Chapter 22: Queen Kierra

When Dominique arrived at the Great Hall the following morning, there seemed to be much more excitement and buzz going around than normal... 'of course,' Dominique thought gloomily, 'everyone's leaving..' Just as Dominique took her seat at the Gryffindor table, she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Remus, smiling at her.

"Hey...Just wanted to say bye" he said, "even though I'll be seeing you in a few days...are you sure you and Sirius are going to be o.k. here? You know you're more than welcome to come to my house…"

Dominique smiled at the offer. "Thanks, but I've got Dumbledore here too…so, not to worry, I'll have plenty of company…and I daresay Sirius and I will be finding things to do…"

Remus smiled. "Alright…if you insist on staying…Well, I'd better be off now. By the way, have you seen Kierra?"

"Er, she's still packing actually…" Dominique said with a grin. Kierra was the queen of procrastination. She actually hadn't even started packing until this morning…

"What??" Remus exclaimed, dropping the handle of his trunk. "The carriages are already loading! She'd better hurry up!" Just then, Kierra came bursting through the door, luggage in hand.

"Made it!!" She exclaimed. Dominique grabbed a piece of fruit off the table for Kierra's breakfast as she and Remus ran to join her.

"About time too!" Remus said, "come on, we need to go"—

"and good morning to you too…" Kierra replied, rolling her eyes at Remus. "I'm hungry"—

"Here"—Dominique said, shoving a peach in Kierra's mouth. "Now come on, I'll walk you guys outside." Kierra pulled the fruit out of mouth and shuddered.

"Ugh, I don't like"—

"We'll get you something off the trolley when we're on the train, but right now we need to move!" Remus said, taking Kierra's hand and rushing her outside.

Once outside, they spotted Peter, Alice and Frank waving at them from a carriage.

"What took you so long?" Alice asked. "We're about ready to leave!"

"Packing…" Kierra grumbled as she climbed into the carriage.

"Where's James and Lily?" Remus asked as he climbed in.

"Doing their headship duties…" Peter explained, pointing over to the couple, who were ushering around nervous little first years. "Anyway, they'll be getting their own private carriage…"

"Oh, there comes Sirius!" Remus exclaimed, pointing to a guy who came running outside.

"Sorry, I overslept!" Sirius breathed. Dominique and Sirius quickly said their goodbyes with hugs and handshakes, and quickly retreated to find Lily and James in their personal carriage.

"Thought you'd let us go without saying goodbye?" James asked as they met Sirius and Dominique.

"Make sure you take lots of pictures when you're in Athens!" Dominique said as she hugged Lily.

"I'll be sure to" Lily replied with a grin.

"I want a hug too!" whined James. Dominique raised and eyebrow at James, but grinned as she reached over to give James a hug, when he suddenly moved away from her. "Not you!! I meant Lily!!" he exclaimed.

Lily laughed, rolling her eyes. "Oh geez Potter…" Dominique however, frowned at James and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I was just kidding!" he exclaimed as he pulled Dominique into a tight hug.

"James, you're smothering me!!!" Dominique said in a muffled laugh as she tried to pull away from him.

"Ok, off my woman…" Sirius said with a smile, pulling Dominique away from James. Just then, the carriages started to move.

"You guys have a good holiday!!" Sirius called after them as he and Dominique waved goodbye to them.

"You too!! And you kids better be good while we're gone!" James called back.

Just then, from a distant carriage, Dominique heard Kierra's voice.

"Oh no!!!" She wailed, "I forgot to pack my toothbrush!!"

Dominique grinned, and cupped her hands around her mouth and called out to Kierra.
"Don't worry!! I'll send it to you via owl!!"

Kierra looked over to Dominique and grinned. "Thanks D!!!" she shouted, as she, Remus, Alice, Frank and Peter waved them goodbye.

Dominique couldn't help but smile when she saw Remus rolling his eyes at Kierra, and then putting an arm around her as she settled down and curled up against him. "She is so cute.." Dominique giggled as she and Sirius turned to go back to the castle.

"You know," Sirius began, as they got to the castle entrance, "now that the kids are gone, we're gonna have the entire Gryffindor common room to ourselves! We can catch up…maybe in my room…"

Dominique laughed. "I didn't know we were behind…"

Sirius studied himself in the mirror. Shirt tucked…hair combed…clothes ironed…Was he missing anything? Sirius thought as he absentmindedly reached for his bottle of cologne again and sprayed himself. Sirius ran his fingers nervously through his hair as he stared at himself. 'It's only dinner with Dominique...' he told himself, 'and Dumbledore…' But he already knew Dumbledore fairly well. Or rather, Dumbledore knew him fairly well…Dumbledore had been there when he when he was having problems with his family…Dumbledore was the only man who had the power to send him back to his home when he ran away over the summer, but instead he turned the other cheek and let him stay at James's house.

