A Taste of Honey

Yours was the kiss that awoke my heart
There lingers still though we're far apart
A taste of honey
A taste of honey
tasting much sweeter than wine
Do dut don du, do dut don du

I will return, yes I will return
I'll come back, I'll come back
for the honey, for the honey
and you



Jaimie woke up to the bright morning sun peeking in through the divide of her curtains. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, slightly refreshed, the last few moments of the night before forgotten for the time being. She was a bit disoriented, but quickly realized what day it was and jumped out of bed as if it were on fire. She stormed down the stairs, and nearly knocked down some expensive vases and ran straight into the den, where Remus sat placidly on his seat on the sofa, sipping a cup of steaming tea, his arms and face ridden with scratches and bite marks, though most of his wounds were healing at a remarkable pace. She speculated that Aunt Charlene had most likely brought some potions from St. Mungo's, where she worked, and ordered Remus to take some.
"'Morning, Jaimie." He said, his voice a little shaky.
"Morning," She answered stiffly.
Remus noticed her starchy tone but chose not to reply. He knew better. He just sipped his tea, and continued watching the empty fireplace with feigned interest. If something was the matter with her, it was her choice to tell, and she didn't seem in the mood to be asked such an obvious question as "Are you alright?"
Jaimie walked in, and sat down beside Remus, put her hands on her stomach and closed her eyes. He was alright. Good. But why was she feeling so awful? Why did she feel as if she could care less? Then it all came back to her; they were packing all of her family's things, she and Sirius had shared their first kiss, Jaimie had admitted to Lily why she could not love Sirius and she had so unfairly blamed him and the others for the only thing that they could do-care for their friends. She felt horrible; and yet, not so. Sure Remus was a werewolf, and he had to suffer the pains of a monthly transformation, but what about herself? She had lost the only family she had known, save the Lupins, and she had to live daily with the burden of wondering why she had been so mercifully and yet so unmercifully been spared. True they had and are still helping her to cope with the problem, but they did not know the full extent of her pain. They had taken away a part of Remus, her brother, and did not even consider the rammifications of their actions.
She slumped in her seat, now completely in a bad mood. She had probably annoyed Sirius and Remus; most likely with her stiff greeting. It was, after all, her fault that he had suffered daily and herself along with him, and it was only right that she asked him if he was feeling well enough. So burying her morbid thoughts she said, "Are you alright?"
Remus, who had been waiting for the moment when Jaimie would speak, grabbed the opportunity, "I've felt better. But you knew that. What about you? You seem a bit miffed."
Jaimie sighed, "Yeah well, things haven't exactly been brilliant." Jaimie mumbled just loudly enough for Remus to hear.
"Not everybody's lives are perfect, Jaimie. Even when you're surrounded by family that loves you. Things may have seemed perfect, but that's just the outer appearance."
Jaimie looked at Remus next to her. When had he become so wise? She gave him a penetrating look, and he just looked back at her, with a small smile on his face. He knew so much pain and sadness; knew so much about life and he was only sixteen. What had happened to him? What happened to the scrawny little boy she used to make mud pies with?
He's grown up, she thought to herself and she swelled with pride. We've all grown up.
Jaimie watched him out of the corner of her eye as he put his now empty mug down on the coffee table and leaned back in his chair slowly. He winced as his back touch the fluffy throw pillows behind him. He gave a weak chuckle and said, "How do you reckon that anyone, even a werewolf, could reach behind their back and scratched themselves senseless?"
Jaimie snorted. She admired that he could laugh about his predicament, could laugh at such a horrible time. He was hurt, and yet he kept his poker face. He didn't complain once, did not even shown a sign of weakness. She admired him; he was the epitome of all that was great and honorable.
Just then, they heard a loud crack and saw Uncle Alan, Aunt Charlene and Mimi all carrying the boxes they had left at the house which now belonged to Jaimie.
They all dropped their charges unceremoniously on the floor among a pile of boxes that Jaimie had not seen and Uncle Alan said, "Last of all the boxes, the tables and chairs and the beds we'll get after we get a spot of breakfast. We have a nice storage shed out back we can modify to fit all your stuff." He said, wiping his sweaty forehead with a kerchief.
"But, dear, you've already had breakfast." Aunt Charlene said, going into the kitchen under the pretext of fixing all four of them a snack anyway.
"But Jaimie hasn't, is that right Jaimie?" He said, turning to Jaimie.
He had a pleading look in his eyes and was nodding ferverishly.
"Er, yes Aunt Charlene, I haven't had my breakfast yet." She said, giving Uncle Alan an approving look.
He gave her a thumbs up and said, "Did you hear that Charlene, the girl hasn't had her breakfast yet. Shouldn't let her wait. And make plenty more, its rude to let anybody eat such a hearty meal alone." He said, unable to hide his happiness.
Aunt Charlene seemed to ignore him and said, "Mimi, could you give me tad bit of help in here?"
Mimi hurried to the kitchen and said, "Mistress Lupin, do not break your back doing Mimi's chores, let Mimi make breakfast. Go get some rest."
Jaimie walked out of the kitchen under the impression that she would take a shower and get dressed out of her pajamas. She walked up the stairs and straight into the room to find a tawny owl on her bed, a roll of parchment tied around its legs. It ruffled its wings as Jaimie walked across the door, clearly trying to get her attention. She hurried to the owl, and untied the roll of parchment from its leg. The owl flew to her desktop and shuffled about importantly.
Jaimie unrolled the parchment and read it. It was from Damion.

