The Marauder Chronicles – Chapter 3: Don't Run Before You Can Walk
I don't know how you do what you do, I'm so in love with you, it just keeps getting better
I wanna spend the rest of my life, with you by my side, forever and ever
Every little thing that you do, baby I'm amazed by you
Follow Trinity as she makes her journey through life, with Hogwarts, Death Eaters, marriage and death just some of the many obstacles she has to overcome,
Set in the Marauder Years
My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.
You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw you face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.
Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Fucking high,
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.
You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw you face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.
You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.
- You're Beautiful by James Blunt
September came and went in the blink of an eye, along with most of October. Soon it was almost the Hallowe'en Ball, and everyone was getting caught in the build-up.
Trinity, who was on the Committee for the Ball, flung herself onto Remus' bed. It was Friday night and she had spent the evening so far finalising decorations for the Great Hall.
"You look so good in those jeans."
"No, Sirius," she sighed, "I'm not going to the Ball with you."
Sirius sneered. "You won't go with me, but you'll go with Danny White? Yeah," he said sarcastically, "that makes sense."
"Padfoot," James began, but Sirius cut him off.
"What's he got that I haven't, Trinity? Do you think he's fitter? He'd be a better kisser than me? Better in bed?"
"He likes me, Sirius, that's what's different."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous. You think I don't? I've not left you alone for nearly two months. Would I have done that if I didn't like you?"
"You don't like me, Sirius," Trinity stood up sharply. "You like my breasts, my arse, what I look like. You want my body, not me."
"That's not true."
"Yeah it is. And that's where Danny's different. He's interested in what music I like, what Quidditch team I support, my favourite film, all that. You, you just want to sleep with me. You're shallow, Sirius Black. I'm just another one to add to the list, the long list, you know, another one to sleep with and tick off before moving on to the next one."
"I don't think of you like that." Sirius' cheeks reddened and his fists were clenched as he struggled to keep his fiery temper. He began fiddling with the studded dog collar he always wore, like he always did when he was angry.
"Oh, really? What's my favourite band, then?"
"Erm…" Sirius tried to think. She'd been playing them on the train on the first day. He looked over at Remus, who was desperately mouthing something to him.
"The Killers?"
"Ok, that was an easy question." Trinity was caught off her guard, surprised he knew the answer. "It doesn't prove anything. I would never go out with you, Sirius, you're a man-whore."
'Oh no,' James closed his eyes. 'She's done it.'
He just looked at her, wondering how someone that gorgeous, someone who was so beautiful inside and out, could say something like that; someone he'd developed such strong feelings for, like he'd never felt for anyone before. He was enraged and hurt, but rather than shouting back and giving as good as he got like the normal Sirius would, he turned and stormed out of the dorm room, slamming the hard behind him.
"Trins…" James said after a moment's silence. "That was a bit harsh."
"Well go after him if you're that bothered. I don't care."
Rolling his eyes, he grabbed the Marauder's Map out of his bedside cabinet, tapping it with his wand.
"I solemnly swear that I am no good."
Looking at the map, James announced, "He's gone to the Astronomy Tower," before leaving, certainly going there to see Sirius. He returned moments later to get his Invisibility Cloak, leaving Remus and Trinity alone.
"Trins…" He shook his head. "Sirius doesn't think of you like that I think he does actually genuinely like you."
"No he doesn't, you heard how he talks to me. 'You look so good in those jeans?' Please!"
"I think he just doesn't know how to act around you, Trins."
"How did an asshole like that become a friend with the likes of you and James?"
"He's not an asshole, Trinity, doesn't call him that. He's a really good friend. He just doesn't know how to get you to go out with him."
"That's 'cause I won't. I refuse to go out with someone that far up themselves."
Ignoring the Sirius-bashing, Remus explained the situation to Trinity.
"Look Trins, Sirius isn't used to having to work so hard to get a girl to go out with him, I don't think he's ever had to. He doesn't really know what to say or how to talk to you, so he acts like he does because it's how he normally acts with girls. He's used to girls falling at his feet. I think you're the first not to."
"I'm not surprised really."
"You don't fancy him?"
"No!" Trinity looked offended. "I think he's fit. Probably one of the fittest I've ever seen in my life. But I'm not won over by looks nearly as much as I as am by personality, and that's where le lets himself."
"Would you ever go out with him?"
