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.
Chapter 33 – To Error Is Human, To Forgive Divine – part 2
Iris entered #12's kitchen to find it in darkness. There wasn't a sound or any movement. Iris gave a step forward and suddenly five candles were lit. They were on the middle of the table and the light they gave allowed Iris to see that the table was set for two. She smiled and gave another step. This time nothing happened. She waited a while longer and gave another step. She was now near the table but still nothing happened. Then she saw a note on the table. It said: "Close your eyes for ten seconds." She closed her eyes and counted to ten. When she opened her eyes her jaw dropped. She couldn't believe her eyes. The kitchen was now completely illuminated and right in front go her, on the other side of the table, was a different Sirius. His hair was clean and short; he had a goatee and was wearing a nice black suit with a blue tie. He was smiling.
" I'm glad you came." He said.
Iris found it a bit difficult to find words to say anything at all. She was stunned by the vision of Sirius. She swallowed dry and took a deep breath.
" You made a very good invitation. I would be silly to reject." She said.
" Thank you. Are you hungry?" he asked.
" A little."
He made his way to her and pulled a
chair to allow her to sit. Then he went and sat down in front of her.
" I hope you like the food. It was not what I wanted to do but for some reason I could get a hold of the recipe. This was Molly's idea." He explained.
Iris laughed and watched as he took the lid of the tray between them. It revealed a cocktail of seafood. Shrimp, lobster and other fish with a bowl of sauce in the middle. Iris was impressed.
" I remembered you like seafood." He added with a smile.
" Yes, I do like seafood. I'm impressed. And it's not just with the food." She said seriously.
" So what else impressed you?" he asked while serving her some food.
" You. I wasn't expecting to see you like that. You look very nice. My God, you're wearing a tie." She said trying to control her laughter.
" You don't like the tie? I was going to wear a red one but Molly didn't agree."
" I love the tie. What else did Molly do?"
" She did the hair cut. She was quite thrilled to do it. She's been dying to cut someone's hair because of her son. It was scary actually." He explained.
" I imagine. She did a good job. I don't agree with the goatee thou."
" You don't?" he asked while passing his hand on the beard.
" It reminds
me of when we were seventeen. When you had one."
" And that's a bad thing?" he asked confused.
" It also reminds me what we did when we turned seventeen." She added seriously.
" And do you regret it now? Because of one stupid mistake which wasn't even my fault?" he asked feeling anger rising inside him.
There was a moment of silence during which Iris ate. Sirius started to feel that the night was going to be ruined.
" I don't regret anything. I'm sorry I said that. It's not my intention to ruin your night." She said after ten minutes of silence.
" It was supposed to be our night." He said frustrated.
" I'm sorry. The night isn't over yet. I guess I have to make up to you now. You went through all this trouble and I almost ruined everything. I'm sorry."
" It's all right."
" So where's dessert?" she asked cheerfully.
" There isn't any. But I do have a surprise."
" No dessert and a surprise? This is going to be interesting." She said.
" You'll have to wait here for one minute. Then go up the stairs until you reach the second floor. Second door to your left." He explained while getting up.
" I think I can do that." She announced.
Sirius left the kitchen and Iris could hear him go up the stairs. She looked at her watch every two seconds causing the time to move slower. When the minute passed she left the kitchen and followed Sirius's instructions. She reached the second door on her left and found it closed. She obviously expected to find a bedroom behind that door but when she opened it she gasped. In front of her was something that looked exactly like the raged veil from the DM. She froze.
" Don't be scared. It's just an illusion. You can pass." Came Sirius's voice from the other side of that veil.
Iris slowly walked towards the veil and passed it with her eyes closed. When she opened them again she gasped one more time. There was no bedroom or anything resembling a bedroom. She found it almost impossible except for the existence of a transport spell. It was the only explanation for the fact that she was standing inside the prefect's bathroom. Sirius was standing on the side of the filled bathtub/pool smiling. His tie was unmade and the coat was on a hanger on the wall.
