Chapter Three: Feeling Grim

Hours later, at the nearing of dawn, Sirius woke up slowly. Feeling warm arms around him, he was sure he was dreaming. Glancing over, he tried to focus his eyes on the girl beside him…blonde, blue-eyed, pretty…when the hell did he have time to pick up a girl? And what girl in her right mind had let him pick her up? And why the hell were they lying on the ground on the other side of the Forbidden Forest? Then he remembered yesterday, and Harry and Remus and Peter, and abducting Lucille, and his and Lucille's conversations the night before. He looked at her. She was probably terrified out of her wits right now. Sirius nudged her slightly, though he didn't take his arms away from her.

"Lucy, wake up," he said softly.

"Hmm?" she answered drowsily. "But it's Saturday Susan; I don't want to go to Hogsmeade, no shops are open this early any wayOh, Sirius!" she interrupted herself, realizing she wasn't in bed and it wasn't her younger sister waking her up to go shopping. She blushed, and Sirius grinned. It had been at least twelve years since he'd made a girl blush first thing in the morning, and it did make him feel right jaunty.

"Are you taking me home now?" Lucille asked hopefully. Sirius's smile faded.

"I'm sorry, I can't. There'll be all sorts of ministry people hanging about, and I just can't chance bringing you back just yet. I mean, I don't even know if I can trust you not to report me," he added, looking sideways at her. Lucille frowned.

"I already told you I believed you," she answered, annoyed he'd forgotten that she'd told him.

"Well, there's a chance that you were just saying that to get on my good side so I'd let you go," Sirius explained.

"Oh…well, I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it," she said.

"But I didn't know that," Sirius countered. "But I guess last night proved you to be telling the truth. You didn't seem to care if you made me mad or not," he added, his grin lopsided.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucille asked suspiciously, her brows furrowed.

"Well, you yelled at me for calling you pretty, then not calling you pretty, and you were bossing me around quite a bit," Sirius laughed. "So much for being a kidnapper. And I thought it would be easy!" Lucille laughed.

"You better not quit your day job if you can't even capture someone as weak as me," she teased him. "I mean honestly, I'm not the best witch, and I'm definitely not strong enough to hold you back. My own students could bully me if they wanted to!"

"Don't sell yourself short," Sirius half-scolded her. "You're a good witch, I'm sure. And no guy likes a girl who can beat them up. Obviously your students like you if they don't bully you when they could, which means you're a good teacher. So don't be so hard on yourself." Lucille wished she wouldn't blush, but she could feel her cheeks getting hot again. She shook her hair out of her face and straightened up. "So what will we be doing today?" she asked in a business like tone to change the subject. Sirius stood up.

"You remind me of McGonagall," he commented, leaning against a tree and gazing thoughtfully at her.

"Good, I'll take that as a compliment," Lucille smirked. "So, what are we doing today?" she persisted.

"Lying low and finding food." Lucille made a face. The second to last thing she wanted to do was catch animals, kill them and eat them, and the very last thing she wanted to do was go into the Forbidden Forest to do so, but that was the direction Sirius was going, and she didn't want to be left behind. As she followed him, Sirius turned around.

"How about you stay here with Buckbeak and watch the fire. You've got a wand. If anyone should find you…obliviate their memory and send them to Hogsmeade," Sirius instructed her. Lucille nodded. She knew how to perform a memory charm, but it had been a while, probably since her NEWTS that she'd done one. Sirius smiled.

"Right then," he said briskly. "I'll be back shortly."

A half hour later, Sirius five squirrels and sat down beside the fire to skin them.

"Did you have to obliviate anyone?" Sirius asked pleasantly, as though asking about the weather.

"No," Lucille replied dully as she stirred the fire with twigs absently. She wrinkled her nose at the squirrels. "We really have to eat those?" Sirius looked up a her skeptically.

"I've eaten rats before. Trust me; squirrel isn't so bad." Lucille gulped. What if she wound up staying with him so long she'd have to eat rats? "Don't be silly," she tried to assured herself. "He'll have you back by Monday." But she really wasn't that sure.

Sirius strung the squirrels on a stick like a rotisserie, and Lucille charmed it to make it turn. They sat in silence for a while as they watched them fry.

"So you never did tell me how you escaped," Lucille said.

"Maybe I don't want to tell you, did you ever think of that?" Sirius answered shortly, shifting about.

"Then a simple 'I'd rather not talk about it' would suffice," Lucille answered primly. They were silent again for a minute.

"I turned into a dog," Sirius blurted out. Lucille raised a brow.

"Really."

"I'm an animagus."

"Really? I've been studying for a while, four years almost. I've almost completed it, but so far I only know I have big feathered white wings. But how are you an animagus if you're not in any records?" Lucille added, feeling a little shy she'd told him. Sirius was the first person she'd told.

"That's because I'm unregistered," Sirius explained. "I became in school, with James and Pettigrew, because of Remus being" He paused.

"Because of Remus being a werewolf. I teach beside him, I think I know," Lucille smiled understandingly.

"What do you think of him?" Sirius asked suddenly. sitting up straighter and looking carefully at her.

"What do you mean?" Lucille returned, her brows slightly raised again.

"I mean, what kind of person do you think he is?" Sirius asked impatiently.

"Oh…Well, he's the same as he was back in school, calm nice to everyone, something of a commanding presence without trying hard for it. Very easy to like," she said thoughtfully.

