with grace from the grate, tripping over Sirius's new dart board in the process, and falling flat on his face.
Harry stifled laughter, but Sirius was a bit less graceful. He pulled an arm over his shoulder, and helped him up from the couch and towards the space next to the tree that wasn't crowded with gifts as he pulled Remus up by the back of the robes. He found the presents everyone had sent him. Ron's family got him a book about – what else? – quidditch in addition to his yearly sweater, and Hermione got him refills to his broomstick service kit, to which was met with a smile of approval from Sirius. Hagrid had made him a carving of a blast-ended screwt that worked as a lighter, and shot flames out of its end. Harry assumed that was just for laughs. He hadn't expected anything from him, but Remus had gotten him a wand pocket protector.
"It's to make sure you don't accidentally light your jeans on fire." Remus had told him. For some odd reason, Remus and Sirius had shared a laugh over that.
"I was going to get you a 'Best Godfather Ever' shirt, but I knew you would hate having to wear it. So I got one for Remus." Harry said. Both Remus and Sirius stopped what they were doing and saying to look at him with wide eyes. "Kidding! Kidding." Harry smirked.
"It's sort of a present to both of you. I wrote a couple letters and requested some favors, but… well. Open it up." Harry handed Sirius the present. It was wrapped up, but it was clearly a book. Sirius ripped the paper off it, and his eyebrows knitted together.
"Hogwarts a History Revised? Gee, thanks." Sirius sounded slightly strained.
"Well, while it isn't in stores yet, and I did order it first edition, that isn't the gift." Harry opened the book up to the table of content. "This is." Harry pointed to chapter eight, which read, 'The Marauders'.
Sirius's eyes widened and it took him almost a minute to speak. "Wow! You got them to put a chapter in there about us? How'd you pull that off? This is awesome! Moony, come here and have a look at this." Remus had the same reaction as Sirius.
"Gee, thank you so much, Harry. You made my gift to you look like crap next to yours. I'm the one who's supposed to give the extravagant gifts here." Sirius told him with amusement running through his voice.
Sirius had gotten him a lot of different things. He got a bunch of defense against the dark arts books he couldn't get in the library at school and a quidditch book about seeker moves. He also gave him a photo album of pictures of the marauders (de-Peterfide of course), and quite a few pictures of the two of them. ("I told Sirius how much you liked those pictures on his wall.")
"Well, I'll see you guys later. Merry Christmas. And good luck Sirius." Harry had meant to ask him what he needed luck for, but he had disappeared into the fire.
Sirius looked kind of sheepish. "I- er, I also have another gift… well, it can be taken as a gift. I don't know if you would really want it or anything, and you don't have to. See, I, er. I decided this might be right since I was getting married, and I really wanted us to be sort of like a family. Obviously that won't happen though." Harry stared at Sirius. What was he talking about? Surely not…
"You know how much I love you, right?".
Harry nodded a bit dazed. Wasn't this what Sirius had been avoiding discussing for a long time now?
Sirius looked somber, with a downcast look on his face. The same look he had every time the subject came up. "Harry, I, I want to adopt you." Sirius said in a nervous voice. He looked at Harry like it was a question.
Inside, Harry could name a thousand emotions that were running lose in his head, making him feel almost sick. The main one was shock. "You… what?" Harry asked in an expressionless tone, trying not to show emotion in case he had misheard.
"I want to adopt you. You've mentioned it quite a few times, I realize. I've been sidestepping the whole thing, I know. It hurt me, when you said that you didn't think that that I considered you my son, but I couldn't say anything because I had wanted to keep it a surprise. I still want you to call me Sirius, and you don't have to change your last name or anything like that. I just thought that… oof" Sirius was cut off mid sentence though. Harry had practically jumped into his arms in enthusiasm.
Harry was rendered speechless, happiness filled him. He didn't know what to say. He knew he wouldn't be able to express in words how happy this made him, but he made a try.
"I think… best Christmas ever applies here… I get my father back." And he meant it in both senses of the word. Sirius had finally realized what was most important in his life and realized Murphy wasn't who he thought she was. He now had a father again.
"Merry Christmas, Harry."
"Merry Christmas Dad."
End-Loss
I'm not going to bore you with clichés and goodbyes, mostly because there is a sequel to be written. I will tell you my schedule for the next couple of fanfics, however, and hope you're okay with this.
I actually do have an epilogue of sorts in the works, though I'm not sure I'm going to post it with the rest of Loss, so it's probably going to be on my Livejournal, so check for that.
I'm going to go back and fix up these chapters, and maybe redo a couple of them, because some of them were really tacky and corny, you know?