"He'd need a complete personality transplant, Rems, and people don't change that much. He'd need more than a miracle."
"Hmn. Well, at least go and apologise, you know, clear the air."
"Apologise? What for?"
"Trins, you called him shallow, a man-whore and a load of other names. Please just say sorry."
"Fine. For you." Trinity made for the door.
"And don't get caught."
"Like I'd ever!" And with a cheeky smile, she was gone.
"Just be yourself, Padfoot, that's all you have to do."
Trinity could just hear James talking to Sirius as she reached the top of the Astronomy Tower stairs.
"She hates me, Prongs, you heard hat she said to me."
"She didn't mean it."
"It's not fair. I mean, I really like her. As in really like her. And she can't stand me."
"That's not true." Trinity stepped forwards.
James looked at her, then Sirius and said, "I'm gonna go."
After a moment, Trinity sat down next to Sirius, unsure what to say.
"Look Sirius," she began. "What I said back there…I have quite a hot temper, and I shouldn't have said what I said back there. It was uncalled for…I'm sorry."
Sirius' grey eyes lit up as he smiled at her.
"But," she said quickly as he opened his mouth to say something. "It does not mean I'll go out with you."
Sirius closed his mouth and nodded his head earnestly. He looked out at the sky, a great sparkling curtain of stars.
"Do you ever look at the stars?"
"You're not telling me the great Sirius Black is an astronomer as well?"
Chuckling, Sirius said, "I'm not an authority, but I know a thing or two."
"Go on then."
"Right…" he started, "...Let's see."
Trinity watched him trying to be smart, quite in disbelief that he was behaving quite differently around her, and she didn't mind his company.
"That there," he pointed, "That's Andromeda. My cousin's named after her. She's the only nice one."
"Where?" Trinity couldn't see.
"There," he outlined it with his finger.
She leaned over to see where he was pointing, her head resting on his shoulder in the process. When she realised
"You can lie on my shoulder if you want."
Trinity looked at him unsurely.
"I mean, you'll see where I'm pointing to better."
She smiled secretly as she laid her head back on his shoulder.
"And that, that's Andromeda's mother, Cassiopeia. She was the Queen of Ethiopia."
She nodded, able to see where she was.
"And over there," Sirius pointed to the brightest part of the sky. "That's the Canis Major. They're all dogs. Canis Major was one of Orion's Hunting dogs. Made up of seven stars – that's Murzim and Adara –"
"Adara's my middle name."
"Really? I never knew that," Sirius grinned. "It's the nineteenth brightest star in the sky."
"It means maidens, my Grandfather told me."
"He's right."
"Go on then. You only said two, there are seven."
"Well, that's Muliphen, and Wezen, then Furud and Aludra. And you see that one at the top, to the left of Murzim?"
"That really bright one?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
"That's Sirius. It's the brightest star in the sky, after the Sun."
"And you're named after it."
"Yeah, it means Dog Star."
"Oh…" Trinity watched Sirius looking at the stars.
He didn't look like a jock, or a punk, or an asshole, as she had called him earlier. He looked not innocent, but he looked faultless, and quite sensitive. She noticed, too, that he had studs in his ears. She counted them, three at the bottom, and one at the top.
She closed her eyes and lay on his shoulder, just drifting off to sleep.
"Trins?" Sirius whispered as he realised she'd fallen asleep.
When she didn't wake up, he moved her so he could get up, and levitated her down the stairs, then he picked her up and carried her to the boys dorm room.
James and Remus were watching the Marauder's Map, and could see the two people labelled 'Padfoot' and 'Trins' enter the empty Gryffindor Common Room.
A moment later, they heard Sirius call them.
"Guys?"
Remus opened the door and let Sirius in. He laid Trinity on his bed, and pulled the duvet over her.
"What did you do to her?"
"Nothing. We just sat there and talked."
"You didn't bore her?"
"No. She apologised. And I showed her some stars."
"Well done, Padfoot," Remus slapped him on the back. "Maybe you're getting your miracle."
"Say what?" Sirius looked confused.
"Nothing," he smiled. "Just keep being yourself and she'll go out with you in no time."
"Yeah…" Sirius said.
"Are we going out, then, guys?" James picked his Invisibility cloak up again.
"Yeah," Sirius grinned cheekily, "I need to get my Quidditch Through The Ages back from Professor Flitwick. I think Filch has got it."
