HARRY POTTER AND THE BREATH OF LIFE
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other known character from the Harry Potter series. I do own the plot and a few characters.
New characters: William, Jake, Isabel and Grandma Clara Renata. The Potters.
New Locations: Renata's house and Potter Mansion (A/N: not described)
Chapter 6 – Summer
Leaving Hogwarts usually made Iris fell sad. But this year things were different and she knew it was going to be worse. Not only would she miss Hogwarts but also Sirius. They had promise to write a lot during the holidays and they were both keeping their promise – mostly because Sirius's owl Orion wouldn't leave Iris alone until she wrote back.
Receiving Sirius's letters made her fell better and when she received her OWL results her mood boosted even more. She received 7 O's and 2 E's. She was able to become an Auror. She immediately wrote to Sirius telling him the news. The letter she got back was also mood boosting.
" That is absolutely brilliant! I'm so happy for you. But you know what? I've-got-the-exact-same-notes. Our connection works even in grades. Bloody brilliant! I miss you like crazy. I'm counting the days until we meet in Diagon Alley. But until that day comes I'll seat here waiting for another letter from you.
With the biggest of love,
Your own
Sirius a.k.a. Padfoot.
P.S.: Send your letters to James's house. It's where I'm staying right now. I'll explain when we get together. Loads of kisses."
She looked at the letter puzzled.
Why is Sirius at James's so soon? She thought. She shrugged and then reread the letter. It really made her feel better.
August arrived peacefully and calmly. But Iris was feeling neither peaceful nor quiet. She was continually awakened by bad dreams. Dreams involving a trial where someone was convicted to a death penalty and a strange looking veil. She didn't know what they meant, but she didn't like them. So everyday she would wake up, go to the bathroom to wash up and then descended to the kitchen for some breakfast.
Iris's house was very simple. It had two stories. In the first floor were located the kitchen, living room and dinning room. On the second were the bedrooms. There were four bedrooms and a guest room. Iris's room was big. It had a couple's bed covered with a red mattress; a large desk was in front of the bed and a large wardrobe covered the wall facing the door. The walls were painted light blue, her favourite colour, and the ceiling was bewitched to look like the night sky, full of stars. But the stars were outlined to show the constellations and the star Sirius shone right above Iris when she was in bed. This had been a gift from her grandmother, who knew of Iris's relationship with Black.
The 20th of August was no exception for Iris and she awoke again at 8 o'clock because of her dream. She got up and went straight to the bathroom, almost automatically. After getting dressed she descended the stair and entered the kitchen. Her mother was already there.
" Good morning, Mum." Iris said sleepy.
" Good morning, sweetheart. Didn't sleep well?"
" I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."
" Are you sure? You can't fool your mother, you know?"
Iris smiled, but before she could answer, her father arrived. He was a night watch at club, so he worked at night.
" Good morning, everyone." He said happily. " Someone didn't sleep very well tonight. Right?" he said to Iris.
" Will you guys stop asking that? The more you talk about it the more I have to think about it and the worse I sleep. So just leave it."
" Grouchy. Relax kiddo. No harm meant."
" Sorry dad."
Jake smiled and patted his daughter in the back. Then Mrs Renata started serving breakfast. At 9 o'clock the three Renata's had taken their breakfast and were reading the paper. Jake had his morning paper and Mrs Renata was reading the gossip section. Iris was reading the Daily Prophet that had arrived a few minutes earlier. At five past nine Sarah arrived at the kitchen.
" Good morning everyone."
" Good morning." Said the three in unison.
" Anything good in the news, sis?"
" No. Just the same old garbage. 'Turn to page nine to find out what the Minister of Magic eats for breakfast.' or 'In page twelve you will learn what the Minister eats for lunch.' As I said, garbage."
" Got your point. Why do you keep spending money with that anyway?"
" I like to be informed."
" Whatever."
At ten Jake went to pick the mail. The girls were now reading the Witch Weekly magazine and were busy with a quiz. When he came back he gave the letters to his wife.