Dear Jaimie,

This is probably a bad time to contact
you, and I probably did not leave a very
good memory of myself the last time we
had last seen each other but please, I
would like to see you again. I would like
to give you a proper apology about what
Serverus did. But not by letter. Please
owl me back if you would consent to seeing
me again.

Damion

How dare he? How could be possibly think of even owling her back? He had proved himself uncapable of any sort of emotion when he did not stop his 'friend' from cursing her. Angrily, she took a feather quill and an extra roll of parchment and wrote out a response to Damion's letter.

I do not want to see you again, Damion.
How dare you write me a letter even asking
me to meet you? I would have thought you'd
know the answer to that. Don't owl me again.
I never want to see your face again.

Jaimie

It was a bit harsh, but Damion had, in a sense, let Snape torture her, even if it were for a moment. She felt that his act, or lack of one, was the act of betrayal. She had cared about him, gave him all the love she thought she had but it was a lie. He was a lie. So without hesitation, she summoned the owl back on her bed, and tied her response, as well as his letter and sent the owl on its way. A half an hour later, Jaimie reemerged in the den quite refreshed and wearing a pleated skirt and top. Remus' cuts had now fully healed, but a round, bluish-purplish bruise was appearing on his forearm. He hastily covered it with his sleeve.
There was a great deal of noise coming from the kitchen, and she guessed that Aunt Charlene and Mimi were trying to prepare a meal while Uncle Alan went around and sampled a bit of each of the cooking food, probably burning himself in the process. Jaimie sat down next to him, possibly even more in a bad mood than when she'd first come down. Remus who was reading an assigned book from school put it down and said, "Now what's eating you?"
"Damion sent me a letter." Jaimie grumbled. Her arms crossed across her chest. Her eyebrows were furrowed and she gave off an impression of a fire.
"What about?" Remus asked, immediately interested.
"How he wanted to apologize for Snape's curse. I've never heard a bigger load of bull if it wasn't coming from one." She said, her green eyes resembling a small forest and her red hair burning that forest.
"Maybe he really means it." Remus said hopefully, though he didn't believe his own words.
"You and I both know that he doesn't. He's a Death Eater, Remus. We all know that." Jaimie stated.
"I don't see the relevance of a Death Eater to not meaning he's sorry." Remus argued, though he wasn't sure why. After all, he had put the Cruciatus Curse on Jaimie and probably deserved all the pain he could recieve.
"Death Eaters are untrustworthy, inhumane and evil people. They are uncapable of being sorry." Jaimie spat.
"Hmm." Remus leaned back in his seat and recommenced reading his book. He didn't feel like arguing, especially with Jaimie. She may be kind but was also something like a tiger.
Suddenly they heard a crash and the sound of voluminous pots and pans collapsing on the floor.
"ALAN! GO-JUST GO!" Aunt Charlene's voice shrieked in the calm.
Uncle Alan came out, his back to them, his arms up in defense, apologizing repeatedly. Jaimie and Remus looked interestedly over the back of the sofa at Uncle Alan hurrying from the kitchen door to his office in the corner. Jaimie could see Aunt Charlene shaking her head through the bar window that acted as a type of service counter. Jaimie and Remus looked at each other, and then went back to their activities, which were reading and just sitting on the sofa. Jaimie's eyes were wandering around the den, from the fancy candelabras-they didn't use muggle electricity-to the empty grate, or recently empty grate.
Sirius' head was suspended in the flames, smiling impishly at her.
"Sirius!" Jaimie cried.
Remus put down his reading and said, "What are you doing here?" He got up from the sofa to the floor in front of the fireplace, Jaimie followed suit.
"That's no way to treat a birthday boy is it?" Sirius said, slightly indignant.
"Its not even your birthday yet, Sirius." Remus said knowledgeably.
"Yes, but it will be in a week, and since I'll be legal, I'm looking for a flat for myself. You know, like a bachelor pad." Sirius' smile, if possible, got even wider.
"I will give you ten galleons not to say that sentence ever again." Jaimie said, a bit irritated. Sitting on the floor with a skirt was no easy task.
"What's wrong with it? Muggles in America use that saying all the time!" Sirius said, pretending to be taken aback.
"But you're not American, and you're definitely no muggle." Jaimie explained.
"Hmm. Nice skirt, you look ravishing."
Jaimie blushed, "Shut it." She said simply.
"So what are you doing here anyway?" Remus said, who had patiently been watching the exchange between Sirius and Jaimie.
"Well, I was wondering if Ms. Dijon would like to accompany me on a flat-hunt." Sirius said matter-of-factly.
"I suppose . . . why would you need me anyway? People would think that we were moving in together." Jaimie said, slightly disinclined to lead people to think of the wrong thought.
"And?" Sirius said, unperturbed.
"Oh . . . " Jaimie, Sirius and Remus all turned their heads in the direction of the kitchen: Aunt Charlene shrieked again, by the sound of it, she got burned. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."
"Yes!" Sirius said, "Alright I'll come by and pick you up at eleven, we can have lunch while we're out."
Sirius' head disappeared from the grate just as Aunt Charlene came out of the kitchen and said, "Breakfast is ready Remus and Jaimie, dear. Alan!"
