Ok. The story of Dennis—my boiled goldfish. We had a wonderful goldfish. I've had many before, and they all died quickly but Dennis was the only one who lasted for SIX MONTHS. He was a good, attentive fish.
That was until my neighbor Jenin came over. Letting her through the door was signing Dennis's death warrant.
So, she comes over to hang with my sister, and I had to leave to run an errand. I told my sister to remember to change Dennis's water. Apparently, the two of them needed an instruction manual in friggin' crayon to change water for a fish.
I come back to find that Dennis was BOILED. Jenin turned on HOT WATER, and let it run before filling Dennis's fishbowl. And then he died of the heat.
Seeing him...floating at the....Well, tears inevitably followed. And that's the story of Dennis.
Anywho, on to the posts.
Lily stood in front of the Pink Lady's golden-framed portrait, feeling a bit better with...everything. Life still sucked for the moment, of course, but it helped to get most of what she was holding in off of her chest. She could never thank Thaniel enough for listening. Between her parents' divorce, her family's breaking apart, school duties, the Christmas ball (which she had yet to plan, but was a constant nagging thing-to-do in the back of her mind), and of course, breaking up with James—consequently, losing her best friend forever—she thought she was going to crumble.
"Not to sound insensitive, Evans," Thaniel had said only an hour before, in the library, after Lily had vented about all that was bothering her (sans the losing-James part). "But your parents aren't the first to divorce."
"But that doesn't make—"
"Doesn't make it any less painful, I know," Thaniel finished for her, literally taking the words out of her mouth. His voice, though low (because it was still the library and Madame Pince's bad side was not one you wanted to be on), carried one of the most understanding of tones, one that Lily found most comforting at that moment. "For you, the end of the world has finally come. Your parents are like...your ultimate foundation. You always think you can depend on their being together. Or, most likely, you never even thought about it. You probably just subconsciously assumed they would just always be...Mum & Dad. Mr. and Mrs. And now it's like...someone splashed cold water on your face, stuck you in the gut on stage, and you don't know your line."
Whoa. Lily was at a loss for words, and could only nod at that point. He had...understood. So well. Maybe too well.
She swallowed, and tentively asked, "Are your parents divorced?"
"Separated." Thaniel smiled weakly, not his 100-watt smile she was growing used to. Like he was remembering a memory he'd wished he'd forgotten, but hadn't managed to. "At least they were for a while. A year. They're back together now, though," he looked down at the closed text, and opened it again. Eyes averted, he went on. "But I never forgot the day my dad packed. Or the first night I caught my younger sister just...staring at my dad's empty seat at the dinner table." He stopped.
Lily felt awful. She could tell Thaniel wasn't ready to go on, and waited until he was.
"So you see, Evans?" he finally asked, looking at up at her from across the study table. "Some people do understand."
Well. She was floored.
"You're lucky," said Lily, realizing it wasn't enough.
"How do you figure?"
"Because they got back together. Thank you, Thaniel. For listening...and giving me another perspective on things. And just...yeah," Lily tried to finish, but how do you thank someone for sharing what must have been a very painful experience, just to give some silly redhead a degree of comfort?
"Don't worry, Evans," Thaniel was still thinking about her. "These things have their own ways of working out."
"Dragon scales," Lily spoke the password to the Pink Lady, and entered through the portrait hole in the wall. In the Common Room, she spotted Amelia, sitting on the couch, dressed to go out, but she didn't look like she was getting up any time soon. She just sat there, her hair taken down, and pouting.
"Hey Mel," Lily greeted as she passed. "Er, didn't you have a date with Reg?"
"Yes," Amelia sat up instead of slouching. "But he broke it, last minute. Said he had to meet with some of the guys. Who breaks a date last minute? Ass." She was obviously upset.
Somewhere else...Not too far away, but far enough.
"You're late, Black."
Regulus let go of his tight hold on his black coat wrapped around him, as he finished descending the steps down the underground hall. Candles were lit in every corner of the stone hall, far below ground. The grey stone looked bronze while cast in the light from the candles. The place was completely furnished, with every comfort and luxury, yet the mases that hung from the wall, and the dark black that colored almost all the furniture, with the dead spiders in the corners only added ferocity to the appearance of the room, despite the furniture.
"What of it, Luc?" Reg was in no mood to be here, and wasn't going to make a secret of it. What kind of last-minute meeting was this? Only he and Lucius were here.
"The Dark Lord wishes to speak to two of the leaders of his armies," Malfoy informed, sprawled on the couch lazily, taking a bite out of an apple from the bowl of fruit on the dusty yet beautifully decorated oak dining table. With his other hand, he brushed a strand of strikingly white-blonde hair from his face. "So, it'd be in your benefit to get your ass here on time."
Reg glared. Damn, the prat was fucking annoying. "His Lord isn't here, yet. I am on time."
Lucius spit out the apple. "Lucky for you."
Reg and Lucius must have been glaring at each other pretty hard, since they had barely noticed the Dark Lord Voldemorte apparate only mere feet from where they were.