"So you like him," Sirius persisted.

"Yes, of course," she answered, feeling a bit confused.

"What about him being a werewolf? Doesn't it freak you out?"

"Well, I've never seen him as a werewolf…and of course it scares me, I imagine it scares him too. But he can't really help that, can he? It's just his flesh that changes, not his heart, or his mind. He can't control that, the same way you can't control not being a good kidnapper," Lucille teased him, trying to get Sirius to lighten up.

"And you like him?" Sirius repeated.

"Yes, I already told you. Everyone does, really; except Snape," Lucille answered, perplexed by Sirius's behavior. Sirius sat back.

"Oh. Oh, you meanOkay, never mind," he said absently.

"So how long did it take you to learn how to do it?" Lucille asked, deciding that changing the subject would be the best idea. "It takes years, some people never get it."

"It took James and I two and a half years," Sirius said proudly. "We completed it by the middle of fifth year."

"And what do you become again?"

"A dog," Sirius answered. "A huge scary black dog." He grinned. "But very lovable." Lucille rolled her eyes, smiling.

"I'm sure," she answered.

"Don't believe me?" Sirius said mischievously, and in seconds he had morphed into a giant black dog. Lucille winced at the sight of him.

"You look like a Grim," she shivered. Sirius whined.

"Well, you do," Lucille answered pointedly. "Oh my God, I can't believe I'm going to argue with a dog," she laughed at herself. Sirius returned to his human form.

"I do not look like a Grim," he pouted. "Besides what does it matter? The Grim is just stupid old wives tale."

"Says who?" Lucille demanded.

"Says me, for one," Sirius replied.

"Okay," Lucille answered sarcastically.

"I can't believe you actually believe something so stupid," Sirius scoffed.

"Are you calling me stupid?" Lucille asked hotly, and Sirius could almost see hackles raising.

"No, I'm saying that I thought you were smarter than that," he answered. Lucille opened her mouth in retort, but his words registered before she said anything and she closed her mouth.

"Oh," was all she said. They were quiet for a while, then Sirius remembered something Lucille had said.

"Did you like me when we were in school?" he asked. Lucille's cheeks tinged pink.

"What makes you ask?"

"You blushed when I asked you if we knew each other in school and said that you knew me, but I didn't know you, and you turn red and go quiet every time I compliment you.

"I do not!"

"You do."

"I don't!" Lucille let her hair fall in her face to hide her cursed blushing.

"When your fringe falls in your eyes like that, you look like you did when you were thirteen and I'm reminded of how cute you were," Sirius said, grinning. His grin only widened when Lucille turned to glare at him with her face completely red. He laughed. "I told you so," he replied in a sing-song voice.

"Oh, I don't even care anymore," Lucille answered, angry with her skin for betraying her.

"You still never answered my question," Sirius reminded her. As if she needed reminding.

"Maybe I don't want to," she snapped.

"Then a simple 'I don't want to talk about it' will suffice," he mimicked her, and he saw her try to suppress a smile out of the corner of his eye. The squirrels were finally done and Sirius handed her one. They ate in silence for a few minutes.

"Why do you care so much if I liked you? All the girls liked you; I know you knew that," she said.

"I wasn't asking about all the other girls. I was asking about you," he told her plainly.

"Well, then no, I didn't have a crush on you, or like you or anything like that, if it's so important," Lucille lied.

"Oh."

"Kind of hard to find out 'Leggy Lucy' was the only girl not swooning over your every move?" she teased. Sirius smirked at her.

"More like surprised really, but never mind."

"Never mind what?"

"Oh, nothing, really…"

"Sirius! Don't be a dolt! Just tell me!"

"Okay, fine. The reason I first started taking notice in you was because James kept pointing out the cute little blonde in Hufflepuff who always seemed to be looking at me. It just brought me to question why you were watching me, you know, if you didn't fancy me," he answered smugly. Amazingly for once, Lucille didn't turn red.

"I was just…impressed, really," she told him, not completely lying.

"How so?"

"You earned top marks, and you still goofed off more than anyone, and you always left Severus Snape tongue-tied. Plus…I can't believe I remember this, but in my third year, Severus completely hated me and my best friend Mary Jane, and he was always trying to dock points from us. Once, he tried to take fifty points because we were on the 'wrong side' of the corridor. But you stopped him, and he wound up taking the points off you. I was just in such awe that you helped me and Mary Jane even though it would have helped Gryffindor with the house cup if we got points taken, and even though Gryffindor got points taken instead." Lucille smiled. She was more surprised that she told him that than that she remembered it.

"Hey I did, didn't I?" Sirius said slowly. He laughed. "Now look at your hero. He's your captor." Lucille laughed with him.

"And he's not very good at being a captor. But heroes are usually misunderstood." Lucille yawned.

"Go to sleep if you're tired, Lucy." Lucille rested her head on the ground.

"I'm not really tired, I just need to rest my head," she answered. "I wonder what Susan's doing…and my mother…and Daddy…" a few tears rolled down her cheeks, and Sirius gently rubbed her back.

"Shh, don't worry Lucy, I'll take you home tomorrow night; I swear," Sirius promised. Soon Lucille was sleeping soundly, and Sirius watched her sleep. He felt guilty that he'd taken her, but he was truly enjoying her company. He would be really sorry tomorrow night when he would be alone again. But he wouldn't break his promise.