"Let's go then," Remus led them out of their dorm room, secretly overjoyed to see Sirius close the door carefully so as not to wake Trinity.
"You going to Hogsmeade on Friday?" Sirius flicked an ink pot lid at Trinity. It was the Tuesday before the Hallowe'en Ball and everyone had been given the day before to go to Hogsmeade to finish getting everything they needed.
"Sirius, concentrate on the essay, we've gotta have it done by tomorrow," Trinity ignored his question as she scratched away at the four foot scroll she and Sirius had compiled on their project for History of Magic, on the extinction of Giants.
"James said you might not be coming."
"Well I need to." Trinity dipped her quill in more ink, pausing to talk to him. "My ball costume was being delivered to my Grandfather's shop and he's sent me an owl to let me know it arrived, and I won't have another chance to get it. But I have to finish that essay on Mandrakes for Herbology."
"Come to Hogsmeade, Trinity, it'd be a change, get away from school and work."
"I don't know. I might just ask my Grandfather to send it me. Or get James or Remus to pick it up for me."
"I'll get it for you if you don't come."
"Erm, yeah, okay. If it's not any trouble."
"No, not at all. Or you could come with me and we'll get it together."
She smiled at him as she continued her essay.
"Come on, we need to go to bed," Sirius yawned, looking round at the empty Gryffindor Common Room.
"I can't, I have to finish it," Trinity rubbed her eyes.
"What?" She eyed Sirius, who'd burst into a sudden fit of laughter.
"You got ink on your face," he laughed.
"Where?" she started touching her face, trying to find out where it was, but she ended up with more on than before.
"No, stop." Sirius pulled her hands away from her face, still chuckling. He licked his finer and rubbed some off.
"Stop that," he scolded her as she screwed her face up. "There."
"All gone?"
"Yeah." Sirius didn't move from in her face. He just stayed there, not looking in her eyes, but at her lips.
'They're so perfect,' he thought, unable to stop staring at them. 'Red like cherries and full and plump.'
Before he could stop himself, he was leaning in to kiss her.
Trinity had seen him move further towards her. As their lips were only millimetres away from each other, she realised he was going to kiss her.
Putting her hand on his shoulder and leaning back , she whispered, "Sirius, this isn't a good idea."
Unable to meet her stare, he said to his hands, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I shouldn't have done that."
After an awkward silence, Trinity decided to carry on writing.
Neither she nor Sirius noticed the angry girl watching them at the top of the girls' stairs.
Rebecca Gladstone-Henderson watched Sirius, her Sirius, lean in to kiss Trinity. With wide eyes, she flounced back to her room, where she lay in bed, thinking of all the ways she could hurt that bitch, plotting her demise.
Sirius woke with a grunt. Jerking up, he saw he'd fallen asleepin the Common Room. Opposite him, Trinity was laid, head resting in her arms, sleeping amidst her and Sirius' now completed History of Magic project.
Consulting his watch, he saw it was well after one o'clock.
Sighing, he got up and gently carried Trinity to a couch by the now burnt out fire and wrapped a blanket around her.
After hesitating a moment, contemplating whether or not to stay with her, he made his way to his dorm room, and his bed, to get a few precious hours of sleep.
The next morning, James and Remus were down early. Remus had woken up when Sirius came up earlier that morning, even though Sirius hadn't seen noticed as he got into bed.
Remus and James were discussing it, having decided to leave him in bed and smuggle a bacon sandwich up from breakfast.
"Who d'you think he was with?" James went through the girls in Gryffindor quickly in his head.
"I don't know."
"Maybe he's finally found someone else he likes and was out with her last night."
"Mmn," Remus thought out loud, "but him and Trins have been getting on really well."
"I know what you mean," James saw someone asleep on the sofa, but carried on talking quietly, thinking it was a seventh year. "They seem to be quite good friends, and Sirius is more interested in finding out about her than he was –"
He stopped as he noticed the figure moved.
"Moony," he quietly motioned to the sofa.
They both moved closer to the sofa, as the realised it was Trinity. Looking at the desk nearby, they aw it was covered with her books.
"You don't think…?" James grinned excitedly.
"I don't think they got up to anything, Prongs." Remus picked up a thick scroll, untying the red ribbon around it and reading the title.
"The End of the Giant Civilisation?"
"Oh, they were doing their History of Magic assignment, it's in for today."
