Yo! Thank you, ShOrTnSwEeT9013, for guessing the correct answer to the trivia question first. The infamous Neil Armstrong said "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". And I'd like you all to know that I'm trying my very hardest to not make lame-ass jokes like that anymore. Sorry.
I have a new story up, called To Die Laughing, and it's about this pact the Marauders make in their sixth year. It's only going to be a short one, about five chapters, so it won't take you long to read! Please check it out, and review to let me know how you feel! Thankies!
Disclaimer: I am deeply sorry to inform you that I own zilch.
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Lily and Harry had fallen into a silence again, giving each other time to think their conversation over. Lily felt that she had done a good job at comforting Harry. At least, he wasn't crying anymore. Still, there was more to talk about, and Lily wasn't going to stop now.
"Harry." She spoke tentatively, wanting to break him into conversation slowly. "Can you tell me about Sirius? All Petunia told me was that you'd met him a few years ago, and he was killed…by his cousin. In June."
Harry gulped. Lily could see that he was thinking of a story fast.
o-o
Harry wasn't quite sure what to say. Obviously, he couldn't tell Tabitha that Sirius had died in a wizard's duel, or that he fell through a mysterious veil and didn't come out from the other side. Harry felt his eyes stinging at the memory, and a lump formed in his throat. Clearing it, he decided to give a refined, edited version of what had happened. A version that wouldn't make Tabitha suspicious.
"My friends and I…we were acting really reckless. We left school to…to do something, but ended up being in terrible danger." Harry paused, and nodded to himself, content with these first two sentences. Tabitha said nothing, so he continued. "Sirius…and his friends, they came after us, to help us. There was a fight…and people fell…" Harry closed his eyes, remembering, and trying not to remember at the same time.
"Sirius, he was always a fighter." Harry opened his eyes, and boared suddenly into Tabitha's. It was important that she understand this, for some reason. It was important to Sirius' memory. "He was always jumping into danger, ready to defend others too weak to protect themselves. He had this amazing sense of justice, you have no idea." Harry was going off on a tangent, he knew this, but he wanted Tabitha to realize what a loss Sirius was to the world, even if so few agreed.
"I know it doesn't sound that amazing, but it's really not a common thing at all. A lot of times, people are too strict with others, and then some are too easygoing. But Sirius, he just knew. He was a great judge of character, if nothing else. And always loyal. Always. Back when he was in school with my dad, they were incessantly defending their friend Wor- er, Peter." It wouldn't do to have Tabitha know the traitor's nickname. "Since Peter was so small and talentless, he was constantly getting picked on. But Sirius and my dad always stuck up for him, or so I've heard."
For a second, Tabitha's eyes changed as if she were recalling a distant memory. But if she did, she didn't mention it. "Anyway, I'm rambling, aren't I?" Harry gave a weak smile, and continued. His voice, however, wasn't as strong as it had been when he was talking about Sirius.
"So Sirius and a bunch of other people were fighting, trying to create a diversion while my friends and I escaped. But I didn't leave, I was trying to help another friend, one who'd fallen." Harry's eyes unfocused as he brought himself back into the memory. "Sirius was in front of me, fighting Bellatrix Lestrange. Bellatrix is his cousin." He added bitterly. "They were struggling…not ten feet away from me… I saw the whole thing..." Harry's voice was becoming softer, and it was getting harder and harder for him for form sentences.
"Sirius was laughing at her…taunting her…his last words…" his voice broke. "His last words were, 'Come on, you can do better than that!' And she did…she hit him in the chest. And…and…he fell." A fresh stream of sobs erupted from Harry's throat. He couldn't bare the pain any longer. It was eating him up inside, as it had been for the whole month of July. He collapsed, weakness taking over him, and fell onto Tabitha. She caught him, though, and wrapped her arms tightly around his sides. Harry tried to muffle the sound of his crying with his hands, but it was no good. He continued to choke on tears, his mouth dry, and chest heaving. Tabitha held strong though, and didn't stop him when he buried his head in the nape of her neck. Harry was still shaking, and Tabitha was trying to calm him a little by rubbing a hand across his back. Harry felt how wet her uniform was getting because his face was pressed against her, and tried to move a little, but it seemed Tabitha didn't want to let him go. They stayed like that for so long, sitting by the curbside in front of Number Four, that by the time they parted, the sun had fully set and stars had already sprinkled the sky with pinpricks of light.
o-o
It was almost midnight, but Harry lay in his bed, thinking as usual.
Surprisingly, he wasn't wondering how strange his story must have seemed to her. There were too many holes, too many gaps that just didn't quite make sense. Yet, Harry figured that it must as seemed as if Bellatrix shot Sirius with a Muggle gun, and he fell somewhere and died from the impact. It was not as noble a death as Harry would have liked it to sound, but he couldn't have gone into any more detail without revealing Sirius, Bellatrix, and himself as wizards.
