Awakening
Chapter Ten: Holiday Headaches
By Star*dust
A/N: I just like to take this time to briefly update you on the current state of this story. I'd say, as of right now, as far as length, we're entering the final stretch, (but I assure you, it will be quite a stretch) as far as major events and plot revelations we're MAYBE halfway. I've outlined (with the bare minimum) the next three chapters which will take us up nearly to the end.if all goes to plan; which is seldom does. So, that's where that stands.
Now, onto to more specific things. A summary.
SUMMARY: So, last chapter. Kirsten really is Sirius's daughter and it takes her a little while to get used to the idea. But, Sirius's Christmas gift of diamond earrings certainly helps her down the road to acceptance. Sierra officially becomes a member of the Alliance when she is appointed special tasks under Bill's direction. This all being a part of his mysterious plan. Sirius attempts to give Angie a house for Christmas and is thoroughly shot down as a result. Kerri, Kirsten's friend from America, arrives, along with her boyfriend. She proves to be quite the character openly opinionated about Kirsten's break-up with Harry Potter and certain other aspects of Hogwarts. And, most importantly we left in the middle of a scene. Sirius and Angie just got into a serious argument about the house and about Kirsten. Sirius stormed off to the bathroom while Angie tossed back a few drinks. She was just hearing the awful sound of.well, I'll let you read and find out.
* * *
"You know, they have help for that kind of addiction," Mr. Joshua Thompson said with an evil smirk. Angie set the glass down with such a force the liquid splashed all over and the glass sounded as if it had cracked. "No need to get violent," Josh commented, his lip curling even more.
"What the hell are you doing here? In case you hadn't noticed, Christmas was two days ago, and your daughter went without a present from her father," Angie snapped, advancing on her slimy ex-husband.
"I thought she'd want to spend Christmas with her mother," Josh replied smoothly.
"How considerate," Angie said with awful sarcasm. Josh had started walking around the room inspecting it. "Excuse you, I don't think I gave you permission to enter!" Josh shrugged her off and continued to run his hand over the furniture and pick apart her belongings with his eyes. Angie's heart stopped as she had a horrible vision of him going to inspect the bathroom where Sirius was currently hiding.
Josh stopped at the table and tilted back the bottle to inspect it. "What's the occasion, Angela? Drinking to the anniversary of when you killed our baby?" Angie's mouth dropped open in shock.
"YOU BASTARD!" She screamed and punched him squarely on the jaw. Josh staggered back into the table holding his now bleeding lip. "How dare you bring that up!?"
"You little bitch!" He shouted at her, attempting to stand upright again.
"Don't ever come back here," Angie warned in a low growling voice.
"I won't come back, but you haven't seen the last from me!" Josh warned slamming the door behind him. Sirius immediately burst from the bathroom and went straight to her.
"Angie," He cried, taking her by each arm. She was biting her lip in an attempt to stop crying.
"Go and warn Kirsten that Josh is here. She hates surprises. Please.I want to be alone for a minute," Angie gasped, trying to free herself from him. Sirius fixed her with a look and then let her go. He grabbed the invisibility cloak and swept from the room.
Immediately both hands flew to Angie's face and she sunk to the floor sobbing. Punching Josh was not going to help her case in the least.
* * *
Ron, Kirsten, Kerri, and Matt were just emerging from one of the greenhouses when Sirius caught them up. Being absolutely silent he tugged on the back of Kirsten's robes. She immediately whipped around. Kerri paid no attention, but Ron noticed. "Kirsten, a word," Sirius voice whispered from nowhere. Kirsten gave Ron a meaningful look before speaking.
"I think I left something in the greenhouse. Go on ahead, I'll catch you up," She said to Kerri with a dazzling smile. But, before she could go Kerri screeched and grabbed Kirsten's arms.
"Oh my God! Kirsten you're not wearing eye-liner!"
"Wow, really?" Kirsten asked, a little surprised herself. She shrugged. "Be right back."
Kerri stood open-mouthed and Ron grabbed her arm and propelled her in the opposite direction. Just as Kirsten reached the greenhouse the door opened, seemingly of its own accord. Once inside Sirius ripped off his invisibility cloak.
"A thousand apologies, my dear," Sirius said hastily. "But your mother insisted I come warn you. Josh is in town and he will probably try to see you."
"Josh! I don't want to see him!" Kirsten said in a rather loud voice.
"I know, but you have to act like you normally would. We haven't exactly figured out how to explain to him that you are not his daughter."
"You mean I have to call him father?" Sirius nodded gravely. "Why can't he just crawl back into the cave he was born in?" Kirsten whined. Sirius grinned.
"Listen, I don't know what sort of a mood he'll be in your mother just punched him-"
"PUNCHED him?" Kirsten interrupted. Sirius roared with laughter.
"It was the greatest thing Kirsten! All at once she punched him right in the kisser! He's got a bloody lip and everything!" Kirsten's eyes grew wide.
"Oh my God."
"Anyway, you'd better go. I just wanted to warn you."
"Thanks.Sirius," Kirsten said, hesitating, not very sure what to do. "I'll see you later," She said hastily and ducked out of the greenhouse.
* * *
When Sirius returned he found Angie still on the floor sobbing. He let his cloak fall to the floor and immediately got down beside her. "It's going to be all right, Angela. He got what he deserved."
"NO!" She shouted. "He's right. Sixteen years ago today.." And she started sobbing again.
"My God," Sirius said, remembering what Josh had said. "What happened? I didn't know you had another child."
"I didn't! Oh God, Sirius. December, sixteen years ago was only two months after Halloween, after everything happened. We'd only just arrived in the United States."
"What happened, Angela?"
"I couldn't do it. I." She had started to shake and Sirius tried to pull her closer. "No! Don't you understand? Halloween was our wedding night!"
"Oh Christ," Sirius whispered, his eyes widening with realization. "What happened?" Sirius demanded again.
"I didn't want to live, Sirius. And I didn't want anything you created to survive. I couldn't go through with it. I tried to kill myself again. But Josh was there. He.I killed the baby, but.that's when he proposed to me. And. oh God. I killed the baby. I killed our baby!" Angie was crying and shaking and looked a mess.
"Angie, it happened in the past. Leave it in the past," Sirius said firmly.
"But that innocent child." She argued.
"What are you going to do about it now?" Sirius shouted. "It's done. There is no sense in all this. What can you do?"
"Oh Sirius, I'm so sorry." She cried into his shoulder.
"It was all for the best. You would not have been able to bear it. Angela, enough of this. You can't do anything about it. You cannot go on about this. It's been sixteen years; that's long enough. You have to let it go otherwise it will destroy you. Angie, I know. I spent too many years in Azkaban with nothing to do but hate myself. You have to stop this, now." He gave her a comforting kiss but that only made her cry harder.
* * *
"Kirsten, for goodness sakes, I can't hardly stand to look at you. Come here," Kerri declared when she had returned. She grabbed Kirsten by the shoulders and took out her eye pencil. She cleared Kirsten's hair away and let out a startled gasp.
"Kirsten! Where did you get the diamonds?" Kerri asked, her eyes wide as she looked at Kirsten's diamond earrings.
"Oh..my..my.father, gave them to me for Christmas." Kirsten said, glancing at Ron who looked a little pale.
"Oh, see? Josh is good for something," Kerri said with a laugh. "Look up," She commanded.
"Do you ever go in there?" Matt asked pointing toward the Forbidden Forest. Ron explained, glad to have a change of subject and glad to look away from Kerri. To Ron, the eye lining process was a little nerve-racking. The pencil was so close to the eye!
As they walked along Kirsten leaned over to Ron and whispered in his ear. "Thank you for doing this."
"What did he want?" Ron whispered back, referring to Sirius.
"Josh is here."
"As in.?" Ron left his sentence hanging. Kirsten nodded. "Oh."
* * *
"Kirsti," Josh smiled widely at his.well, he thought she was his daughter anyway. Kirsten rolled her eyes to keep herself from laughing. He obviously hadn't had time to repair his busted lip. It was odd to see such an obvious flaw in the man who worked more on his appearance than his marriage, family, or relationships in general. She found it highly amusing, but filed it away for a good laugh later with Ron and with.well.Sirius had thought it was pretty funny.
"I told you I don't like it when you call me that," she said sullenly. She couldn't look him in the eye. It just didn't seem.right. He wasn't even her real father, why did he have to come and intrude in her life?
"I'm sorry," he replied easily. Kirsten refrained from rolling her eyes. She was tired of empty apologies from him. No one who was truly sorry would apologize so quickly and so often. "I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas!"
"It's the twenty-seventh, Dad," she replied, forcing the last word out. It tasted sour.
"I know," he replied. "I thought you'd like to spend Christmas with your mother-" Damn right, Kirsten thought bitterly, with my mother and my REAL father, who cares a hell of a lot more than you! "And I've been working you know. My job is important, Kirsti.Kirsten, and it requires a lot of my time."
"I understand," she replied. There was an awkward silence.
"Look honey," he began again, as if there was nothing uncomfortable about the situation, "I know I haven't done the best job of staying in touch, but communication is a two way street-"
"The last time you sent me a letter you were threatening to disown me for breaking up with Harry Potter," she reminded him flatly.
"Yes, well I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings," he said, and she gritted her teeth. She hated it when he talked to her as if she were a small and somewhat slow child. "But I was just looking out for your best interests-" Bullshit, she thought without much feeling, you were looking out for YOUR best interests, "And Harry Potter is quite a catch. You are back with him now.?"
"NO!" she cried, frustrated. It was as if everyone from her life back in America didn't understand her anymore. Had she really changed that much? "I'm going out with Ron. Period, end of story. And I LIKE him, Dad, so leave off! Harry and I are just friends and that's all we're ever going to be!"
"I've read about this somewhere," Josh commented, almost to himself. "You're pulling away from what you really want in order to rebel against me, that's what it is. Honey, there's no reason to do that. I know you're a teenager and you have these little rebellious mood swings-"
"No, that's NOT what it is!" she cried, "I really, really like Ron, okay? Just.leave me alone about it, alright?"
"Alright, Kirsti, if you say so," he replied apologetically, and she let out a miniature growl of frustration. To keep herself from adding a black eye to his bloody lip, compliments of her mother, Kirsten reverted to an old habit and pulled her hair back and out of her face, breathing deeply.
"So I was going to.where did you get the diamonds?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as they landed on the gems. Kirsten bit back bitter words, which included revealing Sirius as her paternal unit. Of course he would notice the diamonds. Hermione and Harry hadn't noticed YET, but still Kerri and Josh had immediately spotted them. Josh was just afraid Angie might have some financial stability after all, Kirsten thought savagely, not knowing how very near to the mark she was. She quickly devised a new lie, seeing as she couldn't blame her father as she had done before. She smiled as something even better occurred to her.
"Ron got them for me for Christmas," she replied, showing them off with a dazzling smile. "Aren't they simply divine?" she asked, in a fair imitation of Kerri and her mother.
"They look well," he replied stiffly. "Well, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas.or Happy Christmas as they say here." She rolled her eyes. He was always jumping on the bandwagon, always paying attention to what everyone else did and doing the same.
"Happy." she stopped. She was NOT going to ride the bandwagon like HE did. "Hanukkah, Merry New Year, Joyous Christmas, and all that other bullshit," she said instead, pleased with herself. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have guests."
She turned on heel, flipped her hair, and left his presence as coolly as he had left her life.
* * *
"Mom!" Kirsten called entering Angie's room. "Oh, hi," She said, upon sight of Sirius. They were seated at the table, a pile of papers between them.
"What's up?" Angie asked noticing Kirsten looked somewhat distressed.