"Yeah," Remus smiled, looking down the parchment, "except it's all in Trins' handwriting."
"Figures."
"James?" Trinity's eyes were bleary and red from lack of sleep.
"Go back to sleep, Trins," he said soothingly, as if talking to a baby, "we'll bring you some toast back."
"Can you do that?"
"No," he smiled impishly, "but we're the exception."
"Ok…" she said softly and she smiled sleepily, softly falling back against a cushion and going back to sleep.
Remus and James pulled the blanket back over her, and went to breakfast, followed closely by Lily and Alice, who came down from their dorm.
"Shall we wait for Becky?" Alice said, the three of them having made up a few nights before.
"No, I said we'd meet her in the Hall," Lily smoothed her red hair, "she's not ready yet."
"Right."
The two girls left the Common Room, neither of them having seen Trinity.
Fifteen minutes or so lapsed, and with the exception of a few young Gryffindors, no one passed through the Common Room.
That was, of course, until Rebecca came down. She sauntered down the stairs and went to the large mirror. As she checked herself over, she noticed a brown curly head on the sofa by the fire. Realising who it was, she grinned evilly and turned to face her sleeping form.
"I knew my moment would come. This is just too easy."
She went upstairs, returning with the same pair of scissors she had used to wreck her red jacket.
"Aw, poor Trinity," she sneered as she stood over her. "Looks like you won't be so pretty any more." And with a deep breath, she grabbed a fistful of hair and put the scissors over them, the curls coming off with a clean, crisp cut.
Smiling maniacally as she did so, Rebecca carried on cutting until the floor was littered with brown hair, and Trinity had very short, balding hair. She then turned on her heel, careful not to tread on the hair on the floor, and went to hide the scissors in her room.
Before leaving the Common Room, she looked back and said wickedly, "See you late, pretty Princess Trinity," her laugh echoing as she made her way down Gryffindor stairs.
When he was sure she'd gone, Sirius emerged from the shadows at the top of the boys' stairs. He'd come down just as Rebecca was heading towards her dorm room, with something silver and gleaming in her hands, and he'd heard what she said just before she'd left.
He ran to Trinity's side and his mouth fell open in shock. Her hair was incredibly short and unevenly cut, with one or two bald patches. Yet despite that, sleeping, blissfully unaware of the situation she looked absolutely gorgeous, and he had an urge to kiss her, much stronger than the one he had the night before.
Knowing what to do, he grabbed his robes from his room and went to the Great Hall to get James and Remus,
He explained on the way back what had happened, but they didn't realise the full extent until they saw her.
"What are we going to do?" Remus couldn't take his eyes off her hair.
"Wait until Rebecca gets back. Trins can sort her out."
"Prongs, I'm not sure that's a good idea. You know her; she'll rip her to pieces."
"Good," James and Sirius said simultaneously.
Remus and James looked at Sirius as he continued. "She deserves it after what she's done to Trinity."
"Shall we wake her?"
"Let Padfoot do it, Moony, he was the one who found her."
Sirius looked at them sceptically, then gently shook Trinity.
"Trinity?"
She opened her eyes slowly, smiling dopily as they tried to focus.
"Sirius?"
"Yeah. Trinity, you need to sit up," he said seriously.
Knitting her eyebrows, she tried to get into a sitting position, helped by her new friend.
"I'll be back in a minute," Sirius disappeared upstairs, then came back with a mirror. "Before I show you this, I just want to say don't worry 'cause we'll sort it out. And you still look amazing anyway."
He handed her the mirror and she looked at her reflection.
Her face froze in horror as she looked at her hair.
"What the fuck…?"
"It's okay," James touched her arm, "we'll go report it."
"Who did this?" she asked as she gingerly touched a tiny curl.
"Rebecca. But she'll pay; I'll make sure of it."
"Don't be rash, Padfoot," James warned his best friend.
"Yeah, don't overreact. We'll go to McGonagall at eight."
However, Sirius wasn't listening.
A large group of sixth year Gryffindors had just come into the Common Room, and he'd spotted Rebecca amongst them, laughing and giggling as though nothing had happened.
"You!" he shouted, and they stopped, all turning to look at him. "You pathetic tart!"
They all looked at each other, wondering who he was talking to.
"What are you going on about, Sirius?" Lily raised her eyebrows at him
"Rebecca. I've always known you were a sad, cheap, desperate tramp, but I didn't think you'd do something like this."