" Welcome to where we first kissed. And we're still inside my house, in case you're wondering." He explained.
" Well, this pretty much beats everything. I can't believe you did this."
" I did my best to impress you and specially to get you back."
Iris nodded and smiled.
" Did I already tell you that you look absolutely stunning?"
" No, you
haven't."
" It's true. I think you look stunning, as you usually do."
" You're sucking up."
" Yes, I am."
" Let me tell you this, you are absolutely desirable today." She told him.
" You think?" he asked smiling.
Iris nodded again. Then she made her way to him. She gave him a sexy look and approached him. They were almost kissing when she grabbed his tie and threw him into the pool. He surfaced and swam to the side of the pool. Then out of nowhere he used his arms to rise and grabbed Iris's dress making her fall inside the pool. When she surfaced he was already close to her.
" Remember how you felt when we were this close all those years ago, in this pool?" he asked.
" Yes. You stank and I was kind of sick. But now you smell pretty nice and I'm feeling exactly the way I was feeling that day. This is so right and I so want to kiss you." She answered and they kissed.
It was like nothing wrong had happened. They were together again and it felt right. They spent the night in each other's arms, making love by the poolside.
Sirius woke up and went down to kitchen to find it clean. There were no traces of a dinner but a breakfast was set. Sirius took a piece of toast and was picking the Daily Prophet when the fire in the fireplace turned green and Harry appeared.
" Hi, there godson." He said absentmindedly reading the front page of the newspaper.
" Hi. So how did it go?" the young wizard asked eagerly.
" Pretty good. She's sleeping upstairs." Sirius answered smiling.
Harry sighed with relief.
" I'm glad
you're happy for me."
" Come on, face it. You guys belong together."
" I know. You have nothing to worry about. Soon I'll make sure that she doesn't
escape." Sirius said wincing to his godson. " Now if you'll excuse I'm going to
check on my girlfriend."
Harry saw him leave and made his way back to Hogwarts.
He appeared in the Gryffindor common room and found Ron, Hermione and Ginny waiting for him.
" So, what happened?" asked Hermione.
" Tell us everything you know." demanded Ginny.
" Apparently everything is fine. When I got there Snuffles said that she was sleeping upstairs." Explained Harry.
" That means nothing, mate. She could have gotten drunk and was currently with a major hangover and was sleeping it off." Said Ron.
" Such an optimistic aren't you? Did Snuffles say anything specific?" Hermione demanded.
" He said she was sleeping there and that he was going to make sure she didn't escape. Not quite sure what he meant with that."
" It's a bit obvious Harry. He's going to propose." Said Ginny.
" You think?"
" I agree with Ginny. He's going to ask her to marry him." Said Hermione.
" That would be great. My godparents officially together." said Harry.
The foursome rejoiced with the idea and went to breakfast feeling great.
" Good morning." Sirius said to an awakening Iris.
" Good morning, sweetheart." She said while she yawned.
" Had a good night sleep?" he asked.
" Not really. This floor isn't exactly made of cotton." She said before kissing Sirius.
" I'm sorry about that. Can I make it better?"
" You can bring me something to eat. And kiss me again."
They kissed before Sirius went back downstairs to get the breakfast from the kitchen. They ate by the pool and stayed there almost all day long. They left to the living room at dinnertime. Sirius made Iris sit on the sofa and he kneeled in front of her.
" What are you doing?" she asked.
" I know I already did this several times before and the answer was always a negative one. But this time I'm sure it's going to be different. So here it goes. Iris Rachel Renata will you marry me?" he asked.
There was a moment of silence during which they made a staring contest. Their eyes were fixed on each other and neither of them seemed to crack. Suddenly Iris said.
" I slept with Remus."
TBC
There, took longer than I expected because I'm working on an original fantasy fic. It's about a boy who goes to another world and finds out he's very powerful. I think it's going to be pretty great but I'm still working on it. Hope you liked this chapter. Expect the reaction on the next one.
Cheers.
