Gavroche-Girl: Thanks a million!!! Here's the second chapter!
PhoenixLupin: I know that sickles are silver ;) It's explained in this chapter :) Also, if you noticed I mentioned in the prologue that Sirius' eyes are grey, but the truth is; his eyes are blue. Any confusing stuff I write will be explained in later chapters :) Oh and Tala isn't stupid at all. You'll find out in the future. Thanks for the review :)
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Chapter 2 - I Wish You Were Still Alive Dad
Tala stood in the cold corridor waiting for Emily to come back, but it seemed that she was stuck in that corner forever. She looked around and made sure there wasn't anyone around and then she started walking. The castle was huge. Her neck was beginning to hurt from looking at the high walls and the portraits.
"This place is big!" she whispered excitedly. "No wonder he needed new clothes all the time. He must've warned them out through these corridors."
She walked without noticing the look on a cat that passed by. It hissed at her and that made her pay attention to it.
"Hey kitty." Tala whispered.
The cat walked closer to her and rubbed itself at Tala's invisible legs. The cat's tail was held high and straight, which made Tala smile. The cat liked her.
"Mrs. Norris? Where are you dear?" a sound came from the other side of the corridor.
Tala knew that this wasn't a person she wanted to meet. As the man walked closer, Tala could see his face. He was in his mid ages, she could tell. His clothes were old and smelled.
"Oh there you are!" he said as he picked the cat up.
Tala took a slow step back so he wouldn't touch her. She looked at the man silently as he spoke to his cat like it was a human. Tala knew that this man was Filch. The man Emily talked about and warned her from being caught by him.
She held her breath and started walking away, trying her best not to make a sound while walking.
When she was finally far from him, she took a deep breath. That was close!
She noticed a large door that looked familiar. She looked through the windows, which were next to the doors and knew that she was on the ground floor and that meant that this was the way out. She pulled the doors open and walked out of the castle.
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The students of Hogwarts were watching the sorting happily, except for Emily, who was feeling nervous and wanted the feast to end as soon as possible. She has left Tala waiting outside in the corridor and even if she had an invisibility cloak on her, it wouldn't stop Mrs. Norris or Filch from finding her and that made Emily feel more nervous.
"What's bothering you?"
Emily turned to see Sirius looking at her.
"What?" she asked.
"I said, what's bothering you?" he asked again.
"Oh… nothing. I'm hungry, that's all." She lied and turned her attention to the sorting.
Sirius nodded and didn't talk anymore. He was hungry too. It seemed that the sorting was going to last forever. There were so many first years who were going to be sorted this year.
"I hate this ceremony." James muttered.
"You wouldn't have been in Gryffindor if you weren't sorted James." Remus whispered. "Imagine yourself in the same house with Snivelly."
"Don't mention his name please. I don't want to lose my appetite." James replied.
As the sorting was over, professor Dumbledore stood up and said his annual speech. All the students were listening carefully and then the golden plates in front of them were filled with different types of food.
Emily ate in a hurry, although she knew that she wasn't allowed to get out of the hall before everyone else.
"Emi, you're going to choke yourself." Lily said.
"I want to go to sleep." Emily replied.
"Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little bit tired, that's all."
"We will leave soon, don't worry." Lily smiled.
Emily smiled back and continued eating. She kept dropping some bread and fruit into the pocket of her school robes all the time. She wanted to take them to Tala.
"Hey Padfoot! Have you thought of a new prank to pull on Snivelly?" James asked.
"Yeah! I was planning all summer!" Sirius replied.
Lily glared at James with angry eyes and he just shrugged and smiled to her.
"Why do you keep doing that?" she asked.
"Doing what?" he looked at her with innocent eyes.
"You perfectly know what am I talking about. Why do you keep hexing and humiliating Snape?"
"Er… a hobby?"
"You're hopeless." She said and continued her meal.
"Women!" Sirius muttered. James looked at him and winked.
As soon as the feast was over, the prefects led their first years to their common rooms and the rest of the students followed. Emily rushed outside and went to the corner where she has left Tala.
"Tala?" she whispered. "Tala where are you?" No one answered. Emily's face went pale. "Bloody hell! Filch has caught her!"
"Caught who?"
