A/N: Responses:
vegetarians will rule the Earth: hehe…here's the chap…
Charmedskii: I said 82. And thanks.
Sparkling Oracle: Lol, too lazy, huh? Thanks for the review :-)
HotBlo0ded: Ahh…this isn't the last chapter. I'm glad you like it, and I'm not sure about a sequel.
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I decided to rate this to T (PG or PG-13) since Isabella will be a potty mouth in this chapter.
Chapter Nineteen
Remus was greeted by Isabella's solemn face the next morning on the doorstep. "…Hello?" He looked at the woman with uncertainness, since Isabella's eyes were a bit bloodshot and puffy. Like she had been crying.
"Can I speak to Harry and Sirius?" She asked, sniffing.
"Just a second." Remus turned around, not needing to call Harry since he was at the table. "Isabella's here," he told Harry. "She wants to talk to you and…Sirius."
"Sirius isn't up yet," Harry said. Remus turned back to Isabella.
"Come in." Isabella came into the house, taking a deep breath. She gave Harry a smile when she spotted him at the table.
"How you feeling today, Harry?"
"Good, thanks," Harry said, getting up from the table with the assistance of the crutches. "Remus, can you go wake Sirius up?" He asked. This would be the perfect time to prove to Remus that it was Sirius. Not an impersonator.
Sirius was a deep sleeper. Nothing would ever wake him up. We could only wake him up by getting a cup of cold (or hot) water and pouring it on his face. Harry remembered Remus telling him that once—those were his exact words. Sirius was a deep sleeper, and that was the only way to wake him up. If this was Sirius (which Harry didn't have a doubt in his mind that it wasn't) then Remus would not be able to wake him up.
"Uh…sure," Remus said, going over to Sirius's room and opening the door. He crept over to the bed and shook Sirius. "Wake up. Isabella's here. She wants to talk to you." Sirius just groaned and turned the other way. Remus froze, obviously thinking the same thing Harry was.
"Couldn't wake him up?" Harry asked, trying to conceal his grin as Remus came out of the bedroom with a dazed look on his face.
"No."
"What did I tell you?" Harry said, finally letting a smile spread across his face. "If it wasn't him, Sirius would be up by now." The knowing smile still on his face, Harry went over to the sink and pulled out a cup from the cupboard. Turning the sink on, he filled the cup up with ice cold water halfway. He turned back around and handed the cup over to Remus.
"Here."
"Do I even need to ask?" Isabella's voice came from over by the couch. Harry had forgotten about her, and obviously Remus did, too.
"Nope," Harry replied. He made his way over to the couch and sat down, waiting until he heard a yelp from Sirius. A sign that Remus and poured the water on his face, and he was up.
Sirius came out of his bedroom, shaking his head like a dog getting rid of water from its fur. No wonder, since Sirius was a dog.
"Good," Isabella said quietly. "You're up."
"Hi," Sirius greeted, sitting by Harry. "Any reason you came by here at…nine o'clock in the morning?"
"Yeah," Isabella said. "An important one."
"Are you pregnant again?" Sirius said suddenly. "Is that what you're going to tell us?" Isabella let out a laugh.
"No. I'm not pregnant." She let out a nervous sigh and bit her lip. "There's no way I can put this. There is absolutely no possible way…"
"Then just tell us in any way possible," Harry suggested.
"Well," Isabella said slowly. "I think that…that we should take some time away from each other."
"Meaning—?" Harry said, feeling extremely confused.
"Just what I said," she replied. "We should take some time away from each other."
"Oh," Sirius said bluntly. "You're saying you don't want to be friends anymore."
"I told you there was no possible way to tell you," Isabella said, getting up. "Bye."
-
"Are you happy?" Isabella exclaimed out of anger when she arrived home. "Are you happy, Julian? I broke off my friendship with Harry and Sirius, so you damn well better be happy!"
"I didn't tell you to break your friendship off with them," Julian tried to reason. "I just thought that you should kind of…lay off a bit."
"Well I'm not friends with them anymore! So be happy!"
"Izzy," Julian said softly. "You'll wake the baby."
"I don't care," she said, tears running down her face. "Just leave me alone." In déjà vu, Isabella stomped into her room and slammed the door, waking Nevaeda up from her sleep. The baby's cries echoed through the house and Julian groaned.
-
"Izzy," Julian said quietly, coming into the room.
"Go away," Isabella hissed, her eyes bloodshot and puffy. Her face was stained with dried tears.
"Just listen," Julian said, sitting on the bed by his wife.
"Where's Willow?" Isabella asked, wiping her eyes. "And the baby?"
"Willow's looking at picture books," Julian replied, thankful that his wife was at least speaking to him. "And Nevaeda's asleep in her crib." Julian wrapped an arm around Isabella, but she shrugged him off. "Isabella, you can you still go back there and apologize. I know they're still willing to be your friend."
"After what happened?" Isabella said, laughing almost hysterically. "Like hell they will." Julian frowned. Isabella never used to swear like that. She must be really upset.
