Unknown Savior
Chapter 3: The Ring
Disclaimer: see chap 1
Note: I may have gotten some facts wrong, and if I did, and you notice, please tell me and I will try to change it asap. I am also not the greatest speller or typer and the computer is fallible.
The next day was a busy one. Ciaran got up and was immediately put to work cleaning the house. Tonks' cleaning charms were hopeless and Ciaran's were not much better so they worked side by side the muggle way – by hand. They stopped for lunch around midday and ate a simple lunch of cold meats on a sandwich. They talked of little things, nothing big, and nothing serious - no pun intended.
When they stopped for a break Tonks looked at Ciaran out of the corner of her eye. They were both sitting on a box and leaning against a plain cupboard housing some brooms, both for sweeping and flying. Tonks finally blurted out something that had been bothering her all day, "What's that chain you're wearing?"
Ciaran gave Tonks a startled look before she slowly pulled the silver chain out from her robes and revealed the silver ring dangling on it. The sunlight filtering in from the yet to be cleaned dusty windows sparkled off of the plain silver band about a half inch thick. There was a star shaped black onyx stone set in the top.
"He gave it to my mom one time at Hogwarts. I think it was more to show off than anything, but she sized it to her ring finger and wore it all the time. Before my mom died, she gave it to me. I could not stand wearing it, I mean, I have never even met the man! But I could not just throw it away or pack it away somewhere either. So I got a silver chain and carry it that way."
Tonks leaned over and looked closely at the ring, "May I?" she asked questioningly. Ciaran unclasped the chain and handed the ring to Tonks. Tonks looked at the ring and felt unbidden tears some to her eyes.
"What? It is just a ring. What is wrong?" Tonks leaned over to see what was distressing Tonks so much.
Tonks was staring at the inside of the ring, where "Love, Padfoot" was written in Sirius' scrawl along with a paw print. "Padfoot," she whispered. Ciaran gazed at her, no emotions showing, but inside her emotions were beginning to swirl like crazy. With the strength of long effort and practice she forced them down without a single twinge upon her face.
"It's strange how such a simple word can convey such strong emotions and feelings." Tonks looked at Ciaran wonderingly. Ciaran was not sure if Tonks was talking about emotions in herself or in Ciaran. Ciaran shrugged and bit into her sandwich. Tonk's eyes narrowed. "Even you have to feel SOMETHING about him."
Ciaran stared at the dusty floor for a bit not answering. "I do. But they get me nowhere. The emotions I mean…" Ciaran stared at her sandwich and flipped it over to look at the bottom. It was as if the sandwich was her emotions and she was examining every aspect to figure out what she was feeling. "I guess I gave up on him, at least I said I did. Maybe in my heart I always believed that he would be as great as my mom said and that he would survive and get himself out of this mess and meet me someday. Guess I was wrong – either that or too late." Ciaran gave a short laugh that sounded strangely like Sirius' bark of laughter. "Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk."
Tonks looked at Ciaran. Ciaran looked at Tonks out of the corner of her eye. Finally, "What is it Tonks? I'm not going to explode."
Tonks sighed and looked down, "Yeah, I know that."
Tonks moved the ring to get some better light to see the paw print. As the ring moved and the sun glanced across the imprint Tonks gasped. Lines seemed to appear of out nowhere and connect the toes and the paw of the paw print. It connected and formed – horns. Tonks blinked stupidly at the ring for a second. "Sirius and James, best friends until the very end."
Ciaran shrugged, "The horns refer to James Potter I assume?" she said coldly. "I've noticed that trick a long time ago but did not know the significance until now."
"Yes," Tonks said, wondering at Ciaran's coldness. "What's wrong?"
"He stole my 'father' from me." Tonks eyebrows raised at that.
"He, what?"
"Stole. Sirius was so wrapped up in James that he did not notice anything or anyone else. He was intent on being what he was best, a heart-breaker."
Tonks was not sure whether to laugh or cry at Ciaran's view of her father. "Where do you get your idea of him as a heartbreaker as?"
"My mother. She had a pensive, She put all of her memories of Sirius in there, she liked to go into them or look at him, it was not hard to go through all of her memories," Ciaran said dismissively.
Tonks nearly laughed, "Sirius may have been a heart-breaker, but I think that was more of James' role. James' was the show-off for the girls, Sirius was the rule-breaker."
Ciaran was quiet for a moment before speaking again, "Sirius lost that ring when he was at school. My mother found it and kept it, one day he found out that she had it. He laughed. He told her that she could keep it, he already had another. I wondered what he meant for a long time. I figured it had something to do with the horns, but now I bet it was something that James gave him, a transmitting device or best friend gift, who knows. Who cares," Ciaran slumped where she sat.
Tonks heard her muffled voice and had to strain to understand Ciaran, "I used to dream that mom and Sirius would meet one day and he would fall madly in love with her as she had with him long ago." She sighed deeply, "But that was never to be."
"Do you hate James for supposedly 'taking away' Sirius?" Tonks asked curiously.
"Hate? No. Jealous? Yes." Ciaran brought her head back up and stared out of the dusty windows. The sun was setting and the room was imbued with a dull red-orange light. "They were able to spend time with him, see who he was and become friends with him."
She stood up and walked across the room, Tonks was forgotten in her speech to herself. She ran a finger down a dusty pane and left a single clear path. "He was my father, and I never even saw him!" She suddenly punched through the pane in a burst of anger.
Tonks had the pane back to normal and Ciaran's hand all patched up in minutes, but the drain was obvious on Tonks who was already tired from cleaning and now many spells which she was not the best at performing. Tonks tried to cheer Ciaran up though, "Maybe you can talk to Harry sometime, see what he has to say. I'm no good at this stuff, he was close to Sirius and your age, he practically saw Sirisu as a father, maybe he can help you out. But not now, later." Tonks dropped onto the box again and slumped against the wall.
"Why don't you go up to bed Tonks? I'll put the rest of this stuff away and come up in a bit?" Ciaran asked, she felt guilty for draining what was left of Tonks, especially after she had come out of the hospital on a few days ago.
Tonks gave a weak laugh, "well, I'll tell you one thing, there's no doubt in my mind where you get your anger and strength from! If you don't mind, I think I will, I am SO tired. Come up soon?"
Ciaran agreed and shooed Tonks up the stairs. But Ciaran went back to looking out through the window in the one path she had made with her finger. The light slowly blurred from red-orange, to red, to purple to blue, to black. And still, she stood still and silent against the window.
Finally she turned and lighting her wand, stuck it in her pocket, and picked up the rest of the cleaning supplies and took them down to the kitchen. When she came back up she paused at the broom cupboard and looked at it. "I wonder what one who knew my father is like. Can he tell me what he was like?" she whispered to herself. And before she knew fully what she was doing. She threw open the cupboard and pulled out an old black cloak and a Cleansweep 7.
So there you have it, enjoy!
I just sorta took a broomstick name out of my head, I'll look up what would broom was around when Sirius was in Hogwarts – coming from a rich family it makes sense that he would have the best of the best. He probably would have left it anyways when he left home – leave all that the Blacks gave him.
Do you think the end is a bit rushed/scratchy? Ugh, R/R!
Preview of 4: Off she goes! (I think you know where…) But Ciaran meets more there than she expected, what will happen next? Ohhhh… read and find out!
Kit ;)