"What are you going on about, Sirius?" she moved to the front innocently.
"Don't act like you don't know what he's talking about," Trinity stood up, to unanimous gasps of shock from the other girls as they saw her hair. "Look what you've done."
"Er, I don't think so," Becky pulled a face at her. "You can't accuse me of something I haven't done. You can't prove it either. Just because –"
"I saw you, Becky," Sirius cut her off, "I saw you put those scissors back and leave the Common Room. I heard what you said. You called her 'Pretty Princess Trinity.'"
"If you saw me why didn't you say anything?"
"Do you not listen? I saw you walk away from her; I didn't get there in time to stop you. And when breakfast is finished, we're going straight to McGonagall to let her know what you've done."
"Sirius, it's okay," Trinity put a hand on his shoulder.
"No, she should pay for doing this to you," Sirius shot Becky a dirty look.
"Sirius, no, it's fine."
He looked at her questioningly; obviously mad at what had happened to her, as though she was crazy.
A second later, though, his expression changed from anger to awe as his mouth fell open.
Grinning evilly at Rebecca, Trinity saw she was stunned, glints or fury in her eyes.
"What…?" Sirius only just found words. "How…?"
Trinity's hair had suddenly grown, not stopping until it was the same length it had been before. This time, however, it was black, but still incredibly curly.
"You're a Metamorphmagus," Remus said knowingly. "Of course…"
She beamed at him before turning back to Rebecca.
"Next time you try to catch me out, Rebecca, I suggest you do some background research first." And with that, she went up to her dorm room to quickly change and freshen up, then she collected her things from the table in the Common Room, saying to Sirius, "I'll meet you in History of Magic, I've got to do something first."
"Right," Professor Binns drifted over his students as they all settled down. "I've marked your assignments, and I'll give them back to you."
"Erm, Professor?" Lily put her hand up.
"Yes Miss Evans."
"We haven't handed them in yet. You asked for them this lesson."
The History of Magic Professor went back to his desk and picked up the top scroll of a big pile on them. "Oh yes," he chuckled. "I'm sorry, I've gotten you mixed up with Year 7. Can I have your essays in now then, please?"
"Where did you go earlier?" Sirius whispered to Trinity as she magicked their scroll onto the Professor's desk.
"What? Oh, I had to go see someone."
"Who?"
"No one, it's not important."
"Oh…okay."
"Now, this lesson we will go over what you need to learn for your theory on this unit."
Just then, there was a knock on the door and Danny White entered the classroom.
"Mr White, this lesson started ten minutes ago."
"Yeah, sorry I'm late, Professor," he said, giving Trinity a pointed look, "I left my quill in my room."
"Well please don't let it happen again, Mr White, or I shall have to deduct points."
Danny sat down at the back, Sirius watching him suspiciously.
"What was he looking at you like that for?"
"Hmm?" Trinity looked at Danny, then turned back to her work. "Oh, erm, I don't know."
"Right…" Sirius watched her concentrating on something else, trying to work out what was going on from her face.
"Sirius, stop looking at me, it's off-putting."
"Sorry," he grinned, as he followed her actions, copying a list of topics off the board.
He didn't say anything else to her for the rest of the lesson, until they were out the door.
"You coming to the library then?" he asked her.
"Er, I can't, I've got something I need to do. For the ball."
"Oh, okay…can I come with you?"
"Sirius," Trinity turned to him, "I'm sure you have work you need to do this free."
"Please?" he whined at her, his grey eyes widening and pleading with her.
"Fine!" she gave in, rolling her eyes. "I need to go to Hogsmeade, and the Headmaster said I could take someone with me, as long as they aren't missing any lessons."
"Hogsmeade?" he went all giddy. "Brilliant!"
"I just need to dump my stuff back in your dorm room and get changed."
"Great! Come on then," Sirius put his arm around her waist and led her towards Gryffindor Tower,
"Sirius…"
Sirius was waiting for her in the Common Room. He was wearing his favourite outfit – a white t-shirt with a Union Jack print, a black leather biker jacket and black Doc Martins up over his black jeans. His trademark dog collar was there too.
He wasn't a Goth, thank you very much, so don't dare call him that or he'll floor you. He wasn't a punk either. Just an alternative, dresses how he pleases kind of guy.
