Chapter Two-A room for One with Two Guests
"One room please." Maxine tells the woman behind the counter.
"Just you?"
"Me and my dog." She tells her, "Don't worry, he's trained."
"Okay, room…" she looks through the thick book in front of her, "One twenty five." She hands her a key.
Maxine hands her some money and takes the key from her. Sirius follows her up the stairs into the room where he changed back into human form.
"I can't thank you enough for this."
"You don't have to." Maxine tells him, "Just bathe is all I ask."
Sirius turns red and gave her an uneasy smile as he left into the bathroom where he began a bath. Maximila brought in three small bottles, one of shampoo, one conditioner and the other a body wash. The pulled a never used razor from the same bag, and some shaving crème.
"Thank you." Sirius tells her.
Maxine smiles at him, "I'll be back in a little bit." She tells him.
"Okay." He tells her.
Maxine left the room putting the 'do not disturb' sign on the door and sneaked out one of the back doors. She left down the street to a clothing store she saw as they went to the inn. She went in and immediately a man approached her and informed her that they were closing. She then told him that she and her boyfriend were traveling and his bag fell in the river down stream and they never found it so she came to get a change of cloths for him until they reached her mothers house in the next city. He quickly helped her find some cloths, and she went back to the inn. It was now dark, around nine o'clock or a bit later when she arrived back at the inn. Sirius just came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel and it startled him.
"I got you some new cloths till the other ones are cleaned." Max tells him handing the box out to him.
"Thank you." He tells her.
Once again she just smiles at him as he took the box and went to change. There were two sets in one box. One was a change of cloths, pair of black jeans and a plain black button down shirt. Then there were pajamas, a plain blue pair of pants and shirt. He changed into the pajamas and kept the other cloths in the box. She had even gotten him underclothes and socks. When he went into the other room she was redoing her hair from a lose braid into a tail and braid.
"Oh, look there was a man under all that." She jokes.
"Really." He agrees with a chuckle. "It's great to feel perfectly clean again." He tells her. "Thank you."
"Shh, you make me sound like a saint." She tells him, "Come here."
Sirius moves to the bed and sits in from of her letting her brush his hair.
"If I hurt you it's not my fault." She tells him.
Then it hit him.
"I know I shouldn't ask, but, why are you doing all this for me?"
He wanted to know, pretty badly at that.
"Because I want to. Does it matter?" She asks him.
"No, I suppose not." Sirius answers, "Just being, well…"
"I don't think you did what you were convicted for."
"You don't?" He asks turning to her.
"No, I don't." She turned his head back facing the wall, "I can see through the fakes and separate the good from the bad pretty easily. Ones animagus form reflects the personality, a dog, even if a grim, is mans best friend and are loyal. It doesn't match what everyone believes you did." She explains to him.
Sirius turns and looks at her.
"Thank you." He tells her, "For everything." He tells her looking her straight in her eyes, and then turns around facing the wall so she could continue fixing his hair. He could have sworn she blushed.
After brushing it she cut it up to his jaw line.
After doing so she realized how cute and hansom he was. He had black hair, which she thought was ironic seeing how his last name and hair color matched, and had pretty bright blue eyes. Much like a child's; his eyes were the first thing she noticed about him when he woke. Even under the tangled mess of hair and slightly dirty face his eyes were like diamonds in the ruff.
After she had finished with his hair they sat on the bed talking, mainly about Sirius and what had happened to him over the past fourteen years. Then somehow he managed to finally switch the conversation from him to her.
"Surely you have family somewhere." He says.
"My mother is still alive probably wondering the forests like me. My father died about ten years ago. And my brothers tend to stay in the other realm. They aren't much for this one."
"So, then how old are you?"
"My mother is sixty four now I think, so I'm thirty four. She had me when she was thirty four."
"Wow, you don't look any older than twenty five at the most." Sirius says, "How long do shadow demons live for?"
"A full blood, the oldest I've herd of was nine hundred and eighty one. The oldest half breed has been I believe was half that. My guess for me is around a hundred twenty." Max tells him.
"How many brothers do you have?" he asks.
"I was lucky number eight, and the only girl, the rest were boys." She answers, "There's Miles, William and Kael the twins, Conrad, and the second set of twins Viktor and Vincent, and then Dustin."
"Oh dear, I don't have any brothers or sisters."
"Lucky you. There's nothing like having to fight to get in the bathroom."
Sirius chuckles, "And the holidays?"
"Oh god, nothing but wrapping paper and dirty dishes." She tells him. "I mostly got cloths and books from my parents while my brothers got weapons and other gadgets. I got the hand me downs from them." She adds.
"What are they?"
"Miles is an Alchemist, William and Kael and a thief, Conrad is an assassin, Viktor and Vincent are hustlers, and Dustin is an auror." She answers, "I'm pretty much all that rolled into one, but it's a good thing. I can survive on my own. My thirteenth birthday they left me in the forest for a week to see if I could survive."
"NO!"
"Yes and when I found them they ran from me."
Sirius laughs, "Do you have any powers?"
"Many, although they art as powerful as a full blood. I can move small things or several at one time. I can turn invisible at will but not longer than about ten minuets and I can turn into a shadow. It all takes concentration."
"Turn into a shadow?"
"It's exactly as it sounds." She tells him. "Face that wall." She tells him.
Sirius gets up off the bed and faces the wall; Max tilts the lamp so it casts his shadow on the wall. However he didn't see her shadow. He looked behind him and she was gone, then he looked back to the wall, he had an extra arm.
"Whoo." She says wiggling her fingers.
Sirius moves his arm up and she followed, then he turned his head to the left then the right watching the wall out the corner of his eye. He thought it as amazing. Sirius laughs and turns to her as she sat on the bed.
"The pranks I'd pull on my teachers…" Max says shaking her head, "Well, I'm tired so I'm going to bed." She tells him.
Sirius hadn't even noticed she had changed her cloths and was then wearing a black muscle shirt and a pair of black silky pants. He watched her pull the blankets from under the pillows and crawl under them. She pushes the blankets to the end of the bed so now was only under a sheet. Realizing he began to stare he went over to the other bed and climbed in doing the same as she had done. He was happy she didn't seem to notice him staring.
She faced the opposite way from him and he stared at the back of her head as he drifted into a sleep.