"Oh, I just had a horribly painful rendez-vous with dear old 'dad'," Kirsten explained, complete with little finger quotation marks. She collapsed onto the couch with a loud sigh.
"I don't think I can stand it much longer." She commented. "By the way, his lip looked awful." And with that, she started to laugh uncontrollably. Sirius grinned at Angie who rolled her eyes.
"What did he want anyway?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, the usual load of bullshit," Kirsten commented earning quite the Look from her mother. "I've been so busy.blah, blah, blah, my job is so important, you understand. Blah, blah, blah. You look so lovely today, darling. Blah, blah, blah. I love you with all my heart, blah, blah, blah. He makes me sick," She said, sticking out her tongue.
"Let's stop talking about him then," Angie said reasonably. Sirius and Angie exchanged a meaningful look.
"Hey, are we ever going to go house hunting. I mean, I'm on break. I have all this free time just lying around." Kirsten said hopefully.
"Well.actually." Angie said hesitatingly. Sirius turned to look at Angie and grinned. "Um.we sort of have a house already."
"WHAT!? You bought a house without me?" Kirsten said, suddenly sitting bolt upright. Angie laughed.
"Well, actually, Sirius bought it. It was my Christmas present," Angie explained.
"A house?"
"A house," Angie repeated.
"Oh. My. God. Why didn't you tell me?" Kirsten cried. "What are we sitting around here for? I want to see it!"
So, the three took the trip to Hogsmeade and went to see the house. Kirsten gasped and squealed and skipped all the way up the walk to the front door. Sirius did the honors of opening the door and Kirsten took off inside exclaiming all way.
Both were chuckling as Sirius shut the door behind them. He turned to Angie, took her in his arms and kissed her. "I'll never get used to this," He muttered, before speaking directly to her. "I knew you'd take the house."
"I still say a house is no Christmas present." Sirius shrugged and took her hand. They went off in pursuit of the sound of Kirsten's voice.
* * *
So, Sirius spent the next two days helping Angie move into her new house. On December thirtieth, right before Kerri was to leave, Sirius announced that he had to leave as well. "I'll be back as soon as possible. But I do have business running. all over the world, currently I really ought to know what's going on."
"OK," Angie said, laughing. "You're free to go and to come as you please."
"Thank you," Sirius replied.
"Where will you be?" Angie asked much more seriously.
"I'm going to Paris. That's where headquarters are located."
"Headquarters?"
"Well, there are headquarters in London too but they generally try to keep me out of that operation," Sirius continued, purposefully trying to confuse her. "Don't trouble yourself, love. It's complicated and not very important to you. I'll be back soon."
And he left without even kissing her good-bye.
* * *
"Kirsten, don't you have ANYTHING better to do?" Kerri drawled in a fair imitation of her mother.
"You said you wanted to look around," Kirsten replied, shrugging.
"Well, yeah, but it all looks the same after, like, the first five minutes," she complained. Ron totally ignored the exchange, continuing to lecture about the architecture of the astronomy tower. He was pulling it all out of his arse, seeing as he knew nothing about the school's architecture. However he was annoying Kerri and no one had any idea that he was clueless, so everything was going to plan. Matt was hanging on to Ron's every word.
"Wow," he muttered in awe, "I never knew Helga Hufflepuff invented flying buttresses."
"We here at Hogwarts are very proud of the way our architecture has influenced history," Ron replied seriously. He was dearly hoping that Matt was just messing around.
"Kirsten!" Kerri whined.
"Fine," Kirsten sighed, "Lunch is in half an hour anyway."
"--The ornamental moldings developed by Napoleon-Lunch?" Ron interrupted himself hopefully.
"We have to go to the common room first," Kirsten reminded him. "Harry and Hermione will want to know where we are."
"Harry?" Kerri brightened considerably. "Harry will be there?"
"Even heroes have to eat sometimes," Ron drawled. Kerri ignored the sarcasm, pulling on Kirsten's sleeve.
"Come ON!" she exclaimed, bouncing off with a skip in her step that spelled trouble for Harry.
"I'm tempted to let her get us lost," Ron muttered out of the corner of his mouth. Kirsten stifled a giggle, but made sure they made it to the common room without incident.
"Where is he?" Kerri demanded impatiently the moment they stepped into the room.
"Who?" Matt asked, confused.
"Harry Potter!" she exclaimed, too excited to be annoyed.
"Oh my God," Hermione moaned from the sofa. Ron jumped. He hadn't noticed her presence. "Kirsten, could you please make it shut up?"
"Pardon me?" Kerri looked Hermione up and down in disgust. "Look honey, when you learn how to dress and look presentable then you can make a comment, alright?"
"If I had the slightest amount of respect for you that might sting," Hermione replied in a bored voice, "But I don't, so you're really just wasting your breath."
"You poor thing," Kerri sighed to Kirsten, "Having to deal with this bitch for so long-"
"Excuse me?" a voice from the boy's staircase interrupted. Harry stepped down, looking at Kerri with apprehension. She flashed a dazzling smile and sauntered toward him, holding out her hand.
"You must be Harry Potter," she said, her voice dripping with honey, "I'm Kerri Evangelista, a friend of Kirsten's from America. I've read all about you and I so admire your bravery," she fluttered her eyelashes coyly.
"Did you just call Hermione a bitch?" Harry asked, ignoring her speech and not taking her hand.
"Well.in the nicest possible way," Kerri assured him. "It's a girl thing, you understand."
"No, I don't understand," Harry replied rudely, sweeping by her. "Kirsten.and who is this?" he asked gesturing to Matt.
"Matt is Kerri's boyfriend," Kirsten replied miserably. This was not going at all well.
"Good to meet you.Matt," Harry shook his hand. "Are we eating or what?" he asked.
"Of course we're eating," Hermione rolled her eyes, "Why do you have to make it all dramatic? Don't get yourself all worked up over Kirsten's silly friends."
"Indeed," Ron nodded emphatically. "Let's go!" The three climbed through the portrait hole.
"Can you believe that?" Kerri asked in shock, "That was SO rude.it must be that Granger girl's fault."
With a sigh, Kirsten led her. "friends" down to lunch. Harry was already surrounded by Hermione and Seamus, so Kerri was forced to sit between her very own boyfriend and Kirsten. Ron had saved seats for the three of them, and from the look on Hermione's face she highly disapproved.
Harry and Ron were absorbed in a spirited conversation concerning Ravenclaw's new Quidditch captain. Ron paused long enough to greet Kirsten and nod to her companions, then proceeded to ignore them. Kirsten wasn't offended. She wished she could do the same.
It didn't take Kerri long to figure out that Harry was not in right frame of mind to be seduced. The American blonde had lost all its charm the first time around, Kirsten thought cynically. Kerri tried to interrupt their conversation several times (luckily Dean Thomas had taken pity on poor Matt and they were already discussing a mutual hatred of Herbology), but every time she cut in Ron would raise his voice. Only once was Ron unable to come to Harry's rescue, and in that case Hermione took it upon herself to remind them all about the essay due in three days which neither of the boys had started.
The table fell relatively silent, seeing as almost everyone who was normally around had gone home for the holidays. Matt and Dean were still chatting amiably and two second years at the end of the table were paying them no attention. Harry and Ron managed to use the homework as an excuse not to talk to anyone. Hermione was studying Kerri with a look Kirsten recognized. It boded ill for poor Kerri.
"Oh my God," she squealed out of nowhere, and Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust. Kerri didn't notice, "Look, Kirsten, it's Draco! The hot guy from the party, remember?"
Ron mumbled an expletive under his breath but kept from saying anything out loud. Kirsten stifled a giggle.
"Who's that with him?" Kerri continued, in an almost pouty voice. "Kirsten, don't tell me that bratty little redhead wench is REALLY his girlfriend? Honestly, he could do SO much better with a figure like that-"
"That WENCH," Ron interrupted fiercely, his eyes flashing, "Happens to be my sister. And yes, unfortunately, she is his girlfriend. I wish you would go over there and break them up. You and Malfoy would be a perfect match and my sister could find someone worthy of her time."
"God, she's just you're sister!" Kerri argued, rolling her eyes, "It's not that big of a deal."
"Maybe not to you," Ron seethed.
"Calm down, Ron," Hermione interrupted, "It's just Kirsten's annoying little American friend with absolutely no emotions except disdain and lust. I wouldn't wish her even on Malfoy." Her voice was even but her hands were clenched, and Kirsten couldn't tell which upset her more: the fact that Kerri brought up Malfoy and its effect on Ron, or Kerri's insulting remarks toward Ginny. Either way, Kirsten's goal was to keep the two as far apart as possible.
"Wish me on Malfoy all you like," Kerri replied, ignoring the rest of her speech as her eyes followed Draco hungrily. "I'd give him something that stupid little bitch couldn't even dream of." Hermione's eyes narrowed, Harry opened his mouth, and Ron turned an odd shade of purple. One could only guess what poor Matt was thinking. Kirsten decided it was time to cut in.
"I'm done," she announced loudly, interrupting Harry's indignant syllable. "Come on, Kerri, I want to show you my mom's rooms and stuff." She grabbed Kerri's arm and dragged her away. Matt followed, parting with a fond farewell to Dean.
* * *
The common room was suffocating. Miss Kerri Evangelista and all her high- nosed snotty-ness was driving Hermione to the brink of doing something disastrous. After she'd sat through the blood chilling laughs and the shallow and corrosive comments for over an hour she couldn't stand it any longer.
She mumbled some excuse about Head Girl duties and rushed out of the common room, putting as much distance between her and THAT GIRL as possible. Before long she found herself in the familiar hallway, not at all surprised.
She ran her hand along the wall and easily found the switch that opened the door she'd found years ago. The room was large and bare, but it always contained a warmth and an indescribable feeling of power. She would go there to be alone, where no one would find her.
She closed the door behind her before lighting the nearest torch. What she saw literally took her breath away. This was not her familiar room of bare wood and concrete pillars. This was the most richly decorated room she had ever encountered.
Thick and heavy tapestries hung from every wall. The floor was covered with the most intricate oriental rugs. The walls and bare surfaces were covered with books and papers and all sorts of countless other things.
It didn't take Hermione long to realize what this room must have been. It was Rowena Ravenclaw's private chambers. It was like an archaeological phenomenon. There was even a fire blazing in the huge grate.though Hermione hadn't come near it.
The puzzling question was why had it suddenly shown its riches to her tonight? She had come to this very room dozens of times over the years and never had it contained anything more than torches on the wall and bare floors. Why had it suddenly come to life?
~*~
Hermione stayed in that room for hours going over every detail. Examining every little thing she could, but not daring to touch anything. She discovered maps of the castle and the surrounding grounds which pointed out paths and corridors that were either nonexistent or completely forgotten. She found books in languages she didn't think even Professor Star would recognize. She found personal letters and half-finished diary entries, and a beautiful blue cloak draped across one of the chairs.
Hermione lost track of time as she absorbed every detail of the room into her memory. One would think that mysteriously discovering oneself in a lavishly decorated and previously unknown room would be unnerving, but Hermione found the place oddly comforting. It seemed so very lived it, with various books sprawled about open to dog-eared pages, yellowed parchment with now illegible notes half-finished nearby with the quill lying across the heading.
More eerie was the feeling of familiarity. She had been in the room a dozen times when it was empty, and she didn't even recognize this as the same room. Yet she felt as if she had been there a dozen times before, as if SHE were the one who was taking notes on the books written in languages she didn't understand. It was as if she had seen pictures, or read about the room she was now standing in.she'd never been there, not really, but nothing she saw surprised her. Everything was exactly where it should be.
