Disclaimer: All ideas are based on characters and events belonging to J.K. Rowling.
Calm Before the Storm
Chapter 13: A New Look
Olivia rushed down the hall. She desperately needed to wash the feel of Lucius off of her. She made it to the bathroom and stripped her clothes off. She cranked the water on, turning the hot up as far as it would go before stepping in. She simply stood under the hot spray for several minutes, letting the water run down her naked body. She couldn't help but start crying again. She felt so violated. Why hadn't she listened to everybody?
She slowly washed, making sure to scrub every inch of her body. After her skin was red from all the effort, she stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself. She wiped the fog from the mirror and stared at herself. She was slightly shocked at just how bad she actually looked. Her face was puffy and bright red, not to mention the scrapes down her cheek, her skin was glowing from being scrubbed so hard, and her hair...oh Merlin. There was a large chunk of her hair missing, and looking back she remembered the curse that had hit her between the shoulder blades.
She felt a fresh wave of tears hit her as she slipped into a pair of sweat pants and a baggy quidditch shirt that she planned on sleeping in. Slowly, she made her way back to her room. Even though she had left about thirty minutes prior, she entered to see Sirius in the exact same position as what she had left him in. She paused upon seeing the look on his face but as he noticed her walk in it was gone so fast she wondered if maybe she had imagined it.
He stood as she crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tightly against him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head over on his chest. "Thank you for waiting, Sirius."
"Don't mention it, Olli."
She couldn't help but laugh. "Olli?"
He smiled, "I like it."
She looked at him and was slightly overwhelmed by the emotion she saw in his eyes. She smiled back at him. "I like it too."
He averted his eyes toward the floor. "So, are you going to tell me what happened?"
Olivia sniffed, "Lucius just didn't want to take 'no' for an answer."
Sirius stiffened. "He didn't..."
"No, no." She sniffed again hard, trying to keep the tears from returning. "I think he would have though."
Her answer was so quiet Sirius had to question if he heard it or not. He fought to keep the anger out of his voice and pulled her tighter against him. "What happened?"
She squeezed his waist tighter. "The house elf. Dobby, is his name." She smiled at the memory of the sweet house elf. "He helped me."
He ran his hand down her back smoothing her hair. Suddenly he stopped. He pulled back from her a bit and turned her around. "Olivia...what happened to your hair?"
Olivia took a shaky breath. "A curse hit me as I was leaving." Feeling him stiffen she quickly added, "I'm ok though, Sirius. I'm home now, I'm safe."
He stayed quiet for a minute to compose himself. He looked at her jagged hair thoughtfully before picking at the ends and examining it. "Do you want me to try and fix it?"
She turned back to face him and halfheartedly laughed. "You mean do I want you to cut my hair?" She pretended to be deep in though, "I don't think so."
He pulled her back close, feeling like if he held her tight enough she would forget everything that had happened. He wanted to protect her, to never let her get hurt again. "Come on, Olli. Have a little faith."
She looked up at him and he couldn't help but chuckle at the look on her face. "Sirius, I've never even seen you even use a pair of scissors."
"Well, at least let me even it up a bit so you can tell people I tried and messed it up, then tomorrow we'll go and have it professionally cut."
She looked at him a little uncertain before pulling away and getting a pair of scissors from her desk drawer. He was right, she was going to have to explain it somehow. If she let him make it all relatively the same length she could just tell people she was stupid and let him cut her hair.
He gently took the scissors from her hand and turned her around. He began accessing the damage Lucius had caused physically. Her hair, which normally reached the middle of her back was missing a large chunk directly in the middle, chopped off just a couple inches below her neck, not to mention all the scrapes on her face. He couldn't even fathom the emotional damage that had been caused, or even possibly the physical that he couldn't see for her pajamas.
He ran his fingers through her hair to figure out where he needed to cut before he slid the scissors through it, cutting slowly. He heard her take a sharp intake of breath as her hair fell to the floor. Once he was finished, Sirius took her by the shoulders and led her to her bed. They sat together in silence for several minutes. Olivia ran her hand through what was left of her hair before she collapsed onto Sirius' shoulder, crying her heart out for what felt like the hundredth time that night. Sirius scooted back against the headboard and pulled her into his lap.
Sirius sat there the entire night, just holding her and doing his best to comfort her. After several hours she fell asleep but Sirius sat there still, rubbing her back and wishing he could do more to help. He looked down to see her face, finally peaceful for the first time that night, and at that moment he knew two things - he cared about this girl much more than he should, much more than a friend, and he would make sure that Lucius Malfoy paid for what he did.
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Olivia awoke the next morning confused at first as to why she was in Sirius' lap. Suddenly everything came crashing back down on her. All the events that had transpired with Lucius, in which she felt like her heart completely dropped out of her stomach and then, the events that transpired with Sirius. He was so protective of her and made her feel so safe. She looked up at him to see him asleep with his head leaned over against her headboard. He looked so peaceful but even in his sleep he held onto her. She stared at his sleeping form and, despite everything, she couldn't help but smile.
She glanced at the clock and realized that breakfast would be ready soon and if they didn't show up somebody would come looking for them. She tried to get up slowly, so as to not wake Sirius but as soon as she moved he was staring at her.
She smiled at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Sirius stretched and looked at the clock. Upon seeing the time, his eyes widened and he jumped up. Olivia looked at him slightly alarmed. "What's wrong?"
"If your brother catches me in here, he's going to kill me."
Olivia laughed. "Calm down, Sirius. Just tell him you came to get me for breakfast."
Sirius visibly relaxed. "Yea...yea, thats a good idea." He looked at Olivia, remembering everything from the previous night. "So, are you going to tell them?"
She looked at him, her eyes widening. "No, and neither are you."
