Disclaimers and notes in chapter one.
Coming up on the end, folks.
Please R & R
8 - A Memorable Afternoon
By lunchtime, the whole group was ravenous, despite the fact that they'd had a good breakfast. None of them particularly felt like waiting around for food, so they just went to one of the fast-food stands, and each ordered a hamburger with fries. James decided he needed a milkshake since it was so warm out, and soon everyone was asking for sips of it, so he shoved what was left at Sirius and went back to the counter to get more. Unfortunately, when he made it to the front of the line once more, the shake machine was broken. James fumed, but bought himself a soda so that he'd at least have something to drink with his lunch.
After lunch, they split up, this time remembering to promise to meet outside the Blue Bayou for dinner.
Once the other two had disappeared into the crowd, James turned to Sirius. "So, Mister Padfoot, where shall we head off to now, now that we've lost the wimp contingent?" he grinned.
"I want to go back on the Matterhorn again!"
James's grin broadened. "Oh, good choice!"
The two hurried off to the mountain once more, and rode it not once, but twice before moving on to the next ride.
Sirius had convinced James that they needed to try the submarine ride. "More water, and no Moony glaring at us! It'll be great!" he grinned broadly. James shook his head, but he was smiling, and he knew that no matter what he said, they'd end up on the ride anyway. The line was fairly short, so they scrambled into a very odd-looking car, that he assumed was supposed to be a "submarine," whatever that was supposed to be. Other riders filled the car as well, and so the two boys made themselves as comfortable as possible on the cold metal seats that they had chosen.
Unfortunately, the submarine was totally enclosed, with no way to splash the water at each other. The effects of the submarine "submerging" and "raising" were cheesy rushes of bubbles at the beginning and end of the ride, and the exhibit itself even more cheesy.
When it was finally over, James climbed out of the boat, glaring at Sirius. "Water ride. Right. We might as well have gone on that snoozer Small World ride again, Pads. At least then we could have reached the water. I get to choose the next ride, I think." He thought for a moment, then smiled, grabbed Sirius's arm, and began to pull. "Come on. I want to go on the teacups again."
Sirius and James had the time of their lives whirling around in their teacup. They laughed and screamed until the ride ended and they walked away, hanging onto each other for support.
They were sitting down, trying to regain their balance when Sirius noticed one of the characters walking around. Looking up, he saw it was the beautiful girl Remus had danced with during the parade the night before. She was graceful and elegant, with honey-blonde hair pulled back in a French twist and she wore a long, powder blue dress. There was a crowd of about ten little girls around her begging for pictures and autographs. She smiled down at them, and Sirius felt his stomach lurch as he realized he'd just seen the girl of his dreams.
He slowly stood up and walked over to her. She had just sent off the last of the children with an autograph when she looked up to see Sirius standing in front of her. Sirius gazed into her amazingly clear blue eyes and wondered if she'd even speak to him. "Hello, I'm so happy to meet you," he said.
"Well, I'm very happy to meet you too," she replied, flashing him her smile which made Sirius want to melt away. "What is your name?" she asked politely.
"Sirius…but you can call me Prince Charming if you like. What is your name?" he asked suavely, taking one of her gloved hands in his, bringing it up to his lips, and kissing it gently.
The girl's eyebrows rose in surpise. "Oh, well…my name is Cinderella, Sirius, it was good to meet you, but I must be off to greet the other guests," she replied, smiling again. She took her hand back from Sirius, waved, and walked off to meet more children.
Sirius walked back to James and sat down next to him, sighing loudly as he watched Cinderella disappear in the crowd. "You used the Prince Charming line again, didn't you?" James chuckled. "That line never works! Why do you keep trying?"
"Well, you never know. There's a first time for everything, mate," Sirius replied, "Well almost everything. Peter wooing a girl to his bed is sure to never happen for example." The two boys broke into loud laughing fits at the very thought.
"Or Remus getting a failing grade. That will never happen," James added.
"I wonder what those two are up to anyway."
Remus and Peter had been exploring the shops in New Orleans Square. Remus had found a beautiful bottle for his mother, and a hat that he thought his father would like. Peter had been browsing the artwork, trying to find something for his own mother, when a couple of children ran into the store.
Before Remus could stop them, they zoomed to the other side of the store, and hid behind a clothes rack. Immediately thereafter, a man charged into the store. He was red-faced and panting, and he'd seen that look once in Sirius's eyes once when the Slytherins had stolen his bag and charmed it to blink "Blood-traitor" for a whole week. It was not a good look. Before the man could begin his search, as Remus assumed he would, Remus stepped up to him. "Is something wrong, sir? You look upset. Can I help you, maybe?"
The man looked at him for a moment, panting and wheezing, before he responded. "Yeah," he growled. "Have you seen two brats come in here? They ran off, and I've been looking for them everywhere."
"Brats, sir? Could you be more specific? There are lots of kids in this park, and I would say several of them have acted like brats at least part of the time they were here."
The man blinked at him slowly, thinking. "They're a boy and a girl. She's about half your height, blonde hair, brown eyes. The boy's a bit taller, brown hair and eyes."