As he sat waiting for her, he thought about where she'd gone and why Danny had given her an evil look. Had they fallen out? Where they still going to the Ball together?
"You ready to go?"
Sirius turned his head to face her and say he was, when he saw what she was wearing. She looked absolutely gorgeous, from her lemon and flower print jacket to her ripped jeans to her white flats and bag. Her black hair was ruffled and tied back, deliberately messy, and her chocolate eyes stood out amongst lashings of black eye make-up.
"Sirius?"
"Er, yeah, sorry," he grinned, "I'm ready."
"Come on then," she walked to the door, waiting for him to follow.
"You look really nice, by the way."
"Thanks," she flashed him a smile, and they went to Hogsmeade, stopping at the Headmaster's office on the way to get a Portal Key so they could get there.
"I need to go to my Grandfather's shop to pick up the chocolates I ordered for the tables for the Ball, and the post office to send a letter for the Headmaster. And that party shop at the far end of the High Street to get some table covers and stuff."
"Okay."
"Do you want to go anywhere?"
"Not really. Oh, just Zonko's. When I went in a few weeks ago the man there said he would be getting some new stuff in, so I want to try them out."
"Come on then." She took his hand and dragged him to the other end of the high street. "If we start up here," she explained, "we can work our way back so we don't have to walk more than we have to."
Sirius just nodded, not hearing anything she said, focusing on nothing but how warm and just right it felt for Trinity's delicate hand to be in his larger, masculine one.
They went into the party shop, and picked up the last of the table decorations that had been ordered, and then to the post office.
Trinity opened the door to Honeydukes and wandered in, Sirius close behind her. He looked around, thinking how many millions of times he'd been in here, and not once had he seen Trinity or realised that the owner's granddaughter was the most stunning thing he'd ever laid eyes on.
"Grandfather?" she called, smacking Sirius as he laughed at the formal address.
"Hel?" the old man appeared wiping his spectacles before putting them back on and inspecting his granddaughter. "Is that you?"
Smiling, she hugged him and listened to him tell her, once again, that she'd grown so much since he'd last seen her and that she needed to eat something because she was looking ever so thin.
After insisting she was fine, she introduced him to Sirius.
"Yes, I've seen you before. You come in here quite regularly with about three or four other boys. Once of them's quite greedy."
"Yeah," Sirius grinned, "That's Peter."
"I'm Orestes Honeyduke, Hel's Grandfather," he extended his hand and Sirius shook it.
"Right…" Trinity looked at the two, changing the subject, "Are the chocolates ready?"
"Oh, of course, they're through here," Al walked into the stockroom, pointing them out to the
"You're having a laugh?" Trinity looked at the four massive Honeydukes bags waiting for her. "I can't carry all those."
"I bet you're glad you brought a strong young man to help you, then," the old man looked at Sirius.
Trinity just smiled at her Grandfather.
"What about my costume? You said it had arrived?"
"Yes, but only one package has come, the other two haven't."
"Oh," Trinity's face fell, but she said sweetly, "Can I go see it?"
"Of course, it's in your room."
"You wanna come, Sirius?"
"Er, sure."
Trinity led him up the stairs to above the shop. He followed her into a light, airy, lilac decorated room. In one corner, on a plush seat, was a big cream box that was tied with string.
Clapping her hands excitedly, she picked it up and untied the string.
"You're not allowed to see it," she said to Sirius, who had been watching her as he stood by the window.
Rolling his eyes, he looked out the window at Hogsmeade, never having seen it from this angle before. "Have you finished yet?" he asked her, when the rustling of tissue paper ceased.
"Yeah…" she said dismayed.
"What's the matter?"
"It's not my costume," she pouted.
"They've sent you the wrong one?"
"No…they've sent me my hat, but not my dress."
"Well, your Grandfather said it would come on Thursday, that's tomorrow. You can pick it up on Friday when we come to Hogsmeade. Or I'll pick it up if you don't come."
Smiling at him, she nodded, tying the string back together.
"So, are we taking this?" Sirius stood up, his hand resting on the box.
"Yeah," Trinity went to pick it up, but Sirius stopped her.
"I'll carry it, you've got enough stuff already."
"Okay," she smiled.
"Do you want to go to the Three Broomsticks for a drink before we go back? We've got loads of time."
Trinity looked at the clock on her bedside table. "Sure. Shall we leave everything here, and we'll get them before we go back?"
