DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations
created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not
limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and
Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark
infringement is intended.
Hey Old Man –
Thanks for the dog. Sally's glad for the company as am I. Although it might have been prudent to give me a little bit of warning as to the baggage he brought with him. You know how much I love down pillows. Like the Plague. Blech.
Your little Irish Black Heart
-----
À: the fuzzy one, the dead one
Cc: the hairy one
De: the human one
Objet: full moon
Hey all-
I'm thinking we need to make this house shine with love and affection. You know, make it habitable for 'our kind' of people. But I'll give you a warning – Paddy showed up yesterday, just like the geezer said. Give Mom and the pup a warning and MAKE SURE THEY DON'T FLIP OUT. Good lord, we don't need a repeat of last month. ¬¬
Floo's open whenever you want.
Oh, and there's a hippogriff in the parlour. Don't piss it off, pleeeeeeeeease.
-Llama
--
"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Why the hell do you think
llamas are evil? Sheesh."
-The Llama
-----
To: the human one
From: the hairy one
Subject: Re:full moon
I'll get there to-morrow morning.
Jack
-----
To: nutjob 1, nutjob2
Cc: my beloved
From: the only sane one around here
Subject: Re:full moon
Mom said to tell you we'll be there tonight. Be warned, she's bringing the whole social hub AND enough food for all of us plus some. I hope Paddy still has his old appetite.
A
-----
To: those other people
From: SheTurnedMeIntoaNewt!IGotBetter...
Subject: Re:full moon
OoooO! A party! Can I bring friends?
Hippogriff????? Neatooooooo...
-----
À: the idiot
De: um...
Objet : Re2 :I'll give you one guess
HELL NO. He just got out of Azkaban, he doesn't need your 'friends' around!
--
"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Why the hell do you think
llamas are evil? Sheesh."
-The Llama
-----
To: Sere
From: Aina
Subject: Re:Re:full moon
NO.
A
-----
Sirius awoke the next morning to the sounds of many people bustling about the house busily and noisily.
'Moooooooom! Why can't I go in the parlour?'
'Pup! Stay outta there!'
'Hey! Someone get back in here and fix these eggs!'
'Where's the loo?'
'Mom! You didn't answer my question!'
'There's a monster in there, Julie. Now go play outside.'
'I don't wanna!'
'Pup, go outside and find a gnome to torture.'
'You stay outta this, meanie head!'
'Meanie head? I'll show you meanie head.'
'AAAAAH!! PUT ME DOWN!!'
'Julie, stop screaming! Sissy Cici and her friend are still asleep! Steve, take her outside and degnome that disgusting yard. SOMEONE GET IN HERE AND FIX THESE DAMN EGGS!'
'I'm up, Mum! I'll come fix 'em in a sec! I just want to check on Sirius first!'
Sirius looked from his pillow to the opening door. The noise level increased significantly as Ciara rushed in and shut the door behind her. She noticed his alert eyes and smiled.
'Sorry about the noise,' she said, moving to sit at the foot of the bed. 'I tried to tell them to keep it down, but it's impossible to keep those people quiet.' She rolled her eyes.
Sirius bit his upper lip and sat up, leaning back against the elaborate headboard. 'Um...who's here?'
'Oh! Our pack.'
'Our pack?'
'Well, aren't you and Jack pack-brothers?'
'...yeah...'
'Then you're already a part of the Marauder Pack, so named after you four terrors in school.'
Sirius scowled. 'Right. The four of us.'
Ciara leaned forward and took his hand. 'We can't change the past, Sirius. We just got to keep plodding on.'
He looked at her in surprise. 'That was surprisingly philosophical for you, Bryant.'
Ciara's eyes darkened and she pulled her hand back quickly. 'I see you haven't forgotten everything as I was lead to believe.'
Sirius shook his head. 'I remember all the bad things.'
'And was I a bad thing?'
'Until 5th year, yes. Past that, I don't know.'
Ciara scrutinized him carefully, then shook her head. 'You'll never change, will you, Black?'
'I guess not. Now, are you going to explain the goings-on out there?'
