Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.
CHAPTER 9
"Sirius." Nora said, glaring at him. "Don't even tell me you lost—"
"No wait!" Sirius interrupted her, still looking through all of his bags. "I had him…he was with me the whole time!"
"Then what did you do with him?" Nora asked him angrily.
"I can't remember!" Sirius exclaimed, his face looking very tense. "I think I left him somewhere in one of the shops."
"Which shop?" Lily asked.
"I have no idea!" Sirius said, looking bewildered, and then turned to James and asked, "Where's your egg?"
"Shelby's had her the whole morning." he answered.
"Son of a AARRRRGG!" Sirius said frustratingly and dropped his bags on the ground.
If it weren't for the fact that Nora had just found a reason to feel optimistic about Remus not having feelings for Michelle, she would have been extremely angry. She could tell that Sirius was genuinely worried about their egg, with his head hanging down pathetically, and walked up to him.
"Okay, Sirius." said Nora, taking his arm and pulling him away from their friends and towards the busy street. "There's no time to cry. Let's just go and find it."
"Bloody hell." Sirius muttered, letting Nora lead the way. "I can't remember where I left him. He's probably all alone. And scared!"
"Oh gees." Nora said rolling her eyes. "You should listen to yourself. You just came from Madam Rosmerta's didn't you? How much did you have to drink?"
"Er…" Sirius said trying to think, "Not that much. I just had a couple of butterbeers and a firewhiskey."
"Firewhiskey?" Nora asked with some disapprovement. "No wonder. Okay let's go there first."
"Oh, God!" Sirius suddenly stopped, looking pale. "What if I accidentally dropped him on the ground and some jackass stepped on him?"
"Then I'll make sure I step on you. Come on. You're just wasting time!" Nora said urgently, pulling Sirius forward and into the bar.
The Three Broomsticks, the inn that Madam Rosmerta owned, was packed with students. She was standing behind the bar, serving a bunch of fourth years some butterbeers, when she saw Sirius and said with a smile, "Oh, are you back for another, then? You brought your girlfriend this time?" Nora made a bit of a disgusted face when Madam Rosmerta referred to her as Sirius's girlfriend and Sirius just laughed.
"No, she's not my girlfriend. She's my wife." he said, elbowing Nora in her side.
"What? And you didn't invite me to the wedding?" Madam Rosmerta asked with a grin, as she wiped the counter with an old rag.
Nora gave Sirius a dangerous looking scowl and he stopped smiling. He cleared his throat and tried to say in a more serious manner, "Actually, we're just doing a school project together, and I seem to have misplaced our baby—I mean this egg. You haven't seen it around, have you?"
"Well," she said, putting down the rag and looking under the bar. "The only eggs I've seen around here, are these." She pulled up a jar of pickled eggs and put them in front of Nora and Sirius. They both stared at the dozens of eggs immersed in the green liquid, and felt a little queasy.
"You think Yolkie's in there?" Sirius whispered to Nora, peering into the jar, his face a little pale again.
"Don't be daft." Nora scolded him. She grabbed his arm again and tugged him towards the exit. "Come on. Let's get out of here. Where else did you guys go?"
The next place they headed to was Honeydukes. The store, being the most popular of all, was still full of students, and Sirius and Nora had to cut through everyone just check out all of the stalls and shelves. Sirius saw one of their classmates, Dana Abbott, inside the sweetshop and asked her if she had seen their egg.
"Ooh." Dana said, looking at Nora and Sirius with insincere pity. "Did you guys lose it? You're going to fail the project!"
"Okay, thanks." Nora said sarcastically, feeling irritated. "We already know that. We want to know if you've seen it around."
"No, I haven't." Dana said sharply, looking offended.
"Alright, Four-eyes, let's get out of here before you accidentally hex someone." Sirius said, leading a heated Nora out of the shop. Man, she's got a bit of a sharp tongue, doesn't she? Hmm…I kind of dig it.
By the time they were out of the Quidditch supplies stores, with no luck in finding Yolk, Nora was starting to get a headache. Over-consumption of the chocolate she had eaten all afternoon and the stress of losing their egg baby was getting to her. She stopped walking for a moment, took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"What's the matter?" Sirius asked her. Nora looked up at Sirius and he could see the sunlight reflecting in her eyes. Boy, she looks so different without those glasses on. I dunno why she's so embarrassed about her eyes. So what if they're different? They're cool! Actually…Sirius swiftly scanned his eyes down Nora. Four-eyes isn't so bad looking now that I look at her.
"Nothing." Nora answered him, making him jump out of his reverie. "Just getting a headache."
"Well it's probably from your stupid glasses. Don't wear them." Sirius said sternly.
Nora glared at him for a moment and then put them back on defiantly and started walking again. "I'll just get more stressed if I take them off."
"You're one weird chick." Sirius said, shaking his head. "I dunno why I married you."
"I wonder the same thing every day." Nora replied back dryly. "You can't even keep an egg safe."
When they reached the last shop Sirius had been to, Zonko's Joke Shop, and entered the store, Sirius suddenly slapped his head and exclaimed, "Hang on a minute!"
"What?" Nora asked him, with a puzzled gaze.
Sirius walked over to a stall and said while miming his actions, "We were standing here and I was trying on these x-ray vision spectacles. I gave Yolk to James to hold for a second." Sirius stared at the spectacles for a moment and dropped them exclaiming, "He never gave it back to me! Quickly! Let's go!" This time, Sirius was the one to yank Nora's arm and drag her out of the store.
They ran back to where they left Lily, James and Bert and found them all milling around on the grass, talking and nibbling on their sweets.
"Oi, Prongs!" Sirius called out to James, who turned his head towards them. "Where'd you put Yolkie? I gave him to you at Zonko's, remember?"