Hermione had always felt a secret sympathy with Rowena Ravenclaw.not that it was a difficult jump in logic to make. Who would understand Hermione's "bookworm" syndrome better than the woman who founded Hogwarts' school for the intelligent and witty? Hermione had often wondered WHY she'd been put in Gryffindor. The hat had seriously considered Ravenclaw, but after a while it had chuckled and muttered something about "true self" and called out her destined house. It was an enigma she had pondered over from time to time, especially lately seeing as it seemed she had done nothing but hound Harry, Ron, and Kirsten about their homework all year.
She didn't think about Ron, Kirsten, Kerri, Ginny, Draco, or even Harry after that one thought the rest of the time she was in the room. For some reason they just didn't seem relevant. Only the room was relevant, and everything in it. One of her most interesting finds was a small silver ring. It was left lying on the desk on top of yet another unfinished parchment.
The writing on the parchment had once been English, but the script was messily smeared and now faded. She squinted, but only deciphered a few of the words: "metal" and "discovery." It seemed to be notes on the ring itself. Hermione studied it thoughtfully.
It didn't seem to be anything to get excited about, just a plain silver circle with a small eagle attached. Granted, it was beautiful. It sparkled softly in the flickering firelight and the eagle was blue and carefully sculpted by a master craftsman. She couldn't see why Rowena would be taking notes on something obviously made specifically for her, but then again who was Hermione to decipher the brilliant lady's thousand-year-old reasoning? She turned away and started onto something new.
She was afraid to leave when the time came. How could she be sure the room would ever show itself again?
Finally, she decided that if she could never find this room again she had better try and take some proof with her. Because she reasoned, quite accurately, that most people would tell her that she had been dreaming if she couldn't actually show them that the room existed.
So, very cautiously, and with a racing pulse, she picked up the ring. When nothing happened she breathed a sigh of relief. She had been half-expecting the ceiling to collapse and the floor to burst into flames if she touched anything.
She tucked the ring carefully into her robes and left the room.
* * *
Kerri finally went off to bed, dragging Matt along like an obedient puppy dog. Ron was asleep with his eyes open. Kirsten rolled her own tired eyes and poked him. He jumped a little bit and grinned sheepishly at her.
He glanced around and saw that "those bloody Americans" had left and sneaked in a kiss. His hand gently moved across her cheek and down her neck to her necklace. He suddenly turned serious and dropped his hand.
"Kirsten," He began, giving the common room a sweeping look, one more time, to make sure no one was lurking about in the shadows, "With everything that has happened these past two weeks, what with Sirius, and then Christmas and now Kerri. I nearly forgot about." He left his sentence hang and he peered into her eyes, as if searching for her thoughts.
"Dumbledore still doesn't completely know about my necklace, does he?" Kirsten asked, realizing what they had temporarily put off.
"And we still haven't solved the mystery of that room," He reminded.
"Let's think a minute. This "Z" was in that little jewelry box, right?" Ron nodded. "And it was near." Kirsten closed her eyes, trying to see the room but it had been over two weeks.
"Never mind this," Ron said. "Come on, there must be some clue as to what that THING is in that room. We've ditched the sniveling twosome, let's go!" He rose from his chair as he said this and took her by the hand.
"What if we get caught walking around the hallways? Won't that be a lovely bit of gossip? The two of us.out alone.at night."
"Let them think what they want!" Ron declared leading her out of the common room. "But we won't get caught all the same. It's break, there are a significantly reduced amount of students in this school and no one is going to be out patrolling the halls tonight. Besides, it's quite late."
"Whatever," Kirsten said, rolling her eyes and keeping pace with him.
"Almost there," Ron whispered, as if she didn't know this already. Once inside they went straight to the shelf.
"Here is the box," Kirsten declared picking it up. "It seems to be just a box. No lettering on it any where." She remarked turning it over in her hands.
"I say!" Ron exclaimed, pulling his hand back. "That's hot!"
Kirsten discarded her jewelry box and looked into source of trouble. "Look at the words! They're glowing!"
"I can see that! And the parchment is hot. Don't touch it," Ron warned, but she did so anyway.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous. It's perfectly normal," She said, delicately picking up the piece of parchment. "I read this remember. I think it's a love poem. but.look! What on earth?"
With every second the words became more and more like loops of light. The words seemed to blaze now as if they had been written in light.
"Drop it!" Ron ordered, and Kirsten did so immediately. It fell and landed with a resounding clang, like that of metal. They looked down and the parchment had gone blank and the fire had died to a few burning embers.
Ron turned to look at Kirsten, his brow furrowed in extreme puzzlement. His eyes immediately fell on Kirsten's necklace. The "KZ" was faintly glowing as it lay against her chest.
Kirsten glanced down and was slightly startled. "How.?" She began, taking the necklace in her hand and placing it underneath her robes as she always wore it. "What just happened?" She finally found breath to say.
"When I find out, I'll tell you," Ron said, somewhat breathless with bewilderment himself. Sometime later, they made their way back to the common room hand in hand.
They were silent; lost in their own ponderings. But their pulses beat together. There was nothing like a good mystery a person you trust completely by your side. There was a thrilling feeling between them. And, despite the fact that both were utterly confounded; life was good.
* * *
Harry and Hermione skipped breakfast on New Year's Eve. Harry, because he knew it would be Kerri's last meal at Hogwarts and wanted to avoid her so she couldn't attack him or insult any of his friends in her last few hours of opportunity, but Hermione, on the other hand, was simply exhausted after discovering the mysterious room the night before. When she woke up she wrote to Apollo, but didn't mention the room. It didn't seem right.it was her own secret, and not even Sirius could know.
To Kirsten's immense relief Ron stuck it out until the very end. He was up and waiting for her bright and early the next morning, despite their late night. Granted, he didn't look his best. His hair was messy and his shirt was wrinkled. Kirsten thought it was cute. Kerri thought it was disgusting.
Kirsten was becoming more and more anxious to see Kerri on her way. She was wondering what they had in common, really, besides a profound understanding on improving a woman's appearance. Was that what she had really built her six-year friendship with Kerri on?
Britain had done something to change Kirsten in a way that could never be undone. It wasn't the country itself, or Hogwarts, or even the revelations about her past.at least, not mostly. It was the people she had met. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Sirius.all people who had affected her life so deeply she was completely changed in a way she would have never thought possible. Harry and Ron had taught her about first impressions and true romance, Hermione and Ginny had opened her eyes to look past the cover and see the friend beneath a face with no make up and frizzy hair. And Sirius.well, she still wasn't exactly sure where he stood in her life, but he had definitely changed her forever.
She didn't voice any of the thoughts out loud, of course. Her make up was perfect and every straight and silky blonde hair was in place when she and Ron met Kerri and Matt for breakfast. She swallowed an angry reply when Kerri muttered darkly about Kirsten being way too good for Ron. She managed to prevent Kerri from seeing Draco Malfoy and Ginny enter the Hall.
Matt and Ron were talking about Quidditch, a sport with which Matt wasn't all that familiar. Still, did he REALLY believe the losing team had to sacrifice one of its members to the Sun God of Ireland?
Almost the moment the train that carried Kerri and Matt away took off from the station Kirsten turned to Ron. "I love you, I love you, I love you," She said, hugging him tightly, not really caring that her mother was within hearing distance.
"Any particular reason?" Ron inquired, as they started back towards the school.
"Just for putting up with all that. You've been amazing. I think I would have literally gone out of my mind! Was I really as shallow as that when you first met me?" Kirsten asked concernedly.
"Not quite that bad, of course, you don't have the example she does. Did you get a load of her mother?" Ron rolled his eyes.
"As a matter of fact, Marina Evangelista, is a highly educated museum curator, along with her husband. They're just very caught up in high society." Kirsten explained. "Ah well.let's not think about it any more."
"Agreed," Ron said with feeling. Kirsten laughed and gave his hand a squeeze.
"I really do apologize for all dragging you with me all the time." Ron shrugged.
"I rather enjoyed annoying Kerri. And it was amazing how shallow you're old pal Matt was. I couldn't believe all the bullshit he swallowed.willingly."
"Matt is not near as dedicated to his studies as Kerri." Kirsten muttered. "I must remember to apologize to Harry and Hermione.and Ginny and Draco. Do you suppose I should just post a general apology on the message board?" Ron burst out laughing and gave her a kiss that landed somewhere close to her temple.
* * *
Sirius currently had a strong dislike for Remus Lupin. However, he kept his opinions to himself. He had set a date on New Year's Eve with Holly Mischel, his long time off and on girlfriend, and he'd set a date with Angie. Of course, at the time he didn't realize he was going to be out of commission due to the emergence of a full moon. But, instead of explaining this to Angie, he simply ignored it and was going to leave her hanging with the explanation later that he had been extremely sick.
Holly; he simply told her it was full moon and he'd see her some other time. She then decided to go to Sierra's house for the big party that Madame Havairhafpvermin was throwing.
Sirius went to Angie's house. She was in her bedroom when he arrived. He knocked on the door and continued to have a conversation with her through the said door. "Remus sends his deepest regrets but he's laid up. Very sick," Sirius explained.
"Sick? What does he have?" Angie asked, opening the door. Sirius raised his eyebrows. Her make-up was done, her hair was up in some sort of elaborate style, and she was wearing crimson dress robes.
"I'm not sure, but he's feeling pretty under the weather," Sirius replied slowly.
"Well, maybe we should go see him. Take him something." She suggested.
"No! He said he didn't want you to get sick. And he wanted you to go on ahead to Sierra's house and have a good time. Celebrate the coming of the New Year."
"Well, I might as well, I'm dressed for it. Oh, but where are you going to go?" She asked.
He shrugged. "I'll just hang out here."
"No, never mind. I'll stay here too. I didn't really want to go mingle with all the very rich very 'classy' people that I have never met before."
"That's ridiculous. Don't stay here on my account," Sirius argued.
"No, I'd rather. Really. Come on downstairs. You want something to drink?" She asked, clicking down the stairs.
"Sure." He responded, following her into the kitchen. "Here, I'll get it," He insisted reaching for a glass. "What would you like. looks like you have some nice wines here, oh look, some butterbeer, we could make some hot chocolate,"
"Ice water, please," Angie replied.
"Oh." Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Sounds great, I'll have the same." They went out into the living room to have their drinks. She sat down on the couch and he positioned himself in a nearby chair.
She removed her strap-y shoes and tucked her legs underneath her. "So, how's business going?"
"It's actually difficult to say at this stage. As far as I can tell we haven't run into anything disastrous." He leaned over and switched on the Wizarding Wireless Network so some soft music played in the background. "What's Kirsten doing tonight?"
"The Gryffindors have a big celebration in the common room tonight. McGonagall ought to love that," Angie told him. Sirius grinned reminiscently. There had been many things McGonagall 'loved' when he and James were in school.
"How's the unpacking coming?" He asked conversationally.
"It's in the same place it was when you left yesterday morning," Angie replied with a laugh.
"What would you do without me?" He asked playfully.
"It's hard telling." She said softly.
"You want to dance?" Sirius suggested suddenly.
"Dance? Sirius, I haven't danced for--"
"Hey, you've probably danced more recently than I have."
"Well, why not?" Angie said, setting her glass down on the floor. (She didn't have a coffee table yet.) She stood up and took off her outer robes, tossing them carelessly on the couch. Underneath she wore a short sleeve, nicely fitting, crimson dress.
"This is nice," Sirius said, gently moving her around.
"What is?" Angie asked, tipping her head back in order to look into his eyes.
"You're the right height again," He replied, looking down at her with a grin and twinkle in his eye.
"Oh," She said with a laugh. "Amazing," She commented as he twirled her.
"What is?" He questioned.