Ciara looked at him shrewdly. 'What'll you pay to know?'
He winked with a smirk. 'Anything you want, beautiful.'
She rolled her eyes. 'They're our pack. Well, the most social part of it at least. There are a bunch that are more...peripheral members. There's Jean, our den mother. She's the one that's been hollering about the eggs I need to make.'
'Hollering?'
She blushed. 'I've lived in Texas for the last 12 years; I picked up a few phrases here and there. Anyways, her daughter is Julie. She's 7 and acts like it. Oh, and everyone calls her Pup, in case you didn't hear Stephen. Then there's Matt, Mel, Aina and Sere, but she's asleep in the cellar.'
Sirius looked almost overwhelmed. Ciara gave him a reassuring smile. 'Get your robe on and I'll take you to go meet everyone.' She stood up and walked to the door.
'Ciara?' Sirius said quietly.
Ciara looked over her shoulder. 'Yes?'
'Why don't I remember you past fifth year?'
Ciara's face softened even as she roved eyes across the skeletal corpse before her. His hair may have been so long and his face so gaunt, but his eyes, haunted though they were, were lost and scared. She felt pity for him blossom in her heart and she approached him carefully. Without a word, she leaned over and gently brushed her lips against his.
'I'll be waiting in the kitchen for you. You might want to check on your hippogriff before you come in, though.'
-----
When Sirius entered the kitchen, he was almost overwhelmed by the rush of activities going on. At a makeshift stove, Ciara was fully dressed in Muggle jeans and an obviously tailored red button-up shirt and was in the midst of making a huge skillet of scrambled eggs. Behind her at the stone island was a large woman with long blond curls held back by a string. She had an open, friendly face, but from the manner in which she pounded the sausage into the stone, he could tell she had a bit of a temper. Beside her facing the back counter was another large woman, but she was significantly younger. She had light red hair that was almost brown and was just as curly. Her back was to Sirius and he couldn't see what she was doing.
'You must be Sirius,' said a deep voice from his left. At the table set for an enormous group sat a man, no taller than Ciara. He had a lean frame and shoulder-length brown hair that framed an oval face. His eyes were sharp and a miniscule goatee sat just underneath his bottom lip. Sirius felt the man's gaze sweep over him, gauging his weakness, before shooting over towards the approaching Ciara.
'Oh, Sirius, this is Matt,' she said. The man reached out to shake Sirius's hand, and in the moments their hands clasped, Sirius could feel enormous strength.
'I've heard lots about you,' Matt said jovially. His smile was contagious and Sirius could feel the corners of his mouth lifting to smile in return.
'Sirius?' the blonde woman said merrily. 'There you are, dear!' She put the beater down and wiped her hands on a nearby dishtowel. Without preamble, she hurried to Sirius and wrapped him in a tight embrace. 'Welcome home, sweetheart,' she murmured quietly, a thick American accent of some kind bleeding through her voice.
Ciara smirked at Sirius's confusion and said, 'This is Jean, our den mother. She takes care of us when we refuse to do so ourselves.'
Jean looked pointedly at Ciara, then turned back to a slack-jawed Sirius. 'Now,' she said authoritatively, 'Don't you dare go off calling me Jean. I absolutely insist that all my pups call me Mama, allright?'
Sirius nodded mutely. The other cook was waiting for her turn behind Jean.
'This is Mel,' Ciara said. 'She's Mama's protégée.'
Mel gave Sirius a warm smile and a hug as well. 'Welcome home, Padfoot. If you need anything, just ask, ok?' Her accent was just as thick as Jean's.
'Mooooooom!' a tiny red-haired girl said as she burst through the back door. Jean huffed and skirted around Ciara to get to the child.
'Julie Anne Thompson! How many times have I told you to be careful with those gnomes?' she said impatiently, taking Julie's hand and wiping away blood to inspect the wound.
'It was Stephen's fault!' the child screeched as a man entered in her wake. 'He pushed me.'