James looked confused for a moment but then a realization seemed to dawn on him. "Oh bugger." he said looking very guilty. "Yeah you did…but wait, I gave him to Shelby!"
"Shelby?" Nora asked angrily and Lily gave James a scowl. "Why'd you do that?"
"'Cause I wanted to test out those x-ray vision spectacles and she was standing close by so I asked her if she could hold him for a sec." James explained.
"Good one, Potter." Lily said, shaking her head in reprehension.
"Blast it, now we have to find Shelby." Sirius said tiredly to Nora. "Come on, let's go."
"Oh, dear." Nora said, remembering what had happened earlier in the day. "I think she's with Michelle."
"Well obviously. She's always with Michelle." Sirius said as they walked up High Street.
"Yeah but I think she was upset or something." Nora said.
"Who? Shelby?" Sirius asked.
"No, Michelle." replied Nora.
"Why?" he asked.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure, but I think it might have something to do with Remus." Nora answered.
"What do you mean?" Sirius questioned her as they headed in the direction that Nora last saw Michelle and Shelby running towards.
"Okay, well don't tell anyone anything, but when I was getting ready to leave today, I heard them talking. And Michelle was saying how she was going to tell him how she feels..." Nora told Sirius in a low voice.
"Him?" He looked at Nora confusedly.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure it was Remus. Everyone knows that she likes him." she said, her voice sounding a little bitter.
"Yeah…I guess." Sirius said while a suspicion started to creep into his mind. Hmm…is that why she was so angry this morning? Four-eyes doesn't like Remus, does she?
"So yeah," Nora continued on with her story, "before you and James came down, we just saw Michelle running off and crying and Shelby was chasing after her."
"Oh…that makes sense now." Sirius said, as if everything was now coming into place. "Michelle and Shelby saw us at Zonko's and she told Remus that she wanted to talk to him…in private. That's why Shelby was there with us. Because Michelle left her to go with Remus."
"Yeah." Nora said. She could feel an involuntary smile tugging at her lips. It was one of those moments when you were supposed to act serious or concerned, but somehow the mere restriction of laughing makes the situation just seem more comical.
"What're you smiling about?" Sirius said, looking at her quizzically.
"Nothing." Nora said quickly, trying to cover up her smile by frowning, but the mere thought of a hysterical Michelle running across the street and a bewildered Shelby trailing to keep up with her, made it harder for her to do.
"What?" Sirius asked her, starting to smile himself. What the hell are we so happy about?
"I don't know." Nora said, starting to feel a giggle come up. She covered her mouth to stop from smiling but seeing Sirius smile back at her made her laugh.
She kept her mouth covered, trying to stifle her laughter, until they heard a dry voice next to them say, "What the heck are you two so happy about?"
Nora and Sirius saw Remus staring at them with a puzzled frown on his face. Nora and Sirius looked at each other and burst out with laughter. Remus just stood there, gaping at them like they were crazy. It suddenly occurred to Nora, as she was clutching her stomach, that it was Remus who was standing there staring at her like she was completely bonkers and she immediately stopped laughing. She could feel her face go a little warm and she cleared her throat, making Sirius stop laughing as well.
"Are you guys okay?" Remus asked, looking at them curiously.
"Fine, mate." Sirius answered, letting out a tired breath and running his hands through his hair, "Listen, we got a bit of a problem. We lost little Yolkie and we think Shelby might have him. Have you seen her?"
"Er…" Remus said hesitantly, "She's probably with Michelle. And last I saw her, she was running towards the lake."
"Oh…was that bad, eh?" Sirius said with a hint of a smirk.
"Don't even ask." Remus said with a guilty look on his face.
"Okay, I'll ask later then. We've gotta go find our baby!" Sirius said in a rush as he and Nora headed towards the lake.
"Remus must think I'm mental." Nora whispered to Sirius as they walked away. "I was laughing like a hyena."
"So what? It's just Remus." Sirius said. "You were laughing with me. I don't think you're mental."
"Yeah, but that's different." Nora said.
"Why? What's the difference between me and Remus?" Sirius asked, looking at her suspiciously again.
But before Nora could answer the question, she spotted Shelby and Michelle, sitting on the ground near the water. Michelle looked like she was still crying, and Shelby was trying to comfort her.
"Hey Porter!" Sirius called. Shelby and Michelle both looked up at them. "Where's my Yolkie?"
"Huh?" Shelby said, looking confused. When she realized a second later that Sirius was talking about his egg she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, shit! My baby!" She jumped up and started to run back towards the street, leaving an upset Michelle behind. Nora and Sirius caught up with Shelby and Nora asked her what had happened to the eggs.
"I was holding them right outside of Zonko's." she explained breathlessly, all three of them still running towards the shops. "And as soon as I saw that Michelle was upset, I put them and all my bags on the ground and just chased after her." As soon as they reached the door of the store, Shelby let out a curse. "They're not here! Who took them?"
They looked around the street and asked a few people if they had seen anything. It wasn't until they spoke to an old witch, feeding her cat on the sidewalk that they found out what had happened. "There were a group of boys…about three of them. They looked younger than yourselves. They picked up the bags and headed in that direction." she said as she pointed down a dark alleyway.
They thanked the woman for her help and followed her lead. They heard the voices of some boys talking and laughing. Sirius stopped as if recognizing the voice and said in an annoyed tone, "Oh, great."
"What is it?" Nora asked Sirius, whispering. But he didn't have to answer her because walking towards them and holding both of the eggs was Regulus, Sirius's little brother.
A/N: Hmm...this chapter didn't need too much editing either. I think the later chapters weren't as bad as the earliers so I might be posting even a couple of chapters a day. Well, enjoy! Ooh and send me some reviews!