"Even after all these years you're still light on your feet." Sirius gave her his best smile and began to get even more fancy with the dancing skills. He tipped her back and from her position she remarked, casually.
"Are you hungry?"
"Hungry?" He asked, and they were suddenly standing upright again. "That was abrupt."
"I just thought you might want something to eat."
"Well, actually." Sirius replied.
"I'll get you something then," She said, starting for the kitchen.
"No! Wait!" Sirius cried, taking her hands again; and they tangoed into the next room.
"I'm afraid I don't really have much." Angie said somewhat nervously as she rummaged around in search of something nourishing. "I could fry some eggs. Right now, that's about the only option I'm seeing, so.take it or leave it."
"I'll take it. Sounds wonderful to me," Sirius replied. So, Angie set to work making eggs just the way Sirius liked them. (Without realizing she had remembered that Sirius preferred his eggs scrambled as opposed to over- easy.)
Sirius gradually became aware that she was humming, softly, but harmoniously. To hear music, especially music created by Angie was a very touching experience for Sirius Black. As he leaned against the counter (there weren't yet any chairs in the kitchen.) he quite lost himself down memory lane.
"What is it?" Angie asked, catching sight of him. Sirius smiled and shook his head.
"It's inexplicable," He replied. Angie gave him a quizzical look and then went back to being domestic.
Angie took a plate for herself and passed Sirius a plate. Hopping up onto the counter she instructed Sirius to do the same. "Have a seat," She offered with a smile. Sirius rolled his eyes but, seeing as it was their only option, save the floor, he acquiesced.
"You know, Lily would have hit the fan if I'd ever done something like this in her house," Sirius commented.
"She's probably rolling over in her grave as we speak," Angie agreed with a laugh. "I swear, every time I was at that house Lily was cooking eggs. It's probably a good thing they died young. Otherwise, James would have died of high cholesterol. Probably would have had a heart attack by the time he was thirty."
"Yes, well. You know why she was always cooking eggs? Simply to tease James because he didn't even know how to properly crack an egg. Spoiled rich kid," Sirius added with a laugh.
"I miss them," Angie said with a heavy sigh. Sirius nodded. The tension in the room was growing and they both concentrated on the eggs in order to avoid conversation. "Done?" Angie asked, setting her plate into the sink behind her.
"Oh, yeah. Merci beaucoup! C'est un chef-d'oeuvre!" Sirius said, sliding over to place his plate in the sink too.
"Actually, you don't speak French half bad," Angie commented. "However, I wouldn't call my scrambled eggs a masterpiece; but, to each his own."
"Angela," He said, now dangerously close to her. "I don't think I commented before but you look absolutely stunning in crimson."
"You think so?" She could feel her cheeks burning but she'd be damned before she looked away.
"But I can't say I can choose between this and the sexy black dress you used to wear when we'd double date with James and Lily." Angie found herself giggling.
"I bet you I still have that somewhere.I could never wear it now though," She said, when another thought suddenly occurred to her. "Sirius, what did you do then? I used to wear boots and high heels."
"This is true." Sirius admitted. "But, on those nights I wouldn't kiss you in public.usually. That always came later."
"You make it sound so scandalous."
"But it was scandalous darling!" Angie let out a peal of laughter as he suddenly came much closer. When he finally did kiss her she was leaning back on her elbows and therefore her hands were completely useless.
He pulled back just a little and she studied his face. How different and yet how similar it was to 'back then'. "What happened to us Sirius?" She asked wistfully, her eyes shining with a little moisture.
No words came to him that could even possibly begin to answer that question. Gently, he reached up and brushed some hair away from her eyes and shook his head ever so slightly. His hand came to rest on her cheek.
"God, I've missed you," He said, his voice wrought with emotion. She felt herself sharply intake a breath.
"For so long I've forced myself to forget.and." All at once her lips connected with his for a moment of passion.
"Run away with me, Angela," He whispered, his breath warm against her skin.
"Anywhere," She replied without thinking. He suddenly jerked away from her to look her in the eyes, to determine the truth of that one word reply. "No, I couldn't. Not now." She amended, barely audible, her eyes dropping.
"We'll go, just the two of us. Live on a beach somewhere. We'll only have to come in contact with a limited number of locals. Someplace where they can't find us."
"Somewhere over the rainbow?" She questioned, her eyes suddenly meeting his again. They both starting laughing madly. Sirius sat up again and pulled Angie up beside him.
"You're right," He agreed. "Besides, I couldn't ask you to give up everything.just on my account."
"It's Kirsten," Angie admitted. "I couldn't leave her now. Not when she's just about to graduate and start the rest of her life."
"It's OK, I know," Sirius said, lifting her chin so that he could look into her eyes, which were shining with tears.
"Kiss me Sirius."
Naturally, he obeyed, but he sensed a reluctance or a resistance and stopped almost as soon as he'd began. "We can't Sirius," She said, the first tear falling from her eye. "You just said running away would be the only option. We would never work." He started to speak but she raised her voice. "No, hear me out! It would be too dangerous for you to keep coming back here and when you would be gone, it'd be torture, always worrying. It's not fair, Sirius!"
"I know, I'm only endangering you and Kirsten by being here. And there is Remus to think about," Sirius pointed out. At this point a strangled cry burst forth from Angie.
"I don't want to talk about Remus," She said evenly and kissed him again.
"But," Sirius protested in between kisses. "We should stop."
"I don't care," Angie replied. "I don't care."
They carried on nicely until Angie was lying with her back on the counter and somebody knocked a couple of dishes together with a nice clang. Sirius, supporting himself on his hands, looked down at her and laughed.
She slipped out from under him and onto the floor. "This is getting ridiculous," She muttered, more to herself than to him. "I'm going to go change clothes." And she retreated at rather a more rapid pace than necessary.
* * *
It was entering the final hour for the current year and Sierra was leaving her celebration. Not that she minded much. As she had expected it was a dreadful bore and she had been forced to dress in much nicer clothes than she preferred to wear.
She didn't bother to knock when she arrived at her destination, since she knew he'd be too lazy to open the door anyhow. "Happy new year, Miss Sierra," Bill Weasley called with a heavy tongue as she entered.
"Been drinking, I see," She commented. He simply shrugged.
"Care to join me?" He asked, offering her what appeared to be whiskey.
"Shouldn't we wait to toast to the new year? Since you called me away from party, I'm going to have to ring in the new year here."
"Why wait, time in this year is nearly gone, you're missing opportunities," Bill pointed out. "And besides, you didn't want to stay at that boring international convention of horse-asses otherwise you would have waited to come until after the new year, despite the fact that I warned you we had urgent problems."
"Oh right, those urgent matters." Sierra said with a grin. "I can see you've worked yourself into such a state."
"Oh yes, big problems have we. Drink to forget says I,"
"Why not?" Sierra asked, taking a glass from him. "By the way, I rather think a horse's ass is quite an accurate description of most of the people present at that hideous social gathering!"
"Cheers to that!" Bill declared and they both tipped up their glasses.
* * *
For a few moments Sirius stayed, his elbows resting on the counter and his hands covering his face running over the recent events in his mind. Then, he followed her up to her bedroom.
The door was open and the light was off. A thin strip of illumination shown in from the slowly dying torch in the hallway. Sirius leaned against the doorframe and for a minute, he didn't speak.
"Angela, I apologize for my behavior. I was thinking we shouldn't see each other anymore," He told her as she was approaching him.
"You were thinking." She repeated, a half smile on her face. "And don't apologize," She added.
"I'm sor-" He cut himself off and laughed aloud.
"Maybe not seeing each other would be best," She said in a voice that didn't sound like she agreed at all. "And, I mean, what am I going to tell Remus?"
Quite suddenly Sirius had her in a rather forceful grip and he was pushing her against the wall. He gave her a hasty kiss and then spoke in fair imitation of her even tone. "I don't want to talk about Remus."
She started to laugh but he stopped her mouth with his. She found herself kissing him back with as much passion and intensity as he kissed her. After a rousing interval he lifted her off the ground, still attacking her neck, and made his way toward the bed.
"Sirius, the box!" She warned, but was too late. He tripped and they ended up in a laughing heap on the bed.
"How romantic," Angie said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Whenever I'm around you, I can't help myself. I get so clumsy," He replied, also being sarcastic.
"Reminds me of our wedding night when you ran into the bed, dropped me unceremoniously and started swearing," Angie reminded him.
"Well, it was a rather painful experience for my lower limbs," Sirius pointed out.
"Whatever," She said, adding another eye roll. "Is that.?" She asked suddenly reaching up to where their wedding rings hung on a thin gold chain around his neck.
"Must have fallen out from underneath my shirt," Sirius said, reaching up and undoing the clasp. He pulled the chain out letting the bands fall into Angie's palm.
"Why did you wait so long?" Angie asked in a far off voice, as if she were lost in a memory.
"Wait so long for what?"
"I would say yes to you any time you ask me to marry you, but you had to wait until the last possible moment. Hours before I was supposed to leave for another country. Why didn't you ask me earlier?"
"I had no idea I was going to propose to you that night," Sirius explained.
"Then why did you have the ring?"
"I." Sirius let out a breath of laughter realizing that question was harder to answer than he thought. "Wishful thinking, I suppose."
"How did you get it?"
"What's with the interrogation?" Sirius asked, but Angie simply raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"I did some odd jobs.spent every damned cent I owned, as you recall, I'm sure. I believe I ought to reimburse you for that hotel room from the night of our wedding."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"No, really. I ought to," Sirius insisted.
"I don't even remember the bill."
"Let me do something. How much?"
"Twenty-two galleons and three knuts," Angie replied.
"I thought you said you didn't remember?"
"I lied." There was an elongated pause, then, "I love you, Sirius Black," She whispered.
"Don't; it will only make things worse," Sirius warned his eyes looking away from her.
"What does it matter, we both know it?" He looked back, a thousand words and feelings bubbling up inside of him, but nothing coming to words. His eyes rested on the rings that she was still holding.
"Take this," Sirius said, sliding her father's ring, his wedding band, onto her thumb (the only finger it would fit onto). "And remember that no matter where I am, no matter what happens, even if we decide to never again say it out loud, I love you, and I always have, and I always will, and if you ever need anything.I'm right here," He said, kissing her hand. Silent tears were running down her cheeks but what was even more touching to her, was the fact that Sirius had to look away and wipe his eyes too.
Angie slid her own wedding band back onto the chain and once again fastened it around his neck. Sirius glanced down and then into her eyes. The emotion in both pairs of eyes was intense. Something neither of them had felt for what seemed like an eternity stirred within.
Somewhere downstairs the clock was chiming. They both froze, breathing hard, counting the chimes all the way until twelve.
"Happy New Year," Sirius said after the clock had struck its final note.
"Happy New Year," Angie agreed, sealing the statement with a kiss.
"Careful," He warned. "I haven't done this for over sixteen years."
"It's been over ten for me," She reminded him; to which he shook his head and laughed.
"We're pathetic."
And they proceeded with the activity that they would both severely regret in the morning.
* * *
A/N: Another chapter down! WHOO-HOO!! I apologize for the extreme shortness, but I hope you found the chapter funny and all around enjoyable. Questions, comments, compliments, and anything you want to say would be gladly appreciated in a review. And, by the way, a HUGE thanks is in order to Miss Harmony Slytherin, one of my good friends, who is just as in love with this story as I am. She has been an immense help in the writing process of this story. this chapter in particular. She does read the reviews for this story if you want to say a thank you to her but I'm sure she'd love you forever and ever if you sent her an e-mail (cleo_ofthenyl@hotmail.com) or a review.
I love you all. Thank you for reading and reviewing. Thank you for appreciating what I do and I'll try my best to hold your interest! (!