While the man was speaking, Remus heard Peter moving behind him. He hoped he was shielding the children from this man, whoever he was. "Are they yours, sir?"
The man frowned. "What does that matter, kid? It's none of your business," he growled. "Have you seen them or not?"
"Well, your description is still a bit vague, sir…"
At this, the man snarled, "Just get out of the way," and tried to lunge past Remus. Remus caught his arm and twisted hard.
"I don't think so, sir. Whatever those kids have done, you shouldn't face them in this mood. You're liable to hurt them."
The man whimpered, and fell to his knees just as a security guard entered the shop, obviously summoned by the shop clerk. Remus watched as he took in the situation: the children cowering behind the rack, the man on his knees in front of Remus, with Remus still holding his arm, and Peter standing between the man and the children. He turned his gaze to the shop clerk. "Which one, Rose?"
"The one on the floor." She indicated the man Remus was holding.
The guard approached Remus, and nodded to him. "I'll handle it from here, sir, if you'll just let go."
Remus nodded, released his hold on the man's arm, and stepped away. The guard helped the man up. "What's going on, sir?"
The man's eyes glinted, and he thrust an arm in Remus's direction. "That kid attacked me. I just came in here to find the kids I was with, and he attacked me! I demand that you have him arrested!"
"These children, sir. Are they yours?"
The man blinked at him for a moment. "My…my stepkids." But Remus could see the boy shaking his head "no" vigorously.
"Ah. Well, hold on, and we'll get everything sorted out for you." Then Remus realized that they were no longer the only ones in the store any more. Several guards had entered silently while the guard had talked with the man. One took the children by the hands and led them from the store. Two more flanked the man, who looked worried now, and led him from the store.
The first guard turned back to Remus once they were gone. "Thank you for your help, sir. We've been on the lookout for someone fitting his description. We don't exactly encourage park guests to get involved in this kind of thing, but you definitely deserve something for keeping him away from those kids." He took something out of his pocket and handed it to Remus. It was a fresh booklet of tickets. "He won't be staying in the park long, even if he isn't the man we're looking for, but I'd recommend being careful tonight when you leave the park, just in case."
Remus grinned. "Thanks for the warning, but I'm sure my friends and I will be able to handle anything he can throw at us." He waved Peter over, and they left the store.
Peter had never felt more terrified then when he'd seen the look on that man's face as he'd tried to find those children. He'd remembered a time when he was about seven years old when his mother had done the same thing Remus had done when an anger-crazed woman was screaming and chasing after her daughter. He'd remembered the look in that woman's eyes as she yelled for the poor girl, who'd run up to Peter and clung to him desperately. It was a memory that had embedded itself deeply into his mind. He'd never thought it would ever happen again though. It had been purely instinct that told him he needed to protect the children from that man, with his own body or life if it was necessary. It hadn't been a hard decision to assist Remus in helping out in the situation, but when it was over, he began to tremble uncontrollably and had to sit down quickly before he collapsed.
Remus looked at Peter with concern showing on his face and told him to stay on the bench where he was sitting while he ran to buy him something to eat. Several minutes later, Remus returned with a slice of pizza, a chocolate bar, and a bottle of orange juice. "Here you go Peter, eat up. This will help you feel better," he said while handing the food to Peter, who ate slowly while taking deep breaths to calm down.
"I don't think I'll be up to any rides for a while, Remus," Peter croaked. "I just need a while to get over that. Were you scared?" he asked Remus.
Remus thought about it for a while. "I didn't even think about it really. It happened so fast, and then it was adrenaline and testosterone and all of that. But I'm a little shaky too, I'll admit," he replied while taking a deep breath.
After Peter had finished his food, which he'd ended up sharing with Remus, he stood up and walked around for a minute. "How about a trip on the Mark Twain riverboat?" he asked. Remus grinned and nodded his head in agreement. They walked off down to the landing and waited in line for the next departure.
Once on, the boys walked around to the highest level of the boat, basking themselves in the warm sun. They looked at the sights as the Mark Twain made its way down the Rivers of America. They passed by Tom Sawyer's Island and waved at the children playing on the banks. They watched as the boat passed by mechanical animals in the wild, and even a settler's cabin that had been set on fire by Indians. As they rounded a corner, Peter watched as the train that went all around the park passed them by. He smiled and waved at the passengers.
Captain Hook happened to be riding on the boat with them. People came over to him for autographs and pictures. Peter watched quietly as a group of teenage girls walked up to him and started flirting with him. Hook took pictures with all of the girls and signed their books before they turned to leave. Peter couldn't help but laugh out loud as Hook reached out his hooked hand and tapped one of the girls on the backside as she walked away. The girl whipped around quickly before grinning and turning back to her girlfriends, whispered to them, giggled, and ran off as a group.
Peter shook his head before turning around to speak to Remus. "Hey Remus, we haven't been on the train around the park yet. Let's do that next, shall we?" Remus happily agreed.
The Mark Twain returned to shore far too quickly for Peter's tastes. He could have stayed out there all day, but knew there were more fun things to do, so he walked off with Remus to find the closest train station, feeling refreshed and renewed.