He stood six feet seven inches tall, at least. Or at least he seemed that way. Donned in black from head to toe, with a sort of I-can-kill-you-just-by-looking-at-you, he would scare any sane person who saw him. But right now, not Regulus Black.
"You wanted to see us?" Reg asked, crossing his arms, assuming a discontented expression. Even before he spoke, before he looked at his master, he knew he was being an ass. This was behavior Voldemorte could easily kill you for.
Voldemorte simply...circled him. Uh-oh. Reg's nerves were suddenly on end, and wished Voldemorte would kill him on the spot rather than endure his silent scrutiny, pacing around him, like a slow torture.
"Yes," the Dark Lord said, and stopped circling Reg. He stood in front of the two, Lucius now on his feet. "I did want to see the commanders of my armies. You are the ones who influence the others. They follow your lead. For what's to come, I—along with the entire mission—will assume you know this, and all that it implies."
Lucius answered for him as well as Reg. "We do."
"That having been said," his voice was like a low growl, even when he was content, and the only way you knew if he was angry was that the growl became louder, a sort of roar. "There is much to discuss. Starting," he looked to one of the young men. "With you."
Regulus flinched.
Linda and Sirius laughed the entire way back to the Tower.
"Thanks loads, Sirius," Linda said, still holding on to his arm. She'd been laughing so hard at his charm and antics, he had to reach out to steady her. "I haven't laughed so hard, or had so much fun, in a long time."
Sirius smiled attractively. She noticed that when he smiled, so did his dark eyes. What an odd thing to notice, Linda thought.
"Well, the company was one of the best I've had in a long time," he replied, "so thank you."
"Linda," a voice interrupted their bonding moment. Linda inwardly cursed whoever it was. "Hello. We need to talk. Now."
Linda's back was to him, as she faced Sirius. But she saw Sirius's face change to something unexplainable. She turned around to face whoever it was.
"You."
-------------
Now the Authoress has got some words to say:
Kelli—Hey hey hey! Where'd you move to? And keep on reading. I've got loads I can't wait to post up. ::Wink wink::
Keeks—Hello? It's Sirius. He's VERY perceptive. Why? Because he's PERFECT. In my mind, at least. LoL. And reading this was the highlight of your day? ::Cries:: Reading your review was the highlight of MINE! ::Hugs::
Laurel—I do not envy you and your college applications. GET THEM OVER WITH AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. You'll be a saner person for it. I hope you get into the college of your dreams, truly I do. Awww, this story was the only non-required reading? Well, ain't that just the sweetest? Take a cookie!
Apotterlover— Thank you for reading! Yeah, I'll be updating a bit more often now I think. Stick around. ::Offers baked goods as bribes::
Sam—LoL, maybe he does, maybe he doesn't! You'll just have to keep on reading to see.
Lyr942—LoL you think Linda and Sirius are just wrong together? Honey, I'm even thinking about writing a character named after me and sticking her in the story as a Sirius-love interest. Hello? A girl can do no better than Sirius Black. LoL color me obsessed.
Vick—thanks darlin! LoL, Sirius is never a psycho! Must I start taking away cookies? LoL, just kidding, I would NEVER! ::offers some:: Take some cheesecake while you're at it.
Kaitlyn—LoL, I love that you picked out like...the one line that I actually liked in the posts. That's SO what I want my future-man to do. Like, warm my hands or whatever...just be all considerate. ::Sniffs:: I'm all alone. Anywho, I love your word: blasé. All...french. Or something. LoL. Love you SO MUCH.
Amanda—Ah! You named it Bob! That's my fave joke-name and I name like...everything that! LoL. Anywho, I find the dumbest things funny. LoL. And no, I did not use that as a reference to the Little Mermaid. Honest to God, I wasn't even thinking about it until you pointed it out. But then again, Disney has raised me since I was a fetus, so you never know.
Megz—Read far above for the history of Dennis. LoL. Thanks for the compliment, it inflated my ego more than was good for it. LoL, LOVE YA GIRL. Do I have your sn? ....I've asked you this question before, haven't I?
Cpsoccergirl—anytime. I'm serious about the pictures thing. LoL, I've been taking pictures of TREES! To remember the Autumn of 2004. I've decided I'm clinically insane. And OF COURSE you're in the L2B crew! Love ya lots, baby.
Lacey--::Giggles:: No, you're not going crazy... But I don't wanna give anything away. Here's some chocolate cake.
Kelly—LoL! Three T's. You're so cute. That's it, I'm writing hot with 3 T's now. It'll be the Kelly-thing to do. LoL.
April—He didn't have to be staring at her, he could've just noticed. But hey, you never know. ::winks::
Love you guys so much, and hope you enjoyed this chapter. I think the ones a-coming will be better, though. So STICK AROUND. And if you can, please review. I love reading what you guys write, it makes my day like you wouldn't believe. Hugs and kisses, Aurora.