Cheers!
~Star*dust
A/N: I just like to take this time to briefly update you on the current state of this story. I'd say, as of right now, as far as length, we're entering the final stretch, (but I assure you, it will be quite a stretch) as far as major events and plot revelations we're MAYBE halfway. I've outlined (with the bare minimum) the next three chapters which will take us up nearly to the end.if all goes to plan; which is seldom does. So, that's where that stands.
Now, onto to more specific things. A summary.
SUMMARY: So, last chapter. Kirsten really is Sirius's daughter and it takes her a little while to get used to the idea. But, Sirius's Christmas gift of diamond earrings certainly helps her down the road to acceptance. Sierra officially becomes a member of the Alliance when she is appointed special tasks under Bill's direction. This all being a part of his mysterious plan. Sirius attempts to give Angie a house for Christmas and is thoroughly shot down as a result. Kerri, Kirsten's friend from America, arrives, along with her boyfriend. She proves to be quite the character openly opinionated about Kirsten's break-up with Harry Potter and certain other aspects of Hogwarts. And, most importantly we left in the middle of a scene. Sirius and Angie just got into a serious argument about the house and about Kirsten. Sirius stormed off to the bathroom while Angie tossed back a few drinks. She was just hearing the awful sound of.well, I'll let you read and find out.
* * *
"You know, they have help for that kind of addiction," Mr. Joshua Thompson said with an evil smirk. Angie set the glass down with such a force the liquid splashed all over and the glass sounded as if it had cracked. "No need to get violent," Josh commented, his lip curling even more.
"What the hell are you doing here? In case you hadn't noticed, Christmas was two days ago, and your daughter went without a present from her father," Angie snapped, advancing on her slimy ex-husband.
"I thought she'd want to spend Christmas with her mother," Josh replied smoothly.
"How considerate," Angie said with awful sarcasm. Josh had started walking around the room inspecting it. "Excuse you, I don't think I gave you permission to enter!" Josh shrugged her off and continued to run his hand over the furniture and pick apart her belongings with his eyes. Angie's heart stopped as she had a horrible vision of him going to inspect the bathroom where Sirius was currently hiding.
Josh stopped at the table and tilted back the bottle to inspect it. "What's the occasion, Angela? Drinking to the anniversary of when you killed our baby?" Angie's mouth dropped open in shock.
"YOU BASTARD!" She screamed and punched him squarely on the jaw. Josh staggered back into the table holding his now bleeding lip. "How dare you bring that up!?"
"You little bitch!" He shouted at her, attempting to stand upright again.
"Don't ever come back here," Angie warned in a low growling voice.
"I won't come back, but you haven't seen the last from me!" Josh warned slamming the door behind him. Sirius immediately burst from the bathroom and went straight to her.
"Angie," He cried, taking her by each arm. She was biting her lip in an attempt to stop crying.
"Go and warn Kirsten that Josh is here. She hates surprises. Please.I want to be alone for a minute," Angie gasped, trying to free herself from him. Sirius fixed her with a look and then let her go. He grabbed the invisibility cloak and swept from the room.
Immediately both hands flew to Angie's face and she sunk to the floor sobbing. Punching Josh was not going to help her case in the least.
* * *
Ron, Kirsten, Kerri, and Matt were just emerging from one of the greenhouses when Sirius caught them up. Being absolutely silent he tugged on the back of Kirsten's robes. She immediately whipped around. Kerri paid no attention, but Ron noticed. "Kirsten, a word," Sirius voice whispered from nowhere. Kirsten gave Ron a meaningful look before speaking.
"I think I left something in the greenhouse. Go on ahead, I'll catch you up," She said to Kerri with a dazzling smile. But, before she could go Kerri screeched and grabbed Kirsten's arms.
"Oh my God! Kirsten you're not wearing eye-liner!"
"Wow, really?" Kirsten asked, a little surprised herself. She shrugged. "Be right back."
Kerri stood open-mouthed and Ron grabbed her arm and propelled her in the opposite direction. Just as Kirsten reached the greenhouse the door opened, seemingly of its own accord. Once inside Sirius ripped off his invisibility cloak.
"A thousand apologies, my dear," Sirius said hastily. "But your mother insisted I come warn you. Josh is in town and he will probably try to see you."
"Josh! I don't want to see him!" Kirsten said in a rather loud voice.
"I know, but you have to act like you normally would. We haven't exactly figured out how to explain to him that you are not his daughter."
"You mean I have to call him father?" Sirius nodded gravely. "Why can't he just crawl back into the cave he was born in?" Kirsten whined. Sirius grinned.
"Listen, I don't know what sort of a mood he'll be in your mother just punched him-"
"PUNCHED him?" Kirsten interrupted. Sirius roared with laughter.
"It was the greatest thing Kirsten! All at once she punched him right in the kisser! He's got a bloody lip and everything!" Kirsten's eyes grew wide.
"Oh my God."
"Anyway, you'd better go. I just wanted to warn you."
"Thanks.Sirius," Kirsten said, hesitating, not very sure what to do. "I'll see you later," She said hastily and ducked out of the greenhouse.
* * *
When Sirius returned he found Angie still on the floor sobbing. He let his cloak fall to the floor and immediately got down beside her. "It's going to be all right, Angela. He got what he deserved."
"NO!" She shouted. "He's right. Sixteen years ago today.." And she started sobbing again.
"My God," Sirius said, remembering what Josh had said. "What happened? I didn't know you had another child."
"I didn't! Oh God, Sirius. December, sixteen years ago was only two months after Halloween, after everything happened. We'd only just arrived in the United States."
"What happened, Angela?"
"I couldn't do it. I." She had started to shake and Sirius tried to pull her closer. "No! Don't you understand? Halloween was our wedding night!"
"Oh Christ," Sirius whispered, his eyes widening with realization. "What happened?" Sirius demanded again.
"I didn't want to live, Sirius. And I didn't want anything you created to survive. I couldn't go through with it. I tried to kill myself again. But Josh was there. He.I killed the baby, but.that's when he proposed to me. And. oh God. I killed the baby. I killed our baby!" Angie was crying and shaking and looked a mess.
"Angie, it happened in the past. Leave it in the past," Sirius said firmly.
"But that innocent child." She argued.
"What are you going to do about it now?" Sirius shouted. "It's done. There is no sense in all this. What can you do?"
"Oh Sirius, I'm so sorry." She cried into his shoulder.
"It was all for the best. You would not have been able to bear it. Angela, enough of this. You can't do anything about it. You cannot go on about this. It's been sixteen years; that's long enough. You have to let it go otherwise it will destroy you. Angie, I know. I spent too many years in Azkaban with nothing to do but hate myself. You have to stop this, now." He gave her a comforting kiss but that only made her cry harder.
* * *
"Kirsten, for goodness sakes, I can't hardly stand to look at you. Come here," Kerri declared when she had returned. She grabbed Kirsten by the shoulders and took out her eye pencil. She cleared Kirsten's hair away and let out a startled gasp.
"Kirsten! Where did you get the diamonds?" Kerri asked, her eyes wide as she looked at Kirsten's diamond earrings.
"Oh..my..my.father, gave them to me for Christmas." Kirsten said, glancing at Ron who looked a little pale.
"Oh, see? Josh is good for something," Kerri said with a laugh. "Look up," She commanded.
"Do you ever go in there?" Matt asked pointing toward the Forbidden Forest. Ron explained, glad to have a change of subject and glad to look away from Kerri. To Ron, the eye lining process was a little nerve-racking. The pencil was so close to the eye!
As they walked along Kirsten leaned over to Ron and whispered in his ear. "Thank you for doing this."
"What did he want?" Ron whispered back, referring to Sirius.
"Josh is here."
"As in.?" Ron left his sentence hanging. Kirsten nodded. "Oh."
* * *
"Kirsti," Josh smiled widely at his.well, he thought she was his daughter anyway. Kirsten rolled her eyes to keep herself from laughing. He obviously hadn't had time to repair his busted lip. It was odd to see such an obvious flaw in the man who worked more on his appearance than his marriage, family, or relationships in general. She found it highly amusing, but filed it away for a good laugh later with Ron and with.well.Sirius had thought it was pretty funny.
"I told you I don't like it when you call me that," she said sullenly. She couldn't look him in the eye. It just didn't seem.right. He wasn't even her real father, why did he have to come and intrude in her life?
"I'm sorry," he replied easily. Kirsten refrained from rolling her eyes. She was tired of empty apologies from him. No one who was truly sorry would apologize so quickly and so often. "I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas!"
"It's the twenty-seventh, Dad," she replied, forcing the last word out. It tasted sour.
"I know," he replied. "I thought you'd like to spend Christmas with your mother-" Damn right, Kirsten thought bitterly, with my mother and my REAL father, who cares a hell of a lot more than you! "And I've been working you know. My job is important, Kirsti.Kirsten, and it requires a lot of my time."
"I understand," she replied. There was an awkward silence.
"Look honey," he began again, as if there was nothing uncomfortable about the situation, "I know I haven't done the best job of staying in touch, but communication is a two way street-"
"The last time you sent me a letter you were threatening to disown me for breaking up with Harry Potter," she reminded him flatly.
"Yes, well I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings," he said, and she gritted her teeth. She hated it when he talked to her as if she were a small and somewhat slow child. "But I was just looking out for your best interests-" Bullshit, she thought without much feeling, you were looking out for YOUR best interests, "And Harry Potter is quite a catch. You are back with him now.?"
"NO!" she cried, frustrated. It was as if everyone from her life back in America didn't understand her anymore. Had she really changed that much? "I'm going out with Ron. Period, end of story. And I LIKE him, Dad, so leave off! Harry and I are just friends and that's all we're ever going to be!"
"I've read about this somewhere," Josh commented, almost to himself. "You're pulling away from what you really want in order to rebel against me, that's what it is. Honey, there's no reason to do that. I know you're a teenager and you have these little rebellious mood swings-"
"No, that's NOT what it is!" she cried, "I really, really like Ron, okay? Just.leave me alone about it, alright?"
"Alright, Kirsti, if you say so," he replied apologetically, and she let out a miniature growl of frustration. To keep herself from adding a black eye to his bloody lip, compliments of her mother, Kirsten reverted to an old habit and pulled her hair back and out of her face, breathing deeply.
"So I was going to.where did you get the diamonds?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as they landed on the gems. Kirsten bit back bitter words, which included revealing Sirius as her paternal unit. Of course he would notice the diamonds. Hermione and Harry hadn't noticed YET, but still Kerri and Josh had immediately spotted them. Josh was just afraid Angie might have some financial stability after all, Kirsten thought savagely, not knowing how very near to the mark she was. She quickly devised a new lie, seeing as she couldn't blame her father as she had done before. She smiled as something even better occurred to her.
"Ron got them for me for Christmas," she replied, showing them off with a dazzling smile. "Aren't they simply divine?" she asked, in a fair imitation of Kerri and her mother.
"They look well," he replied stiffly. "Well, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas.or Happy Christmas as they say here." She rolled her eyes. He was always jumping on the bandwagon, always paying attention to what everyone else did and doing the same.
"Happy." she stopped. She was NOT going to ride the bandwagon like HE did. "Hanukkah, Merry New Year, Joyous Christmas, and all that other bullshit," she said instead, pleased with herself. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have guests."
She turned on heel, flipped her hair, and left his presence as coolly as he had left her life.
* * *
"Mom!" Kirsten called entering Angie's room. "Oh, hi," She said, upon sight of Sirius. They were seated at the table, a pile of papers between them.
"What's up?" Angie asked noticing Kirsten looked somewhat distressed.