" Can't bet normal mail, can you?" she asked to the air.
" Did you say something, mum?" asked Sarah, lifting her head from behind the magazine.
" No, dear." Mrs Renata said smiling.
The girl returned her focus to the magazine and her mother proceeded to open the letters.
Five minutes later, Jake opened the window. Then two owls entered the kitchen.
" Girls. Mail." He said cheerfully.
The two sisters dropped the magazine and ran to the owls. One of them Iris identified as Orion. The other was a Hogwarts' owl. The younger girl reached the owls first and took the letters from their beaks. The Hogwarts owl left immediately, but Orion stayed.
Iris had in her hands four letters. She took the Hogwarts ones and gave Sarah hers. Then she gasped and looked at everyone in the room.
" What is it, honey?" asked Mrs Renata.
Iris seemed lost for words. Then William, her little brother entered the room, followed closely by their Grandma.
" Good morning, everyone. Is everything all right?" she asked after seeing their faces.
Everyone was eyeing Iris with interest. She had something important in her hands.
" Family…" she started after a minute of silence. " I have in my hands a very important letter." She turned to William. " Little brother, this is for you." And she handed him the letter.
He took it and everyone looked at him. Nervously he opened it.
" Mr William Renata, we are pleased to inform you that you have been ACCEPTED at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He read aloud.
The whole family jumped and hugged the boy.
" Our baby is going to Hogwarts." Said Mrs Renata in tears.
" He is a wizard." Said Jake also in tears.
" Another Renata at Hogwarts." Said Sarah.
" Extra work for you, sis." Announced Iris, laughing.
The only one who was reacting normally was Grandma. Iris noticed this and realized that she, as always, already knew this would happen.
After the hysteria everyone went up to the living room. Iris was about to leave when Orion flew to her shoulder.
" Oh, sorry. I forgot about you." She said to owl.
She returned to the window where Sirius's letter laid forgotten. She took it and opened it.
" Hello my angel.
How are you? Hopefully you are well, but missing me. I know I'm missing you. But as always I'm repeating myself. I wrote to ask you something. Would you like to come spend a few days with me at Potter Mansion? This idea was James' because he can stand to hear me complain about how much I miss you and blah blah blah. You know what I mean. Oh, I almost forgot. Bring Sarah with you. Remus is becoming unbearable. We can then go to Diagon Alley next week. What do you say? Please accept, pleaaaaaassssssseeeeeee! Pretty please!!!!
Love yours
Sirius a.k.a. Padfoot.
P.S.: I hope I wasn't too annoying. I really want you here. Loads of kisses."
Iris smiled at the letter and reread it. Then she went to tell her family about Sirius's request. When she entered the living room she found her grandmother sitting in her favourite chair near the fireplace, her parents sitting on the couch discussing William, who was on the floor rereading his letter and Sarah looking disgusted at the pieces of parchment on her hands.
" What's up, sis? Something wrong?" Iris asked her sister.
She looked up and quickly turned her head.
" No, nothing wrong."
Iris quickly snatched the parchment from Sarah's hands. It was three pieces all with the same handwriting. Professor McGonagall's handwriting. The first was the usual letter announcing the start of term at the September 1st. The second had the books to be purchased. But the third caught Iris's attention. It talked about a ball.
" Miss Renata:
I'm using this letter to announce that you have been selected as Head Girl.
Also it has come to your attention that you desire to organize a Christmas Ball. The Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, has found this most delightful and has given permission to start the preparation. You are requested to present yourself to our Headmaster on the 1st of September, immediately after your arrival.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress"
A smirk formed in Iris's mouth.
Dumbledore knew everything and now they were going to have a Ball.
" Head Girl, hem? You know what that means, don't you? You have a promise to
keep." Iris said to her sister.
" I was…drunk when I made that promise." Sarah whispered.
" Newsflash! Butterbeer is alcohol free, sis. You can't get drunk with Butterbeer."
" I…I…"
" You what?"
Sarah pouted and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Iris laughed. Sarah looked like a baby.