Jean looked up at the man, who shrugged with a goofy grin. He noticed Sirius and approached him with his hand outstretched. 'Hi, I'm Stephen,' he said, shaking Sirius' hand vigorously. Sirius couldn't help but smile at the man's exuberance. Ciara looked at Matt and the two of them rolled their eyes. 'Hey,' Stephen said, 'What's burning?'
Ciara's eyes went wide and a string of curses flew out of her mouth as she ran back to the eggs and desperately tried to salvage them. Stephen laughed at her antics as Matt said, 'You know I don't like eggs, but you don't have to burn them on my account,' and despite the feeling of being overwhelmed, Sirius joined in. Jean clucked over Julie as Mel chastised Ciara for her language.
'Hey, have a seat,' Stephen said, clapping Sirius genially on the back before taking a seat on the far side of Matt. Sirius looked around a bit nervously, then sat opposite Stephen. 'So, Sirius, you absolutely have to tell us about Jack when he was a kid. He won't tell us a damn thing!'
'For good reason,' Remus Lupin said as he entered from the hallway. He smiled warmly at Sirius. 'Padfoot, glad to see you made it here all right.'
Sirius grinned and waved it off. 'I'm a master at sneaking around undetected. You of all people should know,' he finished with a wink. Remus only laughed and moved to embrace his oldest friend.
Matt pursed his lips. 'You've been cheating on me, haven't you?' he asked in a huff.
Remus only rolled his eyes.
'Oy, enough mush, you two!' Ciara said as she waved her wand over the eggs, transferring them to a serving plate on the island. 'Food time!'
As if by magic, a woman came bounding in the room eagerly with the little beagle under her feet. With a screech, the woman fell down into an unceremonious heap. Everyone burst into laughter as she cursed up a storm at the giddy puppy; Remus hurried to help her up, very gently, Sirius noted.
'Good God, Aina, can't you ever not fall down?' Ciara said with a wink as she rolled up eggs and sausage in some sort of flat bread.
Aina looked up and glowered. 'Shut up, you,' she snarled before rushing to the food. When she reached for a piece of the flat bread, Jean smacked her hand.
'Sirius first!' she scolded and gestured for Sirius to grab a plate. 'Just take a tortilla, baby,' she dumped a piece of flat bread on his plate, 'fill it with what you want, roll it up, and feast!'
Sirius hesitated for a moment, then began to dish up some eggs. Aina glared at Jean, then at the already seated Ciara, who was happily eating. 'How come she didn't get yelled at?!' she demanded angrily.
'What?' Jean looked over at Ciara, who quickly attempted to hide her food and full mouth. 'Ciara Elizabeth Olivia Bryant, what in John Wayne's name are you doing? You knew you were supposed to wait!'
'Whaaaaaaat?' Ciara whined, food muffling the sound. 'I'm hungry!'
'You were supposed to wait!' Ainaguar snapped before quickly grabbing a plate.
'If I had waited,' Ciara swallowed the rest of her food, 'you wouldn't have left any for me!' Matt, Stephen, Mel, and Julie all laughed, causing death glares to be sent their way.
'I don't eat that much!'
'Yes you do!'
'No I don't!'
'You so do too!'
'I so do not! Do I, Jack?'
Remus looked startled to be brought into the argument. 'I, uh....'
'If I remember correctly,' Sirius said, 'you eat far more than is healthy.'
Ainaguar was shocked into spooning nothing onto her tortilla. 'You stay outta this, dog breath!' she admonished. Sirius, however, only noticed the grin Ciara gave him as well as her conspiratorial wink.
'He's got a point, Aina,' she said nonchalantly.
Aina's jaw dropped as she turned towards the table. 'Bitch!' she shot off.
Anger rose in Sirius, but before he could say anything, Ciara replied, 'Slut,' coolly.
'Whore!'
Ciara looked crestfallen. 'Damn.'
'GIRLS!' Jean admonished. 'What have I told you about using that kind of language in front of everyone?'
'Sorry, Mum,' both said in unison. They grinned eerily identical smiles at each other before focusing on their meal.
Sirius, looked at Remus in confusion, but his friend only shrugged in amusement. He finally shrugged it off and turned his attention to his first freshly made home-cooked meal in 12 years.