"Oh, I just had a horribly painful rendez-vous with dear old 'dad'," Kirsten explained, complete with little finger quotation marks. She collapsed onto the couch with a loud sigh.
"I don't think I can stand it much longer." She commented. "By the way, his lip looked awful." And with that, she started to laugh uncontrollably. Sirius grinned at Angie who rolled her eyes.
"What did he want anyway?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, the usual load of bullshit," Kirsten commented earning quite the Look from her mother. "I've been so busy.blah, blah, blah, my job is so important, you understand. Blah, blah, blah. You look so lovely today, darling. Blah, blah, blah. I love you with all my heart, blah, blah, blah. He makes me sick," She said, sticking out her tongue.
"Let's stop talking about him then," Angie said reasonably. Sirius and Angie exchanged a meaningful look.
"Hey, are we ever going to go house hunting. I mean, I'm on break. I have all this free time just lying around." Kirsten said hopefully.
"Well.actually." Angie said hesitatingly. Sirius turned to look at Angie and grinned. "Um.we sort of have a house already."
"WHAT!? You bought a house without me?" Kirsten said, suddenly sitting bolt upright. Angie laughed.
"Well, actually, Sirius bought it. It was my Christmas present," Angie explained.
"A house?"
"A house," Angie repeated.
"Oh. My. God. Why didn't you tell me?" Kirsten cried. "What are we sitting around here for? I want to see it!"
So, the three took the trip to Hogsmeade and went to see the house. Kirsten gasped and squealed and skipped all the way up the walk to the front door. Sirius did the honors of opening the door and Kirsten took off inside exclaiming all way.
Both were chuckling as Sirius shut the door behind them. He turned to Angie, took her in his arms and kissed her. "I'll never get used to this," He muttered, before speaking directly to her. "I knew you'd take the house."
"I still say a house is no Christmas present." Sirius shrugged and took her hand. They went off in pursuit of the sound of Kirsten's voice.
* * *
So, Sirius spent the next two days helping Angie move into her new house. On December thirtieth, right before Kerri was to leave, Sirius announced that he had to leave as well. "I'll be back as soon as possible. But I do have business running. all over the world, currently I really ought to know what's going on."
"OK," Angie said, laughing. "You're free to go and to come as you please."
"Thank you," Sirius replied.
"Where will you be?" Angie asked much more seriously.
"I'm going to Paris. That's where headquarters are located."
"Headquarters?"
"Well, there are headquarters in London too but they generally try to keep me out of that operation," Sirius continued, purposefully trying to confuse her. "Don't trouble yourself, love. It's complicated and not very important to you. I'll be back soon."
And he left without even kissing her good-bye.
* * *
"Kirsten, don't you have ANYTHING better to do?" Kerri drawled in a fair imitation of her mother.
"You said you wanted to look around," Kirsten replied, shrugging.
"Well, yeah, but it all looks the same after, like, the first five minutes," she complained. Ron totally ignored the exchange, continuing to lecture about the architecture of the astronomy tower. He was pulling it all out of his arse, seeing as he knew nothing about the school's architecture. However he was annoying Kerri and no one had any idea that he was clueless, so everything was going to plan. Matt was hanging on to Ron's every word.
"Wow," he muttered in awe, "I never knew Helga Hufflepuff invented flying buttresses."
"We here at Hogwarts are very proud of the way our architecture has influenced history," Ron replied seriously. He was dearly hoping that Matt was just messing around.
"Kirsten!" Kerri whined.
"Fine," Kirsten sighed, "Lunch is in half an hour anyway."
"--The ornamental moldings developed by Napoleon-Lunch?" Ron interrupted himself hopefully.
"We have to go to the common room first," Kirsten reminded him. "Harry and Hermione will want to know where we are."
"Harry?" Kerri brightened considerably. "Harry will be there?"
"Even heroes have to eat sometimes," Ron drawled. Kerri ignored the sarcasm, pulling on Kirsten's sleeve.
"Come ON!" she exclaimed, bouncing off with a skip in her step that spelled trouble for Harry.
"I'm tempted to let her get us lost," Ron muttered out of the corner of his mouth. Kirsten stifled a giggle, but made sure they made it to the common room without incident.
"Where is he?" Kerri demanded impatiently the moment they stepped into the room.
"Who?" Matt asked, confused.
"Harry Potter!" she exclaimed, too excited to be annoyed.
"Oh my God," Hermione moaned from the sofa. Ron jumped. He hadn't noticed her presence. "Kirsten, could you please make it shut up?"
"Pardon me?" Kerri looked Hermione up and down in disgust. "Look honey, when you learn how to dress and look presentable then you can make a comment, alright?"
"If I had the slightest amount of respect for you that might sting," Hermione replied in a bored voice, "But I don't, so you're really just wasting your breath."
"You poor thing," Kerri sighed to Kirsten, "Having to deal with this bitch for so long-"
"Excuse me?" a voice from the boy's staircase interrupted. Harry stepped down, looking at Kerri with apprehension. She flashed a dazzling smile and sauntered toward him, holding out her hand.
"You must be Harry Potter," she said, her voice dripping with honey, "I'm Kerri Evangelista, a friend of Kirsten's from America. I've read all about you and I so admire your bravery," she fluttered her eyelashes coyly.
"Did you just call Hermione a bitch?" Harry asked, ignoring her speech and not taking her hand.
"Well.in the nicest possible way," Kerri assured him. "It's a girl thing, you understand."
"No, I don't understand," Harry replied rudely, sweeping by her. "Kirsten.and who is this?" he asked gesturing to Matt.
"Matt is Kerri's boyfriend," Kirsten replied miserably. This was not going at all well.
"Good to meet you.Matt," Harry shook his hand. "Are we eating or what?" he asked.
"Of course we're eating," Hermione rolled her eyes, "Why do you have to make it all dramatic? Don't get yourself all worked up over Kirsten's silly friends."
"Indeed," Ron nodded emphatically. "Let's go!" The three climbed through the portrait hole.
"Can you believe that?" Kerri asked in shock, "That was SO rude.it must be that Granger girl's fault."
With a sigh, Kirsten led her. "friends" down to lunch. Harry was already surrounded by Hermione and Seamus, so Kerri was forced to sit between her very own boyfriend and Kirsten. Ron had saved seats for the three of them, and from the look on Hermione's face she highly disapproved.
Harry and Ron were absorbed in a spirited conversation concerning Ravenclaw's new Quidditch captain. Ron paused long enough to greet Kirsten and nod to her companions, then proceeded to ignore them. Kirsten wasn't offended. She wished she could do the same.
It didn't take Kerri long to figure out that Harry was not in right frame of mind to be seduced. The American blonde had lost all its charm the first time around, Kirsten thought cynically. Kerri tried to interrupt their conversation several times (luckily Dean Thomas had taken pity on poor Matt and they were already discussing a mutual hatred of Herbology), but every time she cut in Ron would raise his voice. Only once was Ron unable to come to Harry's rescue, and in that case Hermione took it upon herself to remind them all about the essay due in three days which neither of the boys had started.
The table fell relatively silent, seeing as almost everyone who was normally around had gone home for the holidays. Matt and Dean were still chatting amiably and two second years at the end of the table were paying them no attention. Harry and Ron managed to use the homework as an excuse not to talk to anyone. Hermione was studying Kerri with a look Kirsten recognized. It boded ill for poor Kerri.
"Oh my God," she squealed out of nowhere, and Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust. Kerri didn't notice, "Look, Kirsten, it's Draco! The hot guy from the party, remember?"
Ron mumbled an expletive under his breath but kept from saying anything out loud. Kirsten stifled a giggle.
"Who's that with him?" Kerri continued, in an almost pouty voice. "Kirsten, don't tell me that bratty little redhead wench is REALLY his girlfriend? Honestly, he could do SO much better with a figure like that-"
"That WENCH," Ron interrupted fiercely, his eyes flashing, "Happens to be my sister. And yes, unfortunately, she is his girlfriend. I wish you would go over there and break them up. You and Malfoy would be a perfect match and my sister could find someone worthy of her time."
"God, she's just you're sister!" Kerri argued, rolling her eyes, "It's not that big of a deal."
"Maybe not to you," Ron seethed.
"Calm down, Ron," Hermione interrupted, "It's just Kirsten's annoying little American friend with absolutely no emotions except disdain and lust. I wouldn't wish her even on Malfoy." Her voice was even but her hands were clenched, and Kirsten couldn't tell which upset her more: the fact that Kerri brought up Malfoy and its effect on Ron, or Kerri's insulting remarks toward Ginny. Either way, Kirsten's goal was to keep the two as far apart as possible.
"Wish me on Malfoy all you like," Kerri replied, ignoring the rest of her speech as her eyes followed Draco hungrily. "I'd give him something that stupid little bitch couldn't even dream of." Hermione's eyes narrowed, Harry opened his mouth, and Ron turned an odd shade of purple. One could only guess what poor Matt was thinking. Kirsten decided it was time to cut in.
"I'm done," she announced loudly, interrupting Harry's indignant syllable. "Come on, Kerri, I want to show you my mom's rooms and stuff." She grabbed Kerri's arm and dragged her away. Matt followed, parting with a fond farewell to Dean.
* * *
The common room was suffocating. Miss Kerri Evangelista and all her high- nosed snotty-ness was driving Hermione to the brink of doing something disastrous. After she'd sat through the blood chilling laughs and the shallow and corrosive comments for over an hour she couldn't stand it any longer.
She mumbled some excuse about Head Girl duties and rushed out of the common room, putting as much distance between her and THAT GIRL as possible. Before long she found herself in the familiar hallway, not at all surprised.
She ran her hand along the wall and easily found the switch that opened the door she'd found years ago. The room was large and bare, but it always contained a warmth and an indescribable feeling of power. She would go there to be alone, where no one would find her.
She closed the door behind her before lighting the nearest torch. What she saw literally took her breath away. This was not her familiar room of bare wood and concrete pillars. This was the most richly decorated room she had ever encountered.
Thick and heavy tapestries hung from every wall. The floor was covered with the most intricate oriental rugs. The walls and bare surfaces were covered with books and papers and all sorts of countless other things.
It didn't take Hermione long to realize what this room must have been. It was Rowena Ravenclaw's private chambers. It was like an archaeological phenomenon. There was even a fire blazing in the huge grate.though Hermione hadn't come near it.
The puzzling question was why had it suddenly shown its riches to her tonight? She had come to this very room dozens of times over the years and never had it contained anything more than torches on the wall and bare floors. Why had it suddenly come to life?
~*~
Hermione stayed in that room for hours going over every detail. Examining every little thing she could, but not daring to touch anything. She discovered maps of the castle and the surrounding grounds which pointed out paths and corridors that were either nonexistent or completely forgotten. She found books in languages she didn't think even Professor Star would recognize. She found personal letters and half-finished diary entries, and a beautiful blue cloak draped across one of the chairs.
Hermione lost track of time as she absorbed every detail of the room into her memory. One would think that mysteriously discovering oneself in a lavishly decorated and previously unknown room would be unnerving, but Hermione found the place oddly comforting. It seemed so very lived it, with various books sprawled about open to dog-eared pages, yellowed parchment with now illegible notes half-finished nearby with the quill lying across the heading.
More eerie was the feeling of familiarity. She had been in the room a dozen times when it was empty, and she didn't even recognize this as the same room. Yet she felt as if she had been there a dozen times before, as if SHE were the one who was taking notes on the books written in languages she didn't understand. It was as if she had seen pictures, or read about the room she was now standing in.she'd never been there, not really, but nothing she saw surprised her. Everything was exactly where it should be.