" Iris, dear, who was the other owl from?" came the voice of her mother.
" Oh. It was from a friend. He wanted to know if Sarah and me could go spend a few days with him and a couple other friends."
" Ok, dear. But who will take William shopping?"
" Why can't you take him, mum? And Grandma can join you. Let's make a
deal. We meet you at Diagon Alley on Thursday. Then you get to meet our
friends."
" All right. Behave yourselves."
The girls jumped and went to kiss their parents. Then they ran to their rooms to prepare. When Iris reached her room she saw Orion waiting for her. She grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote:
" Love,
We'll be arriving in an hour. See you soon.
Loads of kisses, Iris."
She placed the letter in Orion's beak and saw him leave. Then she started to pack. She grinned. She was going to be with Sirius.
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Potter Mansion
James was sitting in a chair in his living room watching Sirius pace the all room.
" Padfoot, stop that. It's really annoying." He said exasperated.
Sirius looked at him and continued to pace the room. Next to James, Remus was looking deeply into the fireplace. He appeared not to be paying attention to his surroundings.
" Good thing I don't have a girlfriend. That way I don't look mental, like the rest of you, mates. It's at this times I miss Wormtail. He understands me." James said annoyingly.
It was too much for him. At the beginning of their holidays things had been fine. They had bored themselves to the point of exhaustion. They had pillow fights, they read books about pranks and they had fun. But after 54 letters from Iris, Sirius was starting to become very annoying. He managed to announce he misses his girlfriend 100 times a day. Everytime he said that Remus would sigh deeply. James could take it no more. He asked his mother for help and she came up with the idea to ask Iris to spend the last day of the holidays with them. But James had the impression that he was going to regret this.
Around 11:30 things calmed down. Sirius was now tired of pacing so he made the decision of sitting in front of the fireplace. James was glad but still he didn't think it to be a very good idea.
" Padfoot, don't you think that you are to close to the fireplace? I mean what if she doesn't control her exit from the fireplace? She could bu…" he started but soon he realized that maybe that was Sirius's intention. To have his girlfriend fall on top of him. Besides he wasn't even listening.
At midday Mrs Potter entered the living room.
" Is everything all right, dears?" she asked.
" More or less, mum. Remus is in a trance, Sirius is in his normal state and I'm bored. So, doe that answer your question?" James answered.
" The girls haven't arrived yet?" she asked smiling.
" No, mum. As you can see there aren't any girls in this room."
" Are the girls you're expecting these behind me?"
At this question the three boys looked at the door. And sure enough, behind Mrs Potter were Iris and Sarah. Sirius and Remus quickly got up and went to meet their girlfriends.
" Why didn't you use the Floo Powder?" Sirius asked after a long kiss.
" We wanted to surprise you. We actually used the Floo Network. But we left at the kitchen fireplace."
" It doesn't matter. You're here now, and that is what's important."
They kissed. Everything was fine now. They were together again. And they were going to enjoy themselves.
The week passed uneventful. After getting together with their girlfriends both Remus and Sirius returned to normal. The five of them – Peter wasn't there because his mother was ill – joined to plan numerous pranks to pull on the Slytherins, and especially on Snape. Mr Potter often offered his assistance and James saw that his father had great ideas. Soon came Thursday and after lunch they got ready to go to Diagon Alley. They went by Floo Powder and left at the Leaky Cauldron.
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Another chappie. Sorry about the delay but I've been a bit busy. Besides my classes start in two weeks and my updates will take longer to happen. And it won't be all school. By big brother will be to blame as well. But enough talk. Less talk and more writing. Bye.
Thanks for the reviews.
The Lady Wolfshead: I'm glad you like my story. Hopefully my story will go somewhere. And I hope I continue with the story. You see I'm the laziest person you will ever know. And if I see this isn't going anywhere, I'll just give up. But maybe that won't happen. Let's hope.
Next chapter: You would like me to tell you, wouldn't you? Well, guess what…………. I won't. So there. I refuse to tell you.
