Chapter 21 - Shopping for Dresses and Families
Snape had received a letter in the post of the morning of the Hogsmeade trip from a person he did not wish to see. Raine's brother, Theo, wanted to meet up. In fact, he demanded that Severus obey his orders and come to the Three Broomsticks at 12 sharp or there would be consequences.
With the conversation from Zelda still swimming around his mind, Snape felt unease about this command but what choice did he have? No one questions the wisdom of the man who is considered to the Dark Lord's closet confident. This has to be about Raine. He is so obsessed with her joining the Death Eaters that he hasn't realised that she would never become something that killed her father… I would never allow her to join. What can I do? Think!
Therefore, as Snape left the dungeons to head to the coaches that would transport them to the small village, he was not thrilled or happy unlike the rest of the school. In fact, he paled to a deadly white shade and was so snappish that even Malfoy left him in peace.
Whatever happens today, I will need help.
Raine was enjoying herself immensely with the Marauders, Lily and Remus' Hufflepuff date, the only blight on the gorgeous day was Zelda could not make it. Seemingly, MacGongall had forbidden her to be allowed to go to Hogsmeade due to the 'Lost Closet incident'. Although Zelda did not mind, Raine was finding it very hard not to feel slightly guilty that she was bathing in the sunshine while Zel was probably cleaning out cauldrons.
"If you must", said Lily wearily.
Raine had been watching James and Lily bickering for the last ten minutes about taking a short visit to Zonks so that the boys can have a 'look around.' Of course, the rest of the Marauders did not appear shocked at theses little outburst but in fact found it as great amusement. Sirius and Remus had conjured a couch from a bucket sitting at the side of the road and sharing out the sweets that they had bought from Honeysuckle. Due to the lack of space, Raine had been dragged down onto Sirius' lap which gave Black the ample opportunity to tickle her. Her laughter was interrupted the on going argument of James and Lily for the Head Girl to admit defeat about the boys' behaviour.
Now, Raine was standing outside Zonks, gazing at the other students mingling in the crowds, the majority had ice-cream, as they went passed. After telling Lily that she was off to find the ice-cream, Raine bumped into Snape who had his head down walking quickly as if he had an appointment to keep.
"Severus?" asked Raine gently. For the first time she felt unsure how to greet her old friend. She knew that he disapproved her relationship with one of his enemy but she thought he was secretly happy for her that she was smiling again after her father's death. "Are you ok? How have you been?"
Startled out of his bad mood, Snape looked up at Raine's cheerful face. "I'm perfectly well Jenkins."
"I'm off to find some ice-cream", said Raine, "would you like to join me?"
"Unfortunately, I have to pass", stated Snape colder that he intended. He was furious at being summoned like this and increasingly angry that Theo thought the Dark Lord's business could be talked so openly. "I'm late already. Meeting an old friend at the Three Broomsticks."
"I understand Severus," sympathised Raine and before he could head any further, "How come you are allow to visit Hogsmeade and not Zelda?"
"Zelda is not banned for Hogsmeade," Snape told a confused Raine. He left his dear friend, one he considered a sister, alone to solve out the mystery of her Ravenclaw friend.
As she returned, all the Marauders had finished their shopping and the group was off again to visit another dress shop. Sirius and Raine were at the back of the gang, taking their sweet time on catching up.
Sirius had one arm around Raine's waist and had his head leaning a little against her head. Prefect fit, thought Sirius contently. Black noted Raine's thoughtful expression and took the time to bring her back to reality, the Sirius way. His fingers were working his way to get under her white jumper to touch her bare skin at her side. It was only when Sirius was nearly tickling her again, that Raine found his hand wandering too far up in public for her liking.
"Sirius," she warned slightly in her sweetest tone. "If you want your hand to have five fingers on it I would advise removing it from underneath my clothes."
He chuckled deeply as he pulled back his hand and kissed her cheek. "I love it when you get mad", he whispered above her ear, "You are so sexy." James was right, girls look a lot cuter when they are pissed off with you. I wonder if I can use that energy for something more fun?
Raine huffed but they both knew that she was pretending to be mad. "Why is it that you can get away with murder when you grin at me?"
"That's because I'm so drop dead gorgeous that all women fall under my spell!" proclaimed Sirius to the open air, "But there is only one girl who has succeed in making me fall hard." And with that announcement, which made Raine smile and giggle, Sirius bent down to kiss her lightly however Raine pulled him closer to deepen it. Sirius smiled inside; finally Raine was becoming more confident in her self and willing to show publicly her love for Black.
As they broke apart, Black admitted to himself that life was being too good to him. With Raine at his side, he felt that he had a secure future even if it was obvious that he would have to fight against He Who Must Not Be Named and pure blood rubbish.
"Do you believe in pure blood nonsense?" spoke Black to Raine as they walked to the shop that Lily was leading them too.
Raine felt uneasy about the stranger questioning that Sirius had brought up but answered honestly. "No, I don't. I've never considered the whole 'what type of blood are you?' I mean my mum and dad were pure bloods and we were as happy as any family for a while but I also love my step dad and he's muggle."
"What do you think of He Who Must Not Be Named", enquired Black. He had no idea where these questions were coming from but for the moment they were important to know.