So why was he so nervous? He was the same Dumbledore…only now, he was Dominique's great-uncle. He was her family…Sirius let out a deep sigh as he headed out of the dormitory. As he came into the common room, he found Dominique sitting by the fireplace, waiting for him.

She looked up when she saw him and she quickly got up.

"Wow…you look…" she stopped and sniffed the air. "like you've swam in a river of cologne…" she giggled.

"Ah shit, am I wearing too much??" Sirius swore under his breath as he smelled himself. "I didn't realize I put so much on…"

"It's alright…maybe it'll go away on our way to the great hall..." she said with a laugh.

"I doubt it…" Sirius said as he pulled out his wand and muttered a spell to fan off the cologne. "Better?" he asked.

"Yea"

"Alright, let's go!" he said, opening the portrait hole door for Dominique.

Dominique and Sirius walked down the empty halls in silence for several minutes. Finally Dominique spoke up.

"I take it not many people stay here over the holidays?"

"I dunno…I guess not…this is my first time staying here for Christmas actually…well, we'll find out when we get to the hall…" Sirius only hoped there were at least a few more students staying, so it wouldn't be just him, Dominique and the headmaster.

As they entered the great hall, Sirius sighed with relief, as he saw three more students in the great hall, along with professor Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Hagrid.

"Excellent.." he said.

"What's excellent?" Dominique asked, as she waved to Dumbledore.

"Oh! Er…that we've got all these people here…it's always nice to have lots of people for dinner…specially for the holidays…"

"Oh yes, that's true…er, do you know any of the students?"

"Well, I know those two girls are in ravenclaw, and that boy's in hufflepuff…I don't know their names though…"

"Aww…that boy's so adorable…he looks like a first year!" Dominique said, eyeing the little boy who looked around the room timidly.

"Ah, Dominique, Sirius! So glad that you've joined us!" Dumbledore said as he took a seat at the table. "Well, I think that's everyone?" he asked, turning to McGonagall, who nodded in return. "well then, tuck in everyone!" he said as food materialized in front of them.

The following half hour passed with little incident. Professor Dumbledore mostly talked with Professor McGonagall and Hagrid, and only occasionally talked to the other students, ("Sirius, Mr. Filch and I were thinking of naming one of the detention dungeons after you and Mr. Potter, as a tribute to your memories when you all leave" Dumbledore said). The two ravenclaw girls seemed to be friends, as they chatted animatedly with each other. The only person who seemed quiet was the small hufflepuff boy. Dominique had seemed to notice this and tried conversing with him throughout the dinner.

"So what's your name?" she asked, as she passed him salad.

"Me?" he asked in surprise. "Er…John…Ferrars…"

Dominique grinned. "I'm Dominique. You're in hufflepuff, aren't you?"

John nodded, looking at Dominique timidly, who in return, couldn't help but broaden her smile, as she turned to Sirius. "What a little cutie pie!" she exclaimed quietly.

John, who had heard, turned pink and quickly busied himself with his dinner.

Sirius, who had noticed this, smiled slightly.

Several courses later, the table slowly began to empty, until it was down to Dumbledore, Sirius, and Dominique. Sirius of course, had wanted to go, but Dominique was still talking to Dumbledore…discussing chamber music, and he felt it would be rude if he left without Dominique.

"Anyway," Dominique continued, "Corelli is absolutely marvelous…I know he's a muggle composer and all, but still"—

"Ah…" Dumbledore said with a sigh. "His music is too depressing for my taste…"

"Isn't chamber music depressing by definition?" Sirius interjected, without having realized that he had interrupted.

Dumbledore and Dominique turned to Sirius. 'Wonder if I've offended them…' Sirius thought nervously. Slowly though, Dumbledore showed a small smile. "Yes, and no…some is, some isn't…"

Sirius shrugged. "Ah well…I'm not much of a music person…"

Dumbledore's smile broadened. "Then how, may I ask, do you put up with my niece? When she's so obsessed with music? And all of those muggle composers…"

"hey, I don't talk about it that much!" Dominique said.