Isabella got up the bed, stubbing her toe along the way. "Shit!" She exclaimed, tears bubbling up in her eyes.
"Isabella," Julian said, frowning. "What's wrong with you?"
"You made me lose my son," Isabella screamed, turning around to face Julian wildly. "You killed my son! Y…you made me l…lose my son!"
"I didn't," Julian said, getting up and wrapping his arms around Isabella. "I didn't kill Matthew, Isabella."
"You killed my son…you killed my Mattie…" Isabella repeated over and over again.
"Shh, Isabella. I didn't kill Matthew." Isabella pushed away from her husband.
"You did, though," she debated. "You caused me to break my friendship with Harry and Sirius. Don't you see, Julian? They were the only thing left that I had of Matt. They were the only reminder of Matt to me. By you making me break my friendship with them, you killed my son over again."
"I didn't make you break your friendship with them, though," Julian said. "You did that all on your own."
"Shut up!" Isabella screamed. "Just shut up."
"Da'ee," Willow said, standing in the doorway finishing her cookie. "Wha's wrong with Issy, daddy?"
"She's upset," Julian said. "Izzy will be fine, though."
"You killed Matt!" Isabella cried, tugging at her hair. "You killed my son!" Julian got up from the bed.
"Come on, Willow," Julian said quietly. "Go get your coat. You, me and the baby are going on a little trip." Willow's eyes shone.
"Where?"
"Somewhere," Julian responded. "Go, get your boots on. I'll get Nevaeda."
"Is Issy going to come, too?"
"Not for this trip," Julian said. "We'll come back in a few hours, though. Once Isabella calms down."
"'Tay," Willow said, running to the closet.
"Izzy," said Julian calmly. Isabella just repeated, "You killed my son," over and over again, screaming and tugging at her hair. "Izzy? I'm taking Willow and Nevaeda and we're leaving until you calm down and act rationally instead of this nonsense." Without waiting for a reply, Julian got out of the room and went to the baby's crib, picking her up gently.
"No," Isabella cried, rushing out of the room. "Don't take my baby. You've already taken one of them away from me, don't take the other. Please."
"I'll bring her back after you calm down," Julian said. "I'm afraid you might hurt Willow or Nevaeda. You're not yourself." And he left.
-
"No," Sirius said briefly. "She made it clear that she doesn't want to be friends anymore. I don't see why it's us going over to try to reason with her."
"I just don't see what's going on," Harry said. "When did this dawn on her so fast? Just doesn't make any sense."
"Still."
"Fine," Harry said. "You can stay. I'm going." He turned to Remus, who was staring off into space. "Remus? You gonna come with me?"
"Huh?" Remus looked up at Harry.
"Never mind," Harry said. He went over to the door, opening it up and stepping outside.
"Fine!" Harry heard Sirius say in exasperation. "I'm coming, too." Harry's brow furrowed as he saw three people walking down the street.
"Hey," he said quietly, not taking his eyes off the pedestrians. "Isn't that Julian? And Willow and Nevaeda?"
"Yeah," Sirius said, his brow furrowing too. "Where's Isabella?"
"I dunno," Harry said. Willow seemed to notice Harry and Sirius too, because she started tugging at Julian's sleeve and saying something. Julian looked over to where Willow was pointing, and he shook his head. He turned back to Willow and said something, and the little girl ran over to them.
"You goin' see Issy?" Willow asked.
"Yeah, why?" Harry asked.
"Don' go my home," Willow said, shaking her head. "We goin' see Gramma! Issy isn't…feelin' good."
"Feeling good?" Sirius repeated. "Is she sick? Because she just came too see us, and she seemed fine."
"She goin' cwazy," Willow replied. "She sayin' daddy kill 'Att." Harry and Sirius exchanged glances.
"We'll go see if we can do anything to help her, okay?" Sirius said. Willow hesitated before answering.
"'Tay. Be sure she don't hurt you, though." Willow ran back over to Julian.
"Why would she say that Julian killed Matt?" Harry said to Sirius. Sirius shook his head.
-
"Get out," Isabella screeched as Sirius and Harry invited themselves in. "Just get the hell out!"
"Isabella," Sirius tried. She wouldn't listen.
"Get the hell out of my house! Just get out! H…he took both my babies! GET OUT!" Her hiccupping sobs soon stopped as she took in the sight of Harry.
"Matt?" She whispered, carefully walking towards Harry. "…Matt?" Harry and Sirius exchanged looks.
"N…No. It's Harry," Harry said slowly.
"Matt," Isabella said more confidently. "My Matt…you came back…" She threw her arms around Harry and squeezed him tightly. "Never leave me again, Matt. Please. Stay with me, don't leave me again."
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A/N: This is not the epilogue. Just to let you all know, this is not the ending. I want to have at least twenty chapters, and this is the longest that I've ever written. I didn't know if this was going to be the ending or not, so that's why it's pretty long. Anyway, I think the next chapter will be the ending. I don't know. So…thank you for the reviews.