"Yeah," Sirius piled the boxes on the floor by her bed. "Your room's really nice, by the way."
"Thanks," she blushed, still not used to his constant compliments.
"Grandfather?" she called as they came back into the shop. "We're going to the Three Broomsticks, okay?"
"Right," Orestes was weighing out huge chunks of special Honeyduke's fudge for the counter.
"We've left everything upstairs, we'll come back and get them soon."
Nodding, he watched Sirius open the door for his granddaughter, smiling to himself.
"What do you want to drink?" Sirius asked her as she slipped into a booth.
"Oh…can I just have Pumpkin Juice. Gosh it's hot in here."
Sirius ordered her Pumpkin Juice and a cold Butterbeer for him. Waiting for them, he saw Trinity in the mirror above the bar as she took her jacket off, revealing a little white camisole, and he noticed more than a few men in there watching her.
"There you go," Sirius set Trinity's drink on the table, and slipped into the seat opposite her, moving round so he was closer, still conscious of the face that she was being watched by some quite shady people.
"Thanks," she took a sip, half-aware of how close he was to her.
"So…what are you and Danny going dressed as on Saturday?"
"Oh, erm, I'm not going with Danny any more."
"Why not?" Sirius noticed she didn't meet his eye.
"I realised he wasn't as nice as I thought he was."
"Who are you going with, then?"
"I'm not. Well, sort of. I'm just gonna go and have some fun."
"You could come with me."
"You're going with Anna Bevan. Anyways, I'm going to be a pirate with you four. Five, including Anna."
"And Mariella. She's going with James."
"Not Lily?"
Sirius just raised his eyebrows at her. "What do you think?"
"Did Remus ask Jenny?"
"Yeah, he popped the question last night in the library," he grinned, "so they're going. So it looks like it'll be you and Peter."
"Great!" she sarcastically pulled a face.
"You really can't stand him, can you?"
"It's not that. He's just one of those people who I think just doesn't have a reason for being there. I mean," she explained as Sirius started laughing, "he's greedy and not very intelligent and he says the most stupid things. I don't understand how someone like him ends up being friends with you lot."
"He's not that bad," Sirius stuck up for his friend, although he found it hard not to crack a smile. "He's just not as bright as us three. Or as good-looking."
"Yeah." Trinity agreed without having realised she'd said anything.
As she did, she blushed furiously, as Sirius grinned openly.
"I just need to do something," she said, finishing her drink and getting up, "I'll be back in a minute."
"Where are you going?"
"Just outside." She then added, with an impish smile, "I'm going for a smoke. Do you mind?"
"Not at all." Sirius watched her as she took her handbag and made her way to the door, smiling to himself as he stared at her rear.
'She really does look good in jeans,' he thought. Looking down at the remains of his Butterbeer, he didn't notice two men leave straight after her.
After ten minutes, she still hadn't come back. Sirius looked at his watch, frowning. She really had been gone a long time.
Picking her jacket up off the seat she had vacated, he walked outside, and looked for Trinity.
"Look, just leave me alone."
He heard her voice round the corner, coming from the alleyway between The Three Broomsticks and the Apothecary. As he walked towards the alley, his heart started beating faster as he heard a man's voice.
"No. You're coming with us."
"What do you think you're doing?" Sirius saw the two men from the pub, recognising them as two fairly young Death Eaters that had been at a party his parents had thrown a while ago.
"What's it to you?" the other said cockily. "Leave us alone or there'll be trouble."
"Fine," Sirius shrugged, "Come on babe, you heard him. Let's go."
"No. The girl wants to stay here. We're in the middle of something."
"Yeah. She had nothing to do with you, so get lost."
"Well, she does have something do with me, actually. She's my girlfriend," Sirius said easily, "so I'm not going without her."
"And you are?" the taller one looked him up and down.
"Regulus Black," he replied, pretending to be his Death Eater-obsessed little brother.
"Black?" the two men looked at each other. "Oh. In that case, you'd better go."
And with that, they stepped back to let Trinity go past, and Sirius took her hand in his as she reached him, leading her away swiftly.
Sirius didn't look back as they walked away, but he was certain they were watching him and Trinity.
"You okay?" Sirius put an arm around her waist to steady her, as he saw she was quite shaky. "Here," he produced her jacket, which she graciously took and put on. When she had, he put his arm back around her, and walked her to Honeyduke's.
