Sirius Black Comes out of the Closet
By Knowing Angels
Summary: Viviana and Halia thought they would have an uneventful summer mourning the death of Sirius Black. Until he came out of the closet...literally. Romance and mystery abound as Viviana and Halia travel to Britain and into the wizarding world. HP/OC. NOT SLASH!
Chapter Four: Wait it Out
The silence in the little turquoise car was finally broken. "I can't believe I agreed to this. I think I'm going to be sick," muttered Viviana from the driver's seat.
"Turn left," Derrick instructed, ignoring Viviana's complaint.
"Honestly Derrick, how can you be so calm? We're about to commit a federal crime. Did you hear me? Federal crime!" she shouted.
"Stop light," Derrick answered nonchalantly. Viviana whipped her head forward, with just enough time to slam on the brakes, and throw everyone several inches toward the front end of the car. "Besides, it's not like we've never committed a crime before," he added.
"Fe-De-Ral Crime!" Viviana said. "The closest we've come to that was last March."
"Vivi, please stop shouting," Halia said quietly from behind her. "I mean, if Derrick here thinks he can pull this off, then we can just get on the plane and we'll be back here in no time, and it will all be fine."
"It will not be fine! They will find us, and they will prosecute us, and we will spend the rest of our lives in jail!" Viviana shouted.
"That would be the place," Derrick said, pointing out his window.
Swerving into the parking lot, Viviana finally gave a small "Fine," and threw her parking brake on. "But if you're wrong about this, if anything at all goes wrong, I swear I am going to make you pay."
"Vivi, it will all be fine. We'll go in, talk to my friend, and we'll get on the plane in a few hours. Now stay calm. You're in charge of Sirius detail," Derrick said.
"Why does he have to be so hot?" Viviana whispered to Halia as she slammed the car door.
Halia shrugged. "There are some things that were just meant to be," she replied.
"What exactly is the plan?" Sirius asked, walking up alongside the threesome.
"Well, Derrick goes in, talks to his friend, and she gets us passports," Halia said.
"What? No daring escape plans? No wild chases? Troublemaking has really gone downhill," he said with a shake of his head.
"We could set up a guard," Viviana thought aloud. "And have secret signals to alert the others that someone's coming."
"We haven't done that since middle school. Don't be silly. This will all be done in an hour," Derrick said, and entered the large white building.
The automatic doors let a burst of air-conditioned air out of the structure that loomed in front of the four. Once inside, the aisles were lined with everything from nail polish remover to cold remedies. The signs pointing the way to the pharmacy and the large blue mortar and pestle made it clear that they were standing in a generic Walgreens.
"Iris!" Derrick shouted as he approached the yellow photography booth. "It's been a long time! How have you been? You look great."
"What do you want?" she asked exasperatedly, laying down her copy of People magazine.
"Well, my friends and I have a slight problem..."
"Surprise."
"You see, we left our passports at home, and our plane leaves today, and we were wondering-"
"-If I could make you new ones," she said, cutting Derrick off.
"Exactly."
"I just need some information: your names, birthdays, social security numbers," she said, pulling down a grey screen to take pictures in front of.
"See, there's a little bit of a problem with that..." He trailed off.
"You're not asking me to-" Iris began.
"Just this once?" Derrick replied.
"Derrick, no, I will not be involved in your schemes again!" she whispered pointedly.
"Iris, do this for me, and I will never ask another thing from you again," Derrick said, leaning over the counter, and fixing his puppy-dog eyes on her. "Please?"
"As much as I know that's not true," Iris said, caving under his gaze, "I'll do it. But you can't tell anyone about this. If I get in trouble, so help me I will hunt you down."
"No one will ever have to know," Derrick replied. "Now, where are these forms to fill out?" He rubbed his hands together menacingly.
Viviana stared at the form in front of her. "Halia, could you hand me the tickets?" She reached out her hand for the envelope that came flying at her. "Ow. I said hand, not attack me with!"
"Sorry," Halia said, turning back to her own form.
"You and I both know that is completely untrue."
"So?"
Viviana shook her head and returned to filling out her application while helping Sirius fill out his. She flipped through the tickets, trying to find the name she had registered Sirius under. "If anyone asks, your name is Michael Nelson. It shouldn't be a big deal, but your form and ticket and stuff should match."
"Sure, whatever it takes to get me on the airplane," Sirius replied quietly, an edge hanging in his voice.
"Listen, I'm just trying to help, I mean, you're the one who just stepped out of my closet a few days ago," Viviana said.
"Well, perhaps if you didn't treat me as if I either wasn't there or was a very small child, everything would go a lot smoother."
"It's not as if you've been the most courteous guest, you know. 'Just to get me to Harry, I'll do anything,'" she mimicked. "We get it, okay? We're just trying to help you! Do you really want us to just leave you out in the middle of the airport?" Viviana was about to forget to whisper.
