I still remember those fearful brown eyes starring at me wide. The anger in her voice when she declared that Lupin was a werewolf. Her uncomfortable posture as she appeared in front of the window sinding on Beaky.
Then she came to stay in the Grimauld place for the summer. She seemed very grown-up now and through out the summer, every time she talked directly to me, my heart skipped a beat. I had been in Azkaban for twelve years. Two consecutive years, I had been on run. I guess it must have been an effect of that, but my heart longed out to the girl with the bushy hair.
"Mrs. Weasley wants you."
"Now?" I asked annoyed. Molly had been getting on my nerves those days.
"No. Actually, she has just asked you to be on time for dinner. It's just that, I need to speak to you."
Her gaze on me was intense. Those Brown Eyes pierced through me. A could feel a sensation, some sort of burning in my throat. Through some very miscomprehended excitement, I pushed the word "What?"
"Sit down" she said and gently pushed my arm. I sat down in the broken chair nearby. She stood leaning against the opposite wall facing me
"Listen Sirius. I want to talk about Kreature"
"Kreature?"
"That poor elf has been left alone for years with nothing but a picture to talk to. He needs to be cared for. You may be his master but you must know that elf's can recognize and acknowledge love far more than human beings. A house-elf like Kreature with such cunning can easily find loop-holes in your orders and betray you."
I was genuinely uninterested in what ever she was saying. Yet, so as to not insult her, I paid attention. All the while my thought drifted to how beautiful her eyes looked in the moonlight coming from the adjoining window
"Also Padfoot," she now came and sat down in front of me on her knees. "Once we go off to Hogwarts and the Weasleys return to the Burrow, you will need him" This sentence got me startled. Soon Harry, Ron, Weasleys would all soon be leaving. Hermione would be leaving.
A unconscious tear dropped from my eye. Her hand moved forward to wipe off my tear. She stood up as she collected that gem of a tear. Her face was very near to me. Unknowingly, I bent forward. Our lips touched. She moved back slowly and then looked at me.
"Mr. Weasley won't be pleased if you are late again today." She said as she turned away. As she ran down past my mother's poster, I could hear her shouts of "Mudblood! Scum!" For a few more moments the recipient of these words meant a lot to me.