Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
A/N: I haven't updated this story since November, but I've been bitten by the Harry Potter bug and I'm absolutely nuts for Sirius again. So off we go.
"Thanks for letting me stay here, Mrs. Potter," Sirius said. It was half past midnight on the very same night that he had packed up his things and left Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, hopefully never to return. He didn't plan on going to James, but resolving to leave your house and actually doing it were two very different things. Given that the vast majority of his relatives despised him for a blood traitor, Sirius found that he had no where else to go.
He had felt awkward at first about showing up suddenly and without warning on the front stoop of his friend's sturdy little house in Kent, but James had been by chance looking out the window and had bounded out the door to greet him. With his characteristic obliviousness, James had invited Sirius in without even asking his parents, despite the fact that it was 12:30 in the morning. The Potters were surprised but not unpleasantly so, and it was soon agreed that Sirius could stay until school started again.
"It's no problem at all, dear. Could I fix you some tea? Are you hungry, I'm sure I could warm something up for you if you are -"
"No, Mrs. Potter, I'm quite fine really -"
"Well, you look a bit peaky dear. Why don't you go on up to James's room and I'll bring you both up some tea. Then off to bed with the both of you and we'll have a chat in the morning, all right? Go on now," Mrs. Potter said, smiling a bit sleepily at her son and his friend.
"Come on, Padfoot, my room's upstairs," James said with a grin. He was clearly not tired, although Sirius felt like a good rest would be quite appropriate. He didn't want to think of how his mother would react - or rather, how she would not react, to his absence. Her dislike for him had long since stopped causing him any momentary pain or regret - he didn't particularly like her either, and merely wished that he could have a mother more like Mrs. Potter, who was clearly not a mad, twisted, bitter bat.
"So have you heard from Treasure at all?" James asked, once they reached his room. Mr. Potter had followed them up and Conjured a cot for Sirius to sleep on, and had quietly left the room after the boys had called their thanks.
"Yeah. She's sent me three letters all about some bloke named Brent, who apparently invited her to stay at his farm for the next three weeks."
James snorted. "A farm, hmm? What the bloody hell did you do to the girl that made her console herself by going to a bloody farm?"
Sirius felt a hot flash of rage shoot through him. "I didn't do anything! Her parents sent her to Salem for some sodding History of American Magic class, and she met the git there."
James shrugged. "Things'll sort out by the time we get back to Hogwarts. Soup!" he added enthusiastically, as a tray laden with thick pumpkin soup and apple cider appeared the in the middle of the room. James applied himself to the food, but Sirius was more reluctant. The thought of Treasure with some milk-fed farm boy made him lose his appetite.
"What do you say we head down to Diagon Alley tomorrow, Padfoot? Plenty of girls there to take your mind of off Tres. And she'd never need to know," James suggested. Perhaps, he might even see Lily there. She seemed like the type to get all her book shopping done early, and perhaps he, James, had matured a bit over the summer, enough so that she'd want to talk to him. He didn't notice any difference, but girls were always mad about things like that, wanting 'mature' blokes.
"Yeah, all right," Sirius agreed, digging into the hot soup with new-found gusto. Plenty of fish in the sea, right? And Treasure seemed to be enjoying herself on that stupid farm - why should Sirius feel at all guilty if he were to have his own fun?
"So you've grown up on this farm all your life, then?" Treasure asked, rolling up the rather long sleeves of the work shirt that Liam had let her borrow. She had spent nearly a week on the farm and was slowly getting to know everyone. Mr. Templeton was a kind man, still young-looking with skin so burnished from work outdoors that he had not a wrinkle, except when he smiled. He and Mrs. Templeton were the epitome of healthy parents, and each and every one of their children were robust and lively and Treasure found she was quite enjoying herself away from her room on the 88th floor, where her flowers moped right along with her, and her mother played endless Celestina Warbeck love songs.
Liam was the oldest of the Templeton boys, followed closely by Eric, who was just a year older than Treasure at seventeen and then Brent who was, of course, Treasure's age. Then there were the three girls - Paige, who Treasure was surprised to find was Brent's twin, Angie, who was twelve, and Cora who was just barely three. None of the Templeton children seemed the slightest bit upset at Treasure's sudden appearance in the middle of the night, and Paige and Angie were fascinated with stories of the city. They'd never left the farm and Treasure promised that she would ask her parents as soon as possible if they could stay with her.
Treasure was now in the stable once again with Liam, with whom she had spent considerable time in an effort to take her mind off of Sirius. She was succeeding, for the most part. Her anger at her so-called boyfriend had not abated, but she was no longer moping. She had just run up to her room and put on some make up, making sure her skin was clear and dewy and her lips glistening with vanilla-flavored lip gloss. Liam looked amused at the flirtatious lilt in her voice and let his eyes turn away from the docile fire-red mare he was tending to, still cautiously avoiding the steam that was coming from the flame-horse's nostrils. Treasure stretched like a cat and braided her hair back quickly, weaving it around her head like a crown.
"Yeah, I was born on this farm and I'll probably stay on it all my life," he answered, not sounding the least bit unhappy as hepulled on protective gloves and turned to the mare. He had to check her over routinely, because she was on of the farm's prized mares - the finest flame-horse his father had ever bred, in fact. She had good blood in her, but was still too young for breeding. Liam wanted to enter her in races, as the Templeton's eldest daughter, Paige, was slight enough to be a talented jockey. Mr. Templeton wouldn't hear of it, however, but all the same Liam checked over the mare - who looked just like a Muggle Arabian mare, but for the fact that she was a peculiar shade of fuchsia - and hoped that his mother could get through his father's opposition to letting Paige ride.