"Perhaps I know more about Muggles than you believe I do. Perhaps I would be perfectly fine on my own-"
"Alright, you want that? Fine!" she shouted. The store stopped to stare. This amounted to three people turning around from a nail polish display, and a couple peering around the toothpaste aisle.
"Vivi? Sirius?" Halia said quietly. "Look, I know this isn't exactly a normal day, and we're all tired, but could we try to not shout in public places? We're all in this together now, Sirius, so it's a little hard for us to just leave you here." She turned to Viviana. "Please, stop being so defensive. We've all had a long day. Just... We'll get this done, and everything will be all right again. Just wait it out."
"Guys, we're getting our pictures taken," Derrick said, leading the way to a grey screen, sitting a few feet from a camera.
As she stood up, Vivana turned to glare at Halia. "Vivi, I know you're angry, but you realize that The Glare works on almost everyone except me. I mean, I'm immune, I have antibodies against it, however you want to say it," Halia said.
Viviana sighed and rolled her eyes. "'Lia."
"Pictures?" Halia asked.
"Fine, I guess," Viviana replied, and soon they were gathered around Iris, taking their passports.
Twelve hours, one flight between North Carolina and Massachusetts, one security check and four Au Bon Pain toffee cookies later, the group of four was seated comfortably in a large plane flying somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. Halia was seated on the end, listening to a CD in her CD player, with Derrick seated on the other end. Sirius was reading a magazine that the group had bought at the airport, and Viviana had taken a break from finding hidden images in the in-flight magazine to doze in the two a.m. dimmed atmosphere.
In her dream, she was running through her high school, trying to escape from Darth Maul, who bore a strange resemblance to her academic advisor. She had locked herself in a Spanish classroom while Obi-Wan fought outside, when her dream faded out, to be replaced by another dream.
The surroundings were hazy, as if a thick fog had engulfed her. It appeared as if the walls were stone, or perhaps they were just painted grey. They felt cold, though. The entire room felt cold. Then she saw a figure, somewhere in the distance, approaching her.
"You're not supposed to be here," the boy said.
Viviana looked around, slightly confused, but without the slightest hesitation, she replied, "I think I am."
Suddenly, there was a blinding blue light, and the window across the room shattered.
As a black-haired, green-eyed wizard awoke to sunlight in his bedroom, hundreds of miles away, Viviana awoke to the small crash of the beverage cart down the aisle.
"Vivi? What's wrong?" Halia asked the redhead who had shot up from her seat in the previous moment.
"Did it occur to you, that we're on our way to London, with a guy we met about three days ago, who has absolutely no proof for his identity, and claims to be a fictional character? Pinch me; I think I'm dreaming. Ow!" Vivian said, as Halia pinched her arm. "I didn't mean actually pinch me!"
"Well, you aren't dreaming," Halia replied. "And I thought we went over this."
"Oh sure, for a minute. But did it occur to you that we are going to London?" Viviana whispered. "London. It's not like we took a fictional character down to the grocery store. No, we had to get one that wanted to go to London. We hopped on a plane with a crazed lunatic who will kill us all in a small apartment that we'll be taken to as we step off the plane. I for one, do not want to be killed," she said very quickly.
"But he looks like who he says he is, and does that look like a crazed lunatic murderer?" Halia asked, looking pointedly at Sirius, who was looking appalled at a magazine article.
"Do you want me to answer that?"
"I mean, what evidence do we have that says that he's not who he says he is?"
"The fact that he claims to be a fictional character, and that who he says he is does not in fact exist, and was made up by a British writer?" Viviana said.
"Why can't it be real?" Halia asked. "Why not?"
"Because fictional characters are just that- fictional! If they were real, they wouldn't be fictional. They would just be people."
"Viviana..." Halia said.
"And besides that, why is it that he didn't even know about the books? They're quite famous, and they're about him. Sirius was incredibly surprised when he saw them, and how could the wizarding world not know they exist? Explain that one."
"It's probably some spell she put on them," Sirius said from behind her shoulder. "So that only Muggles can appreciate them."
Viviana looked embarrassed, having just voiced her doubts of the man's identity. "Well, I am sitting all of two feet away from you, and I can hear your whole conversation.
"Earlier today, I found something that might interest you. It might also prove my identity." As he spoke, he reached into his pocket, to pull out a small, foil-looking card. Upon closer examination by Viviana and Halia, the card had a plain purple side. Viviana turned it over, and the other side had a picture of an old man, along with a paragraph and the caption 'Wilfred Alphick.'
Vivian looked up at Sirius, to ask what it was supposed to be. "Just look," Sirius replied.