Sirius grinned. "I don't mind listening to her lectures, as long as it's her that's talking," he said, turning to Dominique, "anything she says is worth listening to."

Dominique smiled and blushed, but did not say anything, while Dumbledore looked at the couple approvingly.
"Well," Dumbledore said after a moment, as he stood up. "I'm glad to know that you two are tolerating each other. Now, I just wanted to let you know that I won't be here tomorrow, I've got an urgent owl from the ministry, so I've got to tend to that immediately. If you need anything, Professor McGonagall will be here."

"Alright…ooh wait," Dominique, said, "New years eve, Remus invited us to his house…can we floo over to his place from here?"

Dumbledore paused for a moment as if to consider the matter. "Yes," he said finally, "I'll be back by then, so stop by at my office and you can floo from the fireplace there, so I can see you off. And you'll be spending the remainder of the holiday there?"

"Yes" Sirius and Dominique said together.

"Very well. And I expect that you'll all be coming on the train together on your way back here?"

"Yes sir" Sirius replied.

"Alright. Well, I need to go to the ministry now, I'll probably be back in time for dinner tomorrow. So, until then, you two have a good Christmas." Dumbledore said, placing his right hand on Dominique's head, looking at her affectionately. He smiled at her, and then turned to Sirius and extended his hand out to him. Sirius looked at him with slight shock, but he quickly recovered as he took his hand and shook it. Dumbledore smiled at the two and nodded slightly as he turned to go back to his office.

When Dumbledore was out of sight, Dominique turned to Sirius, grinning at him.

"He shook your hand! You know what that means?"

"Er"—

"He likes you!!"

Sirius grinned. "He approves of me?"

"Yea, I think so!" Dominique said as wrapped her arms around Sirius. "Not that I'm surprised or anything…" she added quickly.

"Uh huh, sure…" Sirius replied with a smile. "Come on, it's getting late…we need to get to the owlry to send our gifts…and then, we're going back to our common room, and you're gonna sing carols to me…"

"Am I?" Dominique asked with a laugh.

"Yes…and then we'll fall asleep at the couch, and wake up on Christmas day…"

"Sounds like a plan to me…" Dominique said as they headed back to the common room to wrap presents.

Kierra stirred in her bed. She could feel the rays of sunlight pouring through her bedroom window. "mmm…Christmas morning…" she murmured as she rolled over onto her side. "AAAHH!!!!"

Kierra quickly sat up in her bed, only to find a tall young man with brown hair and brown eyes, standing over her with a pillow in hand, and grinning at her.

"Harvey, you ass!!" Kierra shouted as she rubbed her eyes.

"And merry Christmas to you too!" Harvey replied, laughing.

"ugh…yea yea, merry Christmas…"

"You don't sound very merry…"

"Am I ever merry in the morning?"

"Hmm good point…well, that sucks for you, mom and dad are already up and getting breakfast ready, so get up!" Harvey replied as he pulled Kierra's comforters off of her, causing her to groan.

"Who invented big brothers anyway?" Kierra asked as she rolled out of bed.

"Same guy who invented little sisters, I bet…let's get him, the two of us, eh?" Harvey asked, patting Kierra on the head, crumbling up her hair.

"I don't get how Janine can stand you…"

"Well, little sis…seeing as how she's my wife, I'm nicer to her…"

"I bet you are"—

"Kerry!!!!" Just as Kierra came out of her bedroom, she was jumped by her sister-in-law, Janine. "Merry Christmas sweety!!" she squealed.

"You too!" Kierra giggled as she hugged Janine.

"Geez, I tell her merry Christmas and she calls me an ass!" Harvey exclaimed sarcastically as he stalked past the girls.

"All in good humor, Harvey!" Kierra said with a grin, as she and Janine followed him down the stairs to the living room.

"Ah, morning dear!" Mrs. Nakofsky said, coming out of the kitchen.

"Presents!!"

"Kierra! Breakfast first!"

"Aw, muuuumm"—

"Don't mum me"—

"Hey look!" Harvey reached under the tree and picked up an elegantly wrapped box. "This one's from Kierra's new boyfriend! Remus Lupin…wonder how long this guy will last…"

"oooh mum please, I wanna see what he got me!" Kierra said excitedly as she ran into the living room.

Mrs. Nakofsky sighed and turned her head towards the kitchen door to beckon her husband. "Jack! You're daughter's ripping apart her presents as I speak! We'll eat breakfast after the gift opening, ok?"

Just then Mr. Nakofsky came out of the kitchen. "I told you she'd go wild if she knew she got a present from that Lupin boy…he's the same one she had a crush on last year, isn't he?"