"He needs to be stopped", said Raine very quietly but with conviction. "I hate him because he killed my father. And I will fight trying to stop him. I have finally decided to become an auror after I leave school to help." She looked up at him to find his face a mask blocking out any emotions. "What are with all theses deep and meaningful questions? What have you done with the real Black I fell in love with?" she asked trying to bring humour back into the conversation.
"Hey!" exclaimed Sirius, "I can be meaningful!" Raine's raised her eyebrows. "Of course, most of the time my head is thinking on important stuff like you and the things that I want to do to you." Raine blushed as Sirius winked and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "But," he emphasised, "next year will be different and I needed to know that we will be on the same side if we are to stay together. I'm very loyal Raine; I would have hated to choose between James and you."
"I'm glad that we are on the same broom then", muttered Raine into his shoulder, "cause I don't think I could give up you….and I would hate becoming a stalker, I'm no good seeking around."
Sirius barked out with laughter and hugged Raine right there and then. "What's on your mind?"
All this talk had reminded Raine of Snape and her brother. She knew that her brother was close in following the Dark Lord and she had a suspicion that Severus would be joining too. After hesitating for a second, Raine relayed all her fears to Sirius - she told him all about her life with her father and the fact he was a Death Eater and was murdered by Voldemort. She also revealed that her brother was acting strange and that he had not been himself after their dad died and how her mum was pained that he would not accept her marriage. Raine was scared that one day she would have to take her brother to his sentence but most of all, scared that Snape would end up the same way. A person she thought of a dear brother than her true one.
Black was moved by Raine's dark secrets and as the silent tears soaked his shirt, Sirius promised to himself that he would warn Snivellus of the danger. He would do it for Raine.
Noting the shop that the others had gone into, Sirius stopped Raine from following and wiped away any tears. It was then that they both noticed that the dress shop was the same one from six months ago, where Sirius fell in love with a little green dress.
"I remember this delightful place," said Black mischievously, "A girl had insulted me and therefore I went in to redeem my reputation."
"Did you succeed?" Raine had decided to play along.
"Oh no, I failed horrible," revealed Black, "I'm no longer the greatest womaniser of Hogwarts but a one woman man." He looked mournfully at Raine who burst out laughing which broke the mood.
"That…must…be…soo…terrible", she gasped through her giggling.
"Not too bad when I've got the girl of my dreams wrapped around my little finger", he stuck out his tongue and crossed his arms over his chest.
"That is cheesy as well as a typical male thing to say," snorted out Raine.
"I know," apologised Black, "but I'm not going back into that shop. The old dear would just gloat at me since she was right and I was wrong, which is a very rare thing indeed."
"You're scared of a sweet old lady who chooses out dresses?" queried Raine.
"Yes", admitted Sirius sheepishly, "now shoo," he waved his hands to the door.
"Fine," gave up Raine, "but I'm going to tell everyone in there your poor excuse." With that she disappeared indoors.
Right! Where did she say Snivellus was again? Black began racking his brain for the answer.
Sirius pelted down the lane that he had came up with Raine to reach the Three Broomsticks have a quick word with Snape and make it back in time before anyone realised that he had disappeared.
After jogging half way there, he reached it in good timing and slipped into an already fully packed shop. He scanned around looking for Snivellus and spotted easily due to his greasy hair of his. Without causing a lot of attention to himself, Black sat in the opposite booth to Snape and turned his back on them.
Something was warning him not to go straight towards and a Marauder always follow his intuition. After five minutes, he thanked his lucky stars that he was right. Raine's brother sidled across the opposite seating to Snivellus who wore blank mask which Black knew from experience that he was pissed off exceedingly.
Before Black could even gauge their conversation, a rowdy group of young Hufflepuff entered making it impossible for Sirius to hear all the conversation but he caught the crucial details.
Theo, known as the Avenging Angel in the dark circle mentioned the words kidnap and Graduation Ball which brought chills down Sirius' back.
Raine is in trouble! They must been planning this for ages. The Ball has no adult supervision which would make it easy for an attack to happen however they would have to enter Hogwarts. This doesn't matter sense. Why risk such trouble?
Just as Sirius thought this was a major flaw in the plan, so did Snape who voiced concerned with words such as impossible, problems and why does the Dark Lord want her now?
Theo just laughed cruelly at Snape. "Don't ask things that are beneath you, Severus. That's not your job. This is."
Again the talk was lost to Sirius' sharp ears but he heard the Forbidden Forest and that was enough. It seemed to him that he could slip away again before Snape would see him and get back to the boutique before anyone missed him.
When Sirius was outside, although the sun was shining, it felt like a cold day in winter.
I should tell Raine. I should…but this would break her heart…especially when I have to explain that her brother is behind it. I can't do that. I'll tell the guys and we can work it out something. With the Marauders looking after Raine, nothing can happen…hopefully.
Thank you for your lovely reviews! I do apologise for not having the line breaks but I am sure that I did out them in. I blame the evilness of computers. I feel kind of sad that this is near its end and I really don't want to write the ending…but I, will so don't worry. Hopefully you will like chapter but please remember to voice your opinion or it won't count. Thanks again! The sun is shining hurray!