He stood there, staring at her, trying to decipher her thoughts. Slowly, he crossed the room back to her and shook his head. "Whatever you want, Olli."
She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed. "Thank you."
He grabbed her hand and started toward the door, "Come on or James won't leave us any food."
She laughed, appreciating the effort Sirius was showing to try and take her mind off everything. He led her down the hall but stopped at the top of the stairs, turning to her. He ran his hand through her hair and though he kept his face straight, the hurting look in his eyes didn't escape her notice. "You lost a bet."
He waited for her nod of acceptance before he continued to lead her down the stairs but this time she stopped him, reaching up and kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you, Sirius. You honestly don't know what everything you've done means to me."
He stood still for a second, momentarily unable to move. He cursed himself at the effect she had on him. Since when did girls render him not only speechless but completely immobile? He knew the answer even as it crossed his mind. She was different. When he finally found his voice again he smiled down at her, "You know I'd do anything for you, Olivia." She stared at him, once again overwhelmed by the emotion she saw in Sirius' eyes and the sincerity in his voice. Before she had time to answer him though he turned and finished walking the stairs.
She caught back up with him as he reached the kitchen door and they entered together. She had completely underestimated James awareness of her however because as soon as she put one foot in the kitchen he was out of his chair. "What the bloody hell happened to your hair?"
She stiffened but Sirius stayed calm and laughed. "Me." Upon seeing the death glare of James' that was now directed at him he decided that he should probably elaborate. "We had a bet, Prongs. If I lost, she'd cut my hair and if she lost...well, I'm sure you get the picture."
James started to respond but Olivia beat him to it. "Actually Jamie, I believe I got the good end of the deal, I like it. Just need to go to town sometime soon and have it evened up seeing as our Sirius here isn't exactly an artist."
"Well, I'm sorry I've not made a habit out of cutting girls' hair." Olivia laughed and shoved him. He smiled and winked at her as they made their way to their seats.
Harold and Evelyn, who were already seated, watched the exchanged with interest. Olivia smiled as Minnie poured her a glass of orange juice and looked at her mother. "So, Mum, can we go out today?"
Evelyn inspected her daughter closely. "I'll see if Mrs. Howard can get you in."
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Two hours later, Olivia and Evelyn entered Mrs. Howard's shop. They waited as Mrs. Howard bustled around, cleaning up after her previous customer. "What happened to your face, Liv? Did your and Sirius' bet have anything to do with that?"
Olivia momentarily froze. She actually had forgotten the scrapes on her face and was surprised James hadn't said anything that morning about it too. "No. That was just my amazing grace, mum." They shared a laugh. They both knew that Olivia was extremely ungraceful.
"Oh dear!" Mrs. Howard ran over to Olivia and started fussing over her hair. "It's so uneven. What'd you cut it with, a knife blade?"
Evelyn laughed at her daughters condition. "She lost a bet."
"Oh dear, dear, dear. Sit, sit!" She took Olivia by the shoulders and led her to her chair, draping a cape over her. She got to work immediately, working intently on Olivia's hair for what seemed like hours to Olivia but in reality was just around twenty minutes.
Olivia stood when Mrs. Howard was finished and looked at herself in the mirror. She had to admit that, if it hadn't been for the way it had come about, she actually liked her new look. Her hair now fell elegantly to just barely brush her shoulders.
Her mother walked up to her and inspected her hair thoroughly. "Hmm...I do think I like this, Liv." She raised up from her inspection, "Mrs. Howard, you've done a brilliant job once again." She paid her before taking Olivia's hand and apparating back to their home.
Olivia was expecting to be met at the gate by James and Sirius but was surprised to, instead, see Kiley. She ran up and hugged her best friend tightly. "What're you doing here? I thought you were still in Germany!"
Kiley laughed then scrunched her nose. "We cut our trip short because Aunt Matilda got food poisoning from some bad shrimp."
Olivia smiled. "Well, I hate that for Aunt Matilda but at least you get to stay here." Her smile slipped from her face. "You do get to stay here, right?"
"Yep! Just as long as its ok with your mum and dad."
Both girls looked to Evelyn expectantly. She pretended to be thinking hard before smiling, "Of course, Kiley. You know your welcome anytime."
The two girls thanked her quickly before running the rest of the way to the large house and up the stairs. They had almost made it to Olivia's room when they ran into James and Sirius on their way out. "So what're you two lovely ladies doing?"
Olivia smiled at Sirius' antics. "We're on our way to my room for some serious girl talk."
James cringed. "Come on, can't you have girl talk later? Come play quidditch with us."
Olivia looked briefly at Kiley before she turned back to James. "No way. We will play quidditch with you later but right now, we need girl time." They all laughed as James stuck his lip out and pouted. "We'll play later, Jamie. I promise."
James, realizing it was a lost cause, nodded his head in agreement. "Come on, Padfoot. Let's go practice"
Sirius started to follow James on through the house but grabbed Olivia's arm as they passed each other. "Your new look really is sexy, Olli." He laughed at her shocked expression, winked, and continued down the stairs.
Olivia snapped out of her stupor quickly and looked at Sirius' retreating back remembering the way he had held her the previous night and blushing at her thoughts. She roughly grabbed Kileys hand. "Come on. We seriously need to talk!"
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Author's Note: So so so sorry for the late update. We've been out of power and snowed in for the past week. I really hope you like it though! Please review and let me know what you think! -PJ
SilverUkami - Thank you so much for your compliments, I'm glad you like it so much! And yes, I agree, Dobby is the best. :)
Jazi12amaze and talyag - So glad you like it!
DanniGirrl0001 - Yes, yes. I love Dobby. :) And I'm sorry I made you worry, I hope this chapter meets your expectations. :)