"Yep!" Harvey answered for Kierra, who was reading Remus's card. "Wonder how she got him to go out with her…probably snuck some love potion in his pumpkin juice or something…hey what'd he get you?" he asked, turning to Kierra, who had just opened the box Remus had given her.

"A chess set…" Kierra said, with a grin, as she pulled the wizard's chess set out of its box.

"A chess set??" Harvey exclaimed as he peered over her shoulder, "wow, that's a nice set…all marble…wait, you don't even know how to play! Here, I'll keep it if you want"—

"I know how to play!" Kierra protested as she held the set away from her brother.

"Oh yea? What piece is that?" he asked, pointing to a random white piece.

"Er…I know…that's the uh…the cardinal?"

The whole family burst into laughter.

"Bishop, dear…" Mr. Nakofsky said.

"Oh! That's what I meant"—

"Why on earth would he give you a chess set"—

Kierra grinned as she remembered the chess match between Remus and James the night before they left Hogwarts.

"I think they've got some inside joke…the smile says it all…" Mrs. Nakofsky said.

"Really?" Janine asked, raising an eyebrow as Kierra. "So, I bet this whole chess thing is some sort of double talk they have…Is it like, when you say you're playing chess, you really mean you're gonna"—

"No!!" Kierra exclaimed, turning pink, but still smiling broadly.

"Then??"

"Nothing!!"

"Come on!"

"He's really good at chess…so maybe he just got this for me so I can practice…to play against him later…"

Janine snorted. "Yea, right…if chess is a simile for"—

"Hey, big brother's still here! Don't wanna hear it!!" Harvey shouted.

"Which reminds me," Mrs. Nakofsky said, "Kierra, remind me to have a talk with you before you go to Remus's house"—

Kierra rolled her eyes. "Mum, I really don't wanna know about the birds and the bees…"

"Honey!"

"What, that's what you wanted to talk about, right? Oh come off it mum, everything's gonna be fine…anywhos, his parents will be there, not to mention Sirius and Dominique…so we're never gonna be alone, don't worry…" she said with exasperation.

"Oh alright…" Mrs. Nakofsky said with a sigh. "Well, you've opened your present from your dearly beloved…now let's go eat breakfast and then we can open the rest of the presents.."

"ok!" Kierra said as she replaced the chess set on the coffee table.

"Hey there's something on the queen…" Harvey said, picking up the white queen piece. "woah…"

"What??" Kierra asked, grabbing the queen from Harvey. "Woaaah…."

Inscribed on the queen piece, with elegant cursive handwriting, was "Queen Kierra"

"That's so sweet!!" Janine exclaimed as she peered over Kierra's shoulder.

Kierra sighed, but was taken out of her utopia by her brother, who sniggered. "This Remus kid is something else…spending a fortune on an idiot like you…"

On the day of New Years Eve, Dominique and Sirius walked excitedly towards Dumbledore's office.
"Gosh, I can't wait to see his parents! You know how long it's been?" Dominique said excitedly.

"I think it was eleven years, this morning…" Sirius said with a smile.

"Oh..sorry, I keep talking about it, don't I?" Dominique said, smiling sheepishly. Sirius laughed. "Yes, but that's alright…eleven years is a long time…I see them pretty regularly in the summer…we all go to each other's houses all the time over the summer…well, except mine of course, God knows, I'd never want any of my friends to meet my parents…" Sirius said with a shudder.

Dominique smiled slightly. "It's alright…I had the same thing..I'd never introduce anyone to my family…well, except that one boyfriend I had in my 5th year…he had a yacht…so I thought that'd make my parents happy…"

"What's a yacht?"

"It's a fancy sort of boat…muggles like to own them, as a sort of..mark of wealth…"

"Really…"

"Yea…well, not everyone owns a yacht for that reason…but quite a few do…"

"so this bloke was muggle?"

"Yea…I met him over the summer…at my mum's country club…and please don't make me explain what those are…"

Sirius grinned. "Ok, I won't…so did your parents like the kid?"

"Yea, they loved him…"

"Did you?"

"Am I still with him?"

Sirius laughed. "Why'd you end up dumping him?"

"He was just so incredibly dull…of course…that wasn't good enough reason to dump him for my parents…they grounded me for a week…"

"You're kidding…"

"Nope! See, my parents were kind of friends with his parents, and so when I dumped him, it sort of severed ties between our families. Big loss…" Dominique said sarcastically.
"Ah…do you know Dumbledore's password?" Sirius asked, as they reached the entrance to his office.