Uncle Alan's head popped out of his office and said, "I can eat?"
"Of course, you can, now hurry up before the food gets cold." Aunt Charlene followed Jaimie and Remus into the kitchen and the breakfast nook.
Jaimie hadn't eaten at the breakfast nook before. It was all very strange. There were four identical seats surrounding a circular glass table, a plate of yellow scrambled eggs and still sizzling bacon were in the middle of the table top, within everyone's reach. Aunt Charlene waited for the rest of the family to sit down, before taking her seat next to Uncle Alan and said a bit apologetically, "I hope this is alright, Jaimie, dear. I'm not sure that all this food is to your liking. I know its not as good as your mother's, but I tried." She gave a lopsided grin, and Jaimie returned it.
"Don't worry, Auntie, I don't mind if its the same as my mother's, and I'm sure its just as delicious."
Jaimie looked down at her plate and frowned. She wasn't so sure that she like Aunt Charlene trying to get everything to be like her sister. What's worse was that she made it even more impossible to forget about her life with her family. And no matter how hard she tried, it was impossible not to compare the Lupins from the Dijons. Getting a headache from thinking the way she was, she just handled her spoon and fork and dug into the sunny yellow eggs. They tasted wonderful. But they weren't her mother's.
Snap out of it Jaimie, stop comparing. It doesn't make any difference. Why can't you just be like Remus and appreciate what you have?
She looked around the kitchen nook and noticed Remus, her aunt and uncle digging into the food gratefully. And suddenly she knew why she couldn't learn to appreciate what she had.
Because I have nothing.
Jaimie, suddenly losing her appetite, said in the politest voice she possibly possessed, "Can I be excused?"
All three of their sandy blonde heads disappeared and were replaced by identically bewildered faces. Aunt Charlene's expression of discomfort disappearred and was replaced by a pitying look. Jaimie hated pity. Especially if she were on the recieving end of it.
"Of course you can, love." She said, in a maternal voice.
"Thanks." Jaimie pushed her chair back and got up. Out of sheer politeness, she pushed the chair back in, gave a winning smile and said, "Its not because of your cooking, Auntie. Actually, it was excellent, but I'm just not hungry. Thank you for cooking for me though."
Without a backward glance, she strode out of the kitchen at a steady pace, and once she was sure she was out of their range of vision, broke into a silent run for her bedroom. When she reached the vicinity of her bedroom door, she quickened her pace ten-fold, and by the time she reach her door, she bolted it open and collapsed on the bed, the mattress bouncing with the momentum of Jaimie's body. She took a steadying sigh, and lay idly on her bed, waiting, and partly dreading, eleven o'clock when Sirius would come get her for their outing.
At one point, Remus came up to her door and knocked once, and asked almost as if he he really meant it, "Can I come in?"
Jaimie flinched. She hadn't expected Remus to pop in so suddenly. Okay, maybe she did expect it just a little, but it was still a surprise for him to just appear. Remus had a serious expression on his face. He seemed worried, deep frown lines slashed his forehead, and his mouth was turned into an ugly frown. Jaimie was used to Remus looking serious, but he was never used to him looking so . . . worried.
He walked in and sat down on the bed as Jaimie sat up too. He gave her a piercing look; one that would have made a pit bull run the other way, tail between legs. Had she done something wrong?
"What's the matter, Remus?" Jaimie ventured.
His expression died and was replaced by a look of pure exhaustion and Jaimie couldn't blame him. "Don't worry about me, what about you? Are you alright?"
"Of course, Remus, why would you think otherwise?" It was a stupid question, she never should have asked it.
"Well, downstairs, you went all quiet and then you just asked to leave. And you said that Mum's cooking was delicious and you just ran off."
"I didn't run off." Jaimie said defensively.
"Mimi was in her room, she saw you sprint away."
"Oh."
"Tell me what's wrong. Or can't you? Is it personal, do you need Lily or even Mum here?" Remus asked, almost getting up.
"No, no its not that personal. Its just . . . things have been hard. What with the Hogwarts Express, and Damion and then packing up all of our-my stuff and leaving the house I've grown up in forever. Its hard. And then your mum makes a comparison about her food to my mum's and I've been trying really hard not to make comparisons because looking back on what I don't have anymore isn't going to help. I've been trying to be optimistic, but now Aunt Charlene and Uncle Alan are in the order and they're fighting Voldemort and its too much. I couldn't take it."
Remus had a politely bewildered though caring expression on his face. "What happened to you?"
"What?" Jaimie asked, not expecting Remus to answer her in this way.
"Well, you're now so wise, so deep, so . . . grown up." He said, his tone of voice in awe.
"That's funny, because that's the way I've been think of you. I've been thinking: "Where was the awkward six year old who used to play wizard tag with me?"
Remus face faded to a pensive one. "I guess . . . we've all grown up in a way. We're not as young as other people would like to think. At least we're not as dim-witted."
Jaimie smiled sadly, "Things have definitely changed."
"Yeah definitely."
"We're not little kids anymore, Remus. We're all grown up now." A tear nearly escaped Jaimie's eye, but she held it back.