But Harry wasn't thinking about this right now. No, his mind was dwelling on the much broader area, the subject of Tabitha. Harry didn't really believe in miracles, or angels, for that matter, but he supposed he could make an exception in her case. How could someone he had only known for a grand total of four days help him so much? How could they have gotten so close, and understood each other so well? It was as if he and Tabitha had known each other their whole lives - that was how soundly they had connected. Harry didn't think it possible for such an amazing thing to happen. Ron and Hermione, his best friendscouldn't make him feel any better about Sirius' death. Luna Lovegood, who he supposed shared a sort of bond with him, had made more progress with healing Harry than all his friends, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Lupin, and the rest of the Order had put together! But by far, this Muggle woman, who cleaned his aunt's house, had beat them all. The way she had held him, comforted him…it was amazing, it was surreal, it was exactly what he needed.
But then again, Harry realized, it wouldn't last. Petunia needed Tabitha during the pregnancy, so that she wouldn't have to do anything too difficult while she was carrying the baby. But that would all end in two weeks, when the baby was due. Maybe Tabitha would stick around for another week or so, but then she would be gone. For sure, Petunia would want claim over her house again, and she would send the au pair packing her bags. Harry would probably never see Tabitha Royce again.
Start with the laundry at your feet, Potter, Harry reminded himself. It wouldn't do to start thinking ahead of himself. What he had now was a great person who could help him heal, if he allowed her to. That cursed baby wasn't coming for another half month, plenty of time to spend with Tabitha and enjoy himself as best as he could at the Dursleys'. If he had anything to thank her for, it was for giving him the most enjoyable time he had ever spent there, the first ten years included.
Harry rolled on his side and closed his eyes. Yes, given his experiences in June, it was definitely one of his best summers yet.
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Lily was also lying on her side on her bed above Harry's, propping her head on her hand and twirling her wand in her other. It had been quite an evening, and even though she hadn't shed a tear, she felt weak just remembering it.
She supposed the reason she hadn't cried was that she had run out of tears to spare for James and Harry. She had had fifteen years to cry over them. Doing some quick math in her head, Lily calculated that that added up to well over five thousand nights to cry through. And I probably used every single one of them, she thought bitterly.
Though she didn't want to admit it to herself, Lily was glad that she had had that conversation with Harry. She had opened up to him, and he to her. Lily felt like she better understood a part of her son, his most private part, the one that those average wizards on the street didn't know a thing about. Harry was no longer a bunch of facts and statistics briefed on her by Dumbledore. Sure, anyone could tell you that he had survived Voldemort's attacks five times; that he had killed a basilisk, and that he was one of the first Hogwarts champions to participate in the Triwizard Tournament in hundreds of years. But Lily was his mother, and one of the few people Harry had let in. It was something that she had needed.
Grinning with pride, for both herself and her son, Lily put her wand down on her bedside table and shut off the light.
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Harry had a pleasant dream, for the first time in while. He was flying on his broom, over the Forbidden Forest bordering Hogwarts. Tabitha was flying on a broom right behind him. Then, a man whose face was blurred appeared, flying on his own broom straight out of a window from the northern most tower of the castle. He joined them, and the three of them flew out over the forest and across the lake. Two canines, a dog and a wolf, emerged out of the forest, transformed into men who were obviously Sirius and Lupin, and flew up to meet them. From the depths of the lake water, Ron, Hermione, and the Weasleys joined them, all flying together on one giant broomstick. More people came, from various places in the landscape, and even Hagrid beat out his fears and hurdled out of his hut towing an enormous heavy broom behind him. Eventually, everyone Harry knew and liked came from somewhere, and they were all flying together without a care. They were all smiling and laughing and joking, and simply enjoying each other's presence, yet at the same time, protecting each other from veering off course and losing the group.
Harry awoke from this dream the next morning, not remembering a thing, except the feeling of being immensely happy.
o-o
Lily also had a dream that night, but hers had no definite appearance. It was a mix of colors and shapes, all blending into a vision of technicolor blurs, with only a few recognizable people. There was Harry as a baby, Minerva McGonagall, her old Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts, and for some reason, the bartender at the Leaky Cauldron. They came together, after a while, and joined to form one person, a man, whom Lily recognized but couldn't name. He was warning her of something, giving her words of caution. And then, there was a lot of light, and fire, and the dream ended, leaving Lily tangled in her sheets and covered in sweat the next morning.
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Okay, I've just realized that I spent four chapters describing the events of one day (July 18th)! Ack, alright, I know that I'm dragging it out a lot, but that's because Au Pair only covers the course of two and a half weeks, and it's probably going to be around thirty chapters long. That leaves roughly two chapters for each day, give or take. Wow, I'm just realizing this, but did anyone notice how much math I had to do in this chapter? Weird, given how much I hate math. I'm definitely an English student. But I'm rambling again, aren't I? Oh well. You'll all have to deal with that.
Just a note- the laundry comment that Harry makes to himself is from a manga comic book that I really like, Fruits Basket. It basically just means that he's thinking too far into the future, and not about the present. I know I'm guilty of doing that, many times. 8-)
Trivia Question: Since I have a sort of dream theme going on in Au Pair lately, does anyone have any strange or interesting dreams that they'd like to share? (Nothing too dirty, people!) Maybe I'll tell you one of mine next time, if you share yours!
Thank you so much for the reviews, everyone. I realize that a lot of you are going away or to camp at around this time, but if you aren't, please review! I won't be angry if you haven't reviewed yet - just start now!
Much love,
LaRohaZeta