"Oh right…pumpkin pasty…"

"Ah…afternoon…Are you two all ready?" Dumbledore asked as they stepped into his office.

"Yes, sir" Dominique and Sirius said together.

"Well, I sent an owl to the Lupin family yesterday, requesting them to allow you two to arrive via portkey, instead of by floo…I'm expecting an important visit from the minister via floo, and I don't want the network getting mixed up if you're all traveling at once. So," Dumbledore reached from his shelf a long-stemmed silver goblet. "hold onto this. And on my count, it should transport you to the Lupins' residence….ready?"

Sirius and Dominique nodded as they each took hold of the goblet.

"Three, two…one..and off you go"—

Dumbledore's voice faded away as the office around them disappeared. Seconds later, a sunny, warm living room appeared in front of them.

Dominique and Sirius looked around. At first, the house seemed completely empty, as it was silent. Then suddenly…

"Mrs. Lupin!!!"

Sirius wheeled around, to see Dominique running up to a tall woman with curly brown hair, who bore a forest green apron over her crème colored dress, and hugging her.

"Oh, Dominique!!" Mrs. Lupin exclaimed, as she hugged her, "Look how you've grown! Last time I saw you, you were about three feet tall!! Oh, and look how beautiful you've become! Remus wasn't exaggerating in his letters to us then, was he?"

"Someone mention my name?"

Everyone turned around to see Remus coming down the stairs. "I thought I heard mum screaming…" he said with a grin. "Glad you made it here safely…" he said, nodding to Dominique, and then to Sirius. Mrs. Lupin turned around, remembering that Sirius too, had just come in.

"Oh, Sirius!! Goodness, I'm sorry!! It was just so shocking to see Dominique"—

"It's ok, Mrs. Lupin!" Sirius said with a grin, accepting a hug from her. "You see enough of me in the summer anyway, it's perfectly alright."

Mrs. Lupin smiled. "Make yourselves comfortable kids, I just need to get back to the kitchen and finish lunch. It'll be ready in a few minutes!"

"Do you need any help mum?" Remus asked.

"No, don't worry about it sweety, you just sit with your friends..." Mrs. Lupin replied as she disappeared into the kitchen.

"Aw, always a good boy…helping his mummy…" Sirius laughed.

Remus grinned. "I try…"

"Er, Remus, where's the bathroom? I need to freshen up"

"Down the hall, first door on your right…" Remus answered.

"Great, thanks…" Dominique said, leaving the living room.

"So…I didn't know you fancied Dominique…" Sirius said when he heard the bathroom door shut.

"What??" Remus said, sitting up quickly.

"Your mum said you wrote in your letters to her that Dominique was beautiful"—

"Sirius! That was in the beginning of the year, when I first saw her after all those years! I wrote my parents telling them I met Dominique, and how she'd grown…and stopped wearing pigtails…and that she's become very beautiful…I meant it as an…observation of how she's changed…not as…'oh, she's beautiful, I'm in love with her'…" Remus said, assuring himself that it wasn't a lie. After all, he wasn't exactly in love with her…just…slightly attracted, that's all…

"Oh…ok…alright, that's fine…cause I was about to say…you've got Kierra"—

Remus smiled. "and I couldn't be happier with anyone else…don't worry…no one's after your girlfriend…I mean, who would wanna answer to you?"

"Very true…" Sirius replied with a grin. "Oy!!" Sirius and Remus both backed away from the fireplace as an explosion of fire, smoke, and soot shot through it, followed by a loud, crashing sound of glass.

"Oh my!!" Dominique had just walked into the living room, which was now covered with soot, "What happened?"

Mrs. Lupin came running out of the kitchen. "What happened??" she exclaimed, waving her arms around in the air to clear the smoke. Just as she took another step forward, a loud crunching noise came from under her crème colored heels. "Oh!! My grandmother's vase!!"

As the smoke finally cleared up, Mrs. Lupin saw a girl with brown hair, struggling to pull her trunk upright, but she stopped when the entire room went silent.

"uh…" Kierra smiled nervously. "you must be Mrs. Lupin!"

Mrs. Lupin nodded.

Kierra looked down at the floor that surrounded Mrs. Lupin and found the broken glass. "And that…must have been really expensive…"

Mrs. Lupin nodded again.

'Maybe I'll have better luck with Mr. Lupin…' Kierra thought miserably…