Eleven o'clock came, and bringing along with it, Sirius Black. He wore a silver button up shirt, a casual leather jacket, and a pair of jeans which partially covered his black converses. Apparently he was applying for a muggle flat. He had barely arrived five minutes before Jaimie emerged in the same dark green pleated skirt but this time wearing a long sleeved, black shirt and wearing below-the-knee high, laced boots. She wore a beatnik hat on her head to keep herself cool.
Sirius got up from his seat in the living room, surrounded by Uncle Alan, Aunt Charlene, Remus and the new arrivals of James and Peter.
Sirius led the way to the fireplace, and almost let Jaimie through before himself, when Aunt Charlene said, "Jaimie, dear, I want you back here before eleven tonight, that should give you enough time for dinner, is that right Sirius, love?"
"Yes, Mrs. Lupin." Sirius droned.
"Alright, " She continued, not quite catching the bit of sarcasm and said to the pair of them, "Have a good day you two. Have fun!"
Sirius and Jaimie didn't hear the last part as they were already spinning dizzily out of the brick grate. They emerged on the stone cobbled street of Diagon Alley though this time, the sky was not a murky grey and the atmosphere of the shopping area was not one that well suited a cemetary but one that suited, well, a shopping area. People with the day's shopping ran purposefully down the street, occassionally stopping and looking at the price of a product or picking one up and paying for it at the pay counter. Sirius walked away from the public fireplace and steered through the crowds, making a path through the sea of people to the brick wall that hid the Leaky Cauldron which was the entrance, or exit, to muggle London. There were three dustbins against the wall, Sirius counted the bricks knowingly above the dustbins and promptly, a large, brick arch replaced the wall. Sirius stepped through, the dustbins suddenly absent, and Jaimie followed him. They entered the dark and dusty bar, Tom the barkeeper standing behind the handsome wooden bar, wiping a shiny glass with a white cloth. As they made their way through, people watched them from above their glasses, their eyes narrowed and judgemental. Others even whispered to their neighbors, Jaimie not doubting that it was about them. Finally, when they reached the grimy green door at the other end, Jaimie let out a sigh of relief.
"That felt like we were going through some kind of Wizengamot trial." Jaimie said relieved.
"Yeah, what do you reckon they talked about?"
"Don't know." Jaimie said truthfully, and followed Sirius as he walked down the crowding London street. They had been walking for some time, Sirius clutching a folded muggle newspaper, The London Gazette. Jaimie tried to look over his shoulder, which was just around her height, and saw that he had circled quite a few sections on the paper, no doubt adresses to possible flats. It would not be hard to find one in London. She landed back on her heels and said, "So have you thought about what you want in a flat?"
"Yeah, these sound great, but I'd rather see it for myself, first. I wanted to get a wizard flat, but most of them would be around wizarding families that know me and my family's reputation. I don't want that, so I decided going to a muggle neighborhood would work best." He explained.