Emily jumped in surprise and trembled, and Sirius caught her just in time before she could hit the ground. He pulled her up and close to him.
"Who were you talking about?" he removed a lock of hair from her face.
"Er… I don't know what are you talking about Siri." Emily said nervously.
"You have just said that Filch has caught her."
"I did? Funny… I don't remember saying such thing."
"Oh come on, you know you can't lie to me." His face was an inch far from hers.
"Why would I lie to you? I really don't know what are you talking about." She replied, her breathing getting heavy. She could feel his warm breath on her face.
"I'll let you get away with this one. But next time, you'll tell me everything." he pulled her into a passionate kiss.
Emily could feel herself melting in his arms. She would never resist his kisses. Although she knew that Sirius had the strange habit of changing his girlfriends from time to time, which was very often, but she hoped that he wouldn't search for someone else after her. She did whatever he wanted, so she would please him. And he seemed to like being the leader all the time.
When Emily pulled away from the kiss, Sirius was surprised.
"What's wrong now?" he asked.
"We're not alone here! What if someone caught us?"
"Good point. Let's go to the common room." Sirius said and held Emily's hand and they went to the Gryffindor tower.
As soon as they entered the common room, Emily excused herself and went to her dormitory.
"What's wrong with her?" Lily asked.
"I was about to ask you the same." Sirius said. "She hasn't been herself since the moment she entered the Great Hall."
"I'll go speak to her." Lily said and followed Emily to the girls' dormitories.
"So, Padfoot what plans do you have for this year?" James asked.
"What do you think of hexing Snivelly every day?" Sirius said.
"Bless you! A hex a day would keep ol' Snivelly away!" James laughed and the other Marauders joined him.
"But we have to do it away from the eyes of the others." Peter said, as he shoved a chocolate frog into his mouth.
"Of course. Even Snivelly wouldn't know what hit him." Sirius had an evil grin on his face.
At that moment Remus entered the common room with a letter his hand. His face was pale and he was shaking.
"What's wrong Moony?" Sirius asked.
"What's that letter?" James asked as he got up from his seat.
"It's from mom. She says that… that Tala hasn't returned home yet."
"So? It's only eleven o'clock. She must be out with her friends." Sirius said.
"Tala doesn't have friends and she never goes out." Remus said and sat down on a couch. "Something must have happened to her. Mom says that she didn't go to school today, and the police couldn't find her anywhere."
"Who's the police?" Peter asked.
"They're muggle aurors Wormtail." James said. "Remus, how can we help?"
"I don't think we can do anything from here James. Mom says in the letter that I should remain calm and stay here and she'll be informing me about the investigation. Bloody hell! How am I supposed to remain calm!" he put his head in his hands.
"We can ask Dumbledore to use his sneakoscopes!" Sirius said. "I'm sure he can find her."
"Let's wait until morning." James suggested. "We will visit Dumbledore before breakfast."
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Tala walked through the school grounds until she reached the edge of the forest. It was already dark outside, but she didn't care. She was interested in this territory that she forgot about waiting for Emily in the corridor.
After a while she realized that she still had the invisibility cloak on. She pulled it off her and wrapped it around her arm as she walked. The forest was silent. There were no signs of life there.
Tala reached an opening and stopped. She could see a huge lake that shone under the moonlight. She looked at it and started walking to the shore. She knelt and looked at her reflection. She couldn't see much of her face in it as it was dark, but she washed her face and drank some water, too. She decided that she wanted to have a rest and she lay down near the shore. It was a warm night and she thought that there was nothing that would cause an immediate danger to her, as she hasn't seen or heard anything.
She stared at the clear sky for a while, thinking about her life and her relationship with her brother. She has hated him for three years now. The main reason of that growing hatred was the fact that their mother has always preferred Remus on her. He always received everything he wanted but she got nothing. Not even a pretty notebook that she wanted for her thirteenth birthday. But Remus got it all. He just needed to say 'mum, I want…' and their mother would do everything she can to get it for him.
"I wish you were still alive dad." She said, looking at the clear sky. "Life is unfair."
"You don't know anything about life." A man said.
Tala sat up and turned to see the source of the very familiar voice. She gasped at the sight of the man and stood up.
"How…? But…" she didn't know how to react, for the man standing in front of her was her father.