I have no idea how long the sequel will take to be posted, but I know I want to get a few chapters under my butt before I put it up, because I don't really have an exact plan for everything, thought that's what happened through most of Loss… I winged it. See how that turned out?
That is all for this account. I can't say with my other account. Believe it or not, that was supposed to be full of fics that I hadn't expected to do well… strange, that, huh?
Check my LJ periodically for teasers and other such things. I'll probably be posting a summary of the sequel soon.
I know I have something else I wanted to mention, but I can't remember. That always happens!
Responses:
Serebii: Thanks so much for your review. Yes, maybe I'll mention in the sequel that she died after being run over and dragged for three miles by a truck carrying dippers or something.
Lory In Love: Thanks so much. It's always nice to have someone laugh at your corny jokes, you know? No one will ever get tired to proclaiming their hatred for Murphy. Well, I hope this chapter made up for it. Thanks so much.
Buffy Summers1: Thanks so much. Yeah, the ending was inspired by something that had happen to me in the past, but it seemed to work well with the ending in this one, even though I didn't intend it to.
Calen: Oh, if only that would have worked. Harry is much to well intentioned to do something like that… but then again, it's always the quiet ones you have to look out for.
FroBoy: I had actually thought about that, but I figured that in the end, Sirius would just believe him, and she would get caught in her own lie.
Pixie89: Oh, it's quite all right. Everyone has cursed out Murphy at one time or another. It's pretty funny actually. Yeah, that really ended it though… this bitch had to go, before the reviewers broke out the pitchforks, you know? Everyone who reviews me seems to hate Ron for some reason. Why, because he was created to get rid of, and leave angst ridden Harry for us fanfiction readers to want to coddle. You can do anything to him! I used to be a huge H/Hr shipper, but now I'm more in favor of just leaving Harry alone and unloved except for everyone but Sirius and Remus.
Nope, this is it. I've got the sequel still to do, but people might as well start polishing their pitchforks right now, because I know everyone is going to hate it. (Okay, I've seen Shrek one too many times.) Yeah, I know Malfoy doesn't make many appearances, but maybe I can add him in the story a little more in the sequel.
Well, I do love Remus a lot. He's going to be more important towards the end of the sequel, though. Yes, I thought about that too. I didn't mean to leave Remus out, but I wanted to have him there because I liked that whole 'once in a blue moon' 'shudder' thing. I'm writing a story with him as the main character though…
Thanks for your review.
SiriusLvr: Yeah, I know, I was crying in class when I thought it up, actually, and everyone was staring. I have algebra to thank for so much of Loss, you know? Thanks for your review.
Hedwigs-biggest-fan: No one's ever responded to your reviews? I can't believe that! Well, I hope this chapter is to your satisfaction.
Savoy Truffle: Yes, I realize that. Everyone sees Sirius as being a beater. I always thought it would have been pretty strange if all of the marauders were on the quidditch team, and it always seems like Peter and Remus are left out of them. Just trying to go for something new. Damn… six stories. Maybe you should just focus on the prequel and the sequel for now, but that's just me. Yeah, that actually sounds like a really good idea, but I wouldn't have Sirius find him dead… maybe just critically injured. Guilt trip for Sirius, especially if Harry complains to him about it, and he won't hear of it. Wow, I really want this written now!
Rose Estraz: Wow, seriously? I would be too scared to complain, but then again, I would probably say something not expecting anything to come of it, and have someone do something about it. Isn't that just the best feeling in the world though? No more school! Today was my last day!
Dehdeh: Yeah, don't you just want to take her neck in your hand just makes violent hand gesture? Thanks for your review.
Lt. Jaina Solo Fel: Yeah, but now she's alone. Maybe she'll get a really horrible sunburn, because god knows there is no pain like an all over sunburn.
Didge: Getting along? With Murphy? You must not have been paying close attention. Lol, just joking. It would seem pretty convenient if she were a death eater though, don't you think? After finding out what she did to Harry, I would think that Sirius would be more pissed off at her then heartbroken, because Harry had been saying it all along, you know?
Sailoranime: That was still alarming that we're doing this. I mean, I swear if you come out with a chapter for any of your stories, I would be so freaked out. I'm really in the mood to write more of Loss, but there is no more left… it's all the sequel from now on, and the sequel is an evil bitch, and it doesn't end the same way, you know?
Why would that be mean? Ron's just… makes violent hand gesture ugh! Yes, I can see it… the plane was going down, and there were only two parachutes left, and Sirius had to decide… though with magic… oh well, too bad.