Their first flat of the day wasn't so pleasant. It was the bottom most flat, a large grassy yard acted as a front lawn, but it more closely resembled an itchy, yellow carpet than grass. The house looked absolutely run down, and they didn't even bother to check the inside and left in a hurry. The next five flats were great. On the fifth flat, they had an appointment with the manager of the complex, and would be notified by phone if they would recieve the flat. Confused and not knowing what a 'phone' was, Sirius said, "What's that?"
The manager just laughed, and said, "Been living under a rock, have you?"
Sirius made to retort, but Jaimie stepped subtley on his foot and muttered, "Shut it." Then, she smiled widely and said, "Thanks again, Ms.-"
"Nicols."
"Ms. Nicols, maybe we should just come down in three days to check if we have the house." Jaimie smiled persuasively at the older woman.
"Alright dear, if you say so."
Sirius and Jaimie left, feeling a little confused, and completely bent on learning more about muggles.

They had a stroke of luck on their next flat. A senile old man, by the name of Audric, was renting out the second story flat, on a nice hill overlooking the London skyline. It had a very homely look to the place, and the grass was well tended to. Sirius and Jaimie immediately liked the place, and the owner was willing to let Sirius rent it by the time he turned seventeen, which was in a week. Wanting to see the inside, Jaimie and Sirius followed the kindly man inside and were glad. It was very cozy, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a living room. The large bay window off the living room had a very clear view of the London skyline, flocked with buildings and flashing lights. Jaimie sat on the already set day bed and said, "Wow, this is beautiful, just think how much more beautiful it would be at night."
"Yeah." Sirius sighed, apparently the fact that he would now be living on his own now just hitting him.
"You know, I heard that its good luck to have a view of a the sun setting in the west." Jaimie said, knowingly.
Sirius made to reply, but Audric interrupted him, "You listen to your wife, son. This house is lucky I tell you. I've had the best years of my life under this roof. Met my wife here you know. Lovely woman, never known anything like her. Best thing that could ever happen to any man."
Jaimie blushed at being thought to be Sirius' wife by the old man. "We're not married," She said, with a sheepish grin.
"Oh!" Said Audric, seemingly surprised.
"Yeah, we're too young, we're still in school." Sirius continued, saying what were possibly his wisest words.
"Oh, its never too young to get married. Not when you're truly in love. And besides, what with the way things are now, its better to experience life early on, than not experience it at all. I know you're both young, but you don't live forever. Just remember that." Audric gave them a steely glint and headed for the main door, "When you guys want to leave, just tell me up front, I'll lock up."

Later that day, after having gone to several more different flats, though already knowing the one that Sirius would choose, they went back to Diagon Alley, though it took much longer as they had traversed much farther away from the shopping area than they had realized. Their stomachs were growling, their feet ached, their mouths were numb from smiling too much but they were satisfied. It had been a perfect ending to a not so perfect day. They reached the Leaky Cauldron just when the lights on the street sprung to life. Jaimie and Sirius jumped when they saw the sudden burst of lights, they didn't know muggle electricity worked so quickly. But they outgrew their amazement and stepped into the dark bar. As usual, it was packed with people who were all drinking or eating dinner or resting from a day's shopping. Sirius headed to the bar and ordered two bottles of butterbeer for himself and Jaimie, before he followed her to a semi-secluded corner near the back of the room and sat down at a table that seated two. Jaimie settled herself on the seat opposite Sirius and smiled thankfully at him. It was a nice day, though her boots weren't exactly the most comfortable thing to wear when walking.