"Hello Tala." He said with a smile. "Don't be afraid. I'm still dead."
Tala couldn't speak. She stared at him with an opened mouth.
"Sorry for surprising you like that. Your grandmother was right. I should've visited you in your dreams."
"My grandmother?" Tala finally managed to say something.
"Yeah, I'm staying with her in the spirit world."
"But… can I touch you?"
Her father's smile disappeared. "Unfortunately, no. I wish I could touch you. I missed you so much."
"Oh dad…" tears were starting to flow on her cheeks. "Where were you all this time? Why didn't you come to see me?"
"I was waiting for the right moment." He smiled to her. "Don't cry my flower. Come, let's sit under that tree." He pointed at a tree not far from the shore.
They walked together and sat down. Tala looked at her father and smiled with tearful eyes.
"I missed you." She whispered.
"Sorry for leaving you the way I did. I shouldn't have taken you to the shop with me."
"I would've followed you anyway." She smiled. "I always loved going out with you."
"How are your mother and brother?"
Tala frowned. Did he really have to spoil it? "They're fine. Excellent to be correct. Unlike me." She sighed.
"I know what's happening at home. I've been there so many times." He smiled at her. "Your mother doesn't hate you. She loves you and she wants to help you in everything you need."
"She doesn't care for me. She loves Remus. Why does she buy him new school stuff each year, while I have to wear and use what I had for ten years now? Why should he go to a private school, while I attend a public one? Why does he have friends who come to visit him while I have none? Why does he get whatever he wants and why do I have to lock myself up in my room, just because mom refused to buy me a bubble gum?"
"She can use wizard money, that's why Remus has been treated in a better way than you. Wizard clothes are not the same as muggle clothes." Her father said calmly.
"Wizard? Muggle? What's a muggle?" Tala asked.
"A muggle is a non-wizard human. You're a muggle, and Remus is a wizard, as well as me."
"You're JOKING!"
"I'm not."
"How come I never knew that you're a wizard? I knew about Remus only today on the train, but I didn't know about you." Tala asked excitedly.
"I never lived to tell you."
Tala looked at the ground guiltily. She never considered asking her mother about the situation at home and her father died when she was a child.
"Why didn't mom tell me?" she asked.
"She was afraid that you or your brother would get hurt. She couldn't even exchange wizard money with muggle money because we were threatened not to do so. I used to sell golden sickles to jewelry shops to get muggle money for our living."
Tala remembered the day her father died. She went with him to a jewelry shop and as soon as they were out, her father was dead. She looked at him in a shocked expression.
"Gringotts didn't allow me to withdraw normal sickles from our account and exchange it for muggle money. They were being threatened too, so I had to buy golden sickles which are used as a souvenir, then I used to go and sell them as golden coins." He continued. "The day I took you with me was the last of it."
"Why didn't mom do the same?" Tala asked quietly.
"She was afraid of being killed and leaving you to the orphanage. Your brother can't stay in an orphanage because…"
"He has to change once a month." Tala continued for him.
"Exactly. She didn't hide from you the fact that your brother is a werewolf just because you were also at home and you needed to know so you wouldn't enter his room when you hear him scream in pain."
"That's the scariest part of it." she said.
"Your mother is panicked at this moment. She wants to know where you are at this moment."
"Too late to tell her I guess. I don't know how to inform her."
"I'll let her know. Now you need to go back to the castle and stay there. This place is dangerous and the school is the only safe place you can be at around here."
Tala nodded silently.
"I came here to tell you about this. You needed to know everything." her father said. "Your mother wouldn't have told you. She doesn't want you to get involved."
Tala gasped as tears filled her eyes again. "What have I done? All these years I've been acting like a fool trying to keep away from her and Remus! Dad can I fix everything?"
"Of course you can my flower. Your mother loves you as much as I did once. And your brother loves you too. All you need to do now, is to tell him that you you're here." He said. "And I better go now. I have another couple of cities to visit."
Tala smiled. "Will you come again?"
"I'm always with you my flower, you can look at the sky at night and talk to the stars. That way I'll know that you're talking to me."
Tala smiled and nodded. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too honey."
Tala watched as her father disappeared in a white flash of light. She lay on the ground and stared at the sky. It was a bright and a clear night. She didn't know how she closed her eyes and fell asleep.