Treasure felt slightly envious of Liam's certainty in his future. He was calm and implaccable, happy on the farm and in his family. His life was routine but not dull, safe and planned and not a bit insecure. Liam's life, its predictability and security, tantilized Treasure who had never really known anything of the sort. It made her like Liam all the more.
"It must be hard, working the farm everyday, dawn to dusk," Treasure said slyly. She enjoyed watching him as he handled the mare, with a strange kind of reverence that she felt might be akin to something she felt when she took care of the little unicorn foal, her Aelia. Treasure felt another stab of homesickness despite the comfort of the farm.
Liam looked up at her as she stared at the harnesses and saddles designed to be lightweight and practical. Her eyes were unfocused as if she were looking inward rather than out, although her hand traced the intricate leather weaving of the saddle, and the little glass beads that decorated it; a flourish, she supposed, added by Paige.
"What's bothering you, Treasure?" Liam asked quietly.
Treasure started, her hand snapping away from the saddle and her eyes focusing again quickly. She smoothed a smile over her face, bright and chipper but not quite genuine. "Nothing!" she said cheerily. She nodded back to the saddle and her smile lessened but didn't disappear. Liam was surprised to see a brighter light spark from behind her eyes, one of genuine interest
"Could we go for a ride? Right now?" she asked, biting her lip and looking up at him with sparkling eyes. He'd taken her for rides across their expansive land before, but it never ceased to thrill her. He checked his watch - it was nearly seven, past time for dinner.
"Aren't you hungry?" he asked politely. Over the past week, Treasure had proven herself a ravenous young woman. Luckily for her, the Templetons' had put her to work on the farm, so the huge amounts she ate were kept at bay from showing too much.
"We can bring something with us, can't we? Oh, come on, please?" she begged, walking over to him and grabbing his hand. Liam grinned in surprise, watching her curiously light eyes as they danced on his face. He knew that all was not right with Treasure, but when she was in a good mood, her mischievousness was infectious.
"All right," he said amiably. She whooped and kissed him on the cheek quickly.
"I'll go tell your mom," she said, bounding out of the stable and tearing across the pasture, piquing the curiosity of the other mares and startling the foals. Liam shook his head in amazement at her swift changes of mood and patted the mare on the neck. He led her out into the pasture for a while, then paused on second thought and grabbed the saddle and bridlefromtheirplaces on the wall.
"You females are all crazy," he said before carefully checking over the stable and locking it for the night.
"Well, okay, honey, if you really want to have dinner outside I guess you can," said Mrs. Templeton cautiously. She thought Treasure was really rather overdressed for a ride up to the highest point of the farm, right on the edges of the tiny lake that the Templetons' owned, but she understood that Treasure was a city girl and maybe a bit odd because of it.
"Make sure you take a jacket, though, because it might be a bit cold up there," she warned, folding a blanket and placing it on top of the basket that contained Treasure and Liam's dinner. She knew the two had a bit of a crush on each other, and that was completely fine with her, but Treasure really was a strange girl. She was polite of course, no doubt about that, and well brought up just like Mrs. Templeton knew the daughter of Louis and Dana Belle would be, but she also seemed extremely introverted and sad at times. Mrs. Templeton wasn't a fool - she knew the girl missed her Hogwarts friends, maybe even a boy; it wasn't so long ago that Mrs. Templeton was a teenager herself. But she also thought that maybe the problem was the Treasure didn't see enough of her parents. The poor girl spent most of the year across the Atlantic, and in the few months that she did have at home, her parents were busy working and Treasure was sent to Salem. Mrs. Templeton couldn't imagine being so estranged from her children, but it seems to suit the Belles relatively well.
"Thank you for everything, Mrs. Templeton," Treasure said sincerely, and in one of her rare moments of undeniable happiness, she flew from the dining room to meet Liam by the pasture.
Oh, Sirius, I do hope you're having a good time in London, she thought, not certain if she was being sincere or not. Over the last few days she'd thought of him less and less, and quite often made fun of herself for taking things so seriously, no pun intended. The harmony of the Templeton farm soothed her jangled city-girl nerves and the clean air was probably adding a good few years to her life. She only had two weeks left here, but she hoped it wouldn't be the only time she stayed on the Templeton farm.
Besides, Liam was quite a looker. He looked like an older version of Brent which, Treasure supposed, he was. His shoulders were broader, his voice deeper, and his hair slightly darker as well as eyes. Treasure had found herself becoming more and more comfortable, happier and happier and less eager for school to start. She missed Lily, and she missed causing trouble in Hogwarts, but she knew that at the same time she would miss the farm terribly once the school year began.
It didn't help that she had barely gotten through her homework, and the bits that she did do were not done at all thoroughly. Treasure was starting to feel dread build up in the pit of her stomach at the thought of Sixth Year but also elation - she'd soon be seventeen, and legal, and able to do magic whenever she pleased. Then one more year left of school and she could get a job. She didn't know whether she'd want to get a job in England or in the U.S. but she put that out of her mind as she rushed to meet Liam.
"Oh!" she said, when she saw the fire-red mare he had waiting for her.
"You'd let me ride her?" Treasure asked, breathless. Liam grinned, appreciating her genuine shock.
"Just be careful," he said, "she's a wild one. I think you're probably well matched, though."
Treasure wrinkled her nose at him and let him help her into the saddle. She positively glowed with happiness as he vaulted up onto his pitch black stallion with the basket of food.
"Let's go fast, can we?" Treasure begged and without waiting for an answer, nudged the mare with her heels in the direction of the hill.
A/N: There you go, kids. Chapter 4 after about half a year. Hope you enjoy.