Chapter Thirteen

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A stormy ocean stared at Rae from across the way - two of them, in fact. They held her gaze until they were sure she would follow, and then turned away, walking briskly to the end of the road. The woman's hair was as a crow: sleek and black. She was cloaked too heavily for the warm day, making her appearance all the more intriguing to the young girl.

Rae pushed her way through the crowd, forgetting her manners completely as she tailed the woman. She hadn't gotten much of a look at her - except the hair and eyes - which struck a familiarity bell in her mind; they matched her own. Curiosity overcame common sense, and she elbowed and pushed her way right into Knockturn Alley. The crowd was less here, and she was willing to bet the rancid smell of rotting meat was probably the reason.

The woman stopped at a street corner, right before turning into an alleyway. She threw back her hood and shook her head, turning back only once to look Rae in the eye before disappearing into the darkness. Rae gasped, suddenly knowing exactly why the woman had seemed so familiar. It was her mother. The little girl wasted no time in hurrying forward. Her heart ached in her chest and blood pounded in her head. It couldn't possibly be her. Sarah Orion died two years ago. The dead don't come back. Do they?

Rounding the corner and out of breath, she stopped. A rat skittered off behind a trashcan and a stray cat bounded away from her. There was no sign that anyone had entered the alleyway other than herself. She turned, looking all about her for a sign as to where the woman could have gone. There were none. The walls on her left and right appeared to be quite solid, and there was a high fence ahead of her, barricaded by an assortment of boxes and rubbish. Rae turned around to face the street, feeling quite helpless. When she did, she heard a voice behind her and felt a prick on the back.

"Who's there?" she called, whirling around. No one answered. It looked exactly how she had left it - empty. She massaged the spot on her back, feeling it tingle beneath her fingers. A bug bite, perhaps?

Slightly unnerved, she left the alley and walked along the road until she came back to the crowd of people she had left only moments ago. The place on her back still tingled, and it felt as if an invisible hand were drawing upon her skin. It didn't hurt, so why bother worrying about it?

Wandering back down Diagon Alley, her thoughts and memories blurred together, fusing the woman she had just seen and her mother. Everything about them matched so perfectly! Yet, she knew it was impossible. She herself had been there at her mother's burial. She had heard the eulogy, felt the rain, smelled the dirt, tasted her own tears, and watched the casket being lowered into the soggy earth.

There is no coming back.

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Rae blinked a few times, and shook her head, dismissing the memory. She removed her jacket and proceeded to brush off the dust and dirt. It wouldn't do to walk around the school looking like she had just stepped out of a barn. She slid her arms into the sleeves once more and looked up at Sirius, pausing.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"What?" he snapped out of his apparent reverie, thoughts still lingering in his mind. Gorgeous. Beautiful. Stunning. "Oh, nothing. Sorry." He apologized and quickly looked back to the cauldrons, of which there seemed to be not many left. Rae pulled her jacket on the rest of the way and stepped closer to him, reaching for another cauldron. Sirius took a deep, steadying breath. Once more, he detected the luscious scent of tangerines.

Say something, you idiot! Make conversation! This is one-on-one time with a pretty girl!

Rae cleared out her cauldron and moved on to the next one.

But what should I say to her? Should I ask her about herself?

Bree's words came back to him for at least the fourth time that night.

Be yourself.

"So, why are you in Slytherin?" he blurted out, unable to stop his tongue procuring the words, and forthwith kicking himself mentally. However, if he had expected her to yell, smack, or glare at him in the least, he was quite mistaken, for her momentary silence before answering was not a hostile one.

"I don't rightly know," she said, slowly. She set down a clean cauldron and picked up a dirty one. "I'm certainly no pureblood. As you probably know, my father is a muggle." Sirius thought he detected a hint of bitterness here, although he really couldn't blame her. "My mother was a witch, but I never knew about her bloodline. She was adopted by a pair of muggles when she was a child."

"You said 'was'. Did she, er, pass away?" he asked cautiously, not wanting to upset her by talking about a dead family member.

"Yes, she died years ago. I was nine." Rae's voice had grown quiet. Sirius opened his mouth to tell her that he was sorry - that he had no idea what she had been through - to tell her something - but she continued to speak. "I was born in Marlow but we moved to Richmond after Mum died. Dad got a great job opportunity there, so he took it, and we moved. Of course," she added, her mouth curving into a small, but sad, smile, "we both knew why he really decided to move. After you lose someone you love, it isn't easy to be reminded of them daily."

Sirius nodded in what he hoped looked like understanding. He tried to imagine how horrible it would be to lose James or Remus, but couldn't summon the feeling. Maybe this was one of those things that could only be learned by experience. He looked at Rae, wanting to say something nice or comforting to her. Nothing.

"Oh, look!" she abruptly exclaimed. "We're done!"

Sirius sighed in the relief of tension. He looked at his watch. "Finally. It's almost midnight. I'll go tell him that we've finished."

"Right." Rae stood uncomfortably for a moment before buttoning her jacket. She dug into her pocket and pulled out a pot of lip balm. The wind was picking up outside, and the dungeon really caught the draft. She liked the cold, but chapped lips were not fun in the least.

A moment later, Sirius came out of the office with Professor Jackyl at his heels. Their teacher looked at the cauldrons stacked beside the cabinet, gave an approving nod, and sent them off.

"I don't want to catch either of you being late to my class again, do you hear me?"

"Yes, sir."

"Yes, professor."

"Good night, then." He walked back into his office and shut the door. Rae and Sirius started down the stone passageway together, both shivering slightly from the drafts about their necks.

"Which is your direction?" Sirius asked, quietly, already knowing the answer.

"The next left past that statue up ahead," she replied.

"I'll walk with you, if you like," he offered, hope apparent in his voice.

"You don't have to do that," she said quickly. "It's cold, and you're not wearing a cloak or anything. You'd better get back to your dormitory-" She stopped speaking as Sirius's shoulder brushed her own, sending a shiver down her spine.

"I want to."

"Oh." Rae wasn't quite sure what to say to this. She rarely talked to anyone in the castle, as far as students went. Having one offer to walk her to her dormitory was quite strange, indeed. "Alright, then."

They turned the corner, and Rae said good-night.

"Wait," he blurted as she turned to leave him. "Do you eat breakfast?"

"Excuse me?" she asked, quite taken aback by this random question. "Well, yes, sometimes."

"Okay, so, uh, don't go to the Great Hall for breakfast tomorrow, and, uh, if you do, don't sit down," he stuttered. He mentally kicked himself for the lack of his usual smooth appeal.

"Can I ask-?"

"No, it's better if you don't know. Just… don't sit on the benches at the Slytherin table."

A bell went off somewhere in Rae's head, and she understood. The famous Marauders were pulling another prank, and she has just been tipped off about it. "Ah, right. Thanks." She tried to give a grateful smile, but she was quite tired, so it turned into a yawn instead.

"Good night… Rae."

"Good night, Sirius."

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A/N: Wow, that took me a long time to get up. I apologize for the wait, but computers seem to hate me. The flashback at the begining was beta'd by forsakenphoenix; I don't think she writes on here, but she's on like every other HPFF site out there, so you may have read her stuff, which is totally awesome. The rest of it wasn't beta'd, seeing as how I just finished writing it like ten minutes ago. Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, just review already. --wink--

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