Hermione had always felt a secret sympathy with Rowena Ravenclaw.not that it was a difficult jump in logic to make. Who would understand Hermione's "bookworm" syndrome better than the woman who founded Hogwarts' school for the intelligent and witty? Hermione had often wondered WHY she'd been put in Gryffindor. The hat had seriously considered Ravenclaw, but after a while it had chuckled and muttered something about "true self" and called out her destined house. It was an enigma she had pondered over from time to time, especially lately seeing as it seemed she had done nothing but hound Harry, Ron, and Kirsten about their homework all year.
She didn't think about Ron, Kirsten, Kerri, Ginny, Draco, or even Harry after that one thought the rest of the time she was in the room. For some reason they just didn't seem relevant. Only the room was relevant, and everything in it. One of her most interesting finds was a small silver ring. It was left lying on the desk on top of yet another unfinished parchment.
The writing on the parchment had once been English, but the script was messily smeared and now faded. She squinted, but only deciphered a few of the words: "metal" and "discovery." It seemed to be notes on the ring itself. Hermione studied it thoughtfully.
It didn't seem to be anything to get excited about, just a plain silver circle with a small eagle attached. Granted, it was beautiful. It sparkled softly in the flickering firelight and the eagle was blue and carefully sculpted by a master craftsman. She couldn't see why Rowena would be taking notes on something obviously made specifically for her, but then again who was Hermione to decipher the brilliant lady's thousand-year-old reasoning? She turned away and started onto something new.
She was afraid to leave when the time came. How could she be sure the room would ever show itself again?
Finally, she decided that if she could never find this room again she had better try and take some proof with her. Because she reasoned, quite accurately, that most people would tell her that she had been dreaming if she couldn't actually show them that the room existed.
So, very cautiously, and with a racing pulse, she picked up the ring. When nothing happened she breathed a sigh of relief. She had been half-expecting the ceiling to collapse and the floor to burst into flames if she touched anything.
She tucked the ring carefully into her robes and left the room.
* * *
Kerri finally went off to bed, dragging Matt along like an obedient puppy dog. Ron was asleep with his eyes open. Kirsten rolled her own tired eyes and poked him. He jumped a little bit and grinned sheepishly at her.
He glanced around and saw that "those bloody Americans" had left and sneaked in a kiss. His hand gently moved across her cheek and down her neck to her necklace. He suddenly turned serious and dropped his hand.
"Kirsten," He began, giving the common room a sweeping look, one more time, to make sure no one was lurking about in the shadows, "With everything that has happened these past two weeks, what with Sirius, and then Christmas and now Kerri. I nearly forgot about." He left his sentence hang and he peered into her eyes, as if searching for her thoughts.
"Dumbledore still doesn't completely know about my necklace, does he?" Kirsten asked, realizing what they had temporarily put off.
"And we still haven't solved the mystery of that room," He reminded.
"Let's think a minute. This "Z" was in that little jewelry box, right?" Ron nodded. "And it was near." Kirsten closed her eyes, trying to see the room but it had been over two weeks.
"Never mind this," Ron said. "Come on, there must be some clue as to what that THING is in that room. We've ditched the sniveling twosome, let's go!" He rose from his chair as he said this and took her by the hand.
"What if we get caught walking around the hallways? Won't that be a lovely bit of gossip? The two of us.out alone.at night."
"Let them think what they want!" Ron declared leading her out of the common room. "But we won't get caught all the same. It's break, there are a significantly reduced amount of students in this school and no one is going to be out patrolling the halls tonight. Besides, it's quite late."
"Whatever," Kirsten said, rolling her eyes and keeping pace with him.
"Almost there," Ron whispered, as if she didn't know this already. Once inside they went straight to the shelf.
"Here is the box," Kirsten declared picking it up. "It seems to be just a box. No lettering on it any where." She remarked turning it over in her hands.
"I say!" Ron exclaimed, pulling his hand back. "That's hot!"
Kirsten discarded her jewelry box and looked into source of trouble. "Look at the words! They're glowing!"
"I can see that! And the parchment is hot. Don't touch it," Ron warned, but she did so anyway.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous. It's perfectly normal," She said, delicately picking up the piece of parchment. "I read this remember. I think it's a love poem. but.look! What on earth?"
With every second the words became more and more like loops of light. The words seemed to blaze now as if they had been written in light.
"Drop it!" Ron ordered, and Kirsten did so immediately. It fell and landed with a resounding clang, like that of metal. They looked down and the parchment had gone blank and the fire had died to a few burning embers.
Ron turned to look at Kirsten, his brow furrowed in extreme puzzlement. His eyes immediately fell on Kirsten's necklace. The "KZ" was faintly glowing as it lay against her chest.
Kirsten glanced down and was slightly startled. "How.?" She began, taking the necklace in her hand and placing it underneath her robes as she always wore it. "What just happened?" She finally found breath to say.
"When I find out, I'll tell you," Ron said, somewhat breathless with bewilderment himself. Sometime later, they made their way back to the common room hand in hand.
They were silent; lost in their own ponderings. But their pulses beat together. There was nothing like a good mystery a person you trust completely by your side. There was a thrilling feeling between them. And, despite the fact that both were utterly confounded; life was good.
* * *
Harry and Hermione skipped breakfast on New Year's Eve. Harry, because he knew it would be Kerri's last meal at Hogwarts and wanted to avoid her so she couldn't attack him or insult any of his friends in her last few hours of opportunity, but Hermione, on the other hand, was simply exhausted after discovering the mysterious room the night before. When she woke up she wrote to Apollo, but didn't mention the room. It didn't seem right.it was her own secret, and not even Sirius could know.
To Kirsten's immense relief Ron stuck it out until the very end. He was up and waiting for her bright and early the next morning, despite their late night. Granted, he didn't look his best. His hair was messy and his shirt was wrinkled. Kirsten thought it was cute. Kerri thought it was disgusting.
Kirsten was becoming more and more anxious to see Kerri on her way. She was wondering what they had in common, really, besides a profound understanding on improving a woman's appearance. Was that what she had really built her six-year friendship with Kerri on?
Britain had done something to change Kirsten in a way that could never be undone. It wasn't the country itself, or Hogwarts, or even the revelations about her past.at least, not mostly. It was the people she had met. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Sirius.all people who had affected her life so deeply she was completely changed in a way she would have never thought possible. Harry and Ron had taught her about first impressions and true romance, Hermione and Ginny had opened her eyes to look past the cover and see the friend beneath a face with no make up and frizzy hair. And Sirius.well, she still wasn't exactly sure where he stood in her life, but he had definitely changed her forever.
She didn't voice any of the thoughts out loud, of course. Her make up was perfect and every straight and silky blonde hair was in place when she and Ron met Kerri and Matt for breakfast. She swallowed an angry reply when Kerri muttered darkly about Kirsten being way too good for Ron. She managed to prevent Kerri from seeing Draco Malfoy and Ginny enter the Hall.
Matt and Ron were talking about Quidditch, a sport with which Matt wasn't all that familiar. Still, did he REALLY believe the losing team had to sacrifice one of its members to the Sun God of Ireland?
Almost the moment the train that carried Kerri and Matt away took off from the station Kirsten turned to Ron. "I love you, I love you, I love you," She said, hugging him tightly, not really caring that her mother was within hearing distance.
"Any particular reason?" Ron inquired, as they started back towards the school.
"Just for putting up with all that. You've been amazing. I think I would have literally gone out of my mind! Was I really as shallow as that when you first met me?" Kirsten asked concernedly.
"Not quite that bad, of course, you don't have the example she does. Did you get a load of her mother?" Ron rolled his eyes.
"As a matter of fact, Marina Evangelista, is a highly educated museum curator, along with her husband. They're just very caught up in high society." Kirsten explained. "Ah well.let's not think about it any more."
"Agreed," Ron said with feeling. Kirsten laughed and gave his hand a squeeze.
"I really do apologize for all dragging you with me all the time." Ron shrugged.
"I rather enjoyed annoying Kerri. And it was amazing how shallow you're old pal Matt was. I couldn't believe all the bullshit he swallowed.willingly."
"Matt is not near as dedicated to his studies as Kerri." Kirsten muttered. "I must remember to apologize to Harry and Hermione.and Ginny and Draco. Do you suppose I should just post a general apology on the message board?" Ron burst out laughing and gave her a kiss that landed somewhere close to her temple.
* * *
Sirius currently had a strong dislike for Remus Lupin. However, he kept his opinions to himself. He had set a date on New Year's Eve with Holly Mischel, his long time off and on girlfriend, and he'd set a date with Angie. Of course, at the time he didn't realize he was going to be out of commission due to the emergence of a full moon. But, instead of explaining this to Angie, he simply ignored it and was going to leave her hanging with the explanation later that he had been extremely sick.
Holly; he simply told her it was full moon and he'd see her some other time. She then decided to go to Sierra's house for the big party that Madame Havairhafpvermin was throwing.
Sirius went to Angie's house. She was in her bedroom when he arrived. He knocked on the door and continued to have a conversation with her through the said door. "Remus sends his deepest regrets but he's laid up. Very sick," Sirius explained.
"Sick? What does he have?" Angie asked, opening the door. Sirius raised his eyebrows. Her make-up was done, her hair was up in some sort of elaborate style, and she was wearing crimson dress robes.
"I'm not sure, but he's feeling pretty under the weather," Sirius replied slowly.
"Well, maybe we should go see him. Take him something." She suggested.
"No! He said he didn't want you to get sick. And he wanted you to go on ahead to Sierra's house and have a good time. Celebrate the coming of the New Year."
"Well, I might as well, I'm dressed for it. Oh, but where are you going to go?" She asked.
He shrugged. "I'll just hang out here."
"No, never mind. I'll stay here too. I didn't really want to go mingle with all the very rich very 'classy' people that I have never met before."
"That's ridiculous. Don't stay here on my account," Sirius argued.
"No, I'd rather. Really. Come on downstairs. You want something to drink?" She asked, clicking down the stairs.
"Sure." He responded, following her into the kitchen. "Here, I'll get it," He insisted reaching for a glass. "What would you like. looks like you have some nice wines here, oh look, some butterbeer, we could make some hot chocolate,"
"Ice water, please," Angie replied.
"Oh." Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Sounds great, I'll have the same." They went out into the living room to have their drinks. She sat down on the couch and he positioned himself in a nearby chair.
She removed her strap-y shoes and tucked her legs underneath her. "So, how's business going?"
"It's actually difficult to say at this stage. As far as I can tell we haven't run into anything disastrous." He leaned over and switched on the Wizarding Wireless Network so some soft music played in the background. "What's Kirsten doing tonight?"
"The Gryffindors have a big celebration in the common room tonight. McGonagall ought to love that," Angie told him. Sirius grinned reminiscently. There had been many things McGonagall 'loved' when he and James were in school.
"How's the unpacking coming?" He asked conversationally.
"It's in the same place it was when you left yesterday morning," Angie replied with a laugh.
"What would you do without me?" He asked playfully.
"It's hard telling." She said softly.
"You want to dance?" Sirius suggested suddenly.
"Dance? Sirius, I haven't danced for--"
"Hey, you've probably danced more recently than I have."
"Well, why not?" Angie said, setting her glass down on the floor. (She didn't have a coffee table yet.) She stood up and took off her outer robes, tossing them carelessly on the couch. Underneath she wore a short sleeve, nicely fitting, crimson dress.
"This is nice," Sirius said, gently moving her around.
"What is?" Angie asked, tipping her head back in order to look into his eyes.
"You're the right height again," He replied, looking down at her with a grin and twinkle in his eye.
"Oh," She said with a laugh. "Amazing," She commented as he twirled her.
"What is?" He questioned.
"Even after all these years you're still light on your feet." Sirius gave her his best smile and began to get even more fancy with the dancing skills. He tipped her back and from her position she remarked, casually.