I know exactly what you mean. I do that on TV all the time. When you know the main character is going to make a huge fool of themselves, and you just want to shut the damn thing off…
I got sort of pissed off about that, actually… he should have sent more food, Sirius was living off rats for him, and he didn't even mind all that much. At the time, it seemed like a low priority. But can you imagine actually eating a rat? I mean, what part of it do you eat? Oh, I know you're going to have forgotten about your resolution, and if you didn't, then I'm making a fool out of myself, but who really cares anymore?
I was wondering about that. The order of comments, but I do that a lot too. Write a review and start talking about the middle first, and then the beginning, and then the end. It gets confusing. Yeah, I actually got that 'makeup sex' thing from Seinfield (sp?) and I had had the urge to use it in my story for like, five years, and now seemed like the good time. Actually, I did know that, strangely enough. I've had people tell me that before.
I don't really see how her not being able to have more children would fit into the story all that well. You know, it seems like it's not really that big a deal when a woman can't reproduce, but it's like, the most horrible thing ever if a man can't, you know? I'll stop talking though. Thanks for the review.
Headmaster Cromwell: Yeah, thanks for the invitation, but I've never really had that big a thing for role playing. I don't know why though.
Someone: I just got out of school today. Don't complain about grades to me. I failed algebra, and I don't even notice if I fail electives anymore, I'm doing so badly in them. I also got a D in science, but I blame the teacher for that one. I did, however, get an A in reading/communications, so congratulate me! I'm not even sure which chapters I'm on currently for just about anything, I have too many stories out, you know? Feel free to drop me a note in my livejournal. I would love to hear from you. Me, myself, I'm always really scared of commenting on someone's LJ unless I talk to them a lot, but that might just be me.
Katani Petitedra: marvels at the fact that she could spell your name without looking Yup, quite the bi-ach, don't you think? Yeah, I know what you mean. It's really hard for the author to see that when they wrote the piece, you know? Because when you know what's happening, it's hard to see why no one else wouldn't be able to. I think this has a relatively happy ending, don't you?
Kiki: Yeah, I know what J.K. means when she says she wishes she could apologize for what she had done to him.
Eruve tinwen: You make sure you don't bottle that anger up too much. I recommend an aerobic kickboxing workout after reading Loss, and then maybe a hot bath. I'm really in the mood for a hot bath… maybe with some bath beads, and I'll light a few scented candles… but I'm getting off topic. I'm taking a power nap after I post this and then I'm taking that bath though.
Oceanjewel: hums Usher song that'll be in my head for an hour now, I'm sure. Yeah, Sirius was acting pretty weird, wasn't he? God, men are awesome until they start dating really bitchy girls, but then again, I am quite the little bitch sometimes… Maybe he was mad about the bike incident though…
XoXMelJayXoX: I think a part of all of us were sort of hoping for an unhappy ending, that's why I'm thinking of writing an alternate universe fic where they did get married, but that's pretty much a pipe dream at this point. I don't know, be on the lookout for it, I guess. I was actually thinking about this in relevance to this episode of Seventh Heaven where this kid knew somehow that his Mom's boyfriend was abusive. It's always the kids who know first.
Aalikane: Well, you saw what happened, but the pensive thing really got me thinking…
My Divinest: Yes, you are the only reason I had that happen. I was actually going to write a horrible ending with Harry on the streets. Hehe. Just kidding.
Joeyperson: Thanks a lot. Usually I suck at ending my chapters, but I guess I did okay last time. Thanks for your review.
Tatshing: Um, actually, it's over, unfortunately. Read the sequel if you want more though.
Igetalong: Thanks a lot. It's over, actually. I'm really sorry about that. Maybe you should read the sequel.
Mr. Happy Java Man: Yeah, I know, I loved that story by Relle. I was pretty surprised that you were the first person to notice the similarities between them. When I started Loss, I hadn't realized just how similar they would be though, you know? The difference is that Murphy isn't a death eater, she's just a bitch, and she actually likes Sirius, you know?
Star-prancer: Yup… doesn't it just suck? You feel that too? Yup, the few scenes there are with Harry and Hermione, it always feels like… well, like there is peace, instead of annoying bantering and fighting, and it leaves more room for Harry's thought and feelings, you know? Yeah, I felt really bad about Remus, but in the end, he did get to spend Christmas with his friends, you know? Neville is such a cutie, you know? His life really sucks. Yeah, it's good that Harry realized that his life could be a lot worse, even though we want to coddle him anyway… or I do.
Lizziepooh29: Well, here you go. I hope you liked the ending. Yeah, she did more than threaten him, though, but she got her just deserts.
MissPanther: Yeah, I know. I just want to hug him right now. Speaking of burning… did you like that line? Maybe not hell, but maybe a nice sunburn…
Writer Chica: Did you like the ending? I really hope so!
Notes: So, since I know no one reads these notes, I'm just going to say that I love all of you.