Just before she opened the door, she turned to him and said, faintly, "Please don't say anything to my Grandfather, or anyone else. I don't want anyone else to know"
"Of course. As long as you're okay."
Nodding, she took a deep a deep breath, to regain her composure, and then walked into the shop.
"You're back, than?" her Grandfather saw them as they walked in, standing on a ladder, rearranging a display.
"Yeah," Sirius said simply.
"Good."
They went up to her room to collect the bags and boxes. As he walked up the stairs behind her, Sirius noticed she was still a bit shaky.
"Sit down for a minute," he commanded her, helping her onto her bed.
"Thanks. Who's Regulus?"
"My little brother. The next Death Eater in the Black Family."
"Ah." Trinity could sense a slight tone of remorse in his voice, and decided not to press any further. "Do you want to go?" she changed the subject, standing up slowly.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yep," she nodded, picking up some stuff.
He did the same, and they walked downstairs carrying them. Sirius grabbed three of the Honeyduke's bags waiting for them, leaving only one for Trinity.
"Are you sure you're okay with those?" she looked uncertainly at him, "I can carry them, if you want."
"No," he dismissed her, "I'll be fine."
"Okay…I just need to get some lemon drops for the Headmaster, as a thank you for letting me come here in school hours."
Nodding Sirius went to the front of the shop to wait for her.
"Grandfather?" she came through to the front with the rest of the bags, "Can I take a box of lemon drops for the Headmaster?"
"Of course. Oh, there's a box of Exploding Viennese truffles there, they're samples. I might sell them in the shop, but I want you to try them and tell me what you think of them."
"These?" she lifted up a big box of chocolates from behind the counter, looking at the tag on them. "What do they do?"
"They explode in your mouth, Hel. It's really creamy and chocolaty, but I'm not sure if the chocolate's too thick."
"Oh, okay. I'm going now, Grandfather, I'll see you later."
"Okay," Orestes got down off the ladder. You coming this weekend?
"Oh, I'm going home at half term, but I'll come and see you, give you a hand and stuff."
"Okay sweetheart," her Grandfather kissed her cheek, walking with her to the door. "Take care of yourself and I'll see you soon."
He opened the door for her, and said to Sirius as he walked out, "It was nice meeting you Mr. Black. I hope I'll see you again soon."
"How did he know I was Sirius Black?" he said as soon as they were out of the shop.
"Hmm? Oh, Grandfather knows everything."
"Right…" Sirius thought, wondering, if he did know everything, if her grandfather knew he was absolutely in love with Trinity.
They walked through Hogsmeade to the Activation Site, talking every now and again. Just before Trinity activated the Portal Key, she said to Sirius, "Thanks for everything Sirius."
"I should be the one thanking you, for bringing me to Hogsmeade."
"I don't just mean that. I mean for the thing back there at The Three Broomsticks. You didn't have to step in, but you did."
"If it wasn't me, it would have been someone else, Trinity."
She grinned shyly at him, and said, "You can call me Trins, you know, like Rems and James do."
"Ok, Trins."
"I mean it though, Sirius, thank you." She kissed his cheek, her face turning red.
Pausing a moment, Sirius just looked at her, then tilted his face towards hers, capturing her lips with his.
They were as soft as he'd dreamt, but it felt like nothing he'd ever imagined. Kissing her felt, just, right, and he felt he could kiss her forever, that he wanted to kiss her forever.
However, when he realised she didn't kiss him back, he opened his eyes to see Trinity's chocolate ones wide open, taken aback by his actions. He pulled away, just watching her for a reaction.
After a second, she pulled him back towards her, kissing him with force.
After what seemed like forever, Trinity broke the kiss, clearing her throat and saying quietly, "We'd better go or we'll miss lunch."
She pressed the Portal Key and they found themselves just outside the Headmaster's Office.
Author's Note:
Hey y'all!
What do you think, then? Please tell me, I've not had any feedback, so please review after reading this as I'm desperate to know whether or not you like this story. It's a bit discouraging, really, when you're writing a fic and no one wants to leave a review.
I hope you like this chapter, though, I enjoyed writing it.
I've written a chapter that'll be like Chapter 40 or something, and am really please with where it'll be going, but because no one's reviewing, I don't think I'll even make Chapter 10 as I've not got any encouragement.
Again, Please R&R and I'll post Chapter 4 soon,
Loadsa love,
Serenity x.