"Are you hungry?"
"Hungry?" He asked, and they were suddenly standing upright again. "That was abrupt."
"I just thought you might want something to eat."
"Well, actually." Sirius replied.
"I'll get you something then," She said, starting for the kitchen.
"No! Wait!" Sirius cried, taking her hands again; and they tangoed into the next room.
"I'm afraid I don't really have much." Angie said somewhat nervously as she rummaged around in search of something nourishing. "I could fry some eggs. Right now, that's about the only option I'm seeing, so.take it or leave it."
"I'll take it. Sounds wonderful to me," Sirius replied. So, Angie set to work making eggs just the way Sirius liked them. (Without realizing she had remembered that Sirius preferred his eggs scrambled as opposed to over- easy.)
Sirius gradually became aware that she was humming, softly, but harmoniously. To hear music, especially music created by Angie was a very touching experience for Sirius Black. As he leaned against the counter (there weren't yet any chairs in the kitchen.) he quite lost himself down memory lane.
"What is it?" Angie asked, catching sight of him. Sirius smiled and shook his head.
"It's inexplicable," He replied. Angie gave him a quizzical look and then went back to being domestic.
Angie took a plate for herself and passed Sirius a plate. Hopping up onto the counter she instructed Sirius to do the same. "Have a seat," She offered with a smile. Sirius rolled his eyes but, seeing as it was their only option, save the floor, he acquiesced.
"You know, Lily would have hit the fan if I'd ever done something like this in her house," Sirius commented.
"She's probably rolling over in her grave as we speak," Angie agreed with a laugh. "I swear, every time I was at that house Lily was cooking eggs. It's probably a good thing they died young. Otherwise, James would have died of high cholesterol. Probably would have had a heart attack by the time he was thirty."
"Yes, well. You know why she was always cooking eggs? Simply to tease James because he didn't even know how to properly crack an egg. Spoiled rich kid," Sirius added with a laugh.
"I miss them," Angie said with a heavy sigh. Sirius nodded. The tension in the room was growing and they both concentrated on the eggs in order to avoid conversation. "Done?" Angie asked, setting her plate into the sink behind her.
"Oh, yeah. Merci beaucoup! C'est un chef-d'oeuvre!" Sirius said, sliding over to place his plate in the sink too.
"Actually, you don't speak French half bad," Angie commented. "However, I wouldn't call my scrambled eggs a masterpiece; but, to each his own."
"Angela," He said, now dangerously close to her. "I don't think I commented before but you look absolutely stunning in crimson."
"You think so?" She could feel her cheeks burning but she'd be damned before she looked away.
"But I can't say I can choose between this and the sexy black dress you used to wear when we'd double date with James and Lily." Angie found herself giggling.
"I bet you I still have that somewhere.I could never wear it now though," She said, when another thought suddenly occurred to her. "Sirius, what did you do then? I used to wear boots and high heels."
"This is true." Sirius admitted. "But, on those nights I wouldn't kiss you in public.usually. That always came later."
"You make it sound so scandalous."
"But it was scandalous darling!" Angie let out a peal of laughter as he suddenly came much closer. When he finally did kiss her she was leaning back on her elbows and therefore her hands were completely useless.
He pulled back just a little and she studied his face. How different and yet how similar it was to 'back then'. "What happened to us Sirius?" She asked wistfully, her eyes shining with a little moisture.
No words came to him that could even possibly begin to answer that question. Gently, he reached up and brushed some hair away from her eyes and shook his head ever so slightly. His hand came to rest on her cheek.
"God, I've missed you," He said, his voice wrought with emotion. She felt herself sharply intake a breath.
"For so long I've forced myself to forget.and." All at once her lips connected with his for a moment of passion.
"Run away with me, Angela," He whispered, his breath warm against her skin.
"Anywhere," She replied without thinking. He suddenly jerked away from her to look her in the eyes, to determine the truth of that one word reply. "No, I couldn't. Not now." She amended, barely audible, her eyes dropping.
"We'll go, just the two of us. Live on a beach somewhere. We'll only have to come in contact with a limited number of locals. Someplace where they can't find us."
"Somewhere over the rainbow?" She questioned, her eyes suddenly meeting his again. They both starting laughing madly. Sirius sat up again and pulled Angie up beside him.
"You're right," He agreed. "Besides, I couldn't ask you to give up everything.just on my account."
"It's Kirsten," Angie admitted. "I couldn't leave her now. Not when she's just about to graduate and start the rest of her life."
"It's OK, I know," Sirius said, lifting her chin so that he could look into her eyes, which were shining with tears.
"Kiss me Sirius."
Naturally, he obeyed, but he sensed a reluctance or a resistance and stopped almost as soon as he'd began. "We can't Sirius," She said, the first tear falling from her eye. "You just said running away would be the only option. We would never work." He started to speak but she raised her voice. "No, hear me out! It would be too dangerous for you to keep coming back here and when you would be gone, it'd be torture, always worrying. It's not fair, Sirius!"
"I know, I'm only endangering you and Kirsten by being here. And there is Remus to think about," Sirius pointed out. At this point a strangled cry burst forth from Angie.
"I don't want to talk about Remus," She said evenly and kissed him again.
"But," Sirius protested in between kisses. "We should stop."
"I don't care," Angie replied. "I don't care."
They carried on nicely until Angie was lying with her back on the counter and somebody knocked a couple of dishes together with a nice clang. Sirius, supporting himself on his hands, looked down at her and laughed.
She slipped out from under him and onto the floor. "This is getting ridiculous," She muttered, more to herself than to him. "I'm going to go change clothes." And she retreated at rather a more rapid pace than necessary.
* * *
It was entering the final hour for the current year and Sierra was leaving her celebration. Not that she minded much. As she had expected it was a dreadful bore and she had been forced to dress in much nicer clothes than she preferred to wear.
She didn't bother to knock when she arrived at her destination, since she knew he'd be too lazy to open the door anyhow. "Happy new year, Miss Sierra," Bill Weasley called with a heavy tongue as she entered.
"Been drinking, I see," She commented. He simply shrugged.
"Care to join me?" He asked, offering her what appeared to be whiskey.
"Shouldn't we wait to toast to the new year? Since you called me away from party, I'm going to have to ring in the new year here."
"Why wait, time in this year is nearly gone, you're missing opportunities," Bill pointed out. "And besides, you didn't want to stay at that boring international convention of horse-asses otherwise you would have waited to come until after the new year, despite the fact that I warned you we had urgent problems."
"Oh right, those urgent matters." Sierra said with a grin. "I can see you've worked yourself into such a state."
"Oh yes, big problems have we. Drink to forget says I,"
"Why not?" Sierra asked, taking a glass from him. "By the way, I rather think a horse's ass is quite an accurate description of most of the people present at that hideous social gathering!"
"Cheers to that!" Bill declared and they both tipped up their glasses.
* * *
For a few moments Sirius stayed, his elbows resting on the counter and his hands covering his face running over the recent events in his mind. Then, he followed her up to her bedroom.
The door was open and the light was off. A thin strip of illumination shown in from the slowly dying torch in the hallway. Sirius leaned against the doorframe and for a minute, he didn't speak.
"Angela, I apologize for my behavior. I was thinking we shouldn't see each other anymore," He told her as she was approaching him.
"You were thinking." She repeated, a half smile on her face. "And don't apologize," She added.
"I'm sor-" He cut himself off and laughed aloud.
"Maybe not seeing each other would be best," She said in a voice that didn't sound like she agreed at all. "And, I mean, what am I going to tell Remus?"
Quite suddenly Sirius had her in a rather forceful grip and he was pushing her against the wall. He gave her a hasty kiss and then spoke in fair imitation of her even tone. "I don't want to talk about Remus."
She started to laugh but he stopped her mouth with his. She found herself kissing him back with as much passion and intensity as he kissed her. After a rousing interval he lifted her off the ground, still attacking her neck, and made his way toward the bed.
"Sirius, the box!" She warned, but was too late. He tripped and they ended up in a laughing heap on the bed.
"How romantic," Angie said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Whenever I'm around you, I can't help myself. I get so clumsy," He replied, also being sarcastic.
"Reminds me of our wedding night when you ran into the bed, dropped me unceremoniously and started swearing," Angie reminded him.
"Well, it was a rather painful experience for my lower limbs," Sirius pointed out.
"Whatever," She said, adding another eye roll. "Is that.?" She asked suddenly reaching up to where their wedding rings hung on a thin gold chain around his neck.
"Must have fallen out from underneath my shirt," Sirius said, reaching up and undoing the clasp. He pulled the chain out letting the bands fall into Angie's palm.
"Why did you wait so long?" Angie asked in a far off voice, as if she were lost in a memory.
"Wait so long for what?"
"I would say yes to you any time you ask me to marry you, but you had to wait until the last possible moment. Hours before I was supposed to leave for another country. Why didn't you ask me earlier?"
"I had no idea I was going to propose to you that night," Sirius explained.
"Then why did you have the ring?"
"I." Sirius let out a breath of laughter realizing that question was harder to answer than he thought. "Wishful thinking, I suppose."
"How did you get it?"
"What's with the interrogation?" Sirius asked, but Angie simply raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"I did some odd jobs.spent every damned cent I owned, as you recall, I'm sure. I believe I ought to reimburse you for that hotel room from the night of our wedding."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"No, really. I ought to," Sirius insisted.
"I don't even remember the bill."
"Let me do something. How much?"
"Twenty-two galleons and three knuts," Angie replied.
"I thought you said you didn't remember?"
"I lied." There was an elongated pause, then, "I love you, Sirius Black," She whispered.
"Don't; it will only make things worse," Sirius warned his eyes looking away from her.
"What does it matter, we both know it?" He looked back, a thousand words and feelings bubbling up inside of him, but nothing coming to words. His eyes rested on the rings that she was still holding.
"Take this," Sirius said, sliding her father's ring, his wedding band, onto her thumb (the only finger it would fit onto). "And remember that no matter where I am, no matter what happens, even if we decide to never again say it out loud, I love you, and I always have, and I always will, and if you ever need anything.I'm right here," He said, kissing her hand. Silent tears were running down her cheeks but what was even more touching to her, was the fact that Sirius had to look away and wipe his eyes too.
Angie slid her own wedding band back onto the chain and once again fastened it around his neck. Sirius glanced down and then into her eyes. The emotion in both pairs of eyes was intense. Something neither of them had felt for what seemed like an eternity stirred within.
Somewhere downstairs the clock was chiming. They both froze, breathing hard, counting the chimes all the way until twelve.
"Happy New Year," Sirius said after the clock had struck its final note.
"Happy New Year," Angie agreed, sealing the statement with a kiss.
"Careful," He warned. "I haven't done this for over sixteen years."
"It's been over ten for me," She reminded him; to which he shook his head and laughed.
"We're pathetic."
And they proceeded with the activity that they would both severely regret in the morning.
* * *
A/N: Another chapter down! WHOO-HOO!! I apologize for the extreme shortness, but I hope you found the chapter funny and all around enjoyable. Questions, comments, compliments, and anything you want to say would be gladly appreciated in a review. And, by the way, a HUGE thanks is in order to Miss Harmony Slytherin, one of my good friends, who is just as in love with this story as I am. She has been an immense help in the writing process of this story. this chapter in particular. She does read the reviews for this story if you want to say a thank you to her but I'm sure she'd love you forever and ever if you sent her an e-mail (cleo_ofthenyl@hotmail.com) or a review.
I love you all. Thank you for reading and reviewing. Thank you for appreciating what I do and I'll try my best to hold your interest! (!
Cheers!
~Star*dust