Sirius took off his jacket and laid it on his chair back and said, "Well, not as bad as I thought it would go. I honestly didn't think that I would find one this quick."
"Yeah, which one are you going to choose?" Jaimie asked, though already knowing the answer.
"The one on the hill. I know the guy may be a bit off his rocker, but its a good house."
"Hmm, it was kind of funny that he thought that we were . . . " She giggled, the idea seemed so ludicrous to her.
"Yeah . . . " Sirius sighed, he gave a smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.
Jaimie decided not to comment but said instead, "Did you see the way that lady with the large teeth was looking at you when she said that you wanted the flat?"
"Hmm." Sirius murmured.
"I thought she was going to start breathing fire through her nostrils.They were flaring so much that I thought she resembled a dragon." She continued, "I don't think that you would have gotten the flat if you paid her a million galleons. But who care's? You've got-"
Jaimie faltered, Sirius had now held her hand that was on the table in his. He had an earnest expression on his face, and he was staring deeply into her eyes. A little apprehensive Jaimie said, "What's the matter? All of a sudden you look like you've swallowed a whole vile of armadillo bile."
"Do you remember the first thing you thought of when you first saw me?" He was completely serious.
Jaimie was confused. She didn't know whether to laugh or to answer him. She settled instead on, "What're you on about Sirius?"
"What did you first think of when you saw me for the first time?" He repeated.
"Why?" She pressed, getting suspicious.
"Please, its important to me." He urged. He had a pleading look in his eyes.
Relenting, Jaimie said, "Well, the first time I saw you was on the Hogwarts Express. I remember I was so shy and nobody wanted to come and sit with me because I had red hair and nobody wanted to know a redhead, so I just sat there by myself, being miserable. All of a sudden some big bugger came in and teased me and took some of my candy. He wouldn't leave me alone. And then, you walked by, and saw what was going on and you sort of . . . chased him away. Then, you came back into my compartment, smiled real big and said, 'Hi, I'm Sirius Black, I'm sorry about the big bloke, I don't think he will bother you again.' and then you just sort of, went away.
"But from then on, whenever I wanted to see anything happy again I just think about the first time you smiled at me." Jaimie blushed.
Sirius, who was still clutching her hand said, "What?" He was very interested in her tale.
"Well," Jaimie continued, "I don't expect that that idiot would have left me alone if you hadn't come. It could've gotten much worse, but you were there to my rescue." She said simply.
Sirius smiled back at her, and he leaned in toward her, and planted his lips softly on hers. Jaimie closed her eyes and let Sirius lead her. He pulled away from her, though his face was still very close to hers, and and gazed piercingly into her eyes. They sat there, barely two inches away from each other, unaware that they were gaining funny looks from the other customers in the bar. At lenght Jaimie whispered, though she needn't have had to, "What was that for?"
"Beacuse," Sirius replied. He kissed her again, and held her face to his. Tom, the barkeeper, had placed their order of butterbeer on their table, watching, with wide eyes and immense interest, the two liplocked teenagers.