Viviana turned back to look at the card, which Halia was already agape at. The man in the photo, after turning to wave to the two girls, had walked briskly out of the picture, and there was only a blue background where the man's picture used to be.
"Either I'm really, really tired, or that's a-" Halia began.
"Both. I was planning to give it to Harry if he didn't have it, but I suppose you understand how that became difficult. You can have it, if you want."
Viviana flipped it over in her hand a few times, and stuck it in her purse. "Well, I suppose- I suppose I owe you an apology. What I mean to say is, I believe you now. I'm sorry I didn't."
"I always believed you," Halia said, drawing out the 'always.' She smirked at Viviana.
Viviana glared. "I can't believe you," she whispered. Halia sighed mock-exasperatedly.
They stepped off of the plane several hours later, into the bustle of another large, busy airport. There was very little difference between that airport and the previous airport that they had been in, except that most people in their current airport were speaking in a British accent.
"Well, let's find our luggage, I guess," Halia said.
"Any idea where that would be?" Viviana asked.
"Well, the sign does say 'Luggage,' with an arrow pointing down the escalator," Derrick said, and smiling, headed downstairs.
"You know, he really grates on my nerves," Viviana said.
"Well, that's just Derrick," Halia replied.
The sun was barely visible overhead in the hazy late morning weather. Cars sped past the four travelers as they stepped out of the shaded airport. There were bus stops in one direction, and taxi pick-up and drop- off in the other.
"So, where are we going, and how do we get there?" Viviana asked, turning to Sirius.
"Well, I suppose we're going to my house. I assume they're all still using it, of course. You'll know all about that, though. Stupid books," he replied.
"It's taxi, then?" Halia asked.
"Best plan I've heard all day," Derrick replied.
"Um, Sirius, this might not be the best time to ask, but..." Viviana began.
"What?"
"Well, are you still wanted for murder? I mean, well, we don't want the police chasing us," Viviana said.
"I don't honestly know," Sirius replied as Derrick hailed a taxi. "It wasn't something that I've thought about."
The four travelers packed their myriad suitcases into the car, and after slight confusion over the location of the shotgun seat, Derrick climbed into the front, and Viviana, Halia, and Sirius climbed into the rear.
"Grimmauld Place, Tufnell Park," Sirius said to the driver.
A/N:
NK: Finally! Now don't get me wrong, I wanted to get this chapter out for a long time. I kept trying to write it, and I just couldn't come up with an appropriate way to get them out of America. I tried about three drafts of this chapter before I finally settled on this one. I hope you like it, because you probably don't realize how difficult this chapter was for me. Thanks to HP-Lexicon for the location of Number Twelve. Au Bon Pain is pronounced 'aww bawn pan,' and is a really good soup/bread store, similar to Panera. The only ones I've been to were in a mall in Boston, and in the food court of Logan Airport.
AB: Well, it's up to me now. Hopefully I won't take so long as I usually do. So what to expect in next chapter? Eh...that's a pretty good question, isn't it?
Reviewer Thanks/Answers:
Andy: AB says: Joel's read this? And he still speaks to us? That's surprising. It really is. NK: I would have expected him to run in sheer terror. AB: Glad you liked shirtless Derrick. I'm rather partial to him myself. Maybe we can bring him back before we ship him off... NK: Derrick won't be gone forever. AB: No fears. NK: What would we do without him? AB: Be devoid of hotness?
UntitledN'stayinthatway: NK: Wow. AB: Eh.... if this is your elixer of life... I fear we may have killed you. Levels an accusatory glare at Never Knowing. NK: Well sorry. Blame AP English. AB: You and I both know that that's completely untrue. NK: Not completely. Just partially. AB: You're not sorry at all. NK: Oh, that part. I thought you meant AP English. AB: Well, AP English was the devil in disguise. NK: Does the devil often disguise himself as high school courses, I wonder...
pyroprincess4rmeverwood: AB: grin "Please update ASAP" again turns to look at Never Knowing. NK: Ignores and attempts to decipher meaning of this screen name. AB: Pyro princess from Everwood. NK: ... Oh. I feel rather silly now. AB: grin. I shall evermore relish this moment. For once I wasn't the one not to know! NK: sulks.
Smiley: NK: Now, I'm perfectly open to others' opinions on my writing, but usually it amounts to actual points of interest, and not just two words. Perhaps if you had actual reasons for this assessment, we would be more likely to listen. AB: Shakes head. My poor friend, you ignore finer details. But to your credit, we haven't presented Viviana's and Halia's faults to their full extent-but I assure you, they're there. Unless of course you're referring to Derrick... In which case, I dont' know what to say. NK: Derrick... Well, yea... Nothing we can do about him. AB: I mean, he's hott. If someone's good at drawing and would like to tackle the shirtless Derrick and email it to us...grin.