When they had finished with their dinner a while later and were just about sick of being ogled at as if they were entertainment, Jaimie and Sirius left the Leaky Cauldron and headed for the public fireplace. Outside on the cobble stone street of Diagon Alley, very few people wandered about, most of them closing up shop as it was very late indeed. They didn't pay attention to them, though.
They reached the fireplace and stopped. Jaimie grabbed a handful of floo powder and cast it into the flame. She gave Sirius a smile, before she went through, but Sirius said, "Wait."
Jaimie turned around. Sirius looked pale in the moonlight that they were bathed in. Jaimie suspected that they resembled a scene straight out of an old muggle movie her mother had let her watch. Sirius had a look of sad desire on his face, his hands were in the pockets of his jacket. He gave a deep breath and said sombrely, "I love you, Jaimie."
Jaimie looked down at the ground, and smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes, which had the same sad expression as was on Sirius' face. "Please don't say it, unless you mean it."
Sirius didn't reply. Jaimie brushed her lips against his briefly before she turned around and went through the fireplace and out of sight.
Now that Jaimie was gone, life seemed to continue around Sirius. The sound of the shop keepers closing up could be heard much louder in the still night air. He could even hear the sound of distant owls hooting.
But Jaimie's last words were still echoing around him. It was in the stone of the street, the brick of the building. Inside his very heart. It hurt him to hear those words, and he couldn't bear thinking about them.
"Please don't say it, unless you mean it."
"But I do." Sirius whispered in dark.
He stood there a moment, lost in the night, lost in thought, but most of all, lost in the girl he loved.









A/N: Hmm . . . it seems someone has thought it amusing to force me into a beauty pageant. Of all the people who could join a beauty pageant, me? I don't think so. On the bright side though, someone refered me to a foreign exchange program and I could have 21 days out of the country and spend it in France, Germany, Switzerland and/or Spain. Is that cool or what?! I swear I will join. But there's a fat chance that I won't. :( I could always just join the stupid pageant and go to France, Germany, Switzerland and/or Spain from there. No